Long long ago, in a mystical land of happiness and joy, lived a princess named Sara. She was a gorgeous young girl, with green round eyes and golden hair that flowed down to the floor. She was a girl who had beauty not only on the outside, but also in the inside. She was a girl loved by all. She helped the elderly cross the streets, and helped the children resolve their petty conflicts. Her friends always came to her for suggestions. She did all this without a second thought, because she believed that every human was sent down on this Earth to help others.
On the morning of her 19th birthday, she was reading out stories to blind children in the park. The sky suddenly grew grey. Dark clouds covered the sky, and the wind started blowing taking away all that came in its way. She took the children and went inside. She felt something was wrong. As soon as she put her step outside, everything in her view faded, things started blurring out, and she lost her consciousness. She fell down.
When she opened her eyes, she was in her bedroom, her nurse was by her side. She said, "Nurse, what had happened?"
The nurse replied, "You lost consciousness. That might be due to the fast that you had kept to mourn the death anniversary of the peasants died in the famine. Take rest my dear, everything will be fine."
She closed her eyes and dosed of to sleep again.
She finally woke up the next day remembering little of what had happened the earlier day. She went towards her window and looked down at her kingdom. She smiled a good morning to the elements of the world and continued with her day.
She was walking down the hallway of her palace, and she suddenly saw that the floor was wet. She cried out to the one responsible for cleaning and scolded the woman. The woman wanted to say something but she shut her up.
She moved out of the palace in her chariot to a friend's place. She saw a poor man begging on the street. She wanted to stop and give him some gold coins, but then she gave it a second thought. She realised she was getting late for the get together, so she moved on.
When she reached her friend's place, the guards at her gate checked the chariot for security purposes. The princess was offended. She scolded the guards and moreover, she felt that her friend did not trust her.
She was taking a stroll in the park of her palace when she found an injured squirrel, she wanted to help, but realised her precious clothes would be stained with the blood so instead, she called a servant.
Later in the evening, she had to go the slum school and teach the children something. She felt she was tired and decided not to go.
When she went to bed, she read out her usual prayer -
"Lord, I have passed another day
And come to thank Thee for Thy care.
Forgive my faults in work or play
And listen to my......"
She stopped right there. She thought missing one day's prayer won't upset god. She was very sleepy, so she slept.
"My child is gone... You called me to clean the floor when he was dying of sickness and I had to let him.. You did it...
Only if you would have given me alms… my landlord wouldn't have thrown me out of the house... I don't have a roof above my head because of you...
You scolded my guards because… they checked your chariot… they were so scared that they did not check anyone else, and a robbery happened at my place... only because of you...
If only you would've attended me instead of… waiting for someone else to heal my wounds... I would have been alive today... You killed me...
You didn't come to teach us today... If you would have come, our day would not have been wasted, the teacher was sick and no one came to teach... You spoiled our precious time..."
She woke up with a start. Her pillow was wet, she had seen a horrible dream. She couldn't exactly remember what. She washed her face and then continued with her day.
This went on for a long time, bad days, where she did not realise she was forgetting her own self and becoming someone else, and nightmares where her own self would scream out to her for doing such things. She forgot who she was and it felt as if some power was suppressing her soul inside her body.
Five years had passed away, she stopped sleeping scared to face the nightmares. She was scared to face the truth, the truth that stated that she was changing, becoming a person who was never hidden behind her smiles and she knew it. Where did the person come from? Every time she wanted to do something good, her thoughts stopped her. She felt as if she was at war with her own self.
She was crying one night thinking about what had happened to her when suddenly she saw a light coming from her window. She looked out to find a beautiful fairy coming towards her room.
The princess said with tears in her eyes, "Who are you?"
The fairy replied, "It does not matter, what matters is why am I here."
"Why?"
"To save you from the spells of the wicked witch. You might get pretty perplexed after hearing what I’m going to say, but knowing what had happened to you will save you. And by the way, you can call me Kate"
"Wicked witch? What are you talking about?"
"The wicked witch Bulshada. You remember that storm on the morning of your 19th birthday? It was Bulshada. She waved around you her wand of Sirik when you were unconscious and took away your positivity. She is a witch of great power and not everyone can break her spells. I was reviewing all my knowledge these five years to assemble the power that I needed to fight the wicked witch."
"Why did she do to me, why?”
"She got envious of the popularity that you had. You were a great person, who exhibited perfect qualities of kindness and wisdom. She wanted the power that you had. But little did she know that the power that she wanted was actually love that cannot be gained through any kind of spell. Her wand of Sirik means the wand of jealousy. She started draining out all your positivity right from the moment you had fainted that day. And that is the reason why you turned out to be a very changed girl ever since you woke up from that unconsciousness."
The princess asked, "And what explains the nightmares that I have"
"Bulshada could not completely steal your positivity from you because she got interrupted by your soldiers. She killed them all but had to flee. Your goodness in you constantly tries to remind you of who you were. But during the daytime there are so many voices screaming inside you that you cannot listen. Bulshada’s pessimism overpowers your optimism. During the night time, your mind is silent, the world is quite and you hear those cries. You see your own self begging you to come back, be what you were. Your positivity constantly tries to remind you who you were, but all the efforts have gone in vain."
