The Girl of Fire

By Counting Shadows

Hello everyone, this is Counting Shadows. I got this idea off a campaign my dad was doing for Heroes of Might and Magic 3. It's the one involving Adrienne from Playing with Fire. The one with the swamp dwellers vs. the undead. Well, I'm about to toss a certain fairy of the dragon flame into the mix. I don't own this. Enjoy.

Chapter 1 New World, New Problems

It was supposed to be a normal day at Alfea and by normal I mean nothing going wrong. Well, unfortunately for Bloom it wasn't going to be a normal day. It all started with the spell, along with the rest of the class, they were supposed to be learning a new portal spell.

- "Now girls, remember, pronunciation is key. If you get it wrong, there could be disastrous consequences." Professor Palladium explained

- "Yes professor." Chorused the class

- "Now then, Bloom, why don't you give it a go." Professor Palladium said

Bloom stood up and walked to the middle of the class.

- "Now remember, the words are Mihi videtur, a porta ad regnum."

- "Mihi videtur, a porta ad regnum." Bloom recited

Somewhere in her pronunciation did she mess up. No one could say for sure where she mispronounced something, but she did. The portal that she opened up engulfed her and neither Professor Palladium nor her friends could stop it in time to prevent it from engulfing the red head. When the world stopped swimming for Bloom, she felt the ground was softer and squishy, the air smelled like swamp. She opened her eyes to see a sword coming down on her.

- "Whoa! Shit!" Bloom yelped as she rolled out of the way

"Okay, that was a skeleton." Bloom thought. Then she ducked as something green whizzed over her head. " Okay, time for action." Bloom thought as she transformed. There was no "Bloom fairy of the Dragon Flame" that time, she just transformed and fired a fireball at the skeleton that had attacked her. It was disintegrated on contact. "Alright, who else do I have to deal with." Bloom though as she spun on her heel. She saw more monsters lunging for her. Bloom summoned another fireball and the battle began. It was over in a matter of minutes. Bloom surveyed her surroundings, this most definitely wasn't her classroom at Alfea. That was when she heard hesitant applause, she turned around to see a tall woman with long curly black hair, armour and a long sword at her hip clapping.

- "I'm sorry, were they yours? Because if they were I'm sorry." Bloom said quickly

- "No, do not apologize child, they were not mine. They had ambushed us and had you not arrived when you did, I do believe that I would have been overrun and killed. In all my years, I have never seen anyone use fire magic like that before." She said sounding rather impressed

- "Thank you, I have been practising." Bloom said

- " What is your name child?" The woman asked

- "Bloom, Bloom Peters. And you are?" Bloom said quickly omitting the princess part

- "I am Adrienne. Fire witch and they are my army. If you can call it an army." The woman said indicating to several beings that were standing up

- "Pleasure to meet you Adrienne. I find myself at a disadvantage as to my location, could you please tell me where I am?" Bloom asked

- "This is Tatalia. At least, what is left of it." Adrienne said

- "What do you mean by: what is left of it?" Bloom wondered

- "As of recently, Tatalia has been invaded by the undead. I have a suspicion that the dark night Lord Haart is behind it. I can not confirm it without farther evidence unfortunately." Adrienne explained

- "The undead, like zombies and such? They exist?" Bloom asked

- "Yes, you have never heard of them?" Adrienne asked confused

- "No, where I come from, they exist only in stories and the imagination." Bloom said

- "That would explain your confusion then." Adrienne said

- "So, I take it that this world is not part of the magic dimension." Bloom wondered aloud

Adrienne growled angrily.

- "Do not mention those fools to me child. The rulers of several of the kingdoms here have had trouble with them in the past."

- "What happened?" Bloom asked curious

- "Let me think, ah yes, the last time it happened to my knowledge was when Lord Haart made his first appearance in Tatalia. We asked several kingdoms of the magic dimension for aid, but we received no response. We managed to fight him off, but with heavy casualties on our side. Now it appears that he has returned, I have sent a message to several rulers of the magic dimension for aid but as of yet, I have received no response. I fear that this war will go the way the last one did, I will win, but there will be heavy casualties on my side." Adrienne said "Now, we must leave, night is falling and I don't want to be caught out here after dark."

- "And I need to find a way to get back home. It was nice meeting you Adrienne." Bloom said

- "I would advise against that child, judging by your clothes, your lack of armour and your lack of a weapon, I would say that you are not from around here. Your abilities with fire magic will be handy but you could easily be over powered by a stronger force. The monsters you destroyed were part of a small raiding party consisting of only skeletons and litches. And a couple of zombies. But, there are stronger monsters than that and they are incredibly tough to beat." Adrienne said

- "I take it that it would be best that I stayed with you then?" Bloom wondered

- "That would be a wise decision child. I suggest you ride on horseback, it would be faster than you just walking." Adrienne said

The woman was frowning internally, normally she was a very solitary person but she couldn't help but feel drawn to the young woman who had destroyed the raiding band of undead with only a fireball. She had no doubts that the girl was powerful but needed more training, if the girl was to survive here, she was going to need to know more spells than the ones she used earlier. Should she take on the girl as an apprentice? She'd have to think about it.

