This is the story of a boy named Andrew Manson who has dreams of finding the legendary Ogre Shrine. This is not a crossover story for clarification so do not treat it as one please. More chapters may come later.
My name is Andrew Manson. I am fifteen years old and I come from a place called Berk. I live in a world where humans and dragons coexist. A world where everyone wants to become the best dragon rider that there ever was. Everyone, accept for me. See the thing is, while other kids may spend their days dreaming about what kind of dragon they are going to train, I spend my time dreaming about finding the legendary Ogre Shrine. A Shrine that was created thousands of years ago by the mighty ogre named Shrek. I have spent my days wandering around searching for it, but have never made any progress. Many kids make fun of me, saying that my dreams are stupid. I just try to ignore them, it is what Shrek would tell me to do. I just know he would!
One night, while I am trying to fall asleep in my bed, I just couldn't stop thinking about Shrek. It was almost as if he was calling to me. As if he was telling my to search for him. I knew that I could no longer resist. I stood up and put on my clothes as quickly as I could. There was a slight breeze outside. A storm was on its way. It wouldn't stop me from searching for the Ogre Shrine. I knew that Shrek would guide me to it. I quietly opened my door after grabbing my map. I was trying not to wake my parents, they thought that my dream was stupid as well. They never directly said it to me, but I knew that they wanted me to be a dragon rider and trainer because that was what they are. The best of the best in fact. I wouldn't let their legacy stop me from doing what I want to do.
"Where are you going?" Someone whispered from behind me. I turned around to see my brother sitting there, eating an onion. His name was I searched around in my head for some sort of excuse to be awake. It was very late in the night, so I knew that if I could not think of something I would be busted.
"I need to go to the bathroom." I lied trying to hide the map behind me. I was not doing a very good job at it. I gulped as he stared at me with a suspicious look in his eyes, "Is there something that you want?" I asked trying to change the subject.
He inspected me from top to bottom, "If you are just going to the bathroom then why did you put your clothes on?" He asked. Sweat started to pour down my forehead. I didn't know what to do. I closed my eyes and prayed for Shrek to guide me on what to do next. Nothing happened so I opened them to see my brother still staring at me. He slowly took a bite of the onion, not saying a word as he waited for me to respond.
My head was spinning yet I did not know why. Me and my brother were very close. He never made fun of me, unlike the other kids in my village. In fact, he seemed very supportive of my ambitions, "Well it is kind of cold tonight and I…" There was nothing that I could think that would sound reasonable.
He let out a soft chuckle, "I don't really care what you are doing, just make sure you are back before our parents wake up." He stood up and walked towards his room. As he opened the door, he winked at me before opening and closing it behind him. I let out a sigh of relief and brought the map back in front of me. It was folded up and wrinkly. I opened it up and inspected it thoroughly. There were lots of places that I already had explored in Berk. It was relatively small so there were not many places that I could have looked. Despite this, I knew that Shrek was somewhere on this island. I knew that when I found his Shrine he would be there to greet me and congratulate me.
"I got this." I told myself before setting out the door in the cold and dark night. Clouds covered the sky blocking any sort of light from getting through. The only thing lighting the village around me were the torches of the other residences. Us Berkers always made sure to keep the village illuminated at night. Just in case someone was late coming back with their dragon. I actually did not have a dragon as I was not old enough for one, at least that was what my parents told me. Everyone else was asleep so I knew that I was in the clear to get moving. As I walked past each building towards the ever nearing forest, tension began to build up inside of me. I never had entered the forest at night, my parents told me not to. Perhaps that was the reason that I never found Shrek. What if they were trying to hide him from me? I tried not to think about it and entered the dark forest.
A strong gust of wind nearly knocked me off my feet. I shivered as I was not exactly wearing the appropriate clothing for such a journey. I looked at my map once more and decided what place I would check out first. Since it was nighttime, I didn't know where the Ogre Shrine would appear, or if it would appear at all. I decided to check out the dragon's den. A cave just bordering the edge of the forest. Having decided on where I was going I started my journey into the unknown. The sounds of mysterious forest creatures echoed throughout the night. The wind that once was calm and tranquil had already started to become more fierce. It had actually picked up faster than I had initially suspected. Something was off about it in fact. Sucking up my worries and fears I continued to wander in search of the cave. I kept telling myself that I would be fine as long as I followed my map.
