Maledictio Verae Tenebrarum
[The Curse of True Darkness]
Chapter 1
Early in the morning, before the sun had graced the sparkling pink walls of the school many young fairies called home, Bloom was already dressed and making her way outside the front gate.
The school was never locked during peace times since students were encouraged to practice their magic whenever inspiration hit them. Although they were usually required to let a staff member know of their whereabouts, it suited Bloom better if nobody knew where she was when they woke up. Besides, it wasn't strange for Bloom to wake up early to go for a run, so hopefully Flora wouldn't question her absence.
In the empty shrouded forest she spent hours practising the dark magic she had stolen from the forbidden section of the library the night before. There were two stolen spells on the page, one on the front and a different spell on the back. One was the rending spell Bloom used on the rat and the other was mind-altering magic that could overwrite someone's memories with false memories.
Bloom started with the rending magic since there was an abundance of animals in the forest to practice on. According to the instructions on the page she ripped out, this rending magic was more difficult to use on larger targets, so she started practising on whatever small animals and insects she could find in the wild.
Anything with blood was her target.
"I wonder if sap counts as blood." Bloom muttered to herself as she aimed the spell at a small tree. The familiar hum and pull of magic from her core didn't occur and the spell did not cast. "I guess not."
The reality of using dark magic was different from what she had always imagined. There were a lot of rules and constraints on the spell. This particular spell could only be used on a living creature who has blood. Creatures that were undead were not targets even if they had blood left. The same could be said of living creatures with substances other than blood inside them.
The mind-altering magic also had similar rules and limitations. According to the instructions she needed to be making direct eye contact with the target. It could only be used to replace memories with fake ones, not outright erase memories and only memories that occurred within the last month could be overwritten.
"Surprisingly rigid…" Bloom started the habit of talking to herself under her breadth as a result of spending so much time alone during meditation and self-reflection the last few weeks.
Another surprising thing about using dark magic was that it felt good to cast. Unlike light magic that didn't evoke any particular feelings or high-level fairy magic that was dangerous to use and often caused backlashes if misused, dark magic evoked good feelings.
It made her feel powerful, confident, and good inside.
The more she thought about it, the more she became convinced that the limitations of using light magic were centred around harming the user if they went too far or exerted themselves too much. Light magic was essentially capable of anything so long as the caster had sufficient power and skill. This was the reason why convergence magic was so powerful because it drew from multiple magic creatures instead of a single source of power.
Dark magic on the other hand had clear rules and limitations imposed on the spells, but in exchange using them was a satisfying and pleasurable experience.
"Look at me, pretending to be an expert after learning two dark spells." Bloom laughed to herself and pushed the thoughts away. She shielded her eyes as she looked up at the lightening sky. "Time for class soon."
She cast a few light spells to make the dark magic surrounding her body dissipate faster before taking a deep breath and running back to campus.
During class Stella leaned over and whispered in Bloom's ear, "Father finally scheduled a date for my Princess Ball."
Bloom looked at her with a light smile. Not really sure how to react to the news. Realising they were still in class, Stella was satisfied with the restrained reaction and smiled back before leaning back into her desk and pouting at the lecturing teacher.
The news about Stella's ball spread around the school quickly. A Crown Princess' princess ball, which was something like a governmental acknowledgement that she was old enough to participate in politics, was usually a big deal. Even more so when the Crown Princess in question was someone as well-known and well-liked as Stella.
Everyone was focused on Stella, especially the teachers. They were worried about her penchant for creating magical chaos, especially when fashion was involved, and this was the perfect excuse for Stella to do something radical.
Which meant this was the perfect opportunity for Bloom to sneak back into the forbidden section of the library.
"Stella!" Bloom called out to her best friend from her dorm room door.
"Hey Bloom, what's up?" The blonde woman beamed at the red head.
"What are you wearing to the ball?"
