Today was too nice of a day to die.

The sun shone across her still body, nearly blinding her bloodshot eyes. The sky shone crystal clear, not a single drop present in the warm spring breeze. Leaves danced and swayed before her eyes, a soft hum filling her ears as she watched the slight breeze catch onto the cherry blossoms adorning the branches.

Though the beautiful scene settled before her, it lay witness to the crimes committed on that day. Her blood stained onto the grass, like tears dripping on a meadow.

Even as she adjusted her arm, blood smeared and splattered all over her sundress. The dress had been from her now deceased mother, and she relished in the fact that she would be joining her in the afterlife.

She was sure to die.

She remembered how she had come to this judgement, just a few hours ago. She had sat on the roof of her small home at dawn, strongly wishing she could be reunited with her mother. As her thoughts spiraled, a small man with big floppy ears and a crooked smile had approached her with a book in hand.

“You seem like a nice young woman. What is your name?” He had asked, revealing a set of crooked teeth behind his smile.

“Um…”

“Never mind,” He opened his small book and revealed its cover to the girl. “This is the magic book of life. It will allow you to be with the one you love the most. Do you have anyone like that, dear? You certainly seem like you do,” He eyed the girl with interest, which went unnoticed by her.

“To be with… the one I love most?” She asked, staring at the book greedily, a hungry gleam in her eyes. It had been years since she’d seen her mother’s face, and she was desperate to see it again. “How? Why? When? Can I use it? Does it still work?”

“All that will be answered in due time, dear girl,” His crooked grin was disconcerting, but she didn’t care. Her heart hungered for her mother, just one last glimpse of her beautiful face, and this man told her she could see her again. She would do whatever it took to be with her once more.

“Now, all you need to do is bring a stone from the nearest pond, breathe the final breath of a hopper, and hike the biggest of small dwellings. Then chant this spell,“ Flipping to the next page, she saw a page filled with words, from top to bottom with small cursive letters. “Then, you’ll be with who you love.”

“Okay,” She agreed, and was off to find a stone. Waving a short and uncaring farewell, she ventured through the woods to find any bodies of water which would count as ponds.

It seemed luck was on her side, as she found a crystal clear stone sitting right at the foot of a pond. She figured that was her stone, and pocketed it, smiling and murmuring “For mother!” as she followed along the trail to find a hopper.

She proceeded further through the trail of the pond, her eyes scanning around for any sign of a creature that could fit the description of a hopper. Never in her life had she heard what a hopper was, being in such a poor town with poor schooling and little to no money. School was not mandatory for weak orphan girls.

As she reached a further part in the trail, she saw a small insect staring at her, his little legs trembling in fear of her approaching steps. He was a curious little thing, with small beady eyes and a floppy pair of skinny legs. His leg no longer seemed to be working, as he dragged his body around weakly. She supposed he, like her, had lost the will of life.

Suddenly, a sound similar to her father’s screeching reached her ears, and she stared around her only to look back to the creature with a look of wonder on her face. She picked up the small insect dubiously, looking at him intensely. He jumped from her hand with one leg and tried to hop away

Then she remembered the words from the book. “Breathe the final breath of a hopper,” she muttered, and pressed her hand to the hopper’s heart. She wasn’t sure what the words meant, but she had a sinking feeling it meant a death for a certain creature.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured, and pressed both her hands around the bug’s throat, “But this is for my mother.”. Closing her eyes, she breathed in the last breath of the hopper.

She decided to name him. His name would be Jim. Jim the hopper would be remembered forever. He was placed inside a small hole in the ground, a small grave for him as they had done with her mother. And some dirt on top.

She continued. Now, she would have to hike the biggest of small dwellings, whatever that meant. Was this even real? How could something be both small and big? She searched for anything able to meet these requirements. She looked over trees and under rocks, in the pond and under the dirt, in a bush and through the tree trunks. She searched on top of branches, smelling the flowers, and through the coarse grass in the tall fields. She looked everywhere and found nothing.

With a sigh in defeat, she sat under a tree, enjoying the shade that it provided. She laid her head down, flower petals falling to her face, and simply sighed. She knew this wouldn’t work. She had tried magic before. It had only given her a painful burn mark on her hand, and a scar across her shoulder. Her mother had always told her to stay away from magic.

