"Magic doesn't exist," I say exasperate to my younger sister, Adele. "No, it does Ari," she insists, like she always does. "Yeah it does but only in books and movies," I say feeling way too irritated. Don't know why but the word 'Magic' irritates me to the core. I mean why to waste time by thinking and talking about something that does not even exist! It's just a waste of time. "Yeah and also in your dreams," I further continue stretching the word dream due to which her smile slightly fades but she composes it soon. "But what if it's actually real!" she exclaims dreamily. She's so stubborn. She'd argue for hours giving her implausible logic just to prove her so-called 'magic' thing true! So there is no point arguing with her. Moreover, I'm really tired and sleepy to argue with her so rather I agree with her this time. "Yeah they might be real," I sigh defeated and she screams in joy but before she can say tell anything else I stop her. "Now go to sleep. It's already very late," I arrange my pillows. "Goodnight," I yawn and turn the lights off. As I do so, I can hear some protest from her as she doesn't want to sleep. However, soon the voice fades away and I was welcomed by dream land.

~×~

In a dark room, a hooded man's stands. His back facing the others in that room. "My lord, we found the other two powerful magiies," says another hooded man, his voice full of fear but at the same time showing a hint of excitement. "Then bring them here," he croaks. "But they possess some special powers, my lord," the man says," which can be risky." "And that's why we need them, because of their special powers. Moreover, I ordered you to bring them, I didn't ask for your opinion. So just bring them," he screams angrily as his voice echoes. "As you say, master," bows the man and then disappears in the dark.

~×~

I was sleeping peacefully until I heard some noises but when I open my eyes, I couldn't find its source. I even turn on the lights, to see properly if anyone's there, though even then the room was empty. So I turn the lights off and go to sleep thinking that maybe it was just my imagination but my thoughts prove itself wrong at that very moment as I see some hooded people standing beside my bed, surrounding me. I get scared seeing them. I feel like screaming to the top of my lungs to have someone save me and am about to scream when the hooded people mutters something. They were chanting something. Who are they? And what are they? They are not thief that's for sure. Are they kidnappers? Then why would they chant? I get confused. And before I can understand what's happening I am welcomed by darkness. There is only darkness around me, no light. Not a single light of hope even, only darkness of negativity in which I'm drowning slowly.

And soon I lose all my consciousness. I lose my power of thinking, judging and understanding. It's like I'm sleeping but not as comfortable like sleeping though. It's painful and uncomfortable.

God knows for how long stayed like that. When I wake up I am lying on the cold floor, my hands are cold as ice and so are my feet. Within a minute I understand that even the room I'm in is ice-cold.

Another thing I notice is that there is another person in the room, that's all I can understand since my vision is still blurred. I can't see anything without blackness. So rather I find me feeling the coldness, listening to the sobbing of that person (who I think is a girl) and enjoy the blackness, because that's all I can do at this moment.

I sit still rooted to my spot for some minutes before my vision starts to get clear gradually. I close my eyes to adjust with the lights.

I finally open my eyes only to see the massive glass room in which I am sitting. Through the glass I can see outside the room which is not attractive at all, rather is a little spooky. There are some weird, to say accurately, super-weird things there. Moreover, outside this room it's so dark that I can't even see after a very short distance. Though the things I can see are enough to send chills through my spines.

I finally finish checking the spooky environment outside and look around the room to have a better look inside it. But there isn't anything to see inside. The room is made of blue see -through the glass from top to bottom except the floor, which is made of tiles matching the color of the glass. Except that the room is all empty no doors, no windows, no nothing. It's kind of boring. It's so boring that I start wondering how many days or months or most probably years I'll have to stay here!

This place is driving me crazy! I'll actually turn mad any moment soon if I stay here even for another more second. Maybe it is the spookiness or maybe the bad vibes I am getting from here or maybe the emptiness- I don't know what it is but it's weird, it's making me mad.

There is nothing in the room to look at or to play with or to do anything at all. Nothing except another girl in the corner of the room who is crying.

I can hear her cry but can't take a look at her face as she's hiding it with her hands. I go to her and sit beside her. I hesitatingly start to talk, which I'm not good at. I just hope things go right now.

"Hi! What's your name?" I ask her smiling and that's when I notice that my voice is calm, there isn't any nervousness, fright or anything in it, it's nonchalant. But when she replies it is evident from her voice that she is scared. "I'm Cassie," she looks up at me. "Are you okay Cassie?" I ask her and she looks at me as if I am an alien. I know it is a dumb question to ask when you are seeing her crying and when you know that you both have been kidnapped. But that's me. I'll ask everyone this question when I start having a conversation with the. "Like any other magii will be when they'll know that they have been kidnapped by the dark lord!" she cries

Magii...dark lord...well don't these sounds like the fantasy books and movies that Adele watches? Maybe she's gone mad from shock. But wait when they kidnapped me they chanted something right? And then I fell asleep. Does that mean that magic is real? No... No, of course not, it can't be...maybe they hit me in the head with something but it would've pained then. This mean magic is real?!

