Threads of Time
The figure’s words echoed in Stella’s mind long after it had vanished. “Too late.”
“What does that mean?” Bloom asked, her voice shaky but determined. “We just got here. How could it already be too late?”
Stella didn’t have an answer. She could still feel the chill that had settled into her bones, the weight of the figure’s warning pressing down on her chest. Whoever — or whatever — it was, it knew more about the situation than they did. And that was terrifying.
“We need to stay calm,” Tecna said, though even she looked rattled. “We’ve only just arrived. Whatever that was, it’s trying to throw us off. We need to stay focused and figure out how to control our powers first. Once we’re stable, we can deal with whatever that was.”
Stella nodded, though the gnawing sense of dread in her gut wouldn’t go away. She could still feel the presence of the figure, and it unsettled her to her core. Time had always been fragile, but something about this felt different. Like time itself was being pulled apart, stretched and twisted in ways it shouldn’t be.
“We need to go to Faragonda,” Aisha suggested, her voice calm despite the tension in the air. “She’ll know what to do.”
“We don’t even know if she's still in charge,” Musa said, her eyes narrowed in thought. “If the timeline’s been messed with, who knows what’s changed?”
“We won’t know until we check,” Bloom said, her expression resolute. “We need answers, and we need them now.”
They started moving again, the quiet hum of magic still buzzing in the air around them. The strange calmness of the school was beginning to get under their skin. Everything felt wrong, like the world was holding its breath. Stella’s pulse quickened as they neared the Headmistress’s office. She could feel the pull of the stars again, the distant pressure from the universe making her head ache. She could almost hear the whispering of the stars, though their voices were fragmented and garbled, as if they were speaking through a veil.
“This is insane,” Flora murmured, looking around at the empty halls. “It’s like we’re walking through a ghost town.”
“No one’s here,” Stella said, her voice tight. “There should be students and teachers everywhere. But there’s nothing. It’s like the whole place is frozen in time.”
“Maybe it’s not just the school,” Tecna suggested, her mind already processing the situation. “If time is destabilized, it could affect the entire realm. The universe could be shifting around us in ways we don’t fully understand yet.”
“That’s exactly what I’m worried about,” Bloom replied. “But right now, we need to find the Headmistress and see if she’s even aware of what’s happening.”
They reached the Headmistress’s office, but as they stood in front of the door, something stopped them. It wasn’t the door itself — it was the sense that something was watching them. A lingering presence. The same presence that had been with them since they arrived.
Stella instinctively reached out with her powers, trying to connect to the stars, but something was blocking her. It felt like a wall, a barrier that was preventing her from accessing the full strength of her magic. Her star — the one she was connected to — was flickering in and out of existence, like it was being pulled in different directions.
“What is that?” Aisha asked, looking around.
“I can’t feel my star,” Stella murmured, her hand trembling as she pressed it against the door. “It’s. . .it’s not right. Something’s happening to the connection. It’s all messed up.”
“We don’t have time to figure it out right now,” Tecna said, her voice steely. “We need to get in there.”
Without another word, Tecna raised her hand, her fingers glowing with light as she manipulated the technology in the door’s lock. The door clicked open with a soft sound, and the group slipped inside.
Inside, Faragonda’s office was just as it always had been — majestic, with shelves lined with magical books and artifacts. But something was different. The air was heavy, thick with magic, and there was an unnatural stillness to the room. The windows were shut tight, casting the room in a dim light. And behind the desk, the Headmistress wasn’t alone.
A tall figure sat across from her — shadowed, indistinct, much like the figure they’d encountered earlier. The air crackled with tension as the two figures seemed to be in the midst of some sort of conversation, though the words were inaudible from where the Winx stood.
Faragonda, for her part, appeared calm, though her eyes flickered with an unreadable emotion. It was almost as though she was playing along with whatever was happening — like she knew exactly what was going on.
“We’re not supposed to be here,” Stella whispered, her heart racing. “What if — what if we’re not supposed to be in this time at all?”
“We have to find out what’s going on,” Bloom said, her voice low and determined. “This could be our only chance to fix things.”
Stella didn’t argue, though she could feel the weight of the moment. Whatever was happening, whatever force had manipulated time to bring them back to this moment, was far beyond their understanding. They couldn’t just rely on their powers to solve it. Not this time.
As they stepped forward, Faragonda looked up, her eyes meeting theirs. There was a flicker of recognition in her gaze, followed by something darker. The other figure, the one they couldn’t fully see, shifted in its chair, as if aware of their presence.
“I thought you might come,” the Headmistress said, her voice steady. “I’ve been expecting you.”
Stella’s heart skipped a beat. “What’s going on here? Who — what is that?”
The Headmistress didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she turned her gaze toward the shadowed figure, her expression hardening.
“The question,” she said slowly, “is not who they are, but why they’re here.”
The shadows in the room seemed to shift, and for a moment, everything went still. A deep, unsettling silence descended.
And then, without warning, the world shifted.
Time itself seemed to snap, like a thread being cut. The walls around them rippled, twisting as if reality was bending under the weight of some unseen force. The room around them flickered like a broken mirror, and before they could even react, the hallway they were standing in was gone.
The next instant, they found themselves standing once again in the bustling corridors of Alfea, but this time everything was alive. Students passed by, chatting excitedly about their first day, laughter echoing through the halls. The energy in the air was electrifying, like the anticipation of a new beginning.
They blinked, confused, but before any of them could speak, a sudden, overwhelming pressure hit them. It was as if the very fabric of reality had been stitched back into place. The air felt thicker, heavier. The weight of the past — their past — hung around them, suffocating.
“What. . .” Flora whispered, her eyes widening. “What just happened?”
“I — we — we’re. . .younger,” Tecna gasped, her eyes wide as she looked at her own hands. Her fingers were smaller, more delicate, like they were someone else’s. “This is the first year at Alfea. But how. . .”
Aisha clenched her fists as she felt her magic flare out of control. “We have our Enchantix back. But our powers — our transformations and magic. . .it’s like we’re too much for these bodies.”
Stella felt it too — the thrum of overwhelming power inside her, her connection to the stars burning far too brightly for her younger body. She could feel the flicker of her star, the distortion, as if it was trying to fight against the pull of the universe.
“We’re in our younger bodies,” she murmured, her voice cracking with realization. “We’re back at the beginning. . .but we’re not the same.”
The universe had played its hand — and they were caught in its twisted game.