Lewis S

Daniel’s golden hair shook like a jackhammer. His head throbbed in pain and shock. His ankle had caught in the gears of the bike. Daniel toppled down the hill and rolled in the grass for what felt like a mile. Finally, he stopped. Daniel was stunned, he had never made a mistake before, at least not on a bike. He thought about the wet, soggy ground where he now lay. He sat up and looked around. He thought it looked familiar. He was positioned in front of a purple pond that gave Daniel a slight dizzy feeling. The trees were thin except for one extremely thick tree. The ground was muddy with footprints of soldiers leading into the purple pond. A leaf looking man came out from around the huge thick tree and stared right at Daniel.

“Hello stranger,” said a man that looked like he had a leaf disease, “Welcome back!”

“Who…who are you?” asked Daniel, scared and frightened by the man.

“I am Prince Mondo, the prince of Mondo, as you could have guessed. You are Daniel, correct?” replied the prince.

“Yes, D… D…Da... Daniel,” he stuttered, more confused as to where and what Mondo was.

“How do you know my name?”

“I have a task for you. Can you do it?” asked Prince Mondo, looking Daniel up and down, noticing every intricate detail of the bike, which lay heaped on the ground. He had deliberately ignored Daniel’s question, knowing he would soon discover an answer.

“Yes, I love adventure! Especially ones that are tricky and require skill.”

“This is going to need more than just skill, my new friend. It requires the true heart and soul of a champion who does not lose his head when others around him have,” stated Prince Mondo with more meaning and depth this time. Daniel reviewed the situation. Could he really do it? Did he have the skills, courage and soul of a true champion? Daniel snickered. Of course he did.

Prince Mondo handed him a rusty, old sword that looked like it had seen better days but still looked painful in the right hands.

“Take this on your journey. You must go to a small cottage on a rather large hill that will require lots of climbing and also fighting beasts that no one has killed before. Beasts the size of small mountains in your odd world they call ‘Earth’. There will be a lady there who will tell you about your past in Mondo and other things you ought to know; things you may have forgotten over the years.

"Magic pond? Beasts the size of small mountains? Odd world?" Daniel did not know what was going on, but he was strangely excited.

“The land of Mondo is through the Magic Pond. You must go, now,” Prince Mondo urged as he disappeared into a mist and floated away. Daniel was left standing there looking up at a mist with a strange sword in his hands.

He followed his instructions and moved towards the pond. He felt his way through the purple water; twisting, turning and tossing through the magical underwater ripples of the pond. Daniel tumbled into a grassy deep field full of monsters. He saw them dancing and smacking each other and eating their own guts and laughing their heads off. His head fell into his palms. He had thought this would be easy. He started to creep up on the Monsters when a voice, soft and gentle, waltzed towards his ears.

“It’s been a long long time, Daniel. Your past self is unknown to you. You have no recollection of your surroundings or me, do you Daniel? The cottage that Prince Mondo, or my husband, told you about is where you once lived with all those monsters your friends. They feared you as a great knight that could kill them, like no one else could.” Daniel looked at the beautiful plains surrounding him.

“I have been waiting for you, while trying to protect the cottage all this time. The cottage is on the highest mountain you can see from where you are. Hurry to me, now,” said the soft voice of Prince Mondo’s wife. Daniel felt nervous about Princess Mondo, and the challenge they had set him.

Daniel continued to creep up on the monsters before he started towards the highest mountain. He jumped out from behind the tree and started to swing the sword like crazy. The monsters looked confused by what Daniel was doing. One of the horrible monsters threw a club at him. Daniel’s whole world went black and deep, as a black hole enveloped him. Daniel felt defeated for the first time in his life.

He opened his eyes. Prince Mondo stood above him, checking his pulse and vital signs.

“You have survived, only because of my awareness that you were in trouble. Without me bringing you back here, you would not have survived. Even a stick could have killed you about two hours ago. You must rest and sleep. I will leave you to recover.” Daniel gazed at the leaf creature as clouds of confusion circled him.

“But, before I leave, I must tell you; the Magic Pond’s water can also heal even deaths will be okay if you can reach the pond. Goodbye and remember to keep sipping the Magic Pond,” Prince Mondo said at last. Daniel lay his head down and closed his eyes to sleep peacefully...

...Daniel swung his sword around and around as he sliced off the huge beast’s throats and sent him off the cliff and down to a one thousand metre drop to it’s death. He sprinted towards the cottage as he sweated and stumbled with the heavy iron club on his back. He still had his cough but felt he could still kill his fourteenth dragon in half an hour. He reached the cottage door and slammed it open...

