Maledictio Verae Tenebrarum [The Curse of True Darkness]
Chapter 3
The sky gradually brightened as the red drop-shaped Red Fountain ship entered the Magix atmosphere. It was odd to see the planet of Magix having a brighter day than the planet of Solaria, but there was nothing Stella, the Winx or the Specialists could do about it without first finding out the cause. Which was King Radius' concern, not theirs.
Aisha made the report to Headmistress Faragonda, Stella was too distraught to talk about it. For a while, things returned to a state of normalcy. Or as normal as things could be with a missing Bloom and a depressed Stella.
While the Winx were busy on Solaria, said fire fairy was busy making her way back to Earth unnoticed. Travel to and from Earth was not as straightforward as other planets. It was very difficult to teleport to Earth thanks to the unique magnetic field surrounding the Earth. As a result there was not an official channel to Earth in the Magix Travel Institute and the only way to get there was to directly fly or use portal magic.
The magnetic field of Earth was incidentally also the reason the humans on Earth possessed no magic and were resistant to magic. Despite being born on Domino and being a magical creature, the magnetic field affected Bloom during her growth as well. This was the reason why her magic did not awaken until her sixteenth birthday, unlike most other magical creatures who could innately use their magic from birth.
Portals created to Earth were more unstable than any planet, realm, or dimension in the Magic Dimension, but Bloom didn't have a choice. It was too risky to ask a fairy to teleport her to Earth since they would be required to report her location to her guardian while she was travelling as a minor. In the Magic Dimension, Faragonda was entrusted to be her guardian by her older sister, Daphne. Since she didn't have a body and was still stuck in spirit form, it was very difficult for her to carry out the duties of a guardian.
Bloom's best choice was to disguise herself as someone else and pay a witch to create a portal. She felt it was safer to wear a wig and different clothing rather than risk using illusion magic. Illusion magic was on the first-year syllabus at Cloud Tower and Bloom didn't have much experience using it, but the other witches would. It was too risky to try in case they saw through her spell and recognised her.
Bloom dressed like a typical witch, a purple miniskirt with a black belt, black anklet boots with a heel as sharp as death. A simple white t-shirt with the sleeves and hem ripped up and a gory skull print on the front. Her wig of choice was long, black, and straight. To complete the look she was also wearing a black chocker, black bangles and heavy black makeup.
Dressed in her disguise, Bloom spent about thirty minutes hanging out in the most popular witch coffee shop in Magix. There were at least a dozen witches hanging out inside the shop at all times. After scoping the place out and choosing a witch who looked old enough to be a third year at Cloud Tower, she followed the older girl outside the store. The witch knew she was being followed and led Bloom into an alley way, where some other girls were waiting.
"Why are you following me? What do you want?" The black-haired witch spun around on her red stiletto heels to confront the disguised fairy. Her friends had suitably hostile expressions.
"You seem like a suitably powerful witch. I'm here to pay you to make me a portal."
"Interesting. You don't have much fashion sense, but at least you have eyes." The witch laughed to herself at Bloom's words of praise. "Alright I could use the money. Where are you going?"
"Gardenia on Earth."
"Earth? Isn't that the place without magic? Why would you want to go there?" One of the witch's companions asked.
"Does it matter?" Bloom asked as she waved some money around.
"Not at all." The main witch replied and cast the portal spell. It took some effort on her part and when she was done, her brow was covered in sweat. She held out her hand for the money. Bloom handed her the money and quickly stepped through the portal before the witch could close it. It snapped shut behind her as she landed on moist grass in the dark.
"I really need to learn how to do this." Bloom mumbled to herself as got to her feet and dusted herself off with a relieved sigh.
Thankfully nobody was around in the park at night. She quickly shoved the wig and clothes she was wearing into her backpack and pulled on her usual jeans and t-shirt. All she had to do was walk home to her adopted parent's house. Nobody was outside on the street, and she made it there without incident.
Bloom knocked on the familiar wooden front door that housed all of her childhood memories and hoped her parents were still awake. The door swung open unexpectedly and she was suddenly embraced by an older woman with short brown hair. Her adopted mother Vanessa.
"Hey mum." Bloom commented breathlessly. It felt like a century had passed since she last saw the older woman.
