Back when I was twelve, I wrote a story about a beautiful kingdom..
A realm where anything wished for was granted.
To avoid the cliché fairy concept, I named its people Osams: magical beings with four wings linen and bright, woven garments.
It was a vast pigment of my imagination at that early stage in life and the beginning of my writing profession.
Writing used to be fun.
Well.. at least until Mom found out.
She scolded me the entire day, ripped my book cover to shreds, and reminded me times without numbers, how I needed to follow Nula's footsteps and get into Medical school.
That was the day I snapped.
I vented every ounce of frustration onto the story.
I scribbled fire across the pages, tore the kingdom apart, and drew angry faces until the papers wore out.
But as years passed, I grew out of it and started writing fresh stories, hiding them in different places where mom wouldn't find them.
My mom never grew softer.
And Nula.. grew distant.
She only showed up when I needed help with homework or when I took too long getting ready for prep school.
By the time I entered senior year, avoiding everyone earned me the 'Nerd' title and I lived with it.. for a while.
Until something strange happened...
Flashback
It was a normal day like any other. I was done with After-school prep and was packing to go home.
"Nirit, Teach asked for you." Jentil said.
She was the only girl who ever spoke to me at school.
I was clearing out textbooks from my locker to make space for my new novels when a small booklet of about 200 pages slipped out and fell to the floor.
Jentil picked it up.
"Thanks," I muttered.
"Beautiful Beams... until—? Girl, is this a title or a sentence?" she scoffed.
I snatched it from her, holding it tight to my chest,
"It's my first draft. I wrote it when I was twelve."
Her expression softened.
"N-no, I didn't mean to sound it out--"
But I walked away before she could finish apologizing. I'd just blown up my last chance at having a friend in Senior High and somehow, I didn't regret it.
"Nirit Zarin, you have cleaning duty today," Ms. Anne told me, she was already leaving the class by the time I got there.
Of course. Fridays never failed to be miserable. 'Good Friday' they say, I call it the opposite. Nothing good ever comes out of it.
Especially now that I had to clean the classroom all by myself since I was the odd number out of the groups of six in daily cleaning roaster, or maybe plainly because no one wanted me in their group.
Even Quintiel got assigned to a group although he was one semester late for our Grade.
I headed to the storage room to get detergent and some cleaning tools.
"Grab a torchlight," Ms Anne yelled from behind me. "The bulb in there is dead." she added as I paced out of the class.
I didn't.
Big mistake.
Because when I got inside, the room was pitch-black, and I couldn't find the door again.
My watch beeped, 6PM.
"At least there are no ghosts in this school," I joked to myself.
A faint white glow caught my eye.
Curiosity pulled me toward it.
A single white feather lay on the floor, pure silver rays emitting from it.
The moment I touched it, it turned blazing blue, then disintegrated like sparkles into my palm.. as if I'd absorbed it.
Well, maybe I did.
Before I could react, my skin dispersed into fragments and started to fade away. Until..
..I disappeared.
And reappeared inside what looked like a glowing mall filled with fairies.
And somehow, everything felt so.. familiar.
The colors. The setting, Background and beautiful creatures..
As though I'd created them.
Wait--
I created them!!
How was I inside my own story?
Still, whatever this was, I had to play along. Act like I was one of them. Until I find my way out of here.
My name is Nirit Zarin,
and by some unexpected turn of events,
I transmigrated into the world of my first story
"Beautiful Beams Until Dark."
_____
PRESENT
I shut the diary, my face twisting with both confusion and anger.
"Osam?"
Quintiel's voice called in a whisper from outside my tent.
He pushed the curtain aside.
My hands moved faster than my instincts and I quickly hid the diary before he could see it.
"What?" I snapped.
" Have you not a shred of dignity? Sneaking into a girl's tent at this hour?!"
My face twisted in suspicion and my eyes forced itself to turn cold,
"Why don't you tell me the 'real' reason you're here?"
I really didn't mean for it to come out that way, but then..
Quintiel chuckled, and for a moment, his eyes darkened, like the sun during an eclipse.
His expression was cold, almost venomous. Something that made me think for a moment, what he really was.
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