Black flames of despair


Blade stumbled falling to her feet. Quickly she looked around. She was in the middle of nowhere. Slightly golden circles travelled along the black ground with her every move, fading shortly afterwards. The horizon was black as the ground. Yet something was glimmering at its edge. Blade stood up slowly. It was a cold place, void-like even. "Am I dead?" She turned around. Nothing. The glimmering line seemed to grow brighter. "No, it's coming closer." Blade walked forward or rather just picked one direction.

"Why, why did you betray us?" A male voice infuriated echoed with a hint of sorrow and regret as suddenly a ball of flames burst out right in front of her. It died down as quickly as it had appeared.

"What?" Blade frowned as unexpectedly she got hit by another eruption right next to her, burning her arm. "OUCH!" She jumped backwards

"No! What did you do?! IDIOT, YOU'RE DOOMED -urgh!" another man's voice echoed from nowhere and immediately another fire exploded right in front of Blade's face.

She was blown away into the air and smashed against the horizon. Inexplicably the sky had become the ground. Glowing waves echoed outwards as she lay still on the ground to catch her breath. "Fuck, what is this?!" Blade coughed. "Where is the damn sword?! It's gone." She sat up. Simultaneously a monstrous version of the sword, she previously had grabbed in the temple, crashed into the ground. As the black floor cracked as a spider web Blade crawled backwards trying to save herself. Yet with a shattering sound, she broke through the floor, free falling. She watched as the shards hit another surface beneath her, breaking into smaller pieces. They sat a flame and vanished. Blade hectically waved around mid-air, her efforts in vain she plummeted to the ground amid the black fire. Her Winx wouldn't activate at all. "Ouch… shit…that hurt…" She gazed at the flames in front of her. Her eyes widened as she realised, "Black magic!" She jumped to her feet as hundreds of voices overlapped screaming and shouting desperately. She only could make a few out.

"It's Retav's fault," an unknown voice whispered amongst the many voices and booming fire flared up everywhere.

"Yeah, he is creepy…"

"It's over, Retav stole the flame. The Great Dragon has forsaken us," an old man's voice whimpered far off.

"We're going to die!" She heard Tessa screaming.

"Run! They are coming!" An old woman screamed followed by the voices of frightened children.

"Mommy help me!" another kid resounded.

"I'm sorry…." Another voice seemed to answer the kid.

"Noo, aahhh, mommy, mommy, mom- ….." The kid's voice squealed and ended abruptly.

Blade tried to evade all random combustions of black flames near her. It was like a minefield that was following her. "Where has the sword gone? It wa-" She barely stopped in time as the ginormous sword rammed right in front of her into the ground. "No, no not again!" She saw the floor cracking again. "Why is it so big, it should be small!" She complained as she had turned tail to run. Surprised Blade turned her head, looking over her shoulders. The sword had mysteriously shrunken down to its normal size. Still, it was nearly as big as her. Blade ran towards it. "I have to stop the curse. If we can get rid of the Dragon Flame sustaining the zombies..." She was panting heavily already; the sword was in her grasp out of nowhere a huge flame engulfed the sword. Blade backed away.

A humanoid form emerged from the flames around the sword, "Fool. There is no hope." The figure pulled the sword out of the ground. "Didn't you listen?" The male voice hissed at her.

Blade observed the burning man, the voice, she had heard amongst the others before, "There is always hope." She countered and readied herself to be attacked.

"Ha, you sound like my younger self. Fine, you will die like my younger self." He aimed the sword tip at Blade. "Electric surge!"

Blade evaded the beam with a side roll. Quickly she tried to create a magic dart to no avail. It was as if she was cut off from her powers. "Shit." She bit her lip.

"I can't give up now!" Her own thought echoed through the endless darkness.

"Huh," Blade didn't take her eyes off her opponent. "How…why…" She awaited yet another burst of flames, yet nothing happened.

"Oh, you, poor fool. Do you really think you can make a difference? You're nothing!" The man rushed at her. Swinging his sword, he predicted Blade's moves easily. He slashed down and Blade ducked away to the side. He sent her flying with a kick and followed up, ramming the sword to the ground.

