The Power

The day had come. Nyah would finally become a magician. Or at least placed in one of the magical clans to train. She had waited for her key for weeks and had just been about to give up hope when one day the rusty, old key laid there on her doormat. The delay in the key’s arrival had caused her to have all kinds of emotions and she had started questioning herself. Could she be the black sheep of the family? The one without any magic in her soul? Relief had coursed through her when she saw the key followed by excitement and a little nausea. Attached to it had been a brown note stating only a time and a place but Nyah knew what it was. It was her invitation to the room with the hundred doors. The test that would place her in one of the nine magical clans.

Three weeks later she stood in the middle of a bustling city with her father. She spun around herself in amazement. She had been to many places around the world but no place had been like this. The city was huge and there were people everywhere. Tall, intricate brick buildings rose up into the clouds and strange mechanical contraptions coiled themselves up the buildings and floated in the air above her. People around her wore the strangest clothes. Bowler hats, top hats, tall leather boots, goggles on their heads and some even wore some kind of gadget coiled around their arms. It almost looked like the inside of an unmagical pocket watch. This place really was magical, she thought to herself. No wonder it was one of the seven magical metropoles.

Her father coughed and said ‘That way’ and started walking into a narrow alley. Nyah woke from her daydream and hurried after. They walked in between tiny streets and Nyah had no idea where they were. She felt completely lost and could not imagine that her father knew where they were either. Suddenly he stopped and Nyah bumped into him.

‘We are here, draga mea’ he said and held a hand on her back pushing her forward slightly. She looked up and in front of her she saw a big square filled with people. They were standing in front of a pink, two story building with golden statues scattered around the rooftop. The golden letters over the entrance said ‘Kasteli’. She let out a breath of air in amazement. It was more than she could have dreamed of. Absentmindedly she walked forward and was nearly run over by some kind of flying vehicle but her father caught her just in time.

‘Take it easy, draga mea. Magic waits for the worthy’ her father said and smiled down at Nyah. She nodded and felt her heart gallop inside her chest. She wasn’t sure whether it was due to her near death experience or if it was the pink building but she took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. When continuing towards Kasteli she now looked both right and left twice before crossing the street. They walked amidst the crowd that had gathered outside the building. It looked to be a bunch of kids her age with their parents waiting for the same thing as her. Some seemed totally at ease and like they belonged, but there were a few that just like herself looked to be nervous or unsure of what they were getting themselves into. One kid almost looked like he was going to throw up. She felt bad for him but continued walking towards Kasteli. Suddenly a booming voice echoed.

‘Welcome to Kasteli’ it said. Nyah and several others looked around themselves to find the source of the voice but after a couple of pirouettes she could see that the others were looking up into the sky. She looked up and saw one of the golden statues walking back and forth on the flat rooftop. The fenris wolf who had previously seemed like it was made out of pure gold, was now fully animated.

‘Through the door you will find your magic but it is only through your heart you will find yourself. Let both magic and heart guide you and you will come out victorious’ the fenris wolf continued. Nyah’s father huffed and mumbled something about being a pompous something.

‘The maesters are ready for you, so in an orderly fashion please make your way into the ceremonial ballroom. Good luck,’ the wolf said and bowed to the crowd. Orderly was not the word Nyah would have used to describe what happened next. People pushed their way into Kasteli, some even elbowed themselves in. She stood still looking at the chaos and relaxed only when her father laid a hand on her shoulder.

‘Shall we?’ he said with a smile. She looked at him and nodded with what she hoped was a brave smile before they started walking towards the giant, pink building.

They found their places on the 15th row of seats in a golden room which Nyah assumed was the ceremonial ballroom. The seats were red velvet but everything else in the room looked like it was draped in pure gold. On the walls there were candles lighting up the room and in front of them was a big stage and on the stage stood a door. Peculiarly it looked like the door just stood there in the middle of the stage and was not connected to any wall. The door was made out of wood and had a black door knob. Around it there was a stone arch as a door frame with intricate inscriptions and decorations around. It was rounded but at the very top there was a small tip. It looked ancient. Before Nyah had time to ask her father about it the lights in the room were dimmed. The entire room went silent as if someone had sucked out all noise from the room leaving a vacuum. Not long after a small ball of light appeared floating in front of the old door on the stage. The ball grew and suddenly erupted into sparks and fireworks in the shape of flames, flowers, birds and many other beautiful things. When the fireworks had died down, Nyah could see a woman standing center stage holding out her arms to the sides. The audience burst out in applause and Nyah did not hesitate in joining in. It had been a magnificent performance. The woman bowed slightly and waited for the applause to die down before she spoke.

