Verboten
Chapter 40

Friday, April 2, 2010

Disclaimer: I do not own the Winx Club. Specifically, Lake Crystal and Darkstone or liquid moonlight. Those are all canon objects/places in the comics.

Lake Crystal.

Lake Crystal was a lake known for being plagued with magical animals from the surrounding forest and mountains. There was only one town, called Darkstone, near the lake which was built on a river that fed it. It was a small quaint town but like every small town in the middle of nowhere, there was their share of mythical paranoia that the inhabitants suffered which included never going out on a full moon for fear of never coming back.

The valley in which Lake Crystal lied was a protected area as sworn by dozens of historical, scientific and cultural charters that declared the area a heritage site for the lake's unusual properties. Seven centuries ago, Lake Crystal had been in dispute between two clans back when the region had been managed in those outdated archaic ways. The two warring families had risen to such high prominence that it garnered the attention of the Magix Council for fear of an outright massacre. Because of that, a convoy of specialists from Magix had been sent to establish peace and act as peacekeepers.

The origins of the two families, the Lycaonia and the Luperca were no doubt murky. No one knew for sure from where they came from as the planet Magix was an artificial celestial body. That meant that everyone was an immigrant to Magix. People guessed planets and galaxies based on old portraits but nothing was conclusive. It did not matter anyways as long as peace was made. In time, the two families disintegrated into the annals of history. Out of that peace, rose Darkstone.

Darkstone was a small town where everyone knew everyone else. Because of its small size, the people retained that mountain town picturesque feeling but they also retained their legends from back when the valley was divided.

For some strange reason though, a hydroelectric company called Livius Electric had suddenly decided to take an interest in Darkstone despite it being against the charter.

It was mid afternoon when a red bullet-like cruiser flew over the area. The cruiser came to a hover over a meadow just outside of Darkstone and landed gently on the tall grass. The hatch opened and four men in plain clothes stepped out of the transport.

The first man had short choppy brown hair, freckles and catlike green eyes. "This is Alpha to Redbird, do you copy?" he said into a hidden microphone in his collar. He was Edric Chase, a second-year specialist from Red Fountain. He was the impromptu leader of their motley group, a role that he took in stride. They had made it to their second year in Red Fountain, an accomplishment greater than graduating from the school in his mind.

"This is Redbird to Alpha, affirmative."

Edric remembered basic training during summer and how so many recruits had been rejected from the school before the school year had even started. General Training was an eight-week long camp where recruits, or potential students, trained to see if they were fit for Red Fountain for their first year. It happened during the summer and the training was beyond what a normal person could take. There were the usual subjects like parade drill and introductory courses to dragon taming and aviation but there were many physical and mental endurance exercises like solo survival camping and fight tournaments to see who was the fittest fighter. There were also competitive examinations of various subjects such as language, math, history and law.

There had been seven hundred recruits from every corner of galaxy and even other galaxies and only three hundred had made it pass general training camp. It had been such a relief to him that he had found his name on the register at the end of the camp that he almost thought he was hallucinating. By end of the first year, more than fifty students had been expelled and sometimes replaced. Edric's year had dwindled down to about two hundred and seventy students. It was in their second year that all sixty-eight four-man squads had received a fifth member from, as one of Edric's teammates said, "nowhere." It was also the year that they started unsupervised missions.

In his team's case, they had gotten Jared Lockwood, a swordsman of incredible skill. Something did not click in Edric's head when Cordatorta first introduce him. He understood that Jared also came from another faraway specialist school and had come to Red Fountain to complete his training but Jared's demeanor did not fit at all the student persona.

Edric shook off his doubts about his new teammate as his gaze fell upon him. "Good," he said to his communicator, "We'll keep you updated every hour, Redbird. Over and out."

