A not so little story
2024 Words
As soon as morning came, I was still convinced that meeting the ogre and the hobgoblin was just a dream. But when I saw my things still knocked over, I was disappointed yet somewhat intrigued. Ogres and hobgoblins are real, it wasn’t a figment of my imagination, it’s been bunked. But that reminds me, I needed to talk to my grandfather, cause he’s got a lot of explaining to do.
So after getting up, I headed downstairs where I noticed that the two broken vases those creatures broke last night were suddenly fixed and placed back on the shelves as if they were never shattered, how did they even do that? Never mind, so they decided to clean up the vases and not my room, nice.
“Morning honey” my mother greeted me with a smile as she set the table with some bacon, oh yeah!
“Hey Jesse, were you downstairs last night?” my dad suddenly asked.
Oh s**t, he must have heard them last night. Quick, think of an excuse.
“Um, what?” I replied.
That will do.
“Last night I heard what sounded like footsteps in the living room, but when I checked it out it was empty.”
Phew! It was a good thing those creatures weren’t there for him to see, that would have gone bad.
“It was probably Kendra” I offered, knowing that would convince him “You know she sleepwalks sometimes.”
“Yeah, but I don’t remember dreaming about going downstairs” Kendra put in. “In fact, I don’t remember dreaming at all last night.”
I just shrugged it off while taking a seat next to my grandfather, hoping no one would mention it again.
“Hey grandpa” I whispered to him, hoping no one was paying attention “Can I talk to you after breakfast?”
“Certainly” he replied as he took a sip of his coffee “And I bet I know what it’s about.”
Oh, I hope you do. So as soon as we were done eating, we headed upstairs to my room and shut the door.
“Does this have to do with the ring you found?” my grandfather smirked.
“So you do know about it” I gasped as I pulled out the ring from my nightstand “This ring, you found this ring when you were about my age right?”
“Actually I was about 19 when I found it” he corrected “But I do remember that day, I was cleaning my room and I found it in the wall behind my bed.”
“Just like in the story” I put in when my eyes widen with a thought that nearly blew my mind “Wait, the character Lawrence, your middle name is Lawrence.”
Whoa, wait a minute, could it be true?
“You wrote the book based on your experiences, didn’t you? That hobgoblin told me that you were their hero back then.”
“Hobgoblin eh?” he raised an eyebrow “You met Lindel and Oswind last night?”
“You know them?”
“They were young when I first met them, in fact, it was Lindel’s grandfather who introduced me to Fantastopia. I even remember the day I first met him, it was the same day I found the ring, and I kicked him in his crotch.”
“Wow” I chuckled “I just fainted.”
“So that was the thump I heard last night” he concluded, “I just thought another ogre fell on a banana peel like last time.”
Wait he was awake this whole time? And he didn’t even bother to help me? Wow, thanks, gramps.
“So uh, this whole chosen hero thing-” I continued “You were really the hero of Fantastopia?”
“Indeed I was” he breathed in a smile while taking a seat on my bed “It was hard work but, I enjoyed it. It’s also where I got all of my scars, like this one.”
He pulled up his shirt sleeve to reveal a deep scar on his right shoulder.
“What really?!” I gasped astonished “You told me you got that when you were young and you fell off your motorcycle.”
“Nope” he replied while putting his sleeve down “It actually came from a sword.”
I cringed, I couldn’t stand the sound of skin being sliced, it makes my skin crawl.
“It was actually my final battle,” he added, “I was fighting this bad guy on the roof of a castle, I was so exhausted and in a lot of pain, he tried to stab me but I moved out of the way and he ended up slicing my shoulder.”
Okay then, I really didn’t wanna talk about skin slicing anymore as I changed the subject to something I really wanted to know.
“But uh, now there’s something I really need to know- did you really fall in love with the elven princess Luna?”
At that point, he gave a sigh “I did.”
Whoa.
“But things happen.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“First of all, because I had a life in the real world and she had hers in Fantastopia, we couldn’t be together. We were from different worlds, and we couldn’t abandon them. I had a family and she had a family, and family always comes first. And second of all, a couple of months after my final battle, she passed away.”
Oh no.
“Pneumonia,” he continued with a sad look “You know I didn’t think there’d be anything wrong with her because she was such a fit girl, but it was true. Doctors did everything they could but, back then they didn’t have the proper treatment for viruses like that.”
Oh damn, I can see the sadness in his eyes. That must suck, losing someone he was in love with. But that got me thinking, what about his wife?
“Does grandma know about this?” I asked.
“She does actually” he nodded, “You know that she and I have been friends for a very long time, and she did know about my sacred responsibility. I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone, but she kinda found out. It was all good though, she helped out a lot. And after Luna’s death, she helped me move on with my life, she even helped me write my books about Fantastopia. And the next thing I knew, we got married and we had your mother.”
