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To Believe or To Not Believe

"Magic?" Astara asked, not sure if she had heard correctly.

"Yes Astara, magic. Surely you've heard of it before?" Mr Daniels asked.

Disbelief was what Astara was feeling. Was this guy serious? Magic? The thing in fairytales that turned people into frogs?

Please.

Naturally, Astara burst out laughing.

"Seriously? Is this a joke of some type? Trying to punish me for lying in class? Because honestly, this is the lamest, dumbest punishment ever." She laughed.

Mr Daniels paced around the room before coming to sit in the desk in front of her. He turned around and looked into her dark blue eyes.

"Tell me Astara, have you ever read a book?"

She snorted. "Mr Daniels I've read nearly every book in the school library, believe it or not. But what does that have to with "magic"?"

"Books have their own little magic to them. They can transport you to a whole different world. The characters become your friends and their battles become your battles to, all by staring at a piece of paper with words printed on it." He paused and stared at Astara for a few seconds. "But you know all this, don't you? You've been to those worlds, made those friends, and have fought countless battles! So why is it that you pretend not to have done those things? Why is it that you hide all the knowledge you've gained?" Mr Daniels asked curiously.

Astara sighed. "Because...this is stupid. Why do you need to know this stuff? You're obviously a crazy person who's trying to turn me back into that blind, believing, hopeful girl who would wish on stars at night! Well I'm not that person anymore okay! I'm older, better now. Now let me leave before I start screaming bloody murder!" She said angrily.

This whole thing was ridiculous. Magic, books, and crazy men in ties...so ridiculous. But what if...no, she wouldn't give in, she wouldn't hope for that. She was stronger, better than hoping for magic. She wasn't going to let this old man break her.

She headed for the door, opened it, and was about to walk out when it slammed right back shut. So she tried again: She opened it, it shut. Open, shut, repeat.

"What is going on with this stupid door!" Astara yelled kicking the stupid block of wood.

"I told you my dear, it's magic. M-A-G-I-C, magic." Astara's teacher said rather impatiently.

Astara stepped away from the door quickly as if  she had gotten burned. She looked from the door to Mr Daniels then shook her head.

"There is no such thing as magic!" She practically screamed.

Mr Daniels flicked his wrist and Astara couldn't believe what she was seeing: Mr Daniels was holding a ball of fire!

"You-your holding fire!" She exclaimed stupidly.

"Why yes, yes I am. It's magic Astara, how many more times must I say it for you to believe?" He asked clearly frustrated.

"You can say it a million more times for all I care! But I will never, ever, EVER BELIEVE!" She screamed. As if almost responding to her outburst, the power cut off. Which left her and the English teacher in the dark.

Astara looked at her teacher frantically. "Did I just...no! No, that-that was just a coincidence! There must be a storm going on or something!" She looked out the window desperately only to see a clear blue sky without a cloud in sight.

But Mr Daniels wasn't paying attention to the weather. Instead he was looking at her rather oddly.

"Your eyes...for a moment they looked...looked like..."

"Looked like what?" She asked irritably.

He shook his head. "Must of a been a trick of the light. Anyway, Astara you saw how I held that fire, you know that it was magic! I know that you know! Why is it so hard for you to believe it?"

Astara opened her mouth, ready to snap back. Ready to scream, ready to yell. But just as soon as she opened it, she closed it. She knew she was fighting a pointless battle, she knew that he was right, there was no other way that he could've held that fire: it was magic.

So why wasn't she happy? Wasn't magic all she had ever wanted?

"Astara, I'm waiting."

It took her a minute to realize that he wanted her to answer his question. So she did something that she rarely ever did:

Astara let her guard down.

"Because..." She sighed and looked him in the eye. "With every book you read, the more depressing normal life becomes. Mr Daniels, do you know how many times I've cried just because I couldn't crawl inside a book and live there? Do you know how hard it is to face the fact that you're alone and nothing magical is ever going to happen to you? It sucks! And then having to make the choice between believing in fairies and being made fun of, or throw away all those childish beliefs and grow up...it hurts okay? It hurts." Astara confessed. She realized that a small tear was rolling down her cheek. She quickly wiped it away, thankful that Mr Daniels couldn't see in the dark.

"I understand Astara, more than you can possibly imagine. But just because the past has been unkind, doesn't mean that the future won't be bright." He paused. "I'm going to show you something Astara. Well it's more of a place than a thing. But you must be willing to believe for this to work."

Astara was confused. "For what to work?"

"This!" Mr Daniels snapped his fingers and a long, twisted stick of wood, which Astara took to be a staff, appeared out of think air.

"Woah! Did you just-right, right magic." She said when her teacher gave her a look.

The English teacher raised his staff up over his head and then slammed the end of the staff onto the ground. For a minute nothing happened...but only for a minute.

Bam!

The earth shook and the ground beneath their feet began to glow. It started swirling and swirling until finally, a hole was made in the center. Astara peered inside it and was amazed at what she saw.

Luscious, green land went on for miles. Thousands of people were strolling through many different villages. But the most beautiful thing of all was the huge storybook blue and gold castle that stood in the center it all.

"Wow that's...beautiful!" She breathed. She'd never seen anything more magnificent in her life, not even in her books!

"Are you ready Astara?" Mr Daniels asked, holding out his hand to her.

She stepped back. "What? But my parents and the school...okay don't really care about those things, but I have a life here!"

Yeah, a very crummy life, A small voice in her head said. She tried to push it away but it just kept coming back.

Come on! What do you have to lose? School sucks, you don't have any friends, and let's be real, would your parents even notice that your gone?

She had to admit that it had a point.

Mr Daniels looked at her. "I know this is very sudden and very strange but I need you to come with me, please. I must find a way to save Cornacapia and you may be the only way!" The man sounded very desperate but that just made her even more confused.

"What's Cornacapia? What do you mean I'm the only way to save it? Haven't you learned by now? I can't save anyone!" She was shouting now, the swirling hole in the ground was becoming rather loud.

"Please Astara, I'll answer everything later! I just need you to believe! Please!" Mr Daniels pleaded with her. She had never heard him sound so desperate before. And it scared her.

So she reluctantly nodded her head, closed her eyes and did something she swore that she would never do again:

Astara Knight believed.

Believe
Believe
Believe

And she did just that as she took Mr Daniels hand and jumped into the world that would soon change her life.

Sorry for the short chapter, the next one should be longer. And much more interesting lol. Anyways, thanks for reading!-Vanna✨