Once upon a time, there was a brave, smart, and manipulative trickster named Haydn. She had blue glasses, always wore colorful clothing, and was about 5 feet 2 inches tall. She had dark brown eyes and black hair. Although she was seen as a manipulative trickster, she cared about her friends and family. 

Haydn had four amazing and compassionate friends named Vincent, Nora, Skylar, and Sawyer. Vincent was the old soul of the group but was a mentor and always gave advice. Nora told the group important news while Skylar was the rebel and the outcast of the group. Sawyer, however, was an extremely talented wizard. They were all magical beings with unique powers. 

They were in 7th grade at an extraordinary school for special people. It was a giant school with three floors. From the outside, it looked like an ordinary rusty old school but it was ginormous and magical. Even humans could come and see it! The magic school taught individuals how to use their abilities, perform spells, make potions, fly, and discover their special powers that were unique to each person. It was a wonderful experience for the humans to have but even when the school looked cool and fun, there were many secret rooms behind the walls that nobody knew about… or so they thought. 

It felt like a normal day for Haydn and her friends, but they didn’t know what was coming. They were all walking to class when they heard the teachers talking around the corner. 

One teacher whispered, “What are we going to do? The magical objects are starting to get loose.” 

The other teachers, concerningly, whispered, “I don’t know, maybe we need to shut down the school.”

Haydn and her friends gasped, not wanting school to shut down so they fled the scene and went to class making sure not to get caught.

After school, Nora was talking about how she heard some of the older students talking about school shutting down. Everyone was worried about what was going to happen when suddenly Skylar blurted out, “We should go and check out the secret room that has all of these cool objects!”

Everyone thought it was a bad idea at first but eventually, Skylar convinced them. So the group of friends got to work and started asking around to figure out where the room was. They got many answers but none of them were correct. All of a sudden when Vincent was walking down the long hallways, he got pushed into an inconspicuous wall. He got launched into this humongous secret room that had many magical gadgets. Vincent was in shock but ran out of the room making sure no one saw him. Vincent told the whole story to his friends, and after school, they went back to the room. There, they saw everything Vincent talked about in glass containers. 

They walked around looking at all the cool items when Skylar “accidentally" pushed Sawyer into one of the devices labeled “extremely dangerous do NOT touch.” Sawyer got mad but brushed it off while Skylar had a secret agenda. Many items were already on the floor so no one cared to think about putting them back. When no one was looking, Skylar snuck the object that looked like a sparkly orb into her backpack. They left that room and decided that they could come back later to explore more.

At home, Skylar took out the strange orb and examined it when she saw some magical residue come off of it. She got so excited that she somehow "activated" the orb. It made strange noises that called out to her. She was so focused on the object that it eventually made her forget her reality. She became very groggy and tired, not knowing her surroundings. Skylar had no idea what was happening but suddenly felt a gush of fear all through her body. The fear was overwhelming and brought out the worst in her. It showed Skylar her worst nightmares and fears that have haunted her. She had always dug her feelings in a big, dark hole that she hadn’t touched for years but it finally came back.

Skylar had a unique past. Her powers were unlike the rest of her family causing her to get kicked out. Her father never accepted her and she despised him. Her emotions provoked her powers which made them uncontrollable, resulting in her being banished. She was never to return to her home again. So from then on Skylar never wanted to show her true emotions for fear that someone would manipulate them. She had lived in fear her whole life and had not found peace. Now that Sky was lost in her fear, it allowed her to not see the truth of how people did love her for the person she was. 

After many days, Skylar hung out with her friends less and hadn’t shown up to school. Her friends were worried so they went out to Skylar’s house to see if she was there. Since Skylar had no recollection of her life, she left the house and was wandering around the streets. At her house, however, the orb was still lying on her bed. 

Haydn, Vincent, Nora, and Sawyer decided to go to Sky’s house. At first, they saw that nothing had been touched in a while. They all went to Sky's bedroom and saw the peculiar-looking bright orb on her bed. They were all confused and hoped that Sky was okay. She was nowhere to be found in the house and only the orb was left behind. 