Well there is only one way to know that and that is to ask the girl. So I ask her. "What do you mean by 'magii' and 'dark lord'?" I ask her trying not to sound confused and shocked which again make her look at me as if I am an alien. What's wrong with her? Why is she giving me that look only? Anyways I can think about that later, right now I need to focus on finding the answers.

"You don't know what 'Magii' is?! You don't even know the dark lord?! And you claim yourself a magii without knowing this?" her mouth forms a big 'O'. "Well, I don't know what a 'magii' is then how can I claim myself as one?" I reply calmly.

"Anyone who can perform magic is a magii," she says, "And the master of the ones who practice dark magic is the dark lord. He's one of the powerful magiies in the world." I try to manage a laugh. "This sounds like the fantasy movies my sister watches," I nod to myself.

"It might, but what's happening right now is not a movie," she answers seriously. "You mean to say magic is real?" I ask shocked. I don't even bother not to show that. "Of course. Don't tell me you didn't know that magic exists?" she humors. "Actually you're right, I actually had no idea that magic exists. I never believed in it," I say and she gives me a sympathetic look. Then she starts telling me everything about the magical world. And the conversation lasts for hours.

After she tells me everything about the magical world I tell her everything that happened tonight and how they kidnapped me. "Do you know why they kidnapped us?" I ask her. "Well there are some magiies who are more powerful than any other magii," she pauses for a bit and then continues, "They are seven in total. We're two among them. And so the 'Dark Lord' wants us to join him so that dark magic can have the powerful magiies." "Do we include me too? But I'm not a magii. I can't even perform magic then how can I be a powerful magii?" I look outside the room. "You can't because you never tried it. But you're a powerful magii and that's why you are here," she says sadly. "But you said that the dark lord is a powerful magii, so why does he need us?"I ask in attempt to find some answers. "Because we're more powerful," she wipes a tear bead forming in the corner of her eye.

I discover that I am not behaving as expected. My expected behavior should've been screaming, freaking out, scared, frightened, nervous and god knows what, especially after finding out that I'm a magii, that magic exists and I am not kidnapped by any normal people. I am kidnapped by the Dark Lord' who is the master of the ones who practice dark magic but here I am so calm and quiet. No tension, no freaking out, no screaming, nothing. I just sit calmly, looking at the spooky environment outside and taking in the information. It is a lot to take in.

"What are they going to do with us?" I ask after I finish absorbing the information. "They will ask us to join them, to be the black-magiies," Cassie replies sadly. Her eyes are still watery. I am feeling bad for her but there's nothing I can do to make her feel better. I suck at consoling people. So I continue to ask her questions hoping that it will distract her.

"What do the black-magiies do?" I ask. "They hamper the peace, kill anyone who comes in their way even if they are innocent, especially the non-magii. They don't believe in peace the only thing they believe in is destruction," she replies in a low voice as if it is a secret. Actually the whole time we have been talking in low voice, which only the two of us could hear as if everything we were talking about was a secret.

"If we join them, then will we have to do these too?" "Yes." "And if we deny them?" I ask her, a hint of sadness visible in my voice. "They'll kill us," she replies blankly. Murder, kill innocents- I am never going to do these things. Never in a million years. It's better to die then kill others especially when they are innocent. But I don't want to die either.

"There isn't any way to get out of here?" I look around hoping to find something, anything. "Of course not. Have you ever seen any kidnapper keeping you in a place from where you can get out? No, right? Even if the kidnapper is a non-magii he won't do so and then you're kidnapped by the dark lord," Cassie states as if it's a fact, which it is.

"Right," I nod. There must be some way to get out of these, there has to be. Suddenly a thought crosses my mind, 'we were powerful magiies, more powerful than anyone would be', and she said it. And if we are truly, the most powerful then no power could stop us from getting away! That's it.

"You said we are the most powerful magiies, right? Then why don't we try to get out from here by breaking the glass or by some magical ways to get out?" I sound excited. Excited like a child is when they get a chocolate. "Well this place is protected by spells so you can't teleport from here and about breaking the glass, I tried that but they have kept us in a place of high protection," she seems distant.

She tried to get out but couldn't. I sigh. But I can try once there isn't any problem with trying. Though there is a problem - I can't perform magic. Maybe I can learn it from her.

"Can you teach me how to perform magic, please?" I request looking at her hopefully. "Sure, I can," she smiles for the first time. She has a really pretty smile. And not just her smile, even her face is really pretty. Her Hazel hair matching with the color of her eyes adds more beauty on her face. Comparing to her, I am not that pretty, not at all. I have a sharp face with simple black hair and plain black eyes- which I don't like. I always wished to have a pair of blue eyes. For some reason it always attracted me.

