I'm different. It's just a fact. I don't mean different as in weird. Well, I sorta am weird. I mean like dark-to-light different. Good-to-bad different. You see, I have dark magic. Oh wait, I forgot. On your world they don't have magic. Okay, so basically we have this HUGE energy source called magic. We do things like spells. The sort of things you see in what you call "movies." I never understood

Chapter 1: Different

      movies. Anyways, we also have creatures that sorta are "possessed" by magic. So they also have weird abilities. Okay, now that I have that cleared up, back to the whole "dark magic" thing. So yeah, I have dark magic. And no, I'm not evil. That happens to people totally OBSESSED with evil and dark magic. I just have a more primitive, dangerous form of the glorious light magic. So let's say I tried to make a campfire. I'm more likely to burn down a house than to make a simple campfire. Okay, explanation of magic and dark magic, check. Now onto my world. I live in my parents' potion shop. AND IT'S SOOO BORING!

I mean, every day for 7 HOURS I sit there collecting orders. It's pretty boring, so today I decided to go for a stroll. I walked past the village fountain. It had a little wand with water squirting out the end. Me and my friend Oscar used to raid the zelks (basically our version of "pennies") that lay at the bottom. But we stopped being friends when he learned I had dark magic. So yeah, I'm pretty much alone. I mean, I have my magical cat, Zelda, who can pretty much be whatever she wants to be. Literally.

Once, we were playing hide and seek, and I spent 5 hours looking for her. Turns out, she had disguised herself as a bush, and I had to lure her out with her favorite treats. But today she was at home, sleeping in the form of a potted plant. As I walked past the fountain, I noticed something peculiar inside. What was that, a book? Who would put a book in water?

I picked it up and realized it was a spell book. And not just any spell book. This was a dark magic spell book!

I spent the rest of my time paging through it, memorizing whatever spells I could.  Then I came across the oddest spell...

Chapter 2: The Forbidden Spell

The spell that I saw was labeled "Dragon Destruction." Apparently you called upon the power of some mystical dragon to gain limitless strength. I tried it out a few times, with 0 results. "Dragonus Maximas! "  Over and over I repeated those words, until finally I just gave up and continued paging through the book.

Then I saw a note in the back. Here's what it said: Dear Reader, The Dragon Destruction Spell is Incorrect! It really goes like this:  Dragon's Power, Dragon's might, give me your strength, so strong and bright. Give me the strength to end this fight!

These are the correct spell words. However, do not use this spell unless absolutely necessary. 

Bye,

Zari, Wizard Guild Member

Wizard Guild? That made no sense. The last wizard guild vanished after they were caught using illegal spells. Well, at least I knew the correct spell. I pulled out a pencil that I always keep in my pocket (It's a little weird, but it works!) and scrawled the words on my arm. (I didn't have paper.) I put it back and skimmed the book till I arrived at the end. And I saw another weird spell.

Knowledge Devourer

This spell allows the user to instantly know all the spells in this book, at the cost of forgetting one spell. The words are simple: Drahora Bahora!

It seemed like a nice spell, so I decided to try it. "Drahora Bahora! Suddenly I heard a voice in my head say: "Which spell would you like to forget?" "Who are you?" I asked. "Just answer the question! Some of us have more important things to do than talking to little boys!"   "Okay, okay I'll do it." Yeesh. Some people just can't be nice.  "How about the turning brown dirt into white dirt spell?" I said. I know, I know, it's the least useful spell in the universe! (But the mayor only wants me to learn non-harmful spells, so I can't do much.)

"Good for you! Now let's get this over with."  Suddenly, I felt a harsh breeze blow against my head, and thousands of spells swirling through my head. All except the black-dirt-white-dirt spell. And the voice was gone too. Good grief was she getting on my nerves. After that weird experience, I put the book in my pocket and decided to find a place to test them out. I  found a sketchy alley and decided to practice there.

The alley was narrow, and there was litter everywhere. A bunch of rats were fighting over an old banana peel. It was disgusting, but it was the perfect place. Thousands of spells were in my head and it was hard to figure out which one to use. I finally settled on one called Vine Rath. As soon as I picked that one, the spell soared into my head and I knew the spell-word. Sweet! "Vinealis Borealis!,"  I shouted. Just like that, dozens of green vines rose from the cracks in the concrete. I pumped my fist up in the air and shouted "It works!" 

The vines copied my movements. Forming "fists" they each rose even higher in the air. Then the truth struck me like my cat when she wants treats. I had control over the vines. The only problem is, I couldn't get them to go away. I tried all sorts of silly words and hand movements. Nothing happened. I couldn't go into the town like this, people would get suspicious. All it takes is one reason and people will kick me out. "I wish there was a way out of this." I thought. Just like that, the spell popped into my head. It was called "Disspell" and it undid

any spells that were in the area. "Disspell!" The vines reacted like they'd been struck by weed killer. They shriveled into the ground and vanished. Just when I thought everything was gonna be fine, they got worse. 

