One to fall from the light
The day had gone by, slowly. The next day was even worse. They had undertaken some more sparing and then had moved on to finish some more homework. Blade had learned from their past experience and as soon as she had gotten her new bracelet had downloaded or scanned all the books she would need this semester. So, the two of them used the bracelet to finish up some work. They weren't keen on widening the gab even further. Their sleeping rhythm was out of the window though. It was already one o'clock and they were still trying to figure out how to finish that spell form exercise they had been stuck on all evening.
"No, no, you're doing this all wrong," Nebula chewed on another frog bar. "The rhythm is all wrong now."
"But if we swap fly with soar we'll end up with a highspeed butterfly, that smashes against the wall top speed," Blade chuckled.
"Ha, with enough magic it might even be able to blow us out of this stupid cell. We're not going to wait till Faragonda gets us out, are we?" Nebula glanced to the bars.
"Well, we already tried to pick the lock to no avail. It even bit me! We have no magic and even if we refuse to eat that crap any longer. We still wouldn't fit through those prison bars," Blade minimised the projection of the spell form book. They had searched their cell top to bottom even the mini bathroom that had appeared eventually.
Nebula curled her hair between her fingers, "It is a living being right? You said you heard a heartbeat."
"Yeah, so?" Blade asked not sure there this would be going.
"So, why don't you just connect to it and we waltz right outa here?" Nebula wouldn't let this go. Blade had told her what had happened in Griffins office.
"I told you, Griffin is bonded with this school. I can't even use voice of nature without magic. And even if, you do not seriously think I can contest her? She pummelled me in an instant," Blade explained for the hundredth time.
"You haven't even tried. Come on, you are good at making friends," Nebula stood up. "How hard could it be?" She stood in front of the back wall and held her hand against it. "Pretty please, let us out?"
"No, stop! What if Griffin sees us? Next thing we know, she'll chain us to the wall," Blade panicked.
Nebula gave her a look, "Really? You know how late it is. They are all sleeping in their beds. Besides she would never dare to chain us to the… well maybe, but sitting around is not an option. Come on, humour me." She begged.
Blade shook her head, "This is not going to -" She had not even touched the wall as it opened up for her. They both stared at each other and then back to the wall, "It's a trap."
"Yeah, it's a trap," Nebula agreed heavily. "So, we're going right?"
"Of course, let's get the hell outa here," Blade first waved with her hand inside the corridor that had opened up. It stayed open. As she suddenly got pushed inside.
"Hurry, before it closes," She followed her. It was dark inside and suddenly the door closed off. "Ouch, why did you stop?!"
"The door!" Blade was worried.
"Hey, we knew this was a trap, just move and see where it leads…So dark in here, Daylight," she cast to get some light but it vanished just a second later. "Ah, this tower really doesn't like light magic. You try."
"What? I don't know a dark magic spell that creates light," Blade didn't know what to do.
"Just transform then? Come on, we only need something glowy," Nebula felt that the corridor was closing up behind her. "Oh shit, move, move!" She pushed her forward.
Blade ground her teeth and created a magic dart out of black magic. It gave them some greenish shine and was crackling. That magic still was unstable. But at least they had some light as they stumbled along the corridor, "Why is it collapsing? Can we get stuck in the walls? Oh, please don't tell me we went into the digestive system or something."
"Why, because it loves to eat fairies?" Nebula joked around, but this was really creepy. The corridor ramped up. Slime and Teeth were still dripping from the walls. "Pretty sure, Griffin wants us alive. She's probably just laughing her ass off, while we are freaking out."
"You said, she would be sleeping by now," Blade breathed out slowly. "Wait, we got magic back, let me try to connect and check," Blade stopped and held her hand against the walls, "Voice of nature." She could feel that the tower wasn't so happy about the light magic but nonetheless it worked. And then she could feel as a stream of magic was drawn from her body. Blade pulled the hand away quickly, she never had felt so many dark magic presences. "Holy electron!"
"What? What's wrong? Did it bit you?" Nebula glanced behind her seeing the walls cave in and shoved Blade along the corridor.
"The Sorceresses are all donating magic to the tower or it's leeching…it sucked some right out of me," Blade was rather confused. "It drew on the dark magic though…How can it when I was using a light magic spell!?" She looked to Nebula for an answer.
"You're the dark Fairy here. How am I supposed to know? How long is this corridor anyways? Where are we even walking to? …" Nebula gazed along the spiralling upwards corridor.
"Okay, okay, let me try this again…" Blade touched the walls again. It was overwhelming to feel so many people. Griffins presence was the strongest amongst them, but like many others it felt rather passive. "Maybe she is asleep… but who is fooling around with us then? Alyssa?" She let go of the wall again.
"Again, don't look at me," Nebula shrugged. "Do you even know where her dorms is?"
"How should I know that?" Blade moved on. "It's not like we're besties. I barely would call us friends."
"Ha, good one," Nebula chuckled. "Don't you know Sorceresses work alone. They don't have friends."
"That's so mean. Even the Trix are friends or sisters. I never understood what was the case with them. Anyways, everyone needs friends," Blade held against it.
"And for how much will they betray each other?" Nebula giggled some more.
