Thursday, April 3, 2008

Potelé ~ triste -sad

this post is a continuation of The potelé monster.do read it first if u haven't.
as stated,this is the sad ending to The potelé monster.i would suggest u to read the happy ending 1st.i would also strongly suggest u to avoid reading this altogether if u hate sad ending.

Garcon climb the mountain,watched closely by the Pyro-army.they was keeping an eye on him,camping on the foothill,preventing the sacrifice from running away.
after seeing Garcon arrive 'safely' to the top, the army would then 'vanish'.so would any chance of escaping for Garcon,for as he reached the last climb,he was hauled up by a giant hand.

holding him was the monster, and he was blue.blue azure.
the sunlight shined upon the scale on its skin, casting a bright blue reflection.
something that struck Gorcan as wonderful,mesmerizing.
and the monster spoke.
"hungry.."
what caught his attention was not what it spoke,but rather the voice.
the voice was somewhat unsuitable,a voice unbefiting for a monster,Gorcan wondered.
until he realized,
it was the voice of a boy!

almost eaten,Garcon screamed;
"stop!"
apparently he was never ordered before,so the monster stopped and looked wonderingly at Garcon.
"let's play a game," Garcon said.

amazingly the monster put him down and listened.
quickly thinking,Garcon drew a t-shaped box on the ground.
slowly he tempted the monster into playing 'teng-teng' with him.

the monster was interested and thus forgot his hunger,but not for long.
he was about to eat Garcon,but every time he wanted to,Garcon would introduce a new game.playing till it was tired,Garcon managed to survive the day.
however still,Garcon was running out of idea on the second day.
oh how he wish he had marbles,for he knew dozens of game using them.
as he was about to be eaten again,Garcon desperately asked the monster if it had any marbles.
it stopped and pondered before plucking its scales, throwing it to the ground and said
"potelé!"
its scales turned into marbles,blue gem-like-marbles.
the monster can turn his scales into anything that is round,by just saying potelé.
Garcon cant believe his eyes,and picked up the marbles.
as if an act of display,the monster did it again,
potelé!
but this time by turning itself into a marble!
a big blue sphere,with only the protruding ears betraying its origins.
round and round,
the ball began to roll,amusing itself by chasing Garcon.
alas,by chance the monster accidentally bounced OF the mountain,going over the edge.it was tumbling downhill,picking speed along the way.

quickly Garcon raced after the monster,trying to stop it reaching the bottom.unfortunately he tripped and fell.by the time he stood up,the monster was already gone and out of sight.
Garcon was just about to walk back home when he realized he was standing on a tablet.
a broken tablet with words written on it:

"only a boy shall be chosen,
gems thief from the cave to fend,
for this he'll obtain the power potele,
but after a week,a cursed monster he will stay.

to lift the curse,to restore peace,
remove the monster,with another boy to replace.
thus..."


the rest of the tablet was not to be found,
for it was an old one,
one that is written a long time of yore,
a time when Mount Esig was widely known for its gem cave.
a time before when there was no Potelé monster,let alone the Pyrocannon.

with the tablet Garcon ran home.

**********

Garcon reached his home,but his grandmother was nowhere to be found.thus he searched throughout the village,in vain,until he saw a large group of people at the graveyard.upon his approach,everyone was dumbstruck and petrified.
Garcon saw the mound of earth and asked,
"who was it?"
the people staring at him suddenly averted their eyes.
"i asked,who was it?who did you buried?"

silence.

a man stepped forward and said,
"your grandmother was found in the woods near the mountains foot.she fell.she couldn't survive it at her age."

the words took moments to sink in, before Garcon wailed suddenly and screamed,
"how could this happen?you killed her.you all kill her.all of you."
rushing towards the news-bearer,Garcon gripped the front of his clothe,looked into his eyes and said,
"why didn't you look after her?how could you do this to her?"

staring back calmly,the man replied,
"she didn't believe us that u got the Pyro-mark,so she went searching for you.she said u told her that you would be back that night.she said her grandson wouldn't lie."
the man slowly removed Garcon's loosen grip,gulped and said,
"you did it yourself.you,Garcon."

Garcon slumped to the ground and laid near the mounds.long after everyone left,Garcon stayed by the grave with his hands holding the blue diamonds,as if offering them to his grandmother.

