⑅ ♥̩̥̩♥̩̩̥͙♥̩͙ˊˎ
I'm back, kind of.
Enjoy!
Alethea's POV:
The sun rays passed through the window of my dorm, creating small tunnels on the schoolwork sheets I was writing on, ignoring the plants that were dancing and messing with Stella's clothes on her side of the room where Stella was nowhere in sight while the soft music that I put on filled the air without effort.
This peaceful moment was ruined however when a loud scream almost burst my eardrums, I dropped my pencil in surprise and winced as my concentration broke and tried to calm my rapidly beating heart rate, the moment I calmed down, I stood up and made my way to the lounge room to be met with Stella and Flora arguing. I tilted my head in confusion before realization hit me as to why Stella was yelling at Flora.
It must be the dancing plants.
"Flora, why don't you take your hippy-dippy research and go save a different planet?" Stella fumed as Flora's eyebrows furrowed at the harshness of her words.
"That's not nice!" Flora retorted while crossing her arms over her chest, taking offence to what Stella said.
"Girls." I began in a firm yet soft voice but the moment I grabbed their attention, I shifted awkwardly at their intense gaze, that was now set on me. "It's eight o'clock in the morning.. could you perhaps tone it down a little? Please?"
"Her flower power has gone too far." Stella complained, her eyes now settled on me as she made her way to my side. "Didn't you notice the plants in our room? They're alive!"
"I'm close to finishing my new potion." Flora was quick to defend herself before I could even give my own input on this. "It will protect us from the Witches."
"Like homoeopathy can work against dark magic." Stella huffed, her annoyance evident from her use of tone. "It'd be like 'don't you dare mess with us or we'll hit you with a daisy and go all herbal on you'."
I glanced at them, a doubtful look crossing my face when I didn't know who to defend when I understood both of their perspectives. "It could be an alternative though.."
"It's out of control though." Stella scoffed, not looking too pleased when I agreed with Flora's idea. "It wasn't enough to turn your room into a stinky twenty-four-hour potion lab, she had to invade my room with her veggies."
"It's my room too." I sighed, now silently regretting going outside of our room to see what the screaming was about. "And do you hear me complaining?"
"No offense Thea, but you're okay with everything and they are not using your clothes as we speak." Stella lightly joked as she started dragging us back to our room, gesturing to those plants Flora set in our room. "-She crossed the line with those bratty little fashion victim plants, they are shrinking my clothes, using my makeup and they're self-absorbed mirror addicts."
"They're adapting to their environment." Flora frowned at Stella's obvious insult to her plants.
"That's my Goblin Galvana, that's my favourite dress!" Stella shrieked when she spotted one of those plants trying on another outfit as I coughed to cover my laugh. "You see what's happening in our room?" She turned to me and latched onto me as I sighed while patting her back to hopefully calm her down. "Oh my poor poor clothes."
My lips however curled up in an amused smile. "And now you agree that it's not only your room?"
Bloom who overheard everything walked in with an annoyed expression on her face. "They're just clothes, Stella."
"No, they're couture." Stella corrected in a matter-of-fact tone, quick to defend her clothes. "You know what that means? They are one of a kind, the shrinking is bad enough but they're also mixing stripes with floral. it's like a horror show."
Bloom and I stared at the plants for a good few seconds before exchanging looks and that was enough for us to burst into fits of laughter, not being able to sympathize with Stella on this.
"It's not funny!"
"Maybe I can fix this." Flora suggested in a kind voice, not wanting to argue any further. "Tecna might know a counter spell."
We nodded in agreement and followed Flora to Musa and Tecna's room. When we entered the room we were met with only Musa, reading a book while lying on her bed, I looked around to see that Tecna was nowhere in sight.
"Musa, have you seen Tecna?"
"Nah." Musa shook her head, not taking her eyes off her book. "She has been off the radar."
Flora frowned and walked over to Tecna's closet. "I need to find a spell to unshrink couture."
I hummed in thought as an idea popped up in my head. "Doesn't the Nocturnal Ivy do that?"
