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Chapter 3: New Comers

Walking along the path, Ben paused as he looked at all of the lands they had not ventured into. The land that consumed the middle circle left bare for those newcomers to come and live once they pull themselves out from the rut that is the outer circle. He smiled as he looked at the woods; the dreary sounds of the woods ran through the entrance like a pack of wolves. Ben looked back at Ella and his new friends. A large, grinchily smirk appeared on his face. Ella, Izz, and Mark followed.

"You know it is almost all hallows eve... there could be some scary shit happening in the woods today," laughed Ben.

"Ben, don't try and scare them. They have magic to protect us," said Ella. Ben then turned slowly and looked grimly at Ella.

"How in god's earth do you have magic?" he abruptly asked. Embarrassed at her friend, Ben looked at Ella and shrugged his shoulders.

"Ben, stop," Ella whined to him with embarrassment

"Magic is nothing but trouble," told Ben. Looking at Ben with a confused looked, Izz pushed her wand deeper into her boot as if hiding an embarrassing scar.

"Magic isn't bad; the people that use the magic poorly and for selfish reasons are bad." Explained Ella, who herself has never been seen to use magic. Ben stopped walking and turned to Ella and her two new friends. "You can't - shouldn't- stigmatize an entire art just because some people use it for evil," she adds. Ben obnoxiously rolled his eyes.

"There's more harmful than there are good. It is an addictive art, but many people--most people do it without resorting to evil," Replied Izz. She turned and looked at Mark, who still stood silent in the back. "We aren't bad. We do not intend to use such magic for bad things," Izz said with a hushed voice.

"She's my friend, and she won't use magic for her own gain," told Ella. Ben rolled his eyes and continued to walk through the woods.

"Trust us, we have seen the bad," Mark said finally. Everyone turned and looked at Mark with an astonished face. Hearing his voice for the first time, Ella smirked a tiny bit. Ben remained silent, and they continued walking down the path. Passing by the old abandon houses, they remained silent as they reminisced at the ghostly memories of the neighborhood.

"Where did all these people go?" Izz wondered. Slowing her pace, Ella walked closer to Izz.

"They couldn't pay to keep up with the times in this part of the kingdom. They were pushed out and has to leave everything behind," she whispered. The group of children stopped in front of one house in particular. An old farmhouse with half its' roof caved in. Looking through the windows, Ben sighed loudly with anger as he noticed the charred inside.

"This house was burned down," he said. Leaving the rest of the group, he continued to walk down the path. The group then slowly, one by one, followed him. Entering into the darker portion of the trail, the trees covered all inches of sunlight. Izz swished her wand, and a small orb of light appeared on the outside of her wand, taking out their wands. A tiny firefly orb buzzed around the group. Suddenly, five tiny spheres formed over each of the children's heads.

"Still think magic is bad?" asked Ella sarcastically. Walking on the tiny brown dirt path, Ella looked over at Mark, who had barely said anything during the duration of the trip. Peering her eyes downward, she noticed that she had scars on the tops of Mark's hands in the slightest bit of light. The light, becoming darker now, made it impossible for her to see anything else. She shrugged her shoulders and continued to move forward. They reached the end of the dark path—the sunlight showing like the lights of heaven at the very edge of the trail. The group hurried out of the darkness and ran into the warm sunshine. The warm sunlight beamed onto their cold faces. The tiny orbs then raced into the sunlight and disappeared. Smelling the air of the autumn evening approaching, Ella rubbed the sides of her arms as a chill ran rapidly through her body. Looking up at the sky, they noticed a familiar sight in the sky. Dark clouds were forming in the near distance. Suddenly, the sun began to go down.