Issue 18: The Guardian of Dreams

The Guardian of Dreams is the eighteenth issue of the Winx Club Comic Series.

Synopsis
Recently, the Winx have been plagued with nightmares and are met by an injured girl from the forest. After learning the girl's name and that she is trapped within her own nightmares, the Winx search for a way to free Aisha.

Plot
Bloom is running up a seemingly endless spiral staircase and is running late for school. She finally makes it to the top of the staircase, opens the door, and finds that the bus is just about to leave. She chases after the bus and barely manages to reach the bus' door. When she opens the door to get on the bus, she suddenly finds herself in class having to take a test. The teacher needs to ask one of the students to come up to the board to answer questions and Bloom is desperately hoping that she does not get called on. She looks around to see who will be called and notices that everyone in the class looks exactly like her, so, no matter who the teacher calls on, Bloom will still have to go up. Just as the teacher calls on Bloom, she wakes up screaming in her bed. Flora wakes up and tries to calm Bloom down after being told that she just had a nightmare. Since they woke up just before their alarm was about to go off, Flora and Bloom decide to get dressed for the day.

Bloom and Flora exit their room and find that Musa is awake and also could not get any sleep. She tells them that she had a nightmare where she had to put on a concert but could not find the flute her dad bought for her. Stella and Tecna come out and hear Bloom say that "without any sleep, the world seems to be uglier." Stella confesses that she has a fear of getting uglier with age and starts panicking over a spot in the corner of her eye. Musa and Tecna tell her that they do not see anything and Stella starts panicking, thinking that no one understands and that they will all leave her when she grows old and becomes uglier. In order to calm her down, Flora suggests that they hang out in the courtyard before their classes start.



The girls all head outside except for Bloom, who wants to rest for a bit before going out. Kiko comes bouncing around and, while Bloom tells him to behave, her diary suddenly turns on. Her diary tells her that she forgot to turn him off before she went to bed, so he just put himself on standby to save energy. Since Bloom is here, the diary starts pestering her for an information he may need to know about. Bloom tries to get him to mind his own business but her diary is eventually able to get her to crack. Bloom tells her diary that it all happened ever since they came back to Alfea for their new school year:

After they waved goodbye to the Specialists' ship, a girl suddenly appeared from the forest and fainted just near Bloom. After she explained everything to the rest of the Winx, they took the girl into the infirmary so that she could rest up. They could not get her to wake up so Professor Palladium and Headmistress Faragonda even began to worry. From what the girl has been mumbling in her sleep, they find out that her name is Aisha and, thanks to the machine Palladium hooked her up to, they were also able to figure out that, while she has no physical injuries, she has been stricken with a powerful spell that cannot be recognized by either Palladium or Faragonda. Palladium told the girls that he found a pixie where they first found Aisha but was not able to get any information because the pixie was stricken with the same spell and has been asleep ever since he found her. Bloom asked Faragonda if there was anything they could do but Faragonda sent them off and told them that, in the meantime, Palladium will have treated the girl as best as he could.

Bloom's diary guesses if not knowing how to wake Aisha up is the reason why she is upset until Bloom corrects him, saying that she cannot rest easy due to nightmares she has been having. She gets up and ditches her diary to go hang out with the rest of the Winx out in the courtyard to clear her head as Kiko teases it.

Making it to the courtyard, Bloom meets up with the girls and makes sure if Stella feels any better. Flora suggests that, since they still have free time, they should go check up on Aisha to see if Palladium has made any progress in her treatment. On their way there, they bump into Faragonda. Bloom asks if there is any news on Aisha's recovery but Faragonda does not know yet as Palladium has just called her down.



