Ghost Forest, Gunopolis, Day One
I wasn’t far when I hear small footsteps behind me. I begin to run knowing I was being followed. I trip and see who was following me.

“Thea! Why are you here?”

“I can’t let you go alone!”
After some arguing I finally agree to let Thea stay. After a whole afternoon in the Ghost Forest, we decide to stop and take a rest. While we are doing so, we hear a loud roar. Then a huge black grizzly approaches us.

“Run!” I scream. Thea and I begin running through the dark forest and I trip over a stick. The bear roars and begins to attack me. Thea screams for help as the bear bites into my calf. I scream and when I look down I see nothing but bloody flesh so I close my eyes disappointed that I only got this far in my journey.

“Thea, run for your life!” I scream as my whole vision starts to blur. I can’t really hear anymore but in my blurry vision I see a boy run to Thea. I don’t know whats going on, but I feel the force of the bear stop… Knowing that I’ve lost a lot of blood I try not to close my eyes because I know I’ll faint, but I can’t help it and my world turns black.

Crows Village, Gunopolis
I can hear my sister talking and I can smell food. I try to open my eyes but it seems I can’t move my body. Remembering my leg, I try to lift it up but can’t feel. I know that it’s been cut off. I had heard that in the city hospitals they call it an amputation. I’m almost positive I’ve had one of those. My eyes finally open and I see light. I see a small family and Thea eating.

“You’re awake Esmeralda!” Thea exclaims.
I look at my leg. “What happened to my leg?”
The man in the family answers, “You were bitten by a bear. Although you’ve lost a lot of blood, we’ve given you lots of medicines and wrapped it up nicely.” He pushes a tray of hot food towards me. “Have some.”
After I eat the dinner, he offers Thea and me a place to sleep for the night, but I refuse, telling him that I have somewhere I must go and not a lot of time. I thank him for the meal and nursing, and he tells us what lies head then we set on our way. It was hard making our way through Crow’s Forest in the dark, but we keep on going. Thea and I keep each other company and encourage each other to keep going. As we talk, we get closer to each other and learn things that we never knew about each other. We keep on talking and sharing stories that we even forgot that we had been walking nearly six hours with no rest. We finally look up at the sky and sit down to watch the sunrise. We eat pieces of stale bread with jam and have some water from small puddle. Gross, but thirst quenching. We wanted to save our fresh water for when we really needed it. After the sun rises we continue walking until we begin to step in snow. We realize we’ve reached the blizzard.

Blizzard, Gunopolis, Day Two
I can hear my teeth chattering and I can also hear Thea’s. Our thin dresses and moccasins can’t sustain the cold snow and wind. Freezing cold, we begin to get frostbite. We have little food left and we are beginning to starve. We stop to eat some bread and jam. Only one more piece of bread left about the size of an apricot. Only a spoon of jam left. Only day two.

Meredith Mountains, Gunopolis
We aren’t even in the height of the blizzard when we see the first mountain. We are shaking when we begin to climb the first mountain. After 45 minutes of pain we reach the top where we see a father and daughter sitting. The daughter is eating a sandwich. I examine the thick slices of meat laid inside the bread and lettuce. I hear my stomach rumble. Thea approaches them to ask for help, but when I read Corpate City resident on their backpacks, I knew they weren’t going to be of much help. The daughter gives us dirty looks as if she’s disgusted with us.
“Excuse me,” I say to the father. “Could we have directions to Ruby Palace?”
He looks at me and laughs. “You’re walking?”
I nod.

“It’ll be about ten days by walking so you might as well just turn around and go home. C’mon Emily.” His daughter swallows a bite and washes it down with some canned fruit punch. They head the opposite way of where we headed. It’s been a really long time and we are both winded. We decide to rest for the night when we see a small cave. Its cold and filled with snow.

“Let’s do it for mom, Thea.” I look down at Thea for a response, but she’s already sound asleep and I decide to do the same.

