Chapter 15 - Three Steps Back and One Step Forward

Once again the clearing was immersed in silence. The moments after the dramatic exit of the dark fairy were long and tense. Unease was noticeable in every individual standing in the clearing. Brandon was actually afraid the two Eternal Fairies would change their mind and leave like their sister. But he couldn't bring himself to break the tension by making the first move. He waited and watched, as he was taught during his fighting classes. Let the opponent play hasty. Let them make that first move. Your own fighting style is determined by that first move, and thus the outcome of the battle.

'These fairies need to make that first move; they needed to prove just to what side their loyalties belong. This moment is too crucial for us to play hasty.' Brandon thought silently to himself, his gaze never leaving the two Eternal Fairies.

Finally the nerve-wracking wait ended. Meira turned from the darkened shadows and faced the Company of Light. "We aren't traitors for wanting to hunt down those who dared to tamper with our charges." she muttered to herself. But Brandon could see she was second guessing her own intentions despite her attempt to convince herself; her honey brown eyes reflected the dark look of uncertainty in spite of all her supposed affiliations to light. She glanced cautiously at all the guys and girls. " So we move on without her. These fiends need to be stopped before they cause irreversible destruction to the space-time continuum."

Aetheria wasn't ready to let the subject go. Brandon saw the struggle in her blue eyes as she stared into the shadows. "I can't believe…" Aetheria's lilting voice trailed off. She turned to Meira, a look of sadness and fear in her eyes. "Why would Kerrin out of anybody just reject our need for aid like that? Do the sister-bound oaths mean nothing to her?" Her eyes pled with Meira, asking for answers.

"Kerrin made her choice, Aetheria. We cannot judge her for choosing actions she knows the gods will forgive." Meira put a hand on Aetheria's shoulder. "You and Eilian have gone forth into unprecedented territory… the point where the bounds of our powers and abilities are tested. What can we do for certain instances and what can we not do?" The pale fairy dropped her hold on her sister's shoulder. "I couldn't allow you and Eilian to fall alone. You two meant no harm or rebellion toward the gods. You were only doing what you believed to be right."

"You're willing to sacrifice yourself for Eilian's and my mistake?" Aetheria took Meira's hand.

"As the oldest of the fairies I feel obligated to take censure for the actions of my younger comrades. Hopefully, since I've done the longest service to the gods, they'll forgive what we've done and take mercy for our boldness to do the right thing." The light fairy pulled from Aetheria and straightened, taking a commanding and regal stance. She gave an acknowledging nod to Sky. "So let us move onward."

"If you are doing the right thing then why should the gods have reason to show you mercy or punishment for that matter?" Layla crossed her arms. "You are doing the right thing… that should be your guys' ticket out of any trouble!"

"She's right, Meira." Aetheria said nervously. She wandered over to the spot where she and Diaspro had fought and knelt to pick up her spear. It sparked with aura as she handled it. " The gods should worry less about their self-preservation and try seeing through the eyes of those who serve them, or even through the eyes of the mortals." Aetheria glanced up toward the sky.

"I do not question the intentions of the gods. They, like humans, are subject to their own perspectives and ideas." Meira got a faraway look in her eyes. "But the gods are not entirely impassive to our human attributes. Have faith, Aetheria. Do not let Kerrin's take on the situation bother you. She doesn't think for the gods, the gods think for themselves. For all we know, this could be their will and we don't even know it. So to move onward is our best option. We need to focus on retrieving those aspects."

Musa nodded slowly, a calm expression on her face. "Okay, so we know you all are going to help us. That's great! So I repeat: How the hell to we get to the 'Dais of Chaos'?"

"Kerrin was right by saying we don't…" Meira started.

"What do you mean?" Sky said darkly. "You're saying we can't get to this Dais?" Brandon had been friends with Sky a long time and could easily recognize his friend's temper rising again. "Then what use are you to us?"

"Well, if we can't then Baltor and Diaspro shouldn't be able to either." Stella pointed out, obviously trying to mediate the situation. Brandon's heart fell as he identified the look of disappointment in her eyes. Then a determination went through her, making the look vanish and she eyed the edgy Sky next to her. "How then do you know this destruction by aspects is even possible if one can't travel to site where it has to be done?"

