Between Worlds

• Kathryn Fisher, Grade 7, Blackheath And Thornburgh College
• Short Story
• 2016

Excellence Award in the 'Top Secret 2016' competition

All is darkness all is lost, Burnt by fire cold as frost. A quiet breeze whispered ancient tales through the enlaced vines and ferns, clinging to the more substantial boughs of the wise, age-old trees. In its shaded depths the forest held its secret. Here, fragrant orchids stretching through the crevices of the canopy above, the creatures of the forgotten realms of faerie sought their last refuge. No longer was the world beyond, theirs, nor the lives they had once known. Dwarves delved vainly to salvage old ways. Dragons imprisoned, could no longer fly afar, as they once did, noble figures adorning boundless skies. Their world lost to them; they were driven back to this sanctuary or else perish.
With swords flourishing, the young combatants fought an epic battle. A mid-morning breeze cooling their sweating faces. Desperately, the girl attacked her brother. He parried the blow effortlessly. On-looking elves cheered as suddenly she lunged forward, beating him back. He swung his sword up to block the onslaught. The two blades connected, wood splintered and they collapsed, laughing, at peace.
A soft, rhythmic melody poured from ornate, arboreal instruments of dwarfish craft. Enchanted, they played serene yet chilling notes. Elves and fairies danced, liquid movements compelling the music to a melancholy lilt, commemorating the losses they had suffered, and for the blissfulness of eternal protection these two promised.
The girl lifted an exquisite sketch. An elf stared out of the parchment, emerald eyes, cool, calm, framed by porcelain skin and swirling midnight. The boy raised his own. His eyes sparkled from the page. The self-portrait was immaculate; every mark as it should be. She clapped. He grinned triumphantly. Discarded, the elf lay sadly smiling, forgotten on the floor.
The forest’s vibrancy had faded. The unique brilliance giving way to a sullen, stony hue, as ashen hands reached out to extinguish its last resplendent, glimmer of life. The girl turned to her brother seeking comfort, but youthfulness had left his eyes, narrowing his sight to a mask of reality, veiling his features. The ground trembled as a roar, foretelling the agony of the land was forced through gaping fissures, opening like bloodied wounds as explosions erupted from within the earth. Then the land stilled. May death be our favour? We search for our saviour.
Through autumn’s quiet, winters frost, blossoming spring and blistering summer the years passed in a childhood haze. The world settled, distantly from her.
Wandering through the house, the now young man discovered his sister sketching in a puddle of sun, magnificent dragons soaring through her notebook. He laughed, teasing her, pulling the book from her, mocking her fantasies, until, distraught, seething, sobbing, she wailed “I don’t believe!”
Immediately her world restricted, a sinister darkness encroaching upon her. Hearing her disbelief she screamed, understanding flooding through her.
The world crumbled under torrents of flame, twisting, devouring. Death awaiting its touch. Darkness. I leave you now to unravel this verse, and hope that you may lift this darkened curse.