Aerilyn woke up moments later in Diablous' arms. "Aeri are you okay?" He asked frantically. She groaned and held her head. "Oh god Brandon, is he okay?" She asked. Diablous' face dropped.
"He and Stella fell into the pit, we don't know where they are." Aerilyn gasped and covered her mouth. "It's all my fault." He shook his head.
"It's not Aeri, you did what you could." She sighed and her head fell against his chest.
"I don't understand how I was that weak, it was like something drained me instantly." Bloom ran to her and hugged her. "Oh thank god you're okay."
"Personal space please, I just passed out I'm fine." There was a scream from the cave. Diablous let her down and they ran towards the scream to see Aisha stuck against the wall by some glue. "Disgusting, please get this thing off me!" Sky tried to rip the glue off her but she begged him to stop. "My wings!"
"Let me try." Aerilyn said. She drew her scythe.
"Please be careful." Aisha begged.
"I have trained in weapons all my life." She slashed the glue off Aisha and she dropped it from the wall. "Oh thank you Aeri!" She tried to come in for a hug but Aerilyn stepped back and shook her head. "I have a strict no-hugging policy unless you almost died." Bloom chuckled.
"Yeah been friends for a year and she still keeps it up, you'll get used to it." She said to Aisha. Aisha burst out laughing. "I think I will."
✯✯✯
They looked down at the pit, Bloom was still weak and was unable to transform and Aisha's wings weren't able to fly because of the sticky substance. Aerilyn was drained by a mysterious force and Diablous couldn't do much to help them down. "I have an idea." Aisha created a crane from morphix allowing them to climb down to the bottom of the pit.
There was a dead body of the tar monster but no sign of Brandon or Stella. Aerilyn pointed in front of them and said. "I hear a river, this way." They ran to the river, its waters so strong it would've been able to take them away easily. "They must have fallen in there." Sky said.
"Then we have to help them." Bloom said walking towards the edge of the river only to be pulled back by Aisha. "Bloom this river is probably connected to the one that carried me out." Aerilyn nodded. "And even if we did go in there, we'd probably be washed away like them, I can't use my powers to create an air sphere to help us pass." Bloom sighed.
"So we should continue the mission without them?"
"It's for the best Bloom, if we don't save the pixies now we may never be able to save them again." Diablous said.
They continued their journey to find the pixies and encountered more of the monsters. Unfortunately, Diablous was becoming drained from all the spells he had to do even if his powers were based on the darkness. They tried to use the seeds but they were unable to grow without sunlight. Likely their favorite sun and moon fairy appeared and managed to allow the seeds to grow and defeat the monsters. Aerilyn felt herself become more drained as the caves began to shake, creating an underground earthquake.
They managed to escape but were forced back to the surface once more. And the way back was blocked by a mass amount of blouders. Stella couldn't teleport them there and the citadel was miles beneath the earth. She pointed towards the bottom of the valley and said it would probably be there. "Aerilyn can't you use your powers to blast away the rocks or use your senses to figure out where it is?" Sky asked.
"I wish I could but whatever is down there in those caves drain me the moment I get there, I haven't even used my powers and I feel like I've been using it for hours."
"That is strange, is there something that air magic is particularly weak to?" Aisha asked. Aerilyn shook her head. "Not that I know of, unlike other forms of magic there isn't anything that can really drain us."
"It's fine, all we need to do is get in and out of there so we can save the pixies, just try to lay off the magic." Diablous said.
"Speaking of which, Stella I think it'll be best if you stay up here since you need sunlight." Sky said. "I'm fine, I won't leave Brandon with that fish tramp, and besides you guys need my radiant glow to defeat those monsters." Aerilyn chuckled.
"Can't argue with the truth."
"So how are we going to get down there?" Aisha held up a wooden slab of wood. Aerilyn squealed. "Sand mountain ski!" Aerilyn rode down the hill with Aisha beside her.
"I gotta say you're pretty good at this!" Aerilyn said.
"You two."
"Wanna do a performance for everyone else?" Aisha smiled.
"You just read my mind." They rode down the mountain zigzagging past each other. Aerilyn flew up into the sky and fell down next to her. They high-fived as they stopped at the bottom of the hill. Aerilyn laughed and cheered as Sky came down next to them.
"Wow, you two are really agile."
"Just part of our nature." Aerilyn smiled.
"Is showing off also your nature?" Aisha laughed.
"Well perhaps." Diablous appeared next to them after he refused to go down the mountain and opted to teleport after everyone else had left. "You should've seen us Diablous we were so good!" Aerilyn beamed at him. He chuckled and looked up at Bloom and Stella.
"Guess not everyone's good." They were failing out of control, moving around in jagged movements, and were unable to catch hold of their boards. "You can do it guys wooo!" Aerilyn shouted. Bloom managed to stick a landing before falling off her board whilst Stella had a more 'rocky' landing. She fell against a rock, it crackling.
