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s12-kittie · 1 month ago

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Tales of Seven Stars: The Sixth Ring

Chapter 1: An Offer One Can't Refuse

Trix week day 6

Prompt: Cannon Divergent

@trixweek @bellatrixobsessed1

For the day 6 of the Trix Week I wanna present you my 2 babies: chapters 1 and 2 of the book 1. Also, I might change them later if the whole plotline goes another way.

The stuff is happening a year after season 3, so seasons 4-8 are not fully considered as cannon for this fic.

It was a nice, warm day. The sun shone high in the clear sky, and a pleasant breeze blew, bringing fragrances of different flowers growing on distant valleys.

Even the Black Mud Swamp looked less disgusting and ugly than usual. A hot, rainless summer made the mud dry out, so most of the mosquitoes had left, looking for a more humid place to live in.

That was beneficial for the students of Alfea and Cloud Tower, who came here with their teachers to have a merged practical class. After defeating Valtor, the headmistresses of both magical schools decided to fix the relationship between witches and fairies, which had not been very trusting and pleasant. For that, some changes in the studying program took place, such as merged lessons and student-exchanging programs.

Now fairies and witches were standing opposite each other, while Professor Palladium held a small speech to explain the contents of the task.

“Today you’re going to have a small practical test to sum up the material you’ve learnt last year.” The teacher explained. “Your skills at working together will be tested as well.”

Some of the Cloud Tower students rolled their eyes.

“You’ll have to divide in pairs.” The teacher continued. “But you must choose a partner among the students of another school. Learning to use opposite kinds of magic together will help you to…”

��… to see you more often, handsome?” The witch with scarlet hair whispered with a snort.

She appeared tall, but only because of the platform high-heeled boots, still impractical for the swamp, and had a long, pointed face with heavy make-up on it and pinkish-purple eyes. Her straight hair was cut in a so-called “jellyfish cut," so most of it was short, while the lower half of the back hair nearly touched the grass with its ends.

“That too, miss Ruby.” Palladium said, truing his face to the witch, whose face immediately blushed from the sharp chin to the forehead, hidden below the tick fringe. “But most importantly...”

“What’s with the face, Ruby, darling?” The witch with long and shiny reddish-pink hair slapped her friend in the back.

“I… I-it’s just..." The latter mumbled. “W-well, he’s handsome, right?”

“Oh, don’t tell me you have a crush on him, sweetie!” Her friend chanted.

“Miss Acid, be quiet and listen to the professor!” The professor from Cloud Tower hissed.

“…and, last but not least, you will be prepared for an unusual situation and…”

“Well, an unusual situation indeed!” A witch with long, half-up wavy brown hair whispered, and most of her classmates giggled.

Just one of them, standing a little aside from the others, rolled her eyes.

This witch wasn’t even close to beautiful; short and thin, with a square chin and jaw. Pale wax-like skin and lank, shoulder-length, dirty-green hair, getting yellowish-green to the ends, cut in a short asymmetric fringe, made her look lifeless and even quite unattractive, except for some tiny yet noticeable details, like emerald-shining eyes, a straight nose, or bright orangish-red lips. She was wearing an oversized forest-green hoodie, black skinny jeans, and brown laced jackboots. Her only accessory was emerald-green rhombic earrings.

The witch exchanged gazes with a petite fairy, standing opposite her. The fairy had short, straight brown hair, big, turquoise eyes, twinkling with curiosity, and seemed three or four years younger than her classmates.

“Can’t these witches handle themselves?!” A fairy with short, light-blue hair snorted irritably, making the girl flinch.

“Yeah, they show so much disrespect!” Someone nearby said.

“He’s our teacher; that’s why they try to make fun of him!” Another voice from the fairy group hissed.

Professor Palladium raised his hand as the whispers among both groups were becoming louder and louder:

“Please, be quiet, ladies. I haven’t finished yet. In the middle of this swamp, I hid some magic spheres. You will have to use all the converging skills you’ve learnt to find one of them and bring it to me. Now, who can tell me what you should avoid while doing this exercise?” He looked at the two groups.

The green-eyed witch raised her hand.

