Falling apart


Birdy watched perplexed as the zombies seemed to withdraw for the moment. "Are they retreating?" Birdy was confused.

"Maybe they gave up," Tessa said sarcastically.

"Are you giving up already? And you showed such promising entertainment." The ghost chuckled, he couldn't wait to see them fail like all the others who had come before. "They'll come for you in no time, do not worry. They'll find you. They always do… No nook or cranny, no mountain path can hide you. We tried. We died. You'll die. They'll eat you alive. They have been waiting for sooooo long. A year or two…" the ghost added in his crazy talk as he tried to recall.

'That thing is still alive! Didn't she kill it? Geesh, she'll get us all killed.' Tessa ground her teeth as she gazed at Blade, "How can you turn your back on our enemy!? We had it covered. Are you stupid?! What the heck did you even learn in Red Fountain? How to leave your friends behind?!" Quickly she crawled up the barricade.

"What?!" Blade was furious. "Tasu nearly got shot. Will you stop freaking out! It's a ghost stuck to a wall. It can't do shit. Or it already would have done so." She offered Tessa a hand as she was slipping on the mossy wood of the barricade.

Tessa ignored it and made a big leap to finally reach the top, "Just because it has not attacked yet doesn't mean it can't!" She budded heads with her.

"That's why I stayed up on the barricade," Blade got pissed as well. "What the heck is your problem?"

"My problem is YOU fluking around. You…" Tessa raged on.

"Guys…GUYS!" Birdy tried to get their attention but she got dismissed by the both of them.

"Hey! Blade would never do us any harm!" Nebula suddenly took Blade's side. She rushed towards them but quickly felt dizzy again and had to lean against the barricade to catch her breath.

"Fine, don't help…" Birdy was sick and tired of ridicules unnecessary fights. They had done nothing besides fighting all day long, or at least it felt so. For power, for ambitions, and for the future. It seemed all so ridiculous to her. Nothing they had done seemed to have made any difference at all. They had lost Desertia-They had lost Jewels. She turned to go around the barricade.

"Help with what?" Tasu was scratching her head trying to figure out how to break Tessa and Blade up. All while planning ahead for what was to come. They really had no time to waste.

"We have not secured the other rooms, duh," Birdy breathed out to temper herself. The zombie horde outside was unnerving. It was the gloomy future awaiting them, which she could forget but for a second before the moaning in the background pulled her back to reality.

"Alright, let's go. Though theoretically if there were more. They should have attacked the other one to increase their chances… We definitely need the location of the ocean gate. That one room seemed more like an old library." Tasu rambled on as she picked up the bow from the white zombie ready to follow Birdy.

"Can we focus on one task at a time, please?" Birdy tried to caution her. As they both moved on to secure the temple hall alone.

"Just admit it. You had another jump scare and left Jewels behind. I should never have let you come along!" Tessa pushed Blade backwards. The barricade creaked under their shifting weights.

"I did not!" Blade protested a tear rolling down her cheek as the images of Jewel's last moments came back to her. The Bolder. Jewel's unwavering will to save her people and them, her transformation, the beautiful coloured wings, the massive spells. All as she balanced on the wet wood not to fall. "I was by her side, till the end. I would never leave her behind!"

"Oh really, then why are you alive and she is dead?" Tessa asked cold.

"How can you say that!?" Nebula got riled up and started to climb the barricade. It hurt like hell. But Tessa had gone too far.

Blade looked to the ground, "Because… because…. I was too weak to reach her." She blamed herself. She had done everything that she possibly could have. Yet there had to be something more she could have done. Anything. Yet no matter how often she went through the scenarios in her head. It always ended the same. She was about to tell her what had happened as Tessa accused her vehemently again.

"So, you did leave her behind!" Tessa pulled on Blade's torn tunic. She was frustrated, and in pain over the death of her friend, their friend. Everything they tried had ended in a disaster. Nothing she had done had made a difference. They had lost. She had lost a close friend. 'Jewels…' Anger built up inside her, like a raging storm. She was ready to punch Blade. 'How could you? How? Jewels trusted you. She was my friend and you failed her. You killed her because you were too weak of all things!?'

