Garrett's Story

A short story I wrote for English 3 with an archetype of an outcast/hero. Garrett is kicked out of his kingdom for going against a corrupt king and has to defeat a monster to prove himself.

Darkness and moonlight surrounded him as he carefully made his way through the almost black forest with nothing but sword carved from silver at his side. His pale skin seemed to glow in the soft moonlight and the scars his own people had given to him stood out more than usual.

Garrett Falvier had been a thief for most of his life, and the punishment for thievery in his kingdom was a scar each time he was accused, but all that had changed only a few months after his fifteenth birthday. It was then he was discovered by his king, King Kiivax, and forced to work as his Thief of Knowledge until he was eighteen. Garrett’s eighteenth birthday was the day he told the world the truth.

He had exposed his own king for being corrupt and evil, but nobody believed a thief that could steal secrets and lie just as fast. He wasn’t sure what he expected, maybe for the people to rise up against the king or maybe simply to scare the king enough into doing what was right, but he had not expected to be thrown out of Silverfrost as a traitor.

He had two choices now; either leave and start a new life somewhere else, or find some way to prove he was more than simply a traitorous thief and gain the right to live in his kingdom again. While he was positive that his people would kill him the moment they saw him even if he did find some way to prove himself, he still cared deeply for his kingdom and for the people he saw as his own.

“Where are you going, friend?”

Garrett stopped, his blue eyes calm pools as he scanned the darkness around him to try to find whoever had spoken, but he could find nobody.

“Who are you?” he asked, his voice steady.

“A friend for now,” the voice answered. “Where are you going?”

“Pythanix,” Garrett answered, the word sharp in his mouth. “I wish to have a word with the one who calls himself the Devourer of Dreams. He has been plaguing my kingdom and he shall no longer do so.”

“Arrogant boy. You are one human with only a twig of silver. What makes you think you could destroy a monster only found when the moon rises?”

“Show yourself and I will show you. I may be only human, but even humans can create fire that can burn even the foulest of creatures.”

“Fool,” the voice hissed. “Go back to your safe home and forget your death wish.”

“I shall never,” Garrett responded.

He waited a good ten minutes for any other answers, but got none. With his sword drawn, the dark haired young man continued his way through the forest. Everything seemed to get darker as he continued his journey despite the fact that a full moon shone in the sky. It got colder too and his thin leathers, the only clothes he had been wearing the day he had been kicked out of his kingdom, did little to protect him from the chill.

Far above him in the trees, he heard the cawing of unseen crows that told him he was nearing the Devourer of Dreams’ home. He had taken up residence in a ruined castle deep in the Shadow Forest with only crows to keep him company as he preyed on surrounding kingdoms.

“You will die before you take one step into the Great One’s home.”

The voice was back, everywhere yet nowhere, but this time Garrett ignored it. He was sure it was the creature that called himself Quietus, death, and he knew that if he stopped for too long then the doubt and fear Quietus was trying to create would take him over. As things were, Quietus could do little except talk and threaten.

The forest was empty of living creatures as he went deeper into the forest and he thought it was because the combined evil of Quietus and the Devourer of Dreams had chased away all the creatures, but then he stepped on something that was too soft for his comfort. He discovered it was a dead mouse and that the twigs he thought he had been stepping on where really the black, crunchy remains of countless other creatures. He was sick to his stomach as he stood back up, but he was determined and he continued on his way.

“Whenever a creature dies in the forest, I steal their soul,” Quietus spoke up for the third time. “No matter how small.”

“After I destroy the Devourer of Dreams, I shall destroy you and return light to this forest.”

There was a loud laugh that sounded demonic from the shadows.

“You will not destroy anybody, boy. You couldn’t even destroy a corrupt king. Instead, you ran away and left your people behind to suffer.”

Garrett only just ignored his words as the moon guided his way forward through the thicker brush. He knew he would return to help his people break the chains holding them to King Kiivax and there would be nobody who would be able to convince him otherwise.

Suddenly, he found himself standing in a large clearing that was bathed in moonlight with a massive ebony castle looming up towards the sky. It was in ruins, but it was still grand and only made grander by the light surrounding it. It was a shadow surrounded by light surrounded by darkness.

There was a gasp or hiss of surprise from the shadows behind him when he stepped in the castle. It was empty inside with only pools of blood and the smell of death and evil filling the rooms he walked through. Finding nothing on the first floor, he headed upstairs and found a dark figure in the throne room.

“I have been expecting you,” the Devourer of Dreams said, sitting on his throne of trapped souls.

Garrett could hear them calling to him, begging him to help them, but the black magic-made crystal trapped them. Garrett held up his silver sword and looked at the silver-eyed, black-haired Devourer of Dreams with fire burning in his blue eyes.

“You have been plaguing my kingdom with your darkness and evil for too long and now your time shall come to an end. I have come to destroy you as you have destroyed others, creature.”

