Fanon:The Benchwick Fables

Chapter 1
“Brother! Brother!” shouted my brother from outside. He rattled the doorknob loudly, and I finally let him in.

“What is it, Piggeni?” I asked curiously. My brother was out of breath, and his pants were dusty.

“The store is out of berries! Let’s go to the forest and pick some!” Without waiting for me, Piggeni went out the door, so I followed without hesitation. It was a sunny day in Benchwick; the town was booming, and the scent of fresh fruit filled the village air.

“Hurry, brother!” Piggeni trotted into the woods; I tried to keep up.

“Morning, Piglo!” shouted Clubon.

“Good morning! Have you caught any insects yet?”

“No, no,” sighed Clubon loudly. “The web is getting old; I should get to repairing it.”

“Bye, Clubon! Piggeni, where are you?” I skipped down the dirt path and toward the river, but I didn’t find my brother.

“Piglo!” whispered Piggeni. “Psst, Piglo! Over here!” I saw my brother kneeling behind a polberry bush.

“Brother,” I said as I shook my head. “Polberries are poisonous to pigs, we need to get the—” My brother signaled me to be quiet; I kneeled next to him behind the bush, and then he showed me what he was seeing. I wanted to say something, but I couldn’t bring myself to. The sight was shocking.

“It’s King Nathan!” whispered my brother sharply. “What’s he doing here? And Lord Rojo? The leader of the skeleton village!” I ignored my brother; I was trying to hear the faint conversation between the two lords.

“You will pay for this, you wretched filth!” Rojo kicked King Nathan in the stomach. The King tried to fight back, but two other skeletons held his arms. “Benchwick needs a worthy leader!” Rojo stabbed King Nathan in the neck.

My brother shrieked loudly. I tried to muffle it, but a guard started walking over to the bush. “Run,” I mouthed to my brother. On the count of three, we took off into the dark forest.

“Get them!” shouted Lord Rojo. I didn’t look back; I ran as fast as I could while holding my brother’s hand tightly. As we ran past the dense wood, I could hear arrows flying past me. I still didn’t look back. Loud galloping drowned out the sound of the arrows. This time, I looked back only to see Lord Rojo pursuing us on his skeleton horse. Then, an arrow struck me from the side. I toppled into a ravine, and my brother fell with me. The last thing I saw before going unconscious was Rojo on his horse looking over the deep gorge.

Chapter 2
I woke up in a lit-up, well-decorated cave. My brother was sleeping on another rock.

“Good morning,” said a voice that startled me. I quickly stood up and realized that all of my wounds had miraculously healed. I turned around; the sound came from an old human wearing a gray robe.

“You’re, you’re—” I stuttered. “You’re a human!”

“Indeed, I am.”

“I thought all the humans went extinct many years ago; Lord Rojo had you all killed!” The human chuckled at me.

“I escaped! I cast a spell that turned me invisible; I stayed that way until the soldiers left.”

“You’re a wizard?” I was genuinely shocked. The wizard made a motion with his hands, and then suddenly, a frog appeared in front of me.

“I am a wizard,” said the wizard. “What were you doing so deep in the forest? I thought the pig village didn’t let you come here. Why was there an arrow in your arm?”

“King Nathan has been killed,” I said quietly. “Rojo killed him; I watched him do it, and he chased me through the forest. He must’ve thought I died.” The wizard didn’t seem surprised at all. He slowly walked over to his chair and sat down, drinking a cup of tea.

“That’s a shame,” he said.

“You don’t seem very upset.”

“I’m not, why should I be? Nathan let Rojo kill all my people; he didn’t do anything to stop him!” I wanted to be angry, but I somehow understood. I sat down on the rock next to my snoozing brother. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Piglo; my brother’s name is Piggeni.” The wizard smiled.

“I’m Crayton,” he said. “Crayton, the wizard.” Piggeni woke up, rubbing his eyes. He looked around with confusion, but I patted him on the back to signal to him that we were safe.

“I should go home,” I said. “Thank you for saving us; I hope I can someday repay you.”

Without hesitation, the wizard responded. “You can! Kill Lord Rojo for me; avenge King Nathan!” I laughed.

“Rojo has an entire army! I have nothing! I can’t fight; I have no weapons. Come on, Piggeni.” I walked towards the cave exit, and he followed me.

“I, however, have weapons. Magical weapons! I can train you! Lord Rojo must die, agreed?” I nodded; even though I wanted to kill Rojo, I knew I didn’t have the power.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t born to become a warrior. Goodbye, thanks again.” Piggeni and I left the cave. We climbed out of the ravine and into the forest.

“The berries! There’s a bush!” my brother exclaimed. He ran over and began picking them. It was still light out, so I went to help him. We stuffed our pockets with berries, they were as ripe as they could be. As we walked back towards the pig village, Clubon startled me.

