Stone Soup

Where young artists paint the world with words

The international magazine of stories, poems, and art by young writers and artists. Published continuously since 1973.

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Starry Sky(Conner)

A chilly breeze passed through the still night. Theempty sky stared down at Star, as she ran down the rolling hills. Her long, pale hair trailed behind her as she pantedheavily. Star slowed down to a walking pace thinking about how much had gone wrongtoday. Her mind flashed back to what had happened in herworld. Luckily she had escaped from there and was hiding in the human world for now, but shecouldn’t help but miss the enchanting aura of Lamyria, The world of the Unreal. She had been sitting on a giant petuliana flower chattingwith her sisters, Leaf and Cloud. Star had always been reckless, and quite infatuatedwith Carnelianq, The Human World even though she knew the topic was forbidden. Shehad been telling her sisters about the whimsical creatures and animals that resided in Carnelianq. “They have so many Wombhyls! They call themanimals,and there over a 100 varieties,” She exclaimed, overflowing with exciting information totell her sisters. “There’s no way there are more than 10 types of Wombhyls,”Leaf frowned. “There are!” Star protested, as she began to sketcha drawing of something called afruit baton one of the papery leafs of the petuliana. “Where did you find out about this anyway,” her oldersister, Cloud, asked suspiciously. With a perfect older sibling like Cloud, Star hadnever had any new information that wasn’t known to her sister already, so she was glad to finallyhave something of her own. “I read it from a book,” She replied proudly. “What book? It had better not be Xestorian Wonders.You know that book is banned, right?” Star was slightly annoyed that her sister had actuallythought she had been reading the Xestorian Wonders in secret. Although she could see why. The Xestorian Wonderswas a book telling Lamyrians about the human world and how to go there. Star’s book did talkabout the human world but it wasn’t on the level of the Xestorian Wonders. “It isnotthe Xestorian Wonders. The title was writtenin ancient runes so I’m not sure what it was called.” She answered. “It was something like..,” Star paused to think aboutthe exact translation to Lamyrian but it was too complicated so she decided to spell it out. “Z-x-u-pl-y-tw-g” She stated each letter clearly,and once she got to G, she heard a furious voice yelling, from behind her, saying that she had to bebanished from Lamyria. Everything else was a blur, and somehow she had endedup here staring at the starry sky. Star was confused but mostly she was relieved, relievedto finally be away from all the chaos and noise. It was only her and the stars in the sky.