.......

the tale of Garcon's return surprised everyone,but what intrigued Master Slardar was the blue gems and the remnant of the tablet that Garcon brought back.he then conceived an idea to mine the riches for himself.together with his son,they climbed Mountain Esig.
there he found the cave mentioned in the tablet.
the entrance however was too small,only enough for a child to go through.
Master Slardar commanded Jabar to crept through.Jabar was to collect the diamonds for Master Slardar,passing them to his father who was waiting at the entrance.
the diamonds were abundant but were mostly half-buried,consuming a lot of time to extract.

thus 3 days had passed.
however,after noticing his changing skin,Jabar wanted to stop,but his father insisted on wanting more.Master Slardar observed his son was getting stronger,that even after having little sleep and food,Jabar was able to dig more after his skin changed blue.
consumed by greed,he forced Jabar to continue,fearing that if he stop,someone else would stumble upon the cave,for Master Slardar wanted it all for himself.

thus a week had passed.
Jabar's mother was worried as the servant who was to send the daily food to Master Slardar didn't came back.therefore she sent another one.
but he also didn't came back.
short of servant,she sent the gardener,who also didn't came back.

in the end,she gathered the whole household,and together they climbed the mountain Esig.
what was to greet to them was horriyfying.there were blood all over,and more as they approached the cave.a sight of Master Slardar at the entrance,with his skull opened sent fear down their spine.the women screaming brought a monster out of the cave,his body was blue azure,but his hands and mouth were red blood.
he was carrying the gardener in his left hand.

gruesome bloodshed ensued,and all except a few were killed.those that barely escaped frantically ran downhill.among them was no other than Jabar's mother.
she was never the same after that.no one who escaped was.
but she lost her sanity when she saw her husband dead,killed by her own son who turned into a monster.
people saw her walking around the town with empty eyes,wandering aimlessly,and sometimes mercilessly taken in by beastly men,before in the end she was found dead behind Croaking Inn alley.

.....

the sun was setting down when a boy crept weakly from under the bridge.
he was pail and frail and his body was shaking wildly from the cold.a few passerby ignored him,trying to finish their business before the day goes out.
hungry and athirst,the boy extended his hands and stopped an old man crossing the bridge.

"food,"
his voice was merely a whisper,
drowned by the sound footsteps of people walking by.
the old man only turned when he felt a tug at his heels.
he kicked the boy's hand away and said in contempt,
"don't touch me beggar.what do you want?"

the boy raised his head and was about to speak,when the old man cut him short.
"by god!the boy's blue.he must be infected.get away from me!!"with utter disdain he kicked the boy in the gutter,sending him sprawling over the cobbled stone.the excitement attracted the passerby,prompting them to stop and stare.soon enough there was a crowd around the boy.
the old man distanced himself from the boy,before picking up a stone and throwing it at the boy.
"go away,monster.go away!"
and the crowd followed,
all the while cursing and shouting.

terrified,the boy mustered all the energy he had left and dragged himself back to the river,taking shelter under the bridge.the crowd had no courage to follow,thus the boy was left alone.

his stomach hurt and he cried.he tried to wipe the tears away but instead smeared blood on his face from the bleeding hand.
the blue boy spent the last seconds of his life by the riverbank,gazing into his reflection,
all the while wishing the shade would go away.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Potelé~heureux -happy

this post is a continuation of The potelé monster.do read it first if u haven't.
as stated,this is the happy ending to
The potelé monster.

Garcon climb the mountain,watched closely by the Pyro-army.they was keeping an eye on him,camping on the foothill,preventing the sacrifice from running away.
after seeing Garcon arrive 'safely' to the top, the army would then 'vanish'.so would any chance of escaping for Garcon,for as he reached the last climb,he was hauled up by a giant hand.

holding him was the monster, and he was blue.blue azure.
the sunlight shined upon the scale on its skin, casting a bright blue reflection.
something that struck Gorcan as wonderful,mesmerizing.
and the monster spoke.
"hungry.."
what caught his attention was not what it spoke,but rather the voice.
the voice was somewhat unsuitable,a voice unbefiting for a monster,Gorcan wondered.
until he realized,
it was the voice of a boy!

almost eaten,Garcon screamed;
"stop!"
apparently he was never ordered before,so the monster stopped and looked wonderingly at Garcon.
"let's play a game," Garcon said.