A fifth man with chin-length wavy hair as white as snow and icy blue eyes stepped out onto the hatch. "Edric, I'm watching the ship," he said to the green-eyed man. He was Quinn, a fighter pilot and specialist. He wore white and blue flight suit with two chevrons over a triquetra on each shoulder and his name tape said 'Roth.' Edric knew Quinn back from basic training. He had found out that he white-haired man had already gotten his civil pilot's license and was well on his way to getting his fighter-category license. Quinn was always so calm and collected that it was disturbing. Edric wondered if Quinn had ever gotten mad in his life before.

Edric turned to everyone, taking a deep breathe to compose himself. He looked into everyone's face, reaffirming their trust in his leadership skills. "Right, Quinn's with the ship. Anything goes wrong, tell him on the radio. Dante, you're with me. The specialists from the Abbey are here undercover and are going to meet us at the lodge. Raido, Jared—"

"Going to the lake to find our informant who's been missing for a week," Raido said. Raido was a man with wise grey eyes and long messy black hair tied back in a ponytail. He sighed as if hearing these instructions for the millionth time. He was the medic of the team and paid attention to the smallest of detail. One of his failings was his inability to watch injustice without doing something about it. He was the classic fairy tale knight who went to anyone's aid.

Dante had short obsidian hair with brilliant red eyes that bespoke a hair trigger impish personality. He had a wide toothy grin. He was an impatient sort of person but he knew what was right. He was eager to get moving.

"We got it, Edric," Jared said. He had short cropped blue black hair and gold eyes. Edric termed the black-haired man as a very quiet person. He was good listener and followed instructions well.

"And we all meet at the Silver Spirit Lodge by eleven tonight. If there's no contact by midnight, the mission becomes a rescue operation."

"We're taking the bikes," Raido said.

"Right," Edric nodded. "Dante, let's go. The ladies of Saint Xanthe's are waiting for us."

Edric and Dante both shouldered light backpacks, looking like campers. Jared and Raido guided out two levabikes from the Redbird's side hatch and sped off silently in the opposite direction towards the forest.

-

Saint Xanthe's Abbey was the female equivalent of Red Fountain. There was no better way to phrase it than that. It was a school for topnotch disciplined woman with endeavours other than magic. It was the first militaristic women's only university on the planet Magix. The school's roots were deeply intertwined with the rise gender equality in Magix more than several millennia ago. The school had been built a few centuries after Alfea and Cloud Tower as a response to the fact that most women had seen as the weaker sex and were only good for magic, bearing the offspring and doing menial chores and nothing else while the men fought for greater things. The founder of the school, Saint Xanthe Delafée saw something else: a great potential.

Saint Xanthe had been an Alfea fairy who graduated from the school in a trance-like state, eyes constantly glowing like she was possessed by a god. People believed that she had been possessed by her affinity so entirely that Saint Xanthe's own mind did not exist at all.

At the time, Magix, then called Magycks, had been deep in conflict trying to establish one uniform government. Tired of conflict she gathered all the like-minded weary souls in the Valley of Magycks and crossed the treacherous mountains of what was now Shadowhaunt saying that the Great Dragon had not wanted this of them.

In their self-imposed exile, she had created a new society that was not affected by the conflict. However, the conflict followed them and in frustration, Saint Xanthe created the Abbey that acted as the defensive militia against the crude government of Magycks.

There were two sides to Shadowhaunt: the side that faced Magix and the side that faced Xanthe Planitia. On the Xanthe Planitia side, one knew where the mountains ended and the rolling grasslands started by the simply lack of rock. The mountain literally cut off into sudden grassland like there had been some invisible border. Saint Xanthe's Abbey was located just above this border, as the building itself had been carved out of the very face of the mountain. It was at first a monastery that welcomed travelers entering Xanthe Planitia after the harsh trek across Shadowhaunt. When the conflict came, the monastery had the strategic advantage of funneling their enemies through narrow roads and unleashing hell from above.

In the years that came, the Abbey set it self up as a formal school and a militia for Xanthe Planitia. Thousands of years to the present, Saint Xanthe's Abbey was a military school for women that often worked hand-in-hand with the men of Red Fountain.

