A Trio of Anomalies - The Quest for Paradise

CHAPTER 24 - THE CRYSTAL CAVE

"What do you mean, dear princess?" asked Oscar, "You heard Boils, the pages were filled with gibberish."

Snowy Dawn shook her head, just as confused, "It was as if I studied the legend so much that I can memorise it word for word. After I wrote the story in the Book, somehow it gave me a copy of it, its origins, how to find it, and the obstacles as well."

"That's awesome!" Steve laughed, "I'd have a much easier time studying for my S3E's if that happened to me. Ah ... I wouldn't have to be a jerk to everyone ..."

His expression hardened, not daring to look directly at Nicholas.

"S3E's ? What are those?" Boils inquired.

"Just an examination we take so that we can enter high school," Steve replied drily, "I ... I don't want to talk about it."

"He did amazingly though," Nicholas added in an attempt to comfort him, "Distinction for all of his subjects and high distinction for some of them."

"It's all over now," Steve headed back to the Dragon, "It's my punishment. I can't be proud of it like everyone else who got straight A's ..."

***

It was still dark even back in the Kingdom of Fairies, and so Goose Blahblah urged the Dragon to stop at Enchanted City, to the dismay of the adolescents. She, Oscar and Boils checked into an inn for the night, one room for Snowy Dawn and them, the other for Steve and Nicholas. The door opened with a small click once a blue card was scanned, to reveal a small room with a large window at the far end, which currently showed the city lights outside. There were two simple beds against one wall with a small table in between, and the beds themselves had one pillow and light blue blanket each. Nicholas took a good look through the window into the darkness, decided that it was nothing too interesting, and quickly pulled the curtains shut, as Steve threw his backpack onto the nearest bed he saw and headed straight into the bathroom.

"Oh goodness, I don't know how we survived this long without the Elixir of Life!" Steve filled his water bottle at a sink, "But it's so ... good ..."

Nicholas laughed, but he took out his water bottle as well, "I've never seen you this excited about plain water. Also, maybe it's because you're magical, and this is a world where magic equals science."

"But that doesn't explain anything about you!" Steve took a deep breath after chugging more water, "You're not magical, and yet you're doing just fine here!"

"Well ... if you think about it," Nicholas climbed onto a bed next to the large window, "I'm only considered "not magical" because you're the one with extraordinary powers back home. So, that means I'm technically magical here, because I've not met any proper humans at all. Everyone's got some sort of unnatural power here, Scribblehopper, Oscar, Goose Blahblah and Boils are all animals who can talk, Snowy Dawn can control paper, you and Erwin are sorcerers, and me ... I'm the only one who's completely vanilla."

Steve climbed onto the bed beside him, "Well ... vanilla tastes wonderful too, especially with caramel drizzled on top."

"I get it ... you're malnourished," Nicholas laid his head on a pillow, "It's been so long since I actually ate anything that I've gotten used to my stomach hurting. I don't think that's healthy."

"When I get home, I'm going to cry at the sight of a good breakfast," Steve pulled out a novel from his backpack, "What time is it?"

"No idea," Nicholas glanced at what he thought was a small clock on the table, "It's telling the time in shades of colour, and now it's a navy blue."