Every person in the group looked at Meira, who didn't appear to be phased at all about being put on the spot. "If you'd allow me to finish…" Meira said with a wry smile, "It isn't impossible to get to the Dais. Just unknown."

"So let me get this straight. You have absolutely no idea where this Dais is or how we get to it." Sky threw his hands up and walked from the group. "Just throw us back at square one why don't you! We're as helpless as we were back at Palace Domino! We know things but can't do anything with them!"

"We weren't helpless at Domino! We just had to focus a bit harder on the evidence is all! Recall that we did find a trail and follow through with the evidence, Sky." Tecna said hotly, her cheeks flushed. Brandon recalled Tecna's struggle back at Palace Domino, how hard she worked to put the clues together. "To call all of us worthless is quite insulting I'll have you know!"

"You really need to cool your jets, Sky." Musa said, placing a hand on Tecna's shoulder. "You've been too damned edgy and those who are trying to help as best they can are getting chewed!"

Brandon could sense the instability of tensions rising yet again. The past couple days were so full of anxiety and anger he was surprised the whole lot hadn't split up by now. But now the situation seemed to be at breaking point. Sky was seriously angry they hadn't found Bloom yet, Layla looked ready to jump in and finish what she and Sky started earlier, Tecna and the Eternal fairies were visibly offended by Sky's comments; hell, even Riven cracked his knuckles in preparation for a fight. Brandon prepared himself to go forward and quell the fighting when Flora quickly beat him to the punch and prevented the fight by approaching Sky.

"We'll figure it out Sky." Flora said soothingly. She had a hand on Sky's arm and was looking up at him with kind, green eyes. The young flower fairy practically radiated with feelings of calm and hope, which visibly affected every on-edge individual in the group. "Now we've got help from the experts, so things should go a lot smoother."

Flora's soothing appeared to have worked as Sky's anger subsided. But the bitterness still came up. "Some experts." Sky muttered.

"We're not the experts." Aetheria admitted calmly, absent-mindedly rearranging her white robes. She'd either gotten over or ignored Sky's offensive statement from before and simply disregarded the newest comment. "But Eilian has done the most exploring when it comes to the legends of Chaos. We should find her and see what she knows."

"That's probably best." Meira agreed. Her confidence had definitely returned at the mention of Eilian. Obviously the fairy was very close to Eilian compared with her other sisters. "Eilian spent centuries exploring the legends associated with our origins and charges. If anyone knows anything about the Dais, it would be her."

"Fine." Sky looked up tiredly. "If you think that's the best route, then we'll look for Eilian and find out what she knows." he said resignedly. "Just so long as we save Bloom…"

"So we need to return to our search for Eilian." Brandon sighed. "We're not back at square one, but we have taken three steps back."

The scene before Diaspro shimmered as she clawed through it. The darkness roiled in response to her sudden shift in mood. "Well isn't that quite the setback." she muttered angrily. "Now we've got to hunt down that hussy Eilian!" She turned from the remnants of the clearing scene. "I've got to report this to Baltor."

With a swift flourish, Diaspro delved deeper into the shadow realms. Her mind bubbled with irritable thoughts as she lithely moved through the swirling shadows. "Eilian was in our grasp and we disregarded her and let her go." Diaspro growled. "We have to find her before those Winx do. Naturally they've got the upper had with those damned Eternal Fairies. At least the one fairy had enough sense to abandon them. Nonetheless…" She finally pushed through the shadow barrier into the dank, dark depths of a cavern. "Baltor!"

Chittering resounded in response to her shriek. A couple of rats, surprised by her sudden outburst, scampered away from her. Diaspro herself fought her own fear and revulsion. "Why can't we go somewhere less nasty?!" She stomped over to Baltor, who was sitting on large rock, fingering the two aspects with a contemplative look on his face. "Baltor!"

"I heard your first heinously odious screech." He sighed and turned to face her, his contemplative expression replaced with a look of exasperation and boredom. "What is it you wish to gripe at me about now?"

Diaspro narrowed her eyes, struggling with a sudden burst of anger at Baltor's flippancy. "At least I'm bothering to assess the situation! What are you doing? Staring at those stupid aspects like they're interesting or something. They're only good for one thing, Baltor. Destroying Bloom!"