In the infirmary, Palladium explains to the girls and Faragonda that he had recently hooked Aisha up to a dream recorder to see what is plaguing her psyche, however, her dreams cannot be recorded by the machine. He further explains that Aisha's dreams are being blocked off, possibly by the dark spell she is under, and that that is the reason why she cannot wake or even recover from her mental and psychological injuries. He adds that she will not be able to wake up unless she manages to free herself from inside the nightmares that have been plaguing her. Bloom insists that there is some sort of epidemic spreading throughout the school since she, Stella, and Musa all experienced severe nightmares the night before. Faragonda suspects that there may very well be some sort of epidemic spreading around as she was notified by Saladin that other girls have been suffering from extreme amounts of stress due to recurring nightmares. Faragonda further suspects that this may be happening all over Magix, not just at Alfea. Palladium adds in his own suspicions and tells everyone that someone purposely entered Aisha's dream realm in order to cause harm to her but was so inexperienced in doing so that it caused the nightmare epidemic. Bloom is surprised that each person's dream has its own realm and Musa asks Faragonda if others can go inside a person's dream realm and tamper with it. Faragonda explains to the girls how dream realms work and that, because everyone cannot seem to get past these recurring nightmares, something must have happened to a supposed guardian of dreams known as Doctor Morpheus. Since the girls cannot stand sitting idly by and letting this happen, Bloom asks Faragonda if they can meet up with this Dr. Morpheus and see if they can put a stop to the epidemic. Stella asks if they can find him anywhere in Magix City but Faragonda claims that it is not so easy to find him and that she needs to request that Dr. Morpheus accept the girls before they can meet with him.

Apparently, a whole day passes by and the Winx have no word from Faragonda on whether Dr. Morpheus will accept their help. They are all restless from having nightmares and already anxious about wanting to help Aisha wake up but not being able to do so. Suddenly, Musa runs in with a note, claiming that it is from Dr. Morpheus. Initially, there is nothing on the note but, when Bloom takes it, writing suddenly appears. The note contains details about the girls' appointment with Dr. Morpheus and that they will be able to find him on any street at nine, at a door that they make that is between thirteen and fifteen. Stella and Tecna confirm that "any street" means any street in Magix until Bloom notices that, since it is eight already, that it is almost time to meet up with Dr. Morpheus and that they might as well start looking for the meeting place.



The Winx arrive in Magix City by bus but they do not know what the note means by "between thirteen and fifteen." Tecna grows impatient, thinking that Dr. Morpheus is wasting their time when they desperately want to help Aisha. Flora tries to calm her down when Bloom suggests that they should check street numbers, believing that he is waiting for them in a building between houses labeled thirteen and fifteen in the nearest street. Bloom and Musa find doors labeled thirteen and fifteen but there is nothing in between them. Tecna, from across the street, is standing in front of a building labeled with the number fourteen, but it is a closed shop. Stella gets frustrated, unsure of what they need to do now, but Bloom gets an idea and quickly asks Tecna for a pen. Tecna says that all she has is her palm-top but Flora gives Bloom the pen she needs. Bloom draws a door between the ones labeled thirteen and fifteen and explains to the rest of the Winx that the note said that they would be able to meet with Dr. Morpheus "at a door they make between thirteen and fifteen." Stella, while skeptical, tries the knob on Bloom's drawn door and it opens; leading them to some sort of warehouse. Bloom notices a light further down the room where the girls find Dr. Morpheus in a separate room. Dr. Morpheus is surprised that the girls have arrived ahead of schedule and that, since they were the best at finding their way to his office, they can solve the problem behind Aisha's nightmares and the epidemic without his help. Bloom asks how exactly they will be able to do so and Dr. Morpheus explains that they need to recover the Chest of Fears and the Barrel of Nightmares that someone supposedly spilled over. He starts to ramble on about how the dream realm works until Stella tells him that they are trying to free a friend of theirs that is being held prisoner in her own dreams. Dr. Morpheus remarks at how it is such a pity that he is unable to study such an odd case and claims that the girls need to find the person responsible for scattering fears within Aisha's mind... without telling them how. Eventually, Stella gets fed up with this and storms out of his office, with the Winx behind her. Bloom tries to talk Stella into going back since they still do not know what to do. Bloom reminds her Dr. Morpheus told them that the person behind this left a trail and that they can just follow that trail to catch them. Stella reminds her that, in order for them to do so, they need to face whatever scares them the most, which is not an easy thing to do.

