The Crystal Book

Perceval and Jax stalk through the woods in search of fabled adventure, following a path carved out by desire. The fat one walks gracefully, whereas the tall one walks with a casual demeanor, occasionally going out of his way to squash something just to hear it squish. “The Old Ogre lives in these woods,” Jax tells his younger brother. It's where he goes hunting. If you see them, flee as quickly as possible, because if he catches you, he'll eat you alive in sticky bird-lime.” Perceval, a pudgy 7-year-old ogre with rosy-red and freckled cheeks, follows his skinnier and taller brother, his three-years-older-than-him, three-foot-taller-than-him, twin, through tree cover over wet grass in search of something stomped on previously, much like the poor flowers crushed by wandering monsters looking for the treasure of nature or other children escaping a monster corrupted world.

Perceval is like a forest. His eyes appear to be sky blue with black, muddy streams and pupils as dark as melancholy dirt. According to a clairvoyant, “If peered into long enough, something akin to Poseidon, an abandoned ocean god from a long-forgotten civilization, may be discovered deep within Perceval's windowed soul.” While they reflect a companionless wretch in effect, his peculiarly spiritual nature remains a hopeful companion. His skin appears to be green in the manner of leaves, though not tree leaves, but rather absent leaves believed to have blown away long ago and are now absent from every world. His hair is brown and unruly, resembling fallen leaves, and his eyelashes gleam like razor-sharp blades of grass.

Jax informs him that a treasure is buried in a meadow beyond these woods and that the thunder they heard last night was the result of a battle between the army of nature and the Titanians. While a small child has no reason not to believe his older brother, strangers should cast doubt on Jax, as his appearance indicates that a Wight has poisoned the deep spirit embodied in his heart and psyche.

The chubby arms of Perceval caress shrubs and bushes. A branch reaches out to brush the corner of his mouth. He inadvertently avoids a flower known as The Deadly Flourish. They appear benign and emit a sweet aromatic fragrance, but have recently begun spreading rapidly like a plague, killing anyone unfortunate enough to cross their path. Rainwater drips from the trees. Perceval walks with his tongue out, snatching a sip of the dew with no regard for time. He wonders whether trees weep or drool as he creeps forward, and then splashes in a mud puddle, soaking his fat-stuffed shirt. While the midday sun easily penetrates the darkness of a shallow, sparsely forested beginning, enough shadows remain to keep a child on edge.

The darkness grows darker as they progress deeper, until the rural setting of Titania vanishes and they are completely surrounded by darkening woodland scenery. Perceval hears something snap, and then something like a whimper draws his attention away from the path a few feet. Squirrels, bees, caterpillars, bugbears, hobgoblins, or grasshoppers may announce their presence, but a lone fairy, smaller than a coffee cup, covered in blue sparkles and dressed in a tattered but elegant white gown, chirps, "Help me." “Assist me.” near a gray rock at the base of a tree that towered over any tale.

“Look,” Perceval says this to his brother, Jax, as he points out the fairy. “It's a leaf-covered creature.”

“It's a fairy,” it must have been knocked out of its tree home by the battle.”

“Do you mind if we keep it?” Perceval inquires sincerely. They kneel over the brightly colored creature, flanking it on two sides.

“Surpluses of war, sure, but only if you can keep it a secret. If Dad discovers we have it, he'll definitely whoop our butts. You are aware of this.”

“Can you tell me your name?” Perceval extends his hand to the defenseless fairy, who is still unable to fly, and shakes his finger. “Don't be scared.” The fairy trembles as he looks at him with fearful eyes as curious as Perceval's. A crown of flowers sits atop her straight blue hair, which he admires.

A little further down the woodland path, an unknown fiend yells out, "Hey!" so loudly through the thicket that Perceval fears it will wake up the trees. The two brothers are terrified and surprised at the same time.

“The Old Ogre?” Perceval says as he shudders. A giant figure in the woods creates a dark silhouette amidst the distant foliage, trees, and shadows. The Old Ogre is a monster that likes to eat little kids.

"Run." Jax dashes back the way they came, down the well-worn path.

