Followers of Beliefs

Dierdre sat on the closed luggage and looked through her room’s window. Something outside always caught her attention. It was the feeling of not-so-loneliness. She could never be lonely at this place where everything is literally magical. They had magical birds flying around all day, singing peculiar tunes that could remind everyone of their happiest memories. There were all kinds of magical creatures ranging from small to big, common to unimaginable.

Dierdre had grown particularly fond of that strange creature called Troggedy. They didn’t have this kind in the mortal world. It looked like a dog with extremely bristled fur, shining white teeth and enormous blue eyes. Its fur was the color of rainbow. And at night, it sparkled like somebody had ruffed the dog on the biggest electrical wall in existence. No one knew why they were called Troggedy, but Dierdre didn’t bother asking. She liked the dog enough to not run away every time she saw him. Her instructor had said, the reason why there was only one Troggedy in the academy was because his kind was endangered. The journey to bring even one to this school to keep him safe and sound was not easy either. His kind had grown extremely protective of their own race that they would attack anyone who dared to come near them. That made them misunderstood, Dierdre guessed. Everybody was so scared of them at first thanks to stories of them suddenly appearing everywhere and tearing people apart. However, after a while, they realized the creature was no danger at all. They decided to call him Troggedy anyway even though it was the name of his whole species. The name sounded cool after all.

This place was the place of fairytale that every girl dreamed of when they were kids. Dierdre was sitting in the room furnished with some of the most beautiful decorations she had ever seen in her life. Shining pearls on the walls, the constant wind blowing the smell of the ocean, and flowers and leaves that never stopped growing even if somebody cut them down. Every day, the flowers changed their colors and scent, from light pink with the fresh and earthy smell of villages’ fields, vibrant blue with the smell of the open sky, or even dark purple with sparkling freckles containing the scent of late and miraculous night, the quietness of life when everybody was fast asleep, that mysterious feeling of wandering around in the darkness, not knowing where the feet are going to end up, and that excitement inside the hearts because they just want to explore more and more, despite being completely blind of what lies ahead. Sometimes, Dierdre wondered if it was really the flowers that brought out those scents, or it was just herself, being so amazed and enchanted by their beauty that she kept imagining all kinds of stories of freeing herself to the world. All in all, she loved them and the feeling they brought about.

Her room was inside of the Emerald Academy. It was the school for students to learn magic, even though the number of students were noticeably low. Despite all that, the Academy stood strong and proud in the middle of an evergreen forest. Every leaf in the forest kept on being freshly green, as if they could never die. Magical butterflies were everywhere, dragging and spreading behind them twinkling powder. It was so beautiful that Dierdre felt bad she had to leave this place early tomorrow morning.

Her room’s door swing open. Dierdre wasn’t even startled. She calmly turned around, fully expecting a warm smiling face looking straight at her.

“Hi, Ms. Celia.”

Ms. Celia took one step closer to her and sat down on the floor with Dierdre. For a disciplined person like her, it was very unlike her to do something like that. Dierdre guessed today was an exception.

“Are you done packing?” Ms. Celia looked around the room and back at her.

“Yeah, pretty much. It’s not like I have much to pack anyway.”

Dierdre tried not to look at her teacher. It was hard enough thinking about leaving. She didn’t need anyone to remind her of that being a reality.

“You know you are always welcome here.”

“Thanks, Ms. Celia, but I can’t. I would only be a burden…”

“No, I can assure you that you are not…”

“That’s true. I have been here forever, but I haven’t learned any magic at all. Even in the place where I was supposed to belong, I don’t.”

Dierdre definitely didn’t mean to sound so harsh. Ms. Celia had been nothing but nice to her, probably the only one who ever treated her like a human being. And when she said she wanted Dierdre to stay, Dierdre knew she meant it.

“Well, in fact, you learned some pretty amazing magics!”

“Yeah, minor spells which have no effect at all. I don’t know why my Mom sent me to the academy in the first place.”

