This is a story about two best friends who are about to have the adventure of their lives. Christopher, 9 and Yosef, 6. Chris is a young boy who is clever and brave. While Yosef is shy and quiet. It was this morning that their adventure began.
"What game are you playing Chris?" Yosef asked him.
"Oh, it's this game that Jess and I borrowed, it's called the Three Tasks," he answered.
"Can we play it?"
"Yeah, I'm just about to start."
In front of them the Nintendo game was in place, but the TV screen was blank. They decided to play around with the controllers to see if they've fixed the problem. They looked at the screen again, but it was still blank.
"What's wrong with it? This game doesn't work!" Yosef was getting impatient.
"I don't know, there must be something wrong with it," Christopher told him.
As soon as he said that, a loud noise came from the TV and a face appeared.
"What was that? How did you get here?" Yosef asked the face.
"You're not suppose to be there! This is a game." Chris agreeing with Yosef.
Suddenly the face spoke with a deep voice, "Welcome. I'm your instructor today and I will be guiding you. You may call me Face."
While the Face was talking to them, the two boys were filled with amazement. Their minds full of questions.
"Before you say another word, I will tell you what you will need to do in this game." They heard the Face speaking again.
"Get on with it, we want to play the game!" Yosef told him impatiently.
"In this game, you will need courage and strength to fulfil the Three Tasks. The Wise Old Man will tell you more once you have arrived." With that the Face disappeared. Christopher and Yosef stood there, looking confused.
"What now? Why aren't we in the game?" Yosef said.
"I don't know, we just have to wait." Chris answered him.
In front them the TV was still blank, but a picture was beginning to appear.
"Look something's happening," Chris pointed at the TV.
They looked at the TV and saw a forest where an old man stood looking at them. "Well, what are you doing there? C'mon and play the game."
As soon as he said that, the two boys found themselves in the forest.
"Where are we?" Yosef asked.
"We're in the game." Chris answered.
The two boys looked around and saw tall trees towering over them. Everything was green and fresh.
"Welcome to The Three Tasks." They turned around and saw the old man. He was wearing a white robe.
"I am called Gustaf, I will introduce you to this game."
Yosef and Chris stood there with disbelieve on their faces.
"Am I dreaming Chris or is this real?" Yosef pinched his arm.
"It is real Yosef." Gustaf said. "You are not dreaming. Now let us talk about your Three Tasks. To get through this game and return to your world, you will need to complete Three Tasks. This is the First Task that you must complete: You must travel to the Ancient Forest and recover the golden belt of Strength. The Second Task: You must defeat the Racing Master by racing with him. The Third Task: You shall conquer your fear by walking in the Never Ending Darkness of the Never Ending Cave. To guide you through this journey I will provide you with this backpack of endless supplies."
"Have you finished yet?" Yosef complained.
"Be quiet, Yosef! He's still talking." Christopher told him.
"I will also give you powers, but you must be careful with them. Christopher, the power that I give you will be the Power of Light. It will guide you through fear and darkness." He touched Chris' head and a great Light shone through him. "Yosef, I will give you the Power of Agility. Use it wisely." Gustaf placed his hand on Yosef's head and chanted unknown words.
As the old man did this, the two young boys were filled with excitement and wonder.
"Now once," Gustaf continued, "You have completed these Three Tasks you will collect a reward from the King and you will return to your world."
"Do we get to keep our powers?" Christopher and Yosef asked in unison.
"It is forbidden to keep powers that do not belong to any other world than this one."
When they heard this, they were sad and disappointed.
"Now, I must leave you. You will get no help from this journey, so I suggest that you start soon. Good luck and Good bye." Gustaf turned around and they saw him no more.
It was not long after Gustaf left them, that they started on their journey. Christopher slung his backpack over his shoulder and started walking. He noticed that Yosef wasn't following him. He looked back, "Well, c'mon. Are we going or not?"
"Chris, I don't want to do this."
"Do you want to get out of this game or not?" Chris shouted at him.
"I'm coming."
The sun was high, when they realised they have reached the outskirts of the Ancient Forest.
"Chris, I'm hungry. Let's eat something." Yosef said.
"OK." Chris took the backpack from his shoulder and opened it. In there, the two boys saw a loaf of bread, a bottle of water and a slice of cheese.
"Is that all we get?" Yosef complained.
"I guess so. We have to put up with it."
They ate their loaf of bread with cheese and drank some water. After they have finished, they set out once more. It was dark when they arrived in the middle of the forest. Aorund them the trees towered above, with their ancient gnarled branches and leaves.