"Ohhh, I never thought I would hear that question from you!" Stella was suddenly ecstatic. And she ran to her closet to pull out an elegant and sparkly pink dress. "What do you think? Isn't it fabulous?"
Bloom cocked her head to the side and closed her eyes in thought, "isn't it a bit too simple for your Princess Ball?"
"What?" Stella turned the dress around in her arms, looking at it from every angle. "You think so?"
"I mean this event only happens once in your life. Shouldn't you go all out?"
"Aren't you the one usually telling me to tone it down a little bit to be more relatable to the peas- common folk." She cut herself off, afraid to sound too rude.
"I mean usually yeah, but this is a huge once a lifetime event for you! Unless you become Queen of Solaria, will there be a bigger event?" Bloom keep prodding her into the direction she wanted.
Stella gasped, "I never thought of it like that! You're right!"
Stella held up the dress in front of her and looked down at it, dissatisfied. Then she nodded and started casting magic before glancing at Bloom and saying, "you should go, sometimes I get a bit excited."
"Get as excited as you want. This is your big event!" Bloom yelled out as she retreated from the room.
For the rest of the afternoon and night Stella could be heard casting all kinds of magic in her dorm room. The concentration of power emanating out from the building alerted the teachers and Faragonda ordered Head Teacher Griselda to keep an eye on the situation. Griselda recruited all the teachers to help her contain the magic in case Stella caused another magical explosion like the time she tried to change her hair colour in her first year.
Bloom was glad the plan worked, and she sneaked into the empty library without any issues. Unfortunately she encountered an issue when she couldn't open the locked doors of the Forbidden Section. It was annoying but there was no choice and Bloom rushed to find an unlocking spell of sufficient power.
It took her a few hours to find a suitable spell and learn it to proficiently unlock the doors without leaving a trace. Luckily there was no sign of the teachers returning and no explosion sounds.
"I have to be quick," Bloom cursed under her breath as she rushed down the stairs into the dimly lit and dusty underground room. Most of the books were chained to the shelves or walls with enchanted locks that would be impossible to break with her current level of skill in the unlocking spell. So Bloom ignored them and looked for a book she could easily carry and take with her.
It was risky but she didn't know when she would get another opportunity to come down here. Luckily there was one such book: Dark Witch Fundamentals.
Bloom quickly grabbed the book from the shelf and shifted the surrounding books to cover the gap it left. She practically ran up the stairs with the book gripped in a white knuckle hold by her side. Upon exiting the Forbidden section she turned to shut the doors and suddenly worried about locking it when it locked shut on its own. Relief swept over her that she wouldn't have to learn a locking spell and she ran out of the library as quickly as she could.
It was too risky to take the book back to her dorm room with all the teachers around there watching Stella, so she headed to the front gate to take it outside the school. There was a hollowed-out tree nearby where she was practising dark magic the other night, so she took the book to hide it inside the tree. After stuffing the hole full of leaves to conceal the book, she rushed back to the school so she could go to bed.
The night ended with a small fire in Stella's room being extinguished by Griselda. Her entire wardrobe was ruined, and Stella was so distraught and exhausted that she immediately fainted. They took her to spend the night in the infirmary.
The next morning Bloom went to the infirmary to check on Stella.
"I guess things didn't go to plan?" Bloom asked the tear-streaked blond woman sitting on the infirmary bed.
"I could see it in my head, but I couldn't get the fabric to do what I wanted."
"Yeah, that happens a lot with art." Bloom empathised with Stella a little bit, but it was her fault this happened. It was difficult to talk about it.
"I guess I'll just go shopping for something."
"That's probably for the best. I'm sure you'll find something suitable. You have impeccable taste."
"Will you come with me?"
"Of course." Bloom responded without hesitation. They were still best friends after all.
"I'll let you know when I have permission to go to Magix."
