Week 3 in Creative Writing
This week the students explored the various aspects of fantasy fiction, a genre dominated by British and Anglo-Saxon writers for the past 200 years. We only need to think of J.K. Rowling, C.S. Lewis, Lewis Caroll and J.R. Tolkien to be reminded of the contribution of these English speaking authors to this genre.
Our students had the opportunity to explore elements of magic and either created a fantasy world where their protagonists had to conquer evil or either situated their stories here on earth where their protagonists had to use an element of magic to defeat a powerful villain or villainess. Once again the stories showed great variety of ideas, images and structure.
Adriana Fonseca's work was presented Sunday night. Her work is about a young girl who finds herself in a dilemma. Does she use the magic dagger her father bestowed upon her at the hour of his death against the evil villainess Vanonica? Is she capable of performing an act of evil, Vanonica's murder, in order to ensure the safety of Earth? Some advice from the wise Wilfred and her own inner strength will help her in her final battle...
Adriana's story (Untitled)
Lissa looked out the window of her classroom at her perfect world and sighed. Anthrotopia, the perfect world full of perfect people, who cannot kill, with their different powers, beautiful, powerful buildings, beautiful, all one colour flowers with healing properties, and talking animals. Well, the talking animals she liked actually, especially her pet mouse and best friend, Coby. The world she thinks, she knows, that she doesn’t belong in, even though she should, she has the human like appearance of the anthrotopians, she has light brown hair and blue eyes, and also one power like them all (she can disappear). But in this world there is no room for error. In this world the sole purpose is to keep the balance on Earth, and not let evil overpower good. That is what is done at the Station, the biggest building in Anthrotopia, probably the biggest building in the universe. But though she did not know it yet, this calm world will be in uproar soon.
“Lissa! Listen to the teacher! You are so egocentric!” It was Amber speaking to her, one of the many girls at her school. They were all the same. They listened attentively to everything that was said, if there was the tiniest incident anywhere they got very serious and found out what they could do to help, they never spoke out of turn, they would never dream of saying a mean thing to anyone and they looked at Lissa with a pitying, self righteous smile. Lissa hated them with every fibre of her being- one more thing, she knew, that showed that she was as far from perfection as she could possibly be, and made her cry at night.
That day she ran out of school as fast as possible as always. But as she turned the corner that led to her house she clashed with something that felt like a gigantic rock, and fell down! She screamed, out of surprise mostly, and as she picked herself up she saw that it was a woman, but very different from all the women in Anthrotopia. She was a red head, something no Anthrotopian was, and though she was very beautiful, she was surrounded by a strange aura. By the time Lissa had taken all this, and the fact that she was as hard as rock, she had disappeared. She hurried home, preparing to tell Coby about this. When she got there, though, her mum was in the kitchen, bent over the kitchen table and looking at some diagrams.
“Everything OK?” Lissa asked.
Her mum nodded, then, after a second of thought, said “Something is wrong at the Station. Evil seems to be ruling on earth at the moment, and it should not be. And worse, we can’t do anything, we haven’t figured out what is wrong yet.”
“I’m sure you will” said Lissa, and turned around, not being able to help rolling her eyes. So what, there are two more murders than are supposed to be this month, its life on Earth! Why do these people not sit down and relax a little?! As soon as she thinks this she feels terribly guilty.
“Vat ees ‘rong zees time?” asked Coby tiredly as she walked into her bedroom. She smiles slightly - his German accent always has that effect on her.
“The usual, Cobe. The usual.” And she lies on her bed, pulls her legs up and Coby close, and sleeps, to forget her sadness about her own personality, to forget about the red head she saw and should probably tell someone about, and whatever problem at the Station that will of course be solved tomorrow.
But the problem is not solved the next day, nor the next or the next. A week later, it is on everybody’s mind. Lissa’s mum told her that someone attacked the Station without anybody knowing it, and whoever that person, or people, or thing was, it was now causing even more damage on Earth itself, and even the humans were starting to notice. She was in anguish, and Lissa was pretty worried to.
