The Return of the Goblin King

The Words of An Old Man:

"The gang seemed to have traveled for hours on end. It was not even the evening and still no sign of Wandering Mountain nor the Old Man himself. As a result the fellow group were about to gain some angst and impatience.

"Are we there yet, Falkor?", Bastian asked with Falkor's reply, "We'll be there soon."

"You've said that an hour ago.", scoffed Hoggle. But Falkor chuckled, "I mean it this time."

"Oh brother.", the dwarfe rolled his eyes. Meanwhile, Sarah turned to Atreyu, "Do you really think he'll know where she is?"

"He should; like Cairon had said, he records every single thing in Fantasia. So he's got to have some idea."

"And we shall see,", Falkor responded, "right about...now."

Immediately following the luck-dragon's statement, there it was: Wandering Mountain. It was rocky, high to the point of touching the clouds as well as having a small, cozy-looking house attached to it.

Anyway, Falkor landed upon the large cliff which was the home's yard. Once getting off of Falkor, the gang went hesitantly to the door with Atreyu being reluctant to knock. "Come on, young warrior,", Sir Didymus spoke up in haste, "Time is of the essence."

The Plains boy nodded as he started to knock. It took a couple of tries but the door was answered by an elderly fellow with a long white beard and strange golden eyes. Obviously, this was the Old Man. And an agitated one at that. "What on earth...", he started, "what are all you freaks doing on my property?! Scram!"

"But we need your help!", Atreyu beseeched the Old Man, "It's an emergency!"

"Can't be anything bigger than what I'm dealing with.", he scoffed as he started to close the door. That was when Hoggle steps in, "Look! There's no time arguing, the Empress could be in alot of trouble right now!"

The Old Man paused as he looked at the rag-tag team. "The Empress...", he took notice of Bastian and Sarah, "Earthling children...", he then opened his door to all of them, "Come inside...please."

The Old Man leads them into his home. "I'm terribly sorry for my hostility.", he apologized, "I barely get any visitors and when I do, I can get quite harsh."

"Can't technically judge you on that one.", Sarah shrugged, "I was like that myself."

"And boy how I can vouch on it.", muttered a joking Hoggle.The group laughed at the statement as Bastian spotted a giant book placed upon a pedestal in the middle of the room. "Is that,", the Earthling lad started, "where you record all the stuff happening?"

"Yes,yes.", The Old Man nodded, "From the beginning to the present and towards the morrows. For as long as Fantasia prospers, it shall be done.", he then opened the book to the night of question. Only for the page to bestow Jareth and the Child-like Empress going into the night. At this scene, the gang were in shock.

"I should've known he had something to do with this!", Sarah gasped but Hoggle was confused, "Why would he take her? No one had wished Jareth to do so!"

"The reason we are yet to know.", the Old Man replied, "But before you go to him and retrieve the Empress, there is someone whom you must meet first."

"Who?", Atreyu inquired with the Wandering hermit's reply, "Mona. She lives in the wilderness of Italy."

The group looked at eachother then back at the Old Man. "But,", Bastian started, "what can she do?"

Then the Old Man went to one of his cabinets and took out a small bag. Giving it to Bastian, he commanded, "When first meeting her, give these to her and Mona will surely find a way to help you."

Sarah shrugged, "That sounds like a plan."

Atreyu agreed, "Indeed it does."

"Good.", the Old Man spoke, "Now hurry there's no time to-"

"Sarah!", a feminine voice interrupted, "Bastian!"

"What was that?", Atreyu asked as he looked up. "My mom.", Sarah answered.

"Kids!", Linda's voice cried making the pair jump up from the book."

.....

Sarah gets up from the bed and opens the door. Once she did so, Linda was there. "My god, you two, I thought you were all dead.", she scoffed as her daughter replied, "Sorry mom, we were into the book."

"You two have been into it all day; it's almost 10:00 p.m."

Bastian and Sarah looked at the clock to find Linda correct. They were astonished as to how long they've been reading. Anyway, Linda went on, "You can continue reading tomorrow, get to bed."

Linda left the room with Bastian ready to open the book once more. "Come on, Sarah, we can read then we'll sleep."

"No, Bastian, we need to get to sleep."

"Fine, we'll wash up, brush our teeth and then we'll get back to the book."

"No, we'll wait 'til tomorrow. We've already lost track of time. We don't need to anymore."

"But...", Bastian let out a sigh, "alright, alright, we'll wait until tomorrow."

"Good."

"But first,", Bastian opened the book again and yelled to it, "We're sorry guys, we have to get to bed. You go on and find Mona and we'll be sure to catch up.", the boy closed the book as he along with his cousin started off to prepare for bedtime. Not even aware that their dreams contain other plans.