Blade rolled along the black ground. She opened her eyes and quickly catapulted herself upwards as lighting zig-zagged along the ground to fry her. "Damn it." She landed on her feet sliding backwards before coming to hold.

"Meaningless." The figure commented and walked towards her. "You are nothing. Struggle as you wish. It's all for nothing in the end." Black flaming armour similar to a paladin's formed around the figure.

"Tch. You know nothing about me! My fight is not meaningless." Blade hissed back, still trying to use any magic. "I have friends waiting for me!" She growled at him.

"I will not listen to your lies." Her thoughts resounded out loud.

"Oh, I do not need lies. I see the truth. You're just too stubborn to open your eyes!" The paladin charged at her anew. "Your friends are worth shit!"

"You killed her because you were too weak of all things!?" Tessa's voice rumbled through the darkness.

Blade got hit from behind as the burst of flame erupted. She was confused, "She never said that! Lair!"

"But that's deep down her hearth. What she truly thinks. You can't escape the truth! No one can!" The man raged on as he tried to thrust the sword into Blade's leg who was trying to get her balance back.

Blade rolled away but still got cut by the blade, burning black fire engulfed her wound. "Shit." She scrambled back to her feet as unwavering the paladin turned to attack her again. She made a flick flack backwards.

"So, you did leave her behind!" Tessa's shout resonated creating another fiery explosion and knocking Blade of her hands. "How?"

Blade was hit mid-air by the next burst of flames and slammed to the ground.

"Jewels trusted you…"

Another fireball hit Blade from above. Blade cringed under the pain trying to get up to her feet.

"She was my friend and you failed her!", "How could you!"

Two blasts knocked her right back down. "Tessa…" Tears rolled down her face. "She doesn't mean it." Blade clawed into the ground. "She is hurt, just like I am like we all are. We trust each other. Desertia proofed it!" Blade protested and glared at the paladin.

"Right…" The paladin placed the sword on top of his shoulders.

"Tch. Hypocrite!" Blade's voice resounded and a blast of fire smashed right next to her into the ground and the floor cracked apart.

"Ahaha, there is no such thing as true friendship," The man looked down through the crack in the floor as Blade hurled through the darkness.

Blade watched as the floor pieces shattered like before and suddenly Tessa's voice resounded

"I should never have left it up to you alone…"

Blade got blown to the ground by the explosion that followed. In a hurry, she rolled to the side as she had noticed the paladin plummeting towards her, sword first. "I… she…so what?! I, we all, would have given everything to save Jewels!

"You have no idea how it feels to be all alone and without power!"

"Oh, really? You come to my planet, where hundreds and thousands of people died. Whom I couldn't protect. And you want to lecture me about power? Me the great Daryune saviour of all." The paladin chuckled as voices all over resonated and fire exploded all around him. "That's rich."

"Where is Daryune?"

"Save me!"

"You can't possibly mean to leave them behind?!"

"He probably was working with Retav."

"He abandoned us…"

"Liar!"

"Cheat!"

Daryune did not waver in the face of the explosions and the continuing outcries of long lost and forgotten lives. He simply absorbed the black magic flames as he walked onwards and his cloak began to burn even brighter and his black magic presence grew. "I already walked the path of the light. It only leads to darkness. There is no hope, or friendship, nor salvation." He let the sword hit the ground and with a screeching noise it scratched over the black floor, leaving a trail of fire behind. "In the end, everyone is for himself and all is for nothing. Darkness will always find a way to destroy the light. That's simply how the world works."

Blade crawled backwards. She trembled in fear. That presence, the overwhelming darkness, the outcries of voices, which now became flaming imageries of the past.

"Brother, don't let go!" A girl held on to her older brother.

"No. NO! I don't wanna die! I'm sorry, I- Let go!" The little boy kicked the girl in the head, who plunged into a horde of zombies.

"Close the door!" Another man appeared and ordered people to close a gate.