Meredith Mountains, Gunopolis, Day Three
Its day three and we decide to eat our food because now I can see Thea’s ribs through her skin. I know she’s sick and so am I, so I am trying my best to help her get along. I try to talk to Thea even though the skin around my lips is frozen and my lips are cracked and bleeding. Thea began to cough and once she starts to throw up, I know that she’s going to throw up all the food she’s eaten and we have no food left. We walk through the Meredith’s the whole day while our frostbite got worse and our feet became more and more numb and when night rolls in, we stop to sleep in a small ditch even though once again it’s colder and filled with snow. I start to cry when I see Thea asleep. She looks like a skeleton and I know she’s suffering and that she probably wants to go home. I cry and give her a kiss on the forehead. With my leg, and no more food, I don’t know how much each of us can take. With every gust of wind, we just become a step closer to death.


“Avah look.” I hear voices in the distance.

“Are those people?”

“Yes two girls!”

“Are they dead?”

“No!” I shout. “ We’re not dead! Please help us!”
The man pulls my sister and me out of the ditch and carries us on his back.

Cave Miu, Gunopolis

“Here have some of this.” The man hold up a warm liquid to my face. I take the bowl and the warmth soothes my numb fingers. I gulp down the liquid, I guess soup and then he hands me medicine.

“Thea, how are you doing?” I ask, but I can answer my own question when I see her coughing up the soup and medicine.

“Hella, get the creams.” The mother says to the young girl and she runs a little deeper into the cave.
I hold Thea’s hand and tells her it will all be okay. I try to encourage her to drink it amd she does, but her body seemed to be rejecting all of it. After many tries she is finally able to swallow the medicine and soup.
Hella returns with several types of medicines, gels, and creams. They take care of my frostbite: a bright red face, and my fingers were turning black and swollen. I look over at Thea and see that her whole body is bright pink and she was struggling to breathe and swallow. Her calves and toes were pitch black and she couldn’t move them. I was hoping she’d survive, hoping she’s be okay, hoping that we could return home safely and live our normal lives the way we were used to.

“Go to sleep.” The family convinces. “We will take care of your sister.”
Just as I close my eyes, I hear Thea.

“Esmeralda?”

“Yeah, Thea.”

“I know you can make it. Even though we are from a village, you’re strong enough. I know you are.”

“Thanks Thea. I know you’re strong too. Good night now.”

“One more thing. I love you Esmeralda. I love you.”

“I love you too Thea.”

Cave Miu, Gunopolis, Day Four
I wake up still really cold but I feel a lot better now.

“You’re awake?” The mother comes in with a tray of a loaf of warm bread and a steaming hot sweet soup.

“Thank you, so much.” I say between bites. The soup tastes better than anything I’ve ever had. I take another bite of bread and realize that I hadn’t seen Thea.

“Excuse me, where’s Thea and how’s she doing? Any better?” I swallow a spoonful of soup.
I continue to eat but stop chewing when the mother’s face changes. The father and Hella come in, but no Thea.

“Where’s Thea?”
The father hangs his head and swallows. “I don’t know how or what to say. I’m sorry, but Thea didn’t survive the night.”

“What? Where’s Thea!!!!”
Hella starts to cry. “We did everything we could, but when we checked on her very early this morning…”

“Stop it! Don’t lie to me! Where’s Thea?”

“When we checked on her this morning,” The mother started, “She was dead. Thea is dead.”
My heart was broken. Tears stream down my face. It was my fault. I should have forced her to go back home.

“I want to see her.” I demand.
Hella leads me to the part of the cave she’s lying in. Her eyes are closed and she looks at peace. She looks happy. I know I can’t just leave her body with these strangers so I beg them to preserve her body in the snow and ice for about four days. With a lot of persuading, the family agrees but says that if I’m not back in four days that they will have to get rid of her corpse.

It’s day four and now I’m not even in the mental state to continue. My sister is dead, I’m out of food, I’m cold, and I have severe frostbite. However, I know that I must keep on going. Thea would want me to. So I push through the pain. For six hours and minimal breaks I make my way through the blizzard and mountains. It’s already nighttime, but when I finally set sight of Ruby City, I collapse and thank the Lord. I walk a little further, but then I decide to stop and sleep under some trees.

