Twice upon a time, in a land not so far away as you might think,
though also in a land located in an incredibly far distance, there lived
me. I was a small girl of seventeen with dark waves of hair tumbling past
my shoulders and sparkling hazel eyes – sometimes a murky green and
sometimes gold. I was also a fire witch with flaming red hair and a
horrible temper.
Our story begins in Israel, before I'd ever even heard of such a place as the Enchanted Forest and where the ideas of fire witches and magic were somewhat foreign to me. I was in Tzfat, a beautiful Israeli city, full of spiritual and Kabalistic sites and radiating with the magical color of blue. I was together with a couple of my friends and we had decided to go exploring.
It was getting dark out as evening rapidly descended upon us and I felt a chill in the air. Hugging my light jacket snugger around me in an attempt to keep warm, I followed my friends H.anna, Liz, and Chava up a long row of nature-born steps made of stone. It led up to some sort of shack and, after nights of blind guessing about its contents, we decided to finally see for ourselves.
"You guys, we are definitely going to get caught," Chava whispered anxiously as we neared the shack.
"No we won't," I assured her. "Nobody's looking over here. And besides, it's not really owned by anyone so I don't think we're really trespassing."
"It's probably owned by the city or something," H.anna pointed out. I shrugged and walked ahead of them. We trudged up the last steps until we were facing the entrance to the shack. It was pitch black in there.
"We should have brought a flashlight," I muttered.
"Come on," Liz said, leading the way. She ducked under the low entrance, which had some burlap hanging from the top of the doorless doorpost, and disappeared into the darkness. I was about to follow when Chava grabbed my arm.
"Shira, I don't think this is such a good idea," she said in a low voice. I pulled gently away from her and gave her a meaningful look.
"Come on, Chav. What's the big deal?"
She shrugged.
"I don't know. I just have a bad feeling about it. Besides, there's probably nothing in there anyway."
"You guys coming?" Liz asked from somewhere inside.
"I am!" I called to her and, ignoring Chava's protesting, ducked under the entrance. I could hear H.anna and then finally Chava join Liz and me in the darkness.
For the first few seconds I saw nothing but thick, tangible blackness. A blinked fiercely, forcing my eyes to adjust. I slowly began make out the edges of whatever lay around us in the shack.
"I wish we had more light," I grumbled.
"Yeah," H.anna agreed.
"If we find rocks, maybe we can rub them together like the Indians did," Chava said hopefully. Liz snickered.
"Sure, Chav, sure."
"It would probably be more practical to snap your fingers and say 'hey presto!' instead," I said sarcastically, snapping my fingers in the process. The result was a streak of flames shooting out of my snapping fingers and to the ground right in front of me.
"Holy shnikes," Liz whispered hoarsely as she crept forward to examine the fire. I stood there, stunned. As far as I knew, magic did not actually exist in the real world. Maybe it existed in the far out regions of my brain but that didn't count. That was just my own warped imagination.
"Okay," I said, breathing deeply, "I am going to close my eyes and when I open them, I will find myself in my bed and I will tell you all that I had the strangest dream. Alright?"
I closed my eyes and opened them.
The fire was still there.
My friends were not in the shack anymore.
Neither was I.
Our story begins in Israel, before I'd ever even heard of such a place as the Enchanted Forest and where the ideas of fire witches and magic were somewhat foreign to me. I was in Tzfat, a beautiful Israeli city, full of spiritual and Kabalistic sites and radiating with the magical color of blue. I was together with a couple of my friends and we had decided to go exploring.
It was getting dark out as evening rapidly descended upon us and I felt a chill in the air. Hugging my light jacket snugger around me in an attempt to keep warm, I followed my friends H.anna, Liz, and Chava up a long row of nature-born steps made of stone. It led up to some sort of shack and, after nights of blind guessing about its contents, we decided to finally see for ourselves.
"You guys, we are definitely going to get caught," Chava whispered anxiously as we neared the shack.
"No we won't," I assured her. "Nobody's looking over here. And besides, it's not really owned by anyone so I don't think we're really trespassing."
"It's probably owned by the city or something," H.anna pointed out. I shrugged and walked ahead of them. We trudged up the last steps until we were facing the entrance to the shack. It was pitch black in there.
"We should have brought a flashlight," I muttered.
"Come on," Liz said, leading the way. She ducked under the low entrance, which had some burlap hanging from the top of the doorless doorpost, and disappeared into the darkness. I was about to follow when Chava grabbed my arm.
"Shira, I don't think this is such a good idea," she said in a low voice. I pulled gently away from her and gave her a meaningful look.
"Come on, Chav. What's the big deal?"
She shrugged.
"I don't know. I just have a bad feeling about it. Besides, there's probably nothing in there anyway."
"You guys coming?" Liz asked from somewhere inside.
"I am!" I called to her and, ignoring Chava's protesting, ducked under the entrance. I could hear H.anna and then finally Chava join Liz and me in the darkness.
For the first few seconds I saw nothing but thick, tangible blackness. A blinked fiercely, forcing my eyes to adjust. I slowly began make out the edges of whatever lay around us in the shack.
"I wish we had more light," I grumbled.
"Yeah," H.anna agreed.
"If we find rocks, maybe we can rub them together like the Indians did," Chava said hopefully. Liz snickered.
"Sure, Chav, sure."
"It would probably be more practical to snap your fingers and say 'hey presto!' instead," I said sarcastically, snapping my fingers in the process. The result was a streak of flames shooting out of my snapping fingers and to the ground right in front of me.
"Holy shnikes," Liz whispered hoarsely as she crept forward to examine the fire. I stood there, stunned. As far as I knew, magic did not actually exist in the real world. Maybe it existed in the far out regions of my brain but that didn't count. That was just my own warped imagination.
"Okay," I said, breathing deeply, "I am going to close my eyes and when I open them, I will find myself in my bed and I will tell you all that I had the strangest dream. Alright?"
I closed my eyes and opened them.
The fire was still there.
My friends were not in the shack anymore.
Neither was I.