"It's pretty soft and sweet, grandpa. I think I am going to eat this new pillow tonight."
"I don't think your mom will be happy to know that!"
"It just looks like fairy floss. It's unavoidable."
"Good night, Brisbane. Have sweet dreams," said that tender old man after laughing at his granddaughter's words.
That October night was unusually cold. Brisbane watched from his window a slow-motion rain that was even pricked by sudden, furious breezes. On that strange night, small swirls would appear in the air and then disappear in the light of the moon and Brisbane's curious gaze.
So many swirls were seen, that in the blink of an eye, Brisbane was in the most intense of all: the sleep swirl. Her tiredness was soon embraced by the new fluffy, sweet-smelling pink pillow her grandfather had given her. Or so it seemed.
Some time later, for not knowing exactly how long, Brisbane awoke. But she was not in her room. Instead, she was surrounded by a multicolored environment that resembled an amusement park.
Still half asleep, Brisbane thought it was just a dream and went back to sleep. Shortly, she heard a distant, but powerful voice.
"Wake up, it's time to save this land!"
Brisbane jolted awake believing it was her dad waking her up to go to school. However, she found nothing else, but a glittering bow made of pink petals in front of her.
She, passionate about archery, was in awe of this bow and wanted to take it, but as soon as she brushed against it, she received a rush.
"No, no, little girl. That's not how it works."
"Who's there? Brisbane asked uneasily looking everywhere."
"Don't be silly, I'm between your feet."
Brisbane was startled. She could barely contain her scream of fear. But when she finally looked down, she found her pink pillow turned into a small, rubbery, plum-like and glowing living being.
"Who are you? Where's my fluffy pillow?"
"Calm down, I'm Ruk, the Glanier leader. Sometimes we take slightly different forms to go unnoticed."
"No, you are a gift from my grandfather."
"I'm a Glanier. Brisbane. And now we are in Glowingland, the land of the Glaniers. We have to defeat the human who used our transformation powers for stupid purposes like the existence of this place, and you're going to help us."
"I have no idea what you're talking about. Dad, Mom, help me!" shouted Brisbane several times.
"Hush. Soon they're about to start running all these human machines! Get ready, get the bow."
Brisbane, between sobs, refused to take it because of the earlier rush. Her fear was only softened when Ruk climbed on her back. She felt safe for a strange reason.
"Come on, Brisbane, now you can really take that Glanier bow."
But before trying again, she asked with a worried face:
"How is a little girl like me supposed to be able to save the Glaniers?"
"You are no longer a child on this land, Brisbane," Ruk said before transforming itself into a small mirror.
Brisbane cried out in surprise as she saw herself transformed into a grown woman. Her features had changed quite a bit, but she still recognized the tender gleam in her green eyes.
There wasn't much time for conversation afterwards. Almost unnoticed, Brisbane stood with the pink bow and wearing a beautiful armor of the same nature as the bow in front of a dart game. She scanned the place, but found no activity.
"Now, alert, girl!" shouted Ruk.
Within seconds, three targets with mini-cannons were floating in front of Brisbane. She almost by inertia threw three arrows at the targets at the same time and watched as they exploded like fireworks after hitting them.
"Effortlessly. Bravo!" celebrated Ruk.
"In any of my practices I could have done this. I don't think..."
"We Glaniers teach humans that many things are possible," said Ruk turning from a small bag full of arrows to a hand glider.
After running down the main path of the strange, multicolored and lonely amusement park, Brisbane took off and from the sky watched in childlike amazement as each ride worked in sync with the others.
"So, what's next? We're going to drop a bomb to make the whole park disappear?" asked Brisbane anxiously.
"No, let's go for the roller coaster now. Hold on tight, we're going in a dive!" shouted Ruk as it began to descend like a lightning.
Ruk was soon whispering to Brisbane what to do. At the biggest curve of the roller coaster was a giant spider web. Right in the middle lay a dozen tiny spiders. Brisbane must to arrow them from far away before they caught her with web from closer.
So she did, that when she pierced the last one, it seemed that she had also shot down the roller coaster itself because it began to crumble.
In fact, everything fell in the park except the brightest ride of all: the unicorn carousel.
"Brisbane, don't let your tiredness stop you from taking on these unicorns."
"Ruk, what are you talking about? The unicorns just go around on the carousel."
