Fiction: Group 3
“Magic is all about imagination. We were born immortal, so naturally, we have a magical core inside us. If
we lose it, we die. The core gives us the power to do anything that is within our imagination. The powers
that the 14 gods gave us only strengthened a certain part of our cores. That’s why, for example, the element
of water will come easier to you than the instinct to form a, let’s say, gun in your hand out of thin air.”
“So the most important key is imagination,” Anya finished. “But that means anybody could do anything.
Especially Ashton.”
Sapphyre smirked. “You’d be surprised at how original Ashton can be. He’s a boy, and the first thing that
comes into a boy’s mind are either cheeseburgers or milkshakes.”
“Oh.” Anya looked up at the Buddha and tried to find the entrance.
“Who told you the entrance is on the top?” Sapphyre asked, as if reading her mind. “Come on. We’ve got
to get up to the left arm. Ascendio Leritso!”
Before Anya could question her, the right foot of the Buddha in front of them rumbled and moved. Anya
found herself staring into a tunnel.
“Come on.” Sapphyre dragged her into the tunnel and lights flickered on. As soon as they were inside, the
space behind them closed and she was left alone with her sister.
They went up a staircase that seemed to go up from the Buddha’s right foot to its leg, then the waist, and to
its left hand. Then, there was another flight of stairs going up its arm. Huffing and puffing, Anya didn’t have
the time to admire the structure of the stones.
Sapphyre looked at her knowingly. “It’s because you’re still mortal,” she reassured her. “Once this is over,
you can climb a million steps and you won’t have to rest once.”
They arrived at the shoulder of the Big Buddha. How ironic, Anya thought, that the Greek Gods resided at
the symbol of Buddhism.
“You can only go to Olympus through this,” Sapphyre told her, pointing to a big red button. “Normally,
you wouldn’t even reach here, so…”
That just made things better.
As she glanced around her, Anya didn’t see Sapphyre press the button. Within a blink of the eye, she was
looking at golden double doors. Looking at her surroundings, she was in a great hall with paintings of Greek
myths.
She heard the door open and she tore her eyes away from the paintings to find herself staring at fourteen
faces.
She recognized Artemis, the goddess who was hunting them down earlier. Artemis glared at the two girls,
and they glared right back.
Suddenly, it hit her. The memories locked away in her mind unlocked itself and she remembered
everything that happened for the past millennia. She felt old.
“So the two decided to surrender themselves, I see,” Zeus mused to himself.
“Right indeed.” Ashton’s rumbling voice filled the air. The girls hadn’t even seen him.
Sapphyre sensed that he had the weapon, and was prepared to strike. She concentrated and felt the rock,
straight from the depths of Tartarus, materialize in her pocket and at the same time, Ashton felt it disappear.
“You will be stripped of your immortality,” Zeus boomed, unaware of the magical transfer. “Any
objections?”
There were none.
The gods began chanting and Sapphyre felt her energy drain from her.
But she wasn’t going down easily. Even though the gods betrayed her again and again, she was still going to
save them from their demise. Perhaps one day, the gods will come to their senses.
“Anya,” she whispered. “
Mi hermana
. My sister. I’m giving you the important job. Get rid of Ashton, and
make sure they see their mistakes.”
Sapphyre took the stone out of her pocket. Outraged cries filled the room as the gods recognized it.
She plunged it into the floor. Immediately, a pit leading straight down to Tartarus—or, she preferred, hell—
while at the same time, bursts of dark, poisonous clouds and plants appeared and burst from sidewalks and
buildings around the Pearl River Delta as the dark energy collided with nature. The stone tugged Sapphyre
along with it as it fell down the pit.
Just like that, the hole closed up. There was no sign of its short existence, aside from a small crack on the
floor, which, as the gods found out in the future, brings a curse among the Pearl River Delta and its people,
and most importantly, the gods—a reminder that a girl died because of them, that they should be grateful for
the sacrifice, that the girl’s twin is still out there, rage-filled.