“Yes?” Palladium pointed at her, a little surprised.

“The spell should be fed from the equal doses of magic of both partners; otherwise, it would result in one of them feeling sick because of an impact of an opposite magic source.” She answered in a bitter tone.

“And why is that?” Professor raised a brow and gave her a bright smile.

“In order to converge, two or more people create a temporary bond between their cores, which leads to free magic circulating among them. If the magic is applied in 1:1 proportion, the opposite sources neutralise each other, and no side effects happen.”

“It’s correct! You’ve earned an ‘A’, miss…”

“Jade.”

“Right… Thank you for your answer, miss Jade. Now, back to the task. Those who find a sphere will pass the test; for an ‘A’ it should take you not more than thirty minutes. Don’t try to compete with each other. The quantity of the spheres is the same as the quantity of the pairs. Now, you may begin.”

Jade and the petite fairy came closer to each other and headed to the centre of the swamp.

“So, the locator spell should do the trick.” The witch turned to the fairy.

The fairy nodded.

“Isn’t it too simple?” She asked in a high-pitched voice.

“For the professors, it would be just right. They lost hope in students long ago and will give an ‘A’ for just completing the task in time, so those idiots I have to study with don’t look so miserable and humiliated. Did you hear what they asked me, Daisy? The safety rules for converging. What a comedy.” Jade scoffed. “As if these imbeciles will memorise anything after me repeating these rules out loud for the Dragon-knows-what time. And I also need time to talk to you, so the locating spell it is.”

Daisy nodded again.

By that time, the girls had reached a little plain clearing. They stopped in its centre and clenched hands together.

“Just don’t give me more than needed.” The witch told her friend. “I think at least you are capable of remembering those safety rules.”

“I’ll try.” The fairy closed her eyes.

A few moments later, a shiny ball of bright-green and light-yellow energy appeared and floated to the left. The girls followed it.

After a few more minutes of walking, they reached a valley covered with dry grass.

The ball stopped near a group of bushes, growing to the left of them. A dusty-pink transparent sphere lay among their roots.

“There it is.” Jade noted contentedly, picking it up and hiding it in the pocket of her hoodie. “Let’s go back.” She turned around.

At that moment, Ruby rushed out of the farther bushes, pulling a fairy, who, despite light-pink hair and a serious expression of her face, looked much alike with the witch herself.

“Oh, darn!” Ruby cursed at the sight of Jade. “What are you doing here, Psycho?! This is my sphere!”

“Too late.” Her classmate gave her a smirk while walking away together with Daisy. “See you back at school. Unless you drown somewhere, to my great relief... ”

“Dream on. The swamp is dry! How am I supposed to drown here?!”

“Oh, you could.” Jade chuckled and turned away.

Ruby paused for a few moments, confused, then dropped at her partner:

“It’s your fault, Quartz! What took you so long with this spell?!”

“Says the one who did nothing!” The fairy hissed. “And why did I agree to be your partner?!”

“Because you hate other witches a bit more than your own twin sister!” Ruby pushed her in the chest. “Now find another sphere and fast! I need a good grade!”

“Are you still sharing your room with her?” Daisy asked quietly, casting a glance at Ruby.

“Unfortunately.” Her friend sighed. “Now she’s a little more bearable, though. Seems like all she needs is a permanent threat to her life to stick to Cloud Tower roommatehood rules.”

***

“Have you heard the latest news?” Jade asked, as soon as Ruby and Quartz were left far away.

The two girls now entered the darkest part of the swamp. The trees grew everywhere, blocking the sunlight, except for several golden rays, piercing the air.

“About the cases of power loss?” The fairy cast a glance at her friend. “Yes, I did. Do you think it’s…”

“Shadow Vampires? Most likely.” The teen frowned. “The whole situation looks exactly like the cases described in that book.”

“I wonder why no one else thought about it.” Daisy looked at the witch.

“Griffin might have; she’s not a complete idiot.” The latter disagreed. “And there’s a good possibility that she’s planning to take action.”

“So, what do we do?”

“We get to the rings as soon as possible.” Jade stated. “I don’t want to give up school, but it doesn’t seem I have a choice.”