"These trees must be 1000 years old. That's why they call it the Ancient Forest I guess." Chris said aloud.
"Let's sleep tonight and continue tomorrow." Chris told Yosef.
"Do we have to sleep without anything to warm us?" Yosef was shivering from the cold night air.
"I'll go and look." Christopher looked in the backpack and found two small blankets and pillows. For the rest of the night they slept uneasily because they heard the constant rustle of the trees.
"Yosef, wake up. It's morning." Christopher gently shook him.
"OK, OK. I'm awake."
When they have eaten their breakfast from the backpack, they started again.
"Chris, look what's that?" Yosef pointed to a clearing not far from where they slept. In front of them, they saw a golden belt placed on a small stone table.
"There's the golden belt of strength!" Christopher cried out. He walked towards it and picked it up.
"How can it be this easy? I mean just picking this up without a scratch!" Chris turned and looked at Yosef.
"Well, maybe The Second Task is a bit harder. We have to race with the Racing Master."
"Yeah, OK, maybe you're right." Chris opened the backpack and dropped the belt inside."We've completed The First Task, now let's complete The Second and Third Task."
The two boys looked at each other and nodded.
"Let's go." Yosef said with confidence.
"It's nearly dark, we better make camp soon." Chris said.
The two boys found themselves beside a wide dirt road.
"This looks like a race track." Yosef exclaimed.
"You are precisely right!" They heard a voice from behind. They turned around and saw a man clothed in black.
"As you know, I'm The Racing Master. If you defeat me in this race, I will give you this." He clicked his fingers and a table of luxurious food appeared.
"Do you like the reward? Then let's race!"
On the road, two race cars appeared.
"Choose your driver. I will be waiting." The Racing Master walked towards his car.
"Chris, let me drive. I want to win this race and get that reward!" Yosef told him.
"Yosef, this is not a Nintendo game you know, but I'll let you try."
Chris saw Yosef walking towards The Racing Master.
"Let's race!" Yosef told him. He got in the car. In front of him he saw the lights that start the race. Red...Yellow...Green. Zoom!!!!
The Racing Master was instantly ahead of him, fast as a lightning jet.
"Hey! he got a boost!" Yosef shouted.
"So what! You haven't moved moved! Go and catch up with him!" Chris shouted back.
Yosef was still leading behind when he saw the finish line.
"Hey loser! Are you going to catch up with me or not?" He heard The Racing Master up ahead.
"I'm not going to lose!" Yosef shouted at him. "I'm going to win!"
"Really? Let's see it then!" He shouted back.
As soon as The Racing Master said that, anger welled up inside his heart. He didn't like to be taunted. Suddenly Yosef felt his car jerk. He saw that his steering wheel was out of control. "Hey, I'm not driving it!"
He didn't realise what was happening until he looked outside. The trees were rushing past him at great speed.
"How did you get here so fast?" He heard a voice. Yosef could only see a blur pass him. It must be The Racing Master, he thought. Ahead of him, he saw the Finish line. He had won the race.
Chris was waiting for him. "I had to follow you! You were so fast, that I had to run just to get here."
"Well Done! You have defeated me and completed The Second Task. Here is your reward." The Racing Master told them. "Good luck on your journey and Goodbye." He waved his hands and was gone.
"We've won Chris." Yosef was pleased with himself.
"yes, we've won Yosef. Can we eat now? I'm starving."
The two boys were so hungry that they forgot everything else. They didnt' realise that the night had come. After they finished what they can eat, they decided to save the rest of the food for their future journey.
That night they slept peacefully under the stars next to the wide dirt road. The next day, they woke up to the bright morning.
"We've completed The Second Task, and now all we have to do is The Third Task: to walk through The Never Ending Darkness of the Never Ending Cave." Chris told Yosef.
They decided to follow the road, to see if it will lead them somewhere. While they were walking, Yosef turned to Chris and asked, "Do you know why I went so fast in that race?"
Chris thought for a moment and replied, "I guess you must've used your agility power. Your anger must've triggered your car to go fast."
They have been walking for some time now. Just ahead, Chris saw that the road was coming to an end. Ahead of them, they saw that the road actually was leading them to a cave.
"I think we've arrived Chris." Yosef told him.
They were now standing in front of a cave. A wooden sign stood there. It read: "The Never Ending Cave."
"We better eat before we enter. It might be a while before we can get out, if we ever get out." Chris said.
