Magica

Chapter 2

In Magica City

So Rose picked up a banana from the third tree and ate it in less than a minute. Suddenly, she was returning to her real form.

The travelers wasted no time in preparing to resume their journey. They left the serpent staring after them. But they ignored him.

When our friends could no longer see the cruel serpent, Rose said to the Good Statue, “Your name fits you, sir. If it wasn’t for you, I would’ve remained a serpent forever. Thank you very much!”

“Well I only did my best,” replied the statue.

“And God did the rest,” laughed the little girl.

When night came, the travelers decided to stay in a place that was grassy. There were trees all around them. So the place was beautiful.

The little girl got out her food and began eating her supper. She also fed the wonderful horse. The Good Statue, however, could not eat, since he was a statue.

At last, the Good Statue sang a song which made both Rose and the horse fall asleep. The journey had made them weary.

But the statue could not sleep. So he spent the whole night thinking about the other statue, who was now the king of Magica City. The Good Statue said to himself, “Will he remember me?”

The next morning, Rose and the horse woke up and began eating their breakfast. Both of them had good sleeps. So they were ready to resume the journey to Magica City.

Now our friends were not very far from their desired location. However, because they were traveling on a horse, it took them longer to get to Magica City.

The three travelers [including the horse] reached the northern gate of Magica City in the evening. Well they were very excited when they were able to see the beautiful Magica City.

Of course no one could enter the city without the approval of one of the guards, because the city was protected from all sides. It had four towering gates. At each of these four gates stood a number of soldiers who were carrying guns for protection.

Whenever they see someone coming toward their city, the soldiers would take him or them to a place called ‘verification room,’ where they would make sure that the stranger is not dangerous to Magica City. But the stranger was not harmed during the detention. This process usually took twenty-five to thirty minutes. If the stranger is found to be harmless, he or she would be set free. Then he or she would enjoy the journey in Magica City.

So when Rose and the Good Statue had reached the gate with the horse, a soldier cried out, “Stop!” Now the travelers were frightened at this cry.

But then, a soldier came out to meet them. To take their fears away, he left his gun behind. He said, “No one can enter our city unless we make sure that they’re not dangerous. So I’ll take you to the Verification Room, where you’ll be interviewed by someone. If you prove to be harmless, then you will be set free, and you will be able to go anywhere in the city.”

So the three travelers followed him into the city. They were still riding on the horse, but the soldier walked in front of them.

Now there were many Verification rooms. Rose and the Good Statue were not taken to the same room, because each individual must enter alone. But the horse did not need to do this process, because since Rose was his master, she spoke on his behalf.

So Rose entered a nice-looking room, where a pretty maiden was waiting for her.

There were only two chairs in the room. So Rose sat beside the maiden. She was not afraid, because the maiden was pretty, which meant that she will not harm her.

“What’s your name, please?” began the maiden.

“My name is Rose, miss,” replied the little girl.

“Well nice to meet you, Rose,” they shook hands. “I’m a Verification Soldier. So when strangers come into our city, I and other verification soldiers interview them.”

Next, the Verification Soldier left Rose for a minute. So Rose began to admire the room in which she was sitting. She said to herself, “It doesn’t look like a prison at all.”

When the maiden had returned, she gave Rose a glass of water, saying, “Please drink.”

Rose did as she was told. Then she said, “But this does not look like a prison at all.”

“Well it’s not a prison,” smiled the Verification Soldier. “It’s only a Verification Building, where strangers are interviewed before they can walk in our city. We just want to make sure that you’re not dangerous.”

Then, the maiden took from her pocket a little paper, containing the important questions that she must ask the stranger. She took another paper and a pencil in which she could write the answers.

Next, the Verification soldier asked, “So could you please tell me a little bit about your history?”

So Rose told the maiden all about her history. She spoke of when her parents were still alive, and they were living in Magica City.

“O so are you a native of Magica City, then?” the maiden asked wonderingly.

“Yes I am,” smiled the little girl.

When the interview was over, the Verification Soldier said, “Welcome back to your former city!”

Then she took Rose out of the room, where the Good Statue and his Verification Soldier were waiting for them.

The soldier who had interviewed the statue said, “He can’t drink the Anti-Deception juice, since he’s a statue. So what should we do?”

“Don’t worry,” smiled the maiden who had interviewed Rose. “The little girl told me all about him, and I’m sure that she spoke the truth, because she drank the Anti-Deception juice. The statue is her friend, too. So if she’s harmless then her friends are so as well.”

“You’re really smart!” smiled the statue’s Verification Soldier, giving the maiden a little hug, for that was a common thing in Magica City with everyone.

“So what’s the Anti-Deception juice all about?” asked Rose.

The maiden replied, “This type of juice is only used when we want someone to tell us the truth. So before I interviewed you, I made you drink from it so you won’t be able to lie to me. And if you try to lie, it will hurt every part of your body. But the affect of the juice is over now, because it lasts for only thirty minutes.”

As our friends and the two Verification Soldiers were standing together, a young and pretty woman appeared before them. She looked older than Rose. Nevertheless, she was as pretty as Rose.

“This is Maria,” said the maiden who had interviewed Rose. “She’ll be your assistant.”