Blade shook her head, "You might call them Sorceresses now, but you have still leaps to grow, my girl." Blade scolded her slightly. "Maybe it's Alyssa helping us escape. She always complains a lot but she's a person of action."
"Ahhh, come on, I was just joking. Not that I ever would tell them, but I think those two are mighty impressive. They have that spark," Nebula stopped together with Blade. As they noticed that the corridor stopped growing frontwards and opening up to the side. It was pitch black by the green glow Blade's dart emitted they could make out some room. Quietly the two of them peeked into it. They could hear some slight whistling and snoring.
Blade stepped into the room glancing around. 'Who's room is this?' It was a rather small room barely two beds and a table plus some closets fit in. She noticed as some flowerhead glew up as it made a gurgling sound and it started to hiss. It released some sort of gas, it smelled awful. She dispersed of her dart momentarily.
Nebula instantaneously clawed into Blade's shoulder, 'Fuck it noticed us!' She pulled Blade backwards trying to shove her through the closing wall. That suddenly didn't quite know what to do.
"Hhhhmmmm," a half-asleep Alyssa complained, "Garry, shut up," She threw something and the flower gulped it down, but wouldn't shut up.
'Let us in, let us in!' Blade panicked as the hole in the wall was way too small for them to fit through and they were stumbling all over the place.
"Alyssa… did you forget to feed Garry again," Steela's annoyed voice resounded as she set up staring at the flower.
Nebula grabbed Blade and pulled them both behind the curtain she just had noticed next to them, 'We're so screwed!'
Alyssa rubbed her eyes, "I did feed him, twice no less." She looked over to Steela and noticed the curtains waved slightly. "Ah, damn it, I told you to close the window when Garry is growing seeds." She pushed away the planked and like a zombie she stumbled towards the window.
Blade looked to Nebula, who was pressed against her. Quickly she closed her eyes, 'Please, please get us out of here. I take literal anywhere other this!' She touched the wall infusing a bit of magic into it.
"I didn't leave it open," Steela complained with a groan as both of the young Sorceresses felt some light magic in the room. "Steel pillar!"
"Willow's grasp!" Alyssa with a growl they fired at the curtain. It got pierced and ripped to shreds by the dark magic vines. Yet it all revealed nothing. "I did not just imagen that, right?"
"No… I think not… damn those council ass wholes. I thought Griffin created a ward to keep them out," Steela turned the lights on. "Good boy, Garry." She praised Alyssa's plant and as there was no one else in the room and the presence was gone. She lied down again, "Come on, let's go to bed…"
"Blade, hang on!" Nebula whispered to Blade who was barely holding on to a ledge.
"What do you think I am doing?!" She reached upwards with her other hand to get a better hold. The tower had gobbled them up as soon as Blade had used her magic to connect with it again. And literally spit them out from a ceiling into a free fall. Now, they were dangling from some stair railing. "Start climbing…please..."
Nebula pulled upwards using Blade's back and shoulder as stepping stones and hopped over that railing and pulled her up, "I thought we would be done for…."
"You can say that again," Blade breathed in deeply and rolled her shoulders to relax the muscles. "Where are we now? It feels…" It was pitch black she created yet another crackling dart.
"Gloomy. The dark magic is strong here. Woaahh," Nebula couldn't believe it there were hundreds of books in shelves some had eyes or mouths some were giggling or hissing. The whole room gave her the hibigibies.
Blade found the stairs and walked down. They stayed close to each other, "Better not touch anything."
"EEEHHH," Nebula made a huge jump to the side. "Yuck it licked me! Gross, gross!"
"SHHHHHH," Blade covered her mouth, "Do you want us to get caught?!"
Nebula swiped with her hand along her back to get the slime off, "Even the books are mean… Let's get out of here before someone, -wait a second. Light that part up." She pointed to their right.
Blade held her dart into the direction. It revealed the inner side of some warded door, but they were clearly on the inside. The room looked more like a crypt. "No way…do you think we are…"
"The Cloud tower forbidden book section, just like the one at Alfea," She looked upwards the floor to the normal library was see through from down here. Up top she could see long shelfs filled with books. "Blade you know what that means?"
"We're in deep shit trouble if Griffin finds us?" Blade scratched her head. "We should get out, there must be wards around. We're trespassing…that's not what I meant, when I thought about the most quiet, abended place at this time of the night…"
Nebula smirked, "That to. But we actually might find a book about your weird ass Fairy form."
"Griffin is already researching that topic. The chances of us getting cursed simply, because we stare at the wrong book are way too high. You can't even use your magic here properly," Blade wasn't so sure about this, not that she didn't want to, it was just very risky.
"Who knows if she would even tell you, Blade. Or what she will ask in return. Come on, this is a one in a life time chance," Nebula inspected the categories on the shelves.
Blade sighed, "Fine… but I doubt there is a category for Fairy books." She joined her friend as they sneaked around. The books followed those two's every move. It was disturbing to say the least. They wanted to be sure not to fall into any trap, but even after ten minutes, they had not found any topic sounding even similar to something that would contain a Fairy transformation.
"Ah, come on, who sorted these books…" Nebula complained.