Ruby City, Gunopolis, Day Five
I know I’m still far away from completing my mission, but I feel a little satisfied that I’m at least in Ruby City. As I’m asking around for help, the Ruby City residents give me dirty looks and disgust me just because I’m a villager. When I ask for directions, all I get are stares and silence. I finally meet one woman who gives me directions on a map. I thank her even though I don’t understand what she told me. I am partially illiterate because villagers don’t get the quality education that the city folks receive. I keep asking around for help until it starts to get dark. Tired of being refused all day, I just sit down and cry.

“Hello, are you okay?” I look up, and wipe my tears when I see a handsome boy standing in front of me. I immediately fall in love with him and after some introducing and conversing of problems; he flies me on his winged horse to Ruby Palace. I’m originally not allowed to enter the palace but the boy turned out to be a Prince and he sneaks me in. By now, its nighttime and he sneaks me some delicious food and a drink called soda. It’s the best meal I’ve ever had. The Prince lets me take a shower; my first in days. I tell him that I need to get the Ruby liquid under the Princess’ throne. He tells me that I must do it on my own because he has somewhere to go the next day. He lets me know that the princess is a warrior and that she won’t go down without a fight. He gives me some strategies and a sword.

“Fight till the death,” He tells me. “You’re strong enough.”

“Thanks.” I reply.
Then I close my eyes and sleep in the bed. A bed! An actual plush mattress not just a piece of animal skin on the ground.

“I’m strong enough,” I tell myself. “I’m strong enough.”

Ruby Palace, Gunopolis, Day Six
This is the day. The last day I have. If I don’t get back with the potion today, my mother will die. When I wake up I get a big stretch then put on the fresh clothes and armor I was given by the Prince. I sneak down into the Princess’ room.


“Who are you?” She shouts.

“I am Esmeralda. My mom has come down with a terrible parasite disease that’s eating away her flesh and skin. I need some of the Ruby liquid under your throne to save her. Today’s my last day. Please, she’ll die, today if I can’t get some back to her.”

“No. Get out.”
I beg her again, but this time she pulls out her sword and points it at me. So I do the same.

“Lets make a compromise. We will fight. The winner gets the potion.”

“Fine.”
The Ruby Princess and I fight till the death until I had a sword on the Princess’ throat.

“You beat me.” The Princess gets up. “But you’re not going to win. I’m going to tell my guards to come and kill you!!” She runs out of the room.
Knowing I don’t have much time left, I remember the directions from the Shaman. I use the sword to beak into the gems under the throne and a ruby liquid gushes out of from the gems. I use my helmet to collect it.
Princess Ruby comes in with the guards. “Cease her!” I know that if I want to save my mother, the least I have to do is run. The guards are running and my only exit is the window. So I jump. I close my eyes waiting for the impact of the cement bricks. Instead I land on something else. I open my eyes and see the Ruby horse. The prince has saved me on his horse. He flies me all the way back to South Village.

South Village, Gunopolis
When we arrive it’s nighttime. Everybody embraces me and they tell me that I must hurry because my mom is on her deathbed.

When I go inside the mother’s tent I don’t even recognize my mother, I look at the clock. 11:57. So I quickly give my mother the ruby potion. The Shaman comes in and congratulates me. Watching my mom magically heal was the best part of it all. My mother still doesn’t have her speech back and the Shaman says that I should leave her alone because she still needs to rest. When the Shaman sees one last drop of the ruby potion in my helmet, she tells me that I can make one wish with the remaining drop and then drink it myself.

“I wish…”


I sit outside the whole night waiting and observing my home. I decide I like it better than the city. I finally get up and decide to get some sleep.

“Esmeralda!” I heard someone call. I turned around. In the moonlight there stood my inspiration and my only motivation.

There stood Thea.