The Mysterious Door

“The Mysterious Door” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Harsha Tan Ravy, Malaysia.

The Mysterious Door

It was just an ordinary day, I was home alone. My nose was stuck to my book I was reading when a gush of wind blew into my window. “Brrrr!” I exclaimed as I shivered. I zoomed to my wardrobe to get a thick, warm jacket. As I opened my wardrobe, I noticed something shiny at the back of my wardrobe. I walked towards it when I hit myself hard in the face. It was something hard. I pushed that hard thing, when I fell flat on my face. Oh how embarrassing, I look up to find a golden staircase leading upwards. Me being a curious girl, I walked up the stairs until I reached the top of the stairs and tripped over something. “Oh what bad luck!” I picked it up, it was a music box, inside was a glittering golden key and right beside it was a tiny roll of parchment. It said “Only you can save me brave girl, Bell.”

I was confused who was Bell, then I realised a huge golden gate in front of me. I fit the golden key in it and the gate opened. I was fascinated by the beautiful scenery. I bolted until I met an alluring baby unicorn. Its name was Silver, I informed Silver about the message. “Oh no, queen Bell is in trouble!” exclaimed Silver. She told me that we were in the Kingdom of Magistica, we would have to go through a number of kingdoms to get to queen Bell. She was the queen of the Kingdom of Magistica and the princess of the Land of Good.

Silver hurried me to the first kingdom, the Land of Darkness. As we walked through the Topaz door, a shiver of fear passed through my body. The map showed us the way through this terrifying place. Silver and I kept close to each other because he did not want to lose each other in this petrifying land. We walked and walked in fear until we reached the Fortress of Fear. It is said to be where the queen, Cackle is. Silver and I crept in through a small hole in to the fortress. “I smell a human and young unicorn,” guffawed Cackle. Silver and I stopped in our tracks and peeped to see Cackle right smack in front of us.

We were dragged out by witches with huge warts. We were held capture by Cackle, she questioned her people whether or not to have fresh human with unicorn sides. Everyone agreed in unity. We were brought into the kitchen were the immoral looking chefs went to gather their special ingredients. An idea struck my mind I remembered how I always carry a pocket knife with me along so I freed myself and Silver. Silver patiently explained to me a secret passageway she read from a book in The Great Library. We crawled through a tiny hole at the corner of the kitchen. We then escaped from the fortress and carried on our journey. We then realized that we had just entered the Flaming Forest. We were surrounded by frightening looking werewolves. We had no way out, we had to just suffer the pain getting swallowed up by those werewolves. Suddenly, we heard the cry of a phoenix, Silver looked up to see a humongous sized phoenix. It swooshed downwards and scooped us up in its motherly arms.

The phoenix then dropped us down right next to a Ruby Door. “I guess it’s the door to a new land”. I sat on Silver’s back, then she leaped into the Ruby Door. As we entered the next land I immediately felt warmth. A map on the floor contained a map of the Land of Gnomes, I jumped for joy as I thought how much I admired these exquisite creatures. The path led us through a breathtaking place, The Gnome Town. This town is where all gnomes go to get their everyday items, all gnomes were microscopic sized creatures so Silver and I had to be very careful of where we stepped. We were like giants to them. It was tantalizing to see them running around purchasing things. Silver then rode me to the palace of the gnomes, CozyCastles. We were greeted by queen Cozy and king Farkles. They seemed to be really nice people. It was already late when we arrive so queen Cozy ordered her people to make a set of pyjamas for me and a bed for me, and since Silver was a unicorn she didn’t need pyjamas neither did she need a bed to sleep in. Silver and I took turns paraphrasing what had happened to Bell to the king and queen of the Land of Gnomes. We decided to create a group it was called, The Order of Queen Bell. In the morning the gnome servants prepared me a stunning dress to wear. I didn’t think that gnomes would have the best fashion sense, but I guess I was wrong.

Queen Cozy, king Farkles, Silver and I gathered items that we would need on this enthusiastic adventure. We headed straight to the end of the land, the king and queen leading the way. We reached the end of the land just before sundown. We came to this sparkly, gorgeous, dazzling, majestic and grand Diamond Door. Without hesitation we made a dash and entered the magnificent and enchanting land, the Land of Good. It was the most charming place I have ever been to in my whole entire life.” Wow this place is amazing!” exclaimed queen Cozy and king Farkles. A tree beside us held out a map of the Land of Good.

As we strolled along the land we couldn’t stop admiring the mesmerizing scenery. I reminded the team that we were here to save queen Bell. We followed the quickest trail that lead to Bell Tower, Bell’s castle. As they arrived at the castle, green fog surrounded the castle. Silver remembered seeing this green fog somewhere, “I got it, I saw this green smoke in the Fortress of Fear. Queen Cackle was stirring something green like this, it must be her”. Then I spotted a group of green and black things. They were witches from the Land of Darkness and trolls that I have never seen before. They all looked creepy, and mean.

“I can’t believe that only now have you realised that I was the one to put Bell asleep. My chameleon gave this rose to her and made her smell it, she does not know that I placed a drop of poison and now Bell is still in her deep sleep “ cackled Cackle. “ I challenge you to battle me and my trolls if you win I’ll let Bell free but if you lose Bell will be in her sleep forever. I made a deal with Cackle. The Order of Queen Bell discussed our strategy and plan. When the battle begun my team surrounded them and distracted these terrible creatures. We kept them captured until sunrise. I knew witches hated sunlight so their skins were burnt but only Cackle managed to escape. How? No one knows.

The order ran to queen Bell’s room, she laid down on her bed. Queen Bell was a really elegant queen, her hair glowed in the sunshine. As sunlight reached her face, it light up, Bell woke up from her deadly curse. Queen Bell embraced me and thanked the order for helping her. After all the thanking, I requested a tour around the Land of Good. I was fully satisfied with my wonderful adventure. I still had to return home and continue the reality of life, everyone was sad to see my go. Before leaving, Bell gave me a small bell to remind me of her. I thanked everyone and the order, including queen Bell. She instructed a jumbo sized rainbow dragon to send me home.

I fell asleep on the dragon back ride and when I woke up I found myself in bed. I wondered what time it was. ”What! Only two minutes passed?” I was surprised when I found myself with my thick jacket I wanted and only two minutes had passed. Oh well, so I figured that I had to write an essay about my wonderful adventure. I locked myself in my room to write my essay. I was as happy as a lark when I realized how much fun I had in the Kingdom of Magistica. Although it had just been a day away from the Kingdom of Magistica, absence makes the heart grow fonder. It had to be one of the best days in my life.