Fantastopia: The New Life (Part 1)

Things just got strange

Once we went inside my room, we shut the door as I took a seat on my bed as my grandfather pulled a book off my desk that wasn’t there before. I didn’t pay attention to it as he took a seat next to me.

“So how’s college doing?” he asked me.

“If I told you everything’s fine I’d be lying” I muttered with a side smirk.

“I know how you feel” he agreed with a slight chuckle “College was hard for me too. But look on the bright side, once you graduate, you’ll feel really successful and you get to move on with your life.”

“True” I nodded.

“And not to mention that you don’t get to see Kendra every day.”

“Also true.”

Sweet, finally living on my own without having to see Kendra, I can live with that.

“Now I know how serious you are with your studies, but even though it’s great that you’re working hard, there are times when you have to take a break and just relax.”

“I know that” I assured.

“Excellent” he grinned “Which is why I have something for you.”

He handed me the book he was holding.

“Your mother told me that you’ve never read this book” he reported as I took the book “What a shame, this was one of my favorite books to write.

My grandfather is a retired author, and even though he stopped writing, he was still well-known. I don’t know how many books he’s written, I’ve only read a couple, they were okay, but not my kind of books.

“Fantastopia?” I read the title, it already sounds like one of those geeky cosplay movies such as ‘The Lord of the Rings’.

I have read the books and seen the movies, and I do like them. Kendra may be right about me being a nerd, but I’m not a geek that’s for sure.

“So how come you’ve never read this?” my grandfather asked me.

I shrugged, “I guess I never really had the time.”

“Well now you do, you’ve got the weekend to check it out, you can even take it back to your dorm.”

I examined the cover some more, besides the title, the background was a neat looking forest with a full moon and I think those were fairies that were flying around.

“What is this book even about?” I wondered.

“Let’s just say it involves a warrior elven princess and a brave human boy who goes against evil forces to protect themselves and the land of Fantastopia, a land that has every mythical creature and monster you could think of. It has fairies, mermaids, wizards, even vampires, and werewolves. Do you like fantasy?”

“I don’t know” I shrugged again “It’s okay I guess.”

“Well try reading it, I’m sure you’ll like it. It has action, magic, and perhaps a bit of romance.”

Of course, it does, and I thought romance novels were only for girls.

“It’s also the first novel I’ve ever written,” he added.

“Really?” I remarked a bit surprised.

“Yeah,” he smiled, “I was about your age when I first wrote it, but it wasn’t until years later that I finally got it published. Just try it out, and if you don’t like it, you don’t have to read it.”

I looked back at the book, I do like reading, and maybe he was right about me taking a break.

“I guess I’ll try it out,” I told him.

“Excellent,” he beamed as he patted my thigh. “If you need anything we’ll be downstairs.”

After he left, I glanced back at the book and re-read the title: Fantastopia. Sounds like a cool place, perhaps this book will be a bit like ‘The Lord of the Rings’. So I flipped it opened to the first page and spotted a handwritten note inside on the first page.

To my wonderful grandson Jesse, hope you enjoy this story like I do- Grandpa.

I’ll be the judge of that, Grandpa. Alright Fantastopia, let’s see how you are.

I started reading the first chapter, and as soon as I was finished with the first two chapters, I was already hooked which surprised me. As I continued to read some more, I didn’t wanna put the book down, damn grandpa, I guess you’re a better author than I thought you were, no offense.

So far in the story, I read about the main character named Lawrence, which is weird cause my grandpa’s middle name is Lawrence. He probably couldn’t think of a name to use so he just used his own, was that okay for authors to do that? Oh well, I also read that Lawrence was a college student who is chosen to be the hero of Fantastopia and save it from evil. This story is already sounding cliche, but I was liking it.

I continued to read through the part where Lawrence enters Fantastopia, he meets an elven princess named Luna, who happens to be the princess of all of Fantastopia, and I could already tell that she was going to be his love interest. Throughout the chapter, I learned that most of the inhabitants were elves, and the creatures that I was introduced to so far were hobgoblins, ogres, enchantresses, and even a unicorn.

I gotta say, I really am liking it. I don’t even know how long I’ve been reading it, but I was getting close to the action parts, which is what I’m looking forward to. But before I could get to that, I suddenly spotted something that took my attention away from the book. In the corner near my closet and behind my old backpack which I had placed on the floor, there was a faint blue glow. This was weird, why is there a glow in my room?

After setting the book down, I headed over to my backpack, and without hesitating, I moved it out of the way and found the cause of the glow. There on the floor was a ring with a gem in the center that was glowing blue. How can a ring glow like that? When I picked it up it stopped glowing, I have no idea how this is happening and why it stopped glowing when I touched it. But at least now I can examine it more.

The ring had a silver band with designs on the side and a blue gem in the center, which is neat cause my favorite color is blue. But I still have no idea where this ring came from, cause I know I’ve never seen it in my room before. But since I can’t figure it out at the moment, I decided to try it on as I slid the ring onto my left pointer finger, and just like that, it fits perfectly. It looked so cool, I am so not taking this off.

But questions still filled my mind. Where did this ring come from? Why was it glowing? Why did it stop glowing when I touched it? Is cursed? Is it magic? Why did it fit me so well? Why does it look so cool on me? Why am I bragging in my head?