The Fairy Among Specialists

The Curse She Wrote

Sulfus stood in the throne room, glaring at the seat that would one day, be his. Meeting his mother is hard, even though he's the crown prince. He has to wait like everyone else, or at least that should have been the case.

When the Empress walks into a room, all eyes turn to her in 'awe'. A great fairy with power over stars and the night who can harness dark magic without losing her winx. She unlocked a power greater than her enchantix, and brought prosperity to her home, becoming the Empress after her father retired.

"Sulfus, it's been two years since you last spoke to me. What do you want." She sat on her throne, crossing her legs.

Sulfus rolled his eyes, pointing to the door. "If that's how you want to be, I can just go."

His mother visibly pouted, holding her hands out. "No! Sulfie, baby, don't leave! Why upset your poor mother this way!"

The Empress genuinely adores her children. So much so that most of them ran in order to get away from her smothering.

The reason the third son, fifth child, became the crown prince? Because he was the only one that could tolerate her hovering long enough to get through the crowning ceremony.

Sulfus cracked a smile. He does love his mom, his siblings love her too, but she can be a lot, especially since they're fairly independent.

His mom left her seat and gave her son the biggest hug she could. "You should come home more often! I miss you guys so much! All my babies are so grown up!"

Sulfus let his mom squeeze him to her hearts content, it's the least he could do. It's not like he wasn't thinking about her the past year and a half, he was just preoccupied....

"Mom- I can't breathe-"

"Oh, sorry!"

His mother let go, cupping his cheeks and turning his head every which way.

"You've gotten so big. Oh, but you're so skinny, let's talk over dinner, I'll prepare all your favorites."

Sulfus sighed, then clapped once right in front of her face to get her attention. "Mom! This is serious. I need your help."

She blinked for a second, then smiled at him, wrapping her hands around his. "Of course, I'll help you as best as I can, sweetheart."

Sulfus nodded, then finally gave his greeting to his mother, a little kiss on the cheek. "I'm home, ma."

The woman beamed, she was just the happiest person in the nebula at that moment. "Welcome home, Sulfie."

The Empress of the Sulfuric Nebula was well known for her love of her family. That, and the fact that she'd start a war at the drop of a hat. She's temperamental and hotheaded when it comes to her children, but she's very reliable in a crisis.

Sulfus explained the gaps in his memory, and the strange dreams he had. Not just dreams, memories he didn't know were locked away.

It wasn't just him either, upon further investigation, his siblings were missing chunks of their memory as well, even the Empress and her husband. A widespread memory loss that no one had brought attention to until now.

How was that possible? So many people lost entire chunks of their lives and just didn't realize it? That's impossible, illogical even.

Sulfus was having dreams, or at least, remembering a place that just didn't exist in anyone else's head.

"Unbelievable... The only place that fits that description is... Cristilli?" As the empress turned pages in her book of kingdoms, she took note of the details she began to recall. "Oh... I do know this place, my friend lived there. Her name was-.... Uh, what was her name? How could I forget that."

Sulfus pulled out every book he could with that word in it, every book that did so much as mention the kingdom he barely remembered.

"This looks... Hand written. There's already translation magic cast on the book." He turned the pages of a worn out book, starting at the hand written notes. "Huh... Dia Luvea Crystia?"

The Empress suddenly dropped her book, frozen for a moment. "...Dia?"

Sulfus was startled by the sound of the book hitting the floor, and went over to check on his mom. Before he could say anything to her, his mom had taken the worn book out of his hands and began reading it to herself.

"That's right... The Queen of a the glittering planet, where magic comes from veins of crystal underground, steming from one place inside the castle... I placed a curse there for her."

Sulfus stared at his mother, confused would be an understatement. There were tears slowly rolling down her face with no explanation as to why, and his heart ached for his mother because her expression was full of sorrow.

"Mom, what's wrong?" He asked hesitantly, hugging his mom from behind.

The Empress took a deep, calming breath, then picked up the bookmark that lay inconspicuously between the pages. The bookmark was adorned with beautiful magical jewels, ones that could only be obtained on the mysterious planet.

She pushed a little of her magic into the jewels, just until they shone in her hands. A brilliant light that was almost blinding until the moment it faded.

"Sulfus, don't get mad, but I made a curse, a long time ago..."

Sulfus raised an eyebrow, a great fairy, his mother, making a curse? That's crazy. He'd expect as much from his older sibling, they took after their father for the most part, but their mom? No way.

"How long ago?"

The Empress shrugged. "Uh, maybe... Thirteen or fourteen years ago, it was pretty close to the fall of Domino actually, but anyway, it was before I was banned from creating curses."

Sulfus blinked twice, "Excuse me, what?"

"Not important, sweetie! Anyway... It's time I should tell you about my friend... And why none of us can remember that place. You might want to sit down."

Sulfus nodded, sitting on the desk they were working at.

What could she have to say that shook her so much?