“Piglo! Have you heard the terrible news! King Nathan is dead! He was killed by a wild rhinoceros! How tragic!” That made me stop cold. Had word already gotten out? Have Lord Rojo and the skeletons already devised a lie?

“No, I haven’t,” I lied quietly. “That’s very saddening.” Piggeni tried to speak up, but I pinched him on the snout. “Bye, Clubon.” I looked down the entire way back home; I wanted to go back home and take a long nap.

“Piglo! Get down!” whispered my brother sharply. I didn’t have to ask to know what was going on. There were skeleton guards everywhere in the pig village, they were each armed with a bow and a sword. “What do we do?” my brother asked nervously. I thought for a bit.

“Crayton, the wizard! We can stay with him tonight!” My brother smiled, and we stealthily ran back into the woods. We found the ravine easily; our footsteps were still visible in the dirt path. We carefully climbed down the ravine and found the cave.

“Back again?” I screamed; the voice had startled me. I turned around, and Crayton stood there with a broad grin on his face. “I was expecting you.”

“You startled me!” Piggeni laughed with Crayton. “We’re only staying for one night,” I said sharply. There was a moment of silence. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sound rude. May we stay the night?” I asked, hopefully.

“Of course,” said Crayton, I thanked him. He went into a hidden room in the cave and came out holding a large sack.

“Is that dinner?” I asked with excitement, I was starving.

“No,” Crayton chuckled. He emptied the sack onto the table. There were at least a dozen weapons and armor pieces. I was utterly speechless; the blades glowed, and so did the armor. “That’s not all,” continued Crayton. He took out a box and opened it. Inside was a large assortment of weird herbs and plants. “These are potion ingredients.” Crayton handed me four glass bottles. “Two for each of you!”

Piggeni had already put on the armor and started playing with the sword. “What is this?” I spluttered. I picked up a jagged sword, I dropped as it ignited.

“Enchanted weapons and a potion set,” responded Crayton. “With these, you will be able to defeat Rojo and his army.”

“How?! Even with the strongest weapons, there’s no way I can defeat an entire army!”

“You have to believe that you can,” Crayton replied. “Follow me.” He led my brother and I into a large, empty room. He snapped his fingers, and all the torches lit up. Piggeni was extremely impressed.

“Equip your gear!” Crayton shouted from across the room. I did as he asked, and so did my brother. “To train, you shall battle me!”

Chapter 3
“What?!” I shouted. Obviously, I couldn’t best a wizard in combat. I tried to run out the door, but Crayton shut it with spiky vines. I turned around to try to reason with Crayton, but fireballs were already being shot at me. They hit me, and I fell over, but I couldn’t feel the flames. My armor had absorbed the hit. “Fire-resistant armor?” I asked myself.

“Focus, Piglo!” Crayton fired a lightning bolt at me. I quickly took out my sword, but I wasn’t fast enough the deflect the lightning. I fell to the ground, this time I felt the hit, it was painful. I looked over, and Piggeni was zealously fighting Crayton. I had never noticed how nimble my brother was, he dodged every attack! I thought to myself: “If my brother can do it, then why can’t I?” I stood up and took out my sword, which ignited. I charged at Crayton with my fire-lit sword. He quickly formed a shield made of stone, but my sword went right through it. Crayton blasted a gust of wind that sent me off my feet, but I swiftly stuck my sword into the ground and got back up. I grabbed my bow and fired a few arrows. The arrows exploded on impact; Crayton blocked the explosions with a magical aura. He then sent a powerful wave of water at me, which I deflected with the shield Crayton gave me. As I wiped the water from my face, a boulder fell on me. The armor absorbed the hit, but the rock pinned me to the ground.

“You have to be fast,” said Crayton as he walked over. With a snap of his fingers, he made the boulder break into a ton of small stones. Piggeni trotted over to me; he was intensely sweating.

“That was awesome!” he shouted. “I can’t wait to fight actual bad-guys!” I looked over at Crayton.

“I don’t get it, if you’re so strong, then why didn’t you fight off Rojo? Why did you turn invisible and flee?” Crayton sighed, and he sat down on the dusty, cold floor.

“Rojo is strong,” he started. “He’s also very clever. That evil skeleton turned half of the wizards against us; they fought us off. Then, he killed them. All of the wizards turned invisible to hide from them, but the evil wizards found them. I was the only survivor.” I wanted to comfort Crayton, but I didn’t know what to say.

“Uh— I’m sorry to hear that,” I said sympathetically. “I’m really sorry.”

“It’s okay; the past is the past. We will train again at dawn, let’s sleep.” He teleported out of the room. I wanted to ask about dinner, but I didn’t. Piggeni and I went back to the central part of the cave. There were two bowls of soup sitting on the wooden table. We sat there and drank the soup quietly before going to bed.

I woke up early the next day to get ready for training. I decided to see what the other weapons Crayton provided could do. The first one I tried was an ancient-looking staff. I swung it like a sword, and two magical ax heads appeared at the tip. “Cool!” I thought to myself. The ax heads went away after the swing. Then, I lunged forward with the staff, and a magical spearhead appeared at the tip.