“Maybe… Maybe we should... tell the teachers?” The fairy asked unsurely.

Jade shook her head.

“They will choose the future keepers by themselves.” She rolled her eyes. "And there's no way I’ll even have a chance to be the candidate. I hope I don’t need to explain the importance of this ring for me once again.” The witch clenched her fists.

“Sorry, I…” Daisy began but didn’t finish the phrase.

They continued to walk in silence.

“So, we need a plan.” Jade finally said. “I already found the portal, but it’s not enough. We also need a map.”

“What map?”

“It was created by the Ancestral Fairies long ago and should be hidden somewhere in Alfea. I’ll look for the exact location later. Curses, I didn’t expect it to happen so soon.” The witch sighed. “Fine, I’ll think about it after classes... Hey, what’s that on your neck?” She suddenly pointed at the golden amulet Daisy was wearing over her turquoise T-shirt.

“It’s a special amulet. Faragonda insisted that I always wear it, so I don’t accidentally use more power than needed.”

“Interesting…” Jade bent closer to her friend. “Can I try it on?”

“But Faragonda said I should never take it off…” The girl protested weakly.

Jade rolled her eyes:

“She worries too much. Come on, D, you don’t really expect anything to happen during these thirty seconds, do you?”

“I… Well… I think you’re right.” Daisy took the jewel off and gave it to the witch.

“Strange, I don’t feel anything unusual.” The latter put it on. “Now, let’s see…”

She closed her eyes and started reciting a spell. Magic started swirling around the witch, together with ice-cold wind.

“Just… Don’t break it, please…” Daisy’s eyes widened with fear.

“Everything’s under control." The witch murmured, frowning. “There. I feel a barrier. Yeah, I guess that’s the edge.” She grunted. “I can’t get through.”

The teen opened her eyes. The swirls disappeared, and the wind stilled.

“Well,” Jade exhaled, taking the amulet off and returning it to her friend, “if you didn’t need it, I'd..." Suddenly she frowned with tension. “Wait. Someone’s around.”

“Hey, Psycho! I didn’t finish!” Ruby went out of the trees.

“I don’t have time for your nonsense today, so just skip it and shut up.”

“Dream on, weirdo! It’s your fault that I got a bad grade!”

“I’m not the one to blame for you being born without brains.” Jade rolled her eyes.

“You stop that! I could get an ‘A’ I needed, but then you appeared and screwed everything up! As always! You enjoy it or what?!”

“I just don’t care, neither about your plans nor about you in general. And if you don’t want to be burnt to ashes right now, then…” The witch turned around. “Well, now it’s serious… I sense three big auras nearby. They’re definitely not students.”

“That’s right.” The cold and strong voice behind them said.

The girls turned around and saw three figures, appeared out of thin air. Jade had seen their mugshots before at several billboards in Magix, together with a caption "wanted,” and she’d heard a lot about these witches. They were the Trix, the notorious witch trio. Three sisters looked exactly like in the mugshots: Icy, blue-eyed with straight silver hair, tied in a ponytail; Darcy, with yellow eyes and dark-brown hair with dark-blonde front strands; and Stormy, curly, greyish-purple-haired, with grey front streaks and turquoise eyes.

“Stay behind me.” The teen whispered to Daisy.

“The heck?!” Ruby jumped back, stumbled over something, and ungraciously fell on the grass with a loud exclaim.

“Well, well.” Icy continued, stepping forward. “Students from Alfea and Cloud Tower. Just like we needed, sisters.” She turned to Stormy. “Do your thing, and fast.”

“With great pleasure.” Stormy smirked, turning to the girls. “Lightning shot!”

“Mirror defence!” Jade blurted out, stretching the hand towards the three sisters. A bright green shield appeared in less than a second, reflecting the violet lightning. Stormy didn’t expect it and fell on the ground, blasted by her own spell.

“What?!” Darcy exclaimed. “But it's high-level magic!”

“You deal with it, then.” Icy replied indifferently.

Darcy nodded and shut a spell towards the girls:

“Dark confusion!”

“Mental barrier!” Jade exclaimed, creating a green barrier around them, which bounced the spell back, so Darcy hardly managed to jump away.

