Chapter 1- Entering Xanth
"STEEEPH!" Mya yelled, running into the classroom. All the students in the room, and the teacher, turned and looked at Mya. She turned bright red and took two steps back.
"Uhh...I need to talk to Steph," she muttered pathetically. Then she turned and walked out of the room. She could hear the students all laughing. Steph waited two seconds, and then followed her out of the room.
"You really gotta learn to think before you do stuff, Mya. That was really embarrassing," Steph said.
"Ha ha…yeah, well, you know me," Mya chuckled. She was really embarrassed, but she did stupid stuff that like all the time.
"So what was so friggin' important you had to come get me out of class for it?" Steph inquired.
Mya got an evil glint in her eye. "You'll NEVER believe what I just got." Steph waited for her to finish the sentence. Mya waited for Steph to guess. Finally, Steph gave in.
"Alright, what did you get?" she asked, rolling her eyes.
Mya didn't say anything. Apparently she wasn't pleased with Steph's lack of guesses.
"Just tell me, butthead," Steph added.
"Well, I don't know if I want to anymore," Mya said, giving Steph a slightly evil glare.
"Oh, you know you want to tell me. So stop being stupid, and just tell me!" Steph was getting annoyed, and a little curious.
Mya laughed. "Yeah, you're right. I do want to tell you. Ok…it's a new computer game called COMPANIONS OF XANTH!" Her face lit up. She stayed quiet now, allowing this to sink in.
"So what…a stupid computer game? That's more of Derek's thing." Then she paused for a moment. "Wait…did you say Xanth?? As in, Xanth?" Her voice was tinged with excitement.
"Yeah!! I did!! Xanth!! I could hardly believe it when I saw it!! It took practically all the money I've saved up this week, but when I saw it, I knew we had to have it."
A dark cloud took over Steph's face. "But…it IS only a game. It's not like it'll solve anything."
"Well, you never know unless you try!" Mya said optimistically. "And I don't know about you, but I want to try right away!"
"Of course I do too," Steph said. Her voice betrayed her skepticism. Mya chose to ignore that.
"Well, let's go to my house right now, and we can play it! I don't want to play here at school. Too many computer geeks."
"Yeah, you're right. Let me just go grab my books from this class and we'll go," Steph agreed.
"Ok," Mya said. "I'm going to go get my coat from my locker. I'll get yours too."
"Ok."
The two met up a few minutes later. Mya gave Steph her jacket, and Steph put it on. Then they walked down the hallway towards the outside doors. As semi-experts in the art of skipping, they knew how to leave with no problems. Soon they were outside.
"Holy shit its cold today," Steph said, touching her hands to her cheeks.
"I know! It's the freaking wind," Mya agreed. Deciding not to talk anymore, lest they waste time, the two trekked it over to the bus stop. Then, of course, they had to wait a good 9 minutes before it showed up. Finally the bus drove up the street, and stopped for them to get in. Shivering, they showed their passes to the driver, and sat down. The first few minutes were spent in silence. Finally Steph spoke up.
"So…what do you think this game means?" she asked Mya.
Mya looked pensive. "I don't really know. I guess we'll have to find out." They both nodded. Nothing else was said. They approached their stop, and Steph pulled the bell to stop the bus. It stopped, and they got off. Crossing the road, they went into Mya's house.
"Just take off your coat and all that, and we'll get started," Mya directed. She and Steph both took off their apparel. Then they both grabbed a chair, and sat down in front of the computer. Mya opened the box, and pulled the disk out. It had nothing on it at all, aside from the words, "INSERT DISK- TYPE A:\XANTH- TOUCH ENTRE. So in the disc went.
"Type it in!!" Steph urged.
"Hold on! I'm getting there," Mya said. She then typed in "A:/XANTH," and pressed entre. Nothing happened.
"What's going on?" Mya said, shocked.
Steph looked at her like she was dumb. "You typed it in wrong."
"Oh." Mya tried again, this time typing it in right. This time when she pressed entre, a little man appeared. The figure looked up and started speaking, its words appearing in speech bubbles in the ordinary cartoon fashion.
"I'm Grundy Golem. I'm from the Land of Xanth, and I speak your language. I'm your temporary companion. If you don't like me you can get rid of me in just a minute. But first listen a bit, okay? Because I'm here to take your hand and lead you through the preliminaries without confusion. Any questions you have, you just ask me. You do that by touching the Q key, or clicking the right side of your mouse. So go ahead- ask."
It appeared Grundy Golem was done his little spiel. "What should we do?" Mya asked Steph.
"Ask it how we can get into the game!" Steph said.
"Ok," Mya agreed. She hit the Q key. She expected to be able to type now, but Grundy started talking again.