Another week passed, and Lissa came home to find her mother sitting at the kitchen table, ashen faced and with photographs and text books spread out in front of her.
“What’s up?” she asked, her face reflecting real worry. Her mum turned to her.
“We’ve found out who’s causing the damage on Earth. Her name is Vanonica, and she is a vampire-like being from Craput, you know that kingdom? She is superhumanly strong and fast, and she is as fearless and intelligent as any human can be. She’s unstoppable Lissa.”
She showed Lissa a photo of this Vanonica. A beautiful red head- the beautiful red head she’d clashed with just a couple of weeks ago, and had felt guilty for not telling someone about. She felt overpowering shame take over her, and felt herself blushing red. As she is wondering whether to confess, her mother continues.
“The only thing that can destroy her is this knife, furthermore, only the person to whom this knife belongs to can destroy her. If it is someone from this world they will not be able to kill. If it is not, we will never find them, or find them too late. Vanonica wants to conquer Earth, and make everybody her slave. She has never liked or needed anyone, but she is bored. She is bored so Earth is doomed.”
It was then that Lissa saw the picture of the knife in question, a small, delicate, bronze handled knife with some elegant engravings, and her heart started to thump.
Her father had died when she was nine, six years ago. He had a disease no flowers, no medicine, could heal. A few days before his actual death, he had called Lissa into his room, and told her that he had something he wanted to give her, something she should not tell anyone, not even her mother, about, and that she should use it well and only use it or give it if and when she was absolutely sure it was needed. He had given her the bronze handled knife that could destroy Vanonica.
She rushed back to her bedroom, leaving her mother to look at her in a slightly perplexed way and there put her head in her arms and called for Coby. She told him everything and he listened, patiently and seriously.
“What should I do, Coby? Please tell me because I don’t know! As usual, I don’t know!”
“Do not be so ‘ard on yourself. You could not ‘ave guessed zat zat vas Vanonica. But you need to step forward, and say zat you ‘ave ze knife. You ‘ave to, Lissa, Earth will suffer if you do not”.
“You’re right. But Coby... Mum said whoever possessed the knife was the one who could use it, and I can’t use a knife. I cannot kill!”
“Do not worry about that now. Just take a deep breath and go tell your mother.”
So Lissa did that. She stepped out of her room, taking her knife with her, and stood in front of her mum.
“I have something to tell you” she said, her voice quiet. Her mum looked up.
“Go on then dear.”
“I have the knife”
“What? Lissa I don’t have time for jokes...”
Lissa showed her the knife wordlessly, and her mother’s face turned white.
“How?” her voice was sharp.
“Dad gave it to me. Just before he died. He told me not to tell anybody until I really needed to, I...” Lissa broke off, unsure of what she should say. She had never seen her mother’s face so white.
“I’m taking you to the director of the Station” she said “She will tell us what to do”. She became suddenly very business-like, getting her coat and handbag, face straight and not talking on the way. Lissa was suddenly very scared. What will they make her do?
It turned out she was right to be scared. She sat outside the director’s office for about half an hour, while her mother was in inside, explaining this turn of events. She is then called in. The director’s face was very serious, and her mother’s seemed, if that was possible, even whiter than before. The director, a middle-aged, dark haired, stout woman spoke.
“Lissa. May, I call you Lissa?”
She nodded her consent.
“Well, Lissa, here at the Station we are doing everything in our power to stop Vanonica, and we have reason to believe that we will, and your knife will be unnecessary.”
Lissa thought that unlikely, but didn’t say anything.
“However, Earth is our responsibility and we cannot be too careful. It is with that, and only that, in mind that I have decided that you will attend fighting lessons with the best, if only, fighter in our world. And your first one is right now.”
Lissa was too shocked for words. They were making her fight? Nobody fought! Nobody would ever be expected to fight! Why her? She couldn’t fight! She sent a pleading look at her mother but she refused to make eye contact. Lissa had no choice but to follow the director to a large hall, where a man in a wheel chair was waiting for them.
