Little Boy of the Stars

Prologue

 “Mommy, why do I have this birthmark on my cheek?” I asked her. I knew that ever since a few years ago, I have started to notice my birthmark on my left cheek. My mommy, Sarah Jonathan Curant, had married my daddy Todd Currant 14 years ago. Two years later, I was born. My name is Luke Curant, and I am 12 years old. I’m scared for my first day of 8th grade tomorrow so I asked my mommy about my birthmark.

“Sweetie, We already went over this. I don’t really know.”She said as she got my backpack and handed it to me. Her eyes were so pretty in the morning. No wonder why I keep being told my eyes are nice to look at. I guess that must be a trait that was given to me. I wonder that about a lot of things, especially my hair color and my diagnosis. Oh Yeah, I forgot to tell you. My parents found out I was on this chart called the Autism Spectrum. I don’t know what that means because I’m not on a seesaw like the one my daddy showed me. He measures stuff for his job using that thing. 

“We gotta go Luke. Are you ready?”, my mommy said with a smile. I got into the car with my backpack.

“Ready Mommy! Let’s go.” I said cheerfully. 

She started to drive as I waved goodbye to my house. I don’t know why I sounded cheerful. Maybe I could make some new friends. After all, I had just moved here. It was a smooth ride to the school. I was shocked to see how big the school was. I never really did well with a lot of people. After hugging and kissing my mommy goodbye, I started to walk towards the building that was the homeroom of the 8th graders. The Day went by very fast for some weird reason and I was ready to go home However, I started to noticed these five kids around my age follow me. They looked at me with grins of each of their faces.. I thought that maybe these could be my new friends. Without hesitation, I asked one of them. 

“Hello there! I’m Luke and I’m new here.” I said with a sincere smile. They paused before looking at each other again. The kids began to laugh like there was no tomorrow. I was very confused? Did I say something funny? I don’t think I did.  

“Hello there! I’m Luke and I’m new here!” One boy told me in a mocking tone of my own voice.  

“That’s not very nice. Could you please stop?” I asked politely. I figured that they just wanted to make one joke so I asked them to stop. 

“That’s not very nice Could you please stop?” One girl taunted me as she pointed at my birthmark. That’s when it hit me. They were laughing at my birthmark. I decided I had enough of this and walked away.                                          

One of the other boys started mimicking the way I walked so I decided to just run. They were keeping up with me rather well. I darted towards the nearby little library and shut the door. I could still hear them laughing and walking away. I sat down on a bean-bag chair and cried a bit. “Why did you give me this stupid birthmark?!” I said out loud towards the sky. I was not expecting a response from anyone. After all, there was no one around me as far as I can tell. However, I felt a warmth hug around me. I turned to see who it was, but to my surprise, no one was there. Just as I was about to get up, I felt something underneath me. I picked up the mysterious book that I was sure that wasn’t there before. It read, “Luke Curant.” I felt surprised that someone would give this to me. I looked around for anyone to tell them that I wanted to buy this book. After looking around, I found the librarian in his cubicle office with headphones on his head. He looked like he was asleep. I didn’t want to wake him up so I left around ten dollars on his desk and ran outside.  

After getting out of the library, I headed home and was surprised that neither of my parents had made it home yet. I felt alone yet I didn’t. Now was a good time to start reading this book. I sat down on the couch and I opened the book. I can’t remember that much because I fell asleep. I wake up to someone quietly whispering my name to me. The voice was female yet around my age group. It was so soft and sweet, it made my heart melt. I started to cry.  

“Who are you? Please don’t hurt me.” I said without thinking.  

The voice spoke again. This time bit more clearly.

“Please don’t be afraid. I am with you. I am Princess Thalia.” she said as she appeared in front of me. She was so bright and beautiful. She had long brown hair that went to her shoulders. Her blue dress was sparkling with majesty. Her eyes, however, were looking at me with a look of joy. They simultaneously showed great wisdom but also childlike innocence. I was amazed when she told me she was a princess like the ones in fairytales my parents read to me. I could feel my cheeks getting warm while a comforting presence filled me. I decided to speak up again.  

“ Oh Hi. ..Umm I’m Luke.. Curant.” I said with a more calm voice. Her smile grew as she let out a happy sigh of relief.  

“Luke! Oh I know you would come for me.” she said with excitement. “I have been waiting for you for a long time.”

“Waiting for me? But why?” I asked. I wasn’t some hero or anything. I don’t remember ever meeting this girl before.  

“I have waited for you to step inside my realm of Fantopia. Only those with the special symbol and those kind-hearted enough can fully experience this magical land.” Thalia touched my cheek and smiled at me. 

 “You are my hero. Please meet me at the center of the Creation Castle. I will do my best to guide you with my dream power. My kingdom and I believe in you. Fare thee well.” She said as she kissed my cheek. I felt a wave of positive energy rush over me. Was this how mommy and daddy felt about each other when they had me?  

I opened my eyes to see myself in a field of grass.  