"Oh yeah, I could combine it with a drop of sparkly parsley oil." Flora smiled at my idea as she opened the closet doors to reveal the unexpected. "Tecna!" Our smiles fell when we saw our missing friend, vines covering her whole and seemingly not budging at all.
"Hmph." Tecna struggled against the vines and Flora wasted no time to use her magic, making the vines disappear and releasing Tecna. "Where have you been? All I wanted was a jacket but I got kidnapped by this psycho plant!"
Stella heaved out a dramatic sigh. "You see what Flora is doing to our living conditions?"
Musa finally lifted her head and shook it in disappointment. "That's not cool Flo."
"Your plant also happened to eat my notebook." Tecna slightly snapped at her while I shifted uncomfortably at the rising tension. "Is there any way to get it back?"
Flora let out a nervous giggle, making Tecna even more frustrated. "Get it back? uh...no...haha."
"What about a spell?" Tecna queried, crossing her arms while glaring at Flora. It was obvious that Tecna was trying to remain come and search for possible solutions, but seeing Flora's current predicament showed that she didn't know any.
Flora winced at Tecna's use of tone, looking even more guilty. "Whatever the ivy eats is pretty much gone."
"WHAT?" Tecna's outburst was enough for me to inch away from her, Tecna rarely ever gets mad and seeing her explode like that surprised us all.
"I really didn't know it would grow that fast." Flora sulked, her eyes now downcast. "I'm so sorry."
"What am I supposed to do? Tell the teacher that a plant ate my homework? She wouldn't believe that." Tecna scowled and soon walked over to her bed and started combing her hair, trying to calm herself down.
"This plant nonsense has gone too far." Stella huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "This is a dormitory, not a rainforest."
"I understand." Flora sighed sadly while taking her leave and that made my heart break when I saw how sad she looked. "I'll move out to the black mud swamp and I won't come back until I'm done with my potion."
My heart sank at her words and my eyes slightly widened. "You'll move out?"
"Yeah." Flora nodded, her eyes glistering with unfallen tears. "I'm so sorry for the trouble I have caused you."
"Flora!" I called out to her. "You can't move, there are Keek-bugs and Subterrian sludge bugs." I desperately tried to grab her attention and when she showed no sign of even listening, I turned my attention back to the others. "She should stay!"
"Alethea's right, she should stay." Bloom was quick to take my side before the others could formulate their opinions. "Tell her to stay!"
I don't know why I felt this rising anger, maybe it was because I never really had friends to begin with until now, but I felt a sense of understanding when it came to how Flora felt, I had the urge to defend her and fix this. "Can you even call yourself her friend, this is unbelievable."
"Her plants used all of my makeup." Stella pointed out, trying to defend her behaviour.
"And they ate my homework." Tecna added and I frowned.
A sigh escaped my lips as if my brain needed time to process. "Do you see me complaining? Flora's our friend and she doesn't deserve to live in a swamp, follow me if you're willing to be good friends."
With that, I stormed out of the room.
***
A delicate wind gusted through my locks of hair, pushing them back as I took in the swamp. The swamp was beautiful don't get me wrong but only to look at, I don't see myself wandering through this swamp in my free time and I just hoped we could convince Flora to get out of here as fast as we could.
"I'm so glad you all came!" Flora flashed us a bright smile and we all exchanged glances, confused at Flora's sudden change of mood. "Only true friends would follow me into this swamp."
Stella grimaced at her now muddy shoes. "Wouldn't miss it for anything.."
"We're your peeps Flo." Musa rubbed her neck, sheepishly. "For better or worse!"
"Worse includes the occasional fashion fiasco, right Stella?" I joked as I nudged her side making her huff but I knew better, she knew I was just joking around.
"You know what they say.." Stella mumbled to herself as she avoided the mud pools. "All for one and one for all." I brought my attention to the muddy ground and watched as my shoes left footprints behind and silently agreed with Stella on this one, the mud was only an inconvenience in our path. The aroma of it almost made me want to throw up, I never had a problem with the smell of mud but it's that in this particular swamp, the smell was unbearable.
"Oh, wonderful!" Flora gushed and opened her book where illustrations of different kinds of plants were seen. "I'll need your help to get this ingredient, It won't be easy. It's called the cheerful Gladiolus."
