Thought I would try and start a new story. 2 shot-possible 3. FYI, the italics is when a character within the story book says something.
"Mummy mummy mummy! Tell me another story please!"
The older woman pursed her lips, looking sternly at her daughter who was refusing to go to sleep.
"Fine.." She relented, "what story then?"
"Tell me the story about Finn the Hero" She asked innocently, her wide blue eyes staring up at her mother as the rest of her body was tucked under the sheets.
"We just saw the play about it last week!"
"Yeah but I don't wanna wait a year every time I wanna hear the story!"
"You, missy are getting very spoilt!" she joked, tickling the cheek of her daughter.
"Story!" She giggled through the bombardment of tickling.
"Fine but you can't be tired and grumpy in the morning!"
Going over to the bookcase, she picked up the specially preserved piece of literature. Even though is was well preserved, it still had a lot of signs of wear and tear. Opening it to the first page revealed a large drawing of a blonde hero wielding a glowing dagger and a strange gauntlet. Accompanying the large drawing, on the other page was more abstract drawings of his loyal friends. One of these characters was a plethora of yellow lines that seemed to link to a mass with eyes and a mouth. Easily recognisable as Finn's trusted companion and best friend, Jake.
A pink woman clad in high tech gadgets was standing next to a pale teen with jet black hair and a huge axe. In the centre was a mass of flames, with a seeming form in the middle of the licking embers, usually referred to in the play version as Phoebe. There was another female on this page, but only half of her was drawn as the drawing was clipped by the edge of the page. Warm light seemed to radiate from the half of the women shown.
The play usually glossed over most of the romantic parts of the story, never really confirming if any of them were a love interest or just close friends of the hero. The play was aimed for kids after all. Usually stories have one princess that is saved from a dragon, not a large group of princess all unique.
The mother looked up to see her daughter intently looking at the drawings. "You look a lot like her" she pointed out, her finger glancing over the group of girls on the right side of the page. Smiling at her daughter, she quickly flicked to the back of the book where the drawing was continued. The other half of the girl appeared, but this time instead of radiating light, a thick wave of darkness leaked over the page and caught in it's tendrils was a bearded man in a long blue cloak. And on the far right hand side of the page, a tall and imposing figure with a broken horn and horrific green eyes.
Turning back to the start she found herself staring at the first few lines. This book certainly wasn't a history book. The language had been dumbed down for all ages and the pages were bright and colourful so that the children of the village would be entertained while reading it. It was their heritage after all, they needed to know it.
The mother cleared her throat and began.
"Finn the human was a brave and friendly boy. Always trying his hardest to help everyone he could. He was the last of his kind though and he would have been lonely unless he had brilliant friends who would-"
And so the story began and the daughter sat there, captivated by the exploits and adventures of two best friends, surrounded by wacky and thrilling characters who practically leapt of the page. To make sure that her daughter didn't go to bed too late, the mother started to gloss through the first act of the story.
"Climbed a mountain to get the Enchiridion! A book all about hereos!"
"Defeating the Lich in his very own tower by socking him in the jaw with a rad round-house kick!"
"Helped the princess whenever he could, Always there to save them from the evil Ice King!"
"Saved Phoebe from her Dad, the Evil God of Fire!"
"Beat Death himself in a guitar shredding contest to save a plant's soul!"
She smiled to herself, knowing on good authority that some of these stories were pretty tall. The book had been written by an author of the name Shelby who had lived with Finn and Jake, always hearing their stories first hand. Maybe he spruced them up a little to sell more copies or maybe he truly believed that the hero was capable of these things.
"And so, with a hero who had learnt so much and come so far, he went on a great journey and left the land of OOO. He sailed for many days, and walked for many nights until her finally arrived in a new village, where he met Cassandra, who was the fairest of the land. She was running from her father who wanted to use her powers for world domination!"
"What does that mean? World domination?" The girl asked curiously, her hands clutched around the sheets in excitement.
"To control everything and everyone!"
"Like the council we have? Your always complaining about it!"
The mother laughed at how observant her daughter was "It's hard work dealing with them, but no. Our council is fair!" Focusing back on the page however. "Cassandra was born with a power that reflected her true self. When she was good, her powers made plants grow around her and people smiled wider as the sun shone brighter. When she was bad, people felt sour and angry!"
"When she met our hero, he knew he had to help for Finn was just as kind as her."
"I will help her get back to OOO, she will be safe there", said Finn" The mom did her best impression of the golden haired hero with the bear cap."
"That's a great idea!" Said Cassandra" The mother continued. "And so he helped sneak her out of continent and back to OOO, where she stayed with a colourful couple of pig and elephant. And when Cassandra felt really safe, she thanked the hero and said 'Now my father will never get his hands on my powers!' The next page was illustrated with green flames licking around the sides of the page, symbolising the appearance of a horrific being.
"However, the big mean Lich was nearby, listening in and thought to himself" The mother put on a deep voice to imitate the bad guy. She knew the book trivialised how evil this being truly was, but it made for an exciting story "She's so powerful and I'm so evil! Together we could rule the world!"
"So the Lich was just like her father?"
"Pretty much! Just a big meanie!"
"Is he around now?" the young girl asked nervously.