“Wait!” Perceval cries out behind him, but his voice is drowned out by fear. Jax shrinks and shrinks until he is no longer visible. Perceval looks down to see that the path has vanished beneath his feet. The Old Ogre's labored footsteps echo in the distance, and the sound of trees snapping and toppling over strikes a stake in his heart, crushing all stamina as his blubber bounces against him in a comical manner. Perceval, unable to run for much longer, hides behind an old shaded plane-tree. His heart beats like a room full of clocks. His heart beats faster on his chest than pigs flap their wings. “My brother will come back for me,” Perceval keeps reassuring himself, “The bad ogre can’t find me. The bad ogre can’t find me.” He tries to slow his heart for fear The Old Ogre might hear it and gasps to limit his breath to short, shallow, sharp inhales. Clear tears stream down his pudgy rosy cheeks as he realizes he left the fairy to the same fate as his brother left him. Both of them will certainly be eaten by the monster.

Perceval's heart is gripped by an invisible hand made of ice, which squeezes it until his pulse slows to almost a halt. Perceval wants to get up and run, but he is held back by fear. Perceval thinks a vine from a shaded plane-tree wraps around his body and pulls him inside just as the Old Ogre closes in on his position.

He can't breathe, move, or speak because the "vines" are preventing him from doing so, and all he can smell is maple syrup. He makes a discovery. The Old Ogre is transformed into a Cyclops, a giant with a monolithic eye on its forehead who wears a hat resembling the Egyptian pyramids of another world atop his head. The Brobdingnagian creature comes to a halt outside the tree, perplexed by the lack of scent, and wanders around for a while, knocking over trees and growling vehemently before lumbering off to the north. The tree's interior is sticky and damp. Perceval continues to cry pitifully as he considers the irony of almost being eaten by a Cyclops only to be eaten by a tree instead.

“Ss', youngster,” a wise-sounding elderly voice murmurs. It was never my intention to irritate you.” Perceval is pulled out of the hole in the shaded plane-tree by the "vine," and he rolls back out onto the forest's leaves and dirt like a morsel rolling off a tongue.

“What are your credentials?” Perceval takes a deep breath and gasps for air. He is able to pull himself up onto his feet. His feet appear to be made of hardened clay. “A person's name is not significant, but for saving your years, I have a quest for you to undertake.”

“Are you... a tree?” Perceval inquires. He had never heard of a talking tree, but the voice seemed to come from the hole in the shaded-plane tree.

“You're not doing yourself any favors, Perceval. I am a serpent.” The head of a serpent emerges from the tree.

“Um... well... It's great to finally meet you. “What are your intentions with me?” Perceval inquires, not surprised to see another mystical creature in the forest.

“I require your assistance in transporting something for me. The Cyclops, Paternosters Ergosterols, the impossible Goliath, which you luckily avoided, is holding a fairy named Annabelle captive. Anne is the last of her kind, and the forces of nature regard her sovereignty as crucial.”

“I'm just a kid. What do you expect me to do?” says Perceval.

“Tonight, you must infiltrate the Paternosters' cabin, seize the fairy from the Evil One's clutches, and safely transport her to me.”

“I don't believe so. I need to get home before my father becomes irritated or worse. I'm afraid I'll be labeled a traitor for assisting a snake.” Perceval recognizes his brother's voice as he calls his name.

“Perrcevaal, Perrcevaal, Perrcevaal, Perr, Perrrcevaaal,” yells Jax. He gets a little closer. “PERRRCVAAAL.”

"I'm right here," despite feeling a little overtaken, Perceval says this without showing any signs of distress. Perceval is wearing a blue and red striped shirt that is covered in sticky leaves and dirt when Jax finds him.

“This snake wants us to go to the Old Ogre's house and rescue the fairy.”

“Do you think you've gone insane, snake?” Jax takes a breather. “So, what do we get in return?” says Jax. “What's the deal, worm? What's the catch?”

“I had previously saved your brother's life from oblivion. As part of the deal, I'll allow you to keep your desolate years and answer any questions you might have about the nature of the world. Perhaps you'd like to be present for the reaping, and I have a similar study on the soul hunt...”

“Are you serious?” Jax inquires. “What's going to keep me from wringing your neck?”

The snake recoils inside the shaded plane-tree as Jax picks up a large stick. “My reason is secure to outthink your wrest, wretch.”

“What is the Old Ogre's interest in a fairy, anyway?” In a threatening tone, Jax says.

“Every part of me is of a narrower sort. Pay attention. Fairy-dust is a powerful aphrodisiac that, among other things, has a spiritual connotation. It's also a blatantly dishonest business. Paternosters is in charge of fairy-dust harvesting and distribution throughout Titania. Monsters are insensible and hallucinating because of this. You'll also be saving your possessed settlement from persuasion by seizing the source of Cerulean Dust right now.”