Daniel shot up, sweaty and dizzy. He soon realised it was just a dream. He rubbed his head, trying to ease the pain that throbbed inside him. He crawled over to the Magic Pond and took a massive slurp from its edge. As he felt better, he stood up. He tumbled back down in dizziness. He took several more sips from the Magic Pond before being able to stand up properly and go and find some food. He was still quite weak and couldn’t go back in yet. As he ate the eyeballs of a rabbit and pulled the leg bones right out of the poor rabbit’s socket, he thought about the dream. Was it true? Is that what happened a long time ago? How did he lose his memory? All these questions raced through his mind. He finally thought he was ready to head to the cottage and climb and fight his way there. He, once again, jumped through the long ripples of purple water.

This time Daniel was surprised to land in a different spot to the one he had done before. He was at the bottom of what seemed like a one thousand metre cliff, like in his dream. He could see heaps of dragons and beasts at the top of the cliff the size of Mount Everest or bigger. He knew where the cottage was thanks to his strange dream. He also knew where most of the beasts were weakest and where the ones most powerful lay. He noticed he now had an iron club on his back. He could feel its weight pushing down on his weakened body. He knew he could not make the climb with the club in a million years. He threw the club to the ground in frustration. Suddenly, everything turned to ice. Daniel jumped in joy; even the dragons had frozen. He could now climb without it but he would have to hurry before the ice thawed out. The soft, gentle voice waded back to his ears once again.

“Congratulations, you have discovered the power of the magical iron club. Even your skilled fighter self did not discover this a long time ago. It seems you may have grown in intelligence but still lack the power of fighting. The ice is due to thaw out in approximately one hour. That’s how long you have to reach the top. You will have to go at a speed of 3.6 seconds per metre. This will be made difficult by challenges along the way. Go, now.”

Daniel jumped from stone to stone as the lady’s voice echoed in his mind. He would reach the top in half an hour, he knew it! He came up to an opening. It was a small cave that stretched for miles. He would have to climb upside down to overcome this cave. Daniel had forgotten his favourite harness or any of them, as he had set out only for a bike ride. Daniel gripped onto the curved edge of the cave. He groaned. It was wet and slimy with moss encased in big clumps. Daniel ran along until he found a dry spot. He climbed up here with ease. He was nearing the top of the cliff and yet a half of an hour had not yet still passed.

The clouds suddenly started to cry. Daniel felt his grip slipping already on the hardly damp cliff side. Daniel started to slow down as he realised that if he went slow and steady towards the pinnacle, he would reach the cottage in time. He reached his hand over the edge just as his foot lost grip of the drenched cliff face. He heaved himself over the top and lay flat on the ground panting like a dog after a run. He lay still for what seemed a long time as he tried to regain his breath. His lungs, which had been bursting only moments before, were almost back to normal. He picked himself up and carried on towards the inviting warm cottage that lay only a short distance ahead. He jumped over the logs and huge weapons of the monsters and slammed open the heavy wooden door of the enormous cottage.

He cannonballed onto the old but yet still cosy bed. He could feel the soft cotton against his face when suddenly the ground shook and humongous roars came from the outer of the cottage. He woke from his small, peaceful daydreaming session. He searched all the rooms in the cottage and eventually came upon an empty room that looked weirdly familiar. He peered around. The floor looked old and worn. As soon as he entered the floor dropped before him and sent him falling to a huge pile of coins. He could feel the voice coming back, once again, for what he thought would be the last time.

“I have guided you along the way, to where you now are. Enjoy and explore your past, Daniel,” said the lady for the last time that she would speak to him, at least for now. He hopped up and looked around him for his past. He saw more than his past right now. He saw trophies with emeralds, rubies and diamonds, about a million coins, weapons that looked like they could defeat ten dragons in one hit. He saw everything that he had dreamt of and beyond. He didn’t even know what half the things inside were. He was as happy as Larry. He spotted a pedestal and curiously walked over to it. A secret staircase that looked like it led to bedrock opened in front of his dropped jaw. He placed a weapon on it to keep it open while he explored down below. He went down, down and further down until Daniel saw a pair of yellow sharp eyes like daggers, just like a dragon’s.

Epilogue

Daniel leaned back heavily in the old rocking chair; his only memory of his penthouse in New York and the only thing that wasn’t made from diamond in the entire cottage. He picked up the diamond club which lay in his lap. He placed the club in his hands and closed his eyes as he remembered the first day he had received his iron one.

“As it may freeze my surroundings, it will also freeze my life,” said Daniel aloud to himself. And with that threw the heavy club on the ground, looked at all his best dragon friends, and took his final breath, as he winked at all the dragons around the cottage.