"If that's it, can't you just have it delivered?" Stella scoffed, eyebrows furrowing in annoyance as I tilted my head in curiosity, knowing that we should be here for a reason otherwise Flora could've gotten her hands on the flower in a much easier way than having to explore a dangerous swamp for it. "It's a flower!"
"Actually, there's only one left in the whole world." Flora informed and I hummed to myself, already having made the same conclusion. "Only the BLMJ has it."
Musa snorted. "That sounds like a hip-hop group."
"No!" Flora shook her head while giggling. "They're the Black Mud Junior League, they do volunteer work around the swamp."
"Oh, that's like the Solaria Junior League!" Stella beamed happily and I couldn't help but smile at the way Stella's eyes brightened. "Me and Alethea got the sweetest shoes at their silent auction."
"This one is run by little undines or water Nymphs." Flora expanded on the Black Mud Junior League. "They've ruled the swamp for centuries."
"Reality check Flora, you're asking them for the last cheerful Gladiolus." Stella pointed out in a matter-of-fact tone and I had to agree with her on that.
I hesitated before speaking up, "How are you so sure they will give it to you?"
"I don't expect them to." Flora agreed and showed us a bottle with a purple-like liquid and put a drop on a plant. "That's why I developed a potion, especially for this, all I need is to borrow the flower and use a drop of my invention. I call it the vegal cloner." And sooner but later a new plant grew out of the ground. "This way the flower won't be endangered anymore."
I couldn't help but admire Flora's work, ignoring Kiko who started to munch on the plant without wasting a second. I turned back to Flora, feeling an explosion in my stomach, the good kind. I was excited despite how dangerous this adventure could be since it was the Black Mud Swamp after all and trouble always follows us.
"Let's get that flower."
Bloom nodded in agreement while pointing at her bunny who saluted, "We'll leave Kiko here, he'll be safer that way."
Stella let out a nervous laugh. "Speaking of being safe, I think that I should stay here too."
"Get your butt moving Stel." I giggled and linked arms with her, giving her no choice but to follow. "Your shoes can't get dirtier than they already are."
"But I have this bad feeling and it's totally creeping me out!" Stella protested and my expression softened, knowing that Stella never expresses how she feels and covers it with jokes.
"Any place five miles away from the mall creeps you out." Musa retorted before I could reassure Stella.
"No, really! I feel like something is out there." Stella complained and I gave Stella's hand a gentle squeeze that she returned as we made our way through the swamp. "Ugh!" Suddenly Stella let out a frustrated scream and I flinched at the sudden loud noise, flashing her a concerned look. "I can't wait to find these stupid nymphs and get back to civilization."
Musa let out a groan. "Chillax."
"Not that I can't handle a little swamp.." Stella giggled nervously when she noticed our friends glaring at her, already fed up with her constant whining.
"Yeah, right! You couldn't handle a kiddie pool if it was in your palace garden in Solaria!" Musa teased and I forced myself to cough to cover my laugh but unfortunately, Stella noticed anyway and gave me a look.
"Please.." Stella scoffed while attempting to clean her shoes. "I've handled much more dangerous environments that th-AH!"
I winced when Stella tripped and fell, now fully covered in mud. "Are you alright, Stella?"
Stella turned to me and latched onto my hand while I looked back at her with a blank expression, confused about what was going on. "I'm a Princess! I shouldn't be subjected to slimy environments and neither should my shoes, let's just find those stupid nymphs!"
"Hey be quiet!" Flora hushed but Stella refused to listen.
"No!" Stella shook her head. "I bet they don't even exist-mph!" Flora placed a hand over Stella's mouth to shut her up, Stella opened her mouth to bite Flora's hand until she got distracted.
"Look!" Flora pointed toward a little pond in the distance. "That's them!" We knelt down to get a closer look, only to see tiny creatures that resembled Mermaids, swimming around in the pond.
"They're so little!" Stella breathed out while I watched with my own amazed eyes, it was something I'd never seen before, seems like all that mud was worth it after all.