"It's easy since you have the magical power inside you. You just have to focus and think clearly of the person or thing in which you want to cast it and then mutter the spell. See its simple," she seems distracted and happy," If you want to break the glass the spell is 'Rethina' and if you want to create a door or something by cutting it say 'Connsolous'. Got it?" "Yes, thanks," I smile at her and then go near the glass wall.

Focus, think, cast- it's easy Ari, you can do it. Focus, I close my eyes trying to focus and then I try and think of the glass wall which I want to cut and when I can finally picture it I chant the spell 'Connsolous'. Well, I can sense something happening. It feels like I am suddenly surrounded by something full of energy and power. I can feel the power. I can sense it. I open my eyes only to see the spell reflecting towards me. It's about to touch me but Cassie stops it.

"Sorry I forgot to tell you the spell to stop the spell reflecting towards you. It's 'sylous', "she sighs, "See, nothing will work. I tried it many times." But I pay no heed to her and try it again and again, though this time I try 'Rethina'. However, the same thing happens again, actually nothing happens accept for the spell to backfire at me. I try both the spells for a few more times before giving up and thinking of something else.

I let out a sigh and sit beside Cassie. She seems to understand that I'm not in a good mood so doesn't disturb me. I sit there like that for some time when I suddenly get an idea. We both are most powerful magiies, nothing happens when we cast magic separately, then the glass can resist our magic. But what if we cast it together? Then maybe it won't be able to tolerate the magic. We can at least try that right?

I tell Cassie the plan. She also seems to like the idea. Moreover, it's not like we have things to do. Better try getting out. So we both decide to cast the spell 'Rethina to break the glass. We choose a wall to cast the spell. Focus...I need to focus but I can't due to the spookiness outside and also the sudden excitement. I can feel the adrenaline rush. Clam down Ari. Calm down. Focus. You need to focus. I close my eyes to try and focus when I hear her telling me to cast on the count of 3.

1

2

3

'Rethina' we say together and I can hear the glass shattering. My eyes still closed, I let out a sigh of content. The glass broke! I open my eyes to see the glass wall around us broken. I am too shocked to do anything but Cassie take a hold of me and start to run from there, leaving me clueless.

"Why are we running?" I ask tiredly. This all spell casting drained all my energy. I'm too tired, even to talk. "Because we don't want them to catch us," she takes a look behind us," Well they will be coming to catch us any time, it's not like they won't know that we broke free. Run fast," she commands.

She says some spell for which something appeared around the two of us. She looks at me and notices my confused look," It's a shield, it will protect us for some moment but after it gets over once you can't cast it in the next few minutes so we'll have to use the spells then. "But I don't know any spells," I suddenly feel my panic rising. "But I can so I'll protect you," she gives me an assuring nod. That's when suddenly some hooded men start chasing us from behind.

They cast a spell which comes towards our direction but surprisingly it doesn't cause us any damage. It doesn't even touch us rather it reflects. "Can't they see the shield?" I increase my speed trying to keep up with Cassie. "No, it's invisible. But since we are inside it we can see it," she says.

We are still running when I feel some change around me. It takes me a moment to realize that it's the protective shield. The spell is wearing out. The shield's gone and I can see the black-magiies casting spells towards us. It's coming close to us ready to harm us anytime but Cassie blocks it. I let out a sigh that I was holding. I see Cassie casting some spells towards them.

The fight is now getting on my nerves. Every time the hooded-magiies sends a spell, I start to get nervous; I just look at the flares caused due to the spells until Cassie blocks it. I am dependent on Cassie for my protection. My life's on her hand now.

Sometime later we are standing in a dark and dirty dungeon, surrounded by the hooded men who are called 'black-magiies'. They are casting spells from everywhere and Cassie is trying to block those spells.

Suddenly someone from opposite direction cast a spell towards us which goes unnoticed by Cassie but luckily I notice it. Or maybe we are not lucky enough since I can do nothing. The flare caused by the spell is coming towards us, no, towards me to be accurate. It's ready to hit me anytime and I here I am paralyzed.

I'm not able move. I try to call Cassie for help but my voice won't just come out. All I can do is seeing. See the flares of the spell. I see the flare almost hitting me and BOOM!

~×~

I wake up with a jerk. My breath unsteady and so is my heartbeat. I sit for a few moments with my eyes closed and then look around the room.

My desk, books, teddy, dolls everything is there and so is Adele. She's is sleeping peacefully in her bed.

I am in my room nothing happened. It was just a dream. No, not a dream, a nightmare.

I compose myself and laugh at the dream. Suddenly it seems funny and childish. It was so unreal, I mean magic doesn't exist so it's unreal but still felt real.

I try to remember the details. And the 'spell learning' scene comes to my mind. What was it?

Focus-think-cast. Let's try.

I close my eyes and focus the thought of the vase which is standing in my table with my favorite white wild flowers. 'Rethina'- I say out loud and hear glass shattering noise. Shoot! The vase broke?

Maybe due to the wind, but the windows are closed so no wind is blowing. Means Magic is real. Mm...Ma...gi...c is real and I'm a magii?!

The End