The next few days were spent as usual, with the exception of Bloom spending time in the forest at night learning basic witchcraft techniques from the book she stole. It was surprisingly easy to learn, Bloom thought there was a reason for the distinction between fairy magic and witch magic based on what was easier or more difficult for each magical race to cast, but apparently that wasn't the case.
The flow of witch magic wasn't so different from fairy magic. Magic was drawn up from the magic creatures' core, which sat somewhere in their abdomen (differing depending on species and size of the creature) and spread throughout the body. Then the creature could cast the magic from any part of their body.
The witch magic method was more efficient. After magic was drawn from the core, the creature needed to guide the power into a single focal point, like a finger or an eye. This was the reason why witches often cast magic with their fingers while fairies cast magic with their whole hands or whole body.
The difference between the two methods were simple. Spells cast through the witch magic method were faster, sharper, and more focused, but in exchange the spell was often weaker than the fairy magic method counterparts. When combined with dark magic's specific rules and limits, the witch magic method was better at producing specific results.
For example, if she wanted to cast the lockpicking spell with the fairy magic method, the magic would be cast on the entire lock or door and even cause the door to swing open once unlocked. However with the witch magic method she could target the spell only into the innards of the lock itself.
The benefits were clear, it was stealthier, left less traces and made less noise to use the witch magic method for that situation.
In battle it could be more beneficial to use the fairy magic method to cast wide arc fire magic that could hit multiple foes, but in a one-on-one fight, the witch magic method could be used to target the fire magic only onto a specific point on the enemy, like their eyes. The damage would be less widespread, but she would use less energy and still get a good result, putting her enemy out of commission.
Another valuable magic technique Bloom learned from the book was Dual Magic Casting and Tri Magic Casting. As the names implied, they were techniques that allowed a magical creature to cast two or three spells simultaneously respectively.
This coupled with witch magic created endless possibilities in Bloom's mind.
"What could I learn from more advanced books?" Bloom pondered while absent mindedly walking back to the dorm room.
"Shit…" Bloom hissed under her breath when she realised, she brought the book back to the dorm with her. She glanced at the sun peaking over the horizon out the window and let out a long hiss. Flora was starting to stir awake, and bloom hastily shoved the book under her pillow in mild panic.
"Oh good morning sweetie." Flora yawned when she noticed Bloom fixing the sheets of her bed. "You're already dressed this early?"
"Yeah, I woke up early again." Bloom laughed lightly over her shoulders.
"The nightmares aren't back, are they?"
"What makes you say that?"
"I don't know, you seem kind of…" Flora rubbed her face quickly and sighed softly, "never mind sweetie, I think I'm just groggy."
"Haha, it's pretty early! Sleep some more if you want." Bloom pushed her anxiety away to give Flora a sweet smile.
"No I'll be proper awake soon. I'll go wash my face." The brunette nature fairy waved absently at Bloom before she slipped on her fluffy slippers and entered the bathroom for her morning routine.
Bloom glanced at her pillow and then around the room, looking for a better hiding place, but there weren't any locked drawers or cupboard space she could use. Flora was usually not a nosy person, so hopefully it would be fine. Bloom quickly grabbed the book and shoved it in the drawer of her bedside table, which usually had her diary in it. Although she hadn't used the diary in a long time. After throwing the diary on her bed she sighed and left to wash the taste of the night out of her mouth in the public bathrooms down the hall, so Flora wouldn't notice her.
Flora returned to the empty dorm room with a light whistle and gave all of her magical plants their usual morning kisses and snacks before she glanced at Bloom's bed and noticed an unfamiliar book.
Normally Flora would ignore it, but there was a nagging feeling in her chest that Bloom was suffering in silence and Flora wanted to help her somehow. When she walked closer, she noticed it was Bloom's diary. Flora didn't open it to read it, feeling that it was disrespectful, but thought it was odd that the diary was not put away.
