Published writing

Into the wilderness There is a land known as Tropicana. It has beautiful fauna and breath-taking sights but it is also dangerous. Untold dangers lurk at every corner. Until, Queen Eugenie Kingston of Tropicana banished them to the wilderness and ordered a wall of immense power and height to be built. But what if Tropicana could live in a different way? To live with the beasts in harmony and peace than fear them? Charlotte Elizabeth Smith closed the book and warmed her hands against a dancing fire. She sighed deeply and watched the glowing embers. Her black hair swayed gently. She watched the endless scene of mountains. They had made it past the wall and had trekked 6km north. The bitter North wind slapped her face. Her friend Elian Iwadael Tyak was setting up camp and his falcon was dutifully guarding them. She felt fur underneath her tired feet. It was Stormeye, her loyal snow cat. She was a large cat with fur like snow leopard ones. There was something wrong. Charlotte's grandma had given them a locket. Will there be a time she’ll need it?

Asterix was everything except for obnoxious. She was as ordinary as you could get. She had canary yellow hair and strikingly blue eyes. Her skin was fair and light. She absolutely loathed history. In fact she had the record of the lowest history exam marks in human history. But She never knew a peculiar event would change the course of her life forever. It all began when she was feeling a bit mischievous. She snuck into her mothers private-library. There were rows and rows of dusty books . At the end of the colossal hall was an old chest. She approached it carefully and opened the chest. An old jeweled book was the only object that was in the chest. She grabbed it and ran. She had just taken her mothers prized heirloom. She ran and ran until reached her bedroom door. Chest heaving she opened the book on her bed. Her heart skipped a few paces. She was flying through nothiness. She fell. She was hopeless. She opened her eyes. She was standing in the middle of a market in what looked like a re-enactment of ancient Rome. Shoppers barged past each other. Women wrinkled their noses at her. She looked at her phone. Strange there is still wifi, she thought. Suddenly everything stopped. Horns could be heard. A procession was heading towards a building. Soldiers marched with pride. Prisoners hid their faces and people jeered at them. Asteriex was standing in the way of the procession and her jaw dropped. “Oi get out the way you street rat” a soldier yelled at her. She did not bugge. Her brow raised. “Or I will use the hard way” he raised his sword threateningly. A boy with golden locks ran between Asterix and the procession. “She was only passing-” the boy broke off. “Not you Julius I am telling your dad, unless you move her” the soldier threatened. Julius dragged her off to a fountain. “Oh sorry for the interruption of the movie” she apologized. “What's a movie and are you out of your mind?” he asked. “I know you are pretending, it is the 21st century” she said. “You are in Rome” he sighed. What if she thought I am halfway around the world ? She realized she was no longer in 2022 but in ancient Rome. Julius looked at her with strikingly blue eyes. He had noticed her family heirloom. “Did you steal my fathers treasure? '' he said, shocked. “No this is my mothers family heirloom” she replied innocently. Julius took her to his house. It looked like he was one of the rich citizens. He took her to a library. There it was the book. It was identical. “Julius, I did not steal it, I know it's hard to understand but I am from the future” she sighed. Julius took a long time to digest the words. “Ok I will believe you” “Want to stay for dinner?”he asked hopefully. “Ok Julius” Asteriex replied . Dinner looked delicious. “Dormice Asterix?”asked Julius. Asterix didn’t reply. She had eaten a roasted bird and was very full. She was busy scrolling through the endless videos on Tiltok. Julius stared at her phone for a while. Aterix was starting to get worried she would be stuck in ancient Rome forever. She started to fidget with the book in her hands. The fidgeting was restless.“Julius, I want to go back.” She opened the book. Words began appearing on its blank pages as though the words were freshly written. It said: tick tock the time is running out by the strike of midnight you will be trapped in the past forever to reverse this fate, prevent thieves from stealing the copy of this object. Julius stared at the words. “Julius, I think it means that your fathers book is going to get stolen”Asterix said. So they hurried up to the library. All was quiet until footsteps came.Julius moved back against the wall. The night was dark and cold. Asterix climbed out of the window onto the roof. Julius dared not to follow.The roof creaked and groaned. Two dark shadows could be seen, cautiously climbing. Asterix opened the light of her phone. The thieves looked startled at first. But grinned evilly when they could see her. “Little girl playing with cotton dolls eh?”one of the thieves teased. “I’ve never played with one.”she stammered, trying to sound brave. In a flash, one thief pinned her down to the floor. The other held a gleaming dagger to her throat. Asterix could feel his nasty breath against her pale face. “So uh you want to kill me ?” she stammered. “Little girl tell me where the treasure- to - success is?” one of the men questioned. “What treasure- to- success?” Astrix lied. Though she knew what the man was talking about. The moment when the man was about to kill her. A voice shouted “hey stop that.” The man’s jaw dropped. It was Julius thundering across the tiled roof. He puffed out his chest and said through clenched teeth”do you know who my father is?” But before Julius could answer. The man leaped at him. Asterix whipped out her phone and opened Tiktok. The thieves began to stare. Wherever the phone went the pair of awestruck thieves followed. Asterix began leading the thieves to the edge of the roof. There Julius pushed them to their doom. The thieves were gone. Asterix high fived Julius. Suddenly, an enormous eagle swooped silently into the roof. Asterix opened the book and there was a hand pointing to the eagle. She moved the book a few times. It just kept adjusting itself to the eagle. The eagle soundlessly indicated its back. Asterix hesitated then sat onto its back. It took off immediately. She waved at Julius. The bird of immense strength began flying faster and faster. Until she could only see the stars like jewels glimmering in the night sky. Then, without warning the eagle shot back down to the ground. This time, it wasn’t Rome, it was Paris. She was home. She closed her eyes and breathed. She opened her eyes and found herself in an exam. She glanced down. The teacher was looking hopefully at her. She glanced down again and started answering. Everything was easy. This incident was life-changing. She had thought she would continue to fail at history. But this incident prevented this fate.