“Lissa, meet Wilfred. He will be teaching you how to fight.”
Lissa just stared at him. Not only would she have to fight, they were having a man in a freaking wheelchair teach her?! She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry. If she had to face Vanonica she would be dead before she could say her own name. The director left, and Wilfred waited until she looked more composed to start the lesson. He didn’t do introductions; he shot straight into movements and tactics. Lissa found every thought gone from her head as she focused all her concentration on this lesson, and was very surprised, though not very happy, to find it was the best one she had ever had.
She still cried that night, but for different reasons. She was sure now, that she never would be like anyone else on this world. But she was also afraid that that wouldn’t matter, because this world would lose its purpose of being, for she would not be able to kill Vanonica, and Earth would no longer be in their hands.
The next day her mother told her that she would only have to go to school in the mornings for a little while; her afternoons would be solely for her fighting classes. She was incredibly distracted that morning but for once no-one said anything – no word about her and her knife had gotten around. She thought back about her lesson. She had not been able to fully concentrate on what Wilfred had been saying at first, because she had still been completely overwhelmed, but she did remember all the movements he had taught her- the kick-off, that was basically throwing herself at Vanonica then kicking off from her stomach, the idea being both to get her away from Vanonica and to surprise or distract her, and had been practised using a wall, the dive, which was just that, escaping from Vanonica by sliding through her legs, and the back jump, which Wilfred thought would be a really good opportunity to get the knife through her heart, for if she was on Vanonica’s back she would be harder to shake off, and get her close to the heart with Vanonica’s arms busy shaking her off. Wilfred was an amazing teacher, especially with his being in a wheelchair. But of course she was anxious as she knocked on the door of the hall for that day’s lesson. Wilfred’s strong, manly face frightened her a little, as did his knowledge of fighting.
He called for her to come in, and she did. There were mats all over the floor, but other than that the hall was empty.
“Good afternoon, Lissa”
“Hello”
“Right, I want to get to work right away. I think the three movements we practised yesterday you got, so we’re going to see if you can still do them well today, but move on as soon as possible. However, I’m aware that you were a little lost when I was talking yesterday, so we are going to go over tactics, and I think that we should always know as much as possible about our enemy, so your homework will be to do just that, find out as much as you can. What do you already know about her?”
Lissa recited what her mother had told her the day before about the vampire like being.
“Ok. So you know her physically. She has big physical prowess, her only weakness is your knife, which we will begin to practise with very soon. But what about her psychologically? Is she as confident as she seems? Is she afraid to trust? Is she easily distracted? I want you to find out all this.”
“OK”
And so the lesson began. Wilfred began and ended with tactics, to which Lissa gave her full attention, but she also learned two new movements, as well as perfecting the ones from the day before. By the time they finished she was exhausted. Still, after saying goodbye she headed straight to the Station’s library, where she spent three hours, the most she had ever spent over homework or books, looking for anything that speaks of Vanonica, or anyone that is like her.
The next day Wilfred was pleased, and their lesson was even better than usual. But it took a week of hours-long lessons for Lissa to finally get the courage to ask her mentor about himself. She did it abruptly, near the end, when it seemed that he had said all the important things he had to say.
“How did you get like that? Need a wheelchair, I mean? Was it a battle, were you just training?”
Wilfred smiled slightly, which made Lissa feel a little less worried about asking him.
“You think I would ever be stupid enough to do this to myself? No, Lissa, it was a battle. You see, around fifteen years ago, I was only a little older than you are, Earth was threatened. Not by Vanonica, but by somebody like her, Japut. Nobody speaks of it now; it had this world in anguish. Two people had a knife like yours back then. Well, one had a knife like yours, me. The other had your knife. Your father. We trained together. We fought her together. Your father did it. She ruined my knife, and made me like this, but your father killed her.”
Lissa looked at him silently, emotions conflicting inside her. Her father had done what she was trying to do. Her father had been different as well.
“Did it never bother you? The whole being different from everybody else? Did you never feel inadequate, wrong, horrible?”