Blade raised her head and caught her punch with ease and pushed back on it, "Tch. Hypocrite. You want to blame someone, so badly?!" She paused, all she wanted to do was to tell her everything that had transpired. They had fought hell to get out of Desertia and counted on each other. Yet before she even noticed she spat back with a trembling voice, "But, where were you? You want to blame someone, blame yourself!" Shocked Blade stared into Tessa's eyes as they lost their shine. 'Shit, I snapped!' She tried to reconcile immediately, to explain. "Hey, I didn't… Jewels reached her…" She muttered as she let go of Tessa's hand.

'You're right. I should have been there to help, to save her… but I wasn't. I should never have left it up to you alone…' Tessa fell into silence. She turned away and jumped down the barricade not listening to another word. Her thoughts were racing, blaming herself she scavenged through the remnants of the temple hall.

Blade looked to Nebula, "Damn it…" She just couldn't bother to follow Tessa right now. She was barely holding on as the pictures of Jewel's death filled her mind. Just short of tears, Blade noticed Nebula who was struggling to get on top. "If you exert yourself one more time. I swear I'll knock you out." Blade scolded her slightly pissed. She climbed down to push her up.

"I'll never betray you again…" Nebula uttered barely holding it together. 'I'll never fail you as a friend ever again.' She didn't even notice that they had reached the top in no time.

"Stop it. I already accepted your apology. We have bigger problems." Blade helped her down to the other side. She wanted her off the ramp and back on solid ground and to lie down.

"Ha, what an obvious lie. You all will throw each other before the zombies. To save your own skin. There is no such thing as true friendship. In the end, it's everyone for themselves." The ghost answered with a dark venomous tone.

It made Blade's skin crawl. "Shut up…" She hissed at him trying to get his bullshit out of her mind. "Birdy? Tasu!" She just noticed that the other two had been so silent and were nowhere to be seen.

"Chill!" Birdy reminded her as she shouted out of the other room. "Perimeter is safe. We have another library and a kitchen of some sort." She gave notice to all in the hall. Out of the blue, a thunderous sound echoed throughout the temple hall.

Blade stormed up the barricade again. And the others gathered looking at the entrance. The zombies had started to throw sticks, stones and boulders against the shield. "Shit. Will that shield hold?" She looked at Tasu.

"Yes…I think…" She balled her hands. 'It will definitely drain it faster. If We…no. Map, ocean gate, curse-breaking. Come on, think Tasu. There has to be away. Think. Think!' Tasu desperately tried to figure out a plan to save them all.

"Ha, ha, you will all die here. Tick tock. Time is running out. Tick tock." The ghost commented in a cold voice.

Birdy redid her pink pigtails, "I hate those things… their numbers keep growing like weed. Can we by any chance fire outside while the shield is up to thin their numbers?"

Blade looked back to Nebula. "Just take a break okay. You need rest." She watched Nebula lean backwards against the altar. Before she addressed Birdy, "Not sure. If it is possible it will strain the shield more that's for sure. But should we waste magic like that?"

"Waste it? We have to fight! Just look at them!" Birdy protested. "Shaking their hands and asking them to leave won't work, THAT'S for sure." Birdy hated just sitting around. Above all, she didn't want to be powerless. Not again. She had pushed herself hard in all the battles. She had become stronger, faster and better. 'Never again, will I be powerless…' She breathed in deeply as she ignored the memories of the bear attack. Just as she had trained with her mother.

"Yes - go, shoot. Blast them away. Blast the shield. Blast everything to pieces. AHAHAHAhahaha!" The spectre's voice trembled from behind them. "You will die in the end…That's for sure…tick tock, tick tock."

All three of them looked over their shoulders, "I hate that guy…" a shiver ran down Blade's spine for a second. 'I swear that thing is growing…urgh, focus, it's just your mind playing tricks on you.' That spectre had such an eerie feeling around him. In fact, the whole temple invoked that feeling of some black magic growing, looming over them. 'It's just the zombies outside, growing in numbers. Calm down.'

"Oh, come on, am I the only one trying to figure out a way off this planet? You got to be kidding me." Tasu was on edge, there was so much to think about and no good options. 'That ghost knows when the shield breaks. We're running out of time.' Annoyed by her own incompetence she glared at the two. "We need a map, find the ocean gate and leave. Or we have to figure out this curse and break it. Tessa, have you found anything?" She shouted out to her as Tessa wandered along the walls. Yet got no reaction from her. "Great…"

"Not that curse-breaking again. How in Magix should we break it, huh? This planet is cursed since millennia. Be realistic, Tasu." Birdy countered as she rolled her eyes.