"Traitors!" A big crowd of people squished against the bars of the door, just to be caught by zombies seconds later.

Blade watched as thousands of stories unfolded in front of her eyes. The devastation shown through the black flames images was horrifying. Blade squinted her eyes and covered her ears she couldn't watch it. She didn't want to.

Daryune rammed the sword into the ground and pulled Blade upwards by her dreadlocks. "LOOK! Watch it!" He sapped her with black lightning so she would open her eyes in reflex.

"We never had a chance…." A burning Tasu stood in front of her, hopeless and motionless as black burning zombies rushed at her.

"I, I just can't…" Birdy's image burned away to nothingness.

"URGH!" She reappeared at another spot casting feather barrage as she got engulfed in black flames of rage.

A burning Tessa walked passed Blade, "As if that would make any difference…" and vanished into smoke.

"It's all my fault." Nebula's image appeared right in front of Blade screaming in agony and out of the blue was sucked downwards into a black raging swirl of fire that sucked more and more of the floor into itself like a black hole.

Blade was held by Daryune right at the edge of the abyss, ready to drop her. "Nebula!" She shrieked. "NO!" Blade watched as all of her friends fell through as the floor cracked beneath them. Caught in the flaming swirl they cried out with all the over images of Phere-Moan burning away. Just now Blade noticed that all of the floors had broken away. What remained was just an endless field of that black magic swirl consuming all those echoes of the past. "No, stop, please, stop!" She cried out as simultaneously she felt tentacles wrapping around her legs, pulling her down. Her friends and everyone were turning into zombies, dragging her down to the impending doom. "Nebula! Tasu! Let go of me, let go!" She screamed out in fear as her friends completely turned and were set flame as they tore on her legs.

Daryune had Blade dangling by her head as the floor around them broke away to be swallowed. "Now you understand. Nothing, but emptiness. Selfishness, traitors and liars. A void that never can be filled. All consuming. There is – no hope." The floor cracked beneath his feet and they, too, fell and he let her go.

"Fairy of Blades! Fairy of Blades!" She tried to activate her Winx as she was hurled around mid-air. She spotted Daryune laughing insanely while he burned away to nothingness. She squinted her eyes, she couldn't watch, it was too much. All over scenarios still played out of people saving themselves at the cost of others. Pushing others into their dooms. "It's all over. Jewels I'm sorry…" She felt a sudden heat around her finger, right where Jewel's diadem ring was. She had been carrying all this time.

"It's alright Blade," Jewel's voice replied in a soft tone.

Blade opened her eyes there it was Jewel's image burning in golden flames. She was in her Enchantix form. "Jewels…" Blade didn't understand she tried to reach out yet the imagery burned away. Just for another one to appear.

A golden Jewels in her normal Winx form just cast several layers of glass to protect a projection of Blade and herself. They were all alone. Alone and cornered as set ablaze Lou's were rushing in. "We tried so hard and yet…No, I will not let it end this way. I will not let their deaths have been in vain. My friends who stayed to support me no matter what. All those who believed my words, who put their trust in me," Jewel's voice echoed throughout in midst of the chaos.

Blade tried to reach out, yet out of nowhere, the black magic sword plummeted right through the image. Jewels dispersed instantly. "Jewels!" Blade watched as with lightning speed the sword fell into the swirl of black flames and disappeared out of sight.

Right next to her Jewel's image appeared once more. It was her beautiful Enchantix form, again. Her hair was so long, and the wings were massive and bright. They were face to face. "BLAZING HAIL!" Jewels drew her bow, shooting her arrow spell. She was smiling. And her voice resounded, "Goodbye, Blade." With that, the mirage burned away.

Blade couldn't believe it. Jewel's face had been one of joy. Not despair. She seemed so confident. She gladly had given her life to save them all. She was the shining example of what a Fairy should inspire to be. A beacon of hope for all around to see.

