Lockdown Writing - 8th FABO Story Competition (I got 3rd Place!)

  Hello Readers! Last week, in Writing, Miss McLeod's Writing class got to do a FABO Story Competition with Witches & Wizards 😲. If you have ever participated in a FABO Story Competition, you would be able to find a story starter on their FABO Story Blog Spot, these competitions are normally judged by some really cool authors, in the 8th FABO Story Competition (the one I participated in), we were allowed 550 words max 😅. I found the story a bit hard to write since we had a word limit that I wasn't used to, but it's good to do things out of your comfort zone, Right? 😶. I submitted my story on Friday last week, and earlier today, I found out I got 3RD PLACE 😄! If you want to read my writing, here it is (I will also show the story starter) 😇:

Story Starter:

Mark and Maeve skipped along the dark corridors of McMinty Towers, and into the dining hall.

They expected to see their mother sitting at the head of the table. Instead, they found a letter

pinned to the top of a large,

black chest.

My Dear Twins,

First of all, Happy Birthday!

This chest contains two magical things:

1 x Witch-Starter-Kit   &

1 x Wizard- Starter-Kit

Please choose one kit. Choose carefully as you cannot swap your kit once you have chosen.

However, Mark may choose the Witch-Starter-Kit, while Maeve might choose the

Wizard-Starter-Kit. It doesn’t matter.

Please write down each spell you test, and the results. A few words of warning. When

starting out, I advise all young witches and wizards to use their new powers wisely.

Because spells, when not followed correctly can goterribly wrong. Terribly wrong!

Good luck. Good luck, I repeat. You will need it.

Yours in witchcraft

Mother Witch McMinty

Mark shrugged his shoulders. Maeve opened the chest …

My continued Story:

They gasped. Inside were two beautiful wooden boxes with detailed carvings that Mark and

Maeve couldn’t make out. Silently, they stood, wondering which kit they should take.

Maeve looked at the Witch-Starter-kit closely, it had spiral-like markings and in the middle

of its lid was a sapphire shaped like the McMinty crest. Maeve decided to take the

Witch-starter-kit, leaving Mark with the Wizard-starter-kit which he was happy to take. 

‘Do you want to go to the tower’s lab to test these out?,’ Mark asked.

‘Sure! Let’s go,’ Maeve answered optimistically.

The twins packed their kits back into the black chest along with their mother’s letter

and walked up the winding staircases of McMinty tower. Soon, they reach their

destination, the huge double-doors of the tower’s lab. Maeve held the chest as

Mark opened the lab’s heavy doors. They walked into the room and Maeve put the

black chest on a table and they both took their kits out.

‘So, should we open them?,’ Asked Mark while ferociously staring down the kit.

‘Yeah, I-I guess so,’ Maeve said, hesitantly.

Simultaneously, they opened the kits. Maeve looked inside hers, she could see many potions

and objects, but one intrigued her more than the rest. It was a gold, snake-shaped ring with

detailed, hand-carved scales, two dark emeralds as the snake’s eyes and a weird marking on

its forehead, which Maeve didn’t really worry about. She lifted it from the box carefully,

admiring it. Maeve turned to her brother, he was holding a gold watch with a lion’s head,

shaped like it was opening its mouth in mid-roar, and inside the lion's mouth they could see

the watch's clock-face. Mark squinted at his watch.

‘What’s up?,’ Maeve asked, wondering what had caught her brothers attention.

‘I just noticed this weird marking on my watch,’ Mark said, as he showed his sister the

marking that piqued his curiosity.

Maeve looked at the marking. It was the same marking that was on the snake’s forehead

that she hadn’t worried about, but then, both of the markings lit-up. Maeve and Mark’s

eyes widened as their two pieces of jewelry suddenly put themselves onto their owners.

Two blue laser-like lights shot from the jewelry forming a kind of vacuum portal

sucking the twins into it. Out of instinct, Mark grabbed the two kits, stuffed them into

the black chest on top of their mum’s letter, and carried it as the portal pulled them

closer and closer to it. They tried grabbing onto other things so the portal won’t suck

them away, but it did. Inside it was a dark void that seemed to go on forever. 

‘W-w-what’s happening?,’ Maeve asked, scared.

‘I-I don’t know,’ Mark answered. The portal stopped, and the twins landed onto grounds of a

fancy tower. ‘Wait! Where are we?’ He questioned.

A tall woman with fuzzy, grey hair, a stern look and a tall witch hat, like their mother’s,

teleported to them.

‘Hello children! And welcome to ‘the Royal Magic Academy’,’ the Woman announced

grandly . . .