#wx:witches

[ SEOHAE MAGIC ACADEMY, 30 DECEMBER 2021, 08:03 ]

DEAR STUDENTS OF SMA,

❝ this is your vice-chancellor, SEO YERIM, speaking. i would like to thank each and every one of you for remaining in the academy during this uncertain time. you have all proven yourselves to be exemplary winx and specialists, and i am certain that if our academy president, PARK JIWON, were here, she would echo this statement. 

i’m delivering this announcement to share the outcome of our discussion with the president. rest assured, only fully-fledged guardian fairies are called to the battlefield in the west. however, the president has informed us that there are a large number of citizens that need to be evacuated to our fairy bunker erected northeast underground. as such, we would like to request for volunteers to take on this mission. those willing will be deployed to the various evacuation points and tasked with escorting our citizens and ancient artefacts to the closest bunker entrance.

NORTH  citizens north of maruhan’s wall have been told to gather at the entrance of the parliament house. it will be your duty to escort them to the bunker’s north entrance situated at the basement level.

DEPLOYED: @haksuwx & @wxjihwan & @wxyiseul & SLOT 4 & SLOT 5

SOUTH  your primary duty here will be to infiltrate maruhan’s shrine and rescue our elemental artefacts from the various elemental temples. please take care to maintain their integrity, as these artefacts, once wielded by the greatest fairies, are precious to the elements.

DEPLOYED: @wxbitna & @wxnabi & SLOT 3 & SLOT 4 & SLOT 5

CENTRAL  given that this location is closest to the west ruins, it has seen some structural damage as a result of the war in the west. there have been reports that some citizens are stuck in the shopping district, particularly seohae mall, so your duty here will be to find and evacuate these citizens to the hovercraft where they will be taken back to the academy.

DEPLOYED: @wxjunho & @wxseulki & @wxhajoon & @wxyohan & SLOT 5

EAST  should you choose not to be deployed outside of sma, you will remain here in the academy to help with the organisation of these operations. this includes communicating with your fellow students who have been deployed to provide them instructions and aid, as well as escorting any citizens that have arrived at the southeast courtyard via hovercraft to the bunker’s east entrance, located in the basement level of the academy’s central dome.

DEPLOYED: @wxbeomseok & @wxjihyun & @yeongsukwx & @eunmiwx & SLOT 5

no matter your choice, you are to collect the mission smartwatches we’ve laid out near the bulletin board. it is pivotal you keep this on your person at all times as we will be communicating with you and giving you orders through this device. you will also be able to find blueprints for the locations you’ve been deployed to with this device.

please change into your combat gear. specialists, retrieve your weapons. students, please report to the southeast courtyard by 9AM for deployment. ❞

we thank you for your service, winx and specialists. may the elements keep you on this mission.

it is a cautionary tale come to life. the shadowed beasts nestled under beds ever ready to grab at little ankles, the devil you know sitting cross-legged atop your chest, pushing deeper and deeper until you’re left gasping for air. it is tradition for the hwang matriarchs to sit their daughters atop their rocking right knee, to whisper grave warnings in their ear lest they forget the tragedies that befell their ancestors. he must admit, perhaps the warnings had lost their edge, had blunted into old wives’ tales. but the witches are here now, lurking in the shadows with their glowing eyes as a threat to pounce.

junho doesn’t place his warhammer neatly against its notch in the arsenal. instead, he flings it to the ground, lets metal smash against metal so hard, it shouts a thunderous clang. these witches are liars, he hears grandmother say. they’re never as they seem, mother chimes in. and just as they had warned, they have once again shown the extent of their deceit, have painted the water guardians—the fallen hwangs amongst them—as renegades to their bastardised fairytale. it is blasphemy, the sorts to stir a righteous believer such as he, and so the violent anger crawls upwards from the balls of his fists. as it passes his ear, he hears it whisper, he should’ve been there.

and what this means is he should’ve been in the west, where the battle had taken place, where devilish witches and guardian fairies meet. what this means is junho thinks himself capable of murder— even if it means he will surely die in the process. it is in this way that he realises his devotion to the hwang legacy, a religious zealot turned martyr, to kill or be killed if it means he gets the honour of defending his family’s name.

in this way, junho finally realises his purpose. see, all along, he had felt this conviction to be the hero to save faekind, to preserve the good work of his ancestors, but in some ways, he had wondered why him? and why now? why had no one else in the hwang lineage felt the same conviction as he, since the hwangs had retired their post as defenders of the barrier? but he sees now. because mother water knew, just as the hwang ancestors had protected faekind, so must he now protect them, and so must he now rise up to finish what they had started. junho runs battered fingers through his tousled hair, smooths the wrinkles in his combat gear, and takes a steadying breath.

where the fuck is park kitae?

somewhere between junho-supplied yoghurt cups #4 and #9, the call connects. 

