Kinard Mythology Anthology

by Kinard Middle School

  Mortals Have No Magic

  By Aspen Price

  “This no good Nypher has crossed the line. “Zeus said. The other gods mumbled in agreement.

  You see, when the Earth was still a child and the gods were young and powerful, there lived a goddess of magic named Nypher. Nypher had dark, brown hair scattered with the occasional gray spot. Her eyes were stormy gray. She was the reason why the occasional mortal had magic. She gifted them with some of her magic. She dwelled in a baleful, high mountain fortress with high stone walls and massive towers almost as tall as Olympus itself. Although she wasn’t evil, she also wasn’t the type of goddess who would be described as good, she was spiteful and even though she was clever. She also thought particularly single mindedly.

  One day, Apollo, god of the sun and music, decided that he could use some of Nypher’s magic to help him charm the ladies. As all the nymphs were running away from him he thought that with some magic he could “persuade” them to stay. Apollo knew that Nypher would never acquiesce if he asked her. So he choose to sneak into her castle and take her magic. So Apollo waited until Nypher left her castle to deal with a mortal who had misused her magic. Then, once she had left, Apollo rode his chariot to the mountain fortress and entered in the great hall. The great hall was nothing special. Just a few tables and tapestries. What it did have was a magically floating chandelier which lit the entire room. Apollo quickly strode through the great hall and entered Nypher’s magic storage room. It contained a multitude of bubbling jars filled with magical elements that could do a whole manner of things. Apollo found what he required and swiftly fled from the castle so as to avoid being caught red handed. In his haste he forgot his cloak.

  Upon returning, Nypher noticed that one of her magical creations was nowhere to be found. She became furious. Angrily, she vowed that whomever had stolen from her would pay the price. She searched her castle, searching for evidence of whomever had stolen from her and she found Apollo’s cloak sitting there on the doorstep of the castle right outside the great hall.

  Nypher said to herself, “Apollo will pay for his meddling.” The cloak felt silky smooth as she picked it up for further examination.

  She devised a plan for revenge. She quickly ran into the great hall and slammed the door shut. She quickly ran down the corridor and down into her experiment room.

  “BAM!”

  The hard oak door made a loud noise as she slammed it shut behind her. Urgently, she started mixing and matching different magical elements trying to get the result she required. Soon, she got frustrated with her lack of progress. She continued to work through the night, searching and searching for success. She finally found what she was looking for. You see, her plan was to create an object that could change night from day in an instant. She had planned this so she could to make it eternally night so that Apollo would lose his strength because he was the god of the sun. She had created a coin, that depending on what side the coin was on, it would change the time of day. All it needed was a tiny amount magic energy and it would activate. Swiftly, Nypher looked around at all her shelves looking for her store of magic energy. Once she found it, she used it to activate the coin. The day, as suddenly as it had started, stopped. It was night.

  The Gods of Olympus were angry. This sudden change of day to night worried them and in their book anyone who meddles in the time should be punished.  Although the Gods were upset, they weren’t necessarily in a hurry to punish the criminal. The gods that weren’t immediately affected by the eternal night (that is quite a lot of them) weren’t taking the matter that seriously. They were half-heartedly looking for the culprit, not trying at all. The only God who was really concerned about the eternal night was the mighty god Apollo. Every “day” of eternal night, Apollo lost more of his power.

  Eventually, Apollo realized that he would have to act fast. He went down to the Mortal World and asked for heroes that would help him. He found two heroes willing to do the job. One was named Bob. He had bright blue eyes and light brown hair. Bob was 25 years old and he was a good fighter with a sword. Bob was very jocular. The other hero was a girl named Michelle (Mi-shel). Michelle was a comely women, her long black hair flowed over her dark eyes. She was very Garrulous with her friends but shy with strangers. Not surprisingly, she was a skilled survivalist and hunter.

  Upon hearing the task, Apollo had assigned them-to take the coin and destroy it.

  Bob said, “WHAT. Are you crazy?!” He quickly realized his mistake (nobody calls a god crazy). He apologized.

  “Sorry sir.” Bob bowed his head down in an apologetic manner.

  Michelle nudged Bob with her elbow, “Bob didn’t me it.” She said imperiously, “Did you Bob?”

  Bob shook his head and muttered, “No.”

  “Moving on…” Apollo stopped mid-sentence.

  The heroes were getting ready for the long track to Nypher’s fortress.

  Apollo politely asked, “What are you doing?”

  The heroes looked away from what they were doing and replied, “There is a long journey ahead. We are getting ready for it.”

  “You do realize that I am a god. I can just snap my fingers and you’ll appear there at her

  Castle, but we better hurry my powers won’t last forever what with this eternal night.” Gesturing towards the sky for extra effect.

  The heroes got what they needed, a little food, water, and camping materials just in case. The plan was simple the heroes would zap in, smash the coin, and then Apollo would zap them out.

  So the heroes gathered to get teleported to the fortress. Bob took a breath and began to speak when Apollo zapped them the fortress because he was a little inpatient.

  The heroes appeared in the great hall and ran to Nypher’s magic store room.

  She was out so the heroes the coin which was flipped on the side that caused it to be night. They heroes took their swords. They swung them towards the coin. Closer. Closer. Inches away. Centimeters.     

  Then. Out of the blue. Suddenly, Nypher appeared behind them. She screamed, “What are doing? That is a precious object you know.”

  Surprised, the heroes jumped back in fright. Nypher used her magic to pull the coin out of the hero’s hands. Bob swung his sword at it while the coin was in mid-air as an attempt to destroy it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a direct hit. The sword glanced coin, and it was sent spinning into her magic supply and a magical event occurred because of the reaction between the elements and the coin.

  The coin spun in midair, the magic had caused it to have a sort of force-field that protected from anyone. As it happened, the coin kept on spinning apparently another effect of the magic. This changes night and day twice every twenty hours. Nypher saw what had happened and realized that she had only helped Apollo. She had made it so that he didn’t have to change the time of day. She was angry. Furious. She wheeled around to face Bob and Michelle.

  “You’ll pay for your meddling.”

  But Apollo had teleported him to their homes. Whoof. Nypher decided that if she couldn’t punish Bob and Michelle she would punish humanity. She ran away taking the magic she offered mortals away with her. This is why humanity has no magic.