I was walking down the road thinking about what prank to play on my brother. I was wondering when suddenly I fell on the pavement. Ouch ....it hurt so badly. I looked up to see I had collided with a boy. He suddenly handed me a medallion.

"Take this and run away. Don't let them catch you. Protect it."

These words were what he had spoken to me. Then he took off without any delay as if his life depended upon it. Little did I know the medallion he handed me would change my life completely. My mind was devoid of all the thoughts except of this incident.

Then when I reached home I saw my brother's car parked in the garage. It's when I remembered I was going to punk him yet again. But after the rushed meeting with that peculiar boy, I was in no mood to tease my brother. My brother is in last year of high school and two years older than me. I am sixteen. I have always adored my brother. Also he is so easy to fool. He easily falls for my bluffs. My mom and dad once thought I was bullying him. And their misunderstanding got me grounded for one whole week. See...I always get into trouble. My brother was there in the kitchen making lunch. He told me, " Estella go take a bath. You stink right now."

I stuck out my tounge at him and skipped to the bathroom. After I took a bath, I went down to have lunch with my brother. Mom and Dad are both working so they can't get much time for family. We are all we have. Of course,we love them but it's just rare that we get to eat together and have some quality time together. After lunch I went to my room and locked the door. I took out the medallion and examined it. It had a beautiful blue crystal in the middle.

The metal was a strange reddish golden colour and it shined. I could see it was not polished as after I had scratched the medallion I saw that it was still the same colour. The only possibility was that it was made from a mineral which had not been discovered yet or was not from this world. It was an alloy, that also couldn't be the possibility as an alloy is made out of two or more metals mixed together.

When I ran my fingers over it, it had a strange texture. I couldn't describe it. There were some symbols over it (or were they images). To me it looked like tribal tattoo designs. On the back of the medallion there was a single word engraved: *Salzbaro*.

What the heck is Salzbaro? I was really confused. I googled it and there was no result about it. Now it felt like what have I got myself into. Was 'Salzbaro' a person, a thing, an animal or a ... place?

Then I noticed that the blue crystal was something like a cap that was covering a button. I pushed the button and suddenly I was falling down...... down....... down.......

I was traveling through a wormhole.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!

I was falling down to God knows where. Everything was blurry. I was traveling very fast. Then I fell on the ground with a loud thud. Ouch! It hurts so much. There was blood everywhere. I couldn't move a muscle. It felt like I my body didn't exist. The only feeling I recognized was pain. The agony was too much; I fainted.

(When Estella woke up)

Everything was bright and white. A few people (I think around three), were standing over me. One was speaking,

"Hey girl! open your eyes. I know you are broken.... I mean hurt but just give us a sign you are alive. Just blink one time, it had be enough"

Then there was a second voice

"Look Vita, she is opening her eyes."

"Just blink once PLEAAAASE just once. "

I blinked several times. Then the group sighed in relief. The one called Vita was laughing.

They were then starting to say something, when I fainted again.

I woke up again. I didn't know where I was. My throat was parched so much that I couldn't speak. Then when I started to get up, a lady rushed forward and pushed me back in the bed. She said, " Hey don't you get up. Now lay down back there. Just rest."

She made me drink water.

After a few minutes, I launched into a flurry of questions like....

Where am I? Who are you? Why am I here? Did you bring me here through that wormhole?....etc. etc.etc.

I was really confused.

"Hey kiddo calm down. I will give all the answers. First of all, I am Vita. Now here -

You are in Salzbaro: the land of mysteries"

"What did you say? Sa... Sa.... Salzbaro? That was what was written on that medallion."

"You don't know about the medallion's functions. So how did you get here? The medallion is used by humans to enter here and once they enter they cannot leave."

I couldn't understand anything about it so I told her the story about how I got this medallion.

"Hey kiddo. See here, I don't know why the boy handed you this medallion but remember this land is dangerous if you don't know about it. If you travel alone and explore you are bound to meet both friendly and unfriendly creatures. So it's better if you stay here. I will talk to the Headmaster about your enrollment. The Aurora Academy is the safest place in Salzbaro and you will also be able to learn about this land."

Then after two weeks, I was discharged. An old man came that day. Vita told me he was the Headmaster. He looked elegant and was an approachable while strict with the rules.

"Good morning, young lady. I am Sensei Chong or you can call me Headmaster Chong."

He handed me three notes.

"This is the currency here. It is called Ongko. The coins you see in my palm are the smaller currency Onggo. Now I take you to your dorm, from there Sterling will give you a tour of Aurora."

He took me to an elevator. I noticed that there was no cable connecting it. When I mentioned that he said it was magic. I didn't reply, I was sceptical. How could something float in air like that and it was proved that magic didn't exist, they were all tricks of the magicians.

But when we reached the premises, I saw that Sensei was not lying.

THE ACADEMY WAS BUILT IN THE AIR.

I was shocked. I wondered what awaited me at the *AURORA ACADEMY*.