They got the food out that was rewarded to them from the backpack. They ate in silence, each in their own thoughts. After they have eaten and drank their fill, they packed up and entered the cave. At first, they could see ahead of them from the light outside, but as they went deeper into the cave, the darkness surrounded them.
"If this is called The Never Ending Cave, then how are we suppose to get out of here?" Chris shouted at the darkness. His voice echoed through the cae. In front of them, they could see nothing but the darkness.
"Gustaf said that we have to conquer our fear in this cave." Chris said. "I wonder if he means this darkness."
"Um... Chris." Chris felt Yosef nudging him.
"What?"
"We've got company..."
They saw in front of them red eyes glowing in the dark. "Welcome to my home, my little ones."
The two boys looked around to see who was talking, but they saw nothing except the red eyes.
"Your eyes trick you. I am nothing but The Darkness. My eyes see everything. I am the one you must conquer. The Darkness."
Yosef and Chris stood there with horror as fear gripped their heart. The darkness was unbearable.
"I can feel your fear. You are weaklings!" The Darkness circled around them filling their hearts with blackness and hate.
"It is not long before I destroy you! You have not even tried to overcome this! Is this how you will end?"
"Chris, I'm scared." Yosef whimpered next to him.
"Shut up! I'm trying to think of something!" Chris hissed at him.
"I can hear every word of your conversation. The little kid, 'Chris, I'm scared.' Pathetic wimp! It will not be hard to kill you."
Chris could see The darkness around them. He tried to move, but it blocked him.
"NO ONE will destroy me!" He heard The Darkness with anger. Chris saw that Yosef was on the floor. His body scrunched up, and he was crying. Chris knew that hope of getting out of here was fading. The Darkness had already won by mocking Yosef and filling his mind with death.
"Now it's just between you and me." Chris felt The Darkness suffocating him. "Your friend here is a wimp, no hope is left in him. I will enjoy torturing you. It seems that hope is fading already. Am I right?"
As Chris stood there, he saw in his mind images of sorrow and Death. It was torture beyond belief. The Darkness was playing with his mind, and Chris knew that he would not survive. Soon all hope would be lost, but he would never surrender!
"I'm not giving up, Darkness!" he shouted. "I have hope left in my heart. Yosef may be weak, but I'm not!" As he said this, a bright Light shone around him. It grew brighter and brighter piercing The Darkness with Light.
The Darkness didn't see this coming and was surprised. Chris could hear its last piercing cry before he collapsed with exhaustion.
"Chris, wake up. We're outside." Yosef was standing over him.
"What?" He looked around and saw Yosef. " How did we get here? I thought we wouldn't get out of The Never Ending Cave."
"I guess we conquered our fear, by destroying The Darkness."
"No. It's not we, it's I. I destroyed The Darkness with my power of Light." Chris corrected. "God, it was a nightmare in that Cave. I will always remember it."
"Well, at least you weren't called a wimp."
Chris stood up and saw that the Cave had disappeared. They were in a clearing. To their left, they found the road that took them to the Cave. Not far from the clearing they saw a castle.
"Well Yosef, we've completed The Three Tasks. Let's get our reward." They got back on the road and headed for the castle.
The King was waiting for them at the wooden gate. "Welcome travellers. Gustaf has told me about you."
"We've completed The Three Tasks and we want to get our reward. The Golden Belt of Strength is inside." Chris handed him the backpack.
"That's right! Your reward will be waiting for you!" The King replied.
"What about our powers?" Yosef asked.
"Your powers, you will leave behind." He touched Yosef's and Chris' head and two lights appeared. "I will keep these. When you are ready, I will transport you back."
"We're ready and thank you."
"Wow! X-Box and Gamecube." They said in unison.
"And there's a few games to go with it. Let's play Chris."
A contest entry
- Calling your inner child by SageSyren.
1050 points, ended December 6, 2006, 8 entries
• next story in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 5 of 5
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This was very cute and the moral was easy to understand. Thank you for entering. I'll let you know when the contest is over.
Thanks again for entering
~Brooke~ -
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I like how you've written this! One thing, though: I think you should describe the main characters a bit more. You can't really imagine what they look like as well as if you could with help from words. -
Interesting
I've only seen 2 stories, and I think that might be all you have right now, this still rocks tho. At first when I started reading this, I thought it was going to be just another trapped in a video game story. Then I found out it was actually interesting. It was really good for what it is.
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What the?
Did you actually try to make it like my story, or was that just an "accident"? -
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This is my own story. I think it's just an accident
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