"What are you doing back so early Bloom?" Vanessa asked after releasing her. "Well…late at night, but it's so early in the year. What happened?"
"I asked for leave." The lie smoothly fell from her lips.
"Come inside and tell me. Your father is at work still, he has the night shift at the fire brigade tonight."
"Ahh, I'll see him tomorrow then." Bloom entered the familiar smelling house and Vanessa locked the door behind her. She went to put on some tea while Bloom took off her sneakers and sat down on the couch.
After bringing over two cups of steaming hot tea to the coffee table and sitting down, Vanessa asked, "what happened?"
"Remember what happened last year?" Bloom already practiced what she would say.
"Um, about that bad guy, what was his name…gar, far, kar-something?"
"Lord Darkar." There was the slightest tinge of reverence in her voice that Vanessa didn't notice.
"That's it! What about it?"
"Well Faragonda felt that that incident was stressing me out and I was struggling in class, so I've been given a leave of absence for a while." Lies came quickly and easily.
"Oh sweetie, come here." Vanessa pat the spot beside her, and Bloom moved over for a hug. It was nice to be embraced by her again. "How long are you with us?"
"Just a week."
"Okay sweetie, well…I am sure you will get through this. Your father and I are here for you."
"Thanks mum." The gratitude in her voice was genuine.
Vanessa fell asleep on the couch before long and Bloom separated herself from the older woman so she could sleep in her own bed. She slid into familiar cotton pyjamas and climbed into her soft bed.
The next morning Bloom awoke to the smell of pancakes. She washed up and hopped down the stairs to the kitchen where her adoptive mother was preparing the sweet breakfast.
"Good morning sweetheart." Vanessa kissed her cheek and handed her a plate of fresh pancakes.
"Morning," Bloom replied through a mouthful of pancake. "where's dad?"
"Asleep, so try to keep it down today, okay?"
"Okay." Bloom replied with a slight smile and settled in to enjoy breakfast.
It was nice to have a mundane day after everything that happened recently. The chirping birds outside the kitchen window sung their morning songs and the sun shone warmly into the room. All would be well if not for the nagging feeling inside her. A restlessness that moved Bloom to action.
After eating and quietly cleaning up her plate, Bloom rushed back upstairs without a noise to read and practise. It was why she came here after all. Earth was the perfect place to practice her concentration and control of her magical energy undisturbed. The dampening effect of Earth's magnetic field would make spells harder to cast and her control would waver. If she could master and fine tune her control to a high level in this environment, then an accident like what happened with Stella's mind would never occur again.
The one-week timeframe was the only amount of time Bloom felt comfortable staying in one place. Any longer and she would risk being found. Afterall, it was common knowledge that she grew up on Earth.
The bedroom door remained open, there was no need to practise in secrecy. Like all humans from Earth, neither of her parents could sense or feel the nature of magic. Even if she used dark magic, they would have no idea. Light and dark magic would appear identical to them. The fact that there was no discernible difference to humans from Earth amused Bloom.
Bloom chuckled to herself and wondered what kinds of arguments this information would incite in the Magic Dimension. The Light and Dark sides hated each other equally and would never want to be compared to each other.
It was unknown when she made the choice to reject the purity of light and dark magic, but it felt more natural to use any magic, regardless of where it came from. Both sides both had their upsides and downsides and had situations and places where they excelled over each other. It seemed silly to limit herself to only one side or style of magic.
As an active member of the Winx, Bloom had experienced many life and death situations and had many hours of real-life magical battle experience. Unlike other fairies her age, her aptitude, skills, and knowledge was leaps and bounds higher, but this was only in terms of light magic and the fairy magic method.
In dark magic and using the witch magic method, she was akin to an infant taking its first steps.
A week of non-stop practice, except to sleep, eat and shit, would be enough time to instil a natural feeling when using the witch magic method. It would not be enough time to become an experienced witch or dark magic practitioner, but any practise was better than none.
While Bloom was busy practising, Vanessa turned to her husband, Mike, and asked, "does Bloom seem more distant to you?"
"She's been through a lot of hardships honey." Mike replied with a smile.
"I'm worried about her. Tomorrow, she has to go back to school, but we have barely spent any time together." Vanessa's expression was forlorn as she glanced at the stairs leading to the bedrooms.