“At the beginning, yes. Your father helped me through it. It is not a bad thing to be able to kill something that will destroy a world if you don’t. We are not horrible people for it. We are different, and I think it is a good thing”
“It is a good thing not to be perfect?”
“Whatever we may pretend, no-one on this world or any other is perfect Lissa. We all have a long way to go before we are.”
Lissa didn’t cry that night. She was happier than she ever had been. But the next day she was cruelly reminded of the danger that she had to face. She arrived home from her lesson with Wilfred to find her mother just standing, motionless and white faced in the hallway of their house.
“Mum! What’s wrong?!”
“She’s killed a thousand humans. She killed them just to scare the others. Many more thousands are her prisoners now, the ones she will make her slaves. And we are no closer to destroying her than we were before we even knew she existed.
“Oh, mum, I’m so sorry.”
Lissa was calm on the outside, petting and soothing her mother, but on the inside she was shaking with fright but also anger. She knew now the extent of the immense, cold blooded power of Vanonica, but she also knew that she had to go face her.
In her room she changed to the darkest, most comfortable and practical clothes she has.
“Do not do it” Coby is pleading with her.
“ I have to. I’m sorry, please don’t tell my mother, but I don’t have a choice. I have to do this, or at least try!”
“And eef you do not succeed?”
“Then Earth as it is now will be over. I have to try, Coby, you have to understand!”
“Finish gettin’ dressed. Zen ve vill go to Wilfred.”
“Waste of time, Coby. He will agree that I have to do it.”
“I know. Zat ees why we ‘ave to go. So zat if we do not come back someone vill know vat ‘as ‘appened to us. And also because we need someone to show us vere ze slide to Earth ees.”
The slide was the only way to get to Earth, and it was very helpful because it got you wherever you wanted to be.
So, heart thumping louder than it ever had, Lissa went to Wilfred, who told her he was proud of her and believed in her, before sending her and Coby down the slide, to the mansion where Vanonica was keeping her prisoners. Next to it was a field, and there was Vanonica. She turned, and bared her teeth, not realising that this wasn’t a human that she could frighten away just like that. They looked at each other for a second then Lissa spoke.
“I’m going to stop you” she said, and, just as Vanonica shook back her red hair and laughed, she charged.
Vanonica was caught distracted, but it wasn’t enough. She flicked Lissa back with a jab of her arm, but Lissa wasn’t that easy to defeat. She became invisible, making Vanonica twist and turn, and twisting and turning and diving as well herself. Everything Wilfred had said, every movement she’d learned, was in her head, but at the same time she was completely focused on the battle, her invisible eyes never leaving Vanonica, whose strength and speed balanced out her invisibility. Lissa has no notion of time, but for half an hour nothing happened, they just moved around each other. But then Vanonica lost her composure, biting and gnashing and screaming until she found Lissa’s legs, and twisted them in her hand like matchsticks. Lissa gave out a cry of agony, but as Vanonica was rejoicing in it Lissa plunged the knife through her heart.
It didn’t take long for her to die. But Lissa was sure that she too was going to die. She had never felt pain like this, she could not breathe, she wanted to die, she wanted, she needed this to stop. Coby was by her side in a second, a beautiful white healing flower in his hand. She chewed its stem, and immediately felt better. She felt herself drift away and the pain leave her.
She woke up at the Station hospital, in a big white bed, surrounded by her mother, Coby, Wilfred and the director of the Station, who was the first to speak.
“Lissa, I cannot say how grateful I, and all of Anthrotopia I am sure, are grateful to you. You are a true hero. Peace is at this minute being restored to Earth.”
And with these words that filled Lissa with pride, she left. Her mother just hugged her for a long time, Coby held one of her hands with his whole little arm, and Wilfred just beamed at her happily.
The next morning, late morning, Lissa woke up and lay in bed. A tear slid down her cheek, but it was a happy tear. She knew now that she did not need to be perfect, that there was no such thing as perfect. She didn’t need to be like everybody else. She could be a little egocentric, a little restless. She could be the girl who saved Earth, and she could be incredibly proud of it.