"Hey!" A voice yelled from behind me. It instantly caused me to freeze in my tracks. For a moment I just stood there, not saying a word or looking around me. I listened for a little while longer before figuring that what I heard was nothing more than the wind and my brain playing tricks on me. It took me a while to finally reach the cave. It was still lit from the torches that the older kids left. They would often come here to do whatever they do in their free time. In all honesty, I did not really care. All that mattered to me was proving that once and for that Shrek was real. I walked into the cave and listened for any sort of sound that I could. As I walked deeper into the cave I began to hear the sound of water dropping onto the damp floor. The cave was fairly deep and split off into several more systems.
"Hello?" I called out seeing if there would be a response. There was nothing. The only life form in this cave was me. At least that I what I had gotten from that response. My map was no longer useful to me so I put it into my pocket. I eventually reached the three diverging pathways that lead to a far deeper cave. At this point I had decided that Shrek would not make the search so difficult. Believing this, I started to turn around and begin my exit. That is, until I was caught by the smell of something. Something that was so familiar to me. Something that I could not put my finger on just yet. I turned around once more and followed the scent. I headed down the middle route cautiously. I tried to be aware of my surroundings and note where I was going. That scent was something that I just could not remember. I thought long and hard about before it hit me. Onions…
In my time of thinking I stepped onto something. It was smushed underneath my foot. I lifted my shoe to see the remains of the very thing I had just smelt. My mouth dropped as I looked around me, onions were covering the floor with their many layers. Some of them were shredded up while others were still in their original form. Someone must have been here early, I presumed. But there were just so many onions that I could not believe my eyes. How could one man consume so many of them? I grabbed one of the torches of the fall as I carefully stepped over each and every onion. I had read somewhere that stepping on an onion was bad luck. The cave became darker as people never seemed to have gone any deeper than where I was. In fact, I found myself at a dead end. Nothing was there accept a blank wall, onions piled up against it. Were they leading me somewhere?
"Hello?" I asked once more. These onions were to fresh to be from early in the day. Someone had to have been here recently. From what I knew, no one had actually visited the cave that day. My parents always told me stories of these homeless people who lived out in the woods. Apparently they only came out at night and wandered the forest looking for anyone who dared entered their lands. That was a long time ago, however, no longer did I believe them.
"Andrew." The voice sent chills down my spine when it said that. I knew now that it wasn't my imagination. There was someone else in this cave with me. I turned around to see if someone, or something, was behind me. I saw nothing, which terrified me even more.
"Who's there?" I cried trying to keep myself from running out of the cave. I glanced around every angle, trying to figure out the source of the voice. I became more and more terrified as my entire world started to fall apart.
"Do not fear, my child. For we are finally together once more." It whispered into my ear. It's heavenly tone soothed me. There was something so father-like about it, as if it was someone who would never harm me.
"Shrek?" I whispered back, "Is that you." It had to be him. After all of these years of being made fun of and told that I was a loser, had I really found him?
"Yes my child. It is I." The voice responded. My spirits were instantly lifted. Wherever this voice was coming from, I knew that it had to be him. Nothing but joy was coursing through me. After all of this time I was about to meet my hero. The Ogre that I had prayed to every single night for safety. The Ogre that I knew was guiding me through all of my struggles and keeping me from being down.
"Shrek where are you?" I asked spinning around in every single direction. There was still nothing but onions surrounding me, "Shrek I can't see you!' I shouted in glee. It had to be him, it just had to.
"I am here." He responded. I stopped and faced the direction in which the voice came from. It was the wall that had previously stopped me from discovery the truth. It began to vibrate as the ground below me began to rumble. My eyes went wide as the wall turned into a stone door, which opened up for me without any action. I stepped into a vast chamber, the smell of onions was strong.
"Welcome." I heard all around me. My eyes froze on a certain spot in the room. There was a chair built from stone, with a large green figure sitting on it. It was facing away from me so I could not make out any sort of details. The figure stood up and turned to face me. Tears came to my eyes when I saw him. Standing in front of me was a large green ogre with brown eyes. He wore a white long sleeved tunic within a brown turtle designed mini vest. He was very large and mighty.
"Shrek…" I muttered under my breath. I couldn't believe it, it was really him. Question started to flood my mind. Questions that I wanted to ask him and questions I wanted him to ask me. For fifteen years I had believed in him and now I was staring right at him. He bared the warmest of smiles. It touched my soul seeing him smile like that at me.
