Linh Duong
The Wishes
The sun skipped between the mountains, singing and smiling. The moon and stars started to disappear. The clouds danced apart from each other. The ocean roared ceaselessly. The city woke up from a short nap. Everything was so peaceful, like the calm before a storm.
It's been awhile since we received the necklaces from Horoscope Island. We haven't made a wish since then, yet. As promised, we kept our mouth shut and we visited Horoscope Island once or twice a week by teleporting.
It was finally summer vacation. Cecilia, my cousin, came to my house every Monday and Wednesday due to her parents work. Mine, too. My parents were also had to go to work, so both of us were alone at home. I was qualified to be home alone since I was 13 years old and Cecilia was only 11.
After we had breakfast, we decided to go to Horoscope Island.
"Are you ready?" I asked.
"Ok, let's go!" Cecilia said with excitement.
We held out our necklaces. The magic circle appeared under our feet. It was a big star inside a big circle with words surrounded it. The winds started to blow inside the circle and we started to float. And a blinding light shot up from the circumference of the circle.
"Here we go…" I said.
A tunnel opened where the magic circle was and we were pulled into it. As we were sliding in the tunnel, our body minimized. We finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel.
"Uh, oh…" I said, looking around. We were surrounded by the clouds and were 10 km above the Earth surface. On top of that, we were only 5 inches tall, which means, to us, we were 100 km above the surface.
The strong wind kept blow at our faces, made us hard to open our eyes. This is even scarier than the roller-coaster, I thought since roller-coaster and I do not mix. We tried to hold each other's hand, so when we won't be separate and it made us felt a little calmer.
WE screamed and screamed, but I doubted anyone can hear us. My heart began to beat harder and I became more frighten, I tried to calm down but I couldn't. So I unconsciously wished for help. That was my 1st wish.
"I heard so kind of noise," Cecilia yelled, but I couldn't hear her, so she made a silent sign.
We held our hands tightly and tried to be as quiet as possible, but the wind was too strong and we were in a high place, so it was kind of hard to hear.
Shortly after, we heard an engine sound, probably a plan or a helicopter, so we looked around ourselves. My heart was still beating fast and I felt a little scared.
Then I saw two aircrafts heading toward us from the west. As it came closer, I noticed the pilots were Leo and Virgo.
Leo and Virgo are fraternal twins. Leo had short, straight blond hair. In contrast, Virgo had long, wavy black hair. It was hardly to tell they were twins. They both wore navy soldier uniform.
They flew under us and we landed safely on their Dragons. Their Dragons were basically flying motorcycles. Leo's was red and Virgo's was blue. Leo caught me and Virgo caught Cecilia.
"Nice catch, Virgo," Leo teased, but Virgo ignored him.
Even though they're siblings, their personalities were like water and fire. Virgo is quiet, arrogant, and stubborn. Leo is cheerful, energetic, and kind to others, just like Aries.
"Long time no see, Rosa," Leo smiled.
"Long time no see, though it was only been a week." I replied.
We met Leo and Virgo at the Spring Festival, around 3 weeks after we had the treasure hunt.
The atmosphere near Virgo and Cecilia seemed dense and heavy as I glanced over. Virgo and Cecilia didn't seem to get along, probably because of their personalities.
"By the way," I said, "why are you here? Driving for fun?"
"No. The headmaster told us to pick you guys up," Leo explained, "but we didn't know where you guys will land. So we just look over the island with the Dragons. Though it was quite unexpected that you would like to land on the clouds than land."
"As if we wished for that." I mumbled, completely forgot about the wish. "Anyway, where are you driving us to?" I asked.
"The Horoscope Main Hall." He replied.
"The Main Hall!?" I exclaimed curiously, "Isn't that where the Horoscope councilors hold meetings? But why?"
"You'll know when you get there." Leo said his face seemed angry.
When we arrived. The Jupiter City, where the Horoscope Main Hall located, was a disaster. It was like a war scene. Buildings collapsed, streets were full of holes, the houses turned into pieces, and few places were engulfed by the furious flame. Ambulances and fire-trucks were everywhere, recuing people. I was horrified and I looked over to Cecilia. Her eyes were wide opened, her hands covered her mouth. She looked as if someone she loves died in front of her.