- "No, that's okay, I can fly. Thank you though." Bloom said

Adrienne nodded and turned to her troops and said:

- "Okay guys, let's go. I hear there's a town near by so lets try and get there before darkness falls."

The company moved forwards, Adrienne taking the lead while Bloom hung back.

- "Bloom, do try and keep up, the lizardmen will take the rear." Adrienne shouted

Bloom sped up and fluttered along beside the fire witch.

- "Are you a sprite? You look like one." Adrienne asked

-"No, I'm a fairy. What's the difference?" Bloom asked

- "From what I have heard, sprites wear dresses and their wings are that of a butterfly's. I thought that was what you were, you've got the wings." Adrienne said slyly

- "Thank you." Bloom said

- "Your clothes may look like armour but I have my doubts that they can stand up to an arrow." Adrienne also remarked

- "I'm in agreement. I take it that if I'm going to survive here, I'm going to need some armour and a weapon." Bloom said

- "Yes you will. When we find a town where we can set up a base, I will find a blacksmith and have him forge some armour, a sword, a knife and a helmet. You are probably going to need one. I'm also going to need to get you a horse, you had better know how to ride child, because if you don't know how, you are going to have to learn quickly." Adrienne said

- "Don't worry, I can ride. How far away is the town?" Bloom asked

- "Another 40 miles to north of here. We aren't going to make it there before darkness falls. We are going to have to stop for the night guys." Adrienne shouted to her troops.

There was hissing and growls coming from behind the women.

- "We will set up camp here." Adrienne said pointing to a relatively hidden area

- "Why are we going to set up camp there?" Bloom asked

- "It will be harder for the undead to find us there. They tend to roam around a lot in larger packs at night." Adrienne explained as she dismounted off her horse

- "What about your horse?" Bloom asked

- "I'll hitch it to that tree over there. It will be a lot harder for any marauding bands of zombies, skeletons, vampires, dark knights or worse dread knights to spot her." Adrienne said "Bloom, can you get a fire going?"

- "Sure." Bloom said

Fortunately, there was some wood and kindling on close proximity so she was able to build a fire quickly. Bloom couldn't help but shake the feeling that she was being watched. In truth, she was being watched by the Knolls, Knoll Marauders, Lizardmen and Lizardwarriors who had joined Adrienne. They were unsure what to think of the human who had just joined them. She had defended Adrienne and therefore them so she wasn't working for the enemy but they still had every right to be wary, they had no idea where she came from or who she was working for. They decided to keep a close eye on her just in case. Adrienne returned from hitching her horse looking more than a little drained, she sat down beside Bloom and sighed.

- "Are you okay? You look really drained." Bloom asked

- "I am child. There was a gap in the trees where I was hiding my horse. So, I had to use an illusion spell to keep anything from seeing her. It takes a lot of power to cast spells like that." Adrienne explained as she dug through her bags

Adrienne pulled out some kind of fruit that looked like an apple and a raspberry. She tossed one to Bloom who nervously took a bite. The fruit, Bloom decided to call a appleberry tasted pretty good.

- "What about your troops?" Bloom asked

- "Oh, they've got their own food. They'll be alright." Adrienne said

The sun had just set when they finished their meals. One of the Lizardmen made his way towards Adrienne and hissed something before walking away.

- "What did he say?" Bloom asked

- "He said that he'd take the first watch. I'll have to teach you the local language too as well as some of the spells that are used here, how to manage an army and how to fight in hand to hand combat." Adrienne said

- "Thank you, I'd like that." Bloom said

- "Alright. When we hit the first town, I'll do that. Now, I suggest you get some rest, we move out at first light." Adrienne said

Bloom flicked her wrist and the fire dimmed down to glowing coals. Adrienne watched as she did this, in all her years of studying fire magic, she had never been able to do that. This mysterious girl was able to control fire as well as use it in an offensive manner, she was also able to manipulate the flames into different shapes, like dragons. Adrienne decided in that moment that she might have the girl take her on as an apprentice instead of the other way around. Bloom was oblivious to the thoughts of the black haired woman lying down to her right side. The flame haired princess knew that she had just walked into a war, but that wasn't what was bothering her, the magic dimension was considered an enemy to this place. Adrienne might not have said it that way, but the way she spoke of the relations between there and where she was now were very strained. Bloom also wanted to go home but she knew deep in her heart that it would be a very long time before that happened. She fell asleep dreaming of home. She had no idea what was in store for her.

And there you have it. I hope you all enjoyed this. Next time, Bloom gets a taste of what war is like and the winx and specialists try to figure out where their friend/fiance has gone.