Elyon: Return of the Queen

Elyon: Return of the Queen is the title of the second special issue of W.I.T.C.H. a fantasy/superhero comic series created in Italy by Elisabetta Gnone. The W.I.T.C.H. comic book is known to release a special issue every year that tells a unique story about the girls, such as a what if story, or a deeper look into their own lives.

Plot Synopsis
Elyon has been queen of Metamoor for a while when this story begins. The little she knows about her kingdom confuses her and makes her start to believe she isn't worthy to reign over it. She attends a meeting with her council to discuss the building of a dam. Here she confuses the names of the councilors and misunderstands the meaning of certain words. In an end, she suspends the meeting and returns to her castle.

She is completely surprised when her friends Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia and Hay Lin arrive to celebrate her birthday, which she already forgot about. She receives five presents to remind her of the girls: a box of colored pencils from Hay Lin, a diary from Irma, a toy frog from Will (part of her frog collection), a pair of rollerskates from Cornelia and a photography camera from Taranee. The camera also holds the picture taken of all six girls by Martin Tubbs at the Halloween party at the beginning of the series. All five of the guardians' signatures are on the back.

After her friends leave, Elyon decides to travel through her kingdom to learn more about it. She plans to write her observations in the diary, where she will also draw with the color pencils, and to photograph everything she finds interesting.

One night, as she sleeps, she is visited by the spirit of her birth mother, who gives Elyon some last advice (to believe in herself) and says farewell forever.

Shortly after that she discovers someone is stalking her: it's Vathek, who was sent out to keep an eye on Elyon. The next day they continue their journey together, and Vathek tells Elyon some more about the history of Metamoor. It turns out that there are two kinds of people in this world: the Escanor that look like Elyon and like the people on Earth and the Galhot that look like Vathek. The Galhot were the original inhabitants of Metamoor and the Escanor are the heirs of the first man to cross a portal from Earth to this planet, many years ago.

When they are near the Tower of Grendal, Elyon and Vathek are trapped by Raskal and his men. Raskal is an independent Whisperer who leads a community in an underground village. The villagers hate Vathek, as he frequently betrayed their kind during Phobos' reign. Not knowing Phobos and Cedric are gone, and still believing Vathek is serving them, Raskal brings Vathek up for trial; Elyon gets locked up in a cell where she meets the blind Ardehl, the former leader of the villagers. Ardehl is the first one who understands Elyon is the Light of Meridian.

Elyon isn't planning to stay for long and escapes with Ardehl, and starts looking for his friend. In this time Vathek is thrown in a pit where a Sarvak (a kind of dragon) is unleashed. When he's almost defeated, Elyon intervenes by calming down the Sarvak. She tells the people of the underground village that Metamoor has changed in their favor and tells them to go back home.

Raskal, who was ruling his people as a tyrant just like Phobos did, sees his authority fading away and finally gives in.

Elyon uses her powers to destroy the ceiling of the giant cave, thus allowing the light to enter and flies out. She admires her kingdom and understands that she is worthy to reign over it, after all.

Characters
The main characters of this comic book story are:
 * Elyon - Queen of Meridian
 * Vathek - Elyon's faithful servant