Rachelle looks at Bailey, surprised; she didn’t think the crystal and its magic would work on her. Her fear of the crystal not giving her anything and giving away that she isn’t from this world, she doesn’t have to worry. She was worrying over nothing! She looks around, seeing what everyone is doing. Some are with their children at the stalls and shops, others are eating and throwing some bread to the birds, and some are talking with one another while a small few, mainly the elderly are cuddling on a log under a tree and some reading a book. Almost everyone in the village has different skin colours, eye colours and even hair colours—with the few younger kids and elderly who haven’t gotten their magic yet or just have grey hair—She turns to Bailey and her red eyes and two shades of blue hair.
“Did the crystal give you the red eyes?”
She asks Bailey excitedly. To her surprise Bailey looks at the ground, sad. She feels bad; she goes to put a hand on Bailey’s shoulder but she stops her, telling her she’s fine. Bailey takes in a deep breath and slowly lets it out before explaining.
“I was born with red eyes and well here, red eyes are associated with evil and because of that there is always a fifty-fifty chance I wouldn’t be given an element. I’m just lucky I was given one, I was given Choxone... My eye colour didn’t change, my hair was changed to a beige colour which I really didn’t like so dyed it this two toned blue”
Rachelle listens; she has some questions: how does that happen? What is the element of Choxone? Is Zilin a lightning element? How many more elements are there? Rachelle personally would like to see Bailey with Beige hair but won’t force it onto her. She follows Bailey, Amber and Gavin through the town. Amber and Gavin are talking with each other while Bailey is talking to Rachelle.
“Wait, so what is Choxone and Zilin? Zilin shows a lightning bolt above the crystal when I touched it”
“Zilin is the Electric element, a powerful element on its own and stronger when it’s mixed with Kebis which is wind, and Maffyn, which is water. You could make a complete storm with those three combined. Choxone is all in one. Some worlds call it balance if I believe right. Choxone is normally weak attack wise but is powerful with defending.”
She grabs Rachelle’s hand and pulls her over to a shop. The sign on the door reads ‘WORK THIS WAY—CODEX&SCROLL STOVE’. Bailey and Rachelle walks inside. The inside of the shop looks small but also large in some areas. In the first part of the shop is about three book shelves crammed almost together, overflowing with books. Some books even piled on the floor at the end of the three rows. As she follows Bailey through the hallways, she notices that the hallways are expanding and being wider. Soon they are standing in a much more open area, much neater and cleaner than the front of the shop. Circle tables full of neatly placed books, some fireflies flying around the room and then forming the words of the genre of each place that holds books, she goes over to the first table full of books and the fireflies spell out the word: ‘Mystery’.
Behind her is a wall filled from the floor to the roof and books and shelves, each one very different to the next, some books being about murder, others being thrillers and she can even find this realms version of fantasy which is about non magical people, it makes her smile and chuckle a little. She reads a small part of the book; it goes on to the characters having fun and thinking magic is real and trying to prove it, but after a while they just end up having fun and forgetting what they were really doing. It makes her smile.
“Do you want that codex? It’s only a pearl”
Bailey says pulling a pearl out of her gem bag, before Rachelle can say no Bailey has already paid for it and the shopkeeper used a spell to unlock the rest of the book for her. However, she has this feeling come across her. Is she thankful? Is she happy? Yes, Rachelle must be feeling happy. She doesn’t know how long it will last, but she will use the most of it while she can. She looks over at Bailey who goes off to look at more codex’s with a massive grin on her face; she watches as Bailey goes up some stairs and onto a second level of the shop. She can tell from the first level that the second level has windows. She looks up from where she is standing to see some lanterns around the place lighting up the first floor. With her new codex in her hands, she follows Bailey up the wooden stairs, the hand rail made of stone this time with vines with pink, purple, and red flowers all along them.
The second floor is much brighter because of the windows, the codex’s and scrolls look as old as the building and caked in dust, but up here are some soft clouds as bean bags and reading chairs. A small flame floating just high enough for you to sit down, relax, and read. She sits in one and when she does; she feels like she could just fall asleep right then and there. All she needed was a blanket and she would have been set. All she needed was a blanket and she would have been set. She looks over at Bailey who is scanning a shelf. The fireflies make out the word ‘EDUCATION’. She sits up as Bailey grabs a codex and walks over to Rachelle, sitting in a cloud bean bag right next to hers and carefully opens the codex as its pages look almost a million years old. The first page explains about elemental magic and why one is given to someone when they first touch the crystal. Bailey reads out and shows Rachel the page. Rachel sees that the pictures are the element symbols and that the crystal just tries to guess and assume what your personality will be.
