Soul Fire

5.5

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Musa somehow scowled even more than she had been earlier- Bloom didn't even know that was possible. Musa looked at Flora. "And how do you even know that?"

Flora shrugged. She glanced at Stella. "I can feel it. Another type of magic here. Someone has been communicating with Stella."

"That doesn't mean it's a good thing." Musa argued, "It could be a trick, or ill-intentioned."

"Im not ruling out that possibility." Stella raised an eyebrow, seemingly unbothered by Musa's frustration.

Xenia was still deeply studying the charts. "What part is unique, Stella?"

Stella lifted her hand and pointed to a symbol. It had five parallel lines, all different lengths, and nine circles of different sizes. "This one. See how it orbits here?"

"The shift." Xenia mused, her hand at her chin. "Yes, I see it. A potential resolution?" She guessed.

"A chance." Stella added. "I don't know who's sending it. It doesn't make sense. See the angle at which it aligns to this axis?" Stella said, trailing a line with her finger. "It suggests great power. I don't know if it's good or bad. But it certainly is part of this conflict." Stella observed the constellations and zodiac charts. They just looked like a bunch of lines and circles to Bloom. "I've been studying it every night. I can't seem to figure it all out. There's something I'm missing, something big. But I think it has to do with us."

Bloom blinked. She spoke, for the first time in many minutes. "With us? Why?"

Xenia answered before Stella had a chance to. "Because of this angle here." Xenia pointed to something that looked like the big dipper- at least Bloom recognized that. "It's an angle of transformation, and this..." She pointed down towards another collection of symbols, "Is Alfea's chart." She pointed to other symbols nearby. "This all suggests a sudden shift, and these here are direct conflict. Then when we look at the emblem that was sent to Stella, the potential resolution and how it it crosses into Alfea's chart...."

"It means that somehow, the resolution lies in Alfea." Bloom added, finally understanding. "Maybe we'll all be sent to fight in some kind of battle?"

Xenia shrugged. "It's hard to say. Maybe Faragonda will play a role in it, or one of the students do something that changes the course of the future, even if only by accident. It certainly doesn't mean that we need to practice convergent magic." A pointed look at Stella.

She shrugged, and with a sigh, the orrery of light disappeared. Xenia opened her mouth with a pout, "I wasn't done with that."

Stella rolled her eyes and waved her hand as if to say you can look later. Stella grumbled, "It wouldn't hurt to be prepared. Whether we like it or not, there's a chance that we will play a direct part in this. Someone is sending me that emblem for a reason."

"Someone's sending it?" Musa asked.

"It's a different type of magic than the other parts. That's the best explanation for why. That it's a message." Flora answered for her.

"And you don't know who?"

She shook her head.

"Maybe all oracles have it." Bloom suggested. "It might have nothing to do with us."

"No, it has everything to do with us. I can feel it." Stella said.

"It's powerful, and old." Flora revealed, "I don't even know if it's alive. It could have been sent long ago."

The thought sent a shiver down all of the faerie's spines.

"I don't just want to try convergence magic to fight better. I mean, that wouldn't be a bad thing, but...I wonder if having access to more magic could help me unlock other parts of this... something I'm missing." Stella said finally.

Flora nodded. "I'd be open to trying."

"I would too, maybe." Musa agreed.

Xenia quirked her mouth to the side. "I know nothing about it. I think we need to do some research," Stella rolled her eyes as Xenia said that, "and figure out how it all works, and how to do it."

"I could tell you how to do it." Stella said.

"As great as that sounds, I'm not going to just blindly try an outlawed type of magic. Not without knowing the consequences." All magic has a price.

Bloom frowned. "I would do it, I really would, but... I barely have control of my magic. I'm not ready for something like that. I could seriously hurt you guys."

"So we wait." Stella nodded thoughtfully. "Until we're all ready."

The other faeries agreed.