Chapter 2 - The Four Messengers.
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"It was midnight in the Howling Forest, the stormy wind whistled through the tops of the ancient trees. The towering trunks creaked and groaned." said Bastian.
And as he looked down at the words on the first page, and as he started to read the words they soon seemed to blur and twist forming a grand imagine one of pure imagination; the story, the world and its characters coming to form in the young boy's mind, all in grand techniccolour.
Bastian started to see everything, hear everything, sense everything, feel everything, taste and small all in the story; truly as ever before. 'Was this what Mr. Coriander was on about.' Bastian wondered as this all started to develop.
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"All the beasts in the forest who were safely in their caves, nests and burrows, were all suddenly awake and alert. What was this approaching force and power about them?
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Out in the open, a faint light suddenly comes to zigzag through the tree of the Howling Forest, stopped here and there, trembling fitfully, flew up into the air, rested on a branch, and a moment later hurried on. It was a glittering sphere about the size of a child's ball; it moved in long leaps, touched the ground now and then, then bounded up again. You'd think it would have bumped into a tree or leap into a hole at the grand speed it was going in, leaping about like this in the darkest of hours, but there was no danger of that, for this ball seemed to know exactly where it was going, moving pretty much in a definite direction.
But it wasn't a ball; it happened to be a Will-o'-the-wisp, inside this ball of pore light was a small, exceedingly active figure, which ran and jumped with all its very might. It was neither male nor female, for such distinctions don't exist amongst the will-o'-the-wisps. Blubb, the will-o'-the-wisp had been travelling the whole time, and as he came through the forest from the south, he could sense that they were almost approaching the heart of Fantasia and soon would be arriving with a gult at the Ivory Tower. In its right hand Blubb carried a tiny white flag, which glittered behind it. That meant it was a messenger.
This will-o'-the-wisp had been sent from the north of Fantasia, the wisps had come to witness a strange power in their part of Fantasia, a power that as taken, wiped from existence the very earth itself, and the wisest of wisps had ordered him to seek help and warn the Childlike Empress who lived in the heart of Fantasia in the grand, Ivory Tower.
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Other parts of Fantasia have also come to feel this power and witnessed the disappearance of the earth around them and feared what it meant, and as their races discussed the matter, and in the end they too had decided to send a messenger to the Ivory Tower to seek help and to warn Childlike Empress.
And on that same night three other messengers, all of different shapes and sizes, moved through their part of Fantasia in the direction of the Ivory Tower, their key order not to stop until they had spoken to the Childlike Empress in fear of the Nothing getting them.
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Suddenly, something enormous crashed and rumbled through the land, it was that of a northern mountain dwelling Rockbiter, Pyornkrachzark; a truly giant of a figure, who looked as if every inch of him was made up of gray rock and stone, he stood almost a whopping ten feet tall, his stone face seemed somewhat strangely small in comparison with his powerful shoulders, his eyes small and his teeth stood out like a row of steel chisels. By the very look of the Rockbiter there was no true sign of knowing its actual age; these were creatures who may live to a greater age than any other inhabitants of Fantasia, but due to being of rock and stone there was little sign of ageing.
The race of Rockbiters lived in the rocks and lived off of rocks, as their diet were the very rocks of their mountain range, but luckily a little seemed to go a long way, a single Rockbiter was able to live for weeks or a month on a single bite of this extremely nutritious fare. This race of creature had lived out in the mountains a long time the highest of rocks had been mined and broken up for food and for their homes; these Rockbiters not only lived and ate of the stone around them, they also came to make everything they would ever need from their mountain range; furniture, fixtures and fittings, clothes, hats and shoes, appliances, tools and equipment, even their vehicles. So it wasn't surprising that this particular giant of a Rockbiter, Pyornkrachzark, was in fact sitting upon a stone carved monster of a bike, a bike carved large and thick enough to hold his vast size and weight, with two large millstone wheels that looked like enormous steamroller. He came riding with a rattling and grinding at a good pace.
These were creatures who lived in a mountain range inconceivably far from Ivory Tower, but here he was venturing into the very heart and core of Fantasia, a sign of the feet of his mission and the danger his people knew they were in, as the Rockbiters were few in number and the fear of extinction weighed heavily on their minds.
Pyornkrachzark was also carrying a white flag to symbolise that he too was a messenger. And as he was ordered, Pyornkrachzark didn't stop nor falter from his journey, with the importance and greatness of his mission Pyornkrachzark peddled fast, until he stopped at the door of the Ivory tower.
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Flying in the light of the moon, above the land of Fantasia, from the east travelled a little Nighthob, Whoosh Woozool, a nocturnal creature that stood only 5.2 feet tall, which is an average size for a male Nighthob.
He has pure jet-black sink with wisps of fur here and there on his body. Whoosh had long thin arms and legs, thick grown out and very unkempt fingernails, which even had cracks and chips in the tops of the nails.
Whoosh like any other Nighthob has sharp facial features, wild frizzy hair, thick dense eyebrows and due to the night has two big round eyes that seem to have a yellowish glow in the light of the moon. He had two large ears that made it easier to ear even the slightest of nighttime nose, with each ear being pierced with rings of gold. He had a wide curved cheeky mouth, which didn't have many teeth, when he showed his grin.