Her thoughts wandered to her mother once more, and the days spent watching insects in the cool breeze. Her mother talked about dragons and elves, knights and kings, princes and fairies. And she spoke about the smallest creatures, the ants and the butterflies, and wondered how so many things so different could exist in harmony. Princes and Kings had beautiful homes, but the ants created a small home that was a fortress to them. Butterflies created their homes from their bodies.

A thought struck her, and she remembered about the ants. They made the biggest of small dwellings, and she could hike over one! Spotting a small ant hole near her, she went carefully to the ant’s home and climbed. Sorrow hit her as she realized that she was killing the harmless creatures, all for her own benefit and gain. But she pressed on, muttering “For my mother,” and eventually, her feet stood at the top of the anthill.

She brushed the ants off her feet with ease, and took her socks off, placing them near the home of the ants. This would be their grave. She muttered a silent prayer and apology for all the suffering she had cause the harmless insects, but she had to go on. Now, there was just one thing to do. She would have to read the enchantment.

Her bare feet scratched through the rough grass, giving her bite and scratch marks, but she pressed on. She carried herself through the woods and back to her home, where the small man awaited her with a sneaky grin. He sat on a stump on the ground with flies flying near his head, his book open on the ground.

“I did what you said,” She spoke, handing him the smooth stone from the pond. “I just need the spell.”

He handed her the book, still smiling, and sat her down with a wave of his hand. “Now, do you know how to read?”

She shook her head.

With a sigh, he pulled out yet another book, and scrolled through its contents before coming to a page with a picture on it. “This is a spell giving you knowledge on how to read,” He raised his eyebrows, and read on. “But you must give me a prized possession.”

Once again, she muttered “For mother,” and handed him a small bead with her name engraved on it. It had been a gift from her parents on her tenth birthday. The year her mother died.

He pocketed the bead with a greedy smile and whipped out a wand. “Okay, here goes,” He started and waved the wand around with a loud cackle. “Give this girl the wisdom of the ages! Send her brain through the eyes of mages! Let her eyes be opened and see, the beauty of words, what they can be!” With a loud crack, he tapped his wand into a tree trunk, and pointed at the girl.

Suddenly, her vision went blurry, her head pounding. She tried to stop the pain by digging her nails into her palm, but as soon as the pain came, it was gone, and suddenly her mind could absorb information. Her eyes flew through the words across the page, and she could now make sense of them. She read over them to make sure this was real, then began to chant.

The words spoke of the ages, before when there was no sorrow, no love for those who passed. Every life was a stone in the sea, drifting along wherever the water would take it, with no emotions, no life, no direction. One day, a small grasshopper had come to the edge of a river, looking into the water to find a beautiful stone sitting in front of him. With wide eyes, he chased the stone in happiness, dragging it with him to a small sand hill nearby. He vowed to keep it safe as long as he lived, for the beauty of the stone was like no other, and gave him an impulse for life.

However, unbeknownst to him, he had put his stone in an ant’s nest. As the ants crawled on top of him, their small bodies crushing his leg, he swore whatever it took, he would get back to his stone. Whatever was precious to him, he would be together with. Even in death. He didn’t care if that meant he too would become like stone, unable to be alive, he would stay with what he kept close to his heart.

As the girl finished the page, her body began to flow with power. Magic poured out from her fingertips, onto the ground, surrounding her with power. She knew the power would be intense, but she hadn’t expected it to manifest like this. It felt strange, like something had gone wrong. It wasn’t the comfort of her mom that she always knew.

Then, she remembered the story she had read. Even in death, the hopper would be close to the stone. Now understanding, she whipped her head around to the man to see him laughing at her, his wand pointed towards his chest.

“Got what I came for!” He held her bead with an ugly glint of evil in his eyes, laughing as he disappeared from her sight. “Have a nice death!”

Now, she let her hand drop to the thick, green grass with a bittersweet smile. The blood spilled over the spell book, which lay beside her, still opened to the page she had read from. Her eyes drifted to the sky, clear as ever, and felt the warm breeze of spring fall over her.

Even as the life was being drained from her, she couldn’t ignore the beauty of the scene before her. The wind felt so nice, the sun so warm on her face, the soft hum of the day calming over her. She wanted to close her eyes and never open them.

Staring into the sky, she smiled. It was too nice of a day to die. But Celeste did anyway.