“Curses!” Icy swore. “You’ll pay for this, little brat! Freezing wave!”

“Fire barrier!” Jade created a wall of acid-green fire, stopping the spell.

“Huh?!” Icy exhaled, losing her breath in rage.

“The students can’t be this strong!” Stormy hissed irritably, glaring at the two girls.

The teen grabbed her friend’s hand.

“Daisy, let’s get out of- ouch!”

One moment was enough for Icy to hit both girls with a paralysing spell, throwing them on the ground.

“You stay down, too.” Icy sent the same spell towards Ruby, who still stayed on the ground, already paralysed by fear.

“Not so confident now, are you?” The witch of ice bent to Jade. “Now, before we get rid of you three-”

“Wait.” Jade stopped her. “I have a deal for you.”

The witch of ice raised a brow:

“A deal?”

“Exactly. Hope you know what that is.”

“Don’t talk to me like that, you little brat, or I’ll finish you off right now!” Icy hissed.

“As you wish, Your Majesty.” Jade rolled her eyes. “I’ll be brief; there’re objects that are thousand times stronger than the Dragon Flame.”

“Thousand times stronger than the Dragon?” Stormy asked, then broke into laughter. “Yeah, right!”

“Shut it!” Icy barked at her, then turned back to Jade. “Go on.”

“I already said everything. You leave me and the fairy alive now, help me get close to these objects, and then you can take some of them for yourselves. Don’t worry, they’re enough to make you unstoppable.”

“Aren’t those too many conditions?” Darcy looked at the teen with interest.

“For the greatest power in the whole Universe?” Jade chuckled. “I don’t think so. Besides, I have nothing against you still taking that one with red hair. Her existence is a mistake anyway.”

Ruby let out an unclear exclaim.

“You’re wasting our time.” The witch of darkness replied.

Icy remained silent, deep in thought. Her eyes fixed on Daisy’s necklace.

“Fine.” She finally said. “I accept your deal.”

The witch of ice clicked her fingers, cancelling the paralysing spell.

“Wha-” Stormy began before Darcy pushed her in the stomach with an elbow.

Jade and Daisy stood up, shaking the dirt off their clothes.

“We’re setting off in the centre of Gloomywood at midnight.” Jade told the three sisters. “Hope you didn’t have any other plans for tonight.”

“Not a thing.” Icy told her in a cold tone. “And if you’re trying to trick us, you’re doomed.” She clicked the fingers for one more time, and the three witches disappeared.

“‘Having that one with red hair’!” Ruby finally stood up. “You will sure pay for this one, Psycho!”

“Well, turns out you’re so hopeless, even the worst criminals don’t want to deal with your stupidity.” Jade chuckled. “Come on, D.” She passed by her roommate with Daisy following.

“Great, it makes everything even easier.” The teen smirked when they were far enough from the witch of gemstones. “Let’s get that sphere to Palladium, and then I’ll think up a plan.”

***

“Why did you agree?” Stormy asked. “That brat was obviously lying.”

The three witches returned to their hideout, almost the only one the police of Magix couldn’t find. It was way below the Gloomywood, protected with many strong spells, which were still functioning, even though Valtor, who had cast them, was caught and drained. From the inside, it looked like something between a cave and a large hall with high ceilings, full of magical books and artefacts.

“Of course she was lying.” Icy agreed. “But did you notice what her fairy friend was wearing?”

“A sort of stupid amulet. So?”

“These amulets used to handle an immense amount of magic inside one’s body, you dumb thing.” Darcy explained. “So that girl must have very outstanding power.”

“Right. And tonight, we’ll capture her without making any useless noise.” Icy smirked.

#trix week 2024 #winx club #winx #winx club fanfiction #fanfic #writing #tales of seven stars #winx club oc #winx trix #trix winx

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kyber-demon-jim · 7 years ago

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The Grave Maker

The ground was frozen.

It usually is that time of the year.

