Chronicles of the Goblin King

He continued to play with his yo-yo finding it did distract him from the feeling of being alone in the big empty castle. But it also distracted him from watching where he was going, and he did not see the electrical cord that one of the workmen had left stretched across the hallway. Had he been paying attention to where he was going, he would not have tripped upon it, causing the cord to snag upon one of the shiny suits.

Both Alexander and the suit crashed to the floor, as did the axe it was holding. The axe fell only inches from Alexander’s outstretched fingertips chopping the yo-yo’s string in two. 

Alexander watched as his toy rolled down the hall and into a darkened alcove where stood a scary looking statue. A chill ran down his spine upon seeing it. It was of a young man whose facial expression was one of terror, His hand reaching out as if crying for help, and at his feet was a pedestal upon which, a ball made of glass, Much the size of a baseball, had been carefully placed.

Terror struck Alexander, and not knowing why, he panicked and ran back down the long hallway with his heart pounding like rhythmic drums in his chest.

"Why am I running? It's just a statue!"  He said trying to calm himself. He then gathered his courage and came to a stop. Turning back he looked down the hall, confirming that the statue stood motionless, it did not come to life. It simply stood there looking terrified.

"Why would anyone make such a thing? What tribute could this represent?" 

Alexander gathered his courage once again and went to retrieve his yo-yo.

He nervously studied the statue as his steps brought him closer to the scary thing not knowing why it scared him so. He then reached down to pick up his yo-yo and noticed the ball of glass began to glow from somewhere within.

"Oh my! Are you what I think you are?” He said now talking to the crystal ball. Forgetting his toy, he now picked up the crystal ball.

Golden sparkles now danced in the air around the ball on his fingertips, and he knew this was no ordinary thing.

"You are what I think you are!"

The ball began to glow more brightly and then a face appeared. The face was that of the statue and on his head, was a golden crown with a skull emblem on the front.

 The face spoke three simple words before disappearing "It is time!” He was so startled that he almost dropped the crystal ball.

"Whoa! That was close!"  Using both hands he now cupped the ball in his grasp.

"It is time? Time for what?” He wondered.

The ball's glow began to change and a new vision formed within. It showed the statue in the alcove and then focused upon one of the stone bricks in the wall behind it, which sucked into the wall; causing it to open, the images revealed a secret passage with steps leading down into a tunnel. Then the vision faded.

Alexander then tucked the crystal ball into the pocket of his sweat jacket and then began to examine the stones,

Finding the stone, he pushed it in . . . Just as the crystal ball showed the wall opened revealing the passage.

The passage walls were lined with glowing crystals, which illuminated the way.

"Awesome!" Was all Alexander could think to say.

He stepped inside and began his descent down into the secret place, which lay beneath the castle. There were many tunnels leading to many rooms down here. He wandered around for a while until he heard what appeared to be someone mumbling.

"Hello? Is anybody there?"

Again he heard the mumbling sound, and went in search of its maker.

The sound came from a long dark corridor with a fire's glow coming from a room at the other end.

Since there was no answer to his call he quietly made his way toward the room and peered inside. There appeared to be an old gray-haired man with his back to Alexander, cooking something in a big black kettle, and muttering something while he was stirring it, although the words were not quite familiar to Alexander.

"Hello?” He called a