“Everyone is given an element based on what the crystal thinks your personality will be. Some of the first couple of elements it could pick for you are the following; Zilin - the electric element, your personality could be wild and unpredictable, Istrea - the ice element, your personality would be ice cold and often people would mistake you as rude.”
She reads out the first two, showing her the symbols, they were given. The first one being Zilin and it’s a lightning bolt, the same one that was shown above the crystal earlier today. Istrea is a snowflake. She then points to Maffyn and Faxis, Water and Fire, both of whose symbols were on the Saxon and Kazama. She this time, reads out loud to Bailey.
“Maffyn - the water element, you personality would be calm and patient, Faxis - the fire element your personality is bond to be loud and the life of the party”
She smiles after reading that. Two elements that normally don’t go well together sounds like they go perfectly well together here. Almost like they are some book trope of the kid’s quiet friend with the loud friend. She can’t help but smile over how Caleb and Lachlan’s is that very friendship. Bailey smiles, seeing Rachel’s smile, and reads the last bit
.
“Ludrisse - the death element of your personality is said to be sad and blue. Geronin - the ground element of your personality is said to be down to earth and quiet. Thixary - the life element your personality is said to be that you are very kind and helpful, Rhovia - the mythical element, and Choxone - the balance to all elements... this element means you personality could be the leader of your friend group and the one who is always collected... I wish that was true. My room wouldn’t be as messy as”
Bailey tries to crack a joke, but her voice cracking at ‘wish’ gives away that something is wrong; Rachelle looks at her with a sympathetic look on her face. She places a hand on her shoulder; Bailey smiles, Rachel preys and hopes that she understands that she is Bailey’s friend. Bailey flips the page, this one explaining how the crystal like one of those shows up. Rachelle doesn’t read it out this time but she reads that at first when Merlin and Ambrose put their magi into the land the land grew the crystals and push them to the surface to say thank you for giving the land some energy. She turns the page and reads that the first ever crystal to appear was in Village Llyen, a village full of the well-known Froan race.
She looks at Bailey about to ask a question, when they hear the front door of the shop open and a female voice; they think around the same age as them, white skin (Not as White as Baileys), and strangely enough white hair that isn’t damaged, they see her eyes are a brown colour. She walks in like she owns the place.. She is wearing all black and has a pink ribbon in her hair, besides she is a brown with black poke. A dotted kitten seems to have the same walk as her with a smaller pink ribbon tied around its neck. If Rachelle remembers right that cat looks like it’s an Ashera Cat.
The both of them stay quiet and what they only think is the girls’ parents walk in, both of which look dressed up in rich clothing. The male is dressed in pants that reach just below the ankles. His shirt is grey with white buttons on the sleeve, and his jacket is black like the pants but has some strange white and grey patterns on it. Rachel can only think of its bones and a skull in front of some grave. The older female is dressed in a dress with the same black, white, grey colours but the dress is dragging along the floor and you can hear the click clack of high heels hitting the stone flooring, her back, her posture is as straight as a line.
She didn’t notice until now that the father passes a stick, making his walking crane to the shop owner who places it on a shelf behind the front desk. She hears her mother say something along the lines; ‘Get what’s on the list, plus five books that you want to read in your free time.’, she then watches the girl and her cat walk off.
“Who’s that? Why do they look so... fancy?”
I whisper to Bailey; She looks at me, at the family, then back at me. She does then look back down at the book, almost like she doesn’t want the girl to notice her. She sees her take a breath in before whispering something.
“They are a magical family where everyone in the family is placed in the same element. It’s extremely rare and normally those types of families get jobs in the high class... That one is-”
“Eva Moon, from the moon family, we specialize in Potions, Shape shifting, mortal history, and my clan is descendants of the wizard that was first assigned Ludrisse by the crystal in Camelot Kingdom. I was also born and raised there and I must say your beauty is out of this world. What is your name, my beautiful friend?”
She holds her hand out in front of Rachel; she thinks she wants to shake her hand. She only turned eleven just four days ago. But she still shakes Eva’s hand, if that is what she wants. The look on Eva’s face is pure disappointment. She is acting like Rachel clogged the toilet and didn’t unclog it. She holds back her comment of wanting to call her a snobby little rich kid who uses her parent’s money and reputation in life to get anywhere. But she just smiles; she can only imagine the screaming, crying and lying she would do if she said something along those lines.