The mention of her Mom pained her like it does every time. She hadn’t heard from her since forever, it’s likely that her Mom forgot that she ever existed in the first place. Suddenly, she received a letter from her, and the only thing she told Dierdre was to pack up because she was leaving the Academy immediately. Dierdre learned a long time ago that it was no use asking for any reason from any of her family, let alone arguing with them. So she took it like it was nothing, calmly returned to her room and packed up. It all happened so fast that Dierdre decided she would not waste any time processing it. Maybe it would make it easier and less terrifying, the fact that she’s coming back to the house where nobody wanted her there.

“What are you doing to do when you get back?” Ms. Celia’s voice woke Dierdre from her train of thought. She almost forgot her nice teacher was still sitting next to her.

“I don’t know. Probably figure out how to live in a normal world. They don’t have dragons, I can assure you that.”

“How hard can it be, right?”

“Well, first of all, in the normal world, the idea of magic died a long time ago. Nobody believes it, nobody wants to see it carried out. I don’t think using magic in the normal world is gonna be a good idea, not that I know any magic whatsoever.”

Ms. Celia took some times to process the idea. Dierdre didn’t interrupt, knowing that Ms. Celia probably figured that out long before she told her about the belief about magic. The academy had pictures of their former students, and Dierdre had looked at all of them. It used to have thousands and hundreds of students, but the number died down as time passed by. Now, Dierdre could hardly see anyone at the academy at all. Although she tried to convince herself that this world was the world where normal and magic co-exist, she was also starting to lose her hope. Descendants of magic were disappearing, beliefs are fading, and even people with the interest to learn magic are becoming more and more “realistic” and “practical”. The flow of life got to them, rolling them away with worry and tiredness, nobody got time for dreams and hopes anymore. And now, with Dierdre gone, the academy’s population is going to be even smaller than ever.

“Do you know why your Mom is sending for you?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t ask. Not like I had any chance to talk to her, right?”

“Right… I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, I’m used to it.”

“Are you going to miss the Academy after you left?”

“I’m already missing it more than my home, and I’m not even out of here yet.”

Dierdre let out a dry laughter. It’s going to be strange. One minute she was in this magical world where flying and chanting spell were common, one minute later, she’s going to be in a normal community, trying to catch up with what she had missed for all those years, and hoping she would not crash under pressure.

“Do you think I will forget this place? After I left, I mean. Like… If I stay away from this world for so long, would I start doubting that it ever existed, and then forget about everything?”

“And why would you think that?”

“That’s how people lost their beliefs. Seeing is believing, and they haven’t seen anything magical in forever.”

The kind teacher looked away, her eyes filled with an un-named sadness. Dierdre felt empty, already thinking how the moment she stepped one foot out of this place, it would all be mundane for her. Her mom even booked a flight ticket to Manhattan for her, which meant she could not use any portal to travel home fast. Dierdre guessed it was her mom’s first step in getting her daughter to adapt to the normal world.

“Well, you have a long flight tomorrow. It’s getting late, you should get some sleep.”

“I guess, yeah,” Dierdre didn’t protest.

“Um… Dierdre… If —”

Ms. Celia caught herself before going too far. However, Dierdre didn’t need her teacher to finish her sentence to understand what she wanted to say. “If you ever need any help or anything of sort, feel free to contact me.” It was simply impossible. Once you’re out of here, you’re cut off to the magical world. No more fantastic creatures with their twinkling powder, no more blue singing birds flying around tirelessly and gracefully, no more Spelling classes, no more flowers and leaves that were always fresh and lively; and no more Emerald Academy. It was the ancient rule, so nobody questioned anything. The Academy would reveal itself to the people with potential of great magic blood, and that’s it. That’s why Dierdre braced herself for a future that she might forget about the Academy. If all the connection to this world was lost, would it mean her memories about it would be gone soon too?

Dierdre had a sleepless night. She kept staring at the ceiling where thousands of shining colorful crystal were floating, creating a beautiful small galaxy. She listened to the birds outside the window, smelled the flowers as much as she could. They smelled a little heavy and sad today, but somehow soothing and comforting. After a while of thinking, Dierdre sprang up, digged up a root of the flower tree and carefully put it inside of one of her bags. She desperately needed something that could remind her of Emerald Academy.