"Is that why they're called the Junior League?" Musa asked, tilting her head in wonder. "They're like tiny Mermaids!"
"They're so cute!" I gushed as my friends nodded in agreement at my comment.
"Is that their crib?" Musa pointed at the tiny bubbles in the pond.
"That must be where they live." I concluded while admiring them.
"That's cool.." Flora gasped in amazement. "Each bubble is a little sleeping pod that houses a nymph."
"Well, hello!" One of the Nymphs greeted us upon noticing us. "Welcome to the Black Mud Swamp junior league headquarters, ladies! Have you come to get tickets for the tea party for the butterfly literacy event?"
"There aren't any left but we can put you on the waitlist!" Another nymph added. "Follow us." Not giving us a chance to say anything they swam off. I glanced at my friends, wondering what we should do until Flora wasted no more time and followed after the Nymphs so we had no choice but to follow until we reached what must be their Queen.
"The butterfly literacy event will be one to remember!" The Queen smiled at us. "It will be bigger than our swamp palace tour!"
"The thing is that uh that's not why we're here.." Stella trailed off, not sure what to call her so she looked at me for help. "Should I say your highness or your littleness?"
"Try Your Majesty." I suggested with a hint of hesitancy.
"So you must be here for our pollywog playground improvement project?" The Queen asked, now confused as to why we were there.
"Actually we want to borrow your cheerful Gladiolus." Flora decided to go straight to the point instead of beating around the bush.
"A big request, may I ask why?" The Queen probed, showing no signs of being angry, only observing us with curious eyes.
"Sure." Flora nodded and continued to elaborate. "It's the one ingredient I'm missing to finish my witch-repellent potion."
"Well, that's interesting because I might need something from you." Suddenly the Queen's eyes saddened as I tried to ignore the way my heart raised. We fought so much the past few months and it seems that it's never going to end, and while I want to fight for what is right, I just can't ignore how much of a coward I really am. "Please excuse me if this is unladylike, tell them Catrea."
"We're in very dire straits." Catrea added as a frown replaced the cheerful smile she had on moments ago "Are you at all good with monsters?"
"Allow me to explain." The Queen continued and pointed her scepter to an Island meters away from us. "That is Zylith Island, the one place where our food grows, we had full access to this Island for years until one day a giant water creature attacked us, now we cannot go anywhere near it or the monster will eat us."
"Why is the creature attacking you in the first place?" I asked with furrowed eyebrows, wanting this to make sense.
"I don't know." The Queen shook her head, a frown not present on her face. "The creatures of this swamp have lived in harmony for as long as anyone can remember."
"But all that's changed now and we're in terrible trouble." Catrea expanded. "We might put up a good front but the truth is our food supply is so low that some of us will not make it past tomorrow."
Frustration was clear on the Queen's face. "Things are so desperate that one of us went over there all by herself."
"What happened to her?" I queried and despite how scared I was I still felt the need to help them and fight that monster, despite how I wanted to turn around and run away.
"She never came back." Catrea's voice cracked, tears now going down her face and I felt this pang in my heart when I saw how upset they were, it didn't feel right to turn my back on them when they clearly needed our help. "I hate to impose on you but you're big and perhaps you can help us?"
I took a deep breath and nodded. "We will help you."
"I agree with Alethea." Bloom was the first to agree and the others soon followed.
"Count me in!"
We were determined to help them.
"Let's get that monster." I took a deep breath and let my magic slowly surround me like a calm flow of water. I closed my eyes and felt myself rise up in the sky as my surroundings changed, the sound of water dripping was heard and with the movements of my hands the water rose and covered me like a blanket and the water burst, revealing my Fairy outfit. I wore a light blue dress almost close to white, that had translucent sleeves with a Dragon crystal on the dress paired with translucent thigh-high socks that matched my sleeves and ankle-heeled boots that consisted of silver designs while my snow-white hair remained loose. Sparkles surrounded me and soon my small light blue translucent wings formed on my back, finishing my transformation.
I fluttered my wings and wasted no time, we flew through the swamp and I suddenly forgot about the danger ahead when I saw myself surrounded by creatures I'd never seen before. They were extraordinary, and now I was starting to realize why Flora liked nature so much.
