This chapter contains an alternate version of Candracar's and The Winx's Magical Dimension's creation as well as Xin Jing's story. I fused the two mythology into one. If you have any questions about it don't hesitate, I'll answer as much as I can without giving spoilers.
Disclaimer : I don't own Winx Club or W.I.T.C.H.
Company of Shadowed Light
Chapter 1 : Hello Houston... You have a problem.
Faragonda was still reading that book, again and again.
She couldn't believe what was written inside. If it was true then... Historians would have years of work ahead of them.
There was some part in there that she didn't want to believe, Like how the Great Dragon came to be. But those were the part that made the most sense. The dragon's flame was strong, but not enough to create a whole universe. If she was to believe there had been other beings, the Dragon, Phoenix, Waterstars and even the Tree were just what remained after this First Nymph created this universe as a mean to hide away from the lurking darkness after it had almost destroyed her. Letting her original power in the hands of her sisters to protect the Dimensions.
It was when that Heart of Candracar, the first heart, had come to light. That part had been hard to swallow too, how could they not know about each planet getting their powers from a Heart either. But as she made search she found at that it was probably true. Some fairies had even been the Heart of their own planet, making it to history. It had been known long ago but it had been forgotten under piles of histories, changing name or being cut into different parcels. Most likely it had been judged that it was too dangerous to know about those, for someone with a heart and enough knowledge could literally control the magic of a world.
The four Nymphs remaining used the Heart as the centre of a realm in the centre of Infinity, from which they could oversee the Dimensions created around Earth by Xin Jing. It was how Candracar came to be.
Yet they couldn't use what power Xin Jing left themselves so N'ghala gave five girls on Earth the power to defeat evil using a part of that power, which would grow along themselves. So as to not hurt them, they extracted the powers and made it into Aurameres of each element as well as pure energy which was given to their leader, the one chosen by the Heart itself.
N'Galah, Nymph of Stars was chosen for her power as the first Oracle, Guide to the Guardians that had been created so, some of her power passing down in the next as she had become mortal when time began. Still, she lived on for thousands of years.
Elba , Nymph of the moon, still grieving over her sister, had gone to slay the darkness and was chasing it since then outside of the dimensions. Some times their fight created ripples. Before heading out she had been the first trainer of the Guardians and the 'mother' of the witches as they knew them.
Oneide, Nymph of Life, and Tea, Nymph of Light had continued on their previous duty and helped their sisters when they call for help. Tea's Light was protecting the dimension from any Darkness and had taught the fairies while Oneide made it so nature had its course, birthing the countless spirits of nature such as pixies.
But, and that's where Faragonda could say it was the truth, Darkness had taken root in their sister, and was personified in one of her aspects after its creation. The dark phoenix, Darkar. And only Xin Jing's power could truly defeat it, so they had to let the humans do it, teaching them. That was how the first fairy had learned.
As for why Earth had been chosen. It was where everything had begun. The Centre and common point to each of the Dimensions.
Farangonda hadn't known what that meant, she had even asked help from some of the other professors but none had any idea. Most just thought it was just a count. But Faragonda knew. It was forgotten truth written by Arcadia herself.
This book was most likely the oldest in her library yet she just had read it for the first time the other day, after she had the worst impression ever.
"Headmistress Faragonda." She heard Griselda call her from the door.
"You can enter. Do you need something?" Faragonda answered as she closed the book back on her desk.
"Me nothing, But you might need some sleep. Still obsessed with that fairy tale?" Griselda said as her eyes paused on the book.
"Yes, I can't help but think it'll prove vital for time to come. Yet I feel like I'm missing something to understand it fully." She sighed. "But that's not what you came for, isn't it?"
"Quite. You passed so much time on that book that you didn't look at your other message. There is unusual activity on Domino."
"How is it our problem? This is a message for Marion and Oritel or even Bloom if she is still on Domino ".Faragonda answered, wondering why they would even ask for her. " Now that they are back, it's for them. I know they got back not long ago, but..."
"It's what I said, but they insisted you to see it. They found a magical structure that wasn't there before and want to ask for your expertise." Griselda showed her the message in question.
In the middle of it was the image of a young winged woman garbed in pink and cyan. She had never seen any fairy with wings like that, but the woman bared a striking resemblance to Musa. She read the message and in fact it picked her interest.
"So they found this young woman in the middle of Domino's pole, and they can't break the ice coffin?" She asked as she took a good look at the transparent ice-cube. It wasn't the work of a witch, even they weren't that fine. It looked like the thing was finely sculpted and engraved.