“Rachel Blossom, I’m currently staying with the OwlThief family”
“Ah, the Blossom clan, such a small clan, exquisite and talented... such a shame you’re staying with a red-eyed villain. Rachel, why don’t you ditch this loser and become friends with me? I will get you a lot of things”
Rachel pulls her hand away’s not fast. She acts normal about it. She also acts like she is thinking about becoming her friend by looking at Bailey and then at Eva twice, even humming once to make it look believable. She sees the frown on Bailey’s face; she doesn’t want to put her through this any longer.
“No.”
She bluntly says Eva looks shocked and so does Bailey. Eva’s mouth is hanging open but quickly she closes it, almost trying to act like it doesn’t bother her and she respects Rachel’s choice, deep down Rachel knows this is a manipulation tactic, something which Emily in the mortal realm is often known for, some only hopes someday she will get called out—It then hits her, Eva is Emily’s doppelgänger—This alone gives her enough reasons to not become friends with her. Rachel clears her throat.
“Now if you don’t mind Bailey, who is my friend and I are trying to read”
Bailey holds the book up to her face, trying to hide the smile that is now on it. Eva just puffs out her cheeks, goes red in the face and acts as if she is calm. Rachel just smiles and waves as Eva says her goodbye and walks away. Rachel tries to hide her smile, but seeing Bailey smile and even her eyes glassy... She knows she’s made the right move. If she ever gets back to her realm she knows she has to find Jenni and make it up to her. Bailey does also look at her confused, but before she can ask Rachel stops her.
“Please, I don’t need to be friends with someone because they grew up with money and say they can get my place in life... I really don’t like those things in a friendship. All that matters is how kind you are. I don’t care if you have no friends or a small number, as long as your not mean I am your friend”
“Thank you... Um... Do you want to do some magic?”
“Isn’t magic banned outside of school? Won’t we get in trouble?”
She is confused. In some stuff, magic was banned outside of school. Wouldn’t that lead to them getting caught and possibly imprisoned? She worries about that, but Bailey just shakes her head to those questions. She then explains that this realm works differently than two books mortals have written.
“We can use magic outside of school as much as we want, After all Merlin and Ambrose has given it to the public to use and besides if we go to the mortal realm we won’t be able to use the magic, the mortal realm has no magic to give so we would be mortals.”
She nods, understanding, kind of? She knows that the mortal realm doesn’t know about this realm but knows about doppelgangers. Did someone just run into them and this realm and that one just mutually agreed on the name? Why-
“Rachel? Are you okay?”
Bailey asks her, snapping her out of her thoughts. She nods and smiles, reassuring her she is fine and of course ready to do some magic. The shopkeeper hears that and is fast to hand them both a stick, well magic wand each, Bailey’s wand is made from a beige colour wood that is shaped on the end to look like a knife, Rachel’s is yellow and on the end has three lightning bolts, all of which have some electricity coming out of the ends of them. They follow him out a door at the back of the shop that leads them into a big open area. The ground is grass and there are walls’ surrounding the place and the tops of the trees visible from the other side of the walls. One end of the yard is some hay filled training dummies, the other end is a box full of stuff like metal cups that are different shapes and sizes and colours.
“Right I forgot, Rachel, this is Mr Cipher Niq. He owns this codex and scroll shop and is a shapeshifter. Today, he will be teaching us some magic.”
“Thank you Bailey, It is nice to meet you Rachel, I must say you look stunning and I do apologies for Eva’s behaviour I hope she said nothing mean or upsetting but yes today I will be teaching you both something that everyone in their life must learn and that is how to give back some magic to the land, Merlin and Ambrose. Do you want to take a guess why I am teaching you this?”
“Because those two gave to the land, and the land gave back?′
Rachel says in hopes she’s right, but it’s what the book says of Merlin and Ambrose deed and the world’s deed back. She holds the wand in her right hand like Bailey, while Mr Niq holds his wand in his left hand. She watches him as his wand that is dark brown with feathers, fur, and many other animal things on the handle. She watches as he holds his wand still, not swinging it around just holding it still.
