Magica

 

Novel 2: Rose In Magica

By Faisal Fransu

 

Before we go to chapter 1, I just want to speak a few words concerning this book.

This is the second novel in the ‘Magica’ series. It continues the story of the Friendly Statue and his friends. I also introduce some new characters too. I hope you will enjoy it.

If you find any mistakes in the novel, please email me at:

faisalfransu@gmail.com

If you have ideas that you want me to put in the next novel, please let me know.

 

Your friend,

 

Faisal Fransu

 

 

Chapter 1

The Forbidden Fruit

 

Bathra was both a city and a country. It had its own culture, ethnicity and government. That’s how it was a country. Yet it was still a part of the greater Kingdom of Magica. So it was also a city.

Bathra was divided into two regions: North Bathra and South Bathra. A river and a mountain separated the north from the south. That’s why there were two regions.

The river that separated the north from the south was called the ‘Separation River.’ The mountain that also separated the north from the south was called ‘Mount Separation.’ Because of this river, there was not too much interaction between the two regions of the same city.

North Bathra was bigger than South Bathra by size. But very few people lived there. Because the region was so big, the people were scattered all over the region. The reason why only few people lived in North Bathra was because it was very cold in there.

South Bathra, on the other hand, was not as big as the other region, yet it was overpopulated. The weather was liked by everyone.

The natives of Bathra were referred to as ‘Bathrans.’ When speaking about the regional divisions of the city, the people were referred to as ‘North Bathrans’ and ‘South Bathrans.’

Near the Separation River in the northern region of Bathra, there was once an old house that had only one room and a wonderful garden. This house was so old that it was very easy to destroy it, because it was constructed very poorly. Nevertheless, it was still occupied.

A fourteen-year-old girl lived in it. She was very beautiful to look at. Her parents had asked a magician to enchant her to not pass the age of fourteen, because they wanted her to remain a little girl forever so she would stay beautiful forever. Her name was Rose.

When Rose was ten years old, an evil magician murdered her parents, who were living in Magica City at that time. So this little girl ran away from her city to escape the evil magician’s threat. Coming to North Bathra, she occupied this house, which was not owned by anyone. Therefore, she has remained in it ever since.

Rose had a beautiful garden that grew ‘Kuls,’ something that looked like a cucumber. But it had a different taste from that of cucumber. This fruit had the advantages of every food that exists. So eating a piece of this fruit is like eating a little of everything. It is also very healthy. It gives the eater a lot of strength.

Rose ate kuls for breakfast, lunch and supper, because she did not have anything else to eat. But she loved it. It tasted delicious to her.

Near Rose’s house, there was   also a magical well that was never empty. So she would drink from it whenever she’s thirsty. The water of this well tasted very sweet. So she also drank it as you would drink juice or coffee.

Rose owned a horse that was used for riding around the city. Even though she had no one to visit, she would still travel around North Bathra for fun. Interestingly, her horse could talk. She considered him her best friend, since she had no one to play or talk with. She called his name ‘Goody.’

This horse belonged to her parents before they were gone. But when Rose was running away from the magician who had murdered them, the horse ran with her. So he had remained her best friend ever since.

The little girl was eating her lunch one fine afternoon when a knock on her door startled her. She had lived in this house for four years, but no one had ever knocked on her door. But this knock was very soft.

So Rose got up and opened the door. She wasn’t sure whether she was going to live or die. But when the door was opened, there stood a wooden statue. But it was wearing shoes. There was nothing to admire in this object. But what interested Rose the most was that this statue was walking, and it was able to knock on her door.

“Sorry to trouble you, ma’am,” he began. “But I’m traveling to Magica City. When I saw your house, I decided to pay you a visit to see if you know anything about the road to the city.”

“Please come in, sir,” was Rose’s kind reply.

So the statue entered her little room. The horse was in the garden. Therefore, he did not see the visitor.

Then the statue told her the following story:

“Well my name is Good Statue, because although I’m a statue, yet I’m very kind to human beings. Long time ago, I lived in Statueland, a country where only statues live. But one day, an evil magician called the Prince of Darkness took all of my magical abilities, took away my speech and the ability to move. So I couldn’t speak nor move. Then he threw me into another world. I was on the ground of a park until a boy and a girl found me. Now I forgot to mention that there was another statue that was enchanted and thrown into the other world. So the boy and the girl took both of us to their house. I was put in the room of the little girl, while the other statue was in the boy’s bedroom.

Now the spell that the magician had put on me could only be broken if someone kisses me. Well one day, the girl kissed me and the spell was broken. When she had fallen asleep, I transported myself back to this world.

I heard that the other statue is also free from the enchantment, and that now he is the king of Magica City. That’s why I want to visit the great city. I want to hear his story.”

Now some of my readers may remember George and Natasha, who had saved the two statues from the park. You might also remember that the Friendly Statue, one of the two, became the king of Magica. Well the statue who is now visiting Rose is the second statue.

“Your story is very interesting, sir,” Rose spoke after the Good Statue had finished telling her his story.

“Would you like to eat anything?” she asked.

“I’m just a statue,” he cackled. “I never get hungry, nor sick, nor tired. I don’t sleep either, because I’m just a statue, you know.”

Meanwhile Rose had finished eating her lunch. But because she did not have many dishes or cups, she didn’t have anything to wash.

“I think I’ll come with you to Magica City,” she told him after a little while. “I’ve lived in this house for four years. So I want to live in a new location.”

