Chapter Three, The World Beyond Us

It was not until another week that Sophie was finally free to go. Madam Poppy insisted that she should have as much rest as possible.

Usually, Sophie won't be that happy to leave, because that means she will have to catch up with all the extra school work and start going to classes again. And it also means that she will have to face the teases of Brittney again.

But this time, Sophie was glad. In fact, she actually had a strong desire to leave the hospital wing.

"Sophie, what on Earth do you want to do, going to the library this early?" Sophie had just dragged Emma out of bed (she needs as much help she can get) and marched them to the school library on a fine Saturday morning.

"I want to check out some books." Sophie wasn't sure what to say to explain to her friend.

"What?! Sophie, please remember, today is Saturday, we agreed that we won't do any work on Saturday!" Emma yawned.

"Well, it isn't really about work, and besides, I don't want anyone to see us." Sophie felt herself blush.

When they arrived at the library, it was empty just as Sophie wanted and expected. She dragged Emma over to the history side, feeling that she ought to wake up earlier.

Oh, and did I say that Sophie thought that the library was empty? Well, it turns out, when they turned around a corner, it wasn't.

Lee, George, and Fred are sitting at the magic and fiction section, heads close together.

Sophie hesitated, she never thought that the three trouble makers are able to get up this early and do work.

Just when she turned Emma to go the long way around, Fred looked up and waved.

"Hello there, young ladies, what brings you here so early?" he said brightly.

"Ask Sophie. She dragged me up at six just to check some books." Emma rolled her eyes.

Lee beamed. "Well then, run along, don't bother here."

But Sophie, looking at the one word of the title of the book that came visible when Lee moved, her mouth worked.

"You guys are reading about magic?" Sophie said in amaze.

"None of your business." George quickly covered the book.

"Ah well, I guess you ought to know by now, Sophie." Emma took a deep sigh, "Those two, the twins, are my brothers. We've agreed not to tell anyone, but." she shot a dirty look at the twins, "It looks like this is the only way to let them spill the truth."

Knew it, Sophie thought.

"Come on. Let's try to find it before people start coming in."

"Find what?" Fred looked startled.

"A book, obviously. Or else why bother the library? There could be millions of ways to find a single book." Emma rolled her eyes again.

"No, I mean, what book are you looking for?"

Sophie gave a great sigh.

"Fine, I'm looking for the book, History of Magic."

"Then, young ladies, you found the right people. We have the book." George beamed again.

Sophie gasped.

"What were you doing with it?" she asked.

"Joke shop business."

"Can we borrow it? Just for a minute."

"No."

"That's rather rude."

"So deal with it."

Sophie gave another sigh.

And without another word, she left her friends behind and went back to sleep.

~

The next Monday, Emma and Sophie went to history class as usual. While Mr. Binns (history teacher) rambled out his boring notes for 20 seconds, something that never happened in Binns' whole life.

Sophie raised her hand.

All of Sophie's history class looked startled. Even the kids who were daydreaming woke up.

"I'm sorry, Ms…?"

"Ellis, sir."

"I am sorry, but if you excuse me, we will continue on. The purpose of this Act was…"

Sophie's hand was in the air again.

"Ms, er…"

"Ellis, sir. I was wondering if you would tell us about the history of magic, please?"

Emma's elbow slipped down her desk.

But sir Binns, clearly not pleased, snarled, "Magic is a myth! There is no such thing as magic!" and therefore returned to clearing his notes.

Sophie, who didn't want to give up, raised her hand again. Before poor old Binns couldn't even say something before she spoke.

"Sir, aren't myths also based on history?"

Mr. Binns, now looking amazed, had never, ever, in his whole life got interrupted like this, either by an adult or student.

"OK, I guess that is right… hmm, hmm, let's see… as you all know, when this world was first created by nature (Sophie sat up a bit), there was nothing on this planet, nothing, except for as some say, magic. Now, there is no proof, and nor do I think that there will be in the future, that this saying is true."

The classroom was very quiet, very quiet indeed, but it wasn't the dull, boring quiet Mr. Binns usually had, it was a determent, eager quiet.

Mr. Binns must be quite unusual for this. He nervously shuffled his notes.