"Leo, what's the meaning of this?" I nervously asked.
"Aries was the cause of this," The headmaster said. He came out from a building along with his bodyguards.
They were injured. The headmaster was slightly injured on his left arm and face. Two of his bodyguards were heavily injured, when they tried to protect the headmaster, but not life threaten. The rest of his bodyguards were also slightly injured.
"But how, when and why?" Cecilia concerned.
"Allow me to explain." Leo spoke up.
"Few days ago, Aries went missing, and then he sudden returned during the councilors' meeting yesterday. He entered the meeting with other two unknown people in red cloak, he, too, was also in red cloak. He threatens the councilors to promote him to be the king of the guardians or he'll destroy this city, which has the most population in Horoscope Island. Of course, the councilors objected him and asked for explanation. He said,
'It's simple. I want to rule this island and one day we will rule the entire world. The human will have to respect us and see us as the god.'
"Then Aries and the two mysterious guys disappeared in the red smoke. Few seconds after that, the councilors heard an explosion and the ground started to shake. And this is the result."
We stunned for a while.
"Is he insane?" I thought, "It's so obvious that the councilors would object his idea if he gave them that explanation."
"It's a lie, right?" Cecilia said in disbelieve. She was trembling.
"Does this look like a lie to you?" a body guard raised his voice.
"This got to be a lie," Cecilia didn't listen at all and she took a step back. "I don't believe this!" she screamed. Then she ran away, Leo chased after her.
"Will she be OK?" I worried, "This probably is the first time someone she cherished has ever betray her."
After a silence, I said, "I'll look for her."
Meanwhile, Leo was able to catch up to Cecilia.
"Cecilia, calm down." Leo demanded.
"How can I be calm?" Cecilia panicked, "Why are you so calm after that happened? You're even worse than a dog!"
"Cecilia…"
"I wish you were a dog!" she cried.
When I found her, she was unconscious and next to her was a yellow puppy. I tried to wake her up. When she finally woke up, she seemed calmed down.
"Where's Leo?" I asked.
"Leo?" she wondered, looking around and saw an unconscious puppy at her feet. "I-I turned Leo into a puppy…" she was horrified and burst into tears.
"Cecilia, calm down, OK?" I tried to confront her, "Let's ask the headmaster to turn him back."
Cecilia nodded, wiping her tears. When we got back, Cecilia apologized and explained everything and asked the headmaster to turn Leo back to the original.
"I'm sorry, but with our current power, including Virgo, we can't change Leo back," the headmaster said in an apologetic tone.
Cecilia seemed sad and disappointed as she looked at the unconscious puppy.
"I know," I spoke up, "I will use my wishes to turn him back."
"But that's my fault," Cecilia said.
"No need to worry, I haven't use any of my wishes…yet," I realized that I already used one when we were falling, but I decided to keep it as a secret.
I bent down to Leo and touch him gently then said, "I wish Leo is back." The yellow cloud covered the puppy. Poof, a human shadow appeared in the cloud, exchanged place with the puppy. As the cloud faded away, it revealed Leo within it.
We were glad Leo is back. Cecilia apologized to Leo, but he smiled at Cecilia and said he didn't mind.
"I want to use my remained wishes to bring Aries back." Cecilia suggested.
"Are you sure about that?" I asked.
"I'm certain," she said with a bright smile craved on the face. "First, I'll wish to see Aries and then wish for his return. Does it sound reasonable?"
She closed her eyes and put her hands together on her chest then said, "I wish Aries is here."
Aries appeared on top of a collapsed building.
"Aries, please, please come back to us," Cecilia cried.
Aries jumped down in front of us, his eyes were cold, and they were the color of blood instead of the bright blue sky. His silver hair had dyed with the black of darkness. His radiate smile now filled with murderous intend. He was no longer the Aries we knew.
"It's too late," Aries said, his voice was deep and creepy, "there's no way I'd go back to you people. I've devoted my life to Lord Lucifer."
"Lucifer, do you mean the demon king?!" exclaimed the headmaster.
