Fantastopia: The New Life (Part 1)

I wished I was dreaming

I didn’t know how long I was blacked out, but as soon as I began to regain consciousness, I could feel myself laying on my bed. And I stood corrected when I opened my eyes to find myself back in bed with my bat next to me. I had no idea how this happened, was I dreaming the whole thing? Was I the one sleepwalking? Whatever the answer was, those creatures seemed to be gone now. And surely this means I can go back to sleep.

But that’s when I felt the throbbing pain in the back of my head, I must have hit my head hard from passing out. Wait a minute- if my head hurts, that must mean I was out of my bed, perhaps I was sleepwalking and someone put me back in bed. Alright then, that answers it, I was sleepwalking while dreaming about seeing creatures and passing out, yeah that’s it.

“Do you need an ice pack?” a large hand handed me an ice pack.

“Oh thanks,” I accepted the offering while placing the cold on my head, feeling the relief flow through my body.

Whoa, hold on a second, large hand?! When I slowly turned my head, there he was, the large creature I hoped was just a dream, standing there near my bed, all real.

“Hello” he waved in his deep voice as he smiled to show me his gnarly yellow teeth.

“AAHHH!!!”

Oh so now my scream comes out?!

“Who are you and what do you want?!” I screamed while aiming my bat at him, even though I knew that it would most likely do nothing to him considering how tough he looked.

“Don’t worry we mean you no harm,” the little creature suddenly appeared at the foot of my bed as I shrieked again and turned my bat to him.

My heart was racing like crazy now and my body was shaking in fear, this wasn’t a dream, I know I’m awake. I must be losing my mind and seeing things.

“He looks scared,” the big one told the other.

Oh, you think big guy?! I’m aiming a bat at the both of you and shaking like I’m having a panic attack, which I am by the way.

“It’s okay, Jesse,” the little one said to me with his hands up.

“How do you know my name?” I demanded as my arms began to shake from holding the bat.

“Where do I begin?” the creature tapped his chin. “Let me start by introducing myself, I’m Lindel, and I’m a hobgoblin.”

“A hobbit?”

“No, a hobgoblin,” he groaned, “Do I look like a hobbit to you?”

Wait, does he even know what a hobbit looks like?

“Um, no” I replied timidly.

“Exactly.”

Okay, this is getting more weirder by the second.

“So I’m Lindel” he introduced himself again before pointing to the big guy “And this is Oswind, he’s an ogre.”

“Hi,” the ogre waved and smiled at me.

An ogre? Do they really look like that? I thought they would look more... Shrek-like. He wasn’t even green, he was tan with rough skin.

“Okay, it’s nice to meet you both,” I replied with a fake smile. “Now get out of my house.”

I was worried that all of this noise would wake up my family and they would come upstairs to investigate, and if they saw these two, my parents would most likely call the cops, Kendra would probably beat their asses, my grandmother would have a heart attack, and my grandfather would probably just stand there and admire the scene.

“Hold on, Jesse,” Lindel spoke. “We must speak with you. And could you please put down the bat? I promise we won’t eat you.”

I had forgotten about that. So I gently set the bat down to my side while I kept a firm hold of it, waiting to hear what this hobgoblin had to say, and hoping he’ll stay true to his word.

“Is this gonna take long?” I asked, “Cause I really need some sleep so I can pretend this is a dream.”

“Do what you want,” he granted. “Just hear us out. We’re here tonight because you found something very sacred to us and to our land.”

At that point, I had a feeling I knew what they meant.

“Are you talking about this ring?” I questioned as I reached over to my nightstand and pulled the ring out from the drawer.

“Oh good, you still have it!” Lindel breathed a sigh of relief.

“What kind of ring is it? Is it like, magic or something?”

“Something like that, that ring used to be worn by your grandfather Richard.”

“You know my grandfather?” I replied more surprised than before.

“Oh everyone in our land knows him, he was our hero. When he was about your age, actually I think he was younger, but he found that very ring that you now possess, and because of it, he became our chosen hero.”

“I’m sorry did you say chosen hero?” I remarked. “Because if you’re going to say that I’m now the new chosen hero, first of all, that’s really cliche, and second of all, I’m not really interested.”

“Not interested?” Oswind responded dismayed.

“Wait, it’s true?” I gasped.

Oh crap! I didn’t actually think they were here to tell me I was the next chosen hero. But the look on their faces proved me wrong.

“It is,” Lindel nodded, “The ring can only be passed down through the next first-born male of the bloodline. And since that’s you... well, you get the idea.”

“Whoa, hold on” I held my hands up. “Look, I’m flattered but, I’m not really a fighting type of guy. I haven’t been in a psychical fight since I was 10, and my sister’s really mean, I still have her bite mark on my ankle.”

It’s true, it’s barely noticeable now, but it’s still there. My sister could be a real savage sometimes.

“Jesse, please listen,” Lindel continued to speak. “We’re not here to take you to our land right now and fight evil. We’re just here to say that the next time evil does happen, we will need your help.”

I sighed. “I’d love to help, but once again, I’m not a fighting type of guy. I mean yeah I may look like it, I got the body, the brain, the looks. But fighting is just not for me, I’m sorry.”

I saw the disappointment in their eyes. I didn’t mean to upset them, but I had to tell them the truth.

“Do you want the ring back?” I asked while handing the ring to Lindel.

“No, keep it,” he responded. “You may need it. And if I were you, I’d talk to your grandfather tomorrow, make sure you two are alone. He’ll tell you everything. Come on Oswind.”

I watched as the hobgoblin got off my bed and up to the ogre.

“How did you guys even get in here anyway?” I asked, “You didn’t like break in or anything did you?”

“Of course not,” Lindel assured me. “We’re not fugitives. We used this.”

He pulled out a purple orb the size of a golf ball, it kinda looked like those Orbeez things, but not in a squishy kind of way.

“All we gotta do is throw it on the ground and it takes you to wherever you need to go,” he explained. “As for you, all you gotta do is rub your ring 3 times and you’ll be taken to our world, you should try it.”

“Thanks, but I won’t,” I returned with a fake smile.

He gave a snicker, “We’ll see about that.”

They threw the orb onto the floor, and just like that, they were gone in a blinding flash. Kinda wished they would’ve cleaned up the things they knocked over though.