Outside of Dr. Morpheus' office, the girls notice two strange people walking around in the streets that none of them have ever seen in Magix before. Bloom realizes that they have not gone back to Magix but are now in the dream realm and that they can see what people dream of being. As the girls venture through this strange realm, Flora remembers that, while in the dream realm, they can also run into their own nightmares. Bloom sees her teacher from a previous nightmare and immediately runs off. The girls catch up to Bloom, where Stella reminds her that if they are starting to run into or experience their recurring nightmares, then they are getting closer to the culprit. Suddenly, Musa is overcome with an urge to find her flute, which she believes is missing. She dives into a dumpster to look for it but Tecna drags her out and tries to reassure her that it never went missing in the first place. Bloom tries to calm her down until Stella notices something close by: Brandon with a younger looking girl by a fountain. She starts crying, believing that she is becoming old and ugly, until Bloom takes her arm and promises to convince her that the nightmare is not real but, before she is able to do so, the teacher from her nightmares reappears and Bloom gets spooked. Frustrated at letting her nightmares get the best of her, Bloom realizes that they need to confront their nightmares in order to be able to move on so she confronts the teacher and the teacher goes away. Stella takes another look at "Brandon" and the girl by the fountain and she notices that it was never Brandon, but a guy who just looks like him. Musa has been able to calm down about her flute as well. Now that they are not being tormented by their nightmares any more, the girls go to find Aisha's part of the dream realm. They are quickly confronted by an ominous looking castle and come to the conclusion that it must be Aisha's nightmares.



The girls climb the castle and run into a pair of monsters. They transform and are able to push the monsters off, allowing for them to make it to a room at the top of the castle where they find Aisha bound to a stone table by old vines. The Winx are able to break Aisha out of the vines and set her free, however, she quickly starts vanishing. The castle starts to crumble and, as the Winx make their escape, Bloom trips and falls. When she comes to, she finds herself some sort of meadow with Sky, where they both confess their feelings for each other and kiss.

Meanwhile, Aisha suddenly wakes up at Alfea and tries to see if some monster was still following her and her pixie, Piff. Palladium assures Aisha that she and Piff are safe at Alfea and now she is able to rest and recover.

In the morning, Bloom finds herself waking up in her room at Alfea. The girls each find a sort of chest at the foot of their beds and realize that Dr. Morpheus had rewarded them with dreams filled with love. They all get ready to head to the infirmary to see if Aisha is okay.

In the infirmary, the girls greet Aisha and tell her that whatever nightmares were plaguing her before are all behind them now. Aisha formally introduces herself to the Winx and the girls start to get to know each other.

Spells Used

 * Energy Shield - Used by Tecna to protect Bloom, Flora and herself from the Spiny Monster's attack.

Debuts

 * Spiny Monster
 * Tar Monster
 * Doctor Morpheus

Mistakes

 * In page 28, Tecna’s irises and pupils are not drawn in the first panel.

Characters

 * The Winx Club
 * Bloom
 * Stella
 * Flora
 * Musa
 * Tecna
 * Aisha
 * Alfea Staff
 * Faragonda
 * Palladium
 * Specialists
 * Sky (in a dream)
 * Brandon (mentioned)
 * Pixies
 * Piff
 * Animals
 * Kiko
 * Monsters
 * Spiny Monster
 * Tar Monster
 * Guardians
 * Doctor Morpheus
 * Bloom's Diary

Trivia

 * Doctor Morpheus is known as Magix's guardian of dreams and seems heavily inspired by Morpheus, the Greek God of dreams.
 * This is the first instance of Professor Palladium retaining his Season 1 color scheme despite having changed his appearance. Another instance of this is in.
 * Every time a character flashes back to previous events or traverses the dream world of Magix, the art style takes on a rougher, less detailed style.
 * On page 29, when the Winx find themselves in the dream realm, they come across two strange people. One of them is dressed to look like Batman.
 * On page 30, when the Winx realize that they are in the dream realm, they notice a man across the street from them. The man is standing just outside of a club, holding two women between his arms with money spilling from each of his hands, to which Stella comments that "they can really understand what he is dreaming about."