"No, Marion and Oritel got there themselves after a patrol spotted the dome, but whoever did this is truly strong and didn't want anyone to get to its centre. It's good that Queen Marion still remembers how to use the Dragon flame or this fire would have burned her, she was the one who took the picture to send it."
"Yes, an almost unbreakable wind dome hiding a living forest with a part burning in a strange course leading to this coffin. I don't know who did this either but it looks like a tomb." Faragonda proposed as her eyes got once more to the book. Each element had been used to make that natural creation in the middle of what was the worst place of the dimension not long ago.
"Do they know how long it was there?" Faragonda asked.
"No, but they think it was there before the planet was liberated from the curse." The brown haired woman begun, reflexively touching the rim of her glasses. "But not long before as Solaria's soldiers made a patrol there a month ago."
"If they patrolled there, why do they think it was before?" She had not read the report fully yet and was getting blurry eyes.
"Because, as you can see here, the rest of the forest is styled under the snow."
" I see." She got up to her window, looking at the rising sun. The last time she had looked it was setting, had she really remained in her office for so long. Her eyes pasted on the symbol of their academy. "Could they see what it looks like from up?"
Griselda was surprised for a moment but still searched through the message. " Hum... yes, here it is, a turn and quarter spiral, the 'coffin' at its centre, protected from the flame by the ice."
Faragonda imagined what it would look like and suddenly she remembered two things. One was where she had seen something similar, the second was Bartelby's announcement after the festivities some days ago. ' The new Company of Light is almost formed, but they still lack some elements.'
She hadn't understood then, but with that book now it was clear. She checked the book cover and saw that as she thought one of the corners was here.
"Wind." She muttered.
"What, do you want me to open the window? Are you too hot?" Griselda said as she got closed to her. The woman could be caring when with her friend.
"It's nothing Griselda, I'm alright. The symbol burned in the forest is wind. It was probably that woman's power." She said placing the book back on the table.
"I see... And what does it mean?" Her assistant insisted, seeing it was probably where all the problems resided.
"I don't know. It could be a blessing, a curse or both." She said gravely, "All that I know is that we must find the ones who built this."
"Of course, such strong people left unchecked and unknown..." Griselda started in her usual all-businesslike manner.
"No." She stopped her, crossing her hand behind her back " We must find them before whatever killed that woman finds them, they might be the key to the next crisis to befall Magix."
If she was right, there had to be four others somewhere in the magical dimension. If they could go back to Earth they would have buried her there, which meant that something was going on there, but hadn't reached her ears yet.
Were they attacked by the Fairy Hunters, taking them for fairy? Was there something worse? She didn't know and that more than anything was a bad feeling for her. But if they truly were the Guardians the book told about, one of them must have the Heart of Candracar. And that most of all shouldn't fall in evil hands as the book said it was basically what had birthed the Dragon's Flame, the Water Stars, the Dark Phoenix and the Tree of Life along which each World but Earth in this dimension.
"Understood. Any other thing I should mention to them?" Griselda asked.
"Yes. With one of them down, they'll probably be four women or girls. Whatever happens do not antagonize them. And if they ask for a description, they probably have the same wings." She said as she turned back and got out of her office.
"Where are you going?" the younger woman asked.
"Sleeping. I really do need it." She gently smiled and closed the door behind her.
Destroying Zamballa had calmed her. She didn't know why but it had. Maybe using her power in such an unrestricted way had helped to stabilize her new powers. Or maybe she just needed to relieve some stress. Either way, now she felt far better.
It had been surprisingly easy too. She even had the time to remain until the planet was nothing more that dust before going back with the biggest smile she had when all of it had started. And when she had folded back, in time for dinner, she felt good and calm.
Well, as calm as someone about to slowly invade the universe could be. She was not afraid, she didn't care enough. She had done all that she truly wanted to do, every cry now as well as all the chaos she would create was just a bonus until she found a new goal. A new foe worthy to play with and mess up.
The Guardians were good and she could wait for them to come back and get a try with whatever they could. She wouldn't have let them go if not for the pleasure of hunting them later again and see them break once again. Cornelia and Irma should praise themselves lucky, even if they were burning in whatever Hell they were sent to. Now, she couldn't touch them. Sure, she could call upon them once she'd mastered her powers, but she somehow felt that the only ones left to gain her respect were the dead. So now Cassidy and Kadma would pay for them.
In short, it was mercy she had done to Yan Lin by killing her like that, even if she had done it to be sure they didn't forget her as well as increase Hay Lin's hatred for her. It wouldn't be fun if she begged to die like last time.