“Correct. Now what you’re going to have to do is hold your wand out like this, hold it still and say: Blessing from the land and projection from the leaders, please accept this gift as a thank you”
She watches as a line of black and purple magic comes from his chest and twirls around his arm to get to his wand. His skin was white but turned to a fluffy grey fur. She can only imagine how soft it is. The magic line thing rolls itself up into a little ball at the end of the wand; it is as big as a tennis ball. They watch as he slowly and carefully moves the ball of magic to his right hand; he waits a few moments for the rest of the magic to gather in the ball before moving his wand away. She and Bailey look at him, amazed; it looks like magic that is magic in the profession wizards and other magic users would use. He puts his wand away and holds the orb with both hands. When they inspect, they see the top of the orb has flame on it with some purple bubbles around it. The middle of the orb is red while the outer parts are mainly black... Almost like it’s a mix of elements.
She knows the red is Faxis, and the Black is Ludrisse, but she doesn’t know what purple could be. It can’t be lightning, as the wand is an indicator that it’s yellow. She watches as Mr. Niq slowly walks towards the closet tree and holds the orb against the tree; he isn’t forcing it in, just holding it there. It is silent for a couple of minutes before the orb flies around the tree hitting the top of the tree causing the tree to light up the black, red, and purple colour of the orb was, soon the glow is gone and the ground at the base is this time glowing a yellow and green colour with a tint of blue.
Mr. Niq then turns to them both, encouraging them to do the same thing. Bailey is the first one to try it. She holds the wand she was given and points it out in front of her; Rachel notices that Bailey’s hand is shaking slightly and can’t help but wonder if she is nervous. She looks around, trying to see if anyone is watching. She notices Eva’s mother watching from the second-floor window. She can’t help but feel scared and wonder why she is watching.
“Blessing from the land, protection from the leaders, please accept this gift as a thank you”
Bailey says, trying not to sound nervous and trying to stop her voice from cracking. At first the orb doesn’t appear, so she has to say the incantation a couple more times before it finally appears, but when it does the orb is a beige colour and the size of a pebble. She sees Eva’s mother move away from the window, possibly no longer caring about what’s going on, maybe even thinking that Bailey won’t be an issue for Eva in school? Rachel preys that she and Bailey go to a school that won’t have Eva in it, Heck; Maybe Eva is even hoping for the same thing. They watch Bailey remove the pebble size orb from the end of the wand and stroll to the tree. She holds it against the tree and waits; it takes a while, but soon the orb flies around the tree and lights up the same colours it did before.
“The land will accept any size orb, even pebble size ones. Even though it’s small, the land would have divided it by three. Merlin and Ambrose would have gotten their share of it... Rachel, would you like to have your turn now?”
“Yeah, okay”
She says, holding her wand out in front of her. She will not be cocky and think she can get it on the first go. She doesn’t expect it to be bigger than a pebble. She takes in a deep breath and then says the same incantation Mr. Niq and Bailey said... nothing happened, like bailey it took her a couple of turns before the same pebble sized orb appeared. Her pebble orb is coloured a yellow, it’s the same colour as the wand. She holds the orb up against the tree. The same thing that happened twice before happened, the tree and land accepted it and the tree is now glowing the very colours it glowed before.
“splendid girls! Even though the orb’s was small, I’m sure Merlin and Ambrose are thankful”
Mr. Niq praises them. Rachel feels proud. She looks over at Bailey who is looking up at the tree still; Rachel can only hope Bailey feels proud as well. Mr. Niq smiles and looks at the tree. Rachel sees the tree has grown taller and grown three extra branches, two of them tiny while one of them is fairly big like the rest. Bailey looks at Mr. Niq and asks if we did that and he nods, explaining that each time we give back its not only helping Merlin and Ambrose but the land as well and the land gives thanks by growing something, whether it’s the tree growing taller with some extra branches to small flowers and rare times to a crystal pod.
They end up walking back inside and handing the wands back. By this point Eva has already picked up five books for what Rachel can only assume for her studies and five extra books to read in her free time. She is even sitting on one of the cloud seats on the first floor reading one of them while her parents are talking what Rachel can tell is... they look like Naomi’s parents, the male, the father, taller than his wife but dressed in blue pants the cuffs of the legs made in a way that it looks like they are waves, the shirt is a darker blue... but it looks like it’s moving, moving like a waterfall almost of course she can’t see through it. The female is dressed in a red dress; the whole dress is moving like fire, the sleeves are black smoke while the neckline has extrusive igneous rocks along it and near the bottom of the dress and the waistline.