"Well she did come home during the school year, I'm sure a condition of being sent home was that they would give her homework." The pride in Mike's voice was obvious and Vanessa could only softly smile in response.
"Maybe she won't mind if I bring her a snack today?" Vanessa asked to herself and skipped to the kitchen to prepare a plate of cookies for her precious daughter.
"Make sure not to bother her too much honey." Mike chucked from the couch and flicked the TV on to his favourite show.
Vanessa smiled to herself and rushed up the stairs with the plate to give to her hardworking daughter. The door was open as usual. Vanessa didn't knock and entered the room boisterously announcing, "cookie time!"
Suddenly, a blood-curdling scream echoed down the stairs.
Mike jumped to his feet and rushed up the stairs to see what happened. Initially he couldn't understand what he was looking at, but it soon sunk in.
Bloom was standing over Vanessa, who was crouched on the ground. She had one hand under her adoptive mother's chin and the other outstretched above her face like a claw. The look on her face was absolutely alien to him. Bloom's crystal-clear blue eyes glistened with a dangerous hunger that he couldn't understand, and an absolutely chilling smile split across her face.
He couldn't see Vanessa's face from behind, but there were splatters of blood on Bloom's face and clothes. The stark red colour broke him out of his stupor, and he rushed forward to kneel beside his wife.
"Vanessa! Bloom!" Now he could see what was going on. Vanessa's eyes were shut tight, and her face was twisted into a grimace that made his heart ache. Her left eye socket was leaking blood and a clear chunky liquid that could only be her destroyed eye. The eyelid was torn and bleeding as well.
"What the hell…" his voice trailed off as his gaze flickered between the two most important women in his life in shock, horror, and confusion.
Finally, Bloom finished her spell and Vanessa fell limply into Mike's arms. He was relieved to see she was breathing and only asleep.
"Dad…" Bloom wanted to say something but stopped herself. "Don't worry, you won't remember this."
"Bloom, what are…?" His sentence was cut short when Bloom grabbed his chin to lock eyes with him. Her blue gaze pierced his mind and the magic entered freely. It was more difficult to use the mind-altering magic on the humans of Earth thanks to their natural resistance to magic, but Bloom had become very adept at harnessing her power over the past week.
If only Vanessa had not come into her room, Bloom might have spared her. At least she didn't die, and her parents became good test subjects for her mind-altering magic. If she could successfully cast this spell on them, then there would be no magical creature who would be able to passively resist her spell in the Magic Dimension.
Before long, her father closed his eyes, let out a sigh and fell into a deep sleep. She replaced the memory of him seeing her attacking Vanessa with the image of her healing Vanessa as best she could but failing to save her eye after a terrible magical accident. She replaced the same memory within her adoptive mother's mind as well before she cast a basic levitation spell on them and took them to their bed.
Bloom decided to stay one more day to ensure that the spell worked without a hitch. The next morning she put on a teary façade and kept apologising for not being able to save her mother's eye. Neither of her parents held her responsible and kept repeating how it was an accident and she did her best to save the eye.
Satisfied with her gruesome work, Bloom left the house to make her way back to Alfea. It was exhilarating to use her magic on an intelligent being. There was nothing else quite like the screams of an innocent person.
The only person Bloom knew that was powerful enough to teleport at will, was Stella. It was strange to be contacting the sun fairy who she had messed with so heavily before. Thinking about how many times she got away with casting dark magic on Stella made her smirk in satisfaction.
The phone line connected quickly, and Stella's voice drifted through, "Bloom! Thank goodness you are okay! What happened? Where are you?"
Bloom was a little bit surprised by Stella's reacquisition of her memories, but she should have known that Faragonda was powerful enough to fix all of Bloom's mistakes. "Hi Stella, I'm at my mum's place, I need a lift."
"You need a what? How did you get to Earth?"
"I need you to come get me Stella, I'm stuck here. I promise I'll explain in person." A silver tongue of deception was blossoming.
"Okay I'm coming now." As soon as the line disconnected a bright light appeared in front of Bloom and Stella materialised. She was dressed in her signature outfit with her staff extended and glowing with dissipating magic power.
"Bloom, are you okay? You have to tell me what happened?" Stella immediately stepped forward and locked Bloom into a bear hug.