"It has been a long time my child." He told me as he walked towards me. I didn't know what I was supposed to say. I was facing my hero and wanted to make him know how devoted I had been to him. He kneeled down in front of me and placed his mighty hand gently onto my shoulder, "I am proud of you my son." He said looking right into my watery eyes.
My jaw dropped as far down as it could, "I-I'm y-your s-son?" I asked trying to keep myself from falling down onto the floor in a faint. He let out a soft chuckle before standing back up. He walked over to an onion that laid on the floor motionless.
As he picked it up he said, "Everyone who believes in me, is my child." Shrek stated as he took a bite out of the onion, "I am glad you finally found me after all of the time, did you notice the clues that were laid out for you?" He asked bringing my attention to the onion. My mind instantly began to search through all of the times that I had seen an onion. Could it be, that he was truly with me all along. Something strange entered my mind. Everywhere there was an onion, my brother was always there to. Could it be that, my brother had found Shrek long ago? He was five years older than me and he always seemed to be happy. Even in our darkest of moments he always managed to find a way to make me happy once again. Shrek seemed to understand what I was thinking about in the moment. He took the onion and placed it into a pile of more onions. Suddenly, the onions grew into the shape of a young man. A burst of light shot out from them. I could not believe what I saw next. There, where the onions once stood, was my brother baring the same smile that Shrek did.
"About time." He said jokingly at me. My entire head was spinning at this point. I no longer knew what to think, perhaps I was dreaming? No. Shrek would never do this to me in my dreams. Make me so happy only to wake up and face the cold lonely world once more.
"How did you-"
"I always was trying to tell you about the onions." He said with a slight laugh. He picked up an onion off the ground and took a large bite out of it. Something odd followed after. He started to change from a human to something else. I could not quite out make what he was transforming into until he finally stopped shape-shifting. When I saw what he had become all of my dreams became fulfilled. Where my brother once stood was a large donkey.
"The Legendary Donkey!" I shouted in pure glee. Shrek and Donkey smiled at me as I walked up the legend himself, "This is amazing!" I yelled into the ceiling. My voice echoed throughout the cave and caused the three of us to share a moment of laughter.
"Let us go for a ride my child." Shrek said as he swung his hand into the air. Our surroundings changed and we were all transported onto a large mountain. There was nothing but the ocean for miles around us. I knew that we were no longer on berk.
"Woah…" I gasped as I took in my surroundings. Shrek and Donkey looked at each other with the most joyous of smiles. They seemed to be so proud of me. I didn't fully understand why. I wasn't very special in any way whatsoever. All I did was devote my life to finding Shrek and making sure that no one forgot his name.
"Ready to get flying?" Donkey asked me as I sat down and breathed in the fresh air. There were no longer storm clouds, instead the sky was as clear as it could be. The moon shone brightly in the sky, brighter than I had ever seen it before.
"Flying? On a dragon?" I asked starting to become confused once more. I saw dragons around us, not in the sky or on any sort of land.
"Indeed." Shrek said offering me a hand to help me. I grabbed and he gently closed his fist around me. He pulled me onto my feet and pointed at Donkey. I didn't understand what he wanted me to look at. Donkey began to spin around as wings sprouted from his sides. My eyes went as wide as they could as I realized what he was becoming. Everything that I had ever wanted in life was coming true. All of my hopes and dreams were being fulfilled in one single night.
"Donkor…" I gasped as I watched Donkey fully transform into the mythical flying creature. His magnificent wings stretched far into the sky
"You really know your stuff." Donkey said as he admired the newly sprouted wings on his sides. The biggest smile came across my face as Shrek indicated for me to get on him. Without any question I hopped onto the back of the mythical dragon. I felt his energy transfer into me as I got myself positioned. Shrek climbed onto Donkey and sat behind me. He placed his mighty hands onto my shoulders and readied himself. Within a second we shot up into the air, the air blowing against my face. I held onto Donkey tightly as we soared through the night sky.
"How are you feeling?" Shrek yelled trying to talk over the wind. His thunderous voice echoing throughout the air. It had to have been heard for miles around us.