This week the students explored the various aspects of fantasy fiction, a genre dominated by British and Anglo-Saxon writers for the past 200 years. We only need to think of J.K. Rowling, C.S. Lewis, Lewis Caroll and J.R. Tolkien to be reminded of the contribution of these English speaking authors to this genre.
Our students had the opportunity to explore elements of magic and either created a fantasy world where their protagonists had to conquer evil or either situated their stories here on earth where their protagonists had to use an element of magic to defeat a powerful villain or villainess. Once again the stories showed great variety of ideas, images and structure.
Adriana Fonseca's work was presented Sunday night. Her work is about a young girl who finds herself in a dilemma. Does she use the magic dagger her father bestowed upon her at the hour of his death against the evil villainess Vanonica? Is she capable of performing an act of evil, Vanonica's murder, in order to ensure the safety of Earth? Some advice from the wise Wilfred and her own inner strength will help her in her final battle...
Adriana's story (Untitled)
Lissa looked out the window of her classroom at her perfect world and sighed. Anthrotopia, the perfect world full of perfect people, who cannot kill, with their different powers, beautiful, powerful buildings, beautiful, all one colour flowers with healing properties, and talking animals. Well, the talking animals she liked actually, especially her pet mouse and best friend, Coby. The world she thinks, she knows, that she doesn’t belong in, even though she should, she has the human like appearance of the anthrotopians, she has light brown hair and blue eyes, and also one power like them all (she can disappear). But in this world there is no room for error. In this world the sole purpose is to keep the balance on Earth, and not let evil overpower good. That is what is done at the Station, the biggest building in Anthrotopia, probably the biggest building in the universe. But though she did not know it yet, this calm world will be in uproar soon.
“Lissa! Listen to the teacher! You are so egocentric!” It was Amber speaking to her, one of the many girls at her school. They were all the same. They listened attentively to everything that was said, if there was the tiniest incident anywhere they got very serious and found out what they could do to help, they never spoke out of turn, they would never dream of saying a mean thing to anyone and they looked at Lissa with a pitying, self righteous smile. Lissa hated them with every fibre of her being- one more thing, she knew, that showed that she was as far from perfection as she could possibly be, and made her cry at night.
That day she ran out of school as fast as possible as always. But as she turned the corner that led to her house she clashed with something that felt like a gigantic rock, and fell down! She screamed, out of surprise mostly, and as she picked herself up she saw that it was a woman, but very different from all the women in Anthrotopia. She was a red head, something no Anthrotopian was, and though she was very beautiful, she was surrounded by a strange aura. By the time Lissa had taken all this, and the fact that she was as hard as rock, she had disappeared. She hurried home, preparing to tell Coby about this. When she got there, though, her mum was in the kitchen, bent over the kitchen table and looking at some diagrams.
“Everything OK?” Lissa asked.
Her mum nodded, then, after a second of thought, said “Something is wrong at the Station. Evil seems to be ruling on earth at the moment, and it should not be. And worse, we can’t do anything, we haven’t figured out what is wrong yet.”
“I’m sure you will” said Lissa, and turned around, not being able to help rolling her eyes. So what, there are two more murders than are supposed to be this month, its life on Earth! Why do these people not sit down and relax a little?! As soon as she thinks this she feels terribly guilty.
“Vat ees ‘rong zees time?” asked Coby tiredly as she walked into her bedroom. She smiles slightly - his German accent always has that effect on her.
“The usual, Cobe. The usual.” And she lies on her bed, pulls her legs up and Coby close, and sleeps, to forget her sadness about her own personality, to forget about the red head she saw and should probably tell someone about, and whatever problem at the Station that will of course be solved tomorrow.
But the problem is not solved the next day, nor the next or the next. A week later, it is on everybody’s mind. Lissa’s mum told her that someone attacked the Station without anybody knowing it, and whoever that person, or people, or thing was, it was now causing even more damage on Earth itself, and even the humans were starting to notice. She was in anguish, and Lissa was pretty worried to.
