Welcome To Our World! - By Ms. Luna Mosiea

Written By: Ms. Luna Mosiea

Category: Short Story

Competition: Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026

In a captivating tale titled "Welcome To Our World!" Ms. Luna Mosiea invites readers into an enchanting underwater realm filled with magic, friendship, and adventure. As a participant in the Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026, Ms. Mosiea's short story takes us on a whimsical journey alongside Zeze and his best friend Khumo, two spirited young fish living in a lively reef. This delightful narrative explores themes of discovery and the profound connection between nature and its inhabitants, capturing the imagination of readers young and old alike.

About the Work

"Welcome To Our World!" is a beautifully woven tale that combines vibrant imagery with a sense of wonder. Ms. Luna Mosiea masterfully crafts a whimsical world where enchanted islands and magical trees coexist with an underwater society. The story is imbued with themes of friendship, respect for nature, and the importance of listening to one's elders. The narrative's rhythm carries readers through an adventure filled with excitement, suspense, and the timeless bond between friends.

Welcome To Our World!

Original Submission by Ms. Luna Mosiea

Prologue

Hiyo friends, my name is Zeze and I live in the reef with my mom and my friends. Above us is an enchanted island where the trees are alive and they protect the people who live there. If anyone finds themselves in danger, all they have to do is pick a singing flower and give it to the tree as an offering. The islander will then be safely guided back to their home. The people of the island respected the trees very much because they are sacred. They also celebrated the stars and the moons with fires and dances, and they got more blessings when they did so. The trees rewarded the people with plenty of food, rain and animals to eat. The islanders also had to pay their respects to the ocean by keeping it clean. And the more they treated the reef with respect, the more the trees blessed them. We learned all about the island when our class went on an expo lesson to visit the enchanted island. We even made a friend there and we named him Nico. He was born and raised on the island and could be the same age as us in human years. Nico told us all about his island, the people and the trees, and it just seems too cool not gonna lie. We also got to see the singing flowers and the fallen stars, and because the island is magical, none of us fish-folk drowned on the air. We could also understand what the islanders were saying and they could understand us: the magic of the trees.

Our home is a short swim away from the land and after that expo trip, Nico loves to visit the reef. He always waves at us when he swims by, sprinkling some sweet snacks and sometimes playing with us. He’s so awesome. Okay, enough about the island, let me tell you about my home.

I absolutely love playing with my friends, it’s the highlight of my day! Racing all around the reef and swimming against the current, feeling the water under your fins. The definition of a great day. You see there? That’s a picture of me and my best friend Khumo right there, I’m the one looking at Khumo. He is my bestest friend in the whole wide world and we do everything together. We play together during break time at school; we sit next to each other in class and we even live next to each other. It’s so awesome! I love being his friend, it’s the best thing in the world. We would have sleep overs all the time and would even race all around the reef with a little friendly competition. I am the fastest out of all my friends, but Khumo would most likely tell you otherwise. It’s important that you don’t believe that liar, liar pants on fire, he’s a bit of a slow poke. Our moms would always shout from around the corner to “slow down boys” and “no swimming against the current, you’re too young.” But if you’re having fun, mom isn’t watching you like a hawk and you’re good at what you do, would you listen to your mother if she told you to stop? Didn’t think so. Khumo and I would always say “okay mum,” and just go right back to our race. Among all the rules our moms have, there’s one rule that we never ever break: "Never go past the barrier reef.” We respect this rule to this day. Here, let me tell you a story of why this is the one rule that’s never broken, and why we always listen to mummy:

Chapter 1

It was a Tuesday morning; my friends and I were on our way to school. In human years, you would probably call it Grade 2, but we don’t have that here, so to us it's just grade school. That day, our class started as normal, we learned our sounds and words, and we played an awesome racing game around the playground which I obviously won. After that we went back to class and did sensory play where we built things with the sand. A great Tuesday was finally over and Khumo and I were swimming back home. I was excited to see mummy and tell her all about my day, but on our way back, Khumo and I saw darkness slowly creep over us.

We were terrified because we thought it was Zeke and his friends. Zeke is a shark you see, a great white and the biggest bully in our reef. He’s a few years older than us, and him and his friends love to gang up on us. They would chase us all around the reef, nipping at our fins and stuff. Yeah, it’s not very fun. Last time, Zeke stole my snacks and almost nipped Khumo. Then they threatened to bite us if we ever told anybody. We were so scared we couldn’t even tell our mums when we got back home. Couldn’t, wouldn’t? Pick one mate, pick one. All I know is that Khumo and I had a bad case of the shimmies for the whole entire day.

As soon as we saw the dark shadow creeping, Khumo and I darted out of there. We swam as fast as we could, but it kept getting darker and darker and we swam faster and faster. Zeke and his friends were about to catch up on us, and there was only one place we could go if we wanted to lose them: the park. The park has a ridge around the back that could link you to the barrier line. That ridge had a loop by the coral, and you could reach it if you jumped high enough. It’s very dangerous to play by the ridge. Curve at the right time and you’ll be fine, swimming your way back to the playground. But miss it by an inch, and bet: you’ll be slingshot into the dangerously strong current that will spit you out into the ocean. Nobody ever played there, but today we had to maneuver it and throw these bullies off our tails. There was one problem though, when I looked back to see how close Zeke was, I came to a haunting discovery: there was no Zeke, no bullies, nothing. Khumo and I were hurdling towards the barrier line and absolutely no one was chasing us.