"Of course Stella. Look at me." Bloom's tone was strangely chilling, but Stella had no reason to suspect her of anything. Especially since Faragonda and the rest of the Winx kept her in the dark.
They made eye contact and Bloom's mind invaded Stella's unprotected one like a tidal wave. The sun fairy fell to her knees at the shock and Bloom grasped her chin to keep their gazes locked. After shifting around in her memories and learning what Faragonda and the Winx were up to, she frowned to herself.
Just as she was about to cast mind-altering magic on the sun fairy again, a thought flew past her mind and she squinted, shocked by the news. It was a memory of Stella talking to a fairy called Nova about news from Solaria. According to the Solarian fairy, Stella had been removed from the Royal Registry of Solaria and Chimera had taken her place as Crown Princess. There was a huge uproar from the Temple, but the commoners accepted her when she started doing charity work. News also spread that Chimera was working with the Guardian Fairies of Solaria to solve the issue of the Twin Suns going dark, so half of the nobles were willing to accept her. It sounded like the realm was on the brink of civil war between the common people, half the nobles and the temple.
Solaria wasn't exactly known for its libraries on dark magic, so it was just a bit of useless gossip to Bloom. She never had any plans to go to Solaria anyways.
After putting Stella into an easily malleable mental state, she had the tranced fairy teleport them to the City of Magix. They arrived in a flash in an abandoned ally way in the less travelled part of town. Once their feet touched the familiar ground, Bloom released the trance on Stella and wiped her memory of the event. She even went so far as to delete Stella's call history, so nobody would know Bloom contacted her. She took Stella's wallet and implanted a false memory of being mugged.
Now that she had practiced mind altering magic on magical-resistant Earth humans, it was easy to cast the spell on the unguarded and unprotected Stella. Her mind was open and familiar. Any memory she wanted to implant would stick regardless of whether it made sense or not.
After dressing up in her the same witch costume from a week ago, she left Stella in the alley way and made her way to a different witch café from the one she staked out before her holiday to Earth. It would be good to listen for any gossip or news. Since she was rejected at Cloud Tower, it was time to find a new place to learn dark magic.
Aisha sighed over her bathroom sink as she watched the water slowly swirl around and drain away. The scrying magic she cast was draining enough on its own, but the vision of terror, death, and destruction she witnessed on Andros was enough to make her feel as if bricks were settling in the pit of her stomach.
After taking a deep breath to steady herself. She washed her face and walked out of the bathroom to find the rest of the Winx. Stella was asleep in her bedroom after returning from Magix, on foot and without her wallet, apparently being mugged. There were enough problems bogging down her fellow princess, so Aisha made the decision to exclude her from the plans forming in her mind.
Tecna, Musa and Flora sat across from her on their shared dorm room couch and waited patiently for what Aisha was going to say.
"The situation on Andros is getting worse and I need to do something about it." The concern for her people was clearly written all over her face.
"It seems to me as if a powerful magical creature of the dark persuasion is involved." Tecna replied and showed Aisha the calculations on one of her technical devices. "Will you be informing Headmistress Faragonda of your intentions to help?"
"No, I want to go scout out the situation. It would be better to approach her with a solution to the problem, rather than without a plan or idea what is going on."
"I agree." Tecna replied and Musa nodded vigorously.
"Will you help me?" Aisha's cerulean eyes were sad and tired from worry.
"Of course sweetie, you don't even need to ask." Flora replied and moved to sit next to the fairy of waves. She rubbed her back slowly and soothingly.
"Thank you. By the way, I have no intention of bothering Stella with this."
"I think that is wise." Tecna agreed.
"She has been through so much." Tears shone at the corner of Flora's eyes.
"I feel like it would be too dangerous for her to come, what if she gets hurt because she's off her game?" Musa added with a sad expression.
"That's why we won't be telling her."
"How will we get there without her magic?" Flora asked.
"Can the boys fly us?" Musa asked, the excitement to see their lovers clear in her voice.
Tecna's beautiful magenta hair swayed as she shook her head no, "Timmy told me, they left for a mission this morning. We will have to take the conventional route."
"It's okay, I can afford everyone's tickets. Besides, you are doing me a favour by coming, it's the least I can do." Aisha replied with a smile as she flashed her wallet exaggeratedly.