Then she noticed a piece of paper sticking out of Bloom's bedside drawer, where she knew the diary was usually kept and curiously opened the drawer. She flinched and stepped back in shock, dropping the diary on the floor when she saw the dark book.
Being an outsider who was raised on Earth, Bloom didn't quite realise the prejudice that was instilled in light magic casting beings towards dark magic casting beings in the Magic Dimension. Of course this wasn't just a biased opinion that dark magic beings were evil and craved chaos and destruction, it was an observable fact. Dark magic beings were unequivocally evil. The scope of their evil varied, but they were evil regardless.
Dark Witch Fundamentals.
The intention of the book was clear.
Bloom's reasons for possessing it were not.
Flora rushed out of the room searching for Stella. The sun fairy was the only person Flora felt could talk some sense into Bloom.
Bloom returned to an empty dorm room which suited her just fine.
The bright blue cover of her diary screamed at her from the floor next to her bed and Bloom scrunched her face up in annoyance.
"Did Flora read this?" the bed depressed around her weight. Her gaze was drawn to the not fully closed drawer of her bedside table, "shit…"
"What the hell are you doing Bloom?" A familiar blonde-haired woman came screeching into the room with a distraught Flora behind her.
"Sitting here?"
"You know what I'm talking about! The book!"
"My diary?"
"Don't play dumb! Flora told me what she found." Stella pointed at the nature fairy behind her, and she frowned slightly.
"We are just worried about you sweetie."
"Mhmm…"
"Is that all you have to say for yourself? Bloom! This is dark magic we are talking about." Stella practically hissed at the red-haired fairy.
"I know. I don't see what the fuss is about?"
"Sweetheart, dark magic is a corrupting influence, it seduces and drags unsuspecting fairies into all kinds of trouble." Flora added softly from behind the fuming sun fairy.
"Mmm…" Bloom hummed thinking about the feelings dark magic elicited. She could see how light fairies would think that.
"Ok I am sick of your responses! We are going to go talk to Headmistress Faragonda right now!"
"Nah, I don't think we are." Bloom pulled magic from her core into her eyes and cast a sleep spell at Flora with a blink. The nature fairy collapsed to the floor and the sudden noise surprised Stella. "I think you two will forget about this."
"What did you do?" Stella demanded in panic as she rushed to Flora's side and cradled her head.
"Don't worry Stella, this won't hurt a bit." She once again pulled magic into her eyes and walked up to Stella while cracking her neck. She grabbed the sun fairy by the chin and forced her to make eye contact with her swirling blue eyes. "I just need you to forget this conversation ever happened. Flora never spoke to you this morning; it was just a nightmare."
After casting the mind-altering magic for the first time on a living creature that wasn't an animal, Bloom was chuffed that it worked without a hitch and Stella passed out. She forced open Flora's eyes and cast the same magic on her, making her forget all of this.
"Now what…" Bloom stared at the two unconscious women and then out the window at the rising sun.
She quickly grabbed Stella by the shoulders and started dragging her out of the dorm room. Luckily nobody else had gotten up yet and she was able to get her to bed without any issues. Stella was thankfully still wearing her pyjamas. So it was good cover.
After rushing back to their shared room, she dragged Flora to bed also, before realising she was fully dressed already.
"Ugh, I hate this plan." Bloom whispered under her breath before struggling to undress the nature fairy and redressing her in her own sleepwear and tucking her into bed.
She roughly shoved her diary back into its drawer. Going a whole night without sleep was tiring enough, now she was well and truly exhausted. She left the room to hide the book in the forest once more.
Flora awoke in bed, groggy and dressed in her pyjamas. Her mind was groggy, but she could remember what happened earlier. The mind-altering spell had obviously not worked properly. She quickly looked around the room in search of Bloom or Stella, but when she couldn't see either of them, the nature fairy panicked and ran out the room.
"You're up late this morning Flora." Stella commented from her dorm room door. Dressed in her usual outfit.