But that would be for later, now she wouldn't bother to search them. She still had some petty vengeance against her former life to do and that meant going back to Heatherfield.
The fold was already open with Nigel waiting next to it in his civilian clothes, her gifts for Heatherfield on his shoulder. Elyon would come too and was waiting in what became her place, behind her on her right, she had become the best out of her servants, the only one still standing by her at the end of the last fight, so as a way to recompense her she had the right to come.
In fact, she didn't want to do the whole job alone. A new Queen of Earth couldn't possibly go back home without an escort.
Cedric, Miranda, Aldarn and Drake had been sent back to Metamoor as to finish the conquest. Eric would remain here, protecting the palace if someone foolish tried anything until she come back. She did offer him to go with her but he had answered that he was sick of Earth and wanted to pass some time with his love. She didn't insist.
Now everything was ready, It was time to go.
"So ready to come back home?" She asked, more for the form than anything as those two didn't have the choice, she commanded and they did. Now if they enjoyed it too, it was just a plus.
"Yes, at least this time we go with you. Those ten minutes last time were boring." Elyon pointed, touching the small dagger she had even so she did not know how to fight much. A smirk was plastered on her once innocent face.
"Well, at least you saw it till the end, I got knocked out before I could really enjoy hurting that bitch." Nigel sniffed lifting his bag. In that small week since he became her knight her corruption had already made a deal with him.
"Well, we were stalled for time. By the way Will, you never said what the Oracle was up too in there." Elyon asked her, putting a hand on her waist.
"And I'll never will, that's for me to know." She retorted, making lighting flicker on her hand to make her point.
"Mou... You're the boss." Elyon bowed down respectfully.
"Exactly, never forget that Elyon and you'll see the dimensions bow before you." She caressed the girl's chin "Well before me first, but even I can't be everywhere."
"As for time, this time we have as much as we want. Nobody's gonna pull the Oracle's trick again so we can take our time to bask in the chaos we'll make. I'll even let you free to avenge against anyone you want before I burn Heatherfield to a crisp... Or should I drown it under the sea... maybe destroy it in an earthquake... Maybe a Tornado, in this part of the country it would give them quite a fright" Will advanced to the fold.
"How much do you bet that she'll do them all." She heard Nigel mutter behind her.
"That's a sucker bet Nigel." Elyon laughed "I can already see the news and researchers trying to understand what's happening."
' DZT' They got through the portal.
Nigel took a big respiration. "Ha, the polluted air of Heatherfield on the morning."
"It's night, Nigel." Elyon snickered. "Probably past midnight, even."
"And it's the dust of Elyon room you're smelling." Will followed. "By the way why did you choose here once again, Elyon?" She turned to the girl dressed in red.
"With last time, I'm sure some cops are still trying to find what happened to me." Elyon remarked, sitting on her old bed.
"Sure enough." Nigel acquiesced. "Making an appearance on Halloween just to disappear again. They all thought you were a ghost back at school. It made the Guardians really mad."
"Well, they're about to wish you were " Will laughed. "As for the cops, you're right, I sense three outside. They're just talking about the light the fold made." Will turned back to her two followers. "How do you say we say hello?" She teletransported in front of the car.
"Wai.." Nigel said, lifting back the gift bag.
"That was mean of you Will. He has his own grudge against the cops." Elyon said, appearing next to her. The two agents were both wide-eyed. She could understand as both of them were more akin to ghosts, especially now in those clothes and floating above ground
"I know, but it was worth it Elyon. Look at their faces." Will slightly tilted her head to the two men and one woman who were in the car. She could see that one of them was slowly getting out, his gun in hand, she sneered.
"Yep, you're right. And it's his fault for not learning magic." Elyon acquiesced, partaking the grin.
"You know that I don't have magic, Elyon. But at least you didn't start before I was here." Nigel's voice came along with the sound of a portal's grating. That finally snapped out the other two officers who got out.
' I can't believe Riddle was right.' Will heard the blonde man murmur.
'Me neither, but he was. That's definitively magic, and that's Elyon Brown.' the other, a brown-haired woman answered as he got out.
"You two there, get down." The bald man barked at them, pointing his gun at her. He had a malevolent grin, and Will could feel a faint energy from him.
"If you want, but you'll regret it " They slowly got down, Will retracting her wings down her body. She was the first to touch down and the moment she did energy got out of the ground, getting the three officers to the ground and shutting down the neighbourhood's power.
"Whoa.. What was that?" The blond man asked, aghast.
