Short Works I'm Proud Of

Everything Changed...

School Prompt: Write a story starting with: "Everything changed when the fire crystal got stolen."

...My teacher said I wrote too much in the span of two days.

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Everything changed when the fire crystal got stolen. I was flat on the ground, light sword in hand as I struggled to rise under the dark magic. How did this happen? We were supposed to protect it! There used to be five crystals, their elements wind, earth, water, fire, and light. The five different crystals controlled the life energy of its element's users, so once one was destroyed... Gripping my weapon as tears welled up in my eyes, I looked up once again to see the wizard laughing hysterically as he crushed the crystal. Screams filled the area, just like every other time he had done so. Then the world was quiet except for the thumping of my heartbeat and his laughing.

This all started before I had even joined the magic knights. I lived on an island that floated in the sky. Rubbing my eyes, I walked outside to hear screaming from every corner of the land. I frantically ran over to my friend that fell over on her side, her breaths slowly growing shorter each time. Grabbing her, I yelled "Iliah! What happened?" over the chaos around us.

"Aalok, the crystal." She gasped for breath. "It probably broke."

My eyes widened. "No. That can't be possible. The magic knights were guarding it, right? And what about the earth dragon?"

"I've heard... rumors. Knights... slacking off on their jobs. Dragon killers... traveling around." Iliah was growing paler. She smiled. "Am I really never going to learn any magic, even with a family of magic knights?"

"Don't worry, Iliah! I'll learn magic really quickly so you can keep living. Just give me a moment!" I was frantic, trying to get my healing magic to work.

"It's no use, you can't learn that quickly. I'm sorry, Aalok." Silence. "Iliah? Iliah! Wake up!" I shook her, but her eyes went dim. Dread, and then frustration came over me as tears leaked out of my eyes. I was a light element user! Though they were very rare, they normally learned how to use healing magic really quickly. What was holding me back? I just needed to give her some of my magic, but I couldn't even summon a wisp. "No..."

Suddenly, the whole island tilted. I fell on my back and decided to round myself up to stop the impending panic attack. This was life. I had already seen many deaths of my friends. Why did I care? I slid near the edge of the island, rocks crumbling beside me. Why was the world moving upwards? A crash knocked me unconscious.

"..ey. Hey, boy. You awake?" Upon opening my eyes, I sat up quickly and hit my head against another person's face. "What was that for?" I took in my surroundings and ignored the water user next to me. Rocks, rocks, dirt, more rocks, broken trees. Sighing, I noticed the blood on the decimated buildings and the pools of it that were found in open spaces. That was when I noticed something. "I wasn't the only non-earth element user on that island?" My head whipped toward the human that woke me up, now on her bottom as well. The person was a girl that looked about the same age as me, a teen.

"Apparently so." She twirled her jet black hair with her bloodied finger. "Anyways, what're we going to do? There are dead people around us, and we have no home." I shrugged and stood up, memories flooding back. Iliah was dead. All of the earth users were dead.

An idea popped into my head. "How about you join the magic knights? They give good pay." She stopped playing with her hair and glared at me. "What about you?"

"I can't use my magic yet."

"Oh. I can teach you, if you want to learn?" She suggested.

"Thank you," I said. The next day, we set out to search for food and... "Things to inspire the shape of my magic?" "Yes," she replied, "It is helpful to have a shape to create before even using magic. It has to be something significant to you though." I took a berry and tasted it. It seemed safe to eat, so I swallowed. "These berries-"