"Okay, so you have a question. You have one of those primitive Mundane keyboards, right? So you have two ways to do it. You can type the question so I can see it, or you can touch ENTRE and it will bring up the list of the ten most common asked questions at this stage. Then you can use your arrow keys to highlight the question you want, and touch ENTRE again, or just shortcut by it by typing the number of the question you want. I'll wait while you decide. If you want me to resume without waiting, touch ESCAPE." Grundy stopped talking, and looked down. He appeared to be waiting for the girls' answer.
"Try asking him now," Steph prompted. Mya nodded.
"How can we get into Xanth now?" She typed.
The little character Grundy looked pensive for a moment. "To shortcut directly to the action, touch SHIFT ESCAPE. But I strongly advise against this, because there's more you have to do, like checking in, and you'll be stuck with me as your Companion. Once you know the ropes, you can skip this whole scene, but please don't do it this time."
"Dammit," Mya said.
"What's the problem?" Steph asked. "Just hit SHIFT ESCAPE and we'll get on with it!"
"But what if he's not the best Companion? Shouldn't we check out the other possibilities, first?"
"Oh…right. Well, ask him about that, then."
"Ok." Mya agreed. "Grundy," she typed, "How do we choose a Companion?"
Grundy frowned. "I was hoping you would decide to stay with me. I can speak the languages of animals and plants, and learn things that others can not." Here, he paused and smiled. "But maybe you still will choose me. Here are the other six Companions from which to choose." He pulled up another scroll.
It contained six names: Goody Goblin, Horace Centaur, Jenny Elf, Marrow Bones, Metria Demoness, and Nada Naga. Mya and Steph read the descriptions of each character.
"Well, we won't need protection," Mya said. That eliminated Nada Naga, whose main function they gathered to be changing into a large snake and protecting others.
"And we won't need guidance," Steph put in. That took out Jenny Elf, who had a cat that could find anything but home.
"We won't need smarts…I got all the brains!" Mya said, laughing.
"Well, maybe you don't, but I do," Steph said. The two looked at each other.
"Well, either way, we won't need Horace Centaur." At least they could agree on that.
"I think I'd be afraid of Marrow Bones," Mya said, "so let's not take him."
"And I don't think I'd like a goblin much," Steph said. So that also eliminated Goody Goblin.
"So that leaves Grundy Golem and Metria Demoness," Mya stated.
"I think we should take Metria," Steph offered.
"No…I think we should take Grundy," Mya said.
"Why?" Steph asked. "I'm sure Metria would be a good Companion. Surely a demon would provide good…companionship."
"Yeah, but Grundy can speak all the languages. I don't know if we can…so shouldn't we take him?"
Steph thought about this for a minute. "Yeah, I guess you're right," she said slowly. Apparently she didn't wholly agree, but was willing to go along with it.
"Ok," Mya said. She typed, "Grundy Golem, we chose you."
Grundy looked up. "Select my name and press RETURN." Mya did so. Grundy smiled. "I'm glad you chose me to be your Companion. Please introduce yourself. You can do so by typing your name and description."
Mya looked at Steph, and shrugged. She typed, "Mya and Steph. Females. Age 16."
"Hello Myaandsteph," Grundy said. "Shall we get on with the adventure?"
Mya had been about to correct him about the name, but Steph nudged her in the ribs. "Look!" she said, "get on with the adventure!"
Nodding, Mya typed, "Get on with the adventure."
"Excellent!" Grundy said, clapping his hands. "Can I make one suggestion, first?" He appeared to be waiting.
"Sure," Mya typed.
"Ok, fat head. It would be easier on both of us if you were in the screen with me."
Mya decided to ignore the fat head comment. "How do we get in the screen?" she typed.
"Try to focus on something behind the screen. You'll see two dots. Try to make them become three dots. It may take a while, but you'll know when it happens."
Steph and Mya both stared at the screen. Mya squinted her eyes. Steph did likewise. Suddenly, Steph appeared to be on the screen. This broke Mya's concentration, but only for a second. She had to get in there to prove she could! She concentrated on the two dots, until finally they became three.
"Hey, hey! It's 3-D!" Mya said.
"Brilliant observation," Steph muttered.
"You dunderheads did that very quickly!" Grundy commented. "But you're not truly in the game yet, that only happens when you really believe in ma-" Grundy paused, looking at them. He seemed amazed and confused. "Wait, you guys ARE in the game. I mean here. In Xanth. How did you do that?" He was shaking his head, dazzled.
Mya looked at Steph. Steph looked at Mya. They grinned. "I guess we believe in magic!" They said in unison. Grundy just stared. They were in Xanth!