"Stella…" Flora was unsure what to say. Observing Stella's cheerful demeaner it was clear that she couldn't remember what happened this morning.
"Do I have something on my face?" Stella touched her cheek when Flora kept staring at her.
"No sorry, I'm just out of it this morning."
"You'll feel better after breakfast. I'll see you there."
"Of course." Flora waved and ran back into the room to get dressed.
After getting presentable for the day, Flora left the room to find someone other than Stella. The same thing would just happen again if Flora told Stella. She was also afraid to tell Headmistress Faragonda. Flora was sure that Bloom had made a temporary lapse in judgement because of her upbringing and some gentle prodding from friends would convince her that she was making a mistake. She didn't want Bloom to be punished.
"Aisha." The nature fairy called out to a young woman with dark mahogany brown hair that fell in luscious curls behind her and sharp cerulean eyes.
"Hey Flora, what's up?" The identified fairy walked closer to her friend with a cheerful smile and a wave.
"I have something important to tell you. Its…" Flora glanced at the other girls lingering around the hallway and Aisha nodded. They returned to the privacy of the nature fairy's room. Thankfully Bloom was still absent.
"Ok what's going on?"
Before she replied, Flora rushed to Bloom's bedside drawer and opened it. Hoping to see the object of her worries inside, but there was only Bloom's blue diary.
"Flora?"
"Ok this is going to sound crazy."
"Just tell me."
The nature fairy explained everything to Aisha with hurried breath. The story was short.
"It was probably a good idea not to tell the Headmistress just yet, especially now that the book is gone." Aisha crossed her arms and made a thoughtful expression. "Do you think you can keep an eye on Bloom for a while?"
"I can try…" Flora didn't feel good about spying.
"I know it doesn't feel good to watch your friend. I would do it myself, but I have to return to Andros for a scouting mission."
"What happened?"
"There are signs of someone dangerous escaping from the Omega Dimension. The Headmistress and my parents have asked me to go confirm who it is." Aisha sighed and shook her head.
"Ok, I will keep an eye on Bloom in the meantime. It will be hard when she goes outside though."
"That's true, she runs a lot. Its okay, just do what you can. I wont be gone for long hopefully." Aisha thought for a second before adding, "don't tell Tecna, Musa and Stella just yet."
"I was afraid Stella would provoke Bloom again, so I didn't, but why not Tecna and Musa?"
"I don't want to make them worry unnecessarily. I'm sure Bloom is just struggling with some dark emotions. Didn't she have a hard time recently because of Relix?"
"I was sure she was over it."
"Hmm, I'm not sure if you can just get over, something that traumatic."
"Ah, you might be right."
"I'm sure she is just looking for an outlet and came across that book by chance. She's always been very private about her negative feelings. We have to do our best as her friends and support her from the outside without pushing her farther away."
"You have a very mature way of looking at things Aisha." Flora was impressed with her friend's insight.
"Haha, blame my political training." Aisha glanced at the clock on the wall and realised she was late for her departure. "I have to go."
"Good luck on Andros." Flora waved at her friend with a small smile.
Aisha nodded and waved back before leaving the room.
The room fell into an uncomfortable silence and Flora immediately escaped to eat breakfast. She carefully put a smile on her face and hoped nobody would notice the worry in the depths of her eyes.
The guards of the Omega Dimension were no match for Valtor's experience in battle and his tactics outstripped them all. Thanks to his directions, the Trix were able to use their powerful magic to destroy the superior foes.
Once the guards were dealt with, breaking the seal holding the portal to the realm of Andros closed was simple. Before they escaped, Valtor leaked out his energies into the seas of Andros to infect and steal life-force and magic from any living magic creature it came in contact with.
Thanks to this he was able to recover further, but not to full strength. He had been imprisoned in the Omega Dimension for eighteen years after all. After recovering a bit further, they finally escaped into the ocean realm.