"And if I ask the tower again?" Blade asked reluctantly.
Nebula stopped, "If there are wards, using magic will set them off definitely. Hmm, on the other hand, no one has come to stop us yet. Fine, but we might need to hightail outa here."
Blade nodded and touched the floor, 'Dark Fairy form, Dark Fairy form, dark Fairy form.' She intensely focused on that thought in hopes to convey the message to the tower. Nothing happened at first a good thirty seconds later they heard a clunk sound behind them. "What was that?!"
Nebula had stood watch and moved into one of the shelf corridors, "It came from there." She watched as a book was carried on the shifting ground past her to Blade.
Blade glanced at the cover. It was all dusty. She brushed away the thick layer of dirt, "Oh boy, is that hex rune script? Wait…that symbol there…"
"Those are runes like on Ph - phenomenal old books," she bit her tongue. "You got the program done?"
Blade nodded, "Yeah… let me scan it." She carefully scanned the cover without opening the book. "Odes of light and dark. Sounds like a poem book, why would that be here in the secret section? I don't feel much of a magic presence either, you?"
"Nope, nothing. I'm not even sure it is a magic book to begin with. See the paper it doesn't shimmer like the magic ones," Nebula scratched her head. "Any locks, runes?"
"Nope, no teeth, eyes or tongues either. Should we open it?" Blade asked scared. In class they had learned a lot of the danger of some grimoires, like the Legendarium. She wasn't keen on unleashing disaster.
"Yes, but maybe with a stick or something. Don't directly touch it. Just to be on the save side," Nebula suggested.
Blade used her dart to flip it randomly open. Nothing happened. The pages weren't in the best condition at all. "Look the text structure does look like poems. It's small, but that are still a lot of pages, I can't scan all of those randomly till we get a hit, the program still needs time to decipher that will take till morning." She suddenly felt a jolt as the tower zapped her with a bit of magic. "Ouch."
"What's wrong?" Nebula bit her finger, they were so close.
"Damn it, I think Griffin has woken up. I can feel her presence. She's coming," Blade held her hand against the floor trying to open another pathway, but the tower wouldn't respond at all. "Shit, I can't, she locked me out or something...what now?"
"Let's take what we can! Just search for something Fairy like, a word…wings? Drion maybe? Look at the edges are some border illustrations…" She kneeled down as Blade skipped through the pages with haste.
"There," Blade noticed a page with some drawing one could interpret as a Fairy. "Scanning now… come on, come on, alright got it!" She deactivated the bracelet.
The door to the crypt sprang open, a tired and pissed Griffin was standing in doors arch. "You got some nerve. How did you even find this place!?" She saw as Blade slammed the book shut. She reached out and the book soared through the air directly into her hands. "Have you any concept of how dangerous these books are!?" She gazed at the title. It wasn't a book familiar to her at all. Not that was weird. There were lots of dangerous books with all kinds of side-effects in the crypt. She didn't dabble in them just for the fun sake. But even then, it was surprising how small that magic presence of that particular book was. As if it wasn't even in this room. It camouflaged right in. There were no seals broken either. 'Did someone misplace this?'
Blade and Nebula were at the ready. There was really nowhere to run, "We kinda just fell in, truly."
"Yeah, if you don't want us here, you should have put up better defences," Nebula grinned. This was probably one of the most secure rooms of Cloud Tower.
"Unbelievable, you little glow worms... what did you read? Tell me this instant," Griffin wasn't in the mood for joking around.
"Nothing," Blade answered, "We didn't have the tim-"
Griffin glared at the two fairies, "Idiots. Tell me now. Who knows what curse you have unleashed on yourself or on others. Page now!"
"But-" Nebula shut up, "The one with the Fairy pictures…"
Griffin let the book float in front of her, skipping through pages, as she inspected the girls closely. 'Thank the Great Dragon, I can't sense any curse on them.' The book stopped at the page. Griffin read over it. She sighed, "Simple old poems… you came in here for simple old poems?" She snipped and the book vanished. 'What is a book like this doing here? Why would the tower lead them inside?' She pondered for a second. "What did you ask the tower?"
"We didn't…" Blade stopped. Griffin wasn't one to let go such things. "Fine. We asked about Dark Fairy form...It seemed like a good idea at the time…."
"It still is. Why should we pay for information we can get ourselves?" Nebula crossed her arms.
Griffin rolled with her eyes, "Get out, before something kills you." She magically pulled the two girls outside and closed the crypt off, 'I swear, ever since Blade's come here Cloud Tower is going all bonkers for her. I need to strengthen the bond and visit the heart and make some ground rules clear…these kids have no idea the trouble they can get into with some of those books.' Without a word Nebula and Blade waited till she had resealed the crypt completely. "So, you finished the translation?" Griffin glanced at Blade's bracelet.
"Ehh," Nebula was perplexed how did Griffin knew that.
"Yes…" Blade sighed. "But, please, I just really want to know wha-"
"Silence!" Griffin waved at the walls and another corridor opened. "Move it, before I skin you alive." A minute later they had reached her office and she sat down in her chair. She breathed in annoyed, "Well then, open the translation."