"That was magic, Raphael. I told you." The bald man answered, angered as he searched for his gun. He hadn't predicted this.
"Yes, he his right." Will answered, advancing to the bald Man. "And don't even try to use your meagre power on me." This time he was the one surprised, everyone turned to him.
He tried to get his composure back before asking. "How would you know about that, miss Vandom?"
Good, he wasn't trying to deny it, he was either full of himself or not that stupid. Either way it would be fun. However, before she answered the woman finally got what she had heard to go through her brain.
" Vandom... Wilhelmina Vandom... You're dead, we saw your tombstone." She said trembling.
"I'm very much alive, thank you." She said as she wondered if she should get rid of her now or play a little more with her nerves.
"We were told not to investigate, like the Brown case... was it why? " The blond man wondered at loud as his eyes paused on Elyon.
"Probably, those four had a lot of threads to pull on." Will said in disgust.
"Four... Do you mean agent Lair's daughter and her friends? They've gone missing too... they were with you, right." The now named agent Raphael asked.
"Tch.. Once upon a time, yes. Now... they're with their families I guess." The three officers exchanged an interrogating look while Nigel hand Elyon laughed.
"What do you mean?" The one she suspected to be Riddle asked, his gun once again pointed at her.
"She means they're dead, cop." Nigel barked as he let go of the bag, letting out what was inside of it. Will glared at him making him clear she hadn't wanted it to be here.
"..." The three looked down at the remain of the three Guardian's bodies she had managed to keep when she killed them the first time, still fixed in the mask of terror and despair they had died in. For Taranee she had a goblet of her ashes, her name along with the symbol of fire on it.
"What did..." She could see the unaware officers were about to give their lunch back. Shouldn't they be used to such display?
"I killed them, isn't it clear?" As she said that all three guns went to her. Here the fun could start. "I could explain you how but seeing your faces you would die only hearing it." She grinned. "But here are some memories." She sent the images to Riddle as she had felt him try to probe her mind. The man screamed has he mentally relived what she had done to the Guardians.
"They had asked for it. They betrayed me and let me to die to ally with that scum." Will said harshly.
The two other officers were now on their knees. They didn't know what they colleague was seeing, but it was likely horrifying.
"And before you ask, yes, I killed their families too." At that she heard Elyon hum.
"Do you have anything to add Elyon?" She asked, seriously not knowing.
"Well, you didn't kill Cornelia's parents, That was Caleb and I... let me take the merit for the little things I did." Elyon said proudly.
"Yeah, sorry." She gave her a smirk in return. The agent weren't following anymore.
"What are you?!" Riddle shouted out, his little private séance finally finished. As he said that a gunfire echoed.
' BOOM' The bullet exploded before even going out of the canon. "AHH!" The man cried as is hand exploded.
Immediately the woman got back to the rear of the car, probably where medics were stored as the man got his phone out.
"I wouldn't do this if I were you " Nigel said coming from his back, sword in hand. The man froze.
" Elyon stop the bleeding." Will ordered.
"But..." Elyon started before looking in her eyes, Then she nodded, she had gotten her order. Her hand glowed a bright white and the bleeding stopped, leaving the man pale. The woman had made signs to touch her gun but then she probably remembered how Riddle had even gotten like this because she immediately stopped.
"Now to answer your question, mister Riddle. I'm Wilhelmina Vandom, former leader of Guardians of the infinite Dimensions, Holder of the power over Energy itself, Heart of Candracar, Warrior Queen of Meridian, Conqueror Of Metamoor, vanquisher of the Guardians with ease I might add ,Conqueror of Candracar , Killer of the last Oracle and now new Oracle of Candracar, Destroyer of the planet Zamballa, Heart of Earth and, when I'll feel like moving on, Queen of Earth!" She had started in a murmur and ended in a roar she had made sure was heard all through the city. Riddle was livid, and his to colleagues were not better " Did I forget something Elyon?" She turned to her follower.
"Not anything of importance my Queen." Elyon beamed. Even evil the girl knew how to be cute. It could be creepy sometime, but who was she to talk.
"Good, you can let go."
When she said that Elyon's hand stopped glowing and Riddle fell down, dead. As if waiting for that moment the power in the neighborhood finally got back on and the street lit. However, there were no loud cheers of solace as they usually would at the end of a light out.
In their place there was a long silence, followed by a scream. Everyone around had been tacitly looking at them as Will and Elyon had sparkled with power, giving the only light in the street.
"Now you can call." Will said as Nigel gave back his phone to the officer. But as the officer looked his cell was already dialing. "I was talking to the phone not you. Nigel you can finish him off."