"According to this saying, this magic is only to be found by those who have a pure heart, and will use it, to only make this world. And that is how our world's creators came in. They found this secret island in the sky, and they used that as their base, where they created the world. But, things didn't go as well as they planned. Their total number, which used to be ten, decreased to five, as half of them believed that the world couldn't just be about kindness. Those five became demons, the pure evil that fought against the remainder of the creators. The other five became what we know as the angels, and they broke out to war ever since.

"The angels and the demons started to develop their own magic, which is called the light and the darkness. The demons found another island in the sky, and started creating the evil and the bad. They found a scroll that contained very dark magic, and they used them to fight."

"Now, as we were saying, they were developing magic and gaining troops. They were the same when it came to their power. But according to legend, there is another group. They help the Angels spread the good and fight the evil. They are the five Guardians of the five elements of earth: Wind, Nature, Earth, Fire, and Water."

"Legend says that these five will be the ones who eventually will defeat the Demons and restore peace among the original Angels. However, they were scattered throughout the world since the last war between the Evil and Good. They will have to go through serious challenges and puzzles to reunite and return to their floating island. Story ends."

After Mr. Binns finished, there was still no sound in the room.

And then, discussion broke out.

"Sir, how do we know if the demons broke out into the world?" said Brittney (Sophie was actually glad to see that she was very frightened).

"Sir, how do we know where to go and find the island?" said a straw haired boy whom Sophie didn't recognize.

"I told you, this is a legend, we don't have any proof, and this world has been searched already for this island that is just a cloud!" said Mr. Binns angrily. Sophie shuffled nervously. He seemed to be furious.

'But sir, only the Guardians could find the island, right? Maybe none of them were chosen! And about the darkness, we don't know about the darkness!" cried a girl that sat right behind Sophie and Emma.

Mr. Binns, however, had enough.

"Fine!" he snarled, "believe what you want! But I told you, there is no proof! It is not true! Now, if you all will excuse me, let us return to history, to real, truthful, reliable facts!"

Within five seconds, the class returned to its bored, dull silence.

~

"Wow, I never heard of that. Why did you ask that?"

Thirty minutes later, Emma and Sophie were sitting at the Great Hall, eating lunch.

Sophie didn't speak. Now she knew why her stepmother's body had something missing, or shall we say, weird. There were no cuts, nothing whatsoever, that could be a sign saying that this person is dead. Sure, it could be poisoned, but how will she let out that scream?

It was clear to Sophie that her stepmother had been killed by magic. Dark magic.

She pushed her stew around her bowl. She couldn't eat. Now she knows that there is magic in the world, she had to find whoever that person who got selected is. To avenge her stepmother.

Emma, however, didn't seem to realize her friend's changed mood.

"You know, if I didn't know better, I'd think that you were trying to recreate that scene from Harry Potter! You know, the second book?"

It took her a moment to realize that Sophie was not talking at all.

"Sophie? Are you OK? You are very quiet."

"I'm OK." said Sophie in a much higher voice than she expected to use, "Interesting class, wasn't it? For history, I mean."

"Yes, we agree. And we are highly disappointed that we weren't in that class."

Sophie jumped. Fred and George are standing right beside her.

"When did you two…?" even Emma was surprised.

"Listen, Lee is in the hospital wing because he broke his leg somehow. You two meet us in your dormitory right after school. Don't worry, we have our own way to get there without people even knowing.'

And without another word, they walked off.

Emma turned to Sophie.

'What was that about?' she said in frustration.

~

As promised, Sophie and Emma pretended that they were behind on homework and they decided to skip dinner and meet up with Fred and George.

Once they were in there, they both sat down on their beds, staring at the door, neither of them talking. Sophie wondered how people wouldn't notice that the twins walked into their dormitory.

But she didn't have to wait long for the answer.

Right before their eyes, Fred and George appeared with a faint pop. Both stood beaming, as if they just did something as normal as answering a phone.

"How did you do that?" Emma said with an open mouth.

"Well, that's what we are going to discuss today, young ladies. And the answer is, magic." Fred said, continue beaming.

"So you mean there really is magic in the world? The Legend is telling the truth?" Sophie said eagerly.

"Hold up there, Sophie. Before we tell our story, we want to hear your story."

"What story?" Emma asked.

"On how Sophie made fine old Binns tell you the Legend that is true." said Fred.