“This isn't my issue. Why don't you go yourself if it's so important to you?” Jax inquires.

“I don't have a lot of arms.” With a hiss, the snake in the tree says, emphasizing the “s.”

“What does it matter to me what the world's nature is like? I'd like to be rewarded in some way.” Jax keeps going. “Tell me where your kingdom's treasure is buried, and I'll believe your scheme.”

“The awareness I possess is superior to every single solitary treasure of the globes combined, for I have access to the empire of darkness, a blissful paradise of mysterious exquisiteness, but proviso, if you insist, I'll give you the location of the treasure; indeed, you draw closer to the “X,” but pay attention to the wood's words, ‘less you stumble on forever, for it is the same treasure the entire time, for it is the same treasure the entire time, for it is the same it will be yours if my spirit is genuine.”

Jax’s red eyes stretch out largely at the thought of anything shiny. “Fine, we’ll go. Just tell me where Cyclops lives, but if this is some sort of a trick, I’ll come back here with more than a stick!”

“A righteous snake like me can't pull any tricks. Follow the passageway north until you reach cliffs, then follow the cliffs east until you come across a small house. Look for a way to get inside. Please help the fairy. Then, with her in your possession, assemble in the funeral soil atop the precipice, and I'll tell you the location of worldly riches.”

While debating what they'll do with the treasure, Perceval and Jax follow the snake's instructions by heading north and east along the cliff, where they'll find a log cabin with a smoking chimney hidden deep in the woods.

They hide behind some nearby bushes until they notice the Cyclops moving south. The cabin door is locked, but the smoke from the chimney clears, allowing access.

They devise a plan and work together to pull down a long piece of vine and scale up the cliff's side to the wooden roof. Jax climbs down the vine while Perceval holds onto it from the top after a brief debate about who will go in. He stares for what seems like hours into the dark chimney until he feels a tug. Then, with all the weight and strength of a young fat ogre, he pulls Jax back up through the chimney, and Jax emerges covered in soot but safe and sound with the blue fairy on his shoulder. Annabelle appears terrified, as if a baby bird has fallen out of its nest, and befuddled, as if in a daze about what is going on. They make their way back down the cliff and into the undergrowth.

“How are you?” Perceval speaks in hushed tones.

“Hello there. For rescuing me, I am eternally grateful. I'm hoping you've come to save me.” Annabelle responds with a sweet smile.

“All right. Yes, I agree. I suppose. It was not an issue. My brother also pitched in.”

“Your brother assisted because he is looking for a reward.”

“Thus, consider yourself fortunate. I'm going to eat you. Now, tell me where I can find the treasure.” Jax cradles the young fairy in his grubby green hands and opens his mouth wide enough to swallow a dwarf.

“It has to stop.” Perceval exclaims a little too loudly. He tries to reason more quietly, “If you eat her, you won't find out about the treasure. We came to an agreement, Jax. Hand me the fairy now.”

“Attempt to take it from me.” He tests Perceval by dangling the grimacing fairy in front of him.

“Stop! You're causing her pain!” He pleadingly reaches out to gently pluck her from his grasp, but he moves her away and lifts her above Perceval's reach.

“It's in the cemetery!” exclaims the narrator. Annabelle is able to express herself.

Before tucking the fairy into his shirt pocket, Jax responds, “Well, what are we waiting for? The return of the Old Cyclops.”

They arrive at the cemetery an hour later after following the cliff further east until it leads up a hill. The cemetery appears to have been abandoned and is in a state of disrepair. A brisk breeze, thick with dust and decay, swirls leaves and earth around the ruins. Dirt and dust have also covered the headstones and mausoleums. On the more elaborate plots, there are stone lions, statues of fire-breathing dragons, and crosses.

“Now where?” Jax asks as he pulls his pocket open.

The fairy pouts quietly as she reluctantly points them to one of the old mausoleums.

“You little liar, there's no treasure in here...” Jax starts to speak. A sarcophagus descends, revealing a bare-stone staircase beneath, after the fairy mutters something, perhaps a magical phrase, "Lusus Naturea?"

“Aha,” says Jax “That's a wonderful fairy.” With Perceval close behind, Jax cracks his knuckles and descends the steep stairwell. They can't see because it's too dark, but the fairy emits a bright blue glow, so Jax takes her out of his pocket and uses her to lead them through the crypt.