Another week passed, and Lissa came home to find her mother sitting at the kitchen table, ashen faced and with photographs and text books spread out in front of her.
“What’s up?” she asked, her face reflecting real worry. Her mum turned to her.
“We’ve found out who’s causing the damage on Earth. Her name is Vanonica, and she is a vampire-like being from Craput, you know that kingdom? She is superhumanly strong and fast, and she is as fearless and intelligent as any human can be. She’s unstoppable Lissa.”
She showed Lissa a photo of this Vanonica. A beautiful red head- the beautiful red head she’d clashed with just a couple of weeks ago, and had felt guilty for not telling someone about. She felt overpowering shame take over her, and felt herself blushing red. As she is wondering whether to confess, her mother continues.
“The only thing that can destroy her is this knife, furthermore, only the person to whom this knife belongs to can destroy her. If it is someone from this world they will not be able to kill. If it is not, we will never find them, or find them too late. Vanonica wants to conquer Earth, and make everybody her slave. She has never liked or needed anyone, but she is bored. She is bored so Earth is doomed.”
It was then that Lissa saw the picture of the knife in question, a small, delicate, bronze handled knife with some elegant engravings, and her heart started to thump.
Her father had died when she was nine, six years ago. He had a disease no flowers, no medicine, could heal. A few days before his actual death, he had called Lissa into his room, and told her that he had something he wanted to give her, something she should not tell anyone, not even her mother, about, and that she should use it well and only use it or give it if and when she was absolutely sure it was needed. He had given her the bronze handled knife that could destroy Vanonica.
She rushed back to her bedroom, leaving her mother to look at her in a slightly perplexed way and there put her head in her arms and called for Coby. She told him everything and he listened, patiently and seriously.
“What should I do, Coby? Please tell me because I don’t know! As usual, I don’t know!”
“Do not be so ‘ard on yourself. You could not ‘ave guessed zat zat vas Vanonica. But you need to step forward, and say zat you ‘ave ze knife. You ‘ave to, Lissa, Earth will suffer if you do not”.
“You’re right. But Coby... Mum said whoever possessed the knife was the one who could use it, and I can’t use a knife. I cannot kill!”
“Do not worry about that now. Just take a deep breath and go tell your mother.”
So Lissa did that. She stepped out of her room, taking her knife with her, and stood in front of her mum.
“I have something to tell you” she said, her voice quiet. Her mum looked up.
“Go on then dear.”
“I have the knife”
“What? Lissa I don’t have time for jokes...”
Lissa showed her the knife wordlessly, and her mother’s face turned white.
“How?” her voice was sharp.
“Dad gave it to me. Just before he died. He told me not to tell anybody until I really needed to, I...” Lissa broke off, unsure of what she should say. She had never seen her mother’s face so white.
“I’m taking you to the director of the Station” she said “She will tell us what to do”. She became suddenly very business-like, getting her coat and handbag, face straight and not talking on the way. Lissa was suddenly very scared. What will they make her do?
It turned out she was right to be scared. She sat outside the director’s office for about half an hour, while her mother was in inside, explaining this turn of events. She is then called in. The director’s face was very serious, and her mother’s seemed, if that was possible, even whiter than before. The director, a middle-aged, dark haired, stout woman spoke.
“Lissa. May, I call you Lissa?”
She nodded her consent.
“Well, Lissa, here at the Station we are doing everything in our power to stop Vanonica, and we have reason to believe that we will, and your knife will be unnecessary.”
Lissa thought that unlikely, but didn’t say anything.
“However, Earth is our responsibility and we cannot be too careful. It is with that, and only that, in mind that I have decided that you will attend fighting lessons with the best, if only, fighter in our world. And your first one is right now.”
Lissa was too shocked for words. They were making her fight? Nobody fought! Nobody would ever be expected to fight! Why her? She couldn’t fight! She sent a pleading look at her mother but she refused to make eye contact. Lissa had no choice but to follow the director to a large hall, where a man in a wheel chair was waiting for them.
“Lissa, meet Wilfred. He will be teaching you how to fight.”