"Really?" Blade couldn't believe it. 'Would she truly allow it? Gesh, she has like massive mood swings. First she wants to kill us, now she wants to help…'
"Will you hurry it up…" Griffin rubbed her nose bridge, she was so tried. She waved around with her hands and several runes lit up inside her office, "Need an invitation?"
"Right, right…" Blade activated her bracelet and projected the text. It read as followed.
One to reach for the light
One to roam the night
One to believe in your own
One to keep your own throne
The will to thrive, our eternal strife
One to grow beyond fear
One to sacrifice dear
One to gain more
One to end war
The strength to ascend, our men to defend
One to knock death's door
One to walk its floor
One to spread dust
One to wield trust
The bonds to display our hearts way
One to shine too bright
One to fall from the light
One to burn at her cost
One to turn forever lost
The balance to sustain, our struggle might end in vain
They stared at it for a while, reading it over and over. The only thing that truly stood out for Blade was the last verse, "One to shine too bright….one to burn at her cost… could it be…" It reminded her so much of Jewels last moments.
"You thinking of burnout as well?" Nebula looked at her friend. "Is this poem even about fairies? This could be about anything really… it also sounds rather grim, lots of death…not very Fairy like," She was worried none of that sounded good.
Griffin tilted her head, 'I heard that somewhere before… just a bit different…How could Faragonda be so careless and leave her freaking poetry book in my crypt. Unbelievable…do I look like a library.' She gazed at the overwhelmed girls. "Well then, after this enlightment time for you two, to go to bed. And the next time I see you stroll around; I will chain you to this wall. That's a promise." She pointed at the ceiling of her office with an angry expression.
"You know what it means?" Blade asked as she stepped forward to confront the headmistress. "Please tel-" She was the one hiding something this time around. Suddenly they stood back in their cell again.
"Shit…" Nebula looked around, "She's good. Ahhh, we were so close. We need to get that book back. She definitely knows more. Damn it, she'll read the whole thing before we even can."
Blade looked upwards, "We can be glad we could keep, what we got…" She felt so tired. "Let's go over it in the morning okay?"
"Hey Timmy, are you sure about this?" Riven leaned against the inner arc of his personal Owl. "Not that I mind taking you two for a ride…It's good to see you two."
"Yes, Riven, I will pay you for the fuel…" Timmy rolled with his eyes. "We just truly needed a ship that doesn't belong to any kingdom," he explained for the hundredth time.
Techna chuckled, "And you're the only bounty hunter we know who goes solo after all. We missed you at the Dragon festival. Musa did too you know." She pressed her hand into her hip shortly.
"Well, I was busy hunting for those witches' sand golems and got side tracked with plenty of jackals in the end. You two saw the mess, as much as I wanted, I couldn't just leave. Desertia really got hit hard. What does flying around, like a crazy person, have to do with that, by the way? You said you had to check something important off the records. You two normally do everything by the books, what's up?" He asked again, they weren't so fourth coming and looked rather unsure, which was weird. His two friends always had a plan.
"Well, how to put this…You know that a few days ago two survivors came through an Ocean Gate?" Timmy started his explanation.
"Of course, I picked up the chatter. They were two Fairy students from Alfea. They official records stated that the time delay came from the destruction of the Ocean Gate and probably the interference of Desertia's old rune system. They got super lucky, being stuck in an in-between dimension was much more likely to happen," He moved to sit down on a chair and leaned back.
"Yeah, one of the students had one of my and Lunarsteel's prototype bracelets on the whole time," Timmy explained further.
Riven smirked, now it made sense to him, "…So you got tons of data, Faragonda set you up with to scan through and something made no sense? And you want to be sure first. But even then, why contact me? Not that I am mad, I get paid by you for the job, after all. I would have done it for free you know."
"But then we wouldn't have official records to cover for our time being here." Tecna smiled. "And you cannot sell this information to anyone, understand." Tecna made her serious face and continued. "Timmy checked the data over and over. We had around eight weeks of data, of course it is not possible for an old rune system to enlarge that time gap so far, a day or two maybe. That is just a hypothesis Faragonda used in the official statement. If you take in consideration that the agis rune is used to…"
"Tecna, less hypothesis and more facts, please. If you go into how portals work, I will not understand a thing," Riven chuckled a bit. "Same old after all these years."
"Right, my bad. It's just such a fascinating topic. Well, where was I, ah right, Timmy tried to sort through the jumble of data no matter how many programs he ran the data through. There were still around two weeks of data which definitely wasn't portal related. I even tried more than one of my spells to repair the bracelet, still the same results."
"Yeah, and then we noticed that personal files were created in that time period. And these were encrypted through a Lunasteel company coding program, no less. Since, I helped to set it up, that was no problem," Timmy jumped in.
"Oh, so you two hacked a Fairy's dairy in the name of science, nice! You two sure you don't want to become bounty hunters?" Riven laughed so hard when he saw their guilty expressions.
"Hey, Faragonda said it was of the utmost importance…I trust her with my life…" Tecna commented quietly.
"Alright, alright, I was just teasing you. I would have done the same. Well, I would have found someone who could, namely you two. So, what did you find?" Riven asked intrigued. Normally their missions were simple theory testing or data collection. But this was one juicy story.
