Normal Boy who didn’t know he was a hero
Normal Boy who didn’t know he was a hero
Bartholomew “Barty” Butterfield was, to put it mildly, unremarkable. He wore unremarkable clothes, ate unremarkable food, and lived an unremarkable life in the unremarkable town of Oakhaven. He dreamed unremarkable dreams – mostly about getting a perfect score on his history test. Barty was, in every sense of the word, a Normal Boy.
Until the day the sky cracked.
It started subtly. A shimmering fissure, like a heat haze on a summer’s day, appeared high above Oakhaven’s quaint town square. Then, with a sound like a thousand shattered mirrors, it split wider, revealing a swirling vortex of iridescent colours. People screamed, dogs barked, and Barty, clutching his lukewarm cup of tea, dropped his biscuit. This was definitely not unremarkable.
From the fissure tumbled… things. Crystalline creatures with shimmering wings, grumpy rock-golems the size of small cars, and a particularly disgruntled-looking gnome with a surprisingly powerful crossbow. The gnome, it turned out, was named Fizzwick, and he needed help. He needed Barty’s help.
Fizzwick, it transpired, was a Guardian, a protector of the Whispering Isles, a magical realm hidden somewhere beyond the dimensional rift. A malevolent sorcerer named Malkor had shattered the Isles, trapping Fizzwick and scattering his magical artifacts. And, according to an ancient prophecy (scribbled on a rather damp napkin), only a “Heart of Oakhaven” – a person with an unexpectedly pure heart – could reunite the Isles.
Barty, still clutching his dropped biscuit crumbs, blinked. Him? A Heart of Oakhaven? He’d barely passed his last history test.
Nevertheless, Fizzwick, with the urgency of a gnome on a caffeine-fueled mission, thrust a shimmering map into Barty’s hand. It depicted the shattered Isles, marked with the locations of the missing artifacts. With a reluctant shrug, Barty found himself embarking on the most extraordinary adventure of his life.
Their journey was a whirlwind of close calls and improbable escapes. Barty, guided by Fizzwick’s surprisingly astute knowledge of geography and surprisingly bad jokes, navigated treacherous landscapes – dodging grumpy rock-golems, outsmarting mischievous sprites, and even learning to ride a grumpy, one-winged griffin named Grumbles. He discovered a hidden talent for solving ancient riddles, a surprising aptitude for sword fighting (using a conveniently located garden trowel), and a surprisingly calming effect on even the grumpiest of creatures.
Each recovered artifact pulsed with magic, slowly mending the rift and restoring the Whispering Isles. With each success, Barty’s unremarkable self began to shed its skin, revealing a courageous and resourceful hero he never knew existed.
Finally, they confronted Malkor, a fearsome sorcerer wielding a staff of twisted shadow. The final battle was intense, but Barty, armed with his trowel, his wit, and a newfound belief in himself, managed to outsmart Malkor, sealing the sorcerer away.
The Whispering Isles were restored, Fizzwick returned to his duties, and the sky above Oakhaven healed. Barty, back in his unremarkable town, still ate unremarkable food. But something had changed. He walked with a new confidence, a quiet strength born from an extraordinary adventure. He was still Barty Butterfield, but now he was Barty Butterfield, the Heart of Oakhaven, a Normal Boy who saved a magical realm. And that, he decided, was far from unremarkable.
