Little by little the darkness cleared from Atreyu's face.
After a while he asked: "How can you know all that? The cry by the Deep Chasm and the image in the magic mirror? Did you arrange it all in advance?"
The Childlike Empress picked up AURYN, and said, while putting the chain around her neck: "Didn't […]
"They've all fled!" he thought. "They've left the Childlike Empress alone. Or she's already. . ."
"Atreyu," Falkor whispered. "You must give the Gem back to her."
Falkor removed the golden chain from his neck. It fell to the ground.
Atreyu jumped down off Falkor's back — and fell. He had forgotten his wound. He reached for […]
"May I ask you another question?" said Atreyu.
"Of course," she answered with a smile.
"Why do you need a new name to get well?"
"Only the right name gives beings and things their reality," she said. "A wrong name makes everything unreal. That's what lies do."
"Maybe the savior doesn't yet know the right name to give […]
That is why humans were glad to come to Fantastica. And the more these visits enriched our world, the fewer lies there were in theirs, the better it became. Just as our two worlds can injure each other, they can also make each other whole again."
For a time both were silent. Then she went […]
As the Childlike Empress was speaking, Atreyu raised himself with difficulty. He looked up to her as she lay on her bed of cushions. His voice was husky when he asked: "Then you've known my message all along? What Morla the Aged One told me in the Swamps of Sadness, what the mysterious voice […]
Not even the most intrepid mountain climbers ventured into these fields of everlasting ice. It had been so very, very long since anyone had succeeded in climbing this mountain that the feat had been forgotten. For one of Fantastica's many strange laws decreed that no one could climb the Mountain of Destiny until the […]
She bent forward, picked up AURYN, and let the chain glide through her fingers.
"You have done well," she said, "and I am pleased with you."
"No!" cried Atreyu almost savagely. "It was all in vain. There's no hope."
A long silence followed. Atreyu buried his face in the crook of his elbow, and his whole body […]
Atreyu felt as if a band had tightened around his throat. All he could do was nod his head. Then he heard the sweet soft voice saying: "You have carried out your mission. . ."
Were these words meant as a question? Atreyu didn't know. He didn't dare look up to read the answer in […]
Still, the four invisible Powers were not guided entirely by chance in their choice of an itinerary. As often as not, the Nothing, which had already swallowed up whole regions, left only a single path open. Sometimes the possibilities narrowed down to a bridge, a tunnel, or a gateway, and sometimes they were forced […]
Enfeebled and trembling, the innermost heart of Fantastica was still resisting the inexorable encroachment of the Nothing.
But the Ivory Tower at the center still shimmered pure, immaculately white.
Ordinarily flying messengers landed on one of the lower terraces. But Falkor reasoned that since neither he nor Atreyu had the strength to climb the long spiraling […]