Timmy activated the bracelet around his wrist, it was Blade's old one, "Well, the most troubling thing are these notes. Which basically state that the destruction of the Desertian palace was not a witch attack, but a Coup de 'tat…and its supported by wonky proof at best."
"Say what?!" Riven nearly fell from his chair. "Show me," he gazed at the list of names all had some smiley behind them. To his surprise there was Lord Shabaka with an evil grin face behind his name. "No way…he gave me the job to hunt the sand golems. He was one of the traitors? But how?! Why?"
Tecna sighed, "That's not all. We have several scans of really old texts of a temple maid on Phere-Moan."
Timmy opened up a table, "And a rudimentary table of an extrapolation of a war against zombies…"
Riven wasn't quite sure what to make of it all, "You're pulling my leg right? Phere-Moan?! How would they even get there? Why a battle simulation?" He inspected the data closer. "That is meaningless, the zombies of Phere-Moan are unkillable due to the curse of Retav O'Darkness. Are these kids insane? You don't seriously think, they left behind their friends in a death trap." He facepalmed so hard. "Kids these days, I swear."
Tecna stayed super serious, "Well, like you can read, they apparently had Wisps and Lou Carcolhs on their side. And if the extrapolation is correct, the fight is long over by now. Even before Blade and Nebula reached the island and got rescued. I am pretty sure they wouldn't have done an extrapolation if the zombies were invincible," Tecna stated rather blandly.
"You don't know that, they are dumb kids! Why are we jumping from system to system like buffoons?" Riven stepped up to the console and entered in the coordinates.
"Woah, chill, buddy, we need to make sure that no one is following us. Also, they are students just like we were, have some faith," Timmy tried to calm him down.
"Like us? You're not helping your case here, Timmy. You do remember how much bullshit we did back in the days, right? Besides, there is no one following us. You checked five times by now jumping back and forth." He sat the course straight to Phere-Moan and locked it in.
Riven read through all of the personal notes until they finally reached Phere-Moan's orbit. A thick dark cloud storm covered the planet like always. The scanners didn't get through the static created from the magical storm below them. "Buckle up." Riven warned the two.
"Shield's are up and boosted," Timmy gave him a thumbs up. "Cloak activated."
Tecna smiled and touched the console in front of her, "I think we need a tiny bit more than that." She infused the ship with her magic to greatly bolster all functions.
Riven hurriedly nosedived the ship. Besides a few tremors they got through the storm just fine. He instantly checked for live signs. "What the fuck… there are over thirty thousand life signs…"
Tecna smiled relieved, "I'm not picking up any zombie readings. A lot of wisp and Lous though. They are spreading rather wide on the planet's surface. Scanning for fairies now."
Timmy pulled up some records, "Here in the left quadrant should be that temple. Adjusting course."
"Unbelievable, how the heck did they destroy so many zombies. This planet is wiped clean. School kids don't have that kind of magic power, well besides, Bloom maybe. How did they lift a curse of that magnitude? No one even knows what kind of curse that was," Riven looked out of the window, it truly was a smaller planet. And his pimped-up Owl was racing through the sky, still cloaked. It took them but a few minutes until the fairies came into scanning range.
"Exactly, so maybe they found an easy fix. Remember it's a monument, a warning to all kingdoms. No one tried after the Lightbringers. There was no need to. Also depending on the magic source, the curse probably has weakened with the centuries. The magic storm prevents scanning from the orbit. Ah, there they are, wait four? There are four life signs that are humanoid. Three of them must be the fairies, initialising deep scan. Did someone else found them. An assassin?" Tecna got a bit worried
"Yup, it's them. Fairy magic confirmed. I'm also picking up… that sneaky Basil. That's one of his companies' transporters," Timmy frowned. 'That's why Basil asked, if I would tell him anything of importance straight away, once I checked the data on his niece's bracelet. He already knew…' Timmy moaned, "I can't believe this. Basil totally lied to me and Faragonda. Even worse we believed him."
Riven shook his head, "You're too naive. I bet he just told you some wobbly sentences and you interpreted them the wrong way. Ha, that's one o' one spy tactics." He patted his friend on the shoulder to console him. "Let's go check, just to be safe. I wanna know, who he sent. Tecna can you make us more cloaky?"
"More cloaky?" She smirked, "Yes, I can enhance your cloaking technology with my spells. So, neither that other ship nor the fairies can spot us." She concentrated and the ship was shimmering shortly in some green sparkles. "All good to go."
"Yeah, yeah, techno babble. Just make sure not to bump into those snails," Riven rolled his eyes again. Besides some greenery and smaller fields around that temple building, there still were tones of those monsters.
"You mean the Lou Carcolhs," Timmy corrected him as he chuckled. "Not to worry we are way above their range. These look kinda amazing. Tecna, do you think they adapted to their new environment? They look so different from all the versions I have read about." He was fascinated. There were several with different plants on their back.
"Probably. Lou Carcolhs are known to adapt quickly. And, here is our mystery guy," Tecna pulled up the imagery. "Isn't that a Red Fountain student?"
