Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2001 11:27:52 -0800 (PST)
From: Really Bigdreamer <reallybigdreamer@yahoo.com>
Subject: Pop Magic

Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction and is
meant to imply anything about any of the celebrities
mentioned, which I am in no affiliated. Also, this
story is not meant for those under age 18 or for those
who find m/m situations uncomfortable.

Author's Note: I'm finally back! I've previously
written four stories for Nifty, all in the boybands
genre: "Dreams Can Come True", "Searching for Lost
Souls", "Justin Saved Me", and my most recent "My JC",
which ended in late September. Those stories are based
on realistic circumstances, this is not, it is a
complete fanstasy epic and I hope you enjoy it.
Feedback is appreciated!

Send feedback to: reallybigdreamer@yahoo.com



Pop Magic

Prelude:

Centuries ago in the kingdom of Luthinia there lived a
handsome young prince named Justin. He had everything
he ever wanted, but still wasn't happy. It wasn't that
he was greedy and wanted more, Lord no, he was simply
depressed. You see, he was betrothed to the incredibly
beautiful princess of the neighboring kingdom of
Badlam, Britney, but Justin didn't love her. In fact,
he didn't love any woman. Deep in his heart Justin
knew that he could never love a woman, but his duties
to his kingdom forced him to marry.

Justin wasn't sure what to call it, in fact he had
never heard of such a thing, but he found himself
attracted to other men. He always found them to be so
strong, so brave, so adventurous, and this was what he
loved about them. Women on the other had were forced
to stay at home at cook or clean, or the case of a
princess, do nothing at all except look beautiful and
have children. How boring!

Justin found it harder and harder to keep these
feelings to himself, almost as if he'd burst if he
didn't tell someone. Alas, he was forced to keep this
a secret. He was a prince, and the only child his
parents had sired, making him the sole heir to the
throne. He wanted to run off and find true love with
someone like himself, but knew that if he did his
kingdom would be thrown into civil war and chaos would
rule. And Justin knew that the lives of the people of
his kingdom were far more important than his own
happiness. Self-sacrifice surely was something that
would make him a good king, even if he were forced to
have a queen...

Chapter I: Once Upon a Time...

Prince Justin yawned and stretched as he woke, the
early morning sun peaking between the crimson red
curtains. He slowly rose and scratched his back as he
sauntered over to the window. He pulled the curtains
apart and the room flooded with bright sunlight.

It was a beautiful spring day, one of the best the
kingdom had seen in quite a while. Not a single cloud
anywhere to be seen. Birds sang merrily as they flew
about. The people of the kingdom went about their
business, buying bread and fruits. Even Kapley, the
village blacksmith who was usually so dismal and
dreary, seemed to be in a pleasant mood.

Justin watched it all and soaked it in from his room,
which was perched atop one of the tall castle towers.
He envied them, they had the perfect lives. They
didn't know the pain that Justin had to live with
every second of every day. They didn't know what he'd
give for just a single day of true happiness. Of
course there were moments where laughed, but they were
fleeting, and would go as quickly as they had come.

He turned from the window and decided he may as well
get dressed. After all, he thought, the sooner the day
started the sooner it would end. He pulled the string
behind his neck and his nighttime gown fell the floor.
He picked it up and paid it out on his bed. He looked
at himself in the large mirror across the room. He had
the perfect body. His flaccid penis twitched slightly
and grew hard.

He walked to another window and sat down on the ledge.
He picked up a new instrument his teacher called a
`telescope' and looked down to the edge of the nearby
forest. There he saw Gavin, one of the local boys who
was about Justin's age, picking wild apples from the
trees. This was Gavin's job, and since he did it alone
he usually did it without wearing a shirt, which
pleased Justin greatly, for if someone else worked
with him it be improper go shirtless.

Justin held the instrument to once of his eyes with
his right hand as he slowly slid his left hand up and
down the hard shaft of his penis. Gavin glistened with
sweat, it was warm for a day this early in the spring.
After several minutes Justin let out a small moan, he
could feel `the pleasure', as he called it, growing
inside him. Suddenly his penis exploded. His hot,
white juices splashed onto his fit stomach and chest
before `the pleasure' subsided and the remaining
juices dribbled down the front of him onto his balls.

