Once Upon A Beginning…

…there was a fifteen year old, above average boy from

London, who was left by his parents under the

watchful eye of his absent-minded,

workaholic and completely

unappreciative aunt.

Now, some would say he was a dreamer, who could count his

friends on less than one hand and if he

stood in a corner you’d probably

wouldn’t even notice him.

So, what makes him so special you ask?

Well if I was to tell you that Ashley Knight was the one

who saved the world, not ours but the other one,

would you believe me?

Well, would you?

So go beyond our lands and enjoy a tale of trolls, boglins,

ogres, gnomes, gargantuans, two foots,

a talking mirror, an outlaw, a dragon,

a witch, a wolf, a goat and pigs.

Yes – pigs!

1

It wasn’t the smell of wet hay or the raging headache that brought Ashley round, it was the noise outside of what appeared to be a grungy dirty looking shack…

Just how in the world did he get there?

A few hours ago he was helping tidy up a neighbours flat when he came across a rather spectacularly large mirror in her attic. It had been covered by a blanket, hidden away and forgotten about. It was enormous and it glistened from the one sun beam that shone through a small but delicate hole in the roof.

At first it was funny goofing around in front of it, that was until his reflection decided to wave back! Now any sensible or rational person would run away from such a sight, but then Ashley wasn’t always the most level-headed of people.

He took of his glasses and wiped them clean before checking behind, it was a standard mirror, with a standard back. So he reached the conclusion that it was simply nothing more than his over-active imagination and decided to walk away. Then the most peculiar thing happened. He heard tapping. Now, what Ashley should have done was run away in a blind panic but who would really believe him? Who would believe that his reflection just happen to come to life? So curiosity had gotten the better of him.

Didn’t he know that it was curiosity that killed the cat?

Well at least one of its nine lives.

He moved closer to the mirror and nothing happened, he touched its surface – it was sticky. He touched it again and his fingers seemed to stick to it but there was no residue on the tips of them. He placed his hand on it, slowly it passed through the surface.

“Neat,” he said out loud.

With his hand still inside he looked round the back, his hand wasn’t there.

Now thoughts crept into his mind, with an item like this surely he’d be the coolest kid in school…

No the town…

No the country…

Better still…

THE WORLD!

Wouldn’t he?

He tried to pull his hand free but it appeared to be stuck – now that wasn’t part of the plan. He heaved with all his might but there was no denying it, his hand was definitely without a doubt, stuck!

“Excuse me, I think I need a hand here,” he called out, with no pun intended.

No one came.

“Hello! Anyone down there?”

It looked like he could only rely on himself, nothing new there since he had to live with his workaholic, erratic and scatterbrained aunt. He pulled as hard as he could, using his other hand as leverage but that one slipped and got stuck too. He even tried to walk backwards but the mirror just scraped along the floor with him. He looked around for anything that could help. Maybe a crowbar he thought but then how would he use it? His sigh turned to frustration as he yanked himself further along the floor but things then took a turn for the worst when he lost his footing. Gravity being such a wonderful and sometimes unwanted science, made the mirror fall with him. All he could do was watch as his reflection came at him…

2

So that is how Ashley found himself in the barn, no logical reason other than an unfortunate series of events involving a mirror, his own curiosity and gravity.

He stood up and brushed the bits off himself and checked his pockets; small change, wallet, mobile phone and travel card all still there. His rucksack was still on his back, though there wasn’t much inside it except a can of deodorant, a couple of marker pens and cough sweet which had probably been there for several months. He looked at his surroundings; a dingy barn, with no animals, a hole in the roof, a mirror and a funny looking little man sitting opposite staring at him!!!

Yes, a funny looking little man, with warts and all, a dark green tunic, pointy ears, messy hair and a long crooked nose.

“Hello?” Ashley asked, not really wanting to acknowledge the existence of the diminutive person.

The creature jumped up onto his feet, standing at about three feet in height.

“Ye!” he shouted, while pointing at the hesitant teen. “Where’d ya come from? How’d ya get here?”

Ashley looked around and pointed at the mirror, “from there,” he told him, knowing he must have sounded like a lunatic.

The little feller run over to it, almost caressing the surface of it, though he didn’t get his hands stuck.

“I always knew it was magic, fool they called me, trickster, clown, fraud and inept but I always knew.”

There was a growing noise outside, the kind of shouting and general panic that you would hear at the boxing day sales within one of those snooty fashion outlets that people go crazy for but never actually wear the clothes they grab because they never ever fit.

“Excuse me but what’s going on outside?”

“Shut it boy!” he replied. “This is the second grandest moment of realisation I have had in my life!”

He took that as a cue to slowly move away from the crazy creature and stumble to the doors. He threw them open and watched as a bear, dressed in a robe ran past.

He closed the doors, then his eyes, shook his head, took off his glasses, rubbed his sockets, and opened the doors again. This time a fox; wearing trousers, a tunic and a bag slung over its shoulder ran past, it stopped, looked at the teen and then continued running.

Now as someone who plays computer games for excessive amounts of his time he thought he had seen most things but couldn’t recall a fox or bear run like a person. He stepped outside to see what they were running from. Hoping maybe a thunderstorm or at worst a group of hoodies, his shock was far greater. A pair of shoeless, dirty and hairy feet were crushing down from the sky. He looked upwards and couldn’t see much further than its knees. He put his hand out grabbing the next creature that ran past, it was about four feet tall with dark green, mottled skin, rotten teeth and pointy ears.

“Get offa me!” it shouted.

“What is that?” Ashley asked, before looking at the creature, his jaw dropping, having never seen something like that before.

“Ya blind two foot, its a giant an’ it’s dinner time, so run ya saphead!”

It pulled free and continued to leg it away. Ashley realised that maybe, just maybe, it was probably the right course of action. He leant back in and looked at the little person who was doing a jig of joy.

“Excuse me mister but there’s a giant coming this way.”

“Giant schmiant, how’d ya open the portal, boy?”

“Did you not hear what I said?” shouted Ashley, panicking as the foot stomps got closer.

“Wait there – I need you to open it back up.”

A foot came crushing down by him, flattening some trees. If his mind wasn’t made up with what to do, it was now. He ran like he’d never run before, looking back he saw the giant squash the barn. The one advantage was that it appeared that being a human he could run a whole lot faster than just about everything else – the disadvantage was his lack of knowledge of the area and perhaps more importantly, his inability to jump over things, as that was the unfortunately mess he landed himself in. A tree stump he couldn’t leap over, and the subsequent bramble bush he landed in. It was no good – he was stuck with absolutely no chance of escape from the extraordinarily large creature. He watched helplessly as its large hairy foot, complete with a fungus infection lifted above him and then came crashing down within a whisker of his face. He breathed a sigh of relief – which wasn’t very pleasant considering the foot stank very, very badly. His sigh of relief was also short lived as it’s humongous hand come into view and plucked him like a berry.

“Put me down!” he shouted out, hitting away at it’s hairy and filthy hand.

The giant sniffed him and then dropped him in its satchel. The lights were out and the start of an extraordinary adventure began.