"That's right. Lord Lucifer is the only one who is right. He's my only hope. Unlike you, you are full of lies and betrayal…"
"Stop it!" Cecilia cried, tears were dripping from her eyes, "We're friends aren't we, then why… then why are you doing this?!"
"Friends? Don't make me laugh;" Aries' expression changed after a laugh, "You humans are useless, you used my power to get the treasure for your own needs."
"Who do you think you are?" I yelled in anger, "You're also using the demon king's power aren't you?"
"Don't compare me to you. I'm different from you. I use this power for Lord Lucifer's needs. But you, you used my power for gold and money."
"Gold and money?" I thought. "What is he talking about?"
I turned to Cecilia and she looked confused, too.
"I wish… you return to your normal self." Cecilia used her last wish and the light from the gem faded away.
"Whatever you wish." Aries said.
He turned and walked away. After a few steps, he kneeled down and looked painful. We rushed over and he was hugging his chest. Then he screamed out loud and collapsed. A dark spirit came out of him.
"How dare you…" the spirit cursed, "How dare you do this to me…You're going to pay for this… How dare you…"
He kept saying that as he disappeared. Aries' hair turned back to silver. Shortly after we transferred him to a nearby hospital, he woke up.
"Where am I?" Aries sat up on the hospital bed.
The headmaster, Cecilia and I entered the room.
"Do you remember what happened?" the headmaster questioned Aries.
Aries thought for a while and said, "I remember after Rosa and Cecilia gone back home, I received a letter from an unknown person and it told me to come to the Dark Castle, so I went there. When I arrived, the demon king was there and he asked me for help, but I refused him. Then I felt like something entered my body and I fell into a slumber. When I opened my eyes I was here. That's all I remember."
We looked at each other and nodded. I felt relief at the same time since Aries was back to the Aries we knew.
"I'll tell you what happened when you were unconscious," the headmaster told Aries what happened and we listened.
Aries seemed regretted for some reason. "I'm very sorry, it's my fault. If only I didn't come as the letter said." Aries apologized.
"Don't blame yourself," the headmaster comforted, "It's not like you it did on purpose. What happened already happened; we can't do anything about it."
Knock, knock, knock… The headmaster's secretary knocked on Aries' room's door.
"Unfortunately, tomorrow's Stars Festival will be cancel," she announced, "Due to the incident, everything for the festival were destroyed."
"I'll restore it," Aries spoke up.
"It'll be impossible," the secretary said, "there is too much damage and the festival is tomorrow. Plus your current power is really low; you need to rest for now."
"But…"
"Um… Excuse me…" I interrupted their conversation. "I'll use my last wish to restore everything." I said.
"Last wish!?" Aries and Cecilia exclaimed.
"But the only wish you've wished so far was turn Leo back. Then how?" Cecilia wondered.
"Oh, I just remembered that I used one when we were falling," I said, "but I'll not regret using my last wish for Horoscope Island's needs. Plus, I… no, everyone is looking forward for this festival." I smiled.
"If that's what you truly wanted, then do as you pleased." The headmaster said.
I step toward the window then close my eyes and said, "I wish everything restores to its original form."
The floor started to shake and the gem from my necklace started to shine also. And from there, a blinding light shot out everywhere.
"Rosa, Cecilia," a gentle voice called us.
"This voice… this voice was the one we heard when we opened the treasure chest." My voice echoed in my mind.
When I opened my eyes, everywhere around me was blank, just like that time when we receive our necklaces, and Cecilia was sitting next to me.
"Now," The voice continued, "you've used all of your wishes. As I have said, you will now receive a new power. You will find it out in the near future."
Then everything turned back to normal. I looked out the window.
"Look," I exclaimed, "everything is back to normal. Let's prepare for the festival."
The headmaster announced to continue to prepare for the festival. We helped out until the city was filled with a warm orange light.
"We have to go home now," I told Aries, "It's already 6 o'clock. My parent is coming home."
"We'll come back tomorrow for the festival," Cecilia said.
"Ok, bye-bye," Aries said. "See you later.
We teleported back home just in time dad rang the doorbell. Cecilia's parents came pick her up 15 minutes later.
"See you later," I said.
"Later," Cecilia waved at me.
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