She scans the room for any child, mainly one that looks like Naomi. It takes a while, but soon she finds a girl, a girl that is identical to Naomi. She races over to her, leaving Bailey and Mr. Niq confused. Once she reaches the girl, she just looks at her, wanting to make sure it’s really here.
“Can I help you with something?”
The girl asks. That question alone confirms Rachel’s questions. She looks at her clothes, a dress made from leaves, going almost down to her feet, her sleeves which only go down to her elbows, and bark. She notices that her hair is green and straight and not the normal brown and curly like it normally is. Her eyes are as well ... dark pink? She is brought back to reality after the girl asks if she’s okay; she nods. Trying her best to reassure her.
“Yes. I’m so sorry, but you look so much like someone I know. My name is Rachel Blossom. What’s yours?”
“Jessica Rose. It’s nice to meet you”
They shake hands. Just as Rachel is about to say something, Eva speaks up, again, this time trying to say something like Rachel doesn’t want to be a part of the cool kids. She is a loser, and so many more lies. However, Rachel just bites her tongue and ignores her. She can only assume she is doing this to get some attention.... Right? Jessica wouldn’t believe Eva.... Right? Naomi doesn’t believe Emily but only listens to her issues just to be nice, so Jessica would do the same thing... Right? Rachel is glad that Jessica stands up for her
“She doesn’t want to be a part of the cool kids, you can just ignore her”
“Oh. Okay”
Jessica still holds her hand out for a hand shake; Rachel can only take it that Jessica isn’t listening to Eva. Or... She can hope she knows Eva will try to make her life a living hell if she goes to the same school, the thought of her parents getting involved because of the look on her mother’s face when they were giving some magic back before. Jessica looks to the left side of Rachel and notices Bailey. She even looks over her own shoulders, checking if Eva has left the room
“You can come over. I don’t bite. Just ignore her. I’m sorry about Rachel. If I had any other reaction, she would just complain. My name is Jessica Rose”
She smiles, Rachel smiles as well. She feels Jessica is friendlier now after Eva isn’t in the room. Bailey does shyly walk over and greet Jessica formally. Jessica tells her there is no need to be formal and to relax around her. Rachel relaxes, but she can tell it takes Bailey a little while to do so.
“I saw you got the element Zilin. Mine is Thixary”
“If you don’t mind me asking, but Thixary?”
“Thixary is life. Healing’s always contacted to plants and trees”
She nods, understanding now. To hear it sounds like a calm element, something which would work great with something like Choxone. Maybe even Ludrisse and Rhovia. The three of them head up to the second floor as Bailey and Rachel’s stuff is there. Rachel is surprised Eva didn’t steal any of it. Once they sit back down on the clouds, they hear Eva from the first floor say something to her parents on the lines of she has gotten all the books she needs and Mr. Niq reading out the cost being around five thousand and six hundred gems. Out of the three of them, Rachel is the first one to ask the same question they are thinking of.
“How much do books cost here?”
She asks as Bailey looks for a book that has a fairly enormous price on it. Jessica finds one that costs only four hundred and sixty-two gems, while Bailey finds one that is three hundred and eighty-nine gems. Rachel does some quick math and works out those two would be around eight hundred and fifty-one gems. Rachel picks up another book that costs five hundred, which brings the total up to one thousand, three hundred and fifty-one. They add two more, both costing seven hundred and ten and the other one costing six hundred and sixty, which now makes the overall cost two thousand, seven hundred and twenty-one. It isn’t until Mr Niq comes over with some more books; Rachel can only think he is helping them to teach them something. Three books he brought over this time, one costing one thousand, the second one costing five hundred and thirty-two and the last one costing one hundred and ninety-five.
“No... that’s only four thousand, four hundred and forty-eight”
“Try adding on an extra one thousand, six hundred tax”
Mr. Niq says as they look at him and think, it isn’t long before Jessica adds the one thousand and six hundred on. It brings the total amount up to five thousand, six hundred and forty-eight gems. They look at Mr. Niq like he is some type of god. They would have never thought of the tax... but then again, they are still kids, which type of stuff shouldn’t be on their mind. They help Mr. Niq put the books away; he explains that he will explain the taxes another time as we shouldn’t worry about. Once they grab the books, they need their parents to end up paying for them. They do see they get a discount of somewhere ranging from one hundred to two hundred. He even said if we were lucky we could get a discount of three hundred. Mr. Niq does hand them fabric bags to hold their books in and he tells them the bags are free. They thank him and leave his shop. This time they all go to a nearby bench under a tree.