"It is not. They used this planet as a monument. We have much better education and magic advanced since then. There is no reason to suggest that we are any worse equipped than people back in the day. And unless any of you have a better idea to find the ocean gate, we need a map. These are the only logical courses." Tasu stated clearly and unwavering.

"If there ever had been a map, don't you think people would have taken it with them? For all we know it could lie outside beneath inches of mud and zombies," Birdy commented. "We have to actually do something."

Tasu growled, "We can't do anything but plan while the shield is up. How can you not see that? We can't kill a single one of those things. Even if we had all our magic power. Besides, it's a curse you need completely different spell types. Do you think your little 'Daylight turn to ash what is of evil mind' will do you any good at a zombie horde rushing in?"

"Yes, it will, it worked just fine in the simulator room. If we can funnel the zombie masses we can hold them off long enough to escape."

"This is not the simulation; these zombies do not turn to ash! Your plan is foolish and a waste of our time and resources."

Birdy disagreed vehemently, "And searching for a map or cure in a mouldy temple is even worse!"

"You are short-sighted. Your plan gives us ten seconds, at best." Tasu crossed her arms. "What then?!"

Blade rubbed her nose bridge, "Guys…"

"At least it gives us time instead of wasting ours," Birdy was furious. "How can you not see that we need a battle plan to make our stand and run!?"

"Right, and then we run outside, we form a circle and make a convergence spell. And through our pure love and friendship for one another, the sunlight breaks through the clouds and a wave of love will poof into existence and echo outwards, turning this shithole into a marvellous paradise. Flowers and butterflies everywhere. Winx club style ex Machina. Who do you think we are!?"

"Guys!" Blade tried to deescalate the two to no avail.

Birdy ignored her completely and stepped towards Tasu, "Right, instead, we just sit around searching for something which probably isn't even here. And then the shields fall, we get swamped by zombies, have no battle plan and turn white," she pointed at the zombie's head at the entrance, "Oh, oh, I forgot, at least we become immortal and have all the time in the world researching ancient textbooks and make mouldy soup. Finally finding the damn gate, walk through and get shot by our own people! - Or even better, we finally get a breakthrough, reverse the spell and all go home, and live happily ever after! The end."

Tasu tensed up, "Fighting all of them will not work. We are too weak!"

"And searching for things that are not there is bullshit!" They were at each other's throats any second now.

Blade ground her teeth, "That's enough out of the both of ya!" Blade stepped in and pushed them both backwards. "Tasu, you go check the libraries, you're the only one good enough to quickly translate any of it. If you find any helpful text I can scan it with my bracelet to enhance the readability." She paused and gazed at Birdy, "In the meantime, we two, check how we can reinforce the barricade and create a battle plan." She addressed Birdy. Out of the blue, a loud bang echoed through the temple hall, drawing all of the girl's attention. An ominous feeling crept into every corner of the temple hall. It had come from behind the barricade. Blade caught a glimpse of a black magic surge sparking off into the air. 'Nebula!'

"Nebula!" All the girls screamed out in shock as they could feel her magic fading.

They all scrambled up and down the barricade. Tessa froze at the top as she spotted Nebula first. Her friend was lying on the ground motionless. One hand turned whitish, black lines crawling along with her in slow motion. 'No way, how?! We got them all, there are no more zombies in here. How can she turn now?' She trembled in fear as sweat dropped down her own fingertips. She stared at Nebula who was wailing under the pain as her hand cramped up. There was nothing she could do. She couldn't fight the zombies outside the shield. She wasn't good enough in the ancient languages to find information. She knew no cleansing spell. And she had no ingredients to make a potion even if she wanted to. The only thing she had grabbed from the Desertian treasury was a back of seeds, however, there was no uncorrupted soil anywhere on this forsaken planet. Her sight shifted from Nebula, who was surrounded by the others, to the spectre. The miasma, which was giving the spectre its form, around the skeleton had shrunk quite a bit.

