Dear Diary,

We’re almost to the end of the rainbow! It’s excruciating to see the band of color get closer in the sky, little by little. So close, yet so far! I want to just give up and rest, but Crystal and I have come so far already; too far to stop now. I just have to keep my eyes on the end reward.

We’ve been hiking through various lands for about two weeks, ever since we saw the telltale arc in the sky. Crystal, who had the idea for this journey in the first place, has had the most energy of the two of us. If there really is a pot of gold at the rainbow’s end like the legends say, she could use her half of the gold to bring wealth and riches to her family. I know Crystal has her sights set on making her family proud.

As for me, though, I’m a little more selfish. With my share I would go out and travel the world, meet new people, see what the world has to offer me. But I’m not really into the whole hiking-out-in-the-wilderness thing, so the gold would be used for transportation.

That is, if there’s any gold to be found at all.

I’m still trying to keep my hopes down, in case the legends are just legends. I try not to think about my dreams of traveling the world that much, because if I do I’d be completely devastated if the gold isn’t there. I’m worried how Crystal would react. She doesn’t have the more pessimistic attitude that I do, and she has always believed wholeheartedly in all the legends. I’ve found that no matter how I try to explain my attitude to her, she won’t listen. She wants to believe so much that the legends are true, I think her mind has just turned blind to any voice of reason.

I want to have her optimism, but I don’t want to let Crystal down. I don’t know, I think I just need to focus on the journey right now, and I’ll save all this worrying until we get to the end. Right now we’re settling down for the night to rest and recharge. Our food supply has gotten kind of low, but Crystal is an experienced camper so I’ve trusted her to ration things out. Every night is the same. We pick a spot to settle, get out our sleeping bags and place them side by side,  then use our backpacks as pillows. It’s the middle of the summer so we don’t need to make a fire or anything. So far this journey has been a good experience for me to test my stamina and endurance. It’s not the most fun I’ve ever had, but maybe- just maybe- it’ll be worth it.

-Kira

Dear Diary,

We made it! The last few days have been nothing but travel, as Crystal and I realized that the rainbow was growing dimmer in the sky. We’ve barely stopped to rest so I haven’t had time to write. But now that we’re here… the legends weren’t true. Not exactly. The legends say that if you reach a rainbow’s end you will find a pot of gold guarded by a leprechaun. But we found something much more valuable, guarded by something much more powerful; the knowledge of magic, protected by a series of enchantments put there by the most powerful sorcerers in the world!

You might be wondering how Crystal and I, a pair of measly humans, managed to get past those complicated spells. Well… we didn’t. Our best guess is that when a rainbow appears, it offers a way past all those enchantments for a certain amount of time before the opportunity is gone and the protection spells return again. But by the time we arrived, the rainbow had dissipated, and we ran right smack into an invisible barrier guarding the book that contains the recipes to all magical spells. It was so close, right there in front of us, but our time had run out. So all this was for nothing.

I try to remind myself that it’s not a big deal, no, it’s totally fine that we lost the chance to learn the power of magic by less than half an hour. I’m doing okay, resigning myself to return back to my regularly scheduled life. But Crystal has taken a hard hit. I want to get away from here and start back home so she won’t have to keep looking at that book, but she refuses to leave. I think she still hopes somewhere in the back of her mind for a second chance to claim her prize.

It doesn’t really matter that we couldn’t get our hands on the book; just the knowledge alone that it’s there could be our claim to fame. I mean, this is a huge discovery; the legends were just an understatement! But then again, should we share this secret with people who could go out and take the book for themselves? There are many ways we could go from here, and I think, like the trip here, that I’m going to focus on getting back home before I do anything.

I’ll have to be strong for Crystal, but I’m sure we can pull through together and use this discovery to our advantage. Me and her are in this together, and we’ll come out of it together, too!

-Kira