In less than a day they found the ruins of an old watch tower and made it their base of operations. Darcy cast illusion and darkness magic around the tower to obscure their location from prying eyes. Stormy cast weather magic to supplement Darcy's illusions by making the location a dangerous place to swim or drive a boat. Icy worked on restoring the watch tower's old portal device. It was simpler to repair a magical portal device than it was to create a stable permanent portal for their use.
Portal magic was the favoured method of travel by most witches because it was easier to cast a stable portal with the witch magic method. Portal magic could be considered dangerous since there was always a slight chance of the portal spontaneously collapsing and sending travellers hurtling into the void.
The void was a place of no light, life, air, or magic. It wasn't well explored because of this, and it was accepted that anyone thrown there would likely die.
While the risk of this happening was small, it wasn't zero. In addition, portal magic was too difficult to monitor and track. In contrast, teleportation magic left a magical signature in the departing and arriving destinations that governments could track easily. For these reasons coupled with the fact that most realms had Guardian Fairies rather than Guardian Witches, portal magic was outlawed, and teleportation magic became the gold standard travelling magic.
Icy was a capable witch. She was confident that no portal she was involved in making would ever break down and spit them into the void.
"Well done ladies," Valtor smirked as he gazed into the swirling colours of the permanent portal. "We will be able to use this place as a base for quite a while."
"Would be nice if there was some food." Stormy commented under her breath. Icy elbowed her with a frown.
"I will be absent for a little while," Valtor glanced at the women with a smile, "I must recover my magic. In the meantime you ladies can do whatever you want. Steal, kill, create chaos, whatever your little black hearts' desire."
"How long will you be gone?" Darcy purred from his side as she slid her hand up his arm to rest on his shoulder.
"Maybe just a few hours this time. I will need to return to absorb the magic I steal."
"I'll wait for you."
"Whatever you desire." Valtor caressed Darcy's cheek with a smile and stepped through the portal to his first destination.
"Well I'm hungry." Stormy grumbled.
"Lets get some food then." Icy replied and dragged her companions through the portal.
The sun was bright, cheerful, and piercing where Valtor exited the portal. He shielded his eyes while glancing up at the twin suns, before looking around to orient his surroundings. Nearby was a medieval looking fort with grey bricks that glistened in the sunlight.
Guards dressed in red tabards emblazoned with a golden starburst could be seen roaming above on the ramparts. The Royal Guards of Solaria.
Valtor gave them a lazy glance before he cast concealment magic and walked through the brick walls. A woman dressed in the traditional black and white garb of a maid walked past with a large stack of linens in her arms, but she couldn't see the wizard who was half through the outer wall of the palace.
The palace was warm and smelled faintly of fresh flowers. The opulence of the Royal Family was clear when Valtor walked past intricate tapestries, paintings, and golden accented furniture on display. Every hallway was just as clean, well decorated and golden as the rest.
The marble floor led the wizard around the palace at a leisurely pace. The magic he was looking for could only be accessed by a noble of Solaria, so he was looking for a suitable person to turn into his minion.
It wasn't long before he walked past a bedroom with open doors where two women could be heard arguing.
"Why do you have to marry him!" A black-haired young woman was scowling at an older woman with similar features. "I don't want to become her sister!"
"This is the way darling. I'll become the Queen." The older woman looked at her with gentle eyes.
"How will that help me mother? Stella will still be the Crown Princess." The daughter pouted in disappointment.
"Perhaps I can assist with that." Valtor commented as he materialised before the two women's wide eyes. He gently shut the door behind himself just as the older woman was about to yell for the guards.
The younger woman rushed him to open the door, but he grabbed her wrist and made a shushing motion. "If you call the guards, you won't be able to hear my proposal."
"What do you want!" The younger woman yelled at him.
"I only wish to assist you…" He smiled at the younger woman before he made eye contact with the older woman and bowed elegantly, "Countess Cassandra."
"You know who I am?"