Baltor regarded her coldly. "Do you wish to know why I've had as much success at conquering the universe as I've had?"

"Not really. You did get your ass kicked by Bloom." Diaspro said rolling her eyes.

"That's because I fell to the simple minded emotion of anger, which pushed me to act with erroneous haste. So driven by the need to destroy Bloom was I that I disregarded any sense of caution or preparation. Your anger for Bloom is great, Diaspro! But you need to control it in order to reach your ultimate goal." Baltor turned from her and focused on the aspects again. "I'm considering the possible consequences of our actions. We are playing with time and space after all."

"I don't care if we're playing baseball with God and Buddha!" Diaspro crossed her arms. She'd had quite enough of Baltor's blathering. "While you're busying yourself with worries about Bloom's fate, I'm more alarmed by the fact that we don't know how to get to the Dais of Chaos."

"Whatever are you talking about?" Baltor pocketed the aspects and stood up, towering over Diaspro. "Of course we know how to get to the Dais of Chaos."

Diaspro clenched her fists and held back a scream of exacerbation. "No, we don't! I was counting on leeching the information from those stupid Eternal fairies, but of course they've got no idea how to get there themselves. Then it dawns on them that the only one of them who could possibly have a clue is Eilian! Now they're about to go hunt down Eilian and together they'll all go skipping their way to Dais and stop us by some stroke of dumb luck! We need to get to Eilian first!"

"No we don't." Baltor said calmly.

"What do you mean?" Diaspro snapped.

"Because I know where Eilian is going to lead them." Baltor said with a shrug.

"And how do you know that?" Diaspro asked in astonishment.

"The Ancestrals did raise me you know. They've explored a number of techniques to destroying their enemies. Destruction of aspects was one of those techniques." Baltor clasped his hands behind his back and stood tall, like a teacher instructing his students. "No person in the magical universe knows where the Dais of Chaos is located."

"So Eilian doesn't know…" Diaspro said slowly, "…how does that help us?"

"No person, Diaspro. But legend has it the key to finding the Dais was recorded in an ancient tome of power. However, this tome of power has been lost to the universe for centuries."

"So it's lost. Eilian has never found it. What makes you think we'll be able to find it?" Diaspro crossed her arms, biting her cheek to prevent her from screaming at Baltor to get to the point already.

"Because there's a very likely chance the tome is being kept in one of the most extensive libraries known to the magic dimension." Baltor said matter-of-factly. "The collectors have been hoarding ancient texts and scrolls for centuries. Nobody has bothered to call them out on it because of their standings in the magical universe."

"Who?" Diaspro asked incredulously. "I mean, these people have been stealing these books and neglected sharing them with the universe? Who has that kind of power and capability of going unnoticed?"

Baltor smirked. "Why Diaspro! I'm shocked the thought hadn't come to you. The people would have to be powerful, practically royalty in order to get away with stealing from the general public. Naturally, they'd be well trusted, almost too trusted."

"You mean like Bloom?" Diaspro frowned.

"I'm talking of Bloom's lineage yes." Baltor looked at her. "The kings of Domino have been accruing powerful scrolls and texts for centuries. It is very likely such a text describing the location of the Dais is with him. Of course, I'm not too sure how to go about getting into his libraries…"

Diaspro gave a wicked smile as a brilliant idea dawned on her. "Oh… he'll let me look. Just you wait." She turned on her heel and opened a portal into the shadow realms. Before entering she heard Baltor's last musings.

"I do find it curious, however, that the Ancestrals didn't pursue the destruction of aspects idea…"

Author's note- Curious indeed. Why wouldn't the Ancestrals make use of such a definite way of handling their enemies? Could Baltor be having second thoughts about helping Diaspro? Diaspro's gotten ahead of the Winx and Specialists. Will they be able to catch up with Eilian's help? Will they be able to find Eilian? And what about the unraveling of time? What's up with Bloom? Thought I'd leave you with a bunch of mind boggling questions.

And to my dedicated and supportive readers, thank-you again. I knew there'd be adversary when I began writing fan fictions. I just had no idea I'd have such amazing supporters and reviewers to help me get past the obstacles. You all are wonderful.