Sophie took a deep breath. She didn't feel like telling people about it yet, let alone that means she'll have to explain why she asked. But, from the look of it, it's the only way to let the twins spill the truth.

And she began. From how she thought the body had something missing (wrong), how she thought that it might be magic that killed her, how she tried to get the book about magic's history and failed, and then how she thought Mr. Binns might know the answer, and the mist, the Legend about magic.

After she finished, the twins still had an odd expression on their face, quite stupid looking, if Sophie had to be honest.

"Impressive." whispered Fred.

"Totally." agreed George.

"And now will you finally spill your story out?" Emma rolled her eyes.

Fred looked at George. Then he shrugged (he probably didn't want to tell his story too), then pulled something that looked like chocolate out of his pocket, and said to George, "You explain."

"Ah well, but you have to help me." George took a great breath, and then he started his story.

"So, as we were like you, wandering in the library in our first year of this school, Fred here, found this book, and it is, as you might have noticed, the book you were looking for, Sophie. Of course, we didn't believe in magic at that time either, but we did think that it wouldn't hurt to just have a look. And luckily we did. In that book, we found out the same legend Binns told you. But, it also mentioned about a secret scroll, a scroll that knows and says everything, as long as you ask it. It is made out of magic, and that is the key to finding the secret island, but the tasks and puzzles must be completed by one of the chosen ones.

"Now, we didn't really believe it, but it was a great idea for a joke, since we were planning the joke shop then. According to the book, the scroll was hidden in the most ancient ruin, somewhere, most surprisingly, near this school."

"You mean the scroll is hidden in NHH?" Sophie gasped.

"That's right." nodded Fred, who just finished his chocolate-like snack, "the scroll was hidden in a secret chamber in the dungeons. You know that broken keyboard in the classroom? The one they say couldn't be used anymore. That is the entrance. We solved the puzzle on the keyboard, quite easy, compared to what we think is waiting for the chosen ones. The scroll was sitting in a rusty old desk in the classroom, hidden as an old book.

"We, of course, tested it. And that is how we therefore learned magic. The scroll taught us. The way we came in? That is magic. The scroll also told us that the darkness had struck, and we will have to act quickly."

This time it was Sophie's turn to look stupid.

"So you mean that… both of you are actually Guardians?" she whispered.

George laughed.

"Nahh, we're causing too much trouble for that one."

"Then… did the scroll tell you who they are?"

"Let me give you a hint." Fred leaned forwards, "One of them is sitting in this room, and her name starts with an 'S'".

Emma turned around. Sophie looked lightning struck.

"Me?" she nearly shouted, "You gotta be kidding. It's my stepmother who got murdered. Besides, what's the proof that you two actually found a know-all-tell-all scroll?"

The twins looked offended.

The room became very, very quiet.

Finally, Fred broke the silence.

But his answer was far from satisfying.

"We are proof. All that magic. Proof. There. Also stop yelling; this is our secret, and I expect you to respect it by not telling the whole world about it."

Then he pulled out a piece of paper (it looks perfectly normal to Sophie), and George pulled out a wooden stick (also looking perfectly normal to Sophie). "George, do your thing."

George nodded to his twin, and muttered a word while tapping the paper with the stick.

Nothing happened for a minute. Sophie was a little bit disappointed. She knows that she's too thick to fall for that joke, but for one glorious moment, she thought she is the guardian, she is the one who will take revenge for her stepmother. But now, nothing is true. She will not take revenge for her stepmother. She is not the chosen one.

But is it true?

The paper started humming. In a split second, bright light filled the room. Sophie closed her eyes; were the twins telling the truth after all?

When Sophie opened her eyes again, she found herself facing the paper. Only it didn't look like it anymore. It was more like…

"The scroll!" she gasped.

"See Sophie? You asked for proof, we now give you proof. This is how we decided to make the joke shop funnier; we simply use magic." said Fred proudly.

"But won't people notice?" Emma asked. She, too, was shocked by the appearance of the scroll.

"Well, we'll find out later, right?" said George brightly, "Now, will you mind if we let Sophie herself test it out? She did say that she wanted proof." he hid a smirk after that one.

Sophie stared blankly at the scroll. Of all the times, she had so many questions, but now, they seem to all flow away. Besides, will a wise old scroll answer a silly girl's question about why she keeps getting a failing grade?

