Magic and miracles must exist, right…? They're beautiful, making wishes and dreams come true. If only she knew magic, too…
["Legend has it that long, long ago, whenever night fell, all sorts of monsters hidden in the darkness would appear.
"Black crows would peck at the edges of dreams, and flapping bats would make unpleasant noises. They would fly in through windows left open by lazy children and steal their sweet dreams.
"Then, dark monsters would crawl out of the closets. Without the protection of their dreams, the monsters would open their wide mouths and devour all the delicious things the children had saved during the day…
"They would eat the candy the children couldn't bear to eat, break their favorite little flowers, hurt their beloved pets… and then… it would be the children's turn…"
"I… I definitely won't be lazy! I'll definitely close the window!" the little purple-haired child declared in a sweet voice, leaning against her weary mother on a simple, broken bed.
"Even if monsters appear… Sirin… will definitely protect Mom and Dad with this magic wand!"
A family of three squeezed into the small, dilapidated wooden hut. The man cleaned an old hunting rifle and smiled gently at little Sirin. The woman nodded, closed the storybook in her hand, and stroked Sirin's hair, the only clean thing in the room.
"Okay… Mommy will wait for Sirin to protect us with her magic wand."
Little Sirin nodded vigorously. She raised the magic wand high towards the moon. The moonlight shone through the cheap plastic star on the wand, not particularly beautiful, but making the star unusually bright."]
But… magic and miracles don't exist… There's no magic that can bring happiness… There are no… miracles… The world… is just like this…
["What magic! Bella, stop dreaming! There's no such thing as magic!!" Sirin cried, tears streaming down her face.
Past promises flashed through Sirin's mind.
Magic… if magic really existed… Dad would come back, and Mom would wake up…
Sirin cried out, "Don't put your hope in me! Don't expect me to be the hero of the story! Magic? Saving everyone?"
"I can't!!" Sirin clenched her fists, pouring all her strength into her words, yelling at Bella and herself.
Her vision blurred with tears. "You said I could save everyone with magic, but I'm not a hero! If I were, you wouldn't have to stay here for me, turning into a dragon!"
"Magic… there's no such thing! It's all fake, fake!!"
"There's no magic in this world!!"
Sirin was embraced… She felt herself enveloped in warmth. In this cold, dark place, her dragon shared its last vestiges of warmth.
Sirin opened her eyes. In that moment, she truly saw "magic."
The firelight illuminated the darkness. Sirin saw Bella's tearful smile, heard her whisper in her ear.
"Lady Sirin… dragons… aren't real either, are they?"]
Magic… maybe it really exists… but it comes at a price… If you have to pay an unbearable price for a fleeting moment of happiness… then what kind of magic is it that brings happiness?
I don't want this kind of magic…
I…
"But… magic and miracles do exist… Even if they're not as beautiful as we imagine, even if they take something away from us…"
Joyce's voice came softly from outside the blanket, like a bedtime story, gently flowing into Sirin's ears.
"It's true… The world always places difficult challenges before us, testing us, mocking us, trying to push us off cliffs and grind us into dust… It wants to defeat us, crush us…
"Many people fail… but some succeed. In the eyes of those who fail, what do the successful ones do? Their thoughts and actions are incomprehensible.
"And that is magic."
"That's… magic?" Sirin felt something stir within her, her grip on the blanket loosening slightly.
"Yes, that's magic. The means to make everything beautiful, the path to guide everything towards success… That's magic."
Joyce's voice paused. Then, Sirin heard a very soft whisper.
"I have failed… I don't know magic, I don't know the magic spells… but I believe someone must know them, right?"
There was no more talking. Sirin felt something being placed beside the bed, right next to her, followed by the sound of retreating footsteps and the closing of the door. The room fell silent again.
Joyce had left. She stood outside the door, taking a deep breath, quietly waiting for the "magic" to take effect.
Sirin cautiously lifted the blanket. The room was still the same. Joyce had even put the chair back in its original position, as if no one had ever been there.
Sirin looked at the only new thing in the room, a familiar magic wand… the one she had lost long ago.
Why… was it here?
Sirin instinctively reached for the wand, but at the moment of contact, she pulled back timidly.
The magic spell… did she know it?
Sirin stretched out her hand, hesitant to pick up the wand.
The spell… the spell that could guide everything to a happy ending… the magic spell…
Sirin's lips moved slightly, her hand trembling as she picked up the magic wand.
The warm wand in her hand felt familiar. Sirin held it close, clutching it tightly with both hands.
"Shu…" she finally whispered, her lips trembling. Sirin didn't know why she suddenly thought of him… perhaps the magic wand carried his scent?
But more people appeared in her mind… more and more… as if they were all beside her…
As if they had always been by her side.
"Bella… Aurora… Agatha… Grandpa John… Grandpa Henry…"
At the entrance of the Tower of Babel, Bella suddenly looked up, towards the inside of the tower.
John and Henry… everyone inside the Tower of Babel stopped what they were doing and looked towards Sirin.
After a long silence, Sirin whispered two more names in the darkness.
"Dad… Mom…"
Two translucent figures appeared on the bed. It was as if they had always been there, as if they had never left.
They embraced Sirin with their transparent, intangible bodies, and together with her, they spoke the magic words that could change everything.
"Ich liebe dich☆"