‘Welcome to Kasteli. My name is Esther Nielsen and I am the mayor of Hafnaborg. It is my great honor to welcome you to this very special occasion. Today you leave your old self behind and start a new chapter in your lives as magicians,’ she said with a firm and authoritative voice. Nyah thought she seemed a little stiff and business like but joined in as the rest of the audience clapped. The woman signaled for them to stop applauding and continued.

‘The journey towards finding your magic will not be an easy one and it will probably be the greatest challenge you will ever face’ she said and Nyah could feel the atmosphere shift a little in the room. Kids looked back and forth nervously just like herself, but Esther Nielsen did not seem to take notice.

‘Now give a hand to one of our maesters, Aren, she said and gestured to her right. A thin stream of smoke slowly flew in towards Esther and when it had nearly reached her a man materialized and the smoke disappeared. Nyah, who had grown up with magic around her, was still amazed by all the new things she had seen this day. She clapped as Aren and Esther bowed to each other and then out of nowhere Esther was gone.

‘Once more welcome. My name is Aren Olsen and I am your maester’ said the man who couldn’t be much older than 20.

‘Behind me you see the door of magic. It will lead you to the room with a hundred doors which in turn will take you on a test to see what kind of magic lies within you. One by one you will come up and enter the door. Inside the room with a hundred doors your test will start by you choosing one of the, you guessed right, hundred doors. From there you will face several challenges to establish what type of magic rests inside each one of you. While it is only a test I must still caution you. Be careful and do not try to force it. You cannot choose yourself what kind of magic your heart holds’ Aren said gravely. Nyah had an ominous feeling.

‘But if you are true to yourself and let the magic guide you, great things await you’ he said and put on a big smile.

‘Once you come out on the other side the door will reveal for us what magical clan you belong to. I am sure all of you are eager to get started so let’s not waste any more time talking. Let the show begin!’ Aren put both hands in the air and smoke flew from his fingertips and spun around him like a hurricane. His hands shot out to the sides and the smoke vanished in an instant.

One by one, the kids were called up to the stage. Some walked with straight backs and full of purpose while others could barely let go of their parents. Each kid walked through the door and returned seconds later looking worse for wear. One kid even collapsed, sending a wave of gasps through the big room. Luckily there were some kind of medic standing by to assist the wounded and the boy was quickly cared for. Before leaving the stage, the kids would turn to face the door to see the bricks framing the door light up in different colors depending on what magical clan they belonged to. Red for the fire clan, green for the nature clan, black for the spirit clan and so on. Next up would be Nyah. She felt a prickle of nerves and excitement. This was the moment she had been waiting for for years. Nyah had always been the quiet, slightly clumsy kid that was easily forgotten. She had grown up with a group traveling the world sort of like the non-magical gypsies and her father was the leader of the group. He was a charismatic and well liked person who everyone came to for advice and help. Her mother died when Nyah was very young and she had no memory of her but her deepest wish was for her mother to be there and witness her entering the magical world. The sudden loss had been devastating for her father and little to no pictures or mementos were left of the woman. She had long ago learned to not ask questions. While Nyah craved to know anything about her mother she didn’t want to burden her father by bringing up his most painful memory. Nyahs parents had only had one child and there were also not many other kids her age around so she therefore didn’t really have many friends. Nyah hoped that would change now that she would soon become a magician herself and she could contribute to the group. Hopefully it would give her the purpose in life she so desperately wanted.

‘Nyah Lupu’ Aren called from the stage. She snapped out of her thoughts and looked at her father. He gave her a warm smile and whispered good luck. Slowly but with her head held high she walked towards the stage. When she reached the door she looked at Aren for confirmation and he nodded and gestured for her to enter. She grabbed the door handle and took a deep breath before pushing the door open.

The door closed behind her with a thud. The dimly lit corridor was made out of grey, brick walls with different doors on each side. She started walking, inspecting each door wondering which one she was to enter. There was a door that looked overgrown by some kind of plant, a door with horizontal stripes in different colors, a door filled with clockwork but the door that caught Nyah’s eyes the most was a simple, brown, wooden door with a white peacock painted on it. Something about the peacock reminded Nyah of her mom and she knew that this was the door she had to choose. She took another deep breath and stepped through the door, this time a little more confident.