Chapter 3: The Bullies

"Well, well, well, look who it is! It's Zeke the Meek!"  I groaned. A long, horrible groan. For that voice came from the most feared bully in the neighborhood. Alexander Gruff. The Gruffs were known across the town for their attitude and anger issues. They also weren't the sharpest knife in the drawer. Therefore they were easy to fool, and I usually get away unharmed. At least physically unharmed.

 Anyways, Zeke the Meek is the nickname that  “Alex” likes to call me. However, today, with my new spells, I think I can stand up to him. “Hey, Alex,” I said.  He smirked.  “Say, what’s that lump in your pocket?” He lunged at me, thrusting me to the ground.

He then shoved his hand into my pocket and found the spellbook. "Oh no, I'm doomed!" I thought. "Well, well, well, what do we have here? A dark magic spellbook? Didn't the mayor himself tell you not to perform anything but low-level magic? This book is chock full with dangerous stuff!"  He grinned.  I did not. For I knew where this was going, and I hope you do to. "I may have to report you!"  With that, he dashed off. I gave chase, but another thing that I don't like about Alex

is that he always has the upper hand in athletics. He was already halfway to the mayor's office. So I did the only thing I could think of. "Vinealis Borealis!" Vines erupted from the ground. I thrust my hands forward. The vines copied my movement and wrapped around Alex.  I won't say what he said next cuz' your ears would explode from his swears.

Then, I realized that the whole town was watching. Including my parents. My mom was crying and my dad wouldn’t even make eye contact. Alex got to his feet and pointed a finger at me. “He used a dark magic spellbook!” He shouted. At that moment, the mayor came bursting through the crowd. “What is going on?” He demanded. Alex told him everything. How he had found me with the notebook and tried to tell the mayor, but apparently Zeke had wrapped him in vines and tried to stop him.     

“What do you have to say for yourself?” Roared the mayor, whose face was turning a very deep shade of red. “Technically speaking, that was my spellbook and he stole it. According to law, I have the right to get it back,” I replied calmly.

“Don’t be a smart aleck! Tell me how you got that book in the first place!”

“Ok, ok.” I said.

“I… um… I found it. And was trying to return it. Yup.” I said.

He didn’t believe me.

Court is a horrible place. Especially in Naria. If you're deemed guilty, the punishment can be worse than you can imagine. For example, the punishment for theft is that your hand can't move for a certain amount of days (depending on how serious the theft is). I was in a worse situation though. Instead of immobilizing my hands, I was most likely gonna be banned from town for a good 1,000 years. So, I'm pretty much doomed unless I'm deemed innocent. 

Which isn't likely, considering the fact that there are a thousand eye witnesses that saw me do a dark magic spell.  

I'll see you in banishment. 

Chapter 4: Court

Naria courts look a lot like human courts, except for one thing. Every chair is enchanted to buzz every time someone lies. It really helps the judge, but not the person lying. So I'm gonna have to tell the truth. Either way, it's pretty hopeless. There are plenty of eyewitnesses, and most people in this town hate me. Except for...

"Grindelwald!" said the court official in mock astonishment. "You're our judge?"   "Yup" replied Grindelwald in a gruff voice. The man was huge! And nice too. In fact, Grindelwald is one of our few judges who doesn't need to hide his prejudices against people. Most likely because he doesn't have any. Grindelwald is one of those few people who doesn't care how many eyewitnesses there are, he wants hard, solid, proof. And right now, all I have are eyewitnesses.

As Grindelwald sat down, I couldn't help smiling. As I scanned the room, my smile faded as I saw the Gruffs sitting two rows over.  Two! If looks can kill, the one on their faces would have done the job 100, no wait, 1,000 times over. Talk about overkill. Then their glare turned to me. I shrink in my chair. The Gruffs are pretty much self-explanatory. The dad is, well, gruff. With a brown beard and muscles that could lift a zelock! (An animal so grotesque that if I told you what it look liked, you'd go into a coma for 20 days. Just don't go looking for it! That would just kill you. Let's just say it weighs about 500 lbs.)  

The mom was short, and was a little more of a couch potato than the dad, but she still could at least lift a 200 pound person off the ground, maybe 300 pound. And then there was Alexander Gruff, the boy who made my life miserable. When I'm leaving for banishment, I'll give him a good hit on the head with my vines. It'll be my "goodbye."  Enough about them. Let's get back to my doom. Ugh, they might as well banish me already.

As Grendilwald sat down, he said what he always said. "I want you all to know that I don't care how many eyewitnesses there are, I want hard, factual proof. The Gruffs all smiled. "Speaking of proof, we have some right here. Said the dad. "Oh?" Said Grindelwald. "And what kind of proof is that?" The dad smirked so much he could do it for a profession. "Fingerprints."  Then the dad got up, and handed it to Grindelwald. Grindelwald inspected it, muttered some spell words, than got up and banged his mallet.