"Lucky for you the rocks here are brittle." Diablous said helping her up.
"Yeah, I figured that out the hard way." Stella said.
The rocks being brittle allowed them to use the delocalizer which Aerilyn forgot existed until then. They all were in a circle as it activated, everyone managed to get through the rocks with Stella making a last-minute entrance. She was squirming about because a worm had gone through her, Bloom removed it from her head trying hard to not laugh. Aerilyn felt her powers drain her even more and held her head.
"There's a powerful presence that's weakening me." She said.
"It must be the shadow castle." Aisha said pointing ahead of her. "Whatever magic it uses it must drain your powers." Aerilyn rolled her eyes.
"Glad it's only my powers and not my skills."
✯✯✯
They walked through the bridge much to Stella's dismay. Aisha went to search for the pixies with Aerilyn as they were the most agile to do so, leaving the others at the entrance. Aerilyn drew her scythe as she looked around. Her eyes rested on the pixies trapped behind a magic barrier. "The pixies." Aisha ran over to them and conversed with them.
"And this is Aerilyn, her and the other winx came to help you escape." The pixies cheered and chattered about. Aerilyn's eyes caught the attention of a pixie that wears a dark orange hat with two light orange puffs and a puffy yellow-striped orange jumpsuit. The pixie began talking the same way Piff talked and Aerilyn chuckled. "Aren't you a cute one?"
"You've got to break the seal, it'll release us from our cages." A purple-haired pixie said. Aisha transformed and began attacking the seal. Even with her full power, she was unable to release them. Aerilyn stood up. "Let me try."
"But you're far too weak."
"I have to try don't I or else we would've come here for no reason." She concentrated and groaned as she tried to transform.
Aerilyn panted as she outstretched her hands toward the seal. She directed as much power as she could toward the seal and immediately de transformed after. She looked towards the pixies to see the barrier had been lifted. "It...worked?" Aisha helped her up as the pixies flew out and hugged them. Aerilyn turned to look outside and told Aisha of the attack.
"I'll get the pixies out of here, you go and help the others."
"Right." Aisha flew away.
"Alright pixies, do you know the way out of here?" They shook their heads. Aerilyn concentrated and opened her eyes. "I feel a way out, follow me!"
They ran through the corridors, past many doors and rooms until they found a way out. "Go to Aisha quickly!" The baby pixie flew towards her and into her arms.
"You have to go with them okay, I'll follow you guys shortly." The baby pixie smiled and followed the others out of the castle. Aerilyn turned back and walked back in.
"There must be a reason why I'm so weak, this castle has magic that could pose a problem in the future." She ran through the corridors until she was outside standing on a raised platform. She felt a presence behind her and drew her weapon. "Whose there?" She shouted. She saw a dark phoenix in the sky before it landed in front of her, turning into a man-like skeleton. She backed away a few steps. "...Who are you?"
"My name is Darkar and you are trespassing!" He boomed.
"So you're the one who kidnapped the pixies!" She tightened her grip on her scythe.
"Yes I am, and you have freed them so now you shall pay the price." He directed an attack on her which she dodged. She managed to dodge a few more attacks before being hit by one and dropping to the ground. As he was about to direct another attack on her she created an air shield protecting her.
"Foolish girl, I will absorb your powers now!" She felt her powers being drained until they stopped suddenly. Darkar staggered back and held his head. "What is this...why do I feel so much weaker?" He looked back at her. "What did you do?" Before she could say anything else she saw a blinding light, a man with wings descended from the sky and healed her. When the man disappeared so did Darkar.
✯✯✯
Aerilyn managed to return onto the ground joining the others. She was met by a hug from the small pixie and laughed. "You missed me buddy?" The pixie said a few incoherent words.
"Her name is Glim, I think she likes you Aeri." Aisha said. Stella and Amore bonded with each other and Bloom and Lockette bonded with each other. Glim sat on Aerilyn's shoulder as Aisha explained what happened to the pixies.
"I figured out something strange too, I was fighting Darkar the skeleton man and he tried to absorb my power but he stopped because my power weakened his and then there was this man with wings that healed me and then disappeared."
"So your magic weakens him, that's why you were so weak throughout the whole journey." Diablous said.
"I suppose so, but that man..."
"We encountered him too." Sky said.
"You did?" They nodded.
"The Trix was here and we were losing against them, it was like they had a power boost and the man appeared out of nowhere and defeated them with one blast." Stella said, Aerilyn sat in thought.
"Pretty weird if you ask me." Bloom shook her head.
"He saved us, if he really was working with the enemy then why would he save us?"
"You do have a point, but we should still remain wary." Stella got up.
"While I do love chatting we need to get to Brandon before he says I do." They all got up.
"You're right, let's go."
✵✵✵