With a tear in her, eyes Blade watched as the flaming arrow dispersed as well, "Jewels, you damn idiot!" She repeated this time again as she closed her eyes, remembering this moment for eternity, but this time her heart was filled with joy. Yes, it hurt that her friend was gone. Yet it gave her hope and strength. "One step further." She balled her fists pinpointing the location where the black magic sword had vanished. "This isn't over, not yet." She had located the spot and straightened her body like an eagle she dived downwards.

Daryune appeared right in front of her his arms crossed, yet again, "Foolish girl. You'll die. You can't save us. You can't eradicate the pain of this world!"

"But I can open my eyes and face it head-on!"

"That is hopeless, you do not have the power, you can't break this curse! FOOL!" He screamed back at her enraged.

"Wrong. Hope is where ever we stand up for one another!" She reached out with her hand to the black burning inferno in front of her. "And the only thing I need to break a curse of despair is one spark of hope! Now get out of my way!" She crushed through Daryune's mirage and submerged into the burning black flames. The pain cut off her airways with haste she looked around. 'Come on, where are you? Show yourself…' Her whole body tingled as the flesh burned away as she was swimming through the dark miasma cloud. She spotted a faint golden glimmer. "There!" She struggled to get to the sword it was getting colder and colder the closer she came. She grasped around the sword hilt. "Now show me your despair, Phere-Moan!"

Black flames engulfed her completely. Voices flooded her mind, an endless stream of devastation, hurt and betrayal. It was horrible and Blade couldn't stop crying. So many atrocious things had accrued thousands of years ago on this planet. And all those voices screamed out of hatred. But it was out of her hands, out of their hands.

Blade, sure of her intuition, began to cast the counter-spell for a curse of despair, they had learned in school. With only the basic spell at hand, she poured her heart and soul into it. It had to work or all would be lost, "The past cannot be changed. Phere-Moan, I heard your screams, and for every suffering, there is a time to let go..." She spoke out loud in a calm voice.

Sword at hand she got catapulted upwards. She watched as the swirl got covered up by the pieces of black ground that had previously fallen into the endless black hole. All around she watched as the shadow flames kept playing out all those tragic scenes. "The past cannot be forgotten. Phere-Moan, I saw your pain, and for every act, one must forgive…" The images burned away to dust and the black flames on her skin ceased as they left black burning marks on her body. She fell upwards as the gravitation shifted yet again. She rammed the sword into the sky and suddenly the sky had become the floor again. Blade gazed at the cracks the sword had created, and she continued. "The past cannot be prevented. Phere-Moan, I felt your hopelessness, and for every scar, there is another to love and share." She shouted the last part of the spell as loud as she could, "I beg of you, let life blossom and see hope once more!" A wind blew through her dreadlocks and a bright golden shine lit up through the cracks and the black markings on her skin glowed and shimmered as well. Vanishing under the warm glow. She pulled the sword out and the once black flames that had engulfed the sword for millennia turned to a bright red-golden flame, its shine was so bright, Blade had to close her eyes.

"BLADE!" Birdy had shouted in shock. Without a warning, Blade had leapt from the altar they were all stuck on and grabbed the sword. The fire rapidly engulfed her and kept growing. Her friend was crying out in pain and sunk to the ground her hand slipping from the sword's hilt. The zombies despite her efforts had crawled up the barricade and the stun spell from Tessa had faded. Like an ocean wave, the zombie horde was rolling in Birdy let her hand sink. There was no point.

All of a sudden Tasu raised her arms, "Water barrier!" Tasu radiated in bright light as she raised a massive wall in a last-ditch effort she stared confused in Blade's direction. She had felt a sudden burst of light magic of immense power. Yet Blade was not moving, still covered in the black magic of some sort.

Tessa had felt it as well, "Is she actually breaking the curse?!" A glimmer of hope arose in her. "Blade! We got to help her!" She jumped down, she had to help her, however, she could. It was their only hope, but she couldn't get any closer because of the black flames. "Shit! Blade, don't give up! You hear me?!"

The zombies slowly forced themselves through the water wall. It slowed them down but was nowhere near stopping them in their tracks. Tasu fell to her knees as the water wall broke under the pressure of the incoming enemies.