Finally, she decided on the most simple but hard question; "Who am I?"

She immediately regretted it. Was she polite enough? After all, it did seem true now that she's the guardian.

But the scroll was already busy answering that question. It was as if an invisible hand was writing words on it.

"You are Sophie Ellis," it wrote, "scout of the magic, daughter of the guardian of magic. Your family waits for you at the kingdom of light. You will defeat the dark and restore peace to this world that is now broken. You will have to move quickly, time is running out."

The words shone bright just long enough for Sophie to read all of it. At last a beam of light came out of it, and then it vanished along with the words.

She heard Emma whisper something somewhere around her.

"What does it mean 'your family waits for you'? they're already… dead." she asked blankly.

"Ask the scroll, silly." Fred said, "We didn't just give it to you just to look good."

The scroll, however, already answered it.

"I'm glad you asked. Your mother was never dead. There is no real death for a guardian or a scout. Just as there is no difference in good or bad; they are the same once you dig deep in it."

"Seriously, no good or bad?" this time it was George who spoke, "C'mon, scroll, say something useful already."

But this time, the scroll quivered, and slammed itself tight.

Fred gave a sigh.

"Well done, George. You made the scroll mad again."

"Hey, not my fault, it's saying a ton of rubbish that just leads to more questions!"

The scroll gave another quiver. It looks like it's mad.

"OK, guys, will you stop please? We need to focus on the main problem here. Where do we start this puzzle to find the secret island thing?"

The scroll burst open.

"Please, mind if you say the correct name? It is not a secret island! It is the most honored kingdom, the Kingdom of Light!"

"Fine." Sophie started to lose patient with the scroll, too, "Then where do we find this Kingdom or whatever you call it? Where do we start the puzzle?"

The scroll seemed to calm down a bit, "Everything starts from where you are." it replied.

"Thanks, scroll, more questions."

Sophie raised an eyebrow.

Emma, who had been very quiet this whole time, said "We should have someone keep it for today. We'll come back tomorrow for this. Right now, I think Sophie should keep it." but when Sophie looked into her eyes, she thought she saw a hunger hidden deep into her eyes. It didn't look like her. She was startled, but she felt her head nod against her instincts.

Yes, her body is very good at behaving exactly the opposite at what her instincts tell it to do.

Just then, they heard a bell chime somewhere on top of them.

"Uh oh, it's midnight. We better get into bed or else the patrolling teachers will get our tail!" whimpered George.

"Behave yourselves, young ladies." Fred added along with a small wink.

And with another faint pop, they disappeared.

"We should better get to bed too, Sophie." Emma said quietly. Sophie turned around. It was as if she didn't know what just happened, her eyes dreamly and blank. The hunger in her eyes is gone.

She nodded, and climbed up the ladder and into the upper bed. She tucked the blankets neatly around herself, closed her eyes, and drifted to sleep.

Maybe all of that was too much for her to accept in just one day. She had a very strange dream that night.

In that dream, she saw a black hooded figure, almost like smoke, drifting around the darkness. It's voice was deep and evil. Sophie heard it say, "Yes, this is the one, the one with the one, yes, yes… the one with the pure heart. Ahh, how nice, finally saying goodbye…" then the figure dived into something below it, a body…

She heard a scream. It was really familiar, but she couldn't remember whose voice it was. The same searing pain that struck her in the hospital wing came again, straight on her forehead…

She opened her eyes.

The mirror that sat just opposite her bed showed her reflection. Blue light filled the room. In the middle of her forehead was a mark, but the pain made it hard to see.

As sudden as it came, the pain left.

Sophie turned herself around. She could hear grunts from under her.

She thought about the dream. The smoke figure, who did he dive into? It sure did hurt. Or did that mean the screaming was… herself?

No, she told herself, she could have felt it. The scream didn't sound like her voice. But who was it? Sophie was sure it was someone she knew.

Then the image of Emma came whooshing in her mind. The hunger in her eyes, more noticeable than ever. It was really odd for her to have that hunger; Emma usually never had that kind of look in her eyes. Sophie moved a hand into her pillow, where she felt the scroll lying peacefully. Is this a good time to ask what the dream meant?

No, she decided, the scroll will only be used if necessary, and this is not the time. Without another thought about the dream or Emma, she closed her eyes.