“Are you both ready for tomorrow?”
Jessica is the first to ask. Rachel can’t help but wonder if something bad or major is going to happen? Will police of some type go through town to find non-magical people? Will all the people who just got magic need to put on some show? She looks at both Bailey and Jessica worried but confused. Bailey explains about it and why it’s normally done.
“Magical ability assessment societies, we all here call it M.A.A.S for short. Some people from Merlin and Ambrose’s team are sent down to see how weak really, how weak our magic is. Some of us study for it to impress them, but often most of us don’t”
Bailey explains as she looks through the books she brought. Jessica then pipes up, explaining how it normally isn’t that bad and most of the time students end up getting into the school of their dreams.
“Most of the time, they don’t expect high scores from us kids. After all, we are still young but this is the only time, we have to do it. If we need to do it again that normally means we are changing schools or we dropped out and on rare occasions the schools didn’t give us an offer.”
“Can’t the students from rich families just buy their way into the school of their dreams?”
Rachel asks, clearly having that thought of Eva trying to do that. She wouldn’t put it past her. honestly her parents seem like they have the money to do so. Unless she is the person who has money but works hard but her spoiled personality could be the reason. She just doesn’t see Eva being that kind of person... She can’t help but wonder if she is smart and just mean, why is she mean? Jessica asks; bring Rachel out of her thoughts. That question is something she wasn’t ready for, as no one had told her what to say. Does she just make something up? She feels her heart beat a million times a minute, but she can answer calmly.
“So Rachel, you’re not a local from these parts are you? Are you an orphan or a part of a clan that is near dying out?”
“My clan is almost dying out. I am a part of the Rachel clan. My family couldn’t be with me this year due to them having to look after my younger brothers”
She didn’t FULLY lie. But she didn’t tell Jessica the truth, either. If Jessica is really Naomi’s doppelgänger then she doesn’t have to worry about her telling Bailey, Gavin and Amber, they won’t get in trouble. But if she isn’t like Naomi, then it’s best to lie. The last thing she wants is to be made of a criminal because some deer forced her here. Jessica just smiles and says something like stuff. She knows of the clan, but she hasn’t talked to one member until now. Rachel just nods and goes along with it. She knows she will be trouble if she asks questions about it. Lying is one thing that won’t get her through that.
She turns to Jessica as Bailey puts the books back in the bag, none of them is stopping bailey because if Rachel remembers right Jenni likes to read and some students would say that most lunch times she would sit in the library reading, she even remembers Jenni being the quietest during fifteen minutes reading under lunch. Rachel sometimes liked what Jenni was reading... maybe she should get to know Jenni if she ever goes home. Who knows, maybe they could become friends? Here in this small group Jessica hasn’t told Bailey to leave. Maybe Naomi would do the same? And Bailey hasn’t said never mind or left her alone with Jessica….
“Do you like Cragglen so far?”
“Like every town it would have its difficulties, but I love it so far”
“I’m sure you are going to fit in nicely, the both of you”
Jessica says Rachel smiles but Bailey just looks at her shocked. Bailey didn’t expect Jessica to say that considering she and Jessica don’t live in Cragglen. As far as Bailey knows, Jessica lives in one village over, a small one named Kelna. It’s only a four-minute walk from Torrine to Kelna. Bailey just smiles after she is over the shock but still stays quiet. She really doesn’t know how to act, mainly she fears Jessica not liking who she is as a person.
Once her books are back in her bag, she just sits there. She doesn’t want to butt in on Rachel and Jessica’s conversation; she stares at Rachel this time. Fearing that she is forcing herself to be her friend she really hopes it isn’t the case but something in her, maybe anxiety? Is telling her something else. She looks at everyone in the town. Buildings are all made from some light coloured stone, each one varying in size, some tall and thin while others are small and wide, some with flat roofs while others have mud, straw and even stones pointing up in a cone shape. The foot paths are made from some type of red hardened clay. Most of them have a signal or double windows; others have large windows making it visible to see inside the shops.