Confused Birdy recast, "FEATHER BARRAGE!" She hadn't noticed the shift of magic until now since she had been so fixated on her previous assault. Her feathers clashed with the zombie horde once again. Yet unlike before they weren't set aflame to regenerate, but rather dissolved into some muddy goo. And most importantly stayed dead. "What in Magix?!" She rejoiced internally. As a bright light green ray of light dashed past her.

Blade heard Birdy fire another feather barrage. They had held out. The sword still burned in the bright and warm glow of the dragon flame. She could sense the black zombies all around them. She finally was able to activate her powers again and dashed sword in hand to the front. She swung wide and a golden flaming inferno hit the zombie horde. "Today you truly die!" She roared and rammed the sword down into the barricade setting it ablaze. She could feel the sword's power brimming brightly and the zombies screeching out rushing to subjugate her. Yet she simply used the sword to decimate any of them who came too close.

Protected by the flaming barricade the girls stared at Blade. Or whatever that was. Blade's skin had turned brownish-grey as if there was no blood left in her body. Her hair was silver-withe. Her former Winx form clothes had been ripped to shreds and had turned mostly black. Besides the inside of her war skirt and a bit of her top bandage. Her layered top was torn apart creating the appearance of some sort of short cloak reaching barely to her hips. Her armoured boots had vanished and in their place were light green leg warmers. Her eyes were shimmering in greenish-blue. Her white wings had turned as well into a sickly light green. Her light magic presence was gone. It was weird for the other girls they couldn't quite grasp it. "What in Magix is going on…" Tasu tried to analyse the situation. Blade was pushing back the zombie horde by herself. Or rather with the dragon flame power lingering inside the sword.

"Be ready, that's black magic coming from her" Birdy warned them. She did not trust that new rotten Fairy form one bit. For all, she knew Blade could turn on them any second now.

"No, it's not," Tessa commented. "It's… dark magic…" She as well as the others didn't dare to enter the battlefield. Blade was using massive area damage spells with the dragon flame. They would get too easily caught in. Plus, she was not sure if Blade really had recognized them.

"A dark magic Fairy?!" Tasu was shocked, "You can't be serious…" Yet she knew Tessa was right, there was no black magic in use. 'There had been only one incident of recent history of a dark magic Fairy. And that had been then Bloom crown princess of Eraklyon, formerly Domino, when she had been turned by Dakar.' This was impossible though. Records she had read about it stated that Bloom attacked everyone in sight from pixies to the headmistress Faragonda and even her own friends and would-be husband. However, Blade was solely focused on the zombies. 'Had they been wrong in the past? Or is this what's to come.'

Birdy scratched her head, trying to get her breath back. "Guys… as much as I like to celebrate…" She pointed to Nebula who was turning still affected by the curse.

"Quickly use your spell. The zombies stay dead. The curse might go away for good as well," Tessa hurried her.

"I can't. I spent all my magic on keeping those shitheads away," Birdy complained at the foolish request.

"We have to stop it now." Tasu bit her lip. "Be ready." She warned them shortly. "Blade! We need the dragon flame to heal Nebula, right now!"

Blade had just cut off several zombie heads and reached the gate. She gazed behind her. Another bulk of zombies had fallen down through the window. But no means to get past the burning barricade. "Damn it…" She cursed and rammed the sword into the mud and set corrupted moss and mould ablaze as well. The fire quickly spread out around the entrance. Yet it was very fin. 'Hopefully enough to slow them down.' She turned to go back to carve away to the altar. Out of the blue the magic circle runes that had been burned into the stone floor lid up in a blueish light. And blueish light bubbles rose from the dead zombie goo converting in several spots and with a chime noise they converged and as their bubble popped open a glowing, flickering orb emerged. Blade recognised them instantaneously. "Wisps?!"

The zombies immediately were drawn to their lifeforce and charged at them like wild animals.

Blade hysterically shouted, "Leave them alone!" And dashed in to save them, completely forgetting that the others had requested her help to save Nebula.

