Arianna Finds Her Magic

Dorig

Once upon a time, there was a magical world called Dorig. The people who lived on Dorig were special; they lived on magic. They ate, slept, and breathed it. Magic made rainbows in the sky and brightened the dimmest of days. It sang with the Elvin and laughed with the Dandyfairies.

But, magic didn’t dance with everyone in Dorig. Some were unfortunate and had no magic. Those Dorig were the ones who were ordinary. As a matter of fact, they were as normal as a grey day with no rainbows.

Arianna thought she was ordinary. She couldn’t do magic like her friends. Since she was a baby her life had been very dull. She watched others collect the sun and dance around as if they were bubbles bouncing in the wind.

‘Tomorrow you have your school trip to Ea-Rth’ Mum said.

Arianna scowled.

‘Do I have to go?’ She flung herself on the sofa and dangled her legs.

Her mum sighed, flinging her wavy hair from her eyes and pouting.

‘Why would you not want to go? The school only do this trip once a Century!’ She boomed, emphasizing ‘Century’ loudly and strutting her hips.

‘The others might make fun of me because I’m scared to fly in the Pod.’ Arianna sighed.

Ariana was only five, but she knew everyone else was very brave and that she was not. She also knew she did not like the look of the pods and didn’t fancy hurtling to Ea-Rth through hundreds of miles of space in one.

‘That’s nonsense you are the bravest person I know; you’ll be fine!’ Mum cooed.

Arianna rolled her eyes.

‘Mum you would say that.’ She said, a smile playing on her lips.

‘Of course, I would.’ Mum smiled, scooping Arianna from the sofa, and kissing her sloppily.

‘Eurgh…’ She squealed, playfully pushing mum off.

Arianna thought her Mum was the best person ever. The prettiest people are the ones who think happy thoughts all day, which is why her Mum was the prettiest person in Dorig. Her Dad was very cool too. He did big bear hugs and chased her around making funny sounds. Her Dad was very silly sometimes.

Arianna lay in bed that night, her small bag packed for the school trip tomorrow.

A Dandyfairy was flitting on her windowsill, so she crept over to let it out. It scowled its grumpy, witchy face at her before it flew off. It didn’t say thank you. Dandyfairies were always very rude!

Arianna wished she could fly like that, so quick and quiet that no-one would even hear her. Then she remembered sadly that she wasn’t special and that she couldn’t do any magic whatsoever.

Trip to Ea-Rth

Arianna was in a tight space in the Pod on her way to Ea-Rth. Bodies were crammed around her like sardines. Her best friends Mya and Zara pressed so closely to her she could feel them shaking.

‘Hold on pupils, it’s going to be a quick drop.’ Shouted the teacher Mr Theo.

Arianna didn’t dare mention how frightened she was as the tiny pod they were bundled into hurtled to Ea-Rth. Arianna knew she needed to be brave, and she squeezed her eyes shut for a moment.

As they whizzed and twirled, she tried not to panic.

The capsule zoomed and dropped, so fast and far that Arianna wondered if they would survive. The sky turned from yellow, to purple, to crimson through the cabin windows speckled with dust.

Just when she thought she could take no more dropping and falling, or whizzing and popping, they ground to a halt.

‘Welcome to Ea-Rth.’ Boomed the Mr Theo, his hair sticking up in all manner of directions and his glasses upside down.

They were led through a hallway into a magnificent building full of glistening marble and speckles of shiny dust.

‘This is what the ‘beings’ call a museum.’ Mr Theo beamed, throwing up his arms gleefully and twirling.

Arianna asked Mr Theo how long it would be until they could go home again. Mr Theo said they would only be a few hours.

‘But will I be home for dinner?’ Arianna asked again and Mr Theo said that they had only just arrived.

‘How long exactly do you think?’ She asked and Mr Theo made a funny sound in his throat and turned away from her, muttering angrily to himself, as if Arianna was being annoying on purpose.

Arianna sulkily grabbed Mya’s hand and followed the rest of the pupils into a large room. There were huge pillars and high ceilings. A dull light burst from stained windows high up, shining on room upon room of gems and treasures belonging to the ‘beings’.

The air was cold and frosty and there were no other people in the museum. It was night-time for the ‘beings’ of Ea-Rth. The only sounds were the tip-tapping of tiny Dorig feet.

‘This place is very strange!’ said Mya as they followed the teacher on his tour. Mya’s curls bounced as she skipped. Their skips made a melody and they gasped at the sounds.

‘It feels empty, like there’s no magic here.’ Arianna said to Mya. A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the building, and they all jumped.

‘Do you think there are monsters that live here on Ea-Rth?’ Mya asked with wide eyes, clinging onto Arianna. They had been trailing behind the group and ran to catch up, just in-case.

‘TINKER TINKER’ Went the tinkling bell again, the sound seemed to be coming from a small staircase just behind them.

‘What is that ringing?!’ Mya exclaimed and she grabbed Arianna and started pulling her towards the sound. Zara didn’t really want to go anywhere, but Mya grabbed her too, hushing her down the staircase. Zara’s long dress got caught beneath her shoe and she slid slightly, falling into Mya.

‘We will just look down here, then we will find the teacher again.’ Mya whispered forcefully, yanking Zara down the dark, spindly staircase. Arianna gave Zara a huge smile of encouragement and they skipped all the way down, giggling every step of the way.

It was not until they reached the bottom that they realised something was wrong. Their giggles stopped but echoed still across the small space where they saw the ‘beings’.

They knew they were in trouble.

The Box

The girls stopped abruptly and the ‘beings’ came to a halt. They were in a small room and there were large sums of treasure and gems bundled in boxes.

‘TINKER TINKER’ Went the tinkling box. Arianna could see it was coming from a shiny silver clock on the table.

