✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ✧･ﾟ: *✧
Grace Guardian
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ✧･ﾟ: *✧

         I sighed at the sound of the morning bell. It wasn’t because I dreaded my first period. It was actually my favorite class. I just dreaded the whole day after. First period, Spanish consisted of my two best guy friends, favorite teacher, and crush. Not to mention, the class was a piece of cake. I was your average 13 year old girl.

        I had long  fine caramel-auburn brown hair that was slightly past my chest, my brown oval shaped glasses sagged on my nose, and my style was very simple. I usually wore only blue or dark jeans, paired with a simple striped t-shirt with a v-neck or scoop, sometimes even a shirt with a print. I was okay with my family, however they refused to understand me and put tons of expectations. I wasn’t extremely satisfied with my life, nor was I completely depressed about it. I just spent everyday of my life comparing myself to other people, and wishing I was them instead of me.

Today, I felt a strange sensation. As if, something was going to happen today. I swung around to chat with Edward, one of my best guy friends  for awhile.

 “Look at Dominic!” I squealed.

  “Oh,” Edward groaned, “What about him now?”

  I bit my lip realizing he didn’t care, “Um, nevermind.”

I sighed as I turned back and fiddled with my pencil. Dominic Rios would never notice me. I am a total geek. The literal definition. I was awkward, clumsy, and quiet. On top of that I was shy, and additionally weird once people got to know me better. My only escape to my sadness that was often linked to my insecurities was my imagination.

         However, I always had writer’s block and it was very difficult for me to put all my thoughts down on paper. My circle of friends aren’t really my friends either, even the people I consider best friends. They’re more like the people I hang out with to not look lonely. I didn’t have one person I could really call a true friend. I was always alone, despite everyone around me. I got used to being lonely, and eventually that linked to my insecurities as well.

        All of a sudden, the fire alarm was ringing. I dropped my pencil in shock from daydreaming. As I glanced over at the clock, there was only 6 minutes into class. As students rushed to the door, they all began panicking.

 “Ms. Carl, the door won’t open!” A student whimpered in fear.

 “Let me try that!” One of the strongest boys  fired.

To everyone’s surprise, not even the strongest 8th grade boys in the class couldn’t budge the door open. The class was trying about almost everything. Ramming the desks, chairs, even themselves. I stayed in the back of all the commotion, my anxiety building up. Yet again, I started to feel the strange sensation from earlier. However this time, it was overwhelming me.

        The sound of the fire alarm shattered in my ear, and the helpless screams of the class drained along. I was going even crazier, as I heard a distant voice calling my name. I suddenly stumbled down on the ground, my skin was burning, my face was stretching, and my body was twisting. A huge flash of light blinded my surroundings. The screams stopped only to be replaced with quiet gasps. I slowly open my eyes, finding everyone staring at me confusingly. I brought out my hands from behind my back and shrieked. They felt fluffy, and white gloves with gold swirls covered both of them. My skin was now a silk black, my ears were pointy, and my feet had claws. I felt as if I was carrying an elephant on my back.

        I took out what I was carrying to find a green jade arch with black bows, and in my black combat boots that I was wearing stuck out a long, sturdy, coal wand with a ruby gem in the middle. I found myself wearing a long  pearl white skirt with red and grey armor protecting me from my waist up.  I felt more nostalgic as I examined myself more than appalled for yet again another reason I couldn’t put my tongue on.

 “Grace, it’s you!” A voice exclaimed as a “thud!” came down behind me.

  “I’m sorry but,” I squinted my eyes, looking up and down at the creature in front of me, “Who are you?”

  “Rae! You’ll remember me soon, we have to get out!”

Before I could say anything else, she pulled my hand and together we rammed right through the door like ghosts and let out the class from the other end. The class followed Rae and I, dashing for their lives. As I examined Rae more, she looked exactly like me. Except, she was a tad shorter, and she only had a matte black wand sticking out of her boot as well. Her ears were pointier than mine, and she was much quicker on her feet. I almost couldn’t keep up.

        As we made it outside of the 8th grade halls, everyone screamed looking around the school. The clouds were a dark gray, almost close to black. Thunder was booming, and pillars in the quad were falling. Heavy rain started to pour as well. Rae led us quickly to the back of the school where my class was escorted to a dragon that flew up in the sky as soon as everyone got on to escape the dreaded disaster. I felt like my heart was going to fly out of my chest. A thousand more students as I looked over my shoulder were escorted by the same creatures as Rae and I onto a dragon. All the creatures were either a human-like bear, pig, monkey, feline, canine, or rabbit. As the air started to get foggier, Rae grabbed me again quickly and we jumped onto our own dragon. I could only hope for the best at this point, hoping that soon I and everyone else would have knowledge of this natural, which actually seemed to be magical, disaster.

