The Magic Within Me

Part One, Chapter Five

I turned around towards the others as they coughed and groaned. Solemina and Naia's faces were pale, and their skin was cracking. The two of them both looked sick, especially Naia. Suddenly, she collapsed onto the floor. Solemina gently lifted her up and said, "I don't feel well in this place. How are you still standing?"

Alizeh simply nodded in agreement. She looked better than the other two but her dull eyes and her messy pale blonde hair told me that she was not well either.

"This place feels normal to me," I replied. My mind was filled with questions; why were the others reacting like this? This place was working perfectly for me. My body felt safe and calm here; I felt like I was home.

"We should leave," Solemina said, "Naia is not reacting well."

Indeed, Naia's face looked thin and pale. Her lips were dry and bleeding. Solemina picked her up gently and carried her on her back. I saw Solemina's face grimace when she felt Naia's weight on her

"I'm fine, let me down," Naia groaned quietly as she tried to get down from Solemina's back weakly.

I grabbed Alizeh and Solemina by their hand and led them out of the room. When we exited, the door automatically closed behind us. That piece of magical cloth also floated out of the shape and landed neatly in front of me. I let go of Solemina and Alizeh's hands to pick it up. To my surprise, it started to float again when I touched it. I tried to reach it, but it was already up in the air. I sighed and let it be. However, it suddenly flew towards me and entered my locket somehow.

I blinked and my mind was swarming with questions. What in the world? I thought. There was definitely some kind of connection between the cloth and this place, that's for sure. However, why does its magic work when I touch it? Shoving all these questions to the back of my mind I looked around our surroundings. From where we stood, everything seemed normal, but we knew that behind that stone door we'd opened earlier was a new world that could kill us if we were not careful. Naia's dry skin seemed to recover quickly once we walked out. Alizeh's eyes recovered their gleam as well.

"Are you all ok?" I asked quickly. After traveling together for a few days, I started to care for them. As a result, I don't like the idea of them being hurt. We might've not been together for a long time, but as we traveled an unbreakable bond was created between us. Even the stern Alizeh became kinder towards Naia and Solemina, slowly, very slowly.

"I think I'm better," Naia said, and got off Solemina's back.

"Solemina, Alizeh, what about you two?" I asked.

Solemina nodded and I looked at Alizeh. Alizeh's back was towards us and she was looking at something on the wall. I walked towards her side and saw that she was staring at another shape on the other door. I didn't interrupt Alizeh, and simply watched as she took off her necklace, a white pair of wings hung from a thin silver chain. It glowed as it got sucked into the indent on the door. Silver light gleamed and that door opened as well. A rush of cold wind made me shiver, but Alizeh seemed to enjoy it. She stepped into that room and immediately her hair turned bright silver. I gasped but didn't dare to enter that room.

After a few seconds Alizeh walked out and that door closed. She touched the necklace that had floated out of the indent on the door. Just like my cloth, it also floated around her. Finally, it settled around her neck once more.

"Solemina, Naia, do you have something that matches one of the shapes on the door?" she asked excitedly.

"Wait," I said, "Before you do anything else, can we talk about what just happened? Alizeh, when you stepped into that room, your hair turned silver, did anything like that happen to me when I stepped into the other room?"