"This is amazing!" I declared as I held my hands into the air. I never would have thought that dragon riding could be so much fun. Maybe I was wrong to think that it would be so bad. What if my parents knew about Shrek all along just like my brother did? Whatever they thought didn't matter in the moment though. I just felt the wind hitting my face with Shrek keeping me from falling down to the ocean. It was the most joyous of feelings flying on a dragon. Especially considering it was the most mythical dragon of them all. We were so high in the sky that I could barely see the sea down below us. Donkey looked up at me for a moment and then grinned. He suddenly turned to face downwards and we started to descend at a rapid speed. It felt like my face was about to rip off at any moment. Just before we hit the water he stopped going down and faced forward. The sight that I was seeing was more beautiful than anything I had seen before. Mountains towered around us with dragons flying around them.
Out of everything that I had seen that night, nothing was more breathtaking than this. It was in that moment that I realized, there was much more to this world than I had thought. I knew that Shrek had took me on this flight for a reason. Tears came to my eyes from the sheer beauty of everything that was around me. I never would have thought that my life long dreams would be fulfilled within the span of one single night. No matter what happened in my future, I would never forget this moment. We eventually reached a small island after a few more minutes of flying. Donkey gently touched down onto the dry land and Shrek and I hopped off of him.
"Wow…" I said after we took a moment to catch our breath. Shrek and Donkey both looked pleased with themselves, and proud of me. I still don't know what I did to deserve any of this, but I knew that Shrek would never want me to be let down. I am sure that he has no problem in making me happy.
"How was that?" Shrek asked stretching his mighty ogre arms into the air. I took a moment to stare at his massive size. Even though he was one of the biggest creatures that I had ever seen, he still brought comfort to me. There was something about that just made me unable to have any fears.
"It was awesome." I said happily. Shrek smiled once more upon hearing that. I never would have thought that I would somehow have an influence on him. Donkey was happy hearing me say that to.
"I am glad you enjoyed it, but we better get you home before it is too early in the morning." Shrek claimed waving his hand in the air once more. We were brought back into the cave once more where the onions laid aplenty. I didn't ask any question as we walked out of the cave and eventually back outside. It was quite stormy so we hurried back to the village where everyone rested. A part of me didn't want to sleep so soon, after all I did just meet my idol.
After a couple seconds of wandering through the village we finally reached my house, "Do I really you have to go so soon?" I asked not wanting Shrek to leave me alone again.
Shrek gave off a slight chuckle and patted me on the shoulder, "I am always with you my child. Through all of your hardships and all of your troubles, just remember I will always be there beside you." He said as he lifted his hand off of me.
"But, I don't know if I can go on without you… I am nothing without you!" I cried into his shoulder. I didn't want him to go. I didn't want to return to my life of being made fun of and being looked down upon. Even if his presence would always guide me, I didn't want to face the darkness alone.
Shrek gently pushed me off of him and held both of my shoulders firmly in his hands, "Young one, you aren't nothing without me. You think you are alone in this world, but just remember that everyone has hopes and dreams. Everyone will face the same struggles that you think only you will face. No matter what happens, just remember that there will always be someone there for you. There are people in this world that will help you along the way, not just me. There are people who love you and you just don't know it yet, or refuse to believe it. It isn't about me, it is about you."
His words brought tears to my eyes. I said nothing more and walked with him into my house. The door was big enough for him to fit since we often had to bring dragons into our house. He guided me to my room as I wiped away tears from my face. He quietly opened my door and nudged me inside. I hopped onto my bed and pulled and he pulled my blankets over me, "Will this be the last time I see you?" I asked wanting a definite answer.
Shrek sighed and said, "As long as you believe you will see me again, you will." He said as he kissed my forehead goodnight. He walked towards my door and winked at me before closing it behind him. I stared up at the ceiling wondering what my life will be like now that my dreams had come true. As I started to ponder I realized just how much I had enjoyed dragon riding. Maybe after all this time of rejecting what my parents tried to teach me so many times, I had been making a mistake. I tried not to think about it too much and just fall asleep. I could worry about it tomorrow. There was a knock at my window. I sat up and looked out to see Shrek and Donkey there. They both waved to me as Shrek hopped onto Donkey's back. With one last smile they flew off into the cloudy night sky and disappeared. I smiled back hoping that they would see it. As I heard thunder outside I decided that it would be best for me to get to sleep before my parents find out that I am awake. I thought my last thought before drifting off into slumber, not knowing what would happen tomorrow.