Lissa just stared at him. Not only would she have to fight, they were having a man in a freaking wheelchair teach her?! She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry. If she had to face Vanonica she would be dead before she could say her own name. The director left, and Wilfred waited until she looked more composed to start the lesson. He didn’t do introductions; he shot straight into movements and tactics. Lissa found every thought gone from her head as she focused all her concentration on this lesson, and was very surprised, though not very happy, to find it was the best one she had ever had.
She still cried that night, but for different reasons. She was sure now, that she never would be like anyone else on this world. But she was also afraid that that wouldn’t matter, because this world would lose its purpose of being, for she would not be able to kill Vanonica, and Earth would no longer be in their hands.
The next day her mother told her that she would only have to go to school in the mornings for a little while; her afternoons would be solely for her fighting classes. She was incredibly distracted that morning but for once no-one said anything – no word about her and her knife had gotten around. She thought back about her lesson. She had not been able to fully concentrate on what Wilfred had been saying at first, because she had still been completely overwhelmed, but she did remember all the movements he had taught her- the kick-off, that was basically throwing herself at Vanonica then kicking off from her stomach, the idea being both to get her away from Vanonica and to surprise or distract her, and had been practised using a wall, the dive, which was just that, escaping from Vanonica by sliding through her legs, and the back jump, which Wilfred thought would be a really good opportunity to get the knife through her heart, for if she was on Vanonica’s back she would be harder to shake off, and get her close to the heart with Vanonica’s arms busy shaking her off. Wilfred was an amazing teacher, especially with his being in a wheelchair. But of course she was anxious as she knocked on the door of the hall for that day’s lesson. Wilfred’s strong, manly face frightened her a little, as did his knowledge of fighting.
He called for her to come in, and she did. There were mats all over the floor, but other than that the hall was empty.
“Good afternoon, Lissa”
“Hello”
“Right, I want to get to work right away. I think the three movements we practised yesterday you got, so we’re going to see if you can still do them well today, but move on as soon as possible. However, I’m aware that you were a little lost when I was talking yesterday, so we are going to go over tactics, and I think that we should always know as much as possible about our enemy, so your homework will be to do just that, find out as much as you can. What do you already know about her?”
Lissa recited what her mother had told her the day before about the vampire like being.
“Ok. So you know her physically. She has big physical prowess, her only weakness is your knife, which we will begin to practise with very soon. But what about her psychologically? Is she as confident as she seems? Is she afraid to trust? Is she easily distracted? I want you to find out all this.”
“OK”
And so the lesson began. Wilfred began and ended with tactics, to which Lissa gave her full attention, but she also learned two new movements, as well as perfecting the ones from the day before. By the time they finished she was exhausted. Still, after saying goodbye she headed straight to the Station’s library, where she spent three hours, the most she had ever spent over homework or books, looking for anything that speaks of Vanonica, or anyone that is like her.
The next day Wilfred was pleased, and their lesson was even better than usual. But it took a week of hours-long lessons for Lissa to finally get the courage to ask her mentor about himself. She did it abruptly, near the end, when it seemed that he had said all the important things he had to say.
“How did you get like that? Need a wheelchair, I mean? Was it a battle, were you just training?”
Wilfred smiled slightly, which made Lissa feel a little less worried about asking him.
“You think I would ever be stupid enough to do this to myself? No, Lissa, it was a battle. You see, around fifteen years ago, I was only a little older than you are, Earth was threatened. Not by Vanonica, but by somebody like her, Japut. Nobody speaks of it now; it had this world in anguish. Two people had a knife like yours back then. Well, one had a knife like yours, me. The other had your knife. Your father. We trained together. We fought her together. Your father did it. She ruined my knife, and made me like this, but your father killed her.”
Lissa looked at him silently, emotions conflicting inside her. Her father had done what she was trying to do. Her father had been different as well.
“Did it never bother you? The whole being different from everybody else? Did you never feel inadequate, wrong, horrible?”