amazingly the monster put him down and listened.
quickly thinking,Garcon drew a t-shaped box on the ground.
slowly he tempted the monster into playing 'teng-teng' with him.

the monster was interested and thus forgot his hunger,but not for long.
he was about to eat Garcon,but every time he wanted to,Garcon would introduce a new game.playing till it was tired,Garcon managed to survive the day.
however still,Garcon was running out of idea on the second day.
oh how he wish he had marbles,for he knew dozens of game using them.
as he was about to be eaten again,Garcon desperately asked the monster if it had any marbles.
it stopped and pondered before plucking its scales, throwing it to the ground and said
"potelé!"
its scales turned into marbles,blue gem-like-marbles.
the monster can turn his scales into anything that is round,by just saying potelé.
Garcon cant believe his eyes,and picked up the marbles.
as if an act of display,the monster did it again,
potelé!
but this time by turning itself into a marble!
a big blue sphere,with only the protruding ears betraying its origins.
round and round,
the ball began to roll,amusing itself by chasing Garcon.
alas,by chance the monster accidentally bounced OF the mountain,going over the edge.it was tumbling downhill,picking speed along the way.

quickly Garcon raced after the monster,trying to stop it reaching the bottom.unfortunately he tripped and fell.by the time he stood up,the monster was already gone and out of sight.
Garcon was just about to walk back home when he realized he was standing on a tablet.
a broken tablet with words written on it:

"only a boy shall be chosen,
gems thief from the cave to fend,
for this he'll obtain the power potele,
but after a week,a cursed monster he will stay.

to lift the curse,to restore peace,
remove the monster,with another boy to replace.
thus..."


the rest of the tablet was not to be found,
for it was an old one,
one that is written a long time of yore,
a time when Mount Esig was widely known for its gem cave.
a time before when there was no Potelé monster,let alone the Pyrocannon.

with the tablet Garcon ran home.

..............


Garcon reached his home tired,only to see his grandma sitting by the window,knitting,like it was a normal day.
"Garcon,my grandson.you came back!come here and see what i knitted for you," she said.
"they're beautiful,grandma.beautiful.
now look what I brought."

.....

Master Slardar was surprised upon Garcon's return.
moreover,he was intrigued by the wealth Garcon had acquired.
through constant inquiring and pestering,he discovered about the gem cave.
consumed by greed,he brought his son with him to Mountain Esig.
true enough,there was a cave full of gems.
the entrance however was too small,only enough for a child to go through.
thus Master Slardar commanded Jabar to crept through.
the cave was full of gems,but the biggest was at the center,a sparkling gem-crystal, making up the pillar of the cave.
Jabar was ordered to take the pillar down,but tried as hard as he can, the pillar didn't move an inch.
Master Slardar then threw a rope,which Jabar tied at the pillar.
they pulled and pulled,so hard that the pillar move,but without the pillar as a support,the roof began to fall.Jabar quickly ran out and managed to save himself just as the roof caved in.
eventually the Master Slardar went home empty handed,
perusing the wealth he had 'lost',
forgetting he almost lose his son.almost.

......

the sun was setting when the fishermen found a boy lying clothesless on the riverbank.
the boy was pail and frail,and his body was shaking wildly from the cold.barely conscious, the fishermen took him home.

after days of resting,the boy was finally up and running again.named Quasi and raised by the fisherman as his own,he grew up healthy and strong.Quasi became a fisherman himself and spend the rest of his whole life by the river.

he would never stop wondering about himself,as he had no recollection of his past,only up until the time he was saved by his adopted father.
Quasi would sat by the river every evening,pondering.and sometimes,sometimes his skin would appear a shade of blue,a light blue.his father would always dismiss it and say it was only the reflection of the water.
Quasi smiled a reply,and the shade would vanish.

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Flár


a story about a dragon named Flár.



once upon a time,there was a dragon who was not able to breathe fire.
how ever hard he huffed and puffed,
nothing came from his mouth.
not a single flame.
not even a wisp of smoke.

at first he was a little worried,
but his parents told him it was not so bad.
"you're still young,no need to fret,
soon it will come,and you'll be glad!"
but his worries turn into sadness,
as the other tease about his strangeness.
worst was his brother Grath,with his friend Clob and Writh.
together when they were bored,they would make fun of Flar,
oh! pity him.