The man fell down, a small blade through his heart. "Ah, I really wanted to kill at least one when we got back. They never believed us when we said the Earth was in danger, now they'll see." He wiped the blood on the man's coat. There was blood on his own shirt, but it was red so nobody would see until their visit to the next office.
The last agent was trembling on her feet, knowing she wasn't getting out of it.
"Miss Will, how many ambulance should I call for?" The phone asked in a voice reminiscing her of her former one.
"One should suffice. I'll let this one live for now. She'll be useful to drive Nigel around" Will said as she got near the woman.
"Understood." The phone answered. She had always liked the machines, they did her bidding as asked without asking why, and with her power they were all under her control. If she wanted to do it quickly all she had to do was find a computer and order it to give her control of every machine on Earth. All that would remain where some lost places she didn't really care for and could stage a metal-age rebellion for her distraction.
"Whoa.. What will you do to me?" The woman asked as Will placed her hand on her cheek.
"Oh, nothing, I could brainwash you but that would be no fun." The woman was wide-eyed. It was like she was bullying a small child. "In its place, I'll count you two little stories."
Joel Mac Tienan felt like was going insane. It all had started almost two years ago with mysterious vanishing of the young Elyon Brown and her family. Officially they had moved to Canada. But when they had called there, there was no name at all.
Then they had interrogated their friends, but they hadn't responded; some were obviously hiding something. Yet when they tried following them, agents started to act strange.
One of said friends was the daughter of Heatherfield's chief officer and another the daughter of a major judge so they had been forced to do it sneakily.
After a half a year they were about to drop the case when Will Vandom was reported dead. However, there was no corpse to see and after digging a little there had been disparity in the testimonies. He just didn't know how she had died and soon both the mother and his chief ordered them to stop. He did, but decided to continue on Elyon, albeit being even more stealthy about it.
For eight months there had been nothing, even their friends had acted as if the girl had never existed. Before the coffin was closed Irma Lair Had started to date with Matt Olsen, Vandom's boyfriend. However he had been forced to ask for not really official help when one of his officers which had gotten too close had resigned and became a gardener after trying to ask the boy if he knew anything when they were once more out of lead.
Then, like in a scary fairy tale, Elyon came back on Halloween's day, her 18th birthday. She was seen by almost all the youngsters at a party thrown by her friend. When she disappeared some minutes later everyone at the party said they had fallen ill, like they would feel in the presence of a ghost. The only ones not to say so had been Irma lair, Taranee Cook, Hay Lin and Matt Olsen even so the boy had been admitted to the hospital after feeling faint.
As for Elyon Brown, no sign.
Soon followed the gruesome, but likely accidental deaths of one member of each of their families as well as one of Cornelia Hale, the apparent leader of their little band. The cases were all suspicious, but no one could have possibly done them on purpose. However at that same time the groups started to fall out and an agent heard them accusing each other for the deaths a little before Christmas.
The only one to believe this theory among their group was Riddle, the unofficial help he had man was a little eccentric, but he knew his stuff , the HQ had vouched that was a specialist in such strange cases.
The problem was that he was obsessed with magic and was the one to propose himself when he had asked for exterior help. He had made up a whole theory that each of those girls had control over an element and had shown obviously fake pictures about them using their powers. He had linked the four deaths to each of the elements and in that he was right.
Then again, maybe he should have listened more for the strangest yet was to come. After the disappearance of the Browns to Canada was the disappearances of the Hales, Lairs, Lins and Cooks to Hawaii. While the girls had remained here. Even their boyfriends had gone with their families and chief Lair was still working on a rather tricky affair.
It didn't make sense.
Then, one month and a half ago the girls themselves had disappeared, this time without any excuse. No news until last week where they found that bag in front of the old Brown's house, along with the beheaded body of Raphael and the body of Riddle who had died of internal heart bleeding. The coronerHis heart exploding under the pressure even so he had is hand cut, exploded by his own malfunctioning gun.
The call had been made by Raphael, and it was his voice. But when they got there with the medic, he was already dead. As for Maria who was supposed to be with them, she was now in a psychiatric hospital talking about fallen angel and castle in the sky.
Thinking back about it he shuddered again. What they had found in that bag was the flailed and poisoned body of Cornelia Hale, the slowly drowned body of Irma Lair, the exploded body of Hay Lin and the ash which had been confirmed to be of Taranee Cook. Once again the elements were there.
The three still recognizable bodies had two holes in their back. 'Where wing would have been.' Joel thought to himself. He was starting to think like Riddle, but after the report he had from the last week... 'No, I must remain on track.'