Later that afternoon the four Winx were lining up at the Magix Travel Institute like any other tourist or traveller. It felt odd to be in que when they usually travelled by express route, but this was their choice.
When it was their turn, the attendant gave them an odd look after looking at the destination on their tickets. However he waved them through when he saw that Aisha was the Princess of the Surface of Andros. He thought they were probably going to assist with the realm's current problems.
After stepping onto the platforms and teleportation magic was cast around them, the Winx arrived at the Andros Surface Travel Institute without any issues. The attendant on the other side was more reverent when she noticed who Aisha was, but Aisha ignored her and focused on their mission.
"Lead the way, Aisha." Musa nudged the fairy of waves from behind and the brown-haired woman nodded.
The Winx transformed and flew off immediately, with Aisha in the lead. Once they were high in the sky and could overlook most of the Surface Realm and part of the Sea Realm of Andros, Aisha nodded at Tecna. Said technology fairy closed her eyes and cast a powerful detection spell. Green magic emanated out from her entire body and pulsed across the surface of the planet.
"I sense dark magic coming from the ocean."
"Underwater?" Flora asked, anxious. Tecna nodded.
"How will we get there?"
"I know a spell that can make us breathe underwater, but I'll need Flora's help." Aisha replied.
"My help?" Flora was mildly shocked.
"Yes, your nature magic combined with my water magic will create a bubble of oxygen for each of us that cannot be popped by natural means."
"You mean rocks and sand wont pop it?" Tecna asked.
"Exactly."
Flora nodded in understanding and the two of them started working on the spell, with the nature fairy following Aisha's lead. It didn't take them long to create four bubbles filled with air for the four fairies. Musa tentatively touched the bubble, worried it might pop, but the surface was cool and hard. Satisfied, she smiled and Tecna led them towards the dark magic she sensed in the ocean. The ocean seemed darker than usual to Aisha. There was more pollution in the water and less light was able to penetrate the deeper they went, but there was still enough sunlight for them to see.
The closer they travelled to the source, the more intense the nauseous feeling in the pit of Aisha stomach became. It wasn't long before the four fairies reached their destination. An underwater temple which had seen better days. It was surrounded by tall rocks and broken pillars. Seaweed and other plants grew around the broken stones. No sea life could be seen nearby, the dark magic emanating from the centre of the ruined temple kept them away.
In the middle of the temple was an unfamiliar man with long light brown hair. His eyes were closed, and he was chanting with his hands outstretched in front of him. He was casting a spell or a curse on an imprisoned mermaid with elegant dark green hair tied into a three-layered bun and golden eyes.
"Shit that's Aunt Ligea!" Aisha cursed under her breath, she wanted to scream at the man, but Musa held her back while Tecna scouted the area. "We have to save her, she's the Queen of the Sea Realm!"
"Bad news, he isn't alone." Tecna replied with a grimace.
"Who else is here? I don't see anyone?" Flora asked.
"I am detecting the Trix's magic not far from our location, it is likely he will be able to call them for help before we can escape with your aunt Aisha."
"Okay then, we need a diversion. You three go get the Trix's attention while I save my aunt."
"Alone?" Musa asked with a worried expression.
"I am a native of Andros and the Fairy of Waves. The water is my natural element, I can swim the fastest."
"I don't like this plan," Flora added with her hand worriedly cradling her cheek, "but you're right. Let's go create a diversion girls."
The four fairies nodded to each other before Tecna, Flora and Musa left to go get the Trix witches' attention. Aisha waited for a moment until she could sense their magic in the distance. She gathered her power into her hands and arms before conjuring a powerful wave to assault the unknown wizard.
He wasn't expecting the assault and was knocked aside. His concentration wavered and the spell was broken. Once the connection between him and Queen Ligea was gone, she sucked in a relieved breath. Aisha was already in front of her casting light magic to free her from the wizard's immobility spell.
"Well, well, well, who do we have here?" The man's deep sultry voice drifted over from behind Aisha, and she immediately spun around to face him with a teal-coloured shield up.
"Be careful Aisha, he is a powerful wizard!" The mermaid Queen warned her from behind.
"I think you will find I am none other than Valtor! The Most Powerful Wizard of All Time!" The light brown-haired man tipped back his head and laughed like a cartoon villain, always happy to spread his name and fame to new faces.