"Of course. Who doesn't know of your beauty and intelligence?" His words were dripping with flattery.
"Oh my," the Countess gasped softly and drank in every word. "Who are you?"
"I am Valtor, the Greatest Wizard of All Time." He smirked at the noble women with another elegant and exaggerated bow. "I wish to help you turn your daughter into the Crown Princess."
"How will you do that?"
"Be quiet Chimera." Cassandra silenced her daughter for a wave and motioned for Valtor to sit down and drink some tea with them. He did as he was asked and allowed the woman to pour him a cup. Cassandra did not recognise his name, but she felt his power emanating from him. Only a powerful wizard could infiltrate so far into the palace without being noticed.
He took a sip with a smile before speaking, "of course my help doesn't come without a price."
"Name it." Countess Cassandra decided to take a chance on the powerful man in front of her.
"I want the Second Sun of Solaria."
"What will you do with it?"
"Does it matter?" He smirked. "Once I have it, I will make you into the most powerful woman in all of Solaria. Nobody will match your magical power. You will easily be able to get rid of the Princess."
"Mother…" Chimera looked excited. Stars were practically bouncing out of her eyes.
Countess Cassandra sighed softly and extended her hand to Valtor, "it's a deal." They shook hands.
"Follow me. Do not speak to anyone on the way."
"It will be as if I am not there."
"That would be best."
The three of them rose from their chairs and Chimera made a small gasp when she turned to watch Valtor vanish into thin air. She was feeling uneasy but followed her mother out of the door.
The walk to the Astrolabe room was short and silent.
The Countess opened the door and the three of them walked inside. Valtor materialised in front of the golden spinning Astrolabe and marvelled at the glowing golden orb that represented half of all of Solaria's magic power.
He stepped up and reached out his hand to it. As his gloved fingers touched the golden artefact the room gradually grew darker. Chimera felt a chill as she watched the sunlight outside visibly dim and dark storm clouds roll in. Once Valtor was finished absorbing the magic the golden artefact had turned grey and fell from its cradle, cracking as it hit the marble floor.
The storm clouds rumbled and emptied. Rain fell for the first time in centuries and the people of Solaria could be heard panicking outside.
Chimera was glued to the window.
"For you Countess." Valtor appeared behind the older woman and grasped the back of her neck. She fell to her knees as Valtor's magic entered her body. Her eyes closed and she let out a gasp when he released her.
The letter V appeared on her neck like a fresh tattoo.
Chimera watched in trepidation as the wizard walked closer to her and shut her eyes in fear when he grasped his leather-bound fingers around her dainty neck. Power rushed from the connection into her body. It swirled around chaotically before calming down and settling inside her magic core.
When she opened her eyes again, the wizard was nowhere to be seen and she found herself on her knees.
"We have to get out of here." Chimera quickly grabbed her mother's arm and helped her to her feet. At the door, Chimera glanced at the cracked artefact of the Second Sun before the two of them hobbled away to pretend they were never there.
After successfully using mind altering magic on Stella once, Bloom couldn't resist trying it again.
And Again.
And Again…
In fact Bloom became a little bit reckless, she used this magic on Stella so often that the sun fairy's personality started to fragment and become erratic. It wasn't too noticeable at first, but eventually the other members of the Winx noticed the changes.
Obviously, Bloom had taken her experiments too far and it was time to clean up house. She had to wipe all evidence away.
All the members of the Winx had been taught to dispel dark magic by Faragonda in the past and most of them were proficient, but none of them had ever had to dispel dark magic that had repeatedly been overlayed on a person's mind. It would be difficult and dangerous for them both. Bloom was worried about messing up, but she had no choice.
After sneaking into Stella's room in the middle of the night, Bloom quietly shut the door and creeped up next to the sun fairy. She cast a deep sleep spell on Stella to ensure she didn't awaken during the dispelling process. The fire fairy took a deep breath and started the process of undoing the dark magic.