“At the beginning, yes. Your father helped me through it. It is not a bad thing to be able to kill something that will destroy a world if you don’t. We are not horrible people for it. We are different, and I think it is a good thing”
“It is a good thing not to be perfect?”
“Whatever we may pretend, no-one on this world or any other is perfect Lissa. We all have a long way to go before we are.”
Lissa didn’t cry that night. She was happier than she ever had been. But the next day she was cruelly reminded of the danger that she had to face. She arrived home from her lesson with Wilfred to find her mother just standing, motionless and white faced in the hallway of their house.
“Mum! What’s wrong?!”
“She’s killed a thousand humans. She killed them just to scare the others. Many more thousands are her prisoners now, the ones she will make her slaves. And we are no closer to destroying her than we were before we even knew she existed.
“Oh, mum, I’m so sorry.”
Lissa was calm on the outside, petting and soothing her mother, but on the inside she was shaking with fright but also anger. She knew now the extent of the immense, cold blooded power of Vanonica, but she also knew that she had to go face her.
In her room she changed to the darkest, most comfortable and practical clothes she has.
“Do not do it” Coby is pleading with her.
“ I have to. I’m sorry, please don’t tell my mother, but I don’t have a choice. I have to do this, or at least try!”
“And eef you do not succeed?”
“Then Earth as it is now will be over. I have to try, Coby, you have to understand!”
“Finish gettin’ dressed. Zen ve vill go to Wilfred.”
“Waste of time, Coby. He will agree that I have to do it.”
“I know. Zat ees why we ‘ave to go. So zat if we do not come back someone vill know vat ‘as ‘appened to us. And also because we need someone to show us vere ze slide to Earth ees.”
The slide was the only way to get to Earth, and it was very helpful because it got you wherever you wanted to be.
So, heart thumping louder than it ever had, Lissa went to Wilfred, who told her he was proud of her and believed in her, before sending her and Coby down the slide, to the mansion where Vanonica was keeping her prisoners. Next to it was a field, and there was Vanonica. She turned, and bared her teeth, not realising that this wasn’t a human that she could frighten away just like that. They looked at each other for a second then Lissa spoke.
“I’m going to stop you” she said, and, just as Vanonica shook back her red hair and laughed, she charged.
Vanonica was caught distracted, but it wasn’t enough. She flicked Lissa back with a jab of her arm, but Lissa wasn’t that easy to defeat. She became invisible, making Vanonica twist and turn, and twisting and turning and diving as well herself. Everything Wilfred had said, every movement she’d learned, was in her head, but at the same time she was completely focused on the battle, her invisible eyes never leaving Vanonica, whose strength and speed balanced out her invisibility. Lissa has no notion of time, but for half an hour nothing happened, they just moved around each other. But then Vanonica lost her composure, biting and gnashing and screaming until she found Lissa’s legs, and twisted them in her hand like matchsticks. Lissa gave out a cry of agony, but as Vanonica was rejoicing in it Lissa plunged the knife through her heart.
It didn’t take long for her to die. But Lissa was sure that she too was going to die. She had never felt pain like this, she could not breathe, she wanted to die, she wanted, she needed this to stop. Coby was by her side in a second, a beautiful white healing flower in his hand. She chewed its stem, and immediately felt better. She felt herself drift away and the pain leave her.
She woke up at the Station hospital, in a big white bed, surrounded by her mother, Coby, Wilfred and the director of the Station, who was the first to speak.
“Lissa, I cannot say how grateful I, and all of Anthrotopia I am sure, are grateful to you. You are a true hero. Peace is at this minute being restored to Earth.”
And with these words that filled Lissa with pride, she left. Her mother just hugged her for a long time, Coby held one of her hands with his whole little arm, and Wilfred just beamed at her happily.
The next morning, late morning, Lissa woke up and lay in bed. A tear slid down her cheek, but it was a happy tear. She knew now that she did not need to be perfect, that there was no such thing as perfect. She didn’t need to be like everybody else. She could be a little egocentric, a little restless. She could be the girl who saved Earth, and she could be incredibly proud of it.
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