"Get out of here Aunt Ligea!" Aisha quickly said to her aunt. The mermaid queen did as she was told, swiftly swimming away.
"I don't think so." The wizard commented and cast a dark spell towards the green-haired mermaid queen.
"No!" Aisha immediately intercepted the spell with her body, but in her panic, she was unable to maintain her shield.
"Aisha!" The Queen screamed in panic but witnessed something wonderful instead of Aisha's death. As soon as the spell hit Aisha's body and was absorbed, Aisha entered into the light of transformation.
The fairy of waves' wings grew much larger and changed colour from white to a sparkly pink membrane lined with light green. Her hair became curlier and formed two braided pigtails with a wash of loose hair beneath them. A sky-blue crown formed around her forehead with a matching necklace around her neck. Her outfit became a sky blue, pink, and light green crop top and skirt with wavy fabric resembling flowers hanging from the hem. Sparkly see-through golden gloves formed on her arms. Sky blue straps grew around her feet and ankles and a small pink flower formed on the strap running between her big toes and her second toes.
Aisha achieved her Enchantix fairy form as a result of a member of her home realm from certain danger. She was the first of the third-year fairies at Alphea to do so that year.
By the time her transformation was complete and the light from her body had disappeared, Valtor was gone. Aisha was also unconscious, and her bubble had been destroyed by Valtor's magic. It was unknown at that point what other effects his magic had on her body. Queen Ligea quickly swam forward and cast a breathing spell on Aisha. When she was done, three fairies in similar bubbles to Aisha's appeared, looking tired and defeated.
"Aisha!" Musa swam forward first, her long black hair dancing behind her and asked, "What happened."
The Queen quickly explained the events to Aisha's friends before bringing the four of them back to the Underwater Palace with her.
The Sea Realm Palace as it was officially named, was a massive underwater structure formed of sea stone, opals, and corals. The opals embedded in the walls shone in the light, native fish swam in around the corals in the underwater gardens and seaweed danced in the light waves. The palace was always patrolled by mermen and triton soldiers and when the saw the Queen and Surface Princess Aisha, they immediately opened the ornate doors for them.
At the Palace the Winx were rewarded for their efforts in saving the Queen and trying to stop Valtor with free teleportation passes and a monetary reward. The fairies wanted to refuse the money, but the Queen and King insisted.
"Call it a future investment. I fear we will need your assistance again soon Winx." The King commented with a smile and the girls accepted his grace.
Aisha finally woke up with a panicked scream in the next room and everyone rushed in to find her blindly groping around the room. Her eyes were milky white and a faint feeling of unease permeated the room. It was obviously the result of Valtor's spell.
"We must return to Alfea! This magic is beyond my healing abilities, Headmistress Faragonda will know what to do." Flora immediately commanded after examining Aisha for a few moments.
"My daughter will send you back. She is adept at teleportation magic." The Queen replied from the door with a worried expression.
"Aunt…"
"Don't say anything dear, you have already saved my life, this is the least we can do. Let me get her." She left the room without another word.
"Don't worry Aisha, we can fix this." Musa comforted her best friend with a hug.
"Thanks Musa."
Queen Ligea returned with a red-haired mermaid with golden eyes that matched her mother. "Cousin, I hear you need my help."
"Thank you, Tressa."
"Leave it to me, but you owe me cousin." She replied with a cheeky grin that Aisha couldn't see, but she could hear it in the tone of her voice. The red-haired mermaid princess started casting the powerful teleportation magic that would send the four fairies back to their pink school.
The four of them held hands so they wouldn't get separated and were sucked into a whirlpool that formed in the middle of the room. After a disorienting trip through a whirlwind of seawater that became freshwater, they were spat out from the fountain in the middle of the school courtyard. They landed on the grass with a thud and a cacophony of groans.
To the Winx's surprise, Stella, Griselda, and Headmistress Faragonda were waiting for them not two steps away.
"Welcome home ladies, I hope your trip went well." Headmistress Faragonda sounded as sweet and calm as usual, but they could tell they were in trouble.
"All four of you will be grounded for two weeks, no trips outside of school, including to Magix." Griselda wrote something down into her notebook before nodding to Headmistress Faragonda and walking away.
"Let's go to my office ladies."