“hi, baby.” jiho mumbles a hi, noona, voice still thick with sleep. “did i wake you up? i’m sorry, baby. this is important, though. did mama leave for work, already, or is she still home?” he repeats the last two words quietly, and jihyun breaks the plastic spoon she’s holding. still, her voice remains honey-sweet as she asks him to pass her phone to dear old mom.

she hears the pitter-patter of his feet as he pads down the stairway of their home, the creak in the step that mom never got fixed– yet another failing as a parent. repeat after jihyun: fuck han seona!– as jiho chatters on about what he’s been doing over the holidays, and how excited he is to go back to school because he can see his girlfriend but simultaneously dreading it, because he hasn’t finished his homework yet.

jihyun doesn’t have the heart to tell him he might not have to finish it.

HAKSU  :  howdy, is jihyun there?

[ this is intelligence specialist IM HAKSU’s 4th ( fourth ) time calling for fire charmix HAN JIHYUN. regardless of clearly accumulating experience using the comms, HAKSU has yet to master professional etiquette. ]

HAKSU  :  jihyunie, can— can ya check up on seulki again? ‘cause… last i hear is she’s still doin’ some… tough rubble-movin’... like jenga n’ all that… can ya lemme know if she’s finished that building? this’ll be the last time for real. so... thank you kindly, and uh— haksu out— uh… o—over.

HAKSU  :  also please update me on this a-s-a-p, it’s an emergency, sorry n’ thank you so much. over.

[ ACROSS MARUHAN’S WALL, 30 DECEMBER, 16:30 ]

❝  YOU HAVE BEEN TOLD that we are witches. corrupted mirrors of your elements, with powers that have desecrated the sanctity of mother magic. that we were power-hungry ingrates who started a war out of nothing so much as foolish greed, and beaten back to beyond the barrier.

YOU WERE LIED TO.

this is our history, our realm, our sanctuary, as much as it is yours. a long time ago, we were known as fairies. we too were part of the cycle of the elements, in perfect equilibrium. ice and water to fire, shadow to light, earth to air, storm to nature. magic needs balance. why do you think maruhan’s great wall has started to crumble? we were never taken in, but cast out by cowards who feared what they could not overwhelm. at first, through petty hierarchies and empty titles, then a war filled with lies and twisted memories. your light has blinded you from the truth, and now you rely on our shadow to free you from your chains.

today, we will show mercy. we are not the evil you denigrate us as, and so we will not repeat your mistakes. we call upon the fairy leaders to meet with us to establish the reparations owed to the balance of magic, and this time, it will be on our terms. it will be our land that you tread on, it will be our conditions that you adhere to. you are to meet us at the borders of the west, where you tried, and failed, to extinguish our elements.  ❞

WE ARE THE WITCHES, AND WE HAVE RETURNED.

[ PARLIAMENT HOUSE NORTH OF MARUHAN’S WALL, 30 DECEMBER 2021, 14:01 ]

@haksuwx & @wxjihwan & @wxyiseul

you watch the citizens stagger fearfully in from where you stand at the entrance of the parliament house. they gather impatiently in front of you, eyes meeting yours as they await your directive. once you’ve accumulated a group of ten, you usher them deeper into the parliament house, down the stairs and towards the basement. it is when you grab the handle of the bunker’s entrance that ice gathers at the door, so cold it burns. you snatch your hand away from the handle. frost starts to spread deeper into the tunnel that’s meant to keep you and the others safe, the temperature dropping drastically. from the group, a child points to the shadows and starts to wail.

[ MARUHAN’S SHRINE SOUTH OF MARUHAN’S WALL, 30 DECEMBER 2021, 14:03 ]

@wxbitna & @wxnabi

the elemental weapons wielded by great mythix of the past are stored within the temples of their element. the pyrosword, the radiant bow, the nature staff, the aero-javelin and the hydro-whip. you’ve split up into five teams, each assigned to one of the five artefacts. but when you step into the temple of light, you find it has been snuffed out by a thick darkness that spreads quickly towards the other temples. the glow of the radiant bowstring is the last thing you see before your sight is completely robbed, a pure, pitch black that’s almost suffocating. you grip your weapon, but there’s no one you can see to point it at. laughter rings out. you don’t know where it’s coming from.

