Hi there !

A chapter shorter than the previous ones.

Let me explain: I wanted to try a new format, a new way of writing. I'm looking for a style and I wonder what writing this story as a chronicle or a biography could give.

Please don't hesitate to tell me what you think.

With that, all the same, happy reading (and with the promise of having longer chapters again)

On the second day of class, in the middle of the morning, enemies managed to enter the school of Alfea. They were between twenty and thirty, all armed with a spear such as those carried by the guards and certain specialists.

Nobody saw them go inside the castle. One can only assume that they had used magic to momentarily shatter the magic dome that was supposed to protect Alfea from intruders.

The first people who finally noticed that an attack was happening were, almost at the same time, the girls present in the infirmary, as well as Mrs. Faragonda and Griselda from the director's office.

Faragonda's reaction was lively and effective. Immediately she summoned Griselda to alert the teachers, that they meet with their students in the entrance hall of the castle, and that they prepare for a possible battle. Then Faragonda teleported into the courtyard, where she stepped between the attackers and the front door. First, she tried to face the enemies alone. But she saw very quickly that she wouldn't be strong enough to fend them off without help. Also, she placed the double entrance gate of the castle, and created a wall there in order to slow down the enemies long enough for everyone in Alfea to get to her combat post.

But there were two flaws in Faragonda's plan, which she herself could never have foreseen: first, the incident with Professor Vija's class meant that one of the teachers and all of them his pupils were dispersed in the castle and its surroundings. Then, that the directives of the director arrived too late in the ears of the Winx. Without counting Flora who was still weakened because he had just happened to her, the other Winx transformed, each one pushing their battle cry:

"Transformation! The fire that protects! Bloom Winx!"

"Transformation! The Magic of the Future! Tecna Winx!"

"Transformation! Heart-pounding rhythm! Musa Winx!"

"Transformation! The fairy who lights up the world! Stella Winx!"

As soon as their metamorphosis were finished, the four fairies smashed the window of the infirmary to find themselves in the yard. They saw their director face all these enemies alone, and they decided to serve as bait. After signaling their presence, three of the assailants bit their ruse and set off in pursuit. Unfortunately for the young fairies, one of the three was an individual wearing a long purple robe. This went down to his feet and covered him up to a hood that completely concealed his head. And it soon turned out that this adversary was much stronger than all the others. Unaware at this moment of this, the four fairies began to fly with full wings towards the forest, in order to ward off their pursuers.

The headmistress, Faragonda, could do nothing other than observe helplessly that several of her students were walking away pursued by enemies. Having to maintain her shield required such concentration that she was already nearly fainting. She was equally helpless upon learning the truth about Vija and her students.

In fact, Faragonda was in such trouble that she felt she had to give up before receiving the signal from Paladium that her orders had been carried out as well as possible, and that she could open the doors to let the entire school fight.

Fortunately, the power of this legendary fairy was still immense despite her age, and she was able to hold on.

When Faragonda lowered his defenses and teleported back into the castle, the enemies were able to reach the entrance hall. Immediately, they found themselves opposed to dozens of students ready to fight, helped by their teachers.

On the side of the Winx, they ended up once they arrived in the forest by being caught up and had to resolve to engage in combat. Alas, if in the school the fight quickly turned to Alfea's advantage, it was thanks to the numbers and the help of the teachers. But in the forest, four against three, the Winx suffered the force of the attackers. Bloom could describe them as follows: "Their spears were powerful, they could serve as a shield against our attacks, and of course they could hit us hard. The most difficult was this individual whose face we could not see. He seemed almost immune against magic."

Bloom had a chance to capture one of the attackers, after she surrounded him with a wall of flame. It would have been a nice capture, because for now, there was no explanation why his people had gone after Alfea. Moreover, it seemed more and more obvious that they were controlled by an individual or an outside magic. Their uniform demeanor and their looks that seemed elsewhere were the strongest clues.

But when Bloom could have captured one of the enemies, she realized at the same time that Musa and Tecna were in a bad position against the individual in the purple robe. "I had to choose, says Bloom again, between capturing one of them and saving my friends. In a fraction of a second, I made my decision."

But even at three, and soon to be four against him, this hooded fellow was proving too strong an opponent.