Satine Sybarite was a staff sergeant who specialized in intelligence gathering. She was a beautiful woman that she could have been mistaken for being younger, which was a good thing. She was easy on the eyes with medium-length dark brown hair and a deep tan. She had the body of an athlete but still gave a sense of male-empowering femininity because of her short stature. She wore skinny jeans and a red blouse.

Honey Rider was a second year specialist from the world of Chirre'ya. She was thin and tall, but not supermodel tall. Messy blond hair framed her round face and blue eyes, like your typical blond. She wore a pink dress under a white sweater.

They sat together at a table at the lodge's restaurant waiting for their dates.

"Sybarite, what do you think happened to Fluffy?"

"He has a name, Honey, and I think that he's not oh-so-adorable when he's fluffy."

"You're calling him Fluffy right now."

"'Fluffy' as an adjective!" Sybarite sighed and covered her face with a hand. "When this is all over, you can call him Fluffy but not now. He has a codename assigned to him—use it."

Honey watched the doors to the lodge, having gave up on the conversation. "The boys are here!"

Sybarite stood up and opened her arms. "Dante, Raido!"

"Sybby!" Dante said equally happy.

For a moment, the staff sergeant's face froze dangerously. Dante ignored it completely and hugged her. "Private, what did I say about calling me 'Sybby?'"

"It's an assignment," he whispered.

"And only during it," she gritted.

"Let's drop your stuff upstairs." Honey gathered Edric's hand in hers affectionately, faking it. Edric jumped at the gesture despite knowing the falsity of the move and became red.

It had only been this year that the men had started working with the women specialists of Saint Xanthe's Abbey. It was a way to get the men accustomed to working with both sexes as it was not uncommon to see female specialists in certains parts of their field. It was also to show them that the girls of Alfea and Cloud Tower were not the only women and were not only useful for magic. Saint Xanthe's had a similar system to Red Fountain's in which there would be squads of four or five and it was a three year school. Although, it was not rare to see smaller teams of two or even one depending on the assignment.

The four moved upstairs to the ladies' room. The room was quaint and warm, giving a relaxing aura. There were two beds with quilted covers and wooden furniture. The three specialists pulled some chairs around a round table.

"And I'm not a private anymore!" Dante said as soon as the door was closed. "I'm a specialist, a rank above a private!"

"Yeah, sure, private. Straight to business, our fink Wolf has been missing for a week and the full moon is coming in two days, you know that and you know what happens if Wolf gets a single ray of concentrated moonlight on him. We're working against the clock and I don't want an inadvertent massacre on my hands."

Edric raised a hand for the sergeant to pause. "Let me clarify this because I didn't believe the report: Wolf is a…?"

"Werewolf, and not of the cognizant kind either. He has difficulty differentiating humans who want to help him. When he transforms, he gains a lot of mass and because of that, it makes him extremely hungry. Obviously, he tries to take a bite out of anyone near him. He can talk when he's changed but it's the first hour that he's the most dangerous because of the hunger. As time goes on, he adapts to his body and then becomes normal."

"Except with a new coat of fur?" Dante added.

Edric ignored his teammate. "But who's to say that he did not just leave to avoid the entire mess? Have you thought of that." the brunet suggested.

Sybarite shook her head. "Not him, Edric. He was a recruit in my platoon during basic training. He's not that kind of a guy. He was an exemplary recruit all summer."

"He was a specialist?" Dante asked. "Was there an incident that made him leave?"

"He left halfway through the second year on his own choice." 'On his own choice' was synonymous for 'personal reasons' and the others figured out why. "That was about two and a half years ago, just before Valtor came. He's not one to give up. He knows what's right and last I checked, that training is still with him when he showed us the bungalow."

The mysterious Livius Electric had set up shop in a hastily made bungalow just down the river.

"Let me guess: the bungalow is not supposed to exist and it's an illegal construction?"

