The Red Kingdom was the most prosperous in the land. It had the riches of every kingdom and the strongest army in the whole of the Pacific coast. The king was an old and wise fellow who needed an heir since he did not have a wife or child. He needed to find a very worthy heir from his kingdom as it was a mighty kingdom that was incomparable in the whole land. To find the rightful heir, he put out a contest- a contest that would lay bare the might of the contestant and save the decaying kingdom, both in one shot. He wanted the participant to find the Golden Grail and announced an enormous prize for the winner. Deep in his heart, he knew that the person who would bring back the grail would be the most befitting heir to his kingdom.
THE HOLY GRAIL
The holy grail had been a mystery to the kingdom and nobody had ever found this piece of history in a million years. It was a mystical reality that everyone knew of yet no one had seen. The path to discovering the Grail was beset with innumerable threats which included the Morbid Forest, the Treacherous Mountain, and the Volcanic bridge in order to reach the mysterious Cave of Grail. Due to the perilous journey, nobody had ever attempted to go there. In the past few years, the kingdom had faced problems due to natural depletion. The HOLY GRAIL was the only object that could solve their problem.
GEF TROTER
In the slums of the kingdom lived a boy named Gef Troter. Many years ago, his parents had migrated from Japan to the prosperous Red Kingdom on the border of the Pacific Ocean. Trained in the art of Jujutsu, he was a sturdy and confident boy. He saw the poster for the HOLY GRAIL and looking at the prize pool he thought weirdly that he would be able to find it. He wanted to look for the Grail. Saying goodbye to the parents, he left- in search of the Golden Grail.
It was the longest adventure he would be facing in his whole life. Nothing would be that easy. Would he be able to make it or would he give up?
Only time would have been sure!
THE TWO CLOWNS
Two evil clowns named Buggy and Crux, who stayed in the same slum area, thought the Holy Grail would be theirs and they would receive a large sum with a special prize from the king. This, they thought, would be perfect to prove to the world that they were the best.
When they heard about Gef they thought to let the kid do the work and spare them the time, then take the Grail. It was like taking candy from a little child. What they did not know was that the Grail was God’s work and nothing would stop it from the truth.
ONTO THE MORBID FOREST
Gef crossed the borders of the Kingdom to be led into the Morbid Forest which housed the deadliest animal of all, the 3 headed snake. Gef took the risk and crossed the jungle to find the snake sleeping softly on the swaying green grass. He tried to walk as swiftly as possible but the snake had an extreme sense of smell. But, besides his sense of smell, he had nothing to rely upon as he was totally blind. The snake smelled Gef and hissed towards him. While trying to save himself, Gef fell into a puddle of mud. As soon as he fell into the mud, the snake stopped hissing. It turned its hood here and there and then it went back to sleep. Gef was elated to know that his muddy smell had saved him from the deadly snake.
Having got past the first threat Gef went hiking in the Treacherous Mountain with a few mosquito bites on his long hairy legs. From a distance, the 2 clowns were watching and with the least of pleasure, they bathed inside the puddle of mud and cautiously walked past the snake leading to the Treacherous Mountain.
THE TREACHEROUS MELTING MOUNTAIN
The Treacherous Mountain was a mountain made out of ice that started melting the moment a human touched it. Of course, Geff did not know this and he had come totally unprepared. He saw a lot of hooks leading to the peak of the mountain. As soon as he took his first few steps, the mountain began crumbling and melting. Quick as a cat, he took out his rope, strung it into the hooks, and began climbing. He repeated this process over and over again until he reached the bottom of the next place.
The clowns saw the melting mountain from a distance. As soon as they got the chance they began running and quickly climbing the ropes. They did the same as the sixteen-year-old boy and reached the other side. Gef could not be bothered about the rumbling of the mountain and continued on his way to find the Volcanic Bridge.
YORU (Darkness)
Night had already set in and Gef was not able to find The Volcanic Bridge. He needed rest as the whole day he had been running around all over the place. The clowns saw the kid resting so they thought about pickpocketing him but remembered about the prize pool, so they didn’t pick his pocket. Then after walking a mile, they finally slept.
In the meanwhile, Gef was still trying to find the Bridge. Slowly the day passed. He kept on looking but nothing was to be found. As he went further, he came across a golden desert that was unlike any other desert he had ever heard of. It had huge shifting sand dunes and flowing rivers. Gef was still trying to find a bridge that would lead him to the cave of the Grail. Every time a sand dune shifted, he thought that he would see some kind of a volcano, but nothing came by. Days passed and Gef started becoming impatient. He walked and walked and walked in the unending desert.
One day a huge sand dune shifted and Gef saw a large towering volcanic structure in some distance. As he started pacing up towards the volcano, it suddenly erupted. Without any second thought, Gef began sprinting away from the lava as it melted the tiny sand grains. Unexpectedly Gef fell onto a large rock plummeting into the hot and itchy sand. Few minutes later, he woke up to see that the lava had left a large molten glass trail that seemed to be leading somewhere. He used the water from the flowing river to cool down the glass trail and lo and behold, the volcanic bridge was right there!
THE GLASS BRIDGE
As Gef started walking on the somewhat opaque glass bridge he saw the sky turning pitch black. He realised that a solar eclipse was occurring. He was too scared to look up as his parents had told him that if one looked at an eclipse with naked eyes, that person would go blind. Nonetheless, Gef had to look up or he would lose all of his progress. He found the sun’s rays falling on the inside of the volcano. Something inside his head told him that there must be reason for that. He realised that it must be the last step to getting the Grail.
But, would it really be the last step or was there some mischief in store for Gef?
THE CAVE OF GRAIL
The volcanic bridge led him straight to the center of the volcano. There, in a deep pit lay the golden grail shining back at the eclipsed sun. Seeing the Grail on a studded pedestal, he took it off. As soon as he lifted the Grail, the cave began rumbling and crumbling. With all his might, he started sprinting and soon found himself back on the volcanic bridge. But just as he stepped down from the volcanic bridge, the 2 clowns ambushed him totally unaware.
They took his grail and ran away after knocking him out.
As Gef lay there unconscious, a strange golden-yellow glow started radiating from his body. It was as though he had soaked the powers of the Grail. As he lay there, he kept on getting brighter and the grail stolen by the two clowns kept on fading its light.
This had been the old king’s plan all along, to have a true champion as their king! The two clowns had been clowned!
BACK AT HOME
As the two devious clowns reached back to the kingdom, they were presented to the old king. As they were explaining the false claims of their heroic journey, the king interrupted them in between. He took a long look at their muddy and wet bodies while the two of them stared back at the king’s long and silver hair. The king knew they were lying as he had heard in stories that a person became golden yellow after the first encounter with the grail.
He yelled for the guards to take the thieves away and demanded for the real person who had got the grail. The clowns told the whole story to the king and told him about Gef. As the clowns were wrapping up they heard a bang outside. They looked outside to find that Gef had arrived. The rightful heir had arrived. The king proudly received Gef and he was glad that they had finally found an heir for the kingdom.
The king welcomed Gef into his large Quartz castle and told him that his reward was going to be the kingdom itself. The boy got an unnerving shiver in his back, he could not be happier. The king sent for his parents, ordered for the two clowns to be locked up in the prison and told the ministers to make arrangements for the coronation.
The golden grail was mounted on a golden pedestal outside the castle and the following week, Gef was crowned the new prince. The old king had finally found his heir!
Writer : Jagrav Sharma
Grade : 6 (Year 2023)
Place : Gurugram, India
No Comment