Once more he looked for the file he had. Had it not been for Vandom's hair present on each crime scene since then he wouldn't be the one in charge, but he was the only one left who knew enough about the case. Almost the lone cops left too. ' If only it had been the end.'
In fact, it had only been the beginning. They had received a call from a downtown bar that one of their officer was there, rambling about the end of the word. It turned out it was is co-worker Maria.
That same night they found there was a call about two other disappearances. Courtney and Bess Grumper. Three days later they found Bess, voicelessly crying in front of the Sheffield Institute. She was nude and spurted numerous wounds, but the worse was the one in her throat where her vocal-cords had been cut, and her right hand where her thumb had been cut. She was holding in her hand the hand of her sister.
This time it was plain day and the journalist had quickly learned about the story. The poor girl had been tortured for three days and had probably seen her sister die, but those parasites had been unable to understand, just seeing the good story.
He didn't know who was worse then, her aggressor or the journalists.
He quickly had his answer when they found the second body two days later, when the girl had finally managed to get across what had happened in the midst of her cry and panic crisis. A nasty puzzle made into a riddle, that's what they had found.
In the meantime, down town gangs had become more active. The police's centre had been attacked and they were now forced to work from home for the ones still alive. At first he had counted on exterior help but the Mayor insisted that they should not, less they spooked the already scared population.
"After all, these are only small gangs getting excited about nothing." The man had nervously said, his visage pale. Joel's 6th sense was saying he was hiding something.
"Captain Tienan?" His assistant called from the hall.
"Yes, Lindy... What's the problem this time?" he asked with a sigh.
"You.. You should come see the TV." She answered, voice shaking. He didn't know what to prepare for, but it wouldn't be good.
"Why are they so stupid?!" Hay Lin shouted as she marched back to a café along with Cassidy. Kadma sighed.
"It's not their fault, they don't know us." Cassidy answered, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.
It had been hard for the young girl more than for any of them. She had to bury her grandmother a second time, killed by what she still felt as her own fault. What saddened Kadma was, as much as she tried not to, she could not help but think she was right.
She still held a burning hate for Will, even after she had learned that it was Irma who had killed her grandson when trying to take the monster from behind. She let down a tear once again. In the end Will was still the evil that had taken from her the last family she had twice. Now that she thought about it, they were all without ties now.
The four of them were in their Guardian outfit which they couldn't seem to get out of. But here on Isis they looked normal as it seemed it would be on any other planet in the magic dimension.
They now had crossed four of those worlds and the worst had been the first.
The first was the frozen planet where they had left Yan Lin's corpse, using their power in their strongest form to give a her a dignified tomb. Even if a creature like the great troll, which attack them, tried he wouldn't get to her. From what they had seen until now it would take a group of their strongest fairies, wizards and witches to even break away to the ice coffin.
They could only pull spells like that when their feelings were all the same, and it took a long ritual. The only who could break it easily was the one who had given her those scars.
They had passed two days in the forest created around Yan Lin's tomb, living on the fruit the forest accepted to give them. On the third day they had gone to explore out in the blizzard once more and had made a very bad encounter. She still couldn't believe their luck that this dimension had a portal forming out of nowhere. If not she and Hay Lin would not be the only one with nasty scars.
'Ah Zamballa.' She supposed its heart was now already under Will's control. Her right side itched only thinking about her and she was forced to hide her right arm under her robe so that she didn't get any unwanted attention.
That portal had taken them to a little planet where the wind seemed to sing. It had been perfect to calm Hay Lin nerves. The girl had been crying all her tears that night in the cave they had slept.
Once more Kadma had used her power over earth to make sure they could live. They also got some meat from a strange flying Lion which tried to attack Taranee and Cassidy as they were scouting for any sentient live. As for water and heat, well it was a build in function for those two.
The problem had been that the cave they used to sleep was the hiding place of some smugglers, out for some rare animals that lived there.
In a way Hay Lin's sadness had saved them. The trauma had made her a really light sleeper and she had heard the out-laws from afar and had been ready when they tried to get the drop on them.
The only thing they weren't ready for were the two witches that commanded them. But next to Will, they were nothing, not that they could fight her. Cassidy had frozen most of the humans, ushered by Taranee's flame in her front while Kadma had taken on a witch using fire magic on her own. Hay Lin took on the Witch using screeching sounds, developing an air wall to stop the atrocity of a sound that almost paralyzed them before knocking her out by behind using her invisibility to pass.
