The Quest of Mystery

Tei Jin

Tei Jin

It was an ordinary day when it started off. I was strolling around. Maybe I should go for a walk.
I strolled around. BONK! BOOM! CRASH! KABOOM! WHACK! Eeek! The world was against me today!
I went back home, dressed up and went to bed. Ahh......So COMFY..... I dreamed and dreamed into a mist of rainbows.............

Huh? Was that a red dot,a blue dot or............Aaaaaaak! It had a tail, head and legs now! Hello! What was that? Introducing myself, my name is Bumps. l'm nothing but a bumpy chameleon! Everybody is waiting!
What everybody? I wondered. Then, I realized that l was riding a green dragon!
The dragon was so fast. Before I knew it, we arrived. Then I spotted some kind of creature.
It was nymphs. And one of them came up and asked for help.
"Our greatest treasures are stolen! We know you are the only one who can find it. Please. For the journey, l will help you. My name is Quickstrike and here is the Kingdom of
Fantasy. Plus now, l will tell you what these nymphs are sad about."
According to what Quickstrike said, there are the 3 great treasures, the nymphs of the winter, over here, guard. The 1st treasure is the fountain of pureness. It holds the crystal sphere which keeps the forest clean and fresh. The 2nd treasure is the fountain of youth- but somebody made it fall asleep with chamomile flowers and took it away. The last treasure is : the wand of destiny. It does anything : Evil or Good! Without these, the forest of the winter nymphs will disappear and the balance of the creatures of Fantasy will be unbalanced, everybody, and everything, will be very worried. The 3 treasures attracted me strongly, so I made up my mind to get them back.

We arrived at the 1st treasure's guardians house. This is the house of the nymph of rhyme. Never, ever tell a lie to her. She can read minds, and hypnotize you. Because she also has a snake voice. I shivered. Rhymes, mind reading, hypnosis and snake voice.............. Scary! I knocked, Come nowwwwwwww............She wore a elegant simple dresss with a dark cloak.
"The treasure isss gone...........
It has been for longgggg............
The cluessss that were found.........
The thief made no sound............
Four clues I will give.........
Because these clues only live..........."
A paper flapped to my hands. I looked at it. It said : tuff of cat hair, a golden buckle, a rare feather, blood
Quickstrike told me that it is the last guardian, the Nymph of illusion. She was right in front of us. I realized the tree in front of me was an illusion. She greeted us with a smile and told us that the only thing she found was a whisker. We left and headed for the Island of Misery.

We arrived and I felt miserable climbing. We climbed into a cave for shelter. He, ha, he, ho! We herd a laugh. I looked around and saw two cats. Quickstrike said, those are the N.W.O.E.C.T's! They come from the land of Fairytales but can be lurking anywhere. They are the slyest cats in the Kingdom of Fantasy and serve Clark wizards.
"Makeup time-" Quickstrike said. First, he put me on a catsuit. Then a tail, whiskers, cat smelling stuff and clothes. For the finishing touch, a salmon pie and a sword. It was pretty cool and Quickstrike said, I could be a makeup artist. I went to the cat and said when he was alone, can ahhh....... I serve the wizard with you? By the way, here's a salmon pie! He gobbled it up.
"Ok............. Wanna serve Wizard of the black rings? Ok. Now be careful. He's real strong! I'll tell him about you."
" What's your name?"
" Mine's puss."
"Whiskers."
"Ok. Whiskers. I'll tell him, his majesty, about you. Wait here."
What are black rings? I thought. Quickstrike explained to me, they are the rings of evil. No matter what, it can not get destroyed, so people guard them. In the wrong hands, the situation will just get worse. Quick, Before he comes!

The wizard is pleased. Here is the castle. It was huge! The wizard came to me. Rules : sweep the castle top to bottom, do not clog through anything or touch anything. 3 gold coins a month. -And, he said, these are the keys, However, never use the big key.
I matched it up. Biggest key......... Eureka! When the wizard was gone, I rummaged everywhere. I became so dizzy that I walked into the fireplace, lumped into a particularly smooth part. A keyhole appeared. I unlocked it with the biggest key. Then I saw it. The 3 treasures! I stuffed them into a nearby sack, broke a window and escaped. Quickstrike was waiting for me. "Run!" He said. We ran and when we were far away from the castle, we arrived at the nymph's forest. Half of it had turned gray! I quickly gave them the treasures and they replaced them. 1,2,3 minutes. The forest was green again. The Nymphs were deeply appreciated and the green dragon carried me up and up........ Into a swirl of rainbows again! But at the moment, my hands got slippery.I fell into the cloud.

I woke up. It was all a dream. I took a walk, made some coffee and wondered. Was It really all a dream? I looked around and thought I saw another dream. Maybe it was true............

This work was an entry to the San Jose Public Library's Fall into Fiction 2022 short story contest.
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