***
"STEEEPH!" Mya yelled, running into the classroom. All the students in the room, and the teacher, turned and looked at Mya. She turned bright red and took two steps back.
"Uhh...I need to talk to Steph," she muttered pathetically. Then she turned and walked out of the room. She could hear the students all laughing. Steph waited two seconds, and then followed her out of the room.
"You really gotta learn to think before you do stuff, Mya. That was really embarrassing," Steph said.
"Ha ha…yeah, well, you know me," Mya chuckled. She was really embarrassed, but she did stupid stuff that like all the time.
"So what was so friggin' important you had to come get me out of class for it?" Steph inquired.
Mya got an evil glint in her eye. "You'll NEVER believe what I just got." Steph waited for her to finish the sentence. Mya waited for Steph to guess. Finally, Steph gave in.
"Alright, what did you get?" she asked, rolling her eyes.
Mya didn't say anything. Apparently she wasn't pleased with Steph's lack of guesses.
"Just tell me, butthead," Steph added.
"Well, I don't know if I want to anymore," Mya said, giving Steph a slightly evil glare.
"Oh, you know you want to tell me. So stop being stupid, and just tell me!" Steph was getting annoyed, and a little curious.
Mya laughed. "Yeah, you're right. I do want to tell you. Ok…it's a new computer game called COMPANIONS OF XANTH!" Her face lit up. She stayed quiet now, allowing this to sink in.
"So what…a stupid computer game? That's more of Derek's thing." Then she paused for a moment. "Wait…did you say Xanth?? As in, Xanth?" Her voice was tinged with excitement.
"Yeah!! I did!! Xanth!! I could hardly believe it when I saw it!! It took practically all the money I've saved up this week, but when I saw it, I knew we had to have it."
A dark cloud took over Steph's face. "But…it IS only a game. It's not like it'll solve anything."
"Well, you never know unless you try!" Mya said optimistically. "And I don't know about you, but I want to try right away!"
"Of course I do too," Steph said. Her voice betrayed her skepticism. Mya chose to ignore that.
"Well, let's go to my house right now, and we can play it! I don't want to play here at school. Too many computer geeks."
"Yeah, you're right. Let me just go grab my books from this class and we'll go," Steph agreed.
"Ok," Mya said. "I'm going to go get my coat from my locker. I'll get yours too."
"Ok."
The two met up a few minutes later. Mya gave Steph her jacket, and Steph put it on. Then they walked down the hallway towards the outside doors. As semi-experts in the art of skipping, they knew how to leave with no problems. Soon they were outside.
"Holy shit its cold today," Steph said, touching her hands to her cheeks.
"I know! It's the freaking wind," Mya agreed. Deciding not to talk anymore, lest they waste time, the two trekked it over to the bus stop. Then, of course, they had to wait a good 9 minutes before it showed up. Finally the bus drove up the street, and stopped for them to get in. Shivering, they showed their passes to the driver, and sat down. The first few minutes were spent in silence. Finally Steph spoke up.
"So…what do you think this game means?" she asked Mya.
Mya looked pensive. "I don't really know. I guess we'll have to find out." They both nodded. Nothing else was said. They approached their stop, and Steph pulled the bell to stop the bus. It stopped, and they got off. Crossing the road, they went into Mya's house.
"Just take off your coat and all that, and we'll get started," Mya directed. She and Steph both took off their apparel. Then they both grabbed a chair, and sat down in front of the computer. Mya opened the box, and pulled the disk out. It had nothing on it at all, aside from the words, "INSERT DISK- TYPE A:\XANTH- TOUCH ENTRE. So in the disc went.
"Type it in!!" Steph urged.
"Hold on! I'm getting there," Mya said. She then typed in "A:/XANTH," and pressed entre. Nothing happened.
"What's going on?" Mya said, shocked.
Steph looked at her like she was dumb. "You typed it in wrong."
"Oh." Mya tried again, this time typing it in right. This time when she pressed entre, a little man appeared. The figure looked up and started speaking, its words appearing in speech bubbles in the ordinary cartoon fashion.
"I'm Grundy Golem. I'm from the Land of Xanth, and I speak your language. I'm your temporary companion. If you don't like me you can get rid of me in just a minute. But first listen a bit, okay? Because I'm here to take your hand and lead you through the preliminaries without confusion. Any questions you have, you just ask me. You do that by touching the Q key, or clicking the right side of your mouse. So go ahead- ask."
It appeared Grundy Golem was done his little spiel. "What should we do?" Mya asked Steph.
"Ask it how we can get into the game!" Steph said.
"Ok," Mya agreed. She hit the Q key. She expected to be able to type now, but Grundy started talking again.
