The World of Wishes

    I felt as if I was falling from the sky.  I could only see white all around me as I traveled at high speed down the magical hole.  I must have lost consciousness for a minute or two, because the next thing I knew I was lying on the ground.  I assumed I took a big fall, but I did not feel bruised or hurt in any way.  I apparently landed on something soft, and as I looked down I realized I was sitting on snow.
    I could not believe it.  Snow?  Here?  “Where am I?” I asked aloud.  I was not anywhere near home; that was for sure.  I looked up to where I fell from, and I discovered that the hole had vanished.  It took me a while for me to notice my surroundings, but when I did I was astounded: glitter and sparkles everywhere on pure white, powdery snow.  There must have been at least three feet on the ground; more than I had ever seen in my life.  I could see mountains, hills, and vast plains in the distance; a beautiful frozen waterfall leading down to an ice-skating rink; polar bears and penguins roaming about as if they were ordinary household pets.  Igloos instead of houses, kids cross-country skiing instead of riding bikes.  The sight of all of these things made me forget something until minutes later.  If this was winter, why was I not cold?  I was wearing a t-shirt, yet I was oddly very warm.  It felt like it was seventy-five degrees outside, but the snow should have been melted.  The temperature scared me more than anything else.  Where was I, and how on earth did I get here?
    My mind was blank, and I slowly tried to remember what had happened.  “Let’s see.  I got up this morning, went to school, came home, made a potion, …”
    That was it!  I had made that magic potion, and it actually worked!  I had discovered, quoting the wizard, “a magical land in another universe where my greatest wish will come true.”  A magical land, a fantasy world, of snow!  I was not dreaming; this place was real.
    After assuring myself that I was not crazy, I decided that the first thing I should do was to explore the land.  And so I began my conquest: to explore an undiscovered world, although it was already inhabited by a whole new race of people.  They seemed very similar to the people on earth though.  They looked like us, and they acted the way anyone in the North would act: building snowmen and having snowball fights and just having a good time.  The residents of the apparent town were ice fishing, skiing, doing household (or should I say igloo-hold) chores, and the kids were just playing around.  They seemed to be the owners of the tamed arctic animals.
    I decided to venture farther, and I wound up climbing up to wooded areas, looking for secret places filled with magic.  If this was truly a fantasy-like world, although this was reality, I expected to find more magic lurking about.  And the magic came soon enough; a little too soon.