"No need to check the records on him. That's Memphis from the chaos squad. Codatorta is complaining all the time about him and his troublemakers. I even heard some other Bounty Hunters have worked with him before… he's one foxy dude," Riven squinted his eyes. "Come to think of it. I heard rumours that Lunasteel, bought the rights to this planet for weapon testing…"
Timmy sighed, "Why is Basil not telling me stuff this important… ahhh." He ruffled through his red hair. "I really have to have a talk with him."
"If Basil knows, more people might be involved… Basil is a smart man, he probably has a plan already in motion. The next big Magic Council hearing is in three days. If the other princesses are here, the information of the Coup de 'tat are probably correct, which would mean the witches are not guilty at least on that accord. The fairies seem chipper and in good health. We should leave, before we complicate things." Tecna stated her opinion and observations. She seemed rather in thought though.
"In three days, you say, hm… Timmy can you drop me somewhere further off?" Riven pondered a bit.
"Sure? But why? I know you are a loner but there is really nothing on that planet. Besides around that temple," Timmy asked reluctantly. As he scanned a few wisps.
"I know. But they are just three tiny Fairy students. If we got behind that secret. Others might be too. Faragonda did send the data over the MagicWeb first, right? Before you requested the real bracelet. If that transmission got hacked, who knows what kind of people will show up here. A bit of extra security can't hurt and I, of all of us, won't be missed." Riven explained as he readied one of his backpacks.
"Wait, let's call Faragonda first and check what she knows," Tecna piloted the ship into the orbit to make an encrypted call.
After a few rings Faragonda's projection appeared, "Oh, hello there, dear. How are you doing? What keeps you up this late at night?"
"Sorry, for the intrusion. We got some breakthroughs in the bracelet matter. And I thought best to call you right away," Tecna replied. "Oh, and I am fine of course."
"Ah, yes, we found out today as well. Dark Magic Fairy form… that explains at least some of the spikes in the bracelet data. To think that there is a from like that… I still can't wrap my head around it," Faragonda seemed rather in thought as well.
"Dark Magic Fairy form…" Tecna blinked confused and glanced to Timmy, who immediately ran the data through some new calculations. "Can that truly exist?"
"Yes, my first reaction as well. Blade is fine though, yet she is stuck in Cloud tower for now. I left her in Griffins care after someone tried to kill her and Nebula," Faragonda paused, "That form it's not like the time Bloom got corrupted by Dakar. She is master of her own mind. Still, it is troublesome that she can't use her Winx at the moment," she sighed.
"Headmistress, you left her with the witches of all people? Is that wisest choice, when someone is out for their heads? I am sure we could organise some other form of protection," Timmy asked straightforward.
Faragonda thought for a second, "Well, no one's happy about that fact. But we would need to start a war to get them back and I told off many, who offered straight away to crush the witches no matter the cost. At the moment that's the last thing we need with so much chaos, lying at our feet." Faragonda clearly made a play of words to ensure that Tecna would understand that she knew of the Coup de 'tat. "I assured the families that Griffin is no fool, they took me by my word. They have nerves of steel I tell you especially the Ashfallows. They trust their daughter unconditionally and they aren't even a noble family..." She still found it utterly surprising. They had taken the news so well and stayed calm like a statue. "Well, even if Griffin refuses to release them at the moment. Both Blade and Nebula will be at the hearing, they better be. If they don't show up, we'll get a nasty escalation." Faragonda was worried it was written all over her face. She sighed, "Maybe it's a blessing in disguise." She had an ever so slight slime. "Blade is at least with people who understand Dark Magic better than any of us. If something goes wrong Griffin is sure to notice. Dark Fairies…" She pondered shortly. Before she looked up to Tecna again, "Well, I can count on you two to make the data presentable for the hearing then? People are biting their nails to get a good explanation for what happened. I trust you to solve this prob - Griffin, this late? My apologies Tecna, I got to take this. I am counting on you. You got my full support." She smiled and hang up. The projection vanished.
"Yup, a dark magic transformation explains a lot of those…" Timmy leaned backwards staring wide-eyed on the data. "Wait, if the dark magic spikes are not a bug in the program… Don't tell me… scanning for dragon flame."
Techna knew exactly what he was on about, "Then the Black Magic spike was the curse magic they cleansed and… Dragonflame…Dragonflame, didn't Phere-Moan have an old artefact imbued with a spark?… Quick, compare the dark magic spikes to my old data I had from Blooms Dark Fairy form."
"Ha, there it is, I found slight remanences of dragon flame in the temple and the wisps as well of course. Seems like it's being used to fuel a shield crystal. Smart move, they used the dragon flame as their defences and…" Timmy was smashing the console he entered in commands so fast.
"Woah, slow down, chump. My Owl's computer is not one of your super computers back in Zenith." Riven was overwhelmed by the many screens his friend pulled up. Tecna was wrapping her arm around her husband's neck and typed in commands as well. 'Great, nerd mode…' Riven shook his head in disbelief. He activated his space suit and activated the segment shield and opened the loading ramp.
"Riven?" Timmy squeaked surprised.
"See you in three days for pick up. Take care of my baby, while I babysit these princesses. Oh, and that will cost you extra!" He shouted as he activated his boosters and readied himself to dive through the Phere-Moan's atmosphere.