Where was I? It seemed liked the color was being drained out of the ground. It felt mysterious and very creepy to see that some of the ground have been burnt. I walked towards the end of the meadow, and I could see a gigantic castle in the distance. “Was this the castle Princess Thalia was talking about?”I said to myself.  

Suddenly, I noticed three pairs of yellow eyes in the darkness. I called out to them for help and waited for a reply. Instead what I got was low whispering and talking. They were saying phrases I couldn’t possibly make out. Then, the noises stopped and a voice spoke up.  

“You! You are one of those Star Children! Aren’t you?” One raspy male voice said to me. His yellow eyes were the closest to me. He stared into my soul and angrily continued to speak.

“You are the one who let that Dark Vestibulum Guy loose in our world! Don’t you dare try to deny it!” I had no idea what they were talking about. I felt like I was dreaming this whole thing up. However, I thought that if this was real. I might as well try to convince them that I didn’t know what they were talking about. After all, my mommy and daddy told me nothing good comes out of fighting!

“I don’t know what you are talking about! I just got here.” I said with an annoyed look on my face. I didn’t like being accused of something I didn’t do. I wanted to tell them my name and where I came from but they cut me off. 

“Liar! Come on you two! Let’s capture this kid and turn him into the boss.” He revealed himself and his two accomplices. They looked like clouds of a purple and black liquid. Suddenly, they attacked! They started to surround me on all sides, and I ducked for cover. I pleaded with them to stop attacking me.  

“Sorry Kid! You won’t convince us!” the raspy female voice answered me. She and the other two summoned flames from the sky. They came down very fast so I had trouble dodging the balls of fire. I got hit by their fire, and I screamed as the fire bounced around me. I called for anyone to help. I tried to, at least, tell my soon-to-be captors that they did a great job.  

“You guys are great at being scary.” I told them with a very shaky voice as I braced for the impact. I had no idea what would happen next.

“Oh Really? Well thanks.. I’m mean I do try my best, and I really love hanging around with my two friends over here.” The first figure said as he morphed from the cloud figure to a blue marble. His voice was now more strong and pleasant. The other two figures slowly transformed into a pink marble and a green marble. I guess complimenting them was all I had to do. Then they started to speak again. 

“ I am Blue, and those are my friends, Pinkie and Greenie.” He pointed towards them with a friendly smile. The other two were happy to see each other back to normal. They all had a group hug before I interjected, 

“What happened to you three that made you clouds? Also does anyone have a bandage? I desperately need one for my finger.” I said.  

“Oh Yeah, about that. We should tell you when we get back to our town of RoundTown. We will try to fill you in on everything. Oh and uh sorry about attacking you like that. We actually really should get you all healed up. Greenie, will you do the honors?” Blue said as Greenie raised his hand to cure my finger. “Whoa? What was that!” 

 I gasped in shock as they got confused looks on their faces. 

“What’s the matter? Never seen magic before?” asked Pinkie, “ We definitely need to explain everything to you when we get back to RoundTown.”

We started to talk towards Roundtown which looked so cute and friendly. I could see why this was their home. However, many people were absent from the small buildings. They began to explain to me that this Dark Vestibulum guy was the one who began corrupting them and their people. They told me that he was one of the Star Children who corrupted the world of Fantopia by spreading around the elements of sadness, realism, and pain. According to them, He wasn’t always like this. He was once the Kingdom’s Gatekeeper, able to allow worthy Star-Children to enter this realm. However, that is all they know. 

“Wait a minute. So does this mean that I’m a Star Child?” I ask them. 

“Yes, you are. And you said your name was Luke, right?” Greenie spoke up. 

“Yeah.” I said.  

“Yup. You are the one who Princess Thalia kept talking about.” Blue said in an exhausted tone, “ She kept saying, ‘My Hero Luke will come for me.’ and that, ‘My Prince Luke will save our kingdom.” 

I was blushing like there was no tomorrow. Could someone really think that way about me? I mean yeah, I pretended to be prince of my building blocks and stuffed animals before but I don’t remember any friend coming into my house to play with me. I decided to ask them about where she was.

“ She is being held captive in the Creation Castle. If you go north from here, you should find it. Also one more thing, This Dark Vestibulum fellow is very dangerous so be careful if you encounter more of his minions. Free them like you freed us!” Greenie said as he hugged me.  

         I felt good that I was helping these people. They seemed to look up to me a lot. However, I must be careful if I am going to save this land. Now that I think about it, this land reminds me of what I would think of whenever I was sad. I probably shouldn’t overthink this though. I have a Kingdom to save. 

        After saying my goodbyes to my new marble friends, I started to follow the pathway that lead to the castle. I felt really uneasy as I could see that the castle looked grey and black. I could tell that something was not right. It should be bright and colorful like how I pictured a castle to look like. I took a deep breath. I needed to rest somewhere or else I would fall asleep on the cold, hard ground. After all, the Sky was getting very dark. I had a strong feeling that it would get darker so I looked around for any nearby place.