The fight, sincerely, could have had a tragic end without the arrival of providential help.

When the assault had started, Professor Vija had still not left the forest where he had stopped teaching. Upon receiving Faragonda's message, he had only been able to shamefully admit that his students had scattered all over the school, and possibly its surroundings.

"At that time, he testified, the situation was really dramatic: the school was attacked and I was not only not there to defend it, but in addition I had left my students unsupervised! I was only able to warn Griselda that a few still had to be in the infirmary. Then I rushed towards the school, while trying to shout to call my students, in case some were left somewhere in the forest. Luckily, I ended up hearing the sounds of the fight between the girls and their assailants, and rushed in."

Professor Vija had spent several intense months during his studies among exorcist mages. His apprenticeship in their magic had enabled him to acquire a power known almost only to them, and therefore extremely rare: angel wings, more similar to those of a bird than to those of a fairy, long three meters in wingspan, and which he could just as well deploy when he needed to to move and fight. Faced with the urgency of the situation, he then took them out and began to fly for the first time since arriving at school.

When Vija found the girls, the four Winx had a vision of their teacher flying thanks to his huge white wings. They all said to each other for the moment that they discovered that they were magnificent. Bloom, whose last weeks had been haunted by a winged creature with dark, emaciated wings, was particularly moved by the image of their teacher. Its wings were made of white feathers, and gleamed as if continuously lit by the sun. Bloom said again "When the professor arrived, he landed between the masked individual and us. Our enemy tried to attack us again, but immediately the professor used his wings as a shield to protect us."

Eventually, with the help of Professor Vija, the girls were able to defeat their latest assailant.

In the end, Alfea came out safe and sound from this assault, which was as sudden as it was strange.

This oddity was confirmed by the fact that none of the attackers could be captured for possible questioning. For two reasons: firstly that the assailants, possibly controlled, did not fight so fiercely. They retired as soon as, the element of surprise having passed, Alfea had regained the advantage. Second, a teleportation spell which, worryingly, was powerful enough to work even within the school grounds, yet protected by its magical dome held together by Headmistress Faragonda's energy. Bloom was the only one who was able to capture one of these enemies for a moment.

Any explanation for their actions was therefore only hypothetical. Only professor Vija, could give an interesting information: originating in Andros, he thought to have recognized among the attackers of the criminals having escaped a few weeks earlier from the dimension Omega.

Things were still quite eventful after the battle, when the professor and the girls returned to school.

Professor Vija first began to apologize flatly to his colleagues and Mrs. Faragonda. He had twice failed in his duty as a teacher that morning.

Wizgiz, Paladium and Faragonda, usually so smiling and understanding, all judged Vija harshly. But when no one seemed to support the teacher anymore, Musa and her three friends behind her mingled with the adult group.

Stella says "We were all embarrassed to see the teacher being argued with by the others when he had just saved our lives. Fortunately, Musa was brave enough to speak up. First, the adults started talking, reproach us for being unconscious, for putting ourselves in danger... As if we weren't used to it! But in the end, they agreed to listen to us."

But the most unexpected reinforcement came when Flora, and the girl she had trained with during Vija's class, arrived as well. The two teenagers had been able to talk during their time in the infirmary, and Flora had ended up learning that the teacher had never really threatened the other student, and that he had asked her to play a role to push Flora to be more reactive.

Here is what Flora says in conclusion: "I think Professor Vija's methods are harsh. But I also know that this feeling of danger, this fear, we all feel it every time an enemy attacks us. Like today... I was helpless in the infirmary, and I felt extremely guilty for it. Now I just wish I could get stronger."

Bloom, who had witnessed the whole scene, said that "at that moment, I saw the teacher's face change. He had stopped being harsh and withdrawn. He seemed to be looking at Flora the way my adoptive parents looked at me after I brought in a good grade - which didn't happen often... - I think, I hope, it was just a bad start between us."

Vija had one last word, raising her voice for just about everyone to hear. After again apologizing, he said to everyone, but especially to the director: "Please don't fire me. I only wanted and still want only one thing : that no fairy of Alfea knows the same pain as me, to be found one day unable to protect the people she loves.

See you next time !