To their left is a bridge going over a channel which leads to a well. Four channel lines connect to the well, filling it up or emptying it when it rains, and the village floods. In the centre of town is the crystal pod, clean with its roots wrapped around it. One of many buildings is hanging baskets full of plants of many types. Some even have what she can only think of is grass growing up and down the walls. She looks behind her as Jessica points. Behind them is an open green area filled with grass, a small fountain surrounded by flowers of all different colours and kids running around, some trying to catch butterflies, others playing tag and many playing other games she can only think of. She and Rachel turn to look at an old building, she thinks Jessica is explaining how it’s the town hall and it’s always used when a new child is born, holiday gatherings, weather events that affect the villains and after us kids have finished with M.A.A.S. She reassures them they don’t read out their results out loud, as they would know how embarrassing and wrong it would be.
They stand up again and head towards some shop named ‘Breaking Point Potions’. The outside of the building is made from a darker stone, but shaped in a way to make it look like it is a potion bottle. The roof is made of wood and shaped to look like a cork keeping the potion bottle shut. Just under the wooden roof is glass all around. On the inside, it brings light. The door at the front is, of course an odd shape. The bottom of the door is wide, with each corner coming up and out into a curved point. The middle of the door is more round, and the top connected also like a heart. There is the same cork, but this time made of glass, which gives it away that it’s another window.
The inside of the shop is very round and wide, with many small tables holding many potion sizes, colours and shapes cramped onto a table. Each one has an enchanted wooden sign, telling them what table holds what. Bailey goes over to a tablet with potions coloured a dark blue colour with white sparkles on the inside. On the sign it states this table holds ‘Flask of Moonlight’ and they only cost five hundred four ten bottles. On the table next to it are skinny bottles that are taller and slimmer than thicker. The liquid on the inside is red with a tint of purple; ‘Elixir for the Eclipse’ - one thousand, seven hundred and ten gems for five bottles. Behind both tables is a table filled with green mixed with yellow bottles that are in the shape of ribbon. The sign reads; ‘Brew of Perfection’. What Bailey would do to buy one of these so people would like her. She picks up a bottle and looks at the price of two hundred and fifty thousand and four hundred gems per bottle. She places the bottle back down. It’s something Eva could afford, not her. She does however turn to the table next to it, a table full of bottles that is shaped like the letter Z. The liquid inside is black, light blue and white; ‘Tonic of Insomnia’, only costing one hundred gems per bottle: she grabs one of them and goes to the next table.
When Rachel walks into the shop, the first thing she notices is how crazy the inside of it looks. She can only think it’s because potions must be hard to predict? The bubbling of potions brewing can be heard, the pages flipping of someone reading most likely an instruction manual, the strewing of a glass beaker. The walls are painted bright colours of red, blue, green, and even purple, each wall having a unique pattern on them. The red wall having a small pattern of lions, witches’ hats, roses, and even flames all on its wall. The blue one having the letter Z, rain drops, whales and even stars. On the green wall are plants of many types, mainly leaves, lizards, tree roots and broomsticks. The purple wall is just filled with cauldron, purple bubbles which she can only assume is poison, a witch’s hat and wooden staff with a purple crystal on the end.
There are some caldrons on the far end of the room, each one the same size, shape, and colour. She sees the far left caldron is full of the same hard slung Bailey made not that long along, but this time it seems to be caked onto the caldron and pretty dried up it looks like cement. Soon a female walks out from a room and behind a desk which is just covered in codex, scrolls, half filled potion bottles and many other items which just bring colour to the place. The female is dressed in bright clothes as well.
“Do you want a potion that bubbles and makes a mess or a potion that is calm and clean? You have come to the right place! Welcome one! Welcome all to the breaking point’s potion shop!”
She shouts, sounding very enthusiastic. She even lets out a loud crackle like a witch, making herself sound more crazy. Rachel honestly likes it. She barely gets to see places that work like this. She knows it must be tiring, but they do a damn good job with keeping the act up of being crazy and enthusiastic. Amber, Gavin and Jessica’s parents say that they all want their kids to have a refresher in potion making to get them all ready for M.A.A.S tomorrow. This news makes the worker excited as she drags the tree of them over to the caldron each. Jessica is standing at the colour on the green wall, Bailey is at the blue and Rachel is at the purple, they watch as the lady what they think is spinning around the room, grabbing some items from shelves and open draws and slamming them shut when she has what she needs. She turns to Jessica first, handing her a scroll.