We slowed down when we were flying above a lake that was different than the swamp itself, I looked down to see my own shadow flying above the skyline-silver colored water and I was so distracted by the beauty of it that I accidentally drowned out my surroundings until Stella spoke up.
"Did you hear something?" Stella asked, snapping me back to reality. I tilted my head to take a better look, that maybe Stella really heard something and she didn't just say that as an excuse to go back to Alfea or perhaps that was what I was thinking all along, but for some reason I wasn't scared of the thought as I was at the beginning of the year.
I felt more confident than I did before.
"No." Tecna shook her head, not having heard anything. "I don't think so."
"H-hey girls, I have a thought to offer." Stella stammered and I wondered if she was about to have a nervous breakdown "-You know how the Nymphs said the monster is gigantic? Maybe it's just gigantic for them since they're really small so we can take it on easily!"
My lips curled up in a light smile. I know for sure that the Nymphs were smart enough to judge on their own if the monster was gigantic or not, despite how small they were but when I noticed a big shadow in the water, right behind Stella, my eyes widened. I ignored how my heart was hammering against my ribcage and grabbed ahold of Stella's hand as she let out a scream when the monster spattered water everywhere. "Stella!"
"Don't separate!" Musa exclaimed as she desperately tried to get to us, while we froze in place and could only watch on with widened eyes, the menacing aura of the monster holding us in a tightening grip.
"If we stay together it can't get us!" Flora called out. The creature dived back into the water and then burst out yet again and completely separated us, exactly what we tried to avoid. We all flew out of the way to avoid the monster that tried to get us, but Musa wasn't so lucky.
My lips parted and my eyes widened at what I knew was going to happen. "Musa, Watch out!"
Bloom gasped when the monster its mouth swallowed Musa whole to our horror. "It ate her!"
"Musa!"
I felt sick to my stomach at what I saw before me. I fluttered my wings and sped toward Musa while reaching my hand for her, but before I knew it, The monster dove back into the water, taking Musa with it.
"We need an underwater spell!" Tecna was quick to come up with a plan and I admired the way she was able to remain relaxed despite what just happened, unlike me, my stomach was churning and I could hear my own rapidly beating heart.
"There is one that Professor Palladium taught us." I managed to get out, my croaky voice was the after-effect of my almost breakdown of seeing my friend getting eaten whole by the monster. "All together!"
"Block Out H20 Bubble Up and Go!" My magic did its work and an oxygen bubble formed around my head.
"And now for the light source." Tecna snapped her fingers. "Digi Illuminator!" Light surrounded our oxygen bubbles, allowing us to be able to see underwater and we wasted no time, we dove into the water and swam to the bottom to see the monster that swallowed Musa whole, resting in this cave.
"There's the monster!" Flora pointed toward the creature that was resting in the dark cave. "It's asleep!"
"Or maybe it's just pretending?" Bloom suggested and I understood where she was coming from, we can't be reckless or we'll endanger our lives and even Musa her own life. We swam closer to the monster to see in the slightly open mouth, Musa, completely unconscious and I feared that if we waited longer she would lose more oxygen.
Stella gasped at the sight. "There she is!"
"I'll go in." I suggested the idea and I wondered where the sudden confidence came from but I didn't waste my time to ponder, I had to save my friend and that was the only thing on my mind. "Cover me!"
"Hurry and be careful!" Tecna yelled out and I nodded, now determined to save Musa. "Before it swallows!" The creature was about to close its mouth but I dove in right on time. I swam closer to Musa, picked her up and turned to swim out of its mouth, only for my breath to be caught in my throat to see that its mouth was closed and we were stuck in.
"..You're not alone."
The sudden voice brought me out of my panic, I looked around to see where the voice came from to see nothing. Was it all in my head? I shook my head, there's no time, I need to get Musa back to safety. I made a circular motion with my hand, my magic glowing in the dark and formed an oxygen bubble around Musa so she wouldn't suffocate any more.
I took a deep breath and snapped my finger, hoping that the Gods were on my side and that I had complete control over my magic, and seeing as I appeared and reappeared in front of the monster, I just knew that I was successful in my extrication spell and had complete control.