"Whaaaaa-" Birdy didn't understand anything anymore. They had a dragon flame sword, shit loads of zombies, no magic to speak of besides Blade's crazy dark Fairy form. Who apparently wasn't evil. And now for no good reason wisp had risen like daisies from the zombie goo. She watched as one of the wisps floated through the dragon fire and set down right on top of Nebula's heart. A chime resounded and Nebula's body glimmered in the same shine as the wisp. Slowly her corrupted skin turned back to normal.

Tasu stared at the circle beneath them, "No way, it was a summoning circle for curse-breaking wisps?" In disbelief, she ruffled through her short hair. "But, eh, I thought it was from Retav…why would a black wizard even consider…" She shook her head. They had still bigger problems. She gazed at Blade clearing the hall a new. The burning flames at the entrance kept any new zombies at bay. And the wisps even formed circles spinning around the zombies inside the temple lifting their curse.

Blade stopped, she had to catch her breath. She was constantly slashing away at the zombies falling down from the great window in the ceiling. "There is no end to them..." She gazed at the sword. It was rather similar to her own hilts. She had a solid grip made of high-quality materials. The blade was made out of electrical magic energy, probably from the last user and on top of that, there was the power of the dragon flame. Blade sighed, she had noticed after she had set the grass outside ablaze. The dragon flame was depleting with every hit and there wasn't much left. Another zombie rushed at her. Blade jumped backwards into the air and created another chakram and fired it. The chakram hit the torso of the zombie and it sunk to the ground dissolving into more goo. In the corner of her eye, she noticed as a wisp got caught by several of the black zombies and burst as it was drained. Blade quickly darted towards them but was too late the wisp was gone. "Shit."

"Watch out behind you!" Tasu screamed out to her.

Blade turned around blocking the tendrils just in time. She sent another wave of flames throughout the hall. "We'll run out of dragon flame before we can secure the temple if that keeps up!" She warned her friends.

Tasu bit her lip. She looked at the door mechanism, "Blade!" She pointed towards it and jumped from the altar activating her Fairy form for just a second to cross over the barricade. The two of them hurried to the mechanism. "Aim the sword at the crystal and infuse it with the dragon flame!"

Blade nodded and raised her sword, "Hurry!" She concentrated to release the flame. Quickly it was absorbed by the crystal.

Tasu recited the spell again as zombies stormed at them. "May thy gate, Great Dragon, I order as patron save the children of light keep them unharmed and ward off evil. Raise your Border, evil be banished, close thy gate and let the light of life shine. I ask thee close the gate, right now!" She tackled Blade as a bunch of tendrils tried to enwrap her.

Blade felt as the shield went up again, cutting off all the zombies from entering. Also, she could hear screeching as loud as thunder as zombies who had diverted from the entrance hall to crawl up the walls of the temple. She could only imagen what a dragon flame shield would do to them now. That they had no regenerative powers. She jumped to her feet, pulling Tasu up with her. "Here! Keep loading all that's left into the shield. We'll get rid of them. Tessa axe, Birdy use the bow!"

Quickly with the help of the wisps, they got rid of the last zombies that had made it inside before the shield had gone up. The magic circle in front of the altar had not stopped glowing and with time more wisps had appeared. They were flying around the hall cleansing everything that had the slightest taint of corruption. Even the moss and slime along the walls. The barricade had burned to ash and the dragon flame had vanished along with it.

Blade let herself sink to the floor, she felt so dizzy. The new form she had acquired was draining her stamina quite quickly for some reason. It never had been a problem before. She reached with her hand to the ceiling gazing at her greyed skin. She truly looked like a stoneworm had swallowed and spit her out again.

Nebula stepped into her field of vision. She felt much better. Even her wounds had healed more, which wasn't surprising since the fire caracals had been corrupted by black magic as well and the wisp kept sitting on her shoulder still singing its song. "You still alive?" Nebula asked sheepishly.

"Hm…" Blade answered enjoying the peace of the moment. The dragon flame would hold the sustain the shield much longer than their pathetic try. And on top of that if a zombie touched it most likely would turn to goo.