“Hello my green thumb friend... How about you try to make a Philter of Lunacy, a potion that makes one a lunatic for a short amount of time. You use this in the M.A.A.S tomorrow and you will get an excellent score from the assessors”
Jessica hesitantly takes the scroll from the worker and opens it. She stares at it a couple of minutes before stepping away from the caldron and scanning the shelves and everything on it. After a short while she grabs some things, the first item being some leaves off a planet which has the label stuck on it ′Atropa belladonna’. They watch as she looks at the scroll again but this time grabbing the purple berries off it, she looks through it and picks off the biggest flower it had grown. She goes to the other side of the room, to a wall covered in shelves full of animal parts. She grabs a tooth of some type and takes them back to the cauldron. She reads over the scroll and puts the tooth in the cauldron first. The water inside splashes as she drops it in. She looks at the second a second time before placing in the leaves and berries from the plant. She uses the big wooden stick leaning against the wall and mixes it together. They wait a while before the water turns almost black and bubbling a little, Jessica then puts the flower in it and mixes it all into one. The water is now black with some purple in it, the steam coming up from the boiled substance, it almost like it could kill someone.
They watch as the crazy lady sniffs at the steam before grabbing a bottle that looks like a moon with a crack down the middle of it; she places it in the substance and fills it up all the way. She does drink of it. Doing so soon causes her to laugh hysterically, maniacal laughter erupting in short, frenzied bursts, filling the room. They look at each other, confused and even a little scared; they look at the adults who don’t seem to faze or worried the slightest. She twirls herself around to Rachel and hands her the scrolls.
“You, my beautiful friend! You will make a Draught of Steelskin!”
She cackles. Rachel is very hesitant to accept it let alone open it. But she opens it. She reads it over before going to look for the first thing she needs: Bat Blood. She scans the shelves, trying to find anything that is labelled Bat Blood. The closest she finds is a bowl of small little teeth with something red on the end. She looks for the label and it says ‘Bat Blood’. She reads the scroll again, unsure on how many to grab.
‘Bat Blood - x1’
She reaches up and carefully grabs one tooth’s a small one, but it will have to do. She looks at the scroll again to see she has to find a gold banshee hair and that she needs five strands. She doesn’t blink, in fear that when she does, she will miss it completely; however, it only takes her a couple of seconds to find and she grabs five golden hair strands. The last two items she grabs is a stone of protection and the venom from Majestic Howler. She goes back to her caldron and looks at how to form this potion.
- Place in one gold banshee hair strand with one drop of majestic howler venom and mix them together until the water is a golden colour with a tint of purple.
- Place in two more golden banshee hair strands along with the bat blood (tooth included) and mix. By this point, the batch should be a dark red with a gold tint.
- Place in the remaining Golden Banshee hair and stir it together until it’s orange, once its orange let it sit for five minutes.
- After five minutes, place in the stone of protection and mix it until it is grey.
- Once it’s grey, you can place it in a bottle and your Draught of Steelskin is ready!
She follows the instructions step by step, not skipping anything, not changing anything, following them. The last thing she wants to do is mess it up or blow this place up. It takes a while, but she makes it, it doesn’t look the prettiest as it reminds her and that thing Bailey was making only yesterday—Hard and lumpy—She watches as the shop lady fills a bottle up with it and even drinks some; she doesn’t drink a lot. But they see her skin turn a grey-silver colour and harden. She cackles one more time before tapping her arm on the edge of the cauldron, showing them all that her skin is as hard as steel. She spins around twice before handing Bailey her scroll.
“You.... You, my oh so quiet gem... You will make Potion of Peace of Mind”
They watch as Bailey doesn’t want to grab the scroll; they see the fear in her eyes. Even the store lady does and calms himself down, reassuring Bailey that it’s okay to take and open the scroll. Rachel and Jessica see Bailey’s hands shake the whole time. Rachel can’t help but wonder if Bailey knows the lady is acting or not. They watch as she opens it and slowly looks for the things she needs. It takes a while, but she soon has everything and makes the Potion. They all clap, hoping she doesn’t feel embarrassed.
“You three did amazing! I’m sure you three will pass today with flying colours!”
She says as their parents go to the front desk and pay a pearl each. Jessica and Rachel turn to Bailey, making sure she is okay. Bailey just looks at them and smiles, giving them the thumbs up. Bailey doesn’t want them to worry. After all, it’s over now and there was no way that the staff member was going to hurt her... right? She thinks as it was just some type of fear playing with her. She doesn’t know what one, but she convinces herself that she wouldn’t be harmed... surely this year’s assessment won’t be the same as last year... right?
ns 18.68.41.175da2