Whoever that voice was, it helped me save my friend.
Without even thinking about the voice any more, I swam back toward my friends while carrying Musa who was slowly waking up. Seeing as Musa's eyes fluttered open, we all sighed in relief.
"She did it!" Stella pumped her fist up in the air at the sight of us.
"Yo, what's going on?" Musa croaked out, completely awake now. "Oh yeah, the monster."
"Everyone follow me!" Flora exclaimed when the monster roared, without wasting time, we swam back to the surface, heading toward the Island the Queen mentioned. Upon arriving safely on the Island, the first thing that I noticed was the pink mist surrounding the Island, our oxygen bubbles disappearing as I looked around.
"So, where do we get to check in?" Stella joked the moment we landed and I couldn't help but smile slightly, knowing that Stella was just trying to put an end to the tense silence.
"Very funny Stel." I giggled while shaking my head before realizing why we were actually here, my mood soon turning serious. "Now let's get the Zylith."
"This is weird." Bloom suddenly frowned as she looked around. "I don't see any of them around."
"It has to be somewhere." Tecna's eyebrows furrowed in puzzlement. "A systematic search is in order, it grows near the trees of the Everzyle family."
Bloom placed her hand on a tree. "Hey, Flora, isn't this it?"
"No." Flora shook her head and suddenly yawned. "That's not Everzyle."
"They smell really nice." Followed by Stella's yawn, I couldn't help but be confused. I narrowed my eyes at the pink mist that surrounded us when I felt myself getting tired and wondered if the mist was what was causing it. "Like designer perfume."
I'm tired.. Very tired.. My head started to become foggy, it was like my eyes were starting to weigh more than they should and gravity had turned up tenfold. "I'm so exhausted."
"I could go for a power nap." Stella agreed as she desperately tried to stay awake.
I tensed and tried to keep my eyes open, the only reason why I was still awake was because I was scared. Why did I have the sudden urge to fall asleep on a random Island? I slept enough today so why was I so tired? It doesn't make sense, and why couldn't I hear anything? We were in the middle of a swamp, so where did all the creatures go? "It's so quiet, too quiet."
"There are no birds." Stella observed. voicing exactly what I was thinking about. "I miss my duvet so much right now."
"That's right, there's no chirping. This is strange." Tecna frowned and looked around, alarmed. "I'm going to analyze the air composition."
Stella sat down and patted the sandy ground. "Once you get used to this Island, it's pretty comfortable.."
"Everyone, stop breathing! There's narcolespray in the air!" Tecna gasped and I concluded as much, her eyes widened in panic and that was the first time I saw her panic, I was too tired to mutter out a few words of comfort, It was like I was stuck in a fever dream and I wanted to welcome sleep with open arms. "Girls! Stella! Don't close your eyes."
"No.." I mumbled and tried to stay awake. I shouldn't fall asleep, the Nymphs entrusted us to bring their friend back and I wasn't planning on giving up.
"Wake up!" Tecna pleaded desperately. "Don't fall asleep!"
"Can you tell us a bedtime story?" Musa muttered as she also laid down like the rest
"Tuck me in.." Flora murmured while hugging herself.
I looked around only to spot a red tree in the distance and a Nymph sleeping under said tree. "Tecna.." I began in a sleepy voice and weakly raised my hand to point at the big red tree.. "Look at that red tree, that must be where the sleeping gas is coming from."
"Alethea!" Tecna gasped and was quick to catch me before I could hurt myself, her eyes glimmering with worry for me and if I was fully conscious I would've felt touched at the gesture. "Stay awake please!"
I desperately wanted to melt into my soft bed and for some reason, the sandy ground under me felt as such, I wanted to drift into a world full of dreams that were so different to this Dimension. "I don't think I can."
"Oxygenous Layerus." Tecna chanted and like a light switching on I felt my energy returning, I no longer felt tired and my eyes that were closed, opened. I blinked the blurriness away and was met with a worried face. "Alethea help me!"
"With what?" I rubbed my tired eyes and tilted my head, wondering what Tecna wanted me to do.