 “I’m so confused, please tell me what’s going on!” I pleaded Rae, anxiously turning in every direction.

 “It’s a very long story.” Rae replied, shrugging.

 “I don’t care how long the story takes, just as long as after it ends, I know what’s going on.”

Rae gave me a smile, and turned around to grab something out of a brown backpack that was in front of her.

  “Here, I think you would rather read it,” she handed me a huge leather brown book with the carving of a C on it.

  As I quickly opened the book, I began to read it carefully.

         “Once Upon A Time, there was a planet with other life rather than just Earth. It was called Celestia. Celestia was always a happy place, filled with bright colors, smiles and flowers. And most importantly, love. There was King Eric and Queen Silvia. Along with their beloved son, Malistare. Celestians were joyful and used their magic wisely. For they were not completely human, but animals that shared many human-characteristics. There were six clans with elements as schools in Celestia where everyone learned their magic. Fire, Ice, Life, Death, Balance, and Myth. The leaders of the clans were named Fiona, Elizabeth, Indiana, Clarity, Grace, and Malistare. One day, Prince Malistare the leader of Death took his magic too far. He was furious when his mother passed away. He swore to never love anyone again because in the end they always left. He took advantage of his father’s depression and turned him into ash, taking all of his magic. As Malistare became powerful, he cast a dark spell that separated half of Celestia. Creating his own land, he named it Dragonheim. His land was the complete opposite of Celestia. In order for his spell to keep working, he must collect the nightmares of humans from Earth. Suddenly, he discovered that he could take over Earth and expand his land. He began planning at once. The other side of Celestia fear him, calling him the Dark Power. In the first war with Malistare, the other side of Celestia lost terribly. Malistare put a curse on one of the clan leader’s, Grace who was the next princess in line and turned her into  a human baby. He sent her off to Earth in front of a family’s doorstep. Her memories of Celestia were erased.”

 After I closed the book, I was speechless. I didn’t know what to ask Rae. There was just too many questions inside my head.

 “Want me to continue it for you? To let you know what’s happening as of right now?” Rae asked, patting my shoulder.

I nodded, still in shock from the book.

 Rae scooted closer to me and continued, “After thirteen years have passed by, it is the celebration of the first war against Malistare. In honor of everyone that they lost that day and everyone’s bravery. However, Malistare’s plan to destroy Earth takes place on the exact day. When the clans hear about this, the leader’s aren’t backing down this time. They take the opportunity of bringing back Grace to Celestia, and to train the human they will save to defeat Malistare.”

I slowly looked up, meeting Rae eye to eye. Everything slowly processed in my head. I couldn’t believe I was that Grace. The Grace I read in the book, the Grace Rae just told me about, the Grace that was cursed. I couldn’t believe that was me. I would be nothing like that in a million years.

“Are you sure I’m Grace?” I asked in disbelief.

“Yes, I’m sure. Don’t doubt yourself like that.” Rae reassured.

I chuckled nervously in reply.

“Look!” Rae exclaimed turning me around.

        My eyes grew wide as the surroundings around us changed. As I looked back, below, and above there were thousands of other dragons carrying Celestians and humans in the same direction as us. As we flew over what I assumed to be Celestia, I stared in awe. There were huge, green trees everywhere. Ocean blue waterfalls, clear skies, the sounds of birds singing, and pixies giggling as they sprinkled dust on humans to make them sneeze. In that moment, I swore I have never seen anything more beautiful in my entire life. As we started to fly through Celestia more, we flew past many villages and towns. They were filled with over a hundred Celestians. Many were selling goods, and there were children playing tag. Many from below waved to us cheerfully. The houses looked like mini castles, with brown stone and faded painting. The grass was pure green, and the smell of fresh produce reached my nose as the dragons started to land.

“How do you like Celestia so far?” Rae smiled.

“I love it!” I exclaimed in joy, grinning at her.

As we began to land, in the distance I saw a huge, brown, wooden billboard that engraved in black cursive, “Welcome to RavenWood, The School Of Magic!”