Techna grinned as she rolled with her eyes cloaking him in another strong shield spell, "He's still a show off. Jumping without a shield spell into a magical storm. Typical."
"To be fair, he's the only guy, lucky enough to survive such a stunt. Remember the story where he escaped Cloud Tower. He jumped out of the window without even knowing what was below," Timmy chuckled.
"Griffin, is everythin-" Faragonda couldn't even finish her sentence. Before a pissed Griffin started rambling. Patiently she stared at the mirror and let her old friend blow off some steam first.
"Really, Faragonda? Really? It's worse enough you use my school as a damn hostel. Now you leave your stupid books here, too? What's next? Want an office here as well? I let you research in MY crypt just once and you leave a mess!"
Faragonda blinked confused, "What book? I would never leave Fairy tome in Cloud Tower. It would gobble them up the second I leave." But her friend did not listen and just rampaged on.
"The nerve! The tower led them straight into the crypt to let them collect your shit. You do know how dangerous those books are. I know fairies are stupid, but come on. Isn't it etiquette or some other bullshit to knock and ask first? If they were my students, I would hang them upside down from my spire!" Griffin wasn't going to stop.
Faragonda tilted her head, "Wait, slow down. What? You let them out of the dungeon? You got to be joking. I left them with you, so they stay inside and are safe and sound. Those two will use the first chance they get and leave. We already have our hands full with keeping an eye on their classmates twenty-four seven."
Griffin crossed her arms, "Of course, I didn't let them out. I'm no idiot. The Tower let them out while I was meditating. I'm not sure if that tower wants to actively kill them or help them. Maybe it just hates Fairy poetry as much as I do."
Faragonda knew, that Griffin could distinguish what the case was. Nothing that was going on in that tower was beyond her knowledge. 'By her flustered reaction the tower is defiantly helping my students, which it never has done before. And she knows it did. She doesn't know why though...ha, her crankiness won't get her the answers.' Faragonda smiled kindly like she always did. "Again, which poetry book are you talking about?"
"You know the one with that yada yada about fairies," Griffin explained. Finally, she noticed Faragonda's utter confusion. "Are you going senile? The one with the ...One to reach for the light...and so forth. That code of honour shit."
"WE reach for the light," Faragonda replied tiredly. "The least you could do is to scold me right, Griffin."
"Bullshit, หนึ่ง means one. เรา is we. You really should brush up on your old script languages. You could actually learn something for once," Griffin grinned superiorly.
Faragonda raised an eye brow, "Yes, and the poem goes as followed. We reach for the light. We believe in our own. The will to thrive our eternal strife. We-"
Griffin interrupted her rather quickly, "No way, you left like two lines out. It goes, one to reach for the light. One to roam the night. One to believe in your own. One to keep your own throne. The will to thrive, our eternal strife." She held up the book page. "Here it stands written in black and white. You can argue translations, but eradicating whole lines. Please, that's a witch's game."
Faragonda was speechless. Indeed, there were more lines in that version, way more lines. "But...how old is that book? Wait a second..." She vanished from sight.
"How can you not know, it's your book! - One..." Griffin joked around. 'Stupid me, of course she'll solve the mystery straight away. She hates not knowing as much as I do...' Griffin yawned, sat down and graded some papers. "Stupid. Worse. What is that supposed to be... can't read that shit... meh...pfff..."
Around ten minutes later Faragonda came back to her office, "The oldest book we have in the archives is post the two thousand and six hundred eighty fifth Dark Phoenix resurrection. And I have it right here." She held up the book. It had the same cover and pictures and everything. "What does your stamp say?"
Griffin was a bit perplexed, "Wait so this isn't yours? Who the fuck left it in my crypt!" She was even more frantic now. 'Did I have a breach?! On the other hand, it has nearly no magic presence… It easily could have rotten away without drawing any attention, actually…' She thought to herself.
"That's what I have been telling you all along… now concentrate. What is the age of the book, Griffin?" Faragonda repeated her question.
Griffin searched for a stamp, "Hm. When were the stamps created?"
"Around the fall of Phere-Moan. Actually a few decades later. Why?" Faragonda could already guess what her friend was trying to tell her.
"It has none. The page is ripped out," She sniffed at the book and with a snap of her fingers a bottle of powder appeared. She sprinkled some on top of another page and the ink turned from its blueish black to a reddish tone. "Amazing. This is authentic blood ink you rarely see that anymore."
"Blood ink? But then it's definitely older than Alfea's version… You said Cloud Tower led my students to it?" Faragonda was truly bothered now. "This Code of Honour has been passed down for generations. It's the original, from the first fairies as far as historical scriptures tell us. How could there possibly be another older version."
"Well, if you fairies tried to hide the truth. Of course, a witch found a way to preserve it. We unearth all lies," Griffin enjoyed this more and more. "You fairies aren't as innocent as you make everyone believe," she grinned. "Come to think of it. Blade asked specifically for Dark fairies. Which not supposed to exist, oh great, Fairy Godmother." She smirked. It had been a while since she could hold something under Faragodna's nose. "So, if we erase all of your lines. We end up with text parts that might have to do with that Dark Fairy form…quickly read that falsified version of yours...nothing will stop the truth now!" She was on fire.