So Maria and Rose shook hands. Then she shook hands with the statue, which she found a little strange but nice.

“I’ll take you to my house,” she told them sweetly. “And I’ll show you anything that you want to see in Magica City.”

After saying goodbye to the two soldiers, Rose, the Good Statue and the horse followed Maria to her house. As they were walking in the golden streets of Magica City, Rose was amazed at all the beautiful sites her eyes fell on. Even though she was living here almost four years ago, she had forgotten how beautiful her city was. That’s why she admired everything she saw.

“Where would you like to stay in my house?” Maria asked the horse.

“In the garden - if you have one,” was the reply.

“I do!” she smiled.

Then she said to the other two, “Well my house contains ten bedrooms. My husband and I use one. So you have nine to choose from.”

As they were approaching the house, Rose saw a man that she could not admire. He was standing at the door of Maria’s house. Rose could not look at him. In fact, she decided not to look at him, lest she vomits.

“This is my husband,” explained Maria, pointing at the man that Rose did not like.

Rose could not believe this fact. She said in her mind, “How could sweet Maria have married this ugly man? No! It’s impossible!”

She even called him ‘Satan’ in her mind. Nevertheless, she decided to be kind to him if he will respect her, because he was Maria’s husband, after all.

The problem with Rose was that she looked at people from the outside. The eyes can be deceiving some times. Your eyes might tell you that a person is mean, but after you’ve met him for a long time, you will realize that your eyes were not right. So look at people’s hearts instead.

When the travelers had reached Maria’s house, she introduced them to her husband, whose name was Arthur. He was very happy to meet them. It brought joy to his heart when Maria told him that “they’re staying with us.”

Taking little Rose in his arms, Mr. Arthur hugged her for a minute and gave her a kiss. Rose felt disgusted at his actions. How dare he hugs her!

Then Maria began showing the visitors her house. It had a dining room, ten bedrooms, a kitchen and two rooms that were used as bathrooms. The house was also decorated with gold and other precious things. It looked almost like a palace.

Despite the fact that Mr. Arthur was not handsome at all, yet he was very happy with his visitors. He treated them cordially, and did whatever he could to make their journey a pleasant one.

Rose began to feel ashamed of herself for thinking negatively of Mr. Arthur. Even though she could not admire his physical appearance, yet she could not help loving him. He had a very kind heart. He reminded her of her father.

“Would you like to have something?” Mrs. Maria asked her visitors.

“I’ve eaten only kuls for four years,” smiled Rose. “So I don’t know what other kinds of food exist.”

“And you, sir?” Mrs. Maria pointed at the Good Statue.

“Well I’m just a statue, you know,” laughed the object. “So I don’t eat nor drink anything. But thanks for calling me ‘sir.’”

Then their hostess took from her pocket a little device, which could do magic. Pointing it at the floor, she pressed a number of buttons.

Suddenly, a table was standing between the kind lady and her visitors. It had two plates containing cookies and cake. There were also two coffees on it.

So Rose and the kind lady began to enjoy their treat. But the Good Statue enjoyed looking at them while they were eating.

“So what made you think of coming to visit Magica City?” was Mrs. Maria’s question.

Since Rose could not answer because she was eating, the Good Statue replied, “Well Rose wanted to return to her city, because she lived in Magica City before her parents were lost. As for me, I’ve come to see the king of Magica City, because we were both rescued from the park by the same people.”

“So are you the other statue whom the king is looking for?” Mrs. Maria asked shockingly.

“Well there’s no other one,” was the reply.

“When would you like to see him?” she asked.

“As soon as possible,” replied the statue.

So Mrs. Maria asked for her husband and said, “The Good Statue wants to see his majesty. So could you take him to the palace?”

Mr. Arthur agreed. Even Rose wanted to go with them. She decided to take her horse along.

So Mr. Arthur, Rose and the Good Statue rode on the horse’s back to the palace. The ground was so soft that the horse thought that he was going to slip.

There were many soldiers guarding the palace. There were soldiers at each of the four gates of the palace.

So when these soldiers saw our friends coming toward them, some of them went to meet them. Now because the soldiers knew Mr. Arthur, they were not worried.

“We have three people who want to see his majesty,” Mr. Arthur told the soldiers.

“What about the horse?” one of the soldiers asked.

“The good horse is one of them,” smiled Mr. Arthur.

So a soldier led the visitors into the palace. Then they came to a room where the soldier told them to wait.

Now the palace of King Friendly Statue was the biggest palace in the whole world. Every part of it was decorated with gold and other precious items. It had hundreds of rooms. Everything looked so bright that people could not open their eyes very wide.

The soldier returned to the visitors and asked, “The king is in a state of mourning, because the wonderful magician of this city has disappeared. Why do you wish to see the king?”

“Perhaps our visit might cheer him up a little,” said the Good Statue. “I’m the other statue whom the king is looking for.”

The herald rushed to the king and proclaimed the good news that the other statue is in Magica City. He said, “There’s a girl and a horse with him.”

The king returned to his throne room to prepare to see his visitors. He had spend two days in another room, weeping for the loss of his great magician, Mr. Wishman.

“Bring them here at once!” said his majesty in a cheery voice. He wanted someone to bring joy to his heart, because he had spent two days in mourning.