"Right. We usually talk to Wolf every Monday, Wednesday and Friday when he comes in into town for supplies but he didn't come in for Monday or Wednesday and we should have met him at the plaza around two but he wasn't there either. His communicator is somewhere in the middle of the forest, according to GPS, and it's been there the entire week."

"And you think he's missing?"

"Maybe dead at worst. There is nothing in this forest that would want to kill him. The bungalow is guarded and heavily reinforced for such a small building."

"But aren't we jumping to conclusions? It's a hydroelectric company that wants to build a plant for the town. What's the problem?"

Sybarite brought a map that showed the entirety of valley. Lake Crystal dominated the middle of the map and there were several rivers pouring into it. She pointed to a river south of the lake where Darkstone was marked. "What they're saying but doesn't fit, even if it were legal, Dante. Why not build the plant on the river near the town? They want to build it more downriver." The sergeant pointed to where the river met the lake just north of the town. "From what Wolf told us, where they're planning to build is too impractical for anyone. It's practically on the lake. Why not have the dam closer to the town?"

"And there is only one solution to that, isn't there?" Edric said. "Lake Crystal is a magnet for all sorts of trouble from the commercial end."

"They want to distill Lake Crystal's liquid moonlight on the full moon and make a pretty buck out of it."

"Liquid moonlight?" Dante asked. "I'm sorry, not totally into this magic stuff."

"On the full moon, the lake is a perfect mirror and the water can be distilled to give you liquid moonlight. It's essentially magic in a liquid form and it's a very powerful ingredient used for magic potions, especially love potions. Every semester, Red Fountain escorts a team of witches or fairies to refill the school's supply," Sybarite explained. "At the same time, the liquid moonlight is very dangerous—it's poisonous if it's consumed raw. So this poses a health hazard for the public and its magical capabilities are way too dangerous for the regular witch.

"Commercial exportation of anything from the lake is also illegal. Liquid moonlight must be harvested by hand. This place is a heritage site. If they build a dam, there will environmental repercussions. Distilling moonlight is the only logical explanation. They have strange trucks coming into town at night and I don't think they're carrying fluoride for the water. Too many things are not fitting."

Dante jolted out of his seat as Quinn's voice filter into the ear communicator. Edric listened.

"Redbird to Alpha team, Bravo team just reported in. They're at Wolf's house but it's empty and it's been ransacked. They're trapped inside because there's a pack of wolves circling the house. They can't get to their bikes to run. Should I go to them?" Quinn said.

"No, that's like using a bulldozer to kill an ant! Don't go. We'll come back to you Redbird and go to the house ourselves."

Sybarite took a moment to think after being explained the situation. "I suppose it's time for a picnic and a hike up the mountain. Shall we?"

Latter Note: I looked up Darkstone in the comics because I have the French version of the issue and they call the town Pierrenoir, which means Blackstone. What the hell?

Lake Crystal is a place in the Winx Club comics (issue 13 Moonlight). The nearest town is Darkstone and they have a paranoia about the full moon for obvious reasons. In Moonlight, the Winx Club and specialist go to Lake Crystal to collect liquid moonlight on the full moon. On their way to the lake, they encounter a woodsman that Flora becomes friends with when he shelters them in his house during a storm, I think. Later on, the group goes to collect liquid moonlight but is then attacked by wolves. Flora runs from the wolves into the woodman's house who is hiding in the dark. Flora pulls out the bottle of moonlight to make some light which then sets off the woodsman's transformation into a werewolf and proceeds to try to devour Flora. Flora traps him in the house and returns to Alfea, apparently looking for a cure for the condition. (They never got back to it. And you can tell that I'm withholding names.)

Très tragique (bad French) and extremely good fodder for the Flora/Helia fire.

Mwuhahahahaha!

Now, I have a blog that I'm occasionally going to use for anything Verboten related, mainly my thoughts. Drop me a message at http:// kikurukina. blogspot. com.