It took them a moment to sort through it all. Faragonda started with her conclusion, "Well, like I said, the first and third lines are always about the base Fairy forms, Winx, Charmix and Enchantix accordingly. The last verse purpose is to remind people of the dangers and cost of going beyond your magical limits and scarifying for the greater good or pit falls depending on how you want to view it."
"Alright, so roam night is talking about dark magic obviously. But Blade never had a throne. And you can't simply become a queen, just by wishing for it," Griffin stared at the text.
"Yes, you are right, but the upper verse is more metaphorically. It might be just a far stretched explanation. Yet, what worries me is that Dark Fairies are most often connected to the Dark Phoenix. He does have a throne and who ever sits on it loses their mind, gains power but also becomes the new reincarnation of the Dark Phoenix," Faragonda shook her head, this option didn't bode well at all.
"But the Dakar hosts are males. At least as much as the records show. Well, come to think of it, the last Dark Phoenix wanted Bloom as his queen… still, the tower would pick up on black magic. However, the second verse would not fit that assumption. You could interpret to sacrifice dear in that way, but you most certainly will not end a war. The Dark Phoenix is the embodiment of death and chaos."
Faragonda nodded as she tipped with a feather quill on her desk, "I know, to gain Charmix you need to overcome a personal fear. So, vice versa to probably gain the next stage as a Dark Fairy you would need to sacrifice something important and… end a war?… … That makes no sense either…"
"Ha, since when does anything you fairies do make sense? Sacrificing at least goes along with how Dark Magic basically works. I think the funnier line is to wield trust. You cannot trust anyone that's witch knowledge one o' one."
"You trusted me for years now, though," Faragonda chuckled. 'She always does this….'
Griffin flustered reacted, "I work with you. Yes. That doesn't mean I trust you." She pouted a bit.
"Right, tell yourself that," Faragonda smirked as she gazed at Griffin in her mirror. "Well, back on topic, what truly worries me is that amount of death and loss talk. For Enchantix you need to be willing to sacrifice your life, stated in the 'one to knock at deaths door' part. Yet, 'one to walk its floor' clearly means the Fairy dies. This combined with the warnings 'to fall from the light' and 'turn forever lost' is disastrous. Burnout can be controlled by the user at least."
Griffin shrugged unimpressed, "Well, you fairies sacrifice lifetime for more extra magic and lose it permanently. We witches sacrifice the body, which regenerates and can be healed if we go beyond our limits. I always said lifetime for magic is a ludicrous trade. But Fairies are dumb after all in that aspect. We already saw Blade go berserk. Her arm was all limb and she sacrificed her wings. You know, she might have already triggered that fall from light part. She can't use her Winx, correct?"
Faragonda blinked, "I better hope not… and don't remind me of that wings shattering, please. That was horrifying, no Fairy would ever consider that. It hasn't bothered her one bit on the long run if understood you correctly... If that had been her real wings…"
"They were real wings, just Dark Magic wings. Ha, don't diminish that form just because you don't apricate it like I do," Griffin laughed amused. "You said, she still can use light magic, she uses body-enhancement magic. So, at worst she's still in the falling process, ha. Ahahaha." Griffin couldn't help but laugh. "I told you after Songwind, she would have made a better witch. That entire we'll change the universe for the better sentiment of yours is wishful thinking, Faragonda. Commoners at a Fairy school, pfff, now tell me, where did that lead you?" She paused. She could see that everything was weighing heavily on her friend. Yes, she had her facade up, smiling all brave and kindly. Yet Griffin could see through that play. She knew her long enough from their Company of Light days.
"… …. It led to a divided staff and a Dark Fairy form. It also let to a young girl finding her dream. Witches and fairies working together, in secret at least. And still holds the possibility that the Magic Council will allow more commoners to choose the path of Fairy. And therefore, a saver universe for us all," Faragonda stated firmly. "I am no fool. I am hopeful. Your witches can't pick up the slack once the Winx are ruling their kingdoms. We both know that," she added as she stood up to look into the night sky through her office windows.
"You underestimate our power, as always. We had trouble brewing all along and still balance was kept, even without the Winx Club," Griffin held against it.
"And how many casualties did that cost us?" Faragonda was on edge. Domino had been one of the kingdoms to fall and it was one of the oldest kingdoms in the universe.
"…" Griffin shook her head, "It's still not just up to the fairies to keep the balance. I know you are all stuck-ups, especially for people, who always talk about working in groups. And Faragonda, you should be most concerned about the last part 'forever lost'. To me it sounds more than just purely dying. I will start training her in dark magic, going berserk and not knowing what it does, could lead to problems for the hearing. I need to bring her back in one piece after all. And I will not let her screw this up for me. So, don't get the wrong idea here. I am doing myself a favour," She cancelled the communications spell before Faragonda could comment on it.
'My, she always says she does it for egotistical reasons. She has a soft heart behind that cold shell. Definitely should check that training though. Not that she turns her into a witch by accident…' Faragonda stared at her notes. This poem version would need a lot more research.