The Devourer of Dreams looked at Garrett with bored eyes that only just barely flickered with interest. He had no seen weapons, but even the way he sat told Garrett he had power that most could only dream of.

“Garrett,” the Devourer of Dreams said slowly. “You and I are more alike than you think. Are we not both orphans who were mistreated by the word and hated for who we were and pushed through with a fire in our souls?”

“Our backgrounds may be the same, but I would never let evil consume me.”

“Evil? I am not evil, Garrett. That is a word thrown out to describe what humans cannot understand. Power. That is what I am, Garrett. I am power and so are you. You only need to truly discover your power and use it for yourself. You can be something much more than you are now.”

“Power is what destroys all,” Garrett said quietly. “It will only consume and then transfer until it has destroyed everything.”

“Your human friends will turn on you again just like they have. What I am about to offer is something that could make you the king of the entire world. Be my assistant, my student, and my power will be yours. You have the ability to be something more, that much was proved by the fact Quietus couldn’t get to you and you made it this far without my magic killing you, and all you need is the right teacher.”

As if to prove his point, the Devourer of Dreams used his magic to let Garrett briefly taste the power that could be his. Garrett felt like a God, with the ability to crush or destroy any that he pleased, but it didn’t last long. He shook himself and the fantasy faded away to leave him seeing clearer.

“My people need me as I am,” he said, his voice strong and steady. “I will not have you infest me with your evil and magic.”

Just as quickly as the Devourer’s magic had made him feel like God, he felt as if the world had ended. He fell to his knees, his sword forgotten, as darkness, loneliness, and fear filled his very soul. Images flashed in his head of every moment he had suffered at the hands of his people; watching his parents die for being ‘witches’, bleeding from wounds given to him by the other kids, dying on the inside with every sneer, cruel word, and scar. He was the way he was because of the world and yet the world hated him.

“Humans are so very weak,” the Devourer’s voice cut through his brain. “Pathetically weak. You feign strength, but underneath you are simply a weak and broken child. You have no true strength, boy.”

“You’re wrong,” Garrett gasped out. “My scars are my strength.”

“Foolish child. Your scars are proof this world never cared about you and never will. Join me and you can make the world may for what it has done. For creating a monster.”

Garrett gritted his teeth and only just raised his head. The Devourer of Dreams was startled, enough that his magic wavered, at the rage burning in the human’s eyes.

“Perhaps we are the same,” he said, struggling to climb to his feet. “The world has wronged us both; however, we are very different in how we have dealt with that wrong. You may be a monster, but I will never be like you. I may be wrong in putting my hope and drive into others, but I know who I am and what I want and I will never help you destroy the innocent.”

“Innocent?” the Devourer laughed. “There is no innocent left in this world.”

“We were all innocent at once and most do not lose that innocence, which causes the injustice you and I have faced.” Garrett got to his feet, his nose bleeding, and the fire in his soul heated up the room. “I refuse to believe this world deserves to be destroyed even after all I have been through. Perhaps it would do you good to understand why I think that.”

Garrett raised a hand and the Devourer of Dreams felt his power being drained. His once cool eyes flickered with fear as Garrett twisted the magic that was showing him only the evil in the world to show the good there too. The Devourer’s mind was filled with all that had made Garrett who he was; the strangers who had taken in an orphan, the girl who had poured love into a broken boy, the king who had given everything to a child who was nothing.

It was too much for the Devourer. Years of hate and evil and darkness were driven out of him, but they were all that was left of him and he fell to the ground, dead. His power, his magic, spread throughout the castle and, because his last moments had been full of goodness and the small beauty in the world, the ruined castle was fixed and filled with shining crystal. Magic went beyond the castle too and cleansed the dead forest surrounding it, which also destroyed Quietus. The left-over magic, as well as what energy was left from the trapped souls that had been freed from the Devourer’s cruel magic, went into Garrett and filled him with a power and determination to return to his kingdom and save his people from the corrupt king that had taken the throne.

Garrett then returned to Silverfrost and was praised as the hero who had saved them from the Devourer of Dreams. No longer did his people have to live in fear of having their souls stolen when they sleep. Garrett did manage to overthrow the corrupt king and his people accepted the orphaned thief with a new power as their king. He ruled not only Silverfrost, but Pythanix as well from his ebony castle in the Shadow Forest and never once did he let any child suffer as he had once suffered.

Author's Note

What do you think? xD

Reviews

[Zoya]

Interesting concept. Shorten the length of some sentences maybe; long sentences were hard to follow. Other than that, I enjoyed reading the story. Quite imaginative. Well written!

[Ember Quinn]

Thank you so much for the review :D Usually for my classes my teachers are all like "make long sentences" so that's why they're so long, but I will fix it up ^.^

[Zoya]

No problem there

[Mirror]

Great!!!!! Tight dialogue. Great flow. detailed expressions. a touch of the character's background. A good book for academic reviews. i wish i know the end. I like that name 'Devourer of Dreams" well done.

[Ember Quinn]

Thank you so much for reading and reviewing ^-^