He took a finger and scooped plenty of the juice up
and brought it to his mouth, licking it off. He looked
down and brought the remaining juice up to his mouth
and licked it. It tasted sweet. He continued to look
down as his subsiding penis and the guilt of being --
there was no other word for how he felt -- abnormal
washed over him again.

He stood and walked over across the room. He picked up
his clothes and dressed. He again looked at himself in
the mirror, this time wearing white pants and a white
shirt with a violet vest over top.

He opened the door to his room and walked down the
narrow stone corridor, which was lined with small
windows, to the top of a steep, twisting staircase. He
slowly walked down the staircase, which had even
smaller windows along the way and found himself in a
large hallway that was split into a fork. He ignored
the forks to his right and left and headed straight.

As he continued down the hall he thought he had saw
something in the shadows, and turned to see what it
was, but found a fist coming straight at him. With a
loud `thwack' he fell to the floor unconscious and was
dragged away.

***

The townsfolk gathered around as the gates were opened
and a steed came galloping in, his master bouncing
along on his back. Everyone smiled and greeted the
man, who waved to them as he approached the castle.
Once there however, his mood soured.

"What do you mean I cannot enter?" he shouted after a
castle guardsmen refused him so.

"You heard me," the large guard said as he took a step
forward, waving a large battle-ax around.

"On what reason do you forbid me to do so?" the man
continued to shout.

"The king has ordered no one enter nor exit the castle
until the prince be found?" the guard answered.

"The prince be missing?" the stranger asked, more to
himself than to the guard.

"Aye, since the this morning, and no one had seen him
leave the castle walls," the guard answered.

"Then I must speak with the king, I am Joshua Chasez,
son of the renowned knight, Jonathan Chasez..." the
stranger began to explain.

"You're the son of Jonathan Chasez?" the guard
exclaimed. "You should have said so, please, enter,
but be warned, the king knows Chasez well and if you
are lying simply to enter the castle you will surely
hang."

"I would not lie of such a thing," Joshua replied.

"Aye," the guard said as he banged on the large doors
to the castle three times. One of the doors opened
slightly and another guard stood there. After a brief
explanation Joshua entered, the doors were locked
behind him again and yet another guard escorted him to
the king.

"Your Majesty?" the guard said sheepishly as he
entered the throne room.

"Away with thee!" the king shouted. "I order not to be
disturbed!"

"Your Majesty," Joshua stepped forward, "I am Joshua
Chasez, I am here to help."

"Joshua?" the king stood up from his throne and walked
down the five steps before it. He quickly walked over
to Joshua and shook his hand. "I cannot believe that
you have grown so..."

"Believe it, it has been twelve years since my father
and I left these parts after mother's death."

"Where is your father?" the king asked.

"Dead," Joshua said sadly.

"I am so sorry..." the king replied. "How did he die?"

"Killed I'm afraid," Joshua answered, "though I am not
certain. I returned home one day from hunting and he
lie on the floor dead. I believe he was poisoned for
he was healthy as ever when I had left earlier that
same day."

The stood silent for a moment, mourning the loss of
his dearest friend, then:

"Why have you returned?"

"I returned to become a knight of Luthinia," Joshua
answered. "And upon hearing that you the prince, the
friend I grew up with, is missing I wish to help."

"He is missing no more," the king said as he gestured
a guard towards them. The guard handed them a small
piece of folded paper. "This was found in his
bedroom."

Joshua read it carefully and his eyes widened as he
continued.

"Kidnapped?" Joshua asked in disbelief. "Who would do
such a thing?"

"I do not know, but they ask for a thousand pieces of
gold for his safe return, as you have just read," the
kind said as he sat back on his throne, "and for one
knight to deliver it."

"I shall take it, and kill whoever holds him," Joshua
said boldly as he approached the throne.

"My dear boy, you are no knight."

"Then I shall prove myself to you. My father was your
greatest friend, and the greatest knight to ever live.
He has taught me well. Send the best knight you have
now and I shall beat with ease."