"Oh no, he's long gone!" She hoped. No one could confirm what happened to the being of pure malice, but the scientists of the village couldn't find any sign or trace of him.
"And so he started to whisper in her ear when she slept. Little voices, telling her to do bad things, help bad people, be bad. And poor Cassandra started to doubt herself. "Whatever shall I do" said Cassandra, fearing that she might become bad" The mother continued, trying to pick up the pace so her daughter would finally go to sleep. It was tiring changing voices so often.
"So she turned to the hero who had first saved her, and presented him with two gifts!"
"Here with this gauntlet you will be protected from me"
"And with this dagger, you can save me" The daughter joined in, reciting it by heart, knowing it well as the famous line from the play. The dagger was enchanted and could free her if she ever fell under the evil curse."
"When Finn was presented with these, he understood the gravity of the situation. And he made a promise. A promise to save her if she ever turned evil!"
"Unfortunately, Cassandra started to like Finn. More than like...maybe even like liked the bear capped hero. She soon fell head over heels. He was so kind and so helpful, she just wanted him around all the time. She started making little excuses to keep him over at the house of the colourful couple."
"One day when the hero was invited over, the hero expressed how sorry he was, but he was busy! The voices in Cassandra's ear warned her about this. How he would leave her. She followed him, and was horribly shocked when she saw him talking to another princess. Hugging her. Holding her hand. Cassandra was furious. The voice was right! She should never trust anyone ever again! She should Destroy Everyone!"
"And so Cassandra let the voice take control." The mother read quietly, quickly peeking up at her daughter.
Then she put on a serious and dramatic voice. "Soon, waves as tall as the sky crashed down on the land. Flooding the kingdoms, even the kingdom of fire. Bolts of red lightning crashed to the earth from thick black clouds. Mountains crumbled into landslides and wiped towns away and the people of OOO were so frightened that they all huddled together. 'We need a plan' They said."
"'I can save us', said Finn, weilding his dagger and gauntlet. And soon he was backed by his best friends, his friends, his family and everyone he ever saved or inspired. An army rose to fight Cassandra's evil army and they clashed! There were many battles, in many locations and the best friends were split up, spread all over OOO. In fact they were too far away when finally Finn found Cassandra."
"The best friends rushed to the remains of the grassland hills and saw as Finn stood in front of Cassandra. But they were too far away to help. Finn raised his mighty guantlet to adsorb the evil energy and it worked, as bolt after bolt was fired at him, he stood true. Untill the Ice King-
"Boo!" Kids were encouraged to boo when his name was mentioned in the play, branded as the traitor.
"The Ice king loved pretty girls and Cassandra was just that. He knew the gauntlet would only stop Cassandra's spells, but not his. So a devious thought came into his evil mind! 'I must save the princess' He yelled, raising his hands"
"A shard of ice hits the hero's gauntlet and breaks it, the ward shattering, leaving Finn defenceless. He knows what must be done and that he must act now. Rushing at Cassandra with the magic dagger raised, he fulfilled his promise, casting a magic spell with the dagger and freeing her from the curse. "
"All the best friends could see was a giant dust cloud, caused by an even more giant explosion from the magic spell. When it finally cleared, Cassandra was free of her curse. The Ice king was defeated and the great hero...well he just rode off into the sunset! The End" The mother, weary from the read closed the book and gave a small smile to her daughter, her lip trembling a little.
"So what happens after!" the small girl asked after yawning, finally tiring.
While a lot of the newer generations consider some of the elements of the story to be falsified for entertainment, people who lived through the catastrophe can vouch for how serious the situation was. The survivors knew how everyone finally pulled together. The mother knew this first hand.
"The people of OOO all grouped together and made one town. Fiery people live in rock houses, water people live in the fountains. Everyone else lives in regular houses and they all lived in peace!" As she explained, the mother started to tuck the child into bed, turning off the light before heading downstairs.
She always felt overwhelmed with sadness when hearing that story. For she stood on the other side of the canyon, watching as the bear capped hero climbed the hill and challenged the Corrupted Princess.
Reaching under a desk to find a hidden draw, the mother pulled out a box and opened it, her flames wavering as she glanced upon a lightly scorched stone. Phoebe started to roll the rock lightly through her fingers, feeling the texture graze against her skin.
The memories came flooding back, the horror she felt when she saw the tall plume of darkness rise from the hill, just after Finn had vanquished her.
The enormous cloud of dust that was thrown up by the ear shattering explosion.
The rags and tattered cloth they found on the hill after the dust had settled.
The feeling of emptiness when she saw the torn bear hat. Tears streaming down her face as all the sounds around her went numb, her vision focused on the catastrophe in front of her.
She put the stone back in the box and careful tucked in into the draw. Sighing quietly too herself, the ex-princess made her way back upstairs. Quickly she peeked into her daughters room to make sure she was sleeping, the book resting on the bed sight table next to her.
The story may have said that everyone lived happily ever after, that the Ice King was defeated and thrown in jail, Cassandra was free from the curse and the Lich was destroyed. But she knew it was changed for the future generations.
According to the book...Finn rode off into the sunset, to explore sunnier climbs...
But she knew the truth.
Finn the human died on that hill. Fulfilling a promise he made to a friend.
So there we go, Chapter 1.