The Mars Crystal

Storyteller: Nazli Korkmaz, Istanbul, 10 years old

It was three oclock in midnight; the stars were alluring in the dark, blue midnight sky. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Deniz’s spaceship malfunctioned! He was in space! A pitch black dreading nowhere! It trembled, struggling to stay up, It wasn’t in Deniz’s control anymore. In the blink of an eye, the motor stopped. Now the space ship was sprinting downwards! Falling rapidly! BOOM! And just like that Deniz found himself in the famous Mars.

He gradually exited the spaceship, still under shock. He took one glance at his surroundings and as he realised it was Mars, his eyes widened in despair. In the distance, he saw a head, then two, then three! It looked like a snowman ( which wasn’t that weird since Mars was freezing) who had three heads and was covered in green goo!

“Who- Who are you! He shouted in rage,” coming towards Deniz.

“I am Deniz. My space ship crashed and I need help to get back home.” Deniz replied.

“I’m Bouba, this is my kingdom. The only way to fix that space ship of yours is to charge it with the power crystal.” Bouba explained.

“Then let’s go get it!” deniz said eagerly.

“It’s not that easy. Years ago, the crystal was broken into three pieces and you need ALL of them for your boat.” Bouba carified.

“Then we will find them!” Deniz said in more confidence.

The first piece belonged to a grizzled rocker. The years have greeted him well but he was not described as a nice guy. They started looking for his house_ which they were nowhere near. They eventually came to a dreading dry forest. Then something caught their eye, “WOW!” they sighed. A glossy gleaming crystal, dazzling in the sun. Deniz leaned over to grab it.

“Pause right there!” echoed a sound in the distance. Then there appeared a man, FLOATING on a cloud, with a broken guitar. He looked mad but also like he was drowning in his sorrow.

“Sir please can we have that crystal, I really need it,” Deniz pleaded.

“NO! That is mine, you can’t have unless you can find a way to fix my guitar! Its broken, just liked my heart!” the rocker cried. Deniz felt something in his pocket. It was a bell!

” I will give you this bell for the crystal piece. You can play some new music with it!” He agreed and they made the trade. He spun around in joy. He was so happy he was able to play music again! One crystals down, two to go!

The second piece belonged to an athlete. He didn’t have a house, he lived on a basketball court. He was as hyper as a monkey and fast as a cheetah! He was the planet’s champion and an unbeatable beast.

Hey there, I am Deniz and I really need your piece of the crystal. Can I have it or do you want something for it? Deniz asked.

” I don’t want anything for that thing! You can have it for free but you gotta beat me in basketball.” he replied. Bouba pulled Deniz aside.

“I can’t compete with him! He will crush me!!!” Deniz screamed. Bouba took out a pair of weird shoes with motors on the sides!

” These are special basketball shoes, you are sure to win with these and don’t worry it’s not cheating, there is nothing in the rule book about it.” Bouba explained, As he pushed Deniz on the basketball court. They started playing and neither of them could stop the other from scoring! Points were racing up! The basketball champion was phenomenal, but the shoes made Deniz better. 3 seconds left on the clock, Deniz shot a three pointer… SCORE! He had done the impossible! Though he was mad, the champion respected Deniz and gave him the crystal piece.

The last crystal piece belonged to a powerful ice dragon who breathed out snow!

The letha creature lived on the top of the snowy mountains. Those were coldest spots on the planet since the dragon would make it snow all over it! It was nasty and merciless so this was going to be the hardest piece to get. Bouba armed Deniz- mostly with scarfs and sweaters- so that he was ready for anything. They first went back to Bouba’s castle to get stuff to trade and specialist equipment. Bouba told endless stories about the horrific creature which terrorised Deniz even more. They set off for the long journey.

“Hey don’t be scared, it’s gonna be fine.” Bouba said to confort Deniz. He was freaking out! Will he have to fight the dragon? What if the dragon refuses to give him the crystal? He might never go back home!

When they finally reached the dragon’s mountain, Deniz took a moment to build his courage. Then he gulped, took a deep breath and started climbing. It was hard, the mountain was cold and stiff as rock, Deniz and Bouba struggled to stay up. They gave it all their power to keep going and going. For a moment they even forgot about the ice dragon since they had other problems and fears like falling off at that moment. Eventually they made it up but Deniz moved on rather slowly, being catios of the creature.

Without warning, a fifty meter long furry, frustrated creature popped up! Deniz jumped back in trepidation. Bouba froze in fear! It was wearing the crystal on it’s neck.

“ROAR! HOW DARE YOU INTERRUPT MY SLEEP!” the dragon roared.

“I-I-I am looking for a crystal piece and I heard you had the last one? Can you p-please give it to me by any chance?” The creature Roared louder this time with over raged eyes as it froze Bouba, literally!

“LEAVE NOW!” it demande as it buried Deniz in pure white snow and flew away. Deniz went through all the stuff that Bouba brought. He found a sharp, shiny sword, not just any sword. It was Mars’s most powerful sword, charged with the energy of the sun, ther ice dragon’s enemy. Deniz took it and jumped on the dragon! Wrestling it! Giving it cuts and bruises to make it weaker and it was working. He herastled, fighting with his full strength, till it went down. Deniz quickly grabbed the crystal and bouba and jumped down! He was now falling down the mountain, another fear he had gained today. But it didn’t matter! He had all three parts all left to do now was the unfreeze Bouna and he could go back home, that’s all he could think of now.

Bouba’s ice finally melted and they went back to the castle. They put all of the three pieces of the power crystal back together, which then they used to fix and charge the space ship. Deniz thanked Bouba for everything that he had done and so he set off. Bouba waved and shouted “Come again!” and Deniz promised himself that he would.

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