“Wow” I breathed amusedly, “So does my parents know about this too?”
“They don’t. I promised that even after my retirement I still wouldn’t tell anyone about this, not even my own family. That is, except you. I knew this day would come, although I thought it would have come earlier like when you were 19 like I did but, I guess now’s the time.”
“The time for what?”
“For you to be their next hero.”
My stomach flopped.
“Seriously?” I gasped, “But- what if I don’t want to? You know I’m not a fighting type of guy.”
“I know, Jesse” he breathed, “This is going to be a big change for you, it was for me too.”
“But-” I began, already feeling my heart pounding with fear “Why me? Why not let Kendra do it? I mean sure she’s rude and all, but if she can kick my a*s, then she can kick anyone’s ass.”
“As much as I agree with you on there, I’m afraid that’s not possible.”
“Why?”
He let out a sigh, “Let me tell you a little story.”
And by that, I know he means a long story. Better get comfortable.
“Since the beginning of Fantastopia, evil has always been around to bring fear and danger to their world and to our world. No matter how hard the civilians fought against this evil, it appeared there was no hope. But they knew something had to be done to get rid of this evil, so they got an idea. They gathered up all of the magic users they could find, from witches, to wizards, to enchantresses, anyone and anything who possessed magic was called down to help. From there, the magic users created a very powerful tool, that very ring right there.”
He pointed to the ring I was holding, the very same ring that these magic users created. I just realized that I’m actually holding onto history right now, cool!
“This ring was created to chose a certain young man to be the hero and hope of all of Fantastopia, someone who can battle against evil and save everyone from it. At first, everyone thought that the ring would choose a man from their world, but instead, it chose a human from our world. At first, they didn’t know why the ring chose a human from our world, but as time passed, they found out that after the end of the first hero, the fantasy genre was born in our world. From the very first book about fantasy, the genre spread out across our world, and soon it turned into other forms of genres.”
“Wait,” my eyes widen, “So you’re saying that all of the fantasy books I’ve read, the Fairy Tales, and other genres came from Fantastopia?”
“Where do you think Fantasy came from?” he smiled.
Holy moly. I couldn’t believe my ears, Fantastopia was the beginning of Fantasy in our world. They were the reason for ‘The Lord of the Rings’, ’Grimm Fairy Tales, and perhaps even ‘The Legend of Zelda’.
That, is, AWESOME!
“Um,” I began while trying to stay calm “Please continue.”
“As I was saying, when the very first human hero was chosen, he was able to battle all sorts of evil. However, as time passed and more heroes were chosen, none of them were able to defeat the very start of evil.”
“What do you mean?”
“Everything has a beginning, so does the evil in Fantastopia. But the thing is, nobody knows much about who started the evil in Fantastopia, all they know is that he or she will do anything to get their hands on that ring. If that ring falls into the hands of evil, it will be the end for everyone, both of Fantastopia and our world.”
Oh jeez. I felt myself gripping onto the ring, hoping I can keep it away from the wrong hands.
“Nobody knows who caused the start of this evil, they don’t know what he or she is, or what they look like. Nobody has ever seen them, and there have been thoughts that this evil could be hiding in plain sight. So be careful who you trust.”
Okay grandpa, you’re starting to scare me right now.
“You look scared,” he remarked.
“Oh no,” I replied, “I’m fine, I’m not scared at all that I might see who this evil being is that could tear my limbs off.”
He gave a slight chuckle, “It’s alright to be scared, you should be actually. But the thing is, of all the heroes who were chosen, they were only able to put a stop to evil temporally. No one knows when evil will strike again, only the ring knows. And as soon as it knows, he finds its new master who is the next firstborn male of the hero’s bloodline, whether it’s a son, a grandson, even a nephew. So that very first human hero who was chosen all those years ago was our ancestor.”
I still couldn’t believe what I was hearing, I just found out that I come from a long line of heroes, and yet I thought my family was normal.
“Since you’re the first male born next of my bloodline,” he continued, “That means the ring chose you, and that also means this evil is back, and you’re gonna have to prepare for it.”
My heart sank. Me, fighting evil? No way, there is no way I’m doing that.
“I know how frightened you are” he added with a sigh, “I can’t say much more, but if you wanna know more about this, I suggest you talk to Lindel and Oswind. In order to get to the land of Fantastopia, all you have to do is rub the gem on the ring 3 times and it’ll take you there. Go ahead and explore the place too, I’m sure you’ll like it.”
He got up and headed towards the door before turning back to me.
“And don’t worry, your parents won’t even know you were gone.”
As he stepped out of my room and closed the door, I turned back to the ring. So, I just found out that my grandfather is more badass than I thought, and Fantastopia is a real place, and now I gotta keep it all a secret. I’m not used to keeping secrets, but seeing how serious he was, I gotta give it all I got to keep it in.
- Writer