It wasn't until the sun rose over the horizon and a beam of light blinded Bloom that she snapped out of her magic trance. Her concentration was instantly broken, and the magic went haywire in Stella's mind. Bloom was sucked inside the magic and watched helplessly as her spell wiped everything and anything it found inside Stella's mind.
When the spell came from Bloom's consciousness, she forcefully pulled herself out and collapsed backwards on the ground drenched in sweat and breathing hard.
"Shit…" Normally Bloom would run to Faragonda for help when something went wrong with a spell. "Shit, shit, shit!"
Not this time.
Bloom rushed out of the room, locked Stella's door with a locking spell and ran straight into Flora.
"Oh Bloom!"
"Get out of my way!" She shoved Flora aside roughly and caused the nature fairy to smack her head into the wall.
Bloom barely noticed what she did as she rushed into her room to pack a bag. She shoved clothes, shoes, bathroom supplies and anything else she might need into her bag before she rushed back out of the room before anyone else found her.
The students around her were too absorbed in their own lives to notice Bloom sprinting out of the school and straight out the front gate.
"Shit," Bloom cussed under her breath when she remember she had been up all night and bee-lined straight for Lake Roccaluce so she could wash her mouth and face. After quickly cleaning up and changing into a clean t-shirt, she made her way to the tree where she hid the book and dark magic page to retrieve them.
With all her most important belongings packed away into her bag, Bloom started the long trek towards the City of Magix. It was time to step up her magical study, she was tired of messing up the new spells she was learning.
The midday sun loomed overhead as Bloom finally walked over the threshold of the City of Magix and onto a main street. From memory the Public Library was not far, and Bloom headed there first.
Bloom was wary of anyone recognising her, but nobody gave her a second glace as she walked between the pillars of the stone building.
The polished floor glinted from the streams of sunlight pouring in from the glass domed ceiling. Bloom squinted her eyes and hoped the staff wouldn't recognise her. Thankfully they didn't as she handed them her library card and they logged her into the system. It didn't take long for her to be approved entry and waved inside without a word.
Out of habit Bloom walked towards the fairy magic section, but realised she learned almost everything these books covered at Alfea. They were in their final year of school after all and even through the last few months of upheaval in her life, Bloom still diligently attended classes out of a hunger for knowledge she didn't know she possessed.
Of course there was sure to be magic she hadn't learned yet, but her interests had already skewed more heavily towards witch magic. So she spun on her heel and headed into the unfamiliar opposite direction.
Luckily there were only a few witches and none of them noticed or recognised her when she entered their study area. Bloom softly let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in and headed towards the first-year shelves. She greedily grabbed a book from every topic and sat down at a nearby table to start reading.
The light streaming in through the glass ceiling changed colour from yellow to orange and then red until the sun completely vanished. Darkness would have engulfed the room, but magical lights set up around each of the selves lit up right on time.
Time passed over the fire fairy slowly and silently as she hungrily absorbed the knowledge within book after book.
"Weird little hobby you have there fairy," a mocking voice drifted over before it was followed by a cackling laugh that sounded like nails being dragged down a chalkboard. Bloom grimaced and looked up from her book to notice four witches gathered around her table laughing to each other.
"More than a hobby." Bloom replied with a smirk and cast a silence spell using the witch magic method on the cackling witches. She left the one who spoke earlier un-spelled and turned to her. The dangerous look in her glistening blue eyes caused the witch to flinch.
She gulped and glanced at her friends who were struggling to remove Bloom's spell and asked, "what do you want?"
"Take me to meet your Headmistress."
"At Cloud Tower?" The witch asked in shock.
"Where else?" Bloom mockingly asked.
"I mean…" the witch gulped when she saw Bloom gathering magic into her eyes and quickly nodded, "yeah of course. Come with me."
The witch glanced at her friends and walked past them with the smirking fire fairy hot on her heels.