The Monster Game

I was shoved down and pulled backwards, a cold hand clamping over my mouth. I felt the vibration of my scream echoing in my head but the hand stifled the noise. I thrashed, desperately trying to see my captor and it was not long before I did. I was pulled outside into the rain, thrust down into the mud and pinned to the ground by the foot of King Monster’s Son who towered above me. He laughed deeply, roaring with joy. “You followed me,” he caught his breath long enough to choke out, “you - you actually thought that you could win!” “Where’s Rob,” I cried, “what did you do to him?!” He did not respond, he continued to cackle until his entire body shook. “The crystal’s mine, all mine,” he cried joyously, “and now that I have you and Rob, I’m invincible!” I could see the glowing of the crystal beneath his cape and I stared at it, beckoning it. “Wait,” I called, realizing the urgent situation, “give me a chance, just one chance to get it all back!” I watched the glowing of the rainbow colours, adding, “Rob, and the crystal.” He listened and took my words into consideration. “How?” “I will play the Monster Game,” I answered. He grew serious for a moment then he burst into laughter once more. “It will be of no use,” he explained, “you will lose and I will end up with everything anyway. Admit defeat Kay, it’s over and I won!” “No,” I demanded, “I will play, take me there.” Suddenly we appeared in a little clearing in the forest near the cabin. I looked out over Fairyland, reaching for it. I was so close that I was almost there, yet it felt as though it were worlds away. I saw the little people hurrying back and forth, and there I discovered Frendall gazing about. Look here Frendall, I thought, look here. He did; his eyes skimmed over me, then returned to settle on me. He yelled something and soon all of the fairies came to the border of Monsterland, gathering to watch. A capeless King Monster ran out looking horrified. I felt comforted to see Cookstone, brown and made of soil just as he had always been, no longer a stone statue. “She’s going to play the Monster Game,” Frendall yelled and everyone began to yell excitedly, fearfully. “Don’t do it, Kay,” King Monster cried over the wind, “you can’t win!” “Well,” King Monster’s Son trilled, “what do you wager?” I looked out over the land, over the fairies and the monsters, over everything. King Monster’s words came back to me; ‘the Book tells of a fairy, one pure of heart, who will sacrifice everything to save the land.’ “I wager everything.” “No, Kay,” Frendall screamed, as the fairies gasped and cried in distress, frantically clinging onto each other. King Monster’s Son howled in excitement. “And what are you playing for,” he asked, handing me the silver piece. It rested in my palm, cold and smooth and tarnished with age. I looked out at the moss covered stones bearing their engraved numbers. “You have no magic,” he reminded me, “and I will ensure that you never have magic again!” “Sheena told me once that the power of the mind is greater than that of real magic,” I said, “and I believe that I can do anything if I put my mind to it. So what am I playing for?” I focused on the board, concentrating. “I’m playing to win.” Suddenly I thrust the piece forward, feeling the force of it leaving my hand and listened to it skid across the chipped rocks, shutting my eyes. There was a gasp and uproar as I heard it stop and slowly my eyelids parted as the image of it met my vision…