Warrior

“I wish,” said Madeline, staring up at a star flashing like a rocket through the dark night sky, “that I can become a warrior.”

Madeline’s family was extremely tough on her. Her parents made her attend all sorts of classes to become an elegant girl with excellent manners. They believed that the only way girls can succeed was by marrying rich men. But Madeline had her own opinion: she wanted to be a warrior.

The wishing star gave Madeline hope. She didn’t know how, but a strange sensation came to her as she made her wish. With the sounds of wind swooshing softly between branches, she stared into the dark and drifted off to sleep. [Bianca -- this writing is so nice.]

Constant knocking on Madeline’s window woke her up. She rubbed her eyes sleepily and grabbed at the alarm clock on her dresser. Only there wasn’t an alarm clock -- a small thing wriggled in Madeline’s hands, startling her. To her surprise, in the place where her alarm clock once stood was a creature—a very small creature. Madeline rubbed her eyes again, thinking that she might have seen illusions. But the small creature stood there, waving its arms.

“Hi, human! I’m Willard, messenger of the fairies. I have the responsibility to fulfill your wish.” Willard said.

“I know this seems unbelievable to you, but there is no time to waste. You must come with me at once,” Willard continued while sprinkling a handful of glittering powder right on top of Madeline. Suddenly Madeline felt that she had shrunk until she was the same height as the fairy. Then, tiny silver wings grew from her back, shimmering under the glow of light.

Madeline looked bewildered, but she let her curiosity take over. In fact, fairies don’t suddenly appear in her bedroom every day.

Madeline flapped her newly-grown wings and wobbled after Willard. Unconscious of her surroundings, Madeline found that she was being led into a mouse hole.

Once inside the mouse hole, Madeline was speechless. Glittering waterfall and fountains covered the area. All kinds of flowers were blooming under the light-blue sky. Birds chirped happy songs as animals hopped up and down over hills covered with grass as green as Spring herself. Houses freshly painted circled around a huge castle hovering in the air. The castle shimmered under the golden sun; it was painted gold with crystal ornaments decorating it.

“Welcome to Fairyland!” Willard said proudly while leading Madeline into the castle while a band of trumpets greeted them.

Everything was glittering inside the castle, especially the throne room where a young woman sat. Madeline was delighted to see that beautiful? Silver armor covered the woman from head to toe and a sword was tucked in the belt of the armor. The woman looked like a true warrior, just like Madeline had always wished.

“Queen Aurania, this is Madeline—our future warrior,” Willard announced.

Madeline was startled by the title, “Me? The future warrior?”

Aurania smiled, “Yes, you. Now there’s no time to waste. I must tell you about the mission you’ll be going on. The Eviloo is a monster that feeds on fairies every day -- and Fairyland is in serious danger because of it. First, you have to go to the hidden library to find the wise owl. He will transport you to the Land of Death. Willard will accompany you the rest of the journey. You must go, be careful!”

In the flick of a wand, they were in a desert. The scorching sun shone down on an empty land -- there was no life to be seen.

“Where would we find the…” Madeline started, but she didn’t get the chance to finish her sentence. Because the next second, Willard heard her scream.

“What was that?” Willard said and swirled around. Madeline was no longer behind him; instead there was a huge hole. Without another word, he jumped down the hole.

Willard landed with a big thud and was surprised by what he saw. Madeline was standing safely beside the wise owl!

The owl’s smile grew wide as it pushed open a wooden door, “You have passed my test! You are welcome in the hidden library!”

The wooden door revealed a room where thousands, maybe even millions of books were lined against every wall.

“I see in your eyes that you seek the way to the Land of Death,” the owl said as he handed Madeline a book that appeared out of nowhere. On the book’s cover, shining golden letters spelled out “Land of Death”. As Madeline held the book, an armor and a sword just like Aurania’s appeared on her body.

Just when Madeline wanted to celebrate, a shrill voice filled the air. The two friends looked up and found that they were no longer in the library; they were in a place filled with skulls where smoke filled the air. The place was so creepy and dark that it made Madeline shiver. A creature as tall as a tree with razor-sharp claws and blood-shot eyes stood in front of them.

“Finally!” He cackled an evil laugh as he showed his sharp yellow teeth.

Willard knew right away that the creature was the Eviloo. He used a bow and arrows to try and shoot the creature down. But the creature swiped Willard into his grasp as if nothing had happened, cackling. Madeline did not hesitate. She grabbed her sword and slayed the creature.

“Free my friend!” She yelled at the top of her lungs. Anger burned from Madeline’s eyes; Willard had helped her to fulfill her wish; now was her time to prove that she is a true warrior. Fierceness glowed through Madeline; she wouldn’t let her friend down.

Madeline slayed at the monster with all her might and waited to die. But to her surprise, nothing happened.

“You’ve done it! Hooray!” Willard exclaimed.

“We’ve done it together, with the help of friendship,” Madeline smiled with joy and hugged her friend tight, never wanting to let go.