They had then bound them using their own ropes, Kadma making sure they remained asleep thanks to a sleeping plant. It was their first real fight together as a team and it had gone quite alright. That more than anything had solaced her heart. They then took their transport stone, menacing one of the human to know how to use it.
Here they had another problem, It was set to a place. The other hiding place of the smuggler, on the main planet of the system. And those out-law had just fled it.
Still, Cassidy chose that they had to give it a try, saying that it was probably their only mean to move until they found another portal, which could take them to somewhere worse.
Sure enough, they were captured by the soldiers the moment they crossed. When the soldiers had taken them they gave back the crystal with the information about the real smugglers they were looking for to get away from the jail they had been sent in. Then, as clandestine they had been sent to the next planet that accepted people, received refugee without any thank for doing their job.
While there they had tried to warn them from Will, but nobody had even wanted to listen to them, taking them for young fairies away from their schools.
In the end they were sent from Melody to Isis. It was only during the flight that they finally could talk to someone who listen to them. One of the younger soldiers had taken an interest in Taranee so the girl used her charm to get information about the dimensions they were in.
They had learned he was a specialist from the school of Red Fontain on Magix, here to get used to his future post. They also learned what exactly fairies were here. Which in fact was not that far from what they really were as fairies were Guardians of their world.
He had been surprised when, after he asked from which school they were, they had answered Sheffield like usual. Realizing their error they just lied about it being a small unknown school.
When they tried to warn him about Will all he said was it couldn't be worse than Valtor, a man who apparently almost took this dimension during the last year. And that whatever happened the Winx would save the day.
Asking where those Winx were was the next thing they had wanted but it was then that his chief stopped the discussion by calling him to drive. The rest of the trip they hadn't been able to talk to anyone.
Once on Isis they separated, she and Taranee went to do some research in the local library while Cassidy and Hay Lin asked around and tried to find something to eat. Taranee had permitted them to remain in contact thanks to her telepathy.
Finding the library had been easy as people were kind enough once they saw their wings, even if they had found out that they thought they were only first years. Kadma almost shouted out at them, but was calmed down by Cassidy reminding her that her Guardian's form did make her look like a 16 year-old.
The problem was that the library was huge, and even if all books were magically made so that anyone could read them it was hard to find what they wanted.
At least until a librarian, thinking they moved too much, was kind enough to explain them how to search using the magically powered research system.
They had first searched for a history of the magical dimension, but the book didn't make any sense.
"Why are they so fixated on Fire?" Kadma had asked as she read the passage about the Great dragon, which made Taranee smile.
"At least my powers are gonna impress some people." She had answered. "But why did they seal the water stars? Me and Cassidy don't kill ourselves when we touch." She continued.
"I don't know, but in fact, I don't think they are talking about the pure elemental things. Look there is not a mention about the Earth in the creation of the universe." She had said which Taranee acquiesced. Once they had finished Taranee got to search more about the threat they had faced while she did research about the different planets. When their stomachs started to grumble they decided it was time to eat and contacted Hay Lin and Cassidy.
15 minutes later and here they were.
"So, found out anything?" Cassidy asked as she seated.
"They have magic everywhere and contact to each planet of their dimension, but I think you already saw that." Kadma started.
"Yep, we saw." Cassidy nodded. "I had to understand how their magicnet worked to book a place for us tonight. By the way Kadma, you still know how to make gemstones, don't you?" She winked with a mischievous smile.
"Yes, I know. It's how I paid that book. Taranee is good to refine them too, so money won't be a problem."
"Good, because everything I could find here was over pricey." Cassidy said with emphasis of large movements of her arm.
"Are you sure? We don't even know how their currency compares with the Earth's. If there are others who can make gems like Kadma it might not be that much." Taranee pointed out.
"Maybe. But the book we took wasn't too much." Kadma followed.
She was thinking about it, making a comparison to the prices she could see for their dinner when Cassidy cut in. "Whatever I don't want to get a course on economic now. Anything else?"
"Their story of the creation of the dimension is... interesting, but it lacks some details. For example, either there is one big Heart or they don't know about them. Which I find hard to think about if they are truly a magic society." Kadma continued pondering.
"They don't know about it." Hay Lin stated. "They're about to get even more blindsided that we were." Her voice was sad, as if she was already pitying them.
"Not if we can stop it." Both Cassidy and Taranee answered at the same time in caring tone. Hay Lin had changed since that day, they could all see it. She had stopped smiling and with her scar she always looked like she was crying, which she probably was inside.
"It also seems they had their own share of bad guys in the past, and still some now if we are to believe that boy in the ship. Once we found enough, we should probably head to Magix." Kadma noted, remembering their discussion.
