THE MAGIC WITHIN

 

Rating: PG
Genre: Adventure
Setting: All over Djinova
Main Characters: read it and you’ll see

 

Part 2

Scared, Catriona wandered through the gardens. How could this be? The gardens were alive and blooming yesterday, and yet today it looked like the dead of winter had descended upon them. She wandered through the lifeless gardens, searching desperately for some sign of life, or at least some reason for the sudden change.  But no solution sprung at her. She stopped hopelessly in the middle of the gardens gazing around. She remembered the sobbing. Curious of who had been crying she walked in the direction it had come from. As she got closer she saw the source of the crying. It was a small girl. But...the girl looked strange. It almost seemed that she was flickering in the grey light that covered the gardens. But that was surely impossible. She approached the girl.

"What's wrong?" Catriona asked. The girl jumped up in shock. She stared at Catriona for a moment.

"You...you can see me?" she whispered. The girls voice sounded incredibly strange. It sounded almost like the sound the wind makes when it blows through the tree branches. Like hundreds of voices whispering, only magnified into one voice, understandable but yet, somewhat confused.

"Yes. Is there any reason why I shouldn't be able to?" The girl stared at Catriona for a moment, then spoke again.

"You realise that I am a spirit?" Catriona looked shocked for a moment. This girl was a spirit? It was impossible for humans to see spirits. They could feel the presence of them easily, but never before had a human actually seen, let alone spoken to a spirit. Unable to think of anything to say, she just repeated dumbly

"You're a spirit?" The spirit fixed Catriona with a steely gaze.

"Are all humans this dense?" She asked scathingly. Catriona was taken aback. She had always thought that spirits were incredibly nice, it came as a surprise to her that this one looked down on humans. She snapped back, angrily

"How dare you call me dense? At least I care enough about others to ask you what's wrong!" To Catriona’s surprise, the spirit didn't even look guilty about this. Instead the spirit glared even more.

"You didn't care enough to protect the Earth Spirit did you?!" Catriona watched the spirit for a while.

"Is that why the Gardens are dead?" she asked softly "the Earth Spirit has gone?" The spirit watched her. It was hard to tell, but it seemed to Catriona that her expression softened.

"Tell me" The spirits voice was indeed softer, less like a stormy sound of wind ripping through tree branches in a gale, back to a soft breeze rustling the leaves. "How is it that you can see me?" Catriona shrugged.

"I have no idea. I just...can" The spirit approached Catriona warily.

"I am Seviara, the Wood Spirit. The Earth Spirit has never truly left this place. But now, she has gone. This is not correct. Something must have happened to make her leave. You can see spirits; it is no coincidence that you have met me. You must be the key to finding the Earth spirit, or the reason she left. I beg of you, join with me. We can travel to the other kingdoms, and find some clues. The fact that the garden is dying is worrying. It should not die the second the Earth spirit leaves. Please, come with me." Catriona looked nervous, it seemed that she was the only hope to Seviara, but it was unlikely that her mother would allow her to leave on such a quest. Seviara seemed to realise what Catriona was thinking. She whispered in a voice softer than the breeze.

"Your mother will never find out. With the Earth spirit gone, the people in this kingdom have no concept of anything that happens around them. They are just mindless zombies. You are different; you still have your own thoughts, and feelings." The realisation that she was on her own in the kingdom hit Catriona.

"I will join you" she murmured softly.

 

END OF PART 2