Nebula chuckled, "I know you hate etiquette but that Fairy form… it's straight out weird. You look like a dead man."

"That's nothing to laugh about." Tasu joined them together with the others. "What were you thinking?! How did you even… there is no way you could have cancelled out the curse with your own magic. What did you do? Can you transform back? What about your Winx form?" A thousand questions came to her mind. "Do you feel like yourself, no evil master plans?" She eyed her closely.

Blade sat up. "I..." she didn't even know how to put her prior experience into words. "I just followed my instincts and hoped for the best… I guess…"

Birdy gave her a slap on the head, "You scared the shit out of me. Never do something so reckless ever again!"

Tessa grinned, "I doubt that is possible even if she tried. There is only one Phere-Moan after all." It was weird. They all were relaxed despite the high tension from before. "Finally, I can breathe normally again. The wisps seemed to cleanse the air as well… or maybe it's because that nasty ghost vanished…"

"Yeah," Blade had not thought of it much. "Where did it go, though? It wasn't Daryune, that's for sure…"

"For sure?" Birdy sat down as well after she had checked the entrance but there were no zombies around at the moment.

"Well I saw him then I grabbed the sword, he was way bigger statue than the skeleton." Blade explained as she tried to get out of her transformation.

"Come again? Who is that guy anyway, we didn't have him in class, did we?" Tessa tried to remember.

"Who is he!? How rude!" A man's voice resounded from the rooms behind them and abruptly stopped as if the person had covered his mouth.

The girls turned around jumping back to their feet. "Show yourself!" Tasu commanded.

"Oh no, see what you did, now they gonna kill you. Oh no, oh no…what to do…" the voice whimpered.

"I won't ask again!" Tasu gave the last warning.

Slowly a white-bluish head poked around the corner. It was a ghost. The ghost that had nagging them the whole time to be exact. Yet there was no miasma around the dude. He even resembled his old human form with his chain mail and round helmet on his head that didn't completely fit him. "Ah, don't shoot! I give up. Throw me in the dungeon or feed me to the dragons. Actually no, no, don't feed me to the dragons. That's a really bad idea!" The ghost babbled on.

Blade felt dizzy, the new form kept draining her stamina for no apparent reason. She watched as a wisp passed by the ghost ignoring him completely and set down on yet another spot with the weird purple slime and started to hum again. "So, your curse was broken as well." She relaxed a bit and tried to finally get out of her transformation.

"Yes, yes, thanked be the Great Dragon, thanked be Daryune saviour of all, slayer of Retav O'Darkness and … and you, of course, you!" The ghost threw himself on the floor bowing his head several times as if his life depended on it.

"This is weird…" Tessa stated simply. "How?!… I give up, dragon flame wisps, ghosts." She glanced at Blade who made the weirdest face. "You alright?"

"No, I can't get out of that Fairy form. And I feel Like I gonna puke. This is ridiculous. First, I couldn't activate my Winx, now I am stuck in them?!" Blade's head was spinning. It was freaking her out slightly. "Bullshi-" Suddenly everything went black and she tumbled over.

"Blade," alarmed Birdy caught her. She watched as the Fairy form faded away. "What did you do?!" She glared at the ghost.

"N-no-nothing, I swear. She must have overused her powers! It happens quite frequently with new fairies. Shouldn't you be able to help her, you're all fairies, right? After all the form of a Fairy is hard to control since it consumes so much Drion."

"Drion? You mentioned that several times now…song of Drion, call of Drion… What the hell is it?" Tasu interrogated the ghost. As she checked for Blade's vitals.

"Well Drion is Drion…how can you not know what Drion is you are fairies? By the great dragon, how did you survive this long? Every magic-user uses it to make magic, duh…" The ghost was baffled by those weird fairies. "You can relax by the way. She just fainted. She'll sleep it off."

The girls were looking at him. Nebula shook her head, "Explanation of the century. It is what it is. Its magic used for magic."

"Yes exactly." The ghost nodded.