I tried to turn around and warn Khumo to stop but because we were at full speed, we just ended up accidentally bumping into each other. That sent us tumbling into the loop and we got slingshot into the big current. Yeah, we were absolutely finished mate. The current spit us out of the barrier reef, and we barely had time to comprehend whether we were alright or not when an angry rip tide caught us in its claws. Once you go past the reef, you start to see how safe home is, because that day, the ocean was super duper mad. Khumo and I were the best swimmers in our class, the fastest among our school mates thanks to Zeke and his goons. But even with our skills, we weren’t nearly fast enough or strong enough to swim against the ocean.

________________

Chapter 2

We had never felt the ocean so strong, it was pulling us left and right, there was lightning everywhere and the ocean was roaring. Khumo and I were holding onto each other and he turned to me, saying: "Zeze, I don't know where we are, but we’re definitely not home." I looked around and I did not see the reef; all I saw was darkness. In a terrified voice I said: "You’re right dude. I think we crossed the barrier reef. This ocean is scary and I want to go home to mummy." Just then, the ocean screamed and slapped us with another wave. This time we went really low and rushed up with the water. We got spit out onto the beach and immediately started suffocating on the air. There was a loud voice that boomed in the sky, saying: “There you go Po, aren’t these your children?! Come out and get them you coward or I will destroy EVERYTHING!” It almost sounded like mummy’s voice, but my mummy doesn’t sound like that. Ms. Ivena, Khumo’s mom, also does not sound like that. The sky cracked and the angry lady voice disappeared.

Khumo and I don't understand the people’s language, but we do understand screams. Even the sky out here on land looked dark and gloomy, and the wind was so strong. This was very weird because even when there’s rain on the island, it was never like this. Nico was near the beach, and he was crying and looking up with his hands to the sky. We tried calling out to him, but Khumo and I couldn’t breathe. He turned to me and said: “Zeze, I can’t breathe dude. Remember when we were here on our school trip we could all breathe just fine? But now we can’t. Did something happen to the trees and the island?” We looked around, and right then saw the biggest lighting hit the ground with a loud CRACK! We then saw why Nico was crying so hard. The lightning and the wind had burned some of the trees and pulled them from the ground. The ocean was scary and was ripping his home apart.

“This is why we can’t breathe Zee; the island must have lost its magic or something,” Khumo said while coughing, “maybe it’s this storm or the angry lady.” My vision started to get blurry, as if I was crying. “I think it has something to do with the ocean Kay. Look at how it’s bubbling.” Seeing the fear in my eyes, Khumo held my fin and started jumping up and down. He was trying to call out to Nico. “Zeze,” he screamed, shaking me awake, “Zee, come on bro. Help me call Nico over, maybe he can help us get back home. Let’s jump!” See this is why Khumo was my bestest friend in the whole world. He’s so smart. I gathered my strength and started jumping with him. “NICO! HELP! HELP US!”

We screamed and screamed, but nobody heard us. “HELP! HELP!” we screamed again and tried jumping a little higher. Still, nobody heard us and our friend couldn’t see us. Khumo started to shake and cough badly. He looked at me, almost as if he knew that I could tell he was starting to lose hope as well. But we are the fastest kids in the reef, and we never gave up. As if we could read each other’s minds, we looked up at the sky and started silently calling out to Lord Poseidon, the King and God of the Sea. We begged in our hearts for him to save us and asked him to take us back home. Our loud prayer was instantly answered when Lord Poseidon himself came out of the water from the other side of the island and pointed Nico to our direction. Nico looked at what Lord Poseidon was pointing at, and Khumo and I jumped up and down frantically like our lives depended on it. He finally spotted us and quickly ran over, scooped us into his tiny hands and threw us back into the water. Khumo and I took big big gulps and started panting. Before we could calm ourselves down, Lord Poseidon spoke in our heads: “Swim boys, go back home as fast as you can!” And that’s exactly what we did.

It was now time to level up and put our speed to the test. Lord Poseidon was fighting the ocean and we had one job: make it home safe and sound. Khumo and I took a deep breath, tucked in our heads and zoomed off. This was the biggest and strongest current we had ever faced, and we had to lock in. It was so strange because as we were swimming, fighting against the ocean, we were seeing angry faces in the water as the lightning was flashing. The face screamed, then it cried, and then it raged. That whole show made us swim faster, harder, we pushed ourselves. Come on, ignore the faces, push, swim, we knew the way home, go, go, go. We had no choice; we had to make it…

Chapter 3

Like seeing light at the end of the tunnel, is how relieved we were when we spotted the reef. Everybody was waiting with eagerness for us to come back home. Khumo and I darted, like two bullets piercing through the ocean we swam even faster. You know that feeling when you’re being chased by something and you feel it creeping up your neck as if it’s about to catch you? That’s what the ocean was doing son. After seeing home, all of a sudden, my spine tingled and the shivers were all I felt. It was as if the long tentacles of the ocean were creeping up to grab our fins from behind when SWOOSH! Khumo and I pierced through into the coral reef. The waters were calm and Khumo and I swerved back around to see what was chasing us. We saw someone in the dark shadow of the waters staring at us, and without saying anything they swam backwards into the water and disappeared with the waves. “Dude what the what?” Khumo said. “I know.” I replied with a shaky voice.