“It becomes whatever you want it to become.” I turned around, and Crayton was standing there with a cup of tea. “Use your imagination.” I pictured a hammer, but the staff didn’t do anything. “Think harder!” I thought as hard as I could, but the staff no magical hammerhead appeared.

“It’s not working!” I shouted angrily as I threw the staff on the ground. “Piece of garbage!”

“Be patient, little pig,” said Crayton. “You’re not ready for that weapon yet. After all, you’ve only been training for one day.” He picked up the staff and gave it back to me.

“Hi, guys!” greeted Piggeni as he entered the room. “Can we start training?”

“Are you ready?” Crayton asked me, I nodded. He put down his cup of tea and readied himself. We trained for a few hours, similar to yesterday. Crayton tried to drop a boulder on me again, but this time I dodged it. During lunch, I kept trying to turn the staff into a hammer, but it didn’t budge.

“Eat your soup,” said Crayton. “The weapon will not work if you’re focused on more than one thing at once.” I didn’t want to give up, but I knew Crayton was right. I put away the staff and drank the radish soup.

“How much more do we have to train before we go fight Lord Rojo?” asked Piggeni.

“A lot,” chuckled Crayton. “Lord Rojo is soulless and cold-hearted, hate him all you want. But, never underestimate him. He is likely the most powerful being in all of Benchwick right now. Our goal is to make that change.” Crayton winked at Piggeni, who returned a look of confusion. That inspired me a lot.

“Yes, one day I will become the most powerful being in all of Benchwick. One day…”

Chapter 4
“Where are we going, Crayton?” my brother asked for the 17th time. I rolled my eyes; I was sick of my brother’s impatience. Crayton was taking us so an ancient cave far away from the ravine. I was worried that the skeletons would find us, but Crayton assured me that they wouldn’t. As we trotted through the moist woods, I kept trying to turn the staff into a hammer. Crayton laughed at my repeated pathetic attempts. I guess I’m just as impatient as my brother. After walking for another long moment, we finally reached a mountain.

“Your task is to climb this mountain,” said Crayton calmly. Piggeni and I looked at each other. The mountain was so gargantuan that the summit was concealed in the clouds.

“Excuse me?” I spluttered. “There is no way we are climbing this mountain.” Not only was I physically incapable of climbing a mountain that big, but I was also devastated by heights. There was an awkward silence among the three of us, though the sound of the birds was soothing.

“Sounds fun!” my brother enthusiastically exclaimed. He tried to climb up, but he slid and fell after numerous attempts.

“Crayton, this is impossible. Can we please do something easier? We just started training,” I begged as I looked at him hopefully.

“No, you must complete the task.” Before I could respond, he teleported away, leaving us in the middle of nowhere.

“Let’s just go back to the ravine,” I told my brother quietly. We trotted into the woods, but after a moment, both of us realized that we had no idea how to get home. The woods curved left and right and up and down.

“Climb the mountain!” A loud voice boomed over the woods; I recognized that voice to be Crayton’s. I sighed.

“All right, Piggeni. It looks like we’re climbing the mountain,” I groaned. My brother followed me as we slumped back to the mountain.

“Look, steps!” My eyes found what Piggeni was seeing; there were stone steps!

“Yes, nice one, brother!” I laughed. We happily skipped to the bottom of the long staircase. As we climbed up the steps, I wondered what would be at the peak. A magical weapon? Potions? Was it a mega-weapon that could instantly kill skeletons? Just as I was picturing the mega-weapon, I saw a massive, ugly troll.

“Piglo!” screamed my brother. He took out his ax and killed the troll quickly. “What was that?” Suddenly, a vast number of trolls emerged from their caves, all staring at the corpse of the troll my brother just killed. I drew my fire sword.

“Get ready,” I muttered to my brother. He nodded and put on his helmet. The trolls charged at us, and we fought back. They were very weak, despite their enormous size. The trolls were no match for our enchanted weapons. After Piggeni killed the last troll, we high-fived and continued up the steps.

“They weren’t bad trolls,” said an angry voice. I quickly turned around, and Crayton was there.

“They were attacking us,” I said defensively.

“They attacked you because you killed one of them for no reason at all. Do not engage in battle unless necessary.” Crayton teleported away before I could say anything back.

“It’s not your fault,” I assured my brother, but he didn’t look convince.

“So many trolls died because of me,” he whimpered. “I shouldn’t have killed him; he didn’t do anything to me. He was just living!” I patted Piggeni on the back.

“We have to keep going, brother.” He didn’t respond; instead, he just looked over the edge. The sun was setting, and the forest was beautiful from up here.

“Do you think Crayton used to live here?” asked my brother.

“I don’t know. But if he did, then he had the most beautiful home in all of Benchwick.”