"Nebula, what happened?!" Tasu was hysterically inspecting her arm. "What did you do?" Her pulse was weakening. "Did a zombie get you? You better have not withheld…" She mumbled to herself as she thought of anything that could prevent the spreading of the curse.

"Daylight turn to ash what is of evil mind!" Birdy didn't wait for the prognoses. She would not lose another friend, especially not to a curse. And certainly not with the main forces outside waiting to rip them to shreds. A warm glow flared up as she desperately tried to heal Nebula's arm. "Blade do something! Help us."

Blade tried to get a clear thought overwhelmed by problems piling up on each other, "Yes…but how…" She stared at Tessa frozen in place, pale as a ghost herself. 'Is she?' she squinted her eyes. 'No. There is no black magic coming from her…' Blade gazed at the ghost. 'Did he..? How... that's impossible. It's a ghost. He has no means of transferring a curse. What the heck is going on, here?!'

"Tick tock, tick tock. – Oh, I know. I created a poem just for this rejoiceful occasion, wanna hear?" The ghost maliciously commented.

"NO!" They angrily shouted at the damned ghost as Birdy's spell took effect, yet it was short-lived. The skin turned whitish at Nebula's fingertips, again. Right after Birdy stopped her cleansing spell.

"It goes like this." The spectre blatantly continued as he gloated at the helpless fairies, "The song of Drion calls the living and the weak, tick tock, tick tock. The shield depletes. Tick tock, tick tock. Oh, the darkness he brought when he took the flame. You're doomed, only yourself to blame." The spectre chuckled and burst out into laughter. "Tick tock, tick tock. Psshhh…Can you hear their knock?…tick-tock." He couldn't continue his poem, he was cackling so much in his sick even frenetic way.

Tessa felt the shift in the magic shield first. She turned her head to the magic mechanism at the wall near the entrance. The outer runes vanished. She sensed the magic shield fading at the exterior walls of the temple, concentrating at the doorway and on the ceiling where the great window was, which let the light in to brighten the temple hall scarcely. The zombies stopped throwing their sticks and stones, moving up to the entrance they formed a crowd, moaning and screeching, they glared at her. She could hear scratching and scaling at the walls. "Static search ring…" she uttered. The ring appeared around her dots popped up quickly everywhere and blended together. "There, there is no way out. We, we can't, there are hundreds of them…" She sank down, staring at the horde at the gate. "I'm going to die here..."

Tasu was balling her fists, her mind was racing. "Door and huge window. We can do this. No problem. We could move the barricade to the little rooms…no there is no time. If we transform… no, they'll catch us at the window… if we go straight through them…not chance… a cellar... underground… yes! No there was no other room here… we could dig. Blow a hole into the wall…yes, the wall is about two meters thick…no, no, no…map… first of all we need a map to know where we would go… that won't help we need to break the curse… Nebula, Nebula wake up. What did you do? Tell me." She kneeled down again trying to shake her awake before she vanished into her headspace again.

Birdy had just recited her spell again. "Fuck, I can't do shit. I can't waste magic like that. We have to fight them. It's our only chance. I'm sorry Nebula." Her eyes filled with tears. They would lose yet another friend. "I, I just can't…" Birdy stood up shaking heavily. "Tessa show me their locations." She ground her teeth and tried to climb up the barricade, but the crying cut off her airways again and again.

Blade stared at Nebula's hand as the curse crawled along with her fingers. 'Breath.' She forced herself to calm down one last time. 'Analyse what is in front of you. Why did you move Nebula? I told you to sit still. What did you see?' She stared at the ground the burn marks of the magic circle fading in and out of blurriness as she tried to hold her tears back. 'The circle… altar… why did you move? To where?' She reconstructed Nebula's fall to the ground in her mind. 'If she stood up… she had to turn to the right… and…' She opened her eyes she gazed at the miasma flickering in its ghostly form. Now that its miasma was diminished she could see the sword much clearer again, still stuck in that skeleton, brimming with miasma. "No." Blade stepped closer towards it. She could feel black magic, but it was different from the ghost's miasma. Blade squinted her eyes and crouched down to get a closer look. "What did he say… cursed…" Suddenly as she moved one step closer a flicker of pure black magic flames sparked off aiming straight for her. In reflex, Blade let herself simply fall backwards to evade. The surge dissipated. Blade could feel Nebula's hand right behind her. She looked over her shoulder. Her friend's hand was already completely white again.