“Thank you,” replied the Good Statue. “I’m glad that I won’t have to go alone.”

So the little girl began preparing to travel. Even though the city of Bathra shared a border with Magica City, there was still a long   distance between the two cities. Rose lived in the northern part of Bathra, which made Magica City even farther. So she filled a bag with kuls. Then she filled another bag with water.

The horse was all ready. The little girl had forced it to eat more than it could, so it would have a lot of energy to walk. So both Rose and the Good Statue rode on its back.

As they were traveling, Rose told her companion her life story. She told him that she would never pass the age of fourteen. So she would look young and pretty all the time.

“But I’m still wondering how are we going to cross the river?” the Good Statue asked.

“Well I’ve never crossed it before,” was Rose’s answer.

Now he was hoping that there would be something that would help them to cross the huge river. He was even hoping that the river would be removed from its location; even though that was a silly idea.

But when the travelers had reached the Separation River, there was no one and nothing to assist them. The only way of crossing this river was to fly, which they could not accomplish. So they sat on the ground, waiting for someone or something to help them.

“Can’t your horse fly?” the Good Statue asked Rose.

But instead of Rose answering his question, the horse replied himself, saying, “I wish I could.”

“Can you talk?” the statue turned to look at the horse.

“Well you’ve just heard me talking,” was the animal’s reply. “What do you think? Do I talk?”

Suddenly, our friends saw a young man coming toward them. He was dressed richly. He carried a wand. So it was easy to guess that he was a magician.

“How can I help you?” the magician asked.

“Well we’re trying to figure out how to cross this river,” replied the Good Statue.

“No matter how long you try to figure out, you will never be able to cross it,” was the magician’s remark. “But I can help you.”

“Please do!” cried Rose.

Then without warning, all three of them were on the other side of the river. All three of them were lying on the ground. They were unconscious for a minute, because their magical transportation was very powerful.

When the Good Statue was conscious again, he looked for the magician, but he had disappeared.

So Rose and the Good Statue rode on the donkey’s back and continued their journey toward Magica City.

The three travelers were now traveling through the southern part of Bathra, which comes after the river that they had crossed.

Rose did not like the weather in this region, because it was too hot for her. But she could not do anything to change it.

As they were traveling, Rose suddenly exclaimed, “I see three trees not far from here. Let’s go and sit near them to rest a little bit. And perhaps we could eat from their fruits.”

So the horse obeyed and rushed toward the three trees.

When they had stopped near the three trees, Rose was thinking of eating something from them. The first tree looked ugly, the second tree was very beautiful, and the third one was just like the first one. So Rose decided to cut an apple from the second tree.

But before she could do anything, a big serpent suddenly emerged from behind the second tree.

“What are you doing with my tree?” cried the serpent.

Rose was terrified at seeing such an enormous serpent. She had never seen a talking serpent in her whole life. So the little girl started running away from the tree.

“Please come back!” pleaded the frightening creature. I won’t hurt you! I’m harmless!”

Even the Good Statue urged her to return, saying, “If it will hurt you in any way, I will kill it.”

The little girl had put her trust in her good friend. So she returned to the trees.

Then she decided to face the serpent like a brave girl. So she said, “Why were you trying to stop me from eating an apple from this tree?”

“You can eat as much as you like!” replied the serpent.

So Rose picked up an apple. But she discovered that it had writings on it. It read, “Forbidden fruit…”

“Forbidden fruit?” she asked the serpent.

“O don’t worry about what it says on it. I wrote that because I don’t want a lot of people coming to eat from my tree.”

“Then why are you allowing us to eat from it?” asked Rose in a puzzled tone.

“Because you’re not a lot of people,” smiled the serpent cruelly. Then he disappeared.

So Rose began eating her apple. It was actually the biggest apple that she had ever seen. It was the size of ten of our apples. Nevertheless, it was very delicious.

Suddenly, she began to cry in pain. Her stomach was aching very badly. At the same time, she was slowly turning into a serpent.

When the Good Statue saw what was happening, he ran to find the evil serpent that had tricked them, because he remembered in what direction the serpent went away.

Well it did not take long to find the cruel creature. Since he could not be harmed, the statue picked up the struggling animal and returned to Rose. The serpent knew that it was in trouble. So he tried to run away from the Good Statue, but the statue was stronger than him.

“What have you done?” the statue questioned the ugly-looking creature. “Why did you trick us by saying that the tree was harmless when it had a warning message on its apples?”

“Because I wanted to trick you,” laughed the evil creature in a tone of defiance. “I’m a descendant of the ancient serpent who had tricked Eve.”

The statue was furious now. So he said, “Look now, if you don’t tell us how to restore Rose to her proper form, I will cut you to pieces! I’m stronger than you are! I will put you under my feet and destroy you!”

The serpent’s face turned red. He was evidently frightened at what the statue had said it would happen to him. So he replied, “Promise me that you won’t hurt me if I help you.”

“I promise,” replied the Good Statue, ready to do whatever he could to save his best friend Rose.

By the time the cruel serpent had agreed to restore her to her proper form, the little girl had turned completely into a large serpent. She was even bigger than the serpent who had tricked her. Nevertheless, she did not lose her heart or her mind. She was crying very hard.

“Let her eat from the third tree,” suggested the serpent. “But don’t eat an apple.”

“Are you sure that it won’t hurt me?” she asked pleadingly.

“Only the pleasant one hurts,” was the creature’s answer. “That’s why my ancestor tricked Eve to eat from the pleasant tree.”