TW: this story gets sad, and has some d3ath, not g0ry or bl00dy, but it just happens Prologue In a land, where the world had been united for years, the peace was almost too good to be true, and it was, for 23 people, from the land of sorrow, had created an army, too powerful for anyone to defeat. One day, as the storybook lands were planning on being anguished, a courageous prince,willing to s@crifice himself, came to a witch, The Good Witch Of The South, to gain power, to ensure his beloved kingdom would be saved. She decided to turn him into a beast, and he defeated the army, but not without taking his own sacrifice, he slept for thousands of years, yet the kingdoms and queendoms still fought, but now, the world may have a new hero, a savior for us all. I'm sort of a freak at school, I mean, what 13 year old still believes in fairytales? None that I knew of. Last Wednesday, I found that theory to be false. Curious? Let me tell you precisely what happened. It was 7:30 when I woke up, dreading going to school, my mother gave me her customary wake up call that she insisted on doing every morning. Now I was up, I got ready for school, and left. As I was walking to Regions Middle, I stumbled upon a young bird, it seemed as if it was calling my name, "Iris, Iris" it whispered. I checked the bird to make sure it wasn't injured; it seemed ok, so I continued the trek. Fast forward to when I got to school, there was the gang of rude bullies, who always elected me to be their daily target. Something about this was peculiar though, the world started to shift, then I suddenly gathered the strength to attack them, this is something I would never do because I lack courage. It still happened though, and not only did it scare them, but me also scared me, it was very unlike me. The odd happenings didn't stop there, in class, I was in english, and today we were doing fairy tales, (my favorite subject) when the teacher called on me. I answered the question, and every question that she was about to say. I couldn't help myself. I wished I could stop, but my mouth just kept talking. I don't know how I even knew which questions she was to utter, but I just did. I was so embarrassed after that, I resorted to acting sick, and hopefully bein sent home. Once I got home, my mother was waiting on the couch, with her famous triple chocolate chip cookies and a box of tissues, this was only prepared when something bad happens, I sat right up next to her, curious on what she would say next. "What's wrong Mom?" I asked in confusion "Well honey, there's been something that I've been needing to talk to you about for years now, but you've never been ready. Alas, due to today's events, I need to tell you this to keep you safe." " Safe from what?" I asked, still puzzled "Safe from, the Army of Sorrow. The clan that k!ll3d your mother." "My," I hesitated, tears in welling in my eyes, "My mother?" "I'm sorry to have lied to you for this long, but..." Her voice breaking, "I am not your mother, but a friend of yours." "What is happening? I want an explanation!" I demanded, angrily "It all started when the beast sacrificed," she started "Yes, from the stories you told me, but I thought that those were just myths." I interupted calmer "That was just a cover-up for mortals. Anyways, the 5 lands divided, creating kingdoms and queendoms. They fought seemingly endless battles, your mother, Astrapa, fought in those battles, and got defeated by the cutthroat, ruthless Sorrowland Army. She gave you to me, to keep you safe until you were old enough to enter The School of the Art of Defence. You'll have to leave tonight, I'm really sorry Iris." "What?" I sobbed, "But, my birthday is tomorrow, and I won't get to spend it with you?" It had been me and mom on my birthday, since my dad left when I was little "Yes, but we'll spend the rest of today as your birthday, that's why I made the cookies." " Well it's to late to be happy now, 'mom'" I grunted "Again, I'm sorry i'm sending you abroad, but you will be okay, even without me there with you." " Won't they think I'm a freak? I mean I lived in the human realm." " It's a very natural thing nowadays.nYou'll be fine, and I already packed your stuff." "Thanks mom." I said. We watched our favorite movies and took lots of selfies to commemorate the last day with my mom. At around 3:00 am, my mom gently woke me up for my trip. Once we got to the place, she gave me a tight squeeze, and said farewell. I started to cry "Oh honey," she said affectionately "Don't cry, Ill see you very soon." I picked myself up by the bootstraps, and went through the portal. "Hellooooooo student! " someone greeted me, "Iiiii am your headmaster William!" "Whyyyyyyyyy do you like to elongate the first word of your sentences." I +
+ asked, still grouchy from the night before. "Becaaaauuuuse it's fun!" He cheerfully replied, avoiding my mood. "Anyways, welcome to the SOTAOD, I will be your guide!" His perky mood was irritating me for some reason. "To your left is the sparring room, where you'll be taking your tests, and to your right is the history room, for occasional education. Lastly, over there is the door to the dorm section and the defence room." He grinned. I dont' know about anyone else, but he sort of freaked me out. I walked over to my dorm, and found a girl, who looked as old as me, sitting outside the dorm, crying, "Hi," I gently said, "Are you okay?" She whimpered, "N-no," "What's wrong?" "I was kicked out of the dorm, for singing." "Well, that's not okay, right?" She shook her tiny head, "Well, let's go in there, and tell them off!" She nodded. "What do you want?" One of the girls rudely asked, "You hurt her feelings, " I said gesturing towards the little girl "Well, she was being annoying, she kept singing about Old McDonald." "It was stuck in my head," The little girl whimpered "I didn't know it was bugging anyone." "I know you weren't trying to, but it was really annoying them." The "leader" turned her nose up, "But, that wasn't right kicking her out of her dorm." They crossed their hearts, which I didn't think they had at first, and promised to never do that again. After a few weeks of school, I had the craziest dream. Or was it real?... I was in dormoritory when I saw the nuttiest thing, a young woman, like a ghost, was sitting on my windowsill. "Why are you here?" I asked "I'm friendly, so do not worry. I'm here to tell you the prophecy." I looked around, "Me? Phrophecy? For what?" I was confused " When all is still, the quiet can wake the beast." She said in a mystical voice "What? What do you mean by that?" But that was all she uttered before she glided out of the room I thought about that dream all night and all the next morning, until I finally came to a conclusion; the land needs peace, not fighting, to save us all, and bring back the beast. I decided to do something about this, I was to persuade the school to stop fighting and instead use peace. But how would I do that? I pondered upon this a lot too. I finally came to the denouement that I would use the tried and true method: A presentation! I would use quotes from peace leaders like Martin Luther King, and Mahatma Ghandi to convince them. It took me several hours to make the poster, lots of glitter, bold writing, and pictures were adorning the board. I spoke with the administration and they let me present my board to the whole school. The whole school! I've always had stage fright, but I thought that if I tried, it would That Friday, my sharing day, was almost torture! I went up on stage, and froze! All the scholars did was stare at me. All but one, sweet student; Olive was her name. She was the girl who got kicked out of her dorm. She took a large step onto the stage, held my hand, and whispered in my ear, "It's ok, Iris, I'll help you." That have me the courage to continue my speach, and it, thankfully, encouraged the student body to end the combat, and start with peace. The staff was hesitant, but the soon agreed with the students, and the prophecy was to be fufilled. The action of not combat was started on July 15th, 2022. We stayed silent, and convinced others to do the same. The Sorrowland Army was confused, yet pleased because they thought that we would be an easy target. They read our signs that we made, and retreated to their leader too tell her of our actions. She tried to rush over here, but it was too late, for the beast awoke and defeated them all. Now there is no Sorrowlands, and I moved back in with my adopted mom. I guess that all ended happily. Just, not for the Sorrowlands. THE END!!!!!! Sorry this story is so long, the ideas just kept flowing.