The summer holds on hard, its grip finally broken about the third week of September, the heat and humidity driven away, sometimes with great violence, in thunder, and lightning, and rain. Autumn settles in then, claiming October like a well loved and comfortable chair, and the trees push away their leaves, spent, dry and brown. In November, the first two weeks especially, the wind finishes whatever the trees left undone…

…and then, nothing much happens. It’s no longer Autumn, but not yet Winter. Sometimes we get a white Christmas, sometimes not, though when we do it’s never anything to keep home anyone with any skill at driving.

Usually between Christmas and New Year’s is when it happens, when that blast of air from Way Up North finally pushes the last of Autumn’s resistance away. If it holds, it takes a few weeks but the ground freezes hard, making even the sandy soil on the town’s west edge as hard to dig as granite.

The ground was frozen, so I lit a fire. It was a fairly big one, at least eight feet across. It wasn’t specifically to keep me warm, although up on the hill exposed to the breeze as I was the heat was welcome. I made a pile of old pallets and scrap lumber from someone’s torn down fence, and though I hate the smell of the stuff I sprayed it liberally with lighter fluid, making sure to stand upwind. When the can was empty I tossed it into the bed of my pickup truck and waited for moonrise, just a minute or two away. Except for the breeze and the distant hooting of a barn owl or dying screech of the barn owl’s dinner, there was no sound. The town spread out at the bottom of the hill was utterly silent.

When the moon’s bottom edge cleared my horizon I flicked a wooden match alight with my thumbnail - a trick I learned from my father - and tossed it onto the kerosene-soaked wood. After several minutes I was obliged to back away to keep from scorching my jeans and the front of my heavy coat.

I would keep the fire going for at least a full day, possibly two depending upon how far the cold had reached into the ground. I would wait, napping in short stretches by the fire, and feed it from my pile of old dry lumber. When I judged the ground sufficiently thawed, I would take out my shovel, sweep the ashes and embers aside, and dig.

Oh, sure, a backhoe would have taken care of the job without troubling with the fire, but this was to be done by hand. By my hand. My muscles knew what to do: I’d dug this kind of a hole a hundred times before, and my arms and hands and back knew the dimensions without having to measure.

Seven feet long, three feet wide, and six feet deep.

In this part of the country, when it’s this cold, the deceased are kept on ice - ha ha - until Spring. “If he wanted a funeral that quick he shoulda died in warmer weather,” the old timers say, and the local funeral director loads the body onto a tray and slides it into a cooler for later. It’s just how things are done. It means a closed casket, formalin and isopropyl alcohol and cold have their limitations, but no one really minds. The next of kin will put a ten year old portrait of the person that looks far better than the way they looked forty-eight hours ago into a five dollar Wal-Mart frame and balance it atop the coffin, and the medicinal odor of carnations and lilies will mask the subtler scent of decay that hangs around the box. The preacher will read from all the right places: John, “Peace I leave with you…”, the Twenty-third Psalm, “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…” and I Corinthians, “Where, O death, is your victory?”, a few family members will stand up and tell much-gilded stories about someone they’re already beginning to forget, throw a few handfuls of dirt and call it a day.

Coffee and sandwiches in the fellowship hall, everyone’s invited! Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.

My task wouldn’t wait, though. Sooner the better, for all concerned.

I threw more wood on the fire, went to the bed of my truck and pulled out my ancient wood and canvas chaise and a wool blanket, wrapped up and settled in.

The soon to be owner of the newly dug hole was waiting in the Episcopal church at the bottom of the hill, a stately, respectable stone building from the mid-1800s with most of its original stained glass still in place. She was lying on the altar, her body draped in unblemished white linen. The resident priest, new to his post and taking it more seriously than he ever had before, knelt on a padded bench in the center aisle, facing her and the large, wooden effigy of Jesus hanging on the wall behind, alternately praying and reading from the Bible and The Book of Common Prayer. She was blonde, slight, and in life had been beautiful. She was twelve years old when she died.

Her shroud was tented up over her chest by a stake of ash, punched hard past her ribs, tearing fabric and flesh and gristle. There it would stay for eternity.

Anyone can dig a grave. You can take a garden trowel, punch some holes in your garden and lay your child’s former parakeet to rest. Congratulations, you just dug a grave.

I am a grave maker. There’s a difference.

~~ Edit: cred to my dad

#stories

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