She looked at the carousel like a child longing for a ride, but Ruk was already preparing for what was to come. Its new transformation consisted of a large shield that was immediately placed on the pink archer's left forearm.
Just as if this had been an insult, the unicorns began to break their connections with the carousel and in dazzling stampede, headed towards Brisbane.
"Crush them all, especially the golden-horned unicorn!"
"There are too many of them, Ruk, we won't be able to survive."
Despite the magnitude of the stampede, Brisbane and Ruk, with powerful arrows and an impassable shield, managed to make gray clay of the brawny unicorns.
Then with her last bit of energy, Ruk shouted in desperation about the special unicorn.
"Here comes the golden one. Pierce it with everything you've got, girl!"
But it was impossible. When Brisbane wanted to draw the bow, her eyes bugged out in surprise and her body, trembling, fell to her knees.
It was not the unicorn, it was its rider who defeated Brisbane without a fight.
"Grandfather, why you?" whispered Brisbane.
"Brisbane, stand up. We're going to die. Stand up!"
With only a few feet to go before the unicorn finally made impact, the unicorn stopped.
With the utmost agility, Brisbane's grandfather climbed down from the unicorn and pointed with a frown at Ruk, already in its original plum form.
"Why? How is it that you are here, and with my granddaughter, if I forbade your entry into my kingdom?"
"I pretended to be the new pillow in your world, and with her innocent heart, I camouflaged myself so that you would not detect me in MY land," replied Ruk furiously.
The grandfather wanted to speak again, but a slight voice of sadness interrupted him.
"Grandfather, why are you manipulating the Glaniers like this? I thought you were good," Brisbane said with teary eyes.
"Don't think badly of me, princess, I only wanted to have a playland for myself. A place I was always denied as a child."
"You enslaved us, you nasty old man!" cried Ruk.
"You appeared first in my life," replied the grandfather in a frustrated tone.
"It was only to appease your childhood sadness. Not for you to later abuse our kindness."
Brisbane was no longer saddened by what she saw or heard, but disappointed. Then, not without some trembling in her hands, she raised, tensed and aimed a densely loaded arrow at her grandfather, who lay gaping at this unsuspected feeling in his granddaughter's heart.
"Return peace to the Glaniers now, or you will never have peace again," Brisbane bellowed as if it were the roar of a lion.
Her grandfather, who was looking around for a way to counterattack, saw only debris, and had no choice but to surrender.
Right with Ruk, Brisbane sent grandpa to live out the rest of his days on Earth. But before he or anyone else attempted a new dominion over Glowingland, the Glaniers chose Brisbane, with her pure heart, as their protector.
Since then, she has been the happiest child-woman of all. During the day she watched cartoons, and at night she traveled to a magical land to be its main guardian.
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Brisbane must have been sad to have to treat Grandfather that way :( I wonder if she saw him again?
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Sometimes the people who we less expect to break our hearts are the ones that finally do it. Brisbane had to face it at a very young age. Not sure if she wanted to saw him again ;).
All very true, but I think in time she probably would have wanted to talk to him at least one more time :) ...
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It's an interesting story, as the best fantasy tales are. It calls into question credulity. Who is good? Who is bad? Are the Glaniers the good guys? She listens to them and obeys Ruk, but we wonder as she does if she has chosen the right course.
Her grandfather is 'good', but he enslaves the Glaniers. Her faith in him is shaken. A pillow that is not a pillow, a beloved grandfather who must be controlled.
Such an interesting tale, indeed.
You have created a fast-paced credible fantasy saga. Good job.
Thank you for sharing this with us. We appreciate that you engage with other authors in the community.
It's cool you have summed up my story like this. I see better now how many possibilities it can contain. This is, the mix of fantasy and magic realism I wanted to give it would eventually take readers into an open world where they could fantasize on everything.
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Thanks a lot!
The topic is very interesting, trapped in its reading, not knowing who is good and who becomes bad. Human behavior always presents us with that doubt. @gabmr hug.
Muy interesante el tema, atrapada en su lectura, sin saber quien es el bueno y quien se vuelve el malo. La conducta humana siempre nos presenta esa duda. Un abrazote
That's true. We have discussed on humankind morals for centuries and still I think we are never going to meet a clear way to define it. Just deal with it.
Thanks for reading.
While I am still wondering who is the good guy and who is the bad guy. Nice write up
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