"An answer I would expect from someone who never used magic in their life." Birdy scratched her forehead.

"Well that he isn't a magic-user was clear already. Otherwise, he would have used the miasma to attack us." Tasu commented relieved that the judgment of the ghost had been right. Blade was simply asleep. "So, Daryune was the one who killed Retav?"

"Yes, right at that spot they said." He pointed at the magic circle. "Oh my, it activated! We're all gonna die!" The ghost panicked and panicked he dashed around the circle. "You have to stop it. Bann it. Do something!" He grabbed a wisp and placed it on top of the circle. "Quickly dispel it!"

Tessa snorted, "You do know that has not an ounce of black magic in it, right?"

"Impossible, Retav created that circle. He doomed us all!" The ghost wouldn't believe them. "Proof it. Tch. What am I saying?... You don't even know how Drion works."

"One, it has no black magic presence. Two, since it glows wisps appear. Three, the wisps are tasked with cleansing corruption. If it were corrupted by any means they would react to it." Tasu took the sword hilt out of her pocket. "You killed yourself with that sword. The dragon flame was inside it. You're not a magic-user. From whom did you steal it?"

"Steal? I did not steal it. It was lying around in the temple. Well… it had been used by some guards. We tried to ward them off but the shield depleted. I simply picked it up from its predecessor. Yet there was no hope. They kept coming and couldn't be killed. I- I simply did not wish to become one of them. So, I…" The ghost stopped. He didn't dare to utter the rest of the sentence.

"Alright. Do you know how to shut the shield off? I only could translate the spell to activate it." Tasu inquired further.

"Why, no, you can't shut it off they'll come for you!" The ghost protested.

Birdy rolled her eyes, "If we don't shut it off it will deplete without achieving anything. There are no zombies around at the moment. We need the shield last as long as it can then we get attacked."

"Oh…" The ghost nodded. "Well, you simply touch the crystal. At least that's what they did back in the day." He recalled.

"Great…so we have to stop the flow of magic by touch every time…" Tessa puffed. She picked Blade up who was still completely knocked out. "Let's set up camp there then. Get some rest."

"Yeah," Nebula agreed. The girls set down next to the shield mechanism and deactivate the shield. "I can take first watch."

"Fine, I go up top, you take the gate. Tessa, Birdy, you get some sleep. You have the best offensive power out of all of us." All nodded in agreement. Tasu then glanced at the ghost. "You're with me. I have some questions for you…"

"Go out there?! Not in a million ye- yes alright…" The ghost suddenly agreed as he was faced with Tasu's dead-eye stare.

She quickly transformed to get up top and instantaneously dropped her Fairy form once she reached the roof and pulled herself up. She barely had made it. The sky was still covered in clouds. She couldn't make out any zombies. Yet the ground around the temple looked as if giant moles had dug them up. Massive amounts of zombie goo were around the temple, floating down the hillside they had rushed up not too long ago. She could spot dozens if not hundreds of wisps. They kept emerging from the goo, spreading out from the temple side slowly cleansing the earth. "So, mister, do you know by any chance where the ocean gate of the planet is. We came from others there. She could the marketplace edges from up the roof. "But that gate only works one way."

The ghost gazed sadly at the desolated area he once called his home planet. "Ocean gate? No sorry, my rank never was that high even then I was in the army. I am pretty sure there was a high-quality map in one of the libraries of the temple if you can break the magic spell. It might reveal the location."

"So, we're still stuck with the map search…So, tell me. What exactly happened all those years ago? Tell me everything you know and heard." Tasu demanded.

"What are they teaching kids these days." In disbelief, he shook his head.

"History remembers things quite differently. Daryune never was mentioned much at all. And you said the circle was from Retav O'Darkness one of the first well known black wizards in history. Yet you said he created the magic circle. That circle's effects are to save the planet, not to destroy it. Clearly, it's what spawns the wisps. Yet you believe him to be the evil mastermind of all this destruction. It can't all be true." Tasu stated firmly. 'If we want to get off this forsaken planet. We need to know the truth.'