‘Frank, what’s this!?’ Shouted one of them, pointing a long spindly finger at the children. The ‘being’ named Frank was very quick and grabbed the girls.

‘Looks like intruders.’ Frank scoffed.

‘We need to go back to our teacher now.’ Arianna said, trying to push past.

‘Not so quick little lady.’ Frank sneered and he threw them into a box. Arianna, Mya, and Zara realised they had been trapped and the ‘being’ Frank was discussing what they should do.

‘We cannot have these little children sound the alarm while we are stealing these gems! Let’s leave them here until we have finished with robbing the treasure.’

‘Frank, they don’t look like human children to me!’ exclaimed the other one, with the long spindly fingers. His whole body was in fact long. He had long legs, long gangly arms, and a long head with bushy eyebrows. He was eyeing them suspiciously over the top of the box with a wrinkly frown.

‘Do you think they are Alien children?’ Frank mused and the other one shrugged his shoulders. They could see that the girls were special and different, much more interesting than the treasure they had come to steal.

‘Perhaps we should steal them too…’ Frank mused. They both then turned away and were whispering, discussing what they would do with the children.

‘They are criminals! What are we going to do!’ Gasped Mya inside the box, her eyes wide.

Now the box may have appeared small, but the children were so small that the box actually seemed quite spacious. Arianna slipped closer to Mya and Zara, her legs crossed. The box smelt sweet, of cakes and flour, perhaps raisins. It made Arianna feel quite hungry. Zara hadn’t noticed, she started to cry.

‘Let’s just use your magic, just this once, and get out of here.’ Arianna whispered to Mya.

Now Mya was brilliant at magic. She was the top in the class. It flowed through her like a river.

She could conjure lifting spells and sometimes transform spells. Once in class she turned a dandelion flower into a bright yellow lizard, which was hilarious. The lizard was very confused and fell off the table!

‘The teacher says we aren’t allowed to use magic on Ea-Rth.’ Said Mya, she stuck her chin out in protest.

‘Fine, I’ll do it myself!’ Said Arianna.

‘You can’t do magic.’ Said Mya, not in a mean or nasty way, just in a matter-of-fact way. She rolled her eyes. Zara was still crying.

‘Hold my hand tightly.’ Arianna said and they did.

Outside the box they could hear the ‘beings’ collecting more gems. There were lots of hushed words and angry voices. They were arguing about what to do with the children.

The box seemed so tall and the brown walls surrounding them so strong. There was no way they could push them open or climb out.

Arianna knew they would have to escape. But how? She knew she would have to be brave, but the situation seemed impossible.

SPECIAL

At Dorig, where Arianna lived, magic flowed through everything. It was hidden in the darkest corner, and the tallest tree. In the largest meadow and the brightest flower. Even the annoying Dandyfairy sang it, and the cats purred its melody while they napped.

Arianna remembered this while clasping Mya and Zara’s hands. She bit her lip and thought very hard. She remembered that trapped Dandyfairy on her windowsill. Its skin a glow of silver and gold, its face Goblin-like and angry. It did not like being trapped either.

Arianna then decided she would just fly out of the box, up to the museum to find the teacher.

She looked at Zara and she was still crying, sobbing silently now. Mya had a fierce, angry look in her eyes and was stroking Zara’s hair. It was curly and the strands fell between Mya’s fingers with a bounce.

‘Right, hold on.’ Arianna announced. They both stared at her with wide eyes, unsure. But they did both squeeze her hands tighter. Before Arianna knew what had happened, they were shooting toward the top of the box.

With a WHOOSH they shot right out of the box. The ‘beings’ shouted ‘WHOA….’ And dropped to the floor, hands covering their heads.

The girls shot back up the spindly staircase, holding each other tightly. Zara was beaming and Mya’s eyes were wide and confused.

‘I’m not doing this!’ Mya shouted, through the WHIZZ and POPPPP of them zooming to the top of the stairs.

‘I know.’ Arianna beamed, ‘I am.’ She laughed and hugged them closer. Zara’s legs were swinging side to side as they reached the top and fell with a gigantic PLOP onto the marble floor of the museum.

They all stared at each other before bursting into laughter.

‘I cannot believe it.’ Gushed Mya to Arianna, getting onto her feet and dusting herself down. ‘We must find the teacher and tell him of our adventure and of the criminals.’ She exclaimed.

The Hero

Arianna returned to Dorig a hero who saved her best friends from the criminal ‘beings’.

After Arianna had alerted the teacher to their adventure, the teacher had whizzed the children back to Dorig immediately and alerted the ‘beings’ of the burglars.

It was one of those very rare cases where the true story was even more exciting than the rumours. Dorig children and the Elvin gathered around Arianna in the fields to hear her tell the tale again and again. The Dandyfairies flittered around her excitedly, there silver witchy faces a glow of mischief. The story always ended with a storm of cheering and stamping.

Back on Dorig Arianna had become famous – the rarest magic such as flying is only for the most unique, gifted Dorig. There have only ever been three other Dorig who could fly like Arianna flew; and they were famous for saving lives and being heroes.

Arianna thought herself very lucky she could play magic after so long believing she couldn’t.

Mum hugged her close and Dad put her on his strong shoulders to parade her to the townsfolk and boast of his daughter’s greatness.

And all the while the Elvin sung a small melody of her, and the Dandyfairies fought to sneak into her room to meet her. The cats purred as they strummed their magic for her, and the Owls hooted a low hum.

Crimson sun set that night and made way for a beautiful yellow and orange morning.

Arianna was certain that this was going to be the first of many adventures!

Magic made rainbows in the sky and brightened the dimmest of days. It sang with the Elvin and danced with the Dandyfairies.

Once upon a Time in the land of Dorig.