The Unforgotten Curse

• Mariska Knighton, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2020

The scorching day comes a sudden end. The mysterious wilderness has been cursing the small community of Starry Valley, vanishing anyone who disobeys the whispers of the unforgotten Emperor who passed centuries before this world started counting years of life. Emperor Sebastian was very well known across the globe. He had suffered at the hands of a murderer who escaped from prison one evening. He had broken into the grand palace and murdered the Emperor through his shattered window.

Sebastian is still cursing Starry Valley with his haunting whispers to order every human being in his country. His peasants are like puppets and Emperor Sebastian is the director and controls every little thing that happens and if you infringe what his whispers say than you’ll be departing to the afterlife, known as hell where the Emperor sends his unworthy people to. Deep down everyone has a bitter taste in their mouths left from the heartless leader of their entire country. There was a spell cast upon the land many years ago.

Young Eliza was the daughter of the wealthy Emperor and was forbidden to be banished from the living so she could to disobey her father’s dictatorship instructions. Eliza had always wanted to set the people and herself free. They were forced to stay on the cold-hearted landscapes. Everyone dreamed of what it was like on the other side of this unclear wall separating them from the rest of the world. They had never seen any other place but had always dreamed of seeing the other parts of the world that hadn’t been discovered or any other cultured people. I have to see the signs are dull faced people every single day of their existence.

Abruptly Eliza remembered an underground temple which contained a potion if ever the Emperor wanted to set his people free. The twist was that she had to figure out where it was placed. She ran as fast as lightning to the forbidden room that no mortal was allowed to enter. “If I need to fix the people’s future, I’ll do it. Even if I’m punished for it I will save the innocent souls.”

She entered the forbidden room as if it was her own and found a scroll on the table. ‘At the bottom of a well lies a box. Pixies lie there, waiting to be free. If the pixies are let out, the wall will disappear and reveal the potion. Good luck’.

Eliza raced to the well and dug until she found a heavy box. She uncovered the secret pixies inside and suddenly the magic force field disappeared into thin air. Everyone was free to explore anywhere. Emperor Sebastian was enraged with fury. He knew it was forbidden but he banished his own daughter to the afterlife. Eliza knew she was going to sacrifice herself and that is what gave people the freedom to travel anywhere in the world.