The air is thick and smells like dust and death. The walls are covered in cobwebs and stacked with skeletal remains. This mustiness can only portend bad news.

Perceval says, "I have a bad feeling about this. There are so many corridors with so many twists and turns that we'll never be able to find our way out.”

“Stop whining.” Jax responds.

They enter a large antechamber full of ancient columns that appear to be on the verge of collapsing if given just a slight nudge. Three small sets of stairs lead to three pedestals at the far end of the chamber. They make their way up the middle set to a large black tome with glowing golden letters titled The Crystal Book.

“You are willing to assist me because you have a good heart. This suggests that there is still hope for your species. In exchange for my safety, I assume the nameless snake promised to teach you about the world's nature. This is where you'll find that gift. This is the treasure you're looking for, Jax, because it's the same treasure the Rendlewood army has been looking for for millennia. As a result, I've kept my end of the bargain.” Annabelle leaps from Jax's grasp and onto the pedestal, where she opens the book.

A tiny wand is hidden among the pages. The fairy aims the wand at Perceval's brother as soon as she grasps it. When a blue light strikes him in the eyes, he starts screaming and flailing around, ostensibly blind. She brightens to the point where the entire room lights up, revealing the surroundings, and she hovers in mid-air. The twins are completely surrounded by a small army of red faeries. When Perceval returns his gaze, he discovers that the snake has blocked the only way out. The heart of Perceval sinks into his stomach.

Perceval has awoken. He can't move because he's paralyzed. In the dark, he feels a thousand tiny hands dragging him along. His mind races with the question, "Am I still alive? Is it true that I'm being dragged through a tunnel? What happened to my brother?

“Why are we keeping this fiend alive?” a squeaky voice asks.

“The queen might have hit her head,” another responds.

What does it all mean? Perceval wonders.

“I'm not familiar with interrogation orders. She stated that he is unique, just like us. He might be able to assist us.”

“What is going on?” Perceval screams angrily.

“Oh no. It has awoken.” Perceval, along with a slew of other tiny voices, hears something. Then the pages become dark once more. Annabelle is sitting atop the mausoleum atop the snake when Perceval wakes up outside.

“Can you tell me what happened?” He inquires. “Can you tell me where my brother Jax is? What was your motivation for doing this? Why?”

“I simply said I'd show him where the treasure is,” the snake responds. I never mentioned anything about renting him an escape vehicle. You're green, and this is beneficial to me. Annabelle's request is the only reason you're still alive. Your uniqueness is exquisite.”

To the snake, Annabelle says, “Always be kind.” To Perceval, she says, “Please accept my heartfelt apologies, Perceval. I wish you had a better understanding of who you are.”

“Who am I? I might wonder.”

“Well, you're a monster,” says the fairy.

“No, no, no. I'm not a monster, believe it or not. I'm an ogre, by the way. That snake is a monster!” exclaims Perceval.

“Yeah, but ogres are also monsters, but you stand out. I've never met an ogre before who was sympathetic.” She clarifies. “Once your brother got his hands on the book, he would have eaten me, and he, along with all of Titania's monsters, are endangering the natural order, and our species is on the verge of extinction. If you could help us, that would be great.”

“Can you tell me where he is?” Perceval makes a demand and takes a stand.

With a smile and a flick of his split tongue, the snake says, “He's no longer alive. With him inside, we collapsed the entrance.”

“Nooo!” says Perceval. “How could you do that?” Tears well up in his eyes. “He was my brother!”

“Excuse me? What is it that makes you say that? Please tell me, what did you and your brother eat for supper the other night, sticky one?”

“Just leave me alone,” Perceval says as he sprints back toward Titania. Before he set out for the woods, his parents fed him elf-legs and gnome-eyes. Is this incorrect? His guilt feels like it's squeezing his ribs on a rack. Oh my, he realizes. Other people have been fed to me. Oh, my goodness. I'm not even a human being. Perceval lets out a terrifying scream that can be heard throughout the forest, and he enters a cave at the cliff's base. As the sun sets in the west, vampires emerge from their caves, werewolves howl, and tree trolls lose their stone form. Perceval ponders. They'll all leave me alone because I'm like the scarecrow, a mischievous monster who terrorizes even the bravest creatures. As a result, he sleeps uncomfortably on a rock, hoping to awaken from a bizarre nightmare beyond scribing.