Later, Vincent and Sawyer were being reckless and accidentally ran into the orb which got them “sucked into” the orb. Both Vincent and Sawyer were living in their nightmare of fears just like Skylar was. Soon they couldn't even remember their friends or the reality they were living in. Haydn and Nora were so confused when they saw Vincent and Sawyer. Nora gasped, “Oh no what's going on!” 

Haydn, who was as confused as Nora, stated, “I have no idea. Vincent. Sawyer. Are you there?”

“It looks like they can’t even recognize us”

Vince and Soy were both panicking because they were in their deepest, darkest fears. Soon after, Vince ran out of the house, and Sawyer followed shortly after. This just left Nora and Haydn standing there, in shock and confusion. 

The next day, Nora went to Sky’s house alone to see if she could find something about her friends. She searched the entire house inch by inch but was just left in despair. She sat on Skylar’s bed and thought about all the ways she could’ve prevented this. The orb was now sitting on the top of the dresser just emitting a beautiful radiating light that made your heart warm. Nora got up and went closer and closer to the light, seeing its beauty. She was so focused on it,  just like Sky, that she got wrapped up in it. Then poof! Just like that, Nora was gone. Not physically. But mentally. She was terrified and had no clue what was happening just like Sawyer, Vincent, and Skylar.  

At school, Haydn went to her usual spot to meet her friends but didn’t see Nora there. She texted and called Nora countless times but never got a response. At this point, she was worried sick but still had to go to school.

When she got home, she immediately raced to Nora's house to ask her mom if she was home. Her mom intriguingly and worriedly expressed, "No, I haven't seen Nora all day. I thought she was hanging out with you today."

"Oh yeah, my bad I guess she must have been with Sawyer,” Haydn replied.

At this point, she knew what was going on. She knew that Nora went and touched the orb. Her friends had no idea what was happening to them and were living in their worst fears without anybody to comfort them. Haydn knew that she had to help her friends without getting "attacked" by the orb. 

She did a lot of research about the orb and everything says that it was a myth. It was called the Orb of Lamoria, which was a mountain that had a mystical orb on top of it. It contained powers that stripped away your humanity and forced you to face your most serious fears. Luckily the study told Haydn how she could bring her friends back. It said that she had to guide them into realizing that they aren't alone. The orb fed on fear and got more power by the number of people it infects. It also gets more power from how bad the fears are. So, as time went on, it got more powerful. To strip the power away from the orb, all that had to be done was to disinfect everyone, helping them get back to their normal selves. 

Now that Haydn knew what to do, it was time for her to gather her friends one by one to help them face their fears. Haydn wanted to start with Skylar because she was the farthest gone and had the most intense trauma. Haydn's first step was to locate where Skylar was. There was only one place that Skylar would go even if she was out of her mind. That place was the only place any of her friends would’ve gone to. It was the only symbolic and logical place. It was the place where Haydn and her friends first became friends. It was in the middle of the woods in a treehouse that they built their first time hanging out in 1st grade. 

As soon as Haydn figured this out, she ran as fast as the wind to the woods, and just like she predicted, her friends were all standing there. They were confused and didn’t understand what was happening. With a terrified look on their faces, Haydn knew that to bring them back. She had to remind them of their friendship and how they were all there for each other during their hardest times. 

One by one Haydn convinced each of them that they can overcome their fears by having their friends by their side. Although Hay wanted to start with Sky, it started with Nora then Vincent, and Sawyer. Suddenly the orb became so powerful that Skylar had no memory of anything but her trauma, which caused her to go rogue. Even though she had no memories,  the feeling of betrayal and pain was what drove her to cause havoc. 

After a lot of hard work and dedication, Skylar finally returned to her friends and apologized for all she had done. Her friends never gave up on her and just jogged her memory of all the good things to override her past. She had great friends and all of them learned that friendship holds the key to any problem that anyone faces. 

Grandpa ended the story and whispered, “This is why magic and humans can’t coexist. We used to be perfect but then a small wish of greediness got in the way. Although Skylar had been saved by Haydn and her friends, the magical beings went into hiding for the safety of everyone. In this story, people learned how true friends will have your back, and with them, you can accomplish anything. Always remember that, children.