Whoosh wore drabby clothing of dark natural colours; greens and browns, which enabled he and the other Nighthobs to blend into their habitat and the dead of night.
The race of Nighthobs are cunning and smart, good hunters of the night; coming to eat small woodland or field creatures, or can be found eating wild fruits and berries, even creatures of the water.
He and the Nighthob have come to ride on the back of a batlike creature, called a Stariy, that Whoosh Woozool had come to name his, Tiloo. The Stariy live in the same regions of the east as the Nighthobs, they just as the Nighthob are nocturnal creatures, this is what made them good companions for the Nighthob, which they fly pretty such like a hang-glider and are used for large hunts.
The Stariy have large wide ears, a snot-like nostril nose, brown-reddish fur; with white marking lines on his back, large brown eyes and large spread out wings, that on average can be 5 feet long.
Where the Nighthobs hunt for small creatures the Stariy hunt for smaller creatures of the air; moths and flies.
The pair had travelled far from their home land in the east, and by this point had come very sleepy, the Nighthob though, knew all too well of his mission's importance and knew that he couldn't stop, not even for a mere second as the Nothing was coming and taking his home, and the his fellow Nighthobs were counting on him to warn the Childlike Express and ask for her help. Tied in his belt was a white piece of cloth, like the other messengers, to show that he was on a peaceful mission.
While gliding soundlessly over the land of Fantasia, the Nighthob sighted all sorts of creatures and animals. In a small clearing between lilacs and laburnum he came to see a group of young unicorns that were playing and gossiping in the evening sun, and once, glancing under a giant arch, he even thought he saw the famous phoenix in its nest, but he wasn't quite certain, and such was his haste that he didn't want to turn back to make sure.
Before him now was the Ivory Tower, Whoosh gave Tiloo a quick "Hoo… hoo." as a signal and used the glider to guide the Stariy to come into land. Tiloo responded as ordered and with a whoosh started his descent.
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Travelling now in the dead of night, was from the far west in the most furthest point of Fantasia, a Winzling called Gluckuk.
He is a small inhabitant of Fantasia, of delicate frame and stature; just standing on average 3 to 4 feet tall. To make up for his limits in size, he and his fellow Winzling warn the best and high end of clothes all of which were of the brightest of colours; a top heat, a waistcoat and blazer, with a gold chained pocket watch, pressed trousers and boots, when riding the Winzling's tend to wear their racing goggles and clothes. The Winzling's are a proud and noble race.
The Winzlings built their whole cities around the roots and bark of large trees, and that their community were linked by stone packed walkways.
Gluckuk, like others of his kind, was riding a racing snail, Corrsum, his Corrum is named Deep-Ween. Deep-Ween is a somewhat snail creature, a Corrsum has a coiled shell that is large enough for the animal to retract completely into, Deep-Ween's shell is of a rest-copper-like colour with tint of pink to it, where others can be of different colour and pattern. As with other Corrsum, it has a soft and flexible slender body. Deep-Ween has two sets of tentacles, his upper pair on his head act as eyes, his second set act as his main sensory receptors, that help him to smell, touch and to sense movement. He has a wide mouth that curves at the sides, showing a somewhat happy natured smile, which adds to the creature's overall cuteness. The largest Corrsum snail is around 12 feet long and weighed near 200 pounds.
The Corrsum's diet includes green foliage, fungi and lichens, as well as worms, centipedes, insects and slugs.
All Corrsum's have placed on the cuff of their shells a leathered drown saddle, that the Winzlings will sit on and placed in their mouths a set of reins. The average top speed of a racing snail is about 13 miles per hour, with its tread foot moving so fast to achieve this top speed. To make sure the Corrsum's go in the direction the rider wishes, the Winzling's use a series of calls and clicks; on this mission, Gluckuk could be often heard calling out. "Geeyap, old-timer, geeyap… We are doing well… Geeyap!" And due to the speed of the snail, Gluckuk would often have to push back down onto his head his top-hat, in fear of it coming off and him losing it.
Gluckuk, as the other three messengers, held a white flag, and had been sent by his people to seek the Childlike Empress at the Ivory Tower during the Nothing crisis.
As they now come to the Ivory Tower, Gluckuk pats Deep-Ween's side and throws a piece of fruit into the creature's waiting mouth. "You have done me proud yet again, old friend." he stated."
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The clock in the belfry struck 10. Reluctantly Bastian's thoughts were pulled away from the world of the Neverending Story and once again back to reality. Bastian for a second came to think about the world down stairs, down in the classroom they would have already moved on to Geography, learning about spaces, places, scales, and the environment of different countries around the world.
He had come to think of his father working hard in his large laboratory, wearing his white lab coat, working around a dozen plaster casts of human teeth, as his father was a dental technician. Bastian had never in all this time come to ask himself whether he actually enjoyed his work or not. It occurred to him now for the first time, but now he would never be able to ask him.
He then looked back on the events in the book store, on how Mr. Coreander had by now found his book gone and was no doubt considering what his next course of action would be, either to call the police, to try and come to speak with Bastian's father; after all the wasn't that many Bux out there, or he could hold off a little while and hope that the little scared boy would return the book.
Deep down, Bastian was glad that the Neverending Story had nothing to do with the plain everyday goings on.