"I hereby pronounce Zeke guilty of the highest crime. Use of unsupervised dark magic!"  he shouted. "But first," said Grindelwald as he sat down. "I'll give the defendant one last chance to prove me wrong." I spent the next hour trying to convince him that I'm innocent. I tried everything! Lawyer-like phrases, spells to make my voice have charisma, and so much more! So I ended with the only thing I could think of. "As long as I do dark magic for good, can I really be punished for something I can't help but have?"

Apparently I can.

The first thing I did when I was banished from town was hit the Gruffs as hard as I could with my vines. Then, not wishing to see my parents disappointed faces, I ran far, far away from that town, until I could see it no longer. I looked around me, examining my surroundings. I appeared to be in a forest. An extremely creepy forest at that. The trees were so dense, you could barely see the sun. So it was cold.  Really cold. I decided to find a nice place to set up camp.  I walked and walked and walked.

Chapter 5: The Wild  Woods

The forest was dark, real dark. The trees covered the sky, not letting any light come through. The ground was covered in dead leaves, mushrooms and moss. A couple of tree roots lined the path, and I stumbled and tripped over and over. As I fell over for the 20th time, I stumbled into a clearing. It, unlike the other parts of the forest, had a bit of light shining through. In the center was a murky bog, and I knew I couldn't set up camp here. But there was some interesting looking berries, and being starving myself

I walked around the bog to the bush full of red berries. It looked good to eat, and hunger was taking away my logical thinking. So I grabbed a berry of the bush, and took a bite.

I threw up.

The berries were disgusting! They tasted like rotten apples. (Don't ask how I know what that tastes like.) And made me sick to the stomach. And, having emptied my stomach, I was hungrier then before.

Then I heard a noise. A shuffle of paws, to be exact. The bushes full of berries? They were shaking. I was too. I backed up. The bushes stopped shaking. I breathed a sigh of relief.

Then a gray mound of fur pounced on top of me.

"Zelda!" I cried, "What are you doing here?" "I was looking for you!" replied Zelda. 

That's right, my cat can talk.

You see, Zelda is a Mega-Morpher cat. She can change into other things completely or partially. She is still learning to control this abillity, but she's doing really well. She even learned how to morph her voice box so that it's some-what like a human's. It still has some cat-qualities, but it sounds mostly human.

Chapter 6: Zelda Emerges.

"You were following me?" I cried.  "That's r-right!" replied Zelda, puffing out her chest (And talking in that st-stammering voice. Like I said, her voice box morph is not perfect!) "I used my s-super tracking skills to find you!" I sighed. "You do realize this is my banishment, right? I don't want to drag you into all this."  Zelda put on a stubborn look. The stubborn look. When she puts on that look, there's no stopping her. She'll scratch your face if she has to.

"I know that!" said Zelda. "But I'm your companion aren't I? It's my job to stick by you. Besides," She looked at the ground. "Mom and Dad sent me." I gave Zelda a quizzical look. "Mom and Dad? Seriously? How could they still care for me enough after this to send you?"  I asked.  Zelda gave me a defiant stare. "Of course they still care! Mom was in hysterics and Dad wouldn't leave bed. They closed the entire potion shop for pete's sake!"

I looked at Zelda's defiant eyes and knew there was no stopping her. "Alright, fine. You can come. But we better get a move on. Night's falling and we still don't have a place to set up camp."

"Yippe!" cried Zelda.

And just like that, the rest of the journey wasn't so lonely.

After several hours, we found a nice clearing. There wasn't any sunlight, sure, but there was plenty of space. And I could gather some wood and try to conjure up a fire. "Alright Zelda, we have found the perfect spot! Now, you gather some fire wood, and I'll conjure up some tents and food." Zelda stood on her hind legs and saluted. "Yes Captain!" and bounded away. Now that Zelda was gone, all that was left was figuring out how to conjure up tents and food. 

Then I remembered. I did use a spell so I could gain all the spells in that dark magic spellbook. Worth a shot. So I focused on what I wanted. (That was advice I heard from an old teacher walking in the streets) and concentrated with all my might. Just like that, the words came to me. 

"Tentalis Shentaralis" I said. And just like that, poof! Tents and a little food appeared right in front of me. There was only one problem. I only needed one tent, but the spell made three! I shrugged. I could always just leave them there for the next person who came stumbling here.

A couple minutes later, Zelda came back in the form of a cat with a HUGE mouth. Her mouth was chock full of firewood as she came trotting in and dropped it at my feet. To my surprise, it wasn’t wet with saliva. “How did you do that?” I asked, gesturing to the dry firewood. Zelda smiled. “I learned a new trick! I can now get rid of certain body parts! All I did was get rid of my s-saliva glands!”

I smiled. “Well, why don’t you pick a tent and I’ll get a fire going.” Zelda trodded to the center of the tents, and spent a good 10 minutes staring at each one, while I moved the wood to the center of the campsite. This time I already knew the spell. When I still lived in my old town, the mayor decided, since I had listened to the rules, I could learn the spell for fire (under VERY strict circumstances.). So I learned it, and to this day, you can still see the places in the park where I practiced (just be careful, I may have over-burned some trees so the limbs keep falling off.).