"Okay, so you have a question. You have one of those primitive Mundane keyboards, right? So you have two ways to do it. You can type the question so I can see it, or you can touch ENTRE and it will bring up the list of the ten most common asked questions at this stage. Then you can use your arrow keys to highlight the question you want, and touch ENTRE again, or just shortcut by it by typing the number of the question you want. I'll wait while you decide. If you want me to resume without waiting, touch ESCAPE." Grundy stopped talking, and looked down. He appeared to be waiting for the girls' answer.
"Try asking him now," Steph prompted. Mya nodded.
"How can we get into Xanth now?" She typed.
The little character Grundy looked pensive for a moment. "To shortcut directly to the action, touch SHIFT ESCAPE. But I strongly advise against this, because there's more you have to do, like checking in, and you'll be stuck with me as your Companion. Once you know the ropes, you can skip this whole scene, but please don't do it this time."
"Dammit," Mya said.
"What's the problem?" Steph asked. "Just hit SHIFT ESCAPE and we'll get on with it!"
"But what if he's not the best Companion? Shouldn't we check out the other possibilities, first?"
"Oh…right. Well, ask him about that, then."
"Ok." Mya agreed. "Grundy," she typed, "How do we choose a Companion?"
Grundy frowned. "I was hoping you would decide to stay with me. I can speak the languages of animals and plants, and learn things that others can not." Here, he paused and smiled. "But maybe you still will choose me. Here are the other six Companions from which to choose." He pulled up another scroll.
It contained six names: Goody Goblin, Horace Centaur, Jenny Elf, Marrow Bones, Metria Demoness, and Nada Naga. Mya and Steph read the descriptions of each character.
"Well, we won't need protection," Mya said. That eliminated Nada Naga, whose main function they gathered to be changing into a large snake and protecting others.
"And we won't need guidance," Steph put in. That took out Jenny Elf, who had a cat that could find anything but home.
"We won't need smarts…I got all the brains!" Mya said, laughing.
"Well, maybe you don't, but I do," Steph said. The two looked at each other.
"Well, either way, we won't need Horace Centaur." At least they could agree on that.
"I think I'd be afraid of Marrow Bones," Mya said, "so let's not take him."
"And I don't think I'd like a goblin much," Steph said. So that also eliminated Goody Goblin.
"So that leaves Grundy Golem and Metria Demoness," Mya stated.
"I think we should take Metria," Steph offered.
"No…I think we should take Grundy," Mya said.
"Why?" Steph asked. "I'm sure Metria would be a good Companion. Surely a demon would provide good…companionship."
"Yeah, but Grundy can speak all the languages. I don't know if we can…so shouldn't we take him?"
Steph thought about this for a minute. "Yeah, I guess you're right," she said slowly. Apparently she didn't wholly agree, but was willing to go along with it.
"Ok," Mya said. She typed, "Grundy Golem, we chose you."
Grundy looked up. "Select my name and press RETURN." Mya did so. Grundy smiled. "I'm glad you chose me to be your Companion. Please introduce yourself. You can do so by typing your name and description."
Mya looked at Steph, and shrugged. She typed, "Mya and Steph. Females. Age 16."
"Hello Myaandsteph," Grundy said. "Shall we get on with the adventure?"
Mya had been about to correct him about the name, but Steph nudged her in the ribs. "Look!" she said, "get on with the adventure!"
Nodding, Mya typed, "Get on with the adventure."
"Excellent!" Grundy said, clapping his hands. "Can I make one suggestion, first?" He appeared to be waiting.
"Sure," Mya typed.
"Ok, fat head. It would be easier on both of us if you were in the screen with me."
Mya decided to ignore the fat head comment. "How do we get in the screen?" she typed.
"Try to focus on something behind the screen. You'll see two dots. Try to make them become three dots. It may take a while, but you'll know when it happens."
Steph and Mya both stared at the screen. Mya squinted her eyes. Steph did likewise. Suddenly, Steph appeared to be on the screen. This broke Mya's concentration, but only for a second. She had to get in there to prove she could! She concentrated on the two dots, until finally they became three.
"Hey, hey! It's 3-D!" Mya said.
"Brilliant observation," Steph muttered.
"You dunderheads did that very quickly!" Grundy commented. "But you're not truly in the game yet, that only happens when you really believe in ma-" Grundy paused, looking at them. He seemed amazed and confused. "Wait, you guys ARE in the game. I mean here. In Xanth. How did you do that?" He was shaking his head, dazzled.
Mya looked at Steph. Steph looked at Mya. They grinned. "I guess we believe in magic!" They said in unison. Grundy just stared. They were in Xanth!
***