[ SEOHAE MALL CENTRAL OF MARUHAN’S WALL, 30 DECEMBER 2021, 14:05 ]

@wxjunho & @wxseulki & @wxhajoon & @wxyohan

you’re holding a beam steady so your teammate can help navigate the shopkeeper out from under a collapsed storefront when the ground beneath your feet rumbles. hold steady, she shouts. the walls tremble with a mysterious force. a shadow stands in the dark, feet planted deep within the earth. you hear a roar, your only warning sign of seismic activity. then the earth is cleaved in two, buildings crumbling into the fissures, and screams swallowed by dirt all around you.

[ SEOHAE MAGIC ACADEMY EAST OF MARUHAN’S WALL, 30 DECEMBER 2021, 14:08 ]

@wxbeomseok & @wxjihyun​ & @yeongsukwx​ & @eunmiwx​

the academy is a buzz, with students and staff running about as they echo directives into their comm devices. the jarring sound of thunder begs your attention, and you notice something whipping on the horizon, the skies gathering into angry, swollen storm clouds. lightning crackles above, an inescapable scent of charring. this isn’t the nurturing safety of nature as you know it, not for you. a silhouette stands encased in the storm, as her power gathers and fills you with dread.

you see vice chancellor seo run to the broadcast, more frantic than you’ve ever seen her. we need to warn the students that have been deployed, you hear her mutter frantically to the instructor beside her. they haven’t been trained against the dark elements! she glances at you briefly, then addresses the crowd in a desperate shout, retreat! tell the students to retreat!

[ RUINS OF SMA, 30 DECEMBER 2021 05:22 ]

it’s a routine inspection. the ground west of maruhan’s wall is rife with traps and explosives from wars past, so the guardian fairies take to the air. they conduct their surveillance in a manner that is impassive and methodical, the white-knuckled grip around their elemental weapons serving as the singular crack in their stoic countenance.

nothing.

“alright, let’s head back,” the commander begins, but her directive is disrupted by the sound of disturbed rubble. she lifts a commanding palm and her unit falls into a hush, heads turning in the direction of the disturbance, and she signals once more to call for their specialists. the commander leads cautiously, feet hovering an inch above ground as they begin their search for the culprit, and it is near a dark cavity in sma’s desolate ruins that they find what they assume is a young fairy curled in the fetal position. the commander lets down her guard.

“hey, what are you doing here? where are your parents?” the child does not answer. the child is dressed in rags and dirt is smeared on her pale cheeks, a stark contrast from the polished children of their great barrier. the guardian fairies notice this anomaly, and they glance suspiciously at each other. “you’re not supposed to be out here. it’s dangerous. come with me,” the commander offers a palm, but the child only folds further into herself, “come on.”

“jinah!” they hear a voice from a distance, and the patrolling unit springs back and stands on the defensive, weapons drawn. the child hops out of the cavity and runs towards the woman, expertly navigating these dangerous grounds on foot. the fairy unit notices that the woman’s wings have a foreign, eerie hue, much like the books they’ve read on—

“it’s a witch!”

upon the commander’s declaration, the air fills with frost and from the shroud of the ruins, willowy fingers reach from behind her to wrap around her mouth. the ice spreads outwards, originating from her lips where the ice witch’s fingers have touched and, in a matter of seconds, crawls to the rest of her body. the ice witch flicks, the commander shatters.

“indeed.”

[ SEOHAE MAGIC ACADEMY, 30 DECEMBER 2021, 06:34 ]

DEAR STUDENTS OF SMA,

❝ this is your vice-chancellor, SEO YERIM, speaking. it is with a heavy heart that i bring you this news. this morning, a patrolling unit spotted a group of witches west of maruhan’s wall. we’ve been told that there were no survivors, but before they passed, they alerted the military headquarters of the witches’ invasion. it is through their heroic actions that our guardian fairies were able to quickly assemble their troops. your vice-chancellor and academy president, PARK JIWON, has already left for the military headquarters to prepare for the war.

know that if it were up to us, we would have you home to be with your families. however, given that this academy has only recently been reestablished, our military does not yet have the numbers to fight this war. we are currently in talks with the president, but for now, we ask that you hold strong in the academy and stand by. we understand that it has not been long since you’ve begun training, but each and every one of you have proven yourselves strong and capable. it is why you were made students of this academy. it is why you are winx and specialists first.

your classes have been dismissed until further notice. i will bring you an update the second we have concluded our talks with the president. until then, i beg your patience in these uncertain times. ❞

may the elements keep us, now more than ever.