"We have to use all the Winx we can muster." Tecna explained and I nodded in understanding, I pushed myself up and raised my hands and together we expanded the bubble to keep out the pink mist that the red tree released and made us so exhausted. "Oxygenous Layerus!"
"Good morning." Musa greeted tiredly and I was glad that my friends were waking up. "I could so go for some pancakes."
"Let's get room service." Stella suggested while stretching her limbs. "I want continental breakfast!" She suddenly spotted a bug on her arm and let out a scream. "AAH! There's a zitbug! It's gonna give me blemishes!"
I had to cover my mouth with my hand to conceal my laughter but Musa had no shame and let out a laugh. "It's just a little ladybug!"
"No!" Stella screamed, shaking her head frantically. "It's a zitbug!"
"That can't be right.." Tecna sighed, her face showing obvious signs of displeasure. "Zitbugs only live in cold climates."
"We can tell her that later." Bloom snickered and I shook my head with a small smile at my friend. "We need a bubble big enough to cover the whole Island!"
"Let's power converge!" Musa suggested and we nodded, raising our arms. "One, two, three!" The bubble expanded, covering the whole Island and keeping out the sleeping gas, and seconds later the sleeping Nymph under the tree, woke up.
I ran to the Nymph and knelt down, my eyebrows furrowing in concern. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, excuse my appearance." The Nymph shot me a sheepish smile and I couldn't help but return the smile. "I just woke up and I cannot seem to find my hairbrush."
"Your friends are worried about you." Bloom informed the little Nymph making her eyes sadden.
"I went to look for food but I could only find one Zylith leaf." She began explaining but before she could continue, the Island started to rumble, interrupting her.
"The monster!" Musa exclaimed while I tried to regain my balance, my heart sank as I felt anxiety claw at me through every fibre of my body. "It's coming."
"Actually the monster is already here." She pointed out in a matter-of-fact tone. "We're standing on it."
I tilted my head, showing obvious puzzlement. "What do you mean?"
"This Island is not an Island at all, it's the shell of a giant turtle" She elaborated while pointing at the red tree. "And it's under the willow spell."
"Why would a willow want to put a spell on a turtle?" Bloom asked, her eyebrows furrowing and showing obvious signs of confusion because none of it made sense.
"Yeah.." Stella nodded in agreement, looking equally as lost. "Aren't trees supposed to be peaceful?"
"This is a Wendigo Willow, a parasite." The Nymph explained to us and now it all started to click. "It's sucking all the life from the swamp, if something is not done about it, then everything in this swamp will perish!"
"There's no need to worry, we can take care of it!" Tecna determined and at the same time assured the Nymph. "How intimidating can a tree possibly be?" Just as Tecna uttered those words, the tree roared loudly at us and that didn't make my fear subside. ".. Never mind." The tree started hitting the bubble, its branches going everywhere but I fluttered my wings and flew out of the way, successfully avoiding the branches just as my friends did.
"Oh no!" The Nymph's eyes widened. "It's going to get all of us."
I looked around and it was like everything was happening in slow motion, its branches surrounded us, ready to attack and it felt like I was in a nightmare. Fear became tangible and I absentmindedly took two steps back, the danger made me feel tense but yet the thought of not being alone hit me, this time, I had my friends. Why should I be scared? I'm not alone this time so with a deep breath, I made my way, my eyes on the Willow tree. "I'm not for deforestation but we don't have much of a choice."
"Wait, Alethea." Bloom gently pushed me back and I turned to her to see her hands covered with her fire magic. "I'm going to change the tree into charcoal."
"It's fireproof!" I frowned as Bloom did no damage with her magic.
"I will cast a spell that will cause the roots to burn!" Flora declared, her aura bursting with a green colour.
I nodded and aimed my hands at the tree, glowing as I welcomed my magic. "I'll attack the roots to buy some time." I released my magic at the Willow, small water balls heading one for one to the roots of the tree, and exploding into blue particles when they managed to hit and believe it or not, I smiled, seems like I was learning to have better control over my magic, I mused to myself.