"That is a wild boast, boy," the king said seriously.
"But...I accept your proposal. Guards! Call for Sir
Hirbrid, they shall duel here in the throne room, no
horses, no joust, but a simple contest of swords."

"Aye sir," replied one of the many guards in the
throne room who immediately ran out. Within minutes he
returned with a knight fully armor-clad.

"Seeing as how you are already armed and armored,
Joshua," the king said, "let the battle begin."

The two knights immediately drew their swords. The
began to stalk one another, walked around in circles,
parallel to one another until Hirbrid finally made the
first move. With a wild and vigorous thrust he lunged
toward Joshua, but Joshua quickly dodged. With another
quickly move Joshua grabbed Hirbrid's left hand, with
which he had just attacked with, and gave a strong
yank while giving a kick to his feet. Hirbrid fell
flat on his face and before he could get up Joshua
placed the tip of his sword at his back.

"I believe this fight is over," the king said with a
smile. "Joshua, you are the undisputed winner and I
must say that that was some of the finest fighting
I've seen since...well, since your father served as head
knight to my father. Hirbrid, give me your sword."

As Hirbrid stood the king took his sword. Joshua
kneeled down on one knee and king officially made him
a knight of Luthinia.

Joshua quickly grabbed four heavy sacks full of gold
and tied them to his saddle, with map to where the
kidnappers were in hand he rode off into the sunset.
He waved to townspeople as he left, but he didn't get
far into the forest when he heard shouts and yells.
The ever curious he headed off in that direction.

He a clearing in the forest and was surprised to see
an old man wearing long, blue robes doing most of the
shouting. Overtop the blue robes was a hooded white
cloak, the traditional garbs of a seasoned sorcerer.
His long, white hair, which ran down to his shoulders,
was short when compared to his furry, white beard,
which hung down to his waist.

There was another man there, much younger, about
Joshua's age, who stood on the other side of the
clearing. His sorcerer's robes were a sky blue color
and he wore a white, hooded cloak overtop of them,
which signified an apprentice. His hair was a
whitish-blonde, and cut short, another sign that he
was an apprentice.

Joshua recognized them both.

The older man was experienced enough to cast an
extremely powerful spell in his head without the aid
of anything else, whereas the boy held a spellbook and
had to concentrate hard as he read them aloud. The
spell the older man cast manifested as a glowing, blue
orb in his hands. With one gesture it sped towards the
younger man with incredible speed. The younger began
to sweat as he stumbled upon one of the Latin words.
Suddenly the orb stopped, inches from the younger man.

"If I was truly attacking you," the older man said as
the orb slowly floated back to him before phasing out
of existence, "then you'd be dead by now."

"Good morrow to you, Merlin," Joshua said as he rode
forward.

"Ah, Joshua, good morrow to you," the older man
replied.

"The same to you, Lance," Joshua gestured toward the
younger man, who nodded in acceptance. "What brings
you to Luthinia? It is far from where you normally
dwell."

"That it is," Merlin replied, "but I have heard the
most fascinating story about a dragon that dwells near
here and have come to investigate. Of course, I should
ask you the same, this is too far from where you
dwell."

"Unfortunately," Joshua said with a sigh, "I found my
father dead in our own house over a week ago. I buried
him and rode here as quickly as I could, there was no
reason for me to stay. I came to be knighted, and
already have been, but that is unimportant for I think
my father poisoned. Tell me, Merlin, can you see
anything about it?"

Merlin brought his hand to his head and concentrated.
After a few moments he nearly fell over.

"I see a great evil, young Joshua," Merlin explained,
"one that you must not meddle with. An evil from your
father's past that has returned."

"If that be true than I will seek out this evil and
destroy it, whatever it be," Joshua said sternly.

"What is it that weighs your horse down so?" Merlin
quickly changed the subject.

"Gold," Joshua answered. "A thousand pieces. It is
ransom for the prince has been kidnapped. I ride off
to pay for his safe return."

"It sounds like a fair adventure," Lance said as he
stepped forward.

"Why don't you join him?" Merlin asked.