He wakes up the next morning thinking about his predicament. In the deep, dark cave, he mulls over whether to return to the cemetery, where he knows he will face certain doom and punishment, or to continue on home to certain doom and punishment. He is terrified of confronting his parents and explaining what has happened to them, and a part of him never wants to see them again. He wishes to put an end to his miserable existence. He wishes the fairies had abandoned him so that he could die with his beloved brother.

But, with so many questions unanswered, he decides to return up the cliff to the old ruined cemetery. He raps on the mausoleum door, waiting for Annabelle to appear.

“All right. “How did I get here?” With his arms crossed, he inquires.

“A billion years ago, there were life forms called people that were similar to you. They chose not to live in harmony with nature, and as a result, magical devices capable of destroying entire continents were used to destroy the world. A few of these people survived, but they were transformed into green-skinned monsters by these terrible weapons. Some people were able to survive, but they had to live underground for a million years because the earth's surface had been decimated, dangerous, and full of bloodthirsty creatures. A few other animals managed to survive and evolve as well. Your entire existence is falsely based on people's fictional novels, which monsters discovered and mistook for true accounts. They are prophetic, but they do not belong in the mythological realm.”

“You're very mad,” Perceval interjects. “You're aware. Fairy tales have been told to me before in stories. You're a dangerous person to trust, a cunning natural thief. Everyone understands that people are fictitious. Can you show me your proof?”

“If you knew anything about fairies, you'd know that we can't tell a lie.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Perceval inquires.

“Because you asked me to tell you the truth, Perceval. We'll be trapped in a never-ending cycle of warfare as long as the ogres fight everything that isn't an ogre, and those of us who are still connected to nature understand that this path always leads to life's destruction, and the cycle repeats itself in eternal conflagration.”

“Can you tell me what you want me to do?” For the sake of Author, I am a child.”

“The Author is no longer alive, poor friend; The Reader is the only true God. You've been duped, but you have a good heart. I'm confident you'll put this knowledge to good use. When you are older, you may be able to obtain a copy of a book containing these histories, which were passed down to me by my godmother. Because I'm the only remaining azure fairy, this is my lineage's last hope for a peaceful resolution this time. I'll teach you, and then you'll teach the other giants using this book. That is your fate, as predicted by an extraterrestrial toad. Hopefully, giant-kin will begin to understand one by one...”

From behind him, Perceval hears a terrifying yell. He is hit from behind with a heavy blow that sends him crashing through numerous headstones and into the mausoleum before he can turn around. He then notices him. Paternosters, the Cyclops, runs toward Perceval with a vengeance, sporting a long white beard and a sinister evil eye beneath his silly pyramid hat. As he reels back to pierce Perceval through the chest with a lance he broke off from a statue of a human slaying a dragon, the Titan falls backwards from the snake wrapping around his legs. Because of his cushy exterior, Perceval springs to his feet, battered but alive, and the whale of a kid mounts the giant's chest before he can break free.

“What exactly is your issue?” Perceval inquires, his shoulders slamming into the ground.

“You're a thief and a traitor!” He growls, his teeth jagged and rotting.

They roll over the tops of the fallen ogres' tombstones. Perceval is thrown about. The Cyclops makes it clear that he will not rest until he has killed Perceval and buried him with the fairies beneath the earth. Perceval, having procured a lance providentially tainted by Deadly Flourish, stabs old one-eye in the heart with all of his weight, and the snake moves in for the kill by wrapping itself around his neck. He feels the giant's godlike life seep into the ground in one final convulsion, and the rage in his single eye fades into an empty stare.

“Excuse me? “What was that all about?” Perceval inquires of the snake.

“Paternosters were descended from a long line of monsters sworn to secrecy about nature's secrets. Because comprehension is supremacy, each member swears an oath to protect awareness. As you can see, his relative benefits from the ongoing race wars because they supply weapons of war.” The snake makes a hissing sound. “At long last, I can awaken from my thousand-year slumber. Examine the manuscript and make a list of all the facts, both good and bad.” He says this before slithering back into the forest's darkness, leaving a bloody "S" trail behind him.

Perceval spends ten years in the secret depths of the crumbling crypts with the fairies, learning to read and write and memorizing history, philosophy, mathematics, and mysticism in exchange for their protection. Once he reaches adulthood, he will say his goodbyes and return to the world of ogres, like a dragon's egg, to find allies and begin teaching others what he has learned about the world of secrets, until nature becomes strong enough to overthrow Titania's evil hierarchy from within.