Our story begins in the Realm Of Virtues, a dimension created for the dwellings of holy and precious Virtue Spirits that inspire all intelligent beings to have more meaningful lives. The Realm of Virtues is an ethereal resting place decorated with shining temples so magnificent, humans couldn’t begin to imagine what they look like. Virtue Spirits can teach their Virtue’s practices and contact other life forms by thought. Anja, the Spirit of Creativity, both tirelessly enlightens other Spirits and inspires mortal citizens of other dimensions. Anja favors humanity and sees a great future for them, as does her ally, Aurelie, the Spirit of Kindness. Aurelie loves to spend time on planets, like Earth, for she loves to see the blossoming of botanical treasures, especially plum trees. After a long frolic on Earth, Anja and Aurelie came back to the Realm of Virtues, exhausted. Roan was extremely displeased. She is the Spirit of Combativeness.
Roan was angry because she thought Aurelie didn’t deserve a virtue. Anja heard this and protested on behalf of Aurelie. Roan disagreed and said that kindness was an insipid waste of time. Roan shoved Aurelie aside and tried to manipulate Anja into joining a chaos rebellion with a well-recognized spirit teacher, Leopoldine. Anja refused to join the revolution, so to spite her, Roan warned her to be careful with whom she joins, and then stormed off to find Leopoldine. Aurelie regained her strength and joined Anja. Aurelie became suspicious of Roan.
Lots of days later, Aurelie and Anja were walking around the space and saw Roan getting ready to zoom down on a bunch of innocent humans. Anja shouted to Roan, and Roan said, “Nothing you do is ever going to stop me.” Roan was out of control. Aurelie and Anja held Roan back, but she broke free. Roan was loose among the humans.
Leopoldine came rushing to Anja and Aurelie and asked, “Where is Roan?” then told Anja and Aurelie what Roan was thinking. “Roan just wanted to be significant to the other virtues,” said Leopoldine.
Anja rushed down to earth and found Roan possessing humans and doing dangerous things. Anja called to Roan and said, “Roan, I know you wanted to be noticed by the other virtues. I know you want to be cared for… by Leopoldine.”
Roan stopped, and looked up at Anja. “How do you know?” she raged.
“Listen, Roan,” Anja said patiently, “if you continue this chaos rebellion, Leopoldine will not accept you as a virtue.” The question of Why? hung in the air.
“Leopoldine knows you crave Determination. But this doesn’t bring you that. This brings you pain, Roan.” Anja took a deep breath.
“Roan, I will not let you do that to yourself!” Anja screamed, fear flashing in her eyes.
Roan stopped to look at Anja, and all the humans fell unconscious. Roan said, “Anja, what if I want this pain? No one can stand the sight of me in the spirit realm. The best I can do is hurt myself. Not even Leopoldine thinks I’m significant.” There were tears in (humanoid) Roan’s eyes.
“Oh, Roan,” Anja started to say, rushing towards her.
“Stop.” Roan stuck up her palm, and Anja was eerily surprised.
“I don’t want your pity.” Roan stopped, and looked up at the sky. “I’d rather be in Eternal Banishment than live as ‘the Spirit of Combativeness.’” Roan plopped down on some debris and sighed, “Anja, I’m not going to be a spirit anymore.”
“What?” Anja squeaked in disbelief. “You can’t… Roan… That’s impossible.”
“No, Anja,” Roan said confidently. “I will disguise myself as a human.”
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by Carolyn Danielle Wong, Age 9, 826 Valencia
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