"Trunkus Incideratous." Flora chanted, and hit the tree with her spell, making the tree explode and change into a group of butterflies.
Flora beamed and wrapped her arms around me and I was quick to return the hug. Her hug felt like a warm blanket on a cold winter night, it comforted me. "We did it!"
Stella grinned and laid her hands on our shoulders, showing her own enthusiasm. "You both were awesome!"
"Ladies listen carefully." The Nymph spoke up, grabbing our attention. "Do you hear that wonderful sound?" High above, the birds flew as they chirped a beautiful tune, giving colours to the sky.
"That's Flora's bird song!" Stella beamed happily and I giggled "Flora's cell phone ringtone."
"No my dear, what you're hearing is not a cell phone ringing." The Nymph corrected with a soft smile. "It's the true sound of nature awakening."
***
"For centuries the Wendigo Willow sucked the swamp dry destroying all kinds of creatures, I don't know how you did it but you got rid of it and restored the harmony in the swamp!" The Queen smiled at us, her eyes glossing as she looked at us in gratitude while the other Nymphs hugged the once missing Nymph that we saved.
"I feel bad for the turtle." Stella frowned. "The spell gave her such a bad rep, it's hard to recover from that!"
"The turtle is going to be just fine!" The Queen assured and pointed toward the turtle that's happily swimming away and I couldn't help but smile at the sight, seems like the monster gets its happy ending too. "No one is going to hold a grudge, in this swamp we believe in fresh starts!"
"I never knew I would say this but this swamp is really cool!" Stella smiled, a smile so bright that it could almost rival the sun, finally agreeing with Flora's opinion.
The Queen soon grew solemn. "Too bad we have to move on since there's only one Zilith leaf left."
I frowned at that, crossing my arms over my chest. "But the creatures need you here."
"With only one leaf left, we will soon run out of food!" The Nymph showed us the single leaf. "Even if we ration it will eventually have to travel and find another swamp somewhere else."
"But what about the butterflies and the poll wad playground?" A Nymph asked as she looked sad at the thought of moving away and I couldn't blame them, this was their home after all.
"We do not have a choice." The Queen sadly shook her head. "We can't stay."
"You're not going anywhere your majesty." Flora pulled her potion out of her bag and I immediately brightened, knowing what Flora was up to. "I have the solution to your problems right here!"
"It's her new magical invention." Tecna explained when she noticed the confused looks on their faces.
"It's a vegal-cloing potion! One drop is all you need." A drop fell onto the Zilith leaf and the said leaf soon multiplied. "Check it out."
"Incredible!" They all gasped. "You saved us."
Stella happily pumped her fist up in the air as I smiled. "I was wrong, flower power totally rules!"
"Hey, you two! Don't you both have something to say to Flora?" I urged them with a soft smile but behind my smile, there was a hint of sternness that made my friends give in, except for Bloom who was on Flora's side, just like me.
"I was a Witch." Stella apologized with a guilty look. "I'm sorry!"
"Although conflicts are regular in one out of six friendships, I'm sorry too." Tecna followed with the apologies, although awkward.
"It's okay you guys!" Flora assured and pulled them in a hug. "My experiments got out of control, I'm sorry."
"Ladies, you have done so much for us! We can't thank you enough, we would like to give you a small gift as a symbol of gratitude." The Queen thanked while gesturing to the cheerful Gladiolus that the Nymphs brought forward.
Our eyes widened at the beautiful flower before us. "The cheerful Gladiolus!"
"You deserve to have it in your possession." Flora smiled and grabbed the plant. "I hope it helps you with your new potion."
"I can promise you all that I will take great care of it!" Flora promised, having a gentle look on her face.
"So.." I began, my lips curling up in a soft smile at the look on her face. "Are you going to use your cloning potion on it?"
"Of course!" Flora nodded happily. "But we may have to put it into your and Stella's room, it has the best sunlight!"
Stella looked horrified by that revelation. "What?" I gave her a look and she weakly pumped her fist up in the air,
"..I mean yay."
I giggled along with my friends. My eyes softened as my world seemed to brighten, maybe this Dimension wasn't as bad as I thought, despite everything I have been through here.
Or was it?