The Magical Secret of the Crystal Kingdom

Chapter 22 - Love or Fear

Chapter 22 - Love or Fear

Rose sat staring out of the window back in her pink bedroom. Three weeks had passed since she had left the Crystal Kingdom behind. She had had to make a very difficult choice shortly after the final battle. Stay in Velaro Fore with her true parents Abner and Alva or return to live with Alice, Anthony and George. She really didn't feel capable of making the decision and the longer she had thought about it the harder it had become.

There had been lots of tears and hugs and long conversations and walks but in the end matters were taken out of her hands. That final night back in Velaro Fore they had all gathered together for a feast and a celebration at the return of the King and Queen and the return of true peace to Velaro Fore. It had been wonderful right until the point when her Dad had told her that she needed to make a decision about her future.

"Don't worry Rose, my beautiful princess" he had said as he looked down at her smiling. "Tonight we will all sleep and when you wake you will know what to do."

And so she had slept and she had dreamed all about her time growing up as a little girl in the village and how happy she had been. All the while with a sense of yearning inside of her to know where she truly belonged. That yearning had now passed. She knew who she truly was and the power that had lain within her for so long. She knew what she was capable of now and when she opened her eyes she was back in the garden and so was everyone else that had gone into the crystal kingdom with her.

It was hard to take at first and hard to adjust. Every night when she fell asleep she had expected to go back into the Crystal Kingdom, but it hadn't happened. She had gone into the woods again with the children to the cave but there was nothing to be found. Even her beloved tiara had gone missing and she just assumed that it had stayed behind in the crystal kingdom. As the days and weeks of their holiday had come to an end, Rose finally had to accept that it was all over. All that she had left were her memories.

It was a calm and beautiful night with a full moon reflecting across the garden and out into the fields. After the long journey back she had expected to have slept all night without waking up but for some reason she just couldn't sleep. So now she was just sitting there staring out and dreaming once again.

She got off the windowsill and walked over to her desk where she had left all of her books that she had read so many times. The cover of one of them caught her eye. It was called 'The Lost Animal Kingdom' and was one of her favourites. Inside the back cover was a long list of other books by the same author.

'Return to the Animal Kingdom. The Talking Lion. The Rainbow Children' were just some of the titles and then there was one more that she had always wanted to read but had never been able to get hold of 'The Land of Love or Fear.' She looked at the title again and it seemed to just jump out at her. Love or Fear. She grabbed a pen and paper and wrote the letters out in capitals.

LOVE OR FEAR

Then she started to rearrange them one by one until they spelled something else.

VELARO FORE.

"Love or Fear. Velaro Fore" she whispered. "I choose Love!" she said a little louder. She looked around her room and knew straight away that it wasn't her imagination, suddenly everything was glowing!

She ran straight downstairs and out through the back door and into the garden, gradually picking up speed. As she came to the tall garden fence she sped up even faster and took a great big jump closing her eyes and as she did so she felt herself lift up into the air upon her majestic wings. She was an alicorn again and was flying across the fields. She circled around and flew back towards the house up to George's bedroom window which was wide open and hovered outside her wings gently flapping.

"George" she called out. "George wake up."

George opened his eyes and looked out of the window with a mixed look of confusion and wonder on his face.

"Rose, how did you do that?" asked George jumping up and running to the window.

"I chose it George. I chose love. It is the secret of the crystal kingdom. We can choose it anytime. I finally understand" said Rose excitedly. "Come out into the garden with me, quickly."

George ran downstairs and into the garden.

"Now just run George and close your eyes and think of love" shouted Rose as she landed down next to him. George started to run across the garden and as he got close to the fence he closed his eyes and jumped. As quick as a flash he had been transformed back into a dragon and was flying up next to Rose. They flew next to each other for a few minutes and then landed on top of a large hill not far from the house.

"We have to tell the others George. We can go back into the crystal kingdom. We can go back and see them all. They are all going to be so excited."

"But how do we get back Rose" asked George suddenly. "We may have transformed but we're still here."

Rose closed her eyes and within seconds a large portal opened up in front of them.

"That's how!" said Rose smiling. "Come on George, what are we waiting for. Let's get the others and go back into the Crystal Kingdom. We must tell them what we've discovered."

"You'reright Rose. Let's go!" shouted George and they both jumped into the portaland disappeared in a flash!