The Winx groaned but followed after Stella and the Headmistress without another word.
Before the white witch would allow the four of them to sit down, she cast a simple wind spell to dry their clothes and bodies. "Now tell me of your adventure."
Tecna recounted the events in Andros.
"You heard him say his name was Valtor?"
"Aisha did, before he did this to her." Musa chimed in and Aisha absently nodded from beside her.
"I see." Headmistress Faragonda sighed and stood up. She walked over to Aisha and helped the fairy to her feet. After spending a moment examining her milky white eyes and casting a detection spell, she grasped Aisha's hand and said, "can you transform please Aisha."
The fairy of waves did as she was asked and transformed into her Enchantix form. Just a flap from her powerful wings was enough to make paper fly off from Headmistress Faragonda's desk.
"Enchantix fairies are capable of breaking dark magic with their fairy powder." Faragonda gently wiped her hand across Aisha's sparkling upper wing and sprinkled the resulting powder over Aisha's face. Within a few moments a wave of energy exploded from Aisha and the spell was broken.
"I can see!"
"That's incredible!" Flora exclaimed in shock.
"It's surprisingly powerful." Tecna commented after making a note in one of her technical devices.
"In the right circumstances fairy powder is capable of breaking many dark spells."
"What are the right circumstances?" Tecna asked while the rest of the girls hugged and congratulated Aisha for regaining her eyesight.
"The dark spell must be cast on a light aligned magical creature; fairy powder is incapable of breaking dark magic cast on dark aligned magical creatures. There is too much interference from their own natural dark magic. In addition it's very difficult to break a dark spell cast on an inanimate object. Curses are also difficult to break since their nature is different from dark and light magic." Headmistress Faragonda explained patiently.
"What makes a curse different?" Tecna asked.
"Well curses are imbued with negative emotions and blood."
"Blood? That's gross." Stella grimaced from behind Tecna.
"Indeed, curses are powerful when cast in vengeance or anger, but they are risky for the user because of the blood cost, many witches and wizards have died trying to cast curses that asked of too much lifeblood from them. It is unlikely you will ever encounter one."
"It's still good to know our fairy powder won't work on it." Musa commented.
"Which is why I told you about it." Headmistress Faragonda smiled. "Now that we have solved Aisha's problem, I can tell you about the second part of your punishment."
"Griselda already grounded us!" Musa complained loudly.
"Yes well, we both feel that punishment is light. You will also spend the rest of the day cleaning the kitchens. Tomorrow I would appreciate if you would clean the laboratories after class as well."
"We understand, thank you for your help, Headmistress." Aisha was surprisingly okay with the punishment.
"Ah, of course Stella is not included in either punishment as she didn't leave the campus and informed us immediately when she found the four of you missing."
"Thank you, Headmistress!" Stella was beaming ear to ear. When they left the room, she leaned in close to Aisha and said, "next time don't leave me behind and I can't tell on you."
"No you did the right thing Stella. It was dangerous for us to leave without telling anyone." Aisha's voice was sombre.
"Huh?"
"Thanks for looking out for us and sorry for leaving you behind. Next time you'll come with us, won't you?" Aisha was smiling.
"I mean…yeah of course I will." Stella's reply was slow as she processed Aisha's words.
"Thanks Stella." Aisha walked off with a laugh.
Back in Faragonda's office, the white witch was standing by her window overlooking the courtyard with a tired expression. A few moments later her long-time friend and colleague, Griselda entered the room and shut the door behind her. She was holding two cups of tea and handed one to the white witch.
"What news did they bring?"
"Valtor and the Trix are working together."
Griselda sighed, "why is it always those three?"
"Icy is a more powerful ice witch than I thought." Faragonda sighed and placed the tea on her desk.
"Who expected them to be able to break out of Omega, all these years Valtor couldn't." Griselda sipped her tea and turned to look at her tired friend. "Maybe they really are connected to the Ancestral Witches."
"I agree, its no coincidence they possess the same magic as those old women, and now they have even joined hands with their creation." Faragonda hid her face in her hands and sighed again. "I have a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach."
"Bloom?"
"Exactly…but I have no idea how she fits into anything yet."
"I'm sure things will become clear before long." Griselda sounded more confident than Faragonda did.
"I hope they never meet."
To be continued in Chapter 4...