"Right, everybody we asked said that it was sort of the dimension's neutral capital. It's also where the Winx he talked about were last seen, and they are known for winning against the three last threats."
"That's a better track record than WITCH, not that we ever really tried." Taranee said in self-loathing, which was followed by Hay Lin shameful nod.
"Girl. Stop rehash the past. You made an error with Will, We made an error with Nissa, what's important now is how we make it right again. Right now Will is probably destroying lives in Heatherfield. But once she has enough, she will go bigger and eventually find this dimension. And by then she will be even stronger." Cassidy said, looking both of them in the eyes. Kadma had to admit she was impressed.
"We know" Taranee said as she lowered her head.
"If My death could make thing right, I would gladly throw my life away again." Hay Lin followed.
"But it doesn't work like that. We need you alive, and well. So snap out of that gloomy attitude you got and..."
"My grandmother died because of me... again. She saved my worthless life when she would have made a far better choice to stay alive." Hay- Lin continued her woe.
Kadma couldn't take it anymore, she took her by the collar "Yes, probably." She said, getting a glare from Cassidy. "But she believed in you. We all respected and loved ger. She was one of the sole friends I ever had. Instead of weeping you should try to prove that she was right saving your life." She finally released her.
Hay Lin remained there for a while, glaring back as her silver aura shimmered around her. Nobody dared to say anything and she could see the waitress avoiding them.
Finally, she breathed loudly before sighing. "You're right. Both of you. I needed to hear that. I've cried enough for now, I will hold back my tears until we are through." She said before sitting back, Taranee placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. It would take time until she was able to smile again, she would never be the one she once was. But at least it didn't feel like she would throw her life away.
"Good, because in case you didn't see it, you're the strongest of us right now. We can't do this without you." Cassidy had in a smile.
"Hey." Taranee complained, but Cassidy stopped her with a sign of her hand before finishing
"We can't do this without each of us. Now what were we talking about?" She turned back to Kadma.
"We were talking about the Winx." She answered, glad that they were back on track, and in a better spirit "They are a group of fairies led by the Princess of Domino. Remember that iced planet where we let Yan Lin?"
"Yes. The planet was creepy, but at the same time I felt like it was the best place for us to let her." Taranee answered as the other nodded.
"If that's it, the planet is no longer frozen." Cassidy intervened.
"How so, from what we read it was cursed 16 years ago by the oldest Evil they had on this Dimension." Kadma was surprised. The old evils weren't easy to defeat. She still remembered that time on Basiliade. In fact, she didn't want to remember. Without Luba's tips she would have lost her life there. Since then she had decided that she should always ask information about their enemies before the fight. A thing she had forgotten until Nerissa painfully reminded it to her.
" I don't know, but older isn't better. We should know, look at Will." They all had a shiver.
"Well. Either way it seems that her highness managed to save her kingdom with the help of her friends and the Prince of Eraklyon. And it seems that this planet's princess doesn't like it." Hay Lin continued, now actively taking part in the conversation.
"I didn't hear that last bit." Cassidy commented, surprised in turn.
"I'm the Air guardian, remember?" She said as she looked like she wanted to smile at her witty remark.
"Yeah right." Taranee gave a cocky smirk. "If that girl is the Princess of Domino, then she must also be the keeper of the Dragon's flame."
"You mean that thing that sounds awfully like a rip off from the Heart of Candracar, only Flame as it sole power?" Kadma asked as she remembered that first book they had read.
"Yes. Which means we have to find them. For now they're our best bet to find allies." Taranee said, turning to Cassidy for approval.
" Hum.." The Water guardian thought. "You're right. As you said we should probably try to head to Magix. It's really seems like it's where we will find people or information we might need. At least the people here don't seem to take us seriously." That last bit was said in a growl. She remembered Hay Lin´s comment when they got back. This dimension didn't know about Candradar, Hearts or the Guardians.
There were numerous magic users, some strong enough to vanquish ancient evil. But so were they and it wasn't enough to gain victory against someone as wicked and strong as Will.
"Well sounds like we have a plan. Tomorrow we go to search for a mean to travel between worlds and head to Magix. It's too late to do it today and we might still find a way to contact the rulers of this planet about Will."
They all nodded.
' I just hope nothing happens until tomorrow'
...
Note : This chapter is the 3rd shortest after the prologue and chapter 2. Don't get used to so fast an update. I plan to release 1-2 chapter per month.
Please tell me what you think of chapter and the story in the review, I'm opened to any constructive comments.