"What did you do?!" Tasu shocked, woken from her mind's ramblings gazed at Blade. "Did it hit you?!"

"No…" Blade pointed at the sword. "It's cursed. When I got close it gave off a surge. And…" Blade noticed that the ghost had shrunken again.

Tasu took a step back and reached out with her hand trying to analyse it better, "Flow of the magic streams!" She cast her spell. And indeed, there were two black magic presences. One from the corrupted ghost which was actually quite weak. 'That man has never used magic when he lived. How is this possible?!…' The other presence hit her like a wrecking ball just a second later. It tried to corrupt her through her own spell. A raging fire, burning, brimming with black magic. Tasu wanted to cancel her own spell. Yet suddenly found herself surrounded by black flames rushing at her and everything around her turned into dark nothingness. From the flames a figure, formed out of black flames, emerged. The armour reminded Tasu of a paladin's one. Sword in hand that man charged at her. His eyes filled with hatred flashing up in red and the clear intent to kill her. The crackling of the fire was so loud Tasu couldn't quite understand him as she transformed to fly away and escape his range.

"So…true, … stealing… dragon flame …. temples beacon… YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!" The paladin slashed down his weapon. And from the flaming silhouette lightning, made out of the black magic fire, spread out to stun her.

Tasu watched in horror as the lightning raced towards her, she was way too slow.

"Daylight turn to ash what is of evil mind!" Birdy shouted so loud everyone's ears rang. She had transformed to race to Tasu's rescue.

Blade tackled Tasu and the both of them crashed into the stone wall to their left, "Tasu! Tasu!" She shook her to get her out of her trance. She had just stood still although another surge had aimed to hit her.

Tasu shook her head shortly, "What the… the paladin, watch o-what happened?!" She stared into the dim temple hall where black flames in the air evaporated through Birdy's counterspell. She gazed upwards. Raging black flames burned on top of the window as more and more zombies were throwing themselves on top of the protective shield. Creating a burning see of black magic flames and ground to stand upon for the following zombies. The screams of the endlessly burning zombies were horrifying.

"They will break through any minute now!" Tessa trembled in fear. "We're going to die here! They have us surrounded. We should never have come here." Her legs were close to giving in she watched as the next lines of runes faded out on the shield mechanism.

Birdy ground her teeth gazing at Nebula as the curse crept up her arm, "Not without a fight! Come at me, you little bastards!" She hovered to gaze at the horde at the entrance. 'We'll follow you soon Nebula…'

"Tick tock, speak your last wish. Thieves! Let them guide you into your afterlife! AHAHAHAhahaha!" The spectre now even smaller laughed out aloud. "This will be your grave!"

Tasu stared at the small spectre as Blade pulled her to her feet. Her gaze wandered to the sword. "That's…It's the same…"

"What?" Blade made her chakram ready for their last stand.

"Temple… altar… dragon flame…" Tasu rushed through all the knowledge she had acquired as she had read up on the planet during the school year. The shields began to crack as the zombies amassed, reading themselves to storm in.

Blade climbed on top of the altar to look above the barricade, "If you got something now is the time, Tasu."

"Phere-moan was the only kingdom to ever purchase a dragon flame item from Domino… it was a goblet of some sort filled with a small part of the dragon flame remanence…" Tasu explained.

"So? Not that I am ungrateful for the lesson, but we would have noticed a dragon flame- and used it to break the curse." Blade glanced behind her to check on the damn spectre just in case Tessa had been right and he indeed could attack. As she did, she noticed the altar had an even round, mould right in the middle. They had not been able the see it since the altar was higher than the barricade. She eyed the shield at the gate as a tiny shard broke off and hit the floor dispersing into glittering dust. "Damn it…"

"I would give anything for a dragon flame right about now…" Birdy ground her teeth readying her spell. She watched as from above some glittering dust and black flames fell down like snow in the winter from the breaking of shards.

"Thieves, lairs, murderers don't deserve our flame!" The spectre raged on. "We curse you, all of you, burn and die as Retav!" The ghost replied with a thundering voice, his miasma flickering wildly.