Before we could soak the shock all in, our mummies tackled us from behind, kissing our faces all over and speaking a thousand words at a time. I think they were just as scared as we were because they were crying. The ocean calmed down and the sun started to shine again. Our mummies looked at us all over, asking if we were okay. We said we were fine and gave a knowing look to one another. Khumo's mum came to us, and she held our faces, staring at us with worry. She spoke to my mom, saying: “Rika, should we tell them?” “Tell them what?” Mum answered back with a confused look. Ms. Ivena looked at my mom with sad eyes and mum’s face dropped. “No Ivena, not yet! They’re still babies.” My mum grabbed my face in her hands, and I stared back in confusion. “Tell us what mummy?” She looked at me all worried and asked Khumo's mum, "aren't they too young?" Khumo's mum responded, "We can't hide it forever Rika. Today’s events proved it."

Khumo and I were beyond confused as one might be, and very curious to know what was happening. Mum took Khumo and I by the fins and sat us down on a rock. "8 years ago, Lord Poseidon came to visit our reef. Khumo's mum and I welcomed him because at the time, we were the two ladies who welcomed guests into the reef. But Lord Poseidon did not come for a regular visit, no no. He had a worried look on his face. He handed Ms. Ivena and I a leaf each. They were wrapped well and was lightly tied with his hair strand. He said he trusted us with these gifts, and that we must take good care of them. He gave us one rule, and one rule only: 'Don't let them go beyond the barrier reef. She will destroy them.' Lord Poseidon quickly swam away, leaving us very confused as you might imagine. Why did we have to take care of a leaf? And why could it never go past the reef? Ms. Ivena and I sat on this very rock and unwrapped the gifts that were given to us. To our surprise, we saw a beautiful boy in each leaf. Lord Poseidon gave us his little fish to take care of, to love and protect. We didn’t understand it, but kept Lord Poseidon’s secret regardless. And you beautiful babies have been with us since." Khumo and I slowly and dramatically looked at each other, mouths agape and all. Khumo looked at his mom and asked: "Wait a minute. Are you telling us we are Lord Poseidon's children?" She nodded slowly. We looked at each other, still dramatically. “Dude, what the what!” I screamed. “Dude, I know,” Khumo replied. But I still had one more question: “Mum, if Lord Poseidon is our dad, and he gave us to you…then…who is our real mommy?” She turned away, tears filling her eyes and my heart broke seeing that because I never meant to hurt her. Khumo’s mom said to us: “The Ocean boys. The Ocean is your mother.” Shock and awe is what we felt. Shock and awe. Today’s events all started to make sense: the dark gloomy cloud, how angry the ocean was, the island, the angry sky and lastly the angry lady. It was the ocean. Was she the one chasing us? Was she the faces that were crying in the water? I had so many questions, but Khumo and I knew that those were answers we could only get from our dad.

From that day onward, Khumo and I stayed within the reef and raced all day like normal. The only difference was that we now knew that we were brothers. Maybe one day, we will be big enough to see our father Poseidon, and strong enough to swim with our mother. And that, my friends, is why we "Never go past the barrier reef,” and why we always listen to mummy. Thank you for visiting our world and listening to our tails Winking face outline outline

Till we meet again, the End.

Written by Karabelo Mosiea (Ms. Luna)

Edited by Karabelo Mosiea (Ms. Luna)

Illustrated by Canva and Copilot

No Artificial Intelligence was used to craft or assist in creating any part of the story other than the illustrations

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About the Competition

The Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026 by Hashtag Kalakar celebrates the rich tapestry of human expression through written word. This prestigious event attracts a diverse array of participants from around the globe, each contributing their unique voices and stories. The competition is a platform for aspiring writers to showcase their creativity and storytelling prowess, connecting with a broad audience and fostering a global community of literary enthusiasts.

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Ms. Luna Mosiea for sharing the enchanting short story "Welcome To Our World!" with us at the Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026. Her vivid storytelling and imaginative world-building transport readers to a place where magic and friendship reign supreme. Thank you, Ms. Mosiea, for inviting us into this vibrant world and allowing us to experience the adventures of Zeze and Khumo. We look forward to seeing more of your creative work in the future.

About Hashtag Kalakar

Hashtag Kalakar is a creative platform dedicated to providing artists, writers, singers and other creative talents with opportunities to showcase their work and reach wider audiences through competitions, features and creative initiatives.