"I want to turn back to what I was. I don't like who I am now. I have started developing hatred for my own self. It seems that I have forgotten why God sent me down to this Earth. What I see around me is only fear, unlike the respect and love that used to surround me. Please help me Kate. I have grown into a monster. When I look at my face in the morning, I feel like spitting on it. It is not the same old me."
The princess started shedding tears again. In these five years, the nights had made her hate herself. She wanted her happiness back, her positivity back.
"Don't cry princess. That is why I am here, to save you. You are a prodigy that the god sent for all alive beings on this Earth and Bulshada just can't take you away like this. I have a perfect remedy. Take these."
She waved her wand and said, “Herculus Petriofa!” and a table appeared with four jars, twelve strings and a burner on it. One jar was filled with pearls, one with coal and the other two had Zabwino and Zoipa written on them and were empty.
"Now, whenever you do something negative, I'll put a block of coal in the Zoipa jar, whenever you think of doing something positive, I'll put three pearls in the Zabwino jar, and whenever you do something positive, I'll put seven pearls in it. Zabwino means positive and Zoipa means negative. At the end of each month, you will have to burn the coal with this burner called Bovu. Bovu is the one who helps people recover from their traumas of doing something bad in heaven. Feel the heat that it gives. The flames and the vapour that will leave will signify each bad deed going away, and you will never repeat it. The heat of Lith that it will give will be a lesson, it will make you feel exactly what you made others feel by doing a bad deed. Lith is the god of experience and lessons. Keep the ashes. After you burn away the coal, take the pearls and the string that I gave you and make a necklace of Zenko out of it. Zenko is the goddess of love and positivity. The beauty of this necklace will show how good you had been and it will encourage you to do more good. Wear it until the end of the next month. This string will give your heart the power to fight back the negative fields around you. Don't worry if the string does not have many pearls, believe in yourself, and the number of pearls will go up the next month. Now I have to go, I'll meet you after a year, till then good bye and take care of yourself. Remember that magic is nothing but hope. Keep your flame of hope alive and you'll soon break Bulshada's spell. Keep smiling dear because these tears won't make a necklace of Zenko."
Before she could say something, the fairy had vanished into thin air. She looked at the jars and thought she would surely recover. She knew she had that old self in her somewhere and she would surely find her out and help her live. Just then, three pearls appeared in the Zabwino jar. She smiled a true smile after five long years.
After each month, she did exactly what she was told to do. The necklace of Zenko hung around her neck for the next month truly inspired her to do something good. She felt Bulshada's magic was weakening. The heat of Lith helped her realise her mistakes and she corrected them whenever possible.
At the end of a year, she had twelve necklaces with her. She could truly feel the magic that had transformed her into her own self. She was again the wondrous princess of the mystical land. And the start of the journey was from the belief that she could do it, she could overcome Bulshada's power.
It was the same night when Kate had found her weeping, helpless, and miserable. And today, one year had passed, Kate saw her happy, content. It was strange how much someone's life can change within a year, with nothing to start off but just hope.
Slow wind started to blow, and the same light came outside her window that had come a year ago. She knew it was Kate. She ran towards her window, and she saw the glistening fairy flying towards her.
"Show me your necklaces and the ashes." Said the fairy with a very contempt smile on her face.
"Here..."
She took the necklaces and put them in the container filled with ashes and then revolved her magic wand across the container and said, "Herculus Petriofa!”
Boom! The ashes turned into pearls and the empty spaces in the strings had been filled by those pearls.
"Hard work always pays off" She said with a wink.
Then she handed each of the necklaces to her.
"This is The String of Change. Remember you can change the world with every single action you do. You are capable of everything you wish.
This is The String of Letting Go. Never hold on to your worries. They will go. Someone had said once, nothing is permanent in this wicked world. Not even your problems.
This is The String of Holding Up. Let go your worries, but never ever give up on your efforts. Hard work always pays off.
This is The String of Appreciation. Appreciate everything you have, for every moment in your life is a moment of miracle.
This is The String of Time. Remember that the past is gone, you can't change it. But you have your future in your hands and it is you who decides what to do with it. Don't ruin it by taking your past in your future.
This is The String of Patience. Be patient till your last breath. When in times of misery, remember the good is yet to come.
This is The String of Self-Introspection. Don't run into races with other people. The greatest race that you have to win is with yourself. Try to be a better person than tomorrow.
This is The String of Dreams. Dream like you have a whole life ahead. Your dreams should be greater than fears and actions should be louder than words.
This is The String of Self-Confidence. Don't let anyone write your life's story. Hold the pen yourself. Be independent.
This is The String of Gratitude. Never under estimate anything. Small things in life are actually the big things. They make the most difference.
And lastly this is The String of God. Thank god every day for the wonderful life you received. For the power he gave you, to be good and to do good."
Saying this, she flew away again. The princess watched her sway across the horizon, her shimmering silhouette flying across the stars and the moon. She thanked the fairy, and went off to sleep. A peaceful sleep in many years. And, she lived happily ever after...