"As if that would make any difference," Tessa finally managed to transform. She was so scared that she hadn't been able to before. "They keep regenerating those things are immortal!"

"Wait," Blade looked behind her into the mould. "This is the temple where the dragon flame was kept!?"

"But records say Retav was killed before he could finish his spell -" Tasu got interrupted as the high-pitched sound of the cracking shield shook her to her core. Like a spider web, the shield was at its last dangling thread.

"DIE!" The spectre screeched as suddenly a zombie was thrown against the gate shield and it gave weight. The zombie horde trampled right over the white zombie's head and flooded the hall.

Like a bursting rain, the shield shattered. Shards flung to the ground and broke up into smaller splinters before dissolving into glimmers. Tasu stared at the sword burning in flames brightly. "No way, Retav's spell got stuck in that sword!" She darted towards it, but as soon as she got into range a surge fired right at her again.

Blade threw her chakram, it shattered in an instant. Tasu got blown to the ground by the impact. "Tasu!" She transformed to check on her.

"SLICING FEATHERS!"

"STATIC SHIELD!" The two fairies on the barricade shouted at the top of their lungs. The lighting hit the zombie horde hard. They were so close to each other that the lightning instantaneously spread from one to the other. They got stuck just as Birdy moved her hands around to cut them down. Black magic fire erupted everywhere drenching the desolated temple hall into a burning inferno.

"Veil… sol-id FOG!" Nebula trembling and cramping raised her hand and blocked the zombies about to fall through the great ceiling window as the shield dispersed there as well. The pain was immense as she felt the curse creeping up her arm suddenly.

"Shit, we don't have enough magic to counter and clean that spell. Damn it, we can't even get close. If I… I… if we… no, no, no, no, if we touch it… it's hopeless. There is nothing we can do, we're out of options." Tasu stared fearfully into Blade's eyes. "We never had a chance…."

Blade pulled her onto her feet, "Defensive formation! To the altar all of you." She pressed the bow back into Tasu's hand and ordered her to get Nebula.

The Veil dissolved as Nebula lost consciousness again. Birdy helped Tasu pick her up.

Tessa screamed out, "ARRRGGGHHHHHH!" Grounding her teeth, her Winx form flickered. The first zombies falling from the ceiling hit the floor hard and turned into black flames instantly as more and more piled on some finally found ground to stand on. "SHIT!"

Blade grabbed her friend and pulled her backwards as dozens of tentacles tried to snatch Tessa. They crashed into the others. "Don't falter!" Blade tried to lift their spirits besides the obvious doom they were facing. 'No, no way, we didn't come this far to fail now. Jewels… Jewels counts on us. We need to save Desertia, all those people…'

"Feather barrage!" Birdy gave it her all and she brought down a massive hail of feathers, cutting the zombies off from them.

"YOU CAN TRY, BUT THIS WILL BE YOUR TOOM!" The ghost growled next to them.

"Tasu options!" Blade gazed at her as she shot off her chakram. Yet her friend was frozen still.

"There is nothing more we can do, there ARE no options, Blade! There never were, even with all of our magic combined and untouched. That spell is too powerful to cleanse by our means. Can't you see!" Tasu's eyes were filled with tears. She couldn't even bother to fire her bow anymore.

Blade watched her friends as she recalled her chakram. Tasu stood frozen next to Nebula who was whaling in pain as she had spent her magic to help them instead of fighting the curse that had befallen her. Tessa's Winx form faded away as she crouched down awaiting her doom. Birdy was simply furious roaring not ready to die and overexerting herself. And Blade, she herself, she hadn't even recovered enough magic to build another weapon. 'No, there has to be a way…I promised Jewels…myself…' Bitterly she gazed at the sword burning in black flames, stuck in the skeleton. 'Corrupted by black magic dragon flame… Great Dragon… creator of life… the zombie's regeneration!' in the spur of the moment Blade jumped down the altar directly aiming for the sword. Black flaming lightning sparked off blinding her, she took hold of the sword grip. As immeasurable pain hit her body crawling through her hands holding the sword.

"BLADE!" she heard Birdy shouting in shock.

Suddenly everything turned dark around Blade. An endless sea of nothingness surrounded her.