She was instantly blinded by a strong light and tried her best to cover her eyes. Nyah kept moving slowly with one hand covering her eyes and the other stretched out in front of her. After a while her eyes adjusted and she started to see things around her. All her senses were working in high gear as she took in the scene in front of her. The sound of a carnival waltz from calliope music, the smell of popcorn and the bright colors surrounded her. She was at a circus. A tall man on stilts walked by her and a small girl gave her a flower before running off laughing. Nyah felt delighted and continued further into the circus. She had forgotten everything about a test and was simply enjoying herself in this place filled with wonders. A pantomime grabbed hold of her and guided her to a seat in front of a small stage and motioned for her to be quiet. She laughed but quickly held a hand over her mouth to show the pantomime she would be quiet. He wagged a finger at her with a joking frown and then ran off as quickly as he had appeared. Spotlights lit up the stage and a pierrot clown cycled onto the stage on a unicycle. The clown was dressed in white baggy clothes with big, black dots as buttons down its chest and stomach. It had a teardrop painted on it’s chin and looked miserable. Still it continued to cycle in circles around the stage juggling three wooden sticks. It was an odd show, she thought, but kept watching in anticipation of what would come next. After a while, Nyah looked around and found the rest of the audience transfixed on the stage with big eyes. They ooh’ed and aah’ed and seemed to thoroughly enjoy the show. Since the show had not really progressed since it had started, Nyah was starting to get bored. She also thought the whole situation was strange and decided to move on to something else in the circus. As she stood up the clown lost it’s balance and fell hard on the ground with the sticks also falling onto the poor thing. Everyone in the audience turned their heads towards her simultaneously in disbelief.

‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb the show’ Nyah said remorsefully. One person said something to her in a language Nyah had never heard before. When she didn’t answer, another woman shouted something else at her. The crowd looked more like a mob with their angry expressions.

‘I am truly sorry’ she tried once more and started walking backwards towards the place she had entered. After a few steps she bumped into something and turned to see a tall man with a long beard looking down at her with a scowl on his face. Before she could move he had grabbed hold of both her upper arms and held her tightly. She winced by the forceful grip of the man.

‘You no going anywhere’ he said with a deep, baritone voice. This was definitely not what she had imagined her day to be like. A thought struck her. What had she imagined her day like? Thinking hard and quick she remembered a building in several shades of pink, a talking, golden wolf and a door with a peacock. The room with a hundred doors. What was it the maester had said? After choosing a door they would be faced with different challenges and they had to search within themselves to solve them or something like that. As she stood there thinking the grip of the man tightened and the angry mob came closer and closer. They were chanting something like ‘dalmana shwari’ and looked ready to attack. Even the clown had joined the mob but had traded his sticks with sharp knives. Panic was starting to take form within Nyah and she was frantically looking around for a way out.

‘You will never be worthy’ a woman nearby spat at her.

‘You think magic can help you?’ the man asked in a condescending tone. People around laughed intensely and kept chanting ‘dalmana shwari’.

‘Give up little girl. You can never be good enough’ the man sneered at her. That was it. Two pet peeves of hers all in one, short sentence. ‘Little girl’ and ‘give up’. She truly hated when people talked down at her due to her size, age or gender and there was one thing Nyah Lupu never did: Give up!

She felt the anger bubbling inside her as she tensed all the muscles in her body before she erupted in flames. The man let go of her and screamed in pain. The angry mob shouted in shock and most started fleeing to all directions. The clown however had not let the explosion slow him down and he was barreling towards her with the knives raised high. Nyah had tripped as the man let her go and was half sitting, half lying on the ground trying to do a backwards crawl away from the approaching clown. She felt around on the floor after something to defend herself with, but found nothing but the wooden floorboards which were pinned to the ground. Suddenly, she felt a tingle in one of her fingers and looked down. She placed her palm down on the wooden floor boards and could feel the sensation intensify. Before she could question herself she put both palms down on the floor and focused and within seconds she had sunk through the wooden floor leaving the circus behind. She was in free fall for what felt like ages before she landed in a big, soft bush. Darkness engulfed her and all she could see was a sliver of light in the far off distance. Nyah got up and carefully started walking towards the light. She stretched one hand in front of her while the other was shielding her eyes. Her fingers graced something hard and she put her palm against it, feeling for something. After a few seconds she found a door handle and turned it slowly. When the door opened she was greeted with cheers and applause. She was once more back on the stage in Hafnaborg again. She was thankful it was over and while it had been a short adventure, she could feel her legs trembling as she stepped through the door.

Aren walked towards her with one arm extended. He guided her to the side of the stage and pointed to the door. The entire room was silent as they waited for a result. This was the moment she had been waiting for. Any second now she would know what kind of magic hid inside of her, if any.

The doorframe lit up and it was so bright that she was almost blinded. Red. She was a fire magician. Just like her mother had been. Tears streamed down her cheek as she bowed to the audience and walked back to her seat. All self doubt she had been carrying inside her faded ever so slightly as she sat down. Her father whispered ecstatic but she wasn’t listening. All she could think about was what great adventures now lay ahead of her.