Citra the Witch
When the world was young and full of magic wonders, a teenage girl named Citra lived on a small island. Citra lived a very simple life with his parents in their small hut. Even so, she had extraordinary magical abilities compared to the rest of the islanders. She hoped, one day, she could become a great magic user, like the wizards in the legends often told by her mother.
Citra loved to play on the beach near her hut. One day, while walking on the beach and collecting seashells, she found a washed-up magic stone. The stone was oval and bright purple in color, and gave off a beautiful light. She felt a strong magical power from within the rock.
Intrigued, Citra decided to take the stone home and examine it. She really wanted to know the secret of the magic power contained in it. She vowed not to let anyone know about the magic stone before she could harness its power alone. However, she did not know where to start. She finally decided to ask her parents about how to learn more magic. She pretended to only want to know about her power, without mentioning the magic stone even a bit. As her parents were not wizards, they suggested seeing the most skilled wizard on the island, the Elder Dukun. Elder Dukun had a lot of books about magic. Surely by reading them, Citra could learn more about magic. She went to Elder Dukun’s house the next day to ask him to lend her some of his books.
Elder Dukun was a curt old man. He did not like kids, let alone the hyperactive and a bit standoffish ones like Citra. However, Elder Dukun really appreciated the enthusiasm to learn. He allowed Citra to borrow his magic books, although under the condition that she could only read them in his house. Elder Dukun’s book collection was enormous! Every month, he will add more books to his collection. He had a large warehouse to specially store his book collection. Citra had to help Elder Dukun clean up the warehouse as payment for borrowing his book.
Citra visited Elder Dukun’s house every single day without fail. Also, she cleaned the warehouse twice a week. Even though she was tired of cleaning the big warehouse alone, Citra was excited to learn magic. She also began to ask many questions directly to Elder Dukun and other magicians on the island. She absorbed all that new knowledge like a dry sponge absorbing water! Citra’s knowledge of magic and her power is growing. However, she still kept her magic stone a secret from anyone. She was still determined to figure out how to use the magic stone on her own.
Several years later, Citra found a magic book that taught how to activate the power within magic stones. Through the book, she learned how to store and release the magical energy within stones. She practised how to visualize magical results and concentrate on achieving them. She realized that the power of imagination and creativity determined the effect of casted magic.
Citra spent a long time studying and training with the magic stone. After two years, he felt more and more proficient in controlling the magic from her magic stone and could use them well. She even performed extraordinary magic, from making flowers bloom out of season to reviving trees that were killed by lightning! Thanks to her efforts, Citra became a highly skilled and famous witch worldwide. Elder Dukun was secretly proud of her.
However, Citra began to feel lonely as her power grew, and she lost her direction in life. She thought that the power of magic could no longer give her true happiness and began to contemplate the meaning of her life. On the advice of Elder Dukun, Citra agreed to travel the world to find answers to her worries while trying to put all her knowledge into practice. After asking for her parents’ blessing, Citra left her small island.
After 3 years of travelling the world, Citra decided to visit her house for a while, even though he felt she had not found any answers yet. When she arrived on the island, she was shocked to find that Elder Dukun, her meritorious teacher, had died 2 days earlier! Citra was very saddened by the loss of the person he secretly loved. The islanders told her Elder Dukun had left all his possessions to Citra. Touched and increasingly grieving, Citra offered to deliver Elder Dukun’s ashes to his only known relative living on a neighbouring island.
Citra left for a neighbouring island accompanied by her father using a boat. Even though she had been travelling the world for 3 years, Citra had never visited the small island right next to her island because she felt it was still too close to her home. When she arrived, she asked the people on the dock about Elder Dukun’s relative. It turned out that the relative was the most respected witch on that island, just like Elder Dukun, who used to be the most skilled wizard on Citra’s island. One of the residents directed her to a simple, small house with a garden full of beautiful flowering plants. Citra noticed that many of these flowers bloomed out of season.
Citra knocked on the house door and was greeted by a friendly old woman. Citra introduced herself and the purpose of her arrival, handing over a pot containing Elder Dukun’s ashes. The old woman, who later introduced herself as Elder Syaman, was shocked to receive the news and shed tears. She invited Citra to stop by to remember Elder Dukun together.
Elder Syaman turned out to be a very, very wise witch. She spoke kindly but did not beat around the bush. Her speech could have been softer but firm and clear. The longer the conversation went on, the more Citra opened up to the Wise Witch. While crying, she told her about her confusion about magic and the meaning of her life. Elder Syaman smiled and held Citra’s trembling hand. She gave her some advice about the true meaning of magic power. Gently but firmly, she made Citra realize that magical powers should be used to help others and give them happiness. She said, during her 3 years of travelling the world, Citra had actually done it to everyone she met. She was blind to it because she only focused on her suffering, so she ignored their smiles and gratitude. Citra laughed out loud while crying. She felt stupid for not realizing such a simple matter. However, she was also grateful. She was grateful because she had already held on to the answer she had sought all this time, even without her realizing it. She was also grateful to meet Elder Syaman, who helped to wise her up and lived only a few kilometres from her island.
After that, Citra continued her journey around the world. However, this time she always made time to return to her island, at least once a year on the anniversary of Elder Dukun’s death. She would visit her parents and Elder Syaman. During her journey to study magic, Citra learned that it was not only about power but also about knowledge, creativity, and goodwill. She learned to understand and appreciate the power of magic and not abuse it.
Nearing her old age, Citra began settling on her small island. She accompanied her mother, which was left alone after her father’s passing. She turned Elder Dukun’s house into a school, where she taught magic to the children on the island. In fact, several children from all over the world were willing to come to that tiny island to learn magic from her. With the wisdom taught by Elder Dukun and Elder Syaman, as well as her magic, Citra helped people all over the world and found true happiness.
That was the story of Citra, who was determined to become a great witch. This story teaches us about the responsibility of having a unique, exceptional power that should be used for good and to bring happiness to our surroundings.
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The Indonesian version of this story can be found here^^
Note: Shout out to Shin Sekai Yori anime (based on a novel by Yusuke Kishi) for its final statement that inspired this story: “Imagination has the power to change everything.”