"watch Feuerne!how we burn this tree,
u couldn't ever do it,not even in a century."
they called him names,as a Feuerne means a dragon that is weak,
such as that cannot fly or breathe fire,and many more so to speak.

Flár was very sad,and wished that he really could,
breathe a flame of fire and show his brother,
that he can do it too.
so he tried various ways,methods to enable to breathe fire.
but all was in vain,
until one day,his brother spoke in disdain,
"Feuerne fool,all your methods are doomed to fail,
only i know how to remedy your state."
so Flár asked Grath,what could it be,
for he was at his wits end,
and would follow every advice,
as long as he can be like Grath and his friend.

"you must fly over this mountain,into the woods,
there's a small water pond there.drink from it you should."
not wasting a moment,Flár arrived at the pond,
where the water was so clean and clear,
that he can see in it,his own horn.

a gulp,
and suddenly!
out of the bushes jumped Grath,
followed by Writh and Clob,
bursting with laugh,
rolling on the earth,they could not stop.

"Feuerne certainly you are Flár,
havent you heard the story ever?
the Esig lake that turns the breathe cold,
preventing even the Elder from breathing fire,
you should have wait you little dole,
but now it shall come to you never.
you'll never breathe fire,
never Flár,ha ha ha..

they was laughing,but he was crying.
tricked and humiliated,he flew away,
away until the jeers were only whisper.
he flew away,until his wings can bat no more.
so he land near a river,to rest his beaten wings.
tho he did flew away,
the tears didnt stop to pour.

suddenly a soft voice spoke to him
"why are you crying?"
so Flár turn to see who it was,
to his surprise it was not a dragon,
initially appeared like a dwarf,
but actually it was a human son.
"why are you crying?"
again he asked.

prompted,Flár told the boy all,
and the boy told him his story,too
that they played along the river,
but the other boys ran home,
as they saw a dragon came from the sky.
limped as he was,the boy was left behind.

"but why was you crying?
even when you lost fire breathing,
you can still fly,
cant you?
obvious i think,
for a reason u cant cry."

spurred,Flár jumped and hovered,
he twirled and swirled,
circled above the lad,
before finally landing with a thud.
the boy laughed to see such sport,
it invoked the dragon thought,
forgetting his sadness
turning into bliss happiness,
when suddenly..

Grath came forth,
out of nowhere he appeared,
furiously he bellowed,
"how dare you Flare!
we searched for you everywhere,
but here you are,
playing with a humanling,
one that has killed our kind for nothing,
one that drove on our death for glory,
one that..
but here you are,
sitting with them,being merry"

with those words,Grath approached menacingly.
"i'll let you eat him then,
and u shall be forgiven,
for to kindle our breath,
it's said their heart we must have."

"NO!!i will not,
he comfort me,he had,
something a brother should do,but you did not."

enraged,Grath blew at Flár,
who cowered and crouched,
to protect the boy,his wings spread.

"how dare you say that,
you'll burn here,of your arrogant act.
Writh!Clob!
blew until your flame scorch."

though his scales were thick,
the flames did the trick.
hopes fail,whispered Flár to the boy,
"forgive me to cause this,
a death of fire..

but the boy answered
"falter not Flár,
you are a dragon still,
fight them,blow them,
flight and twirl,
i know u can.."

so Flár jumped,and twirled,
escaping to the open sky.
alas.Writh was faster,
for quickly towards Flár he jumped after,
he gripped Flár's foot,
and the rest quicken to grab his wings.

Three dragons chasing one,
one with a boy in his care,
he turned and tried,
futile as it seems,
blew as hard as he could,
not even a smoke brewed.
but he blew ice instead!

Three dragons chasing one,
three were frozen,face aghast,
fell to the ground,breaking to bits,
the last tale of Grath,Clob and Writh,
death brought by their bad deeds.
instead Flár's,it was theirs instead.

so Flár lived and the legend exist,
instead of burning he can freeze.
wide and far,famous for his feats.
and there was the boy;
who cant walk without a limp,
let alone run,so he tried,
but when the sun began to dim,
you can see him riding through the sky.

a silhouette of Flár,
the ice dragon
who huffed and puffed,
and no fire came from his mouth.
not a single flame.
not even a wisp of smoke.
only icicles.

the end

illustrations are work of Amir Safwan:



artist's imagination of Flár





artist's imagination of..the chase?