"Master?" Lance was taken by surprise.

"Well, I feel as though you need a break," Merlin
explained, "and I know how uninterested you are in
dragons. We have seen so many as it is. Plus, it is
custom for an apprentice to seek out an adventure on
his own. Not to mention that you and Joshua have much
to catch up on, you have not seen each other in many
months. Of course, this is up all to Joshua."

"I'd be delighted for the company," Joshua answered.

"Then it's settled," Merlin said with a laugh. "I'll
seek out this dragon, and the two of you will have
your little adventure. I'd like to see how your magic
fairs when I am no around, remember what I have taught
you, it may help you on the way. Now, I think I've
kept you two long enough as it is, it's better to
cover as much ground as possible before the sun
finishes setting, you only have a little over an hour
so you'd best get moving."

"But master, I have no horse," Lance pointed out.

Merlin brought his fingers to his lips and whistled.
Suddenly a beautiful, white mare ran up besides him
and neighed. Merlin took the horse by the reigns and
handed him over to Lance.

"Now, I trust that you can handle Wind Rider,
Lancelot," Merlin called Lance by his full name. "She
is an enchanted horse, I have had her for years, and
now she is yours for the duration of your adventure.
Fear not in she runs away, a simple whistle and she'll
appear from no matter where she was."

"Thank you, v-very much, master," Lance was shocked at
the horse's beauty and Merlin's kindness.

Lance mounted Wind Rider and looked at Joshua, with
another saying of thanks the two rode off quickly.

***

"Damned wood!" Joshua shouted. He had all right to do
so, however. It had almost been an hour since the sun
had gone down and they'd set up camp. He'd been
rubbing sticks together almost since they dismounted
their horses, but still no fire. "If I don't get a
fire started the wolves will be upon us. Don't you
know any fire spells?"

As soon as the words left his mouth a small stream of
flame shot from the fingers of Lance's left hand and
burst the sticks into a roaring fire with such force
that Joshua had been knocked back almost a foot. Lance
grinned as Joshua looked on with disbelief.

"You didn't even need to use your spellbooks?" he
asked dumbfounded.

"Of course not," Lance answered, "fire is one of the
first spells a sorcerer learns. All you needed to do
was ask."

"Wizards," Joshua said under his breath as he made
himself comfortable near the fire.

"Joshua," Lance said, still standing upright and
gazing at the now-burning sticks, "why does the king
not simply send a small army to force the bandits to
give his son back?"

"You have been with Merlin too long, Lance," Joshua
answered, "you've forgotten how the minds of men work.
This map leads us to a small cave at the beginning of
the Auro Mountains. The Auro Mountains are not within
the borders of the Luthinian Kingdom, in fact they're
just within the borders of the Carad Kingdom, and as
you know Luthinia and Carad are bitter enemies."

"I see," Lance said. "If the king sent any number of
armed forces into Carad it'd be an act of war. But,
why not simply explain the situation to Caradian
king?"

"If the Caradian king knew that the prince and sole
air to Luthinian throne was being held captive within
his borders he'd probably declare war on Luthinia
now," Joshua began to explain. "You see, Carad and
Luthinia have been at war many times, each war was
fought for different reasons and had different
outcomes, but now King Timberlake is aging and may not
live throughout another war with Carad. If Prince
Justin is not in Luthinia to immediately take his
place then the war is over."

"How so?"

"It is obvious, Lancelot," Joshua was dumbfounded at
how little sorcerer's seemed to know about logic and
strategy during war. "If Justin isn't there to take
his father's place during the war who will lead the
kingdom's armies? Aye, obviously the highest ranking
knights, but who will lead them? The knights will
fight amongst themselves for power and a kingdom
cannot fight itself and an enemy at the same time!
Carad would easily overpower the squabbling knights
and conquer Luthinia."

"But, what if the knights managed to work together and
win the war?"

"That is a dream," Joshua said with a laugh. "But, in
the slimmest of possibilities that it did, then after
Carad had been defeated the knights would then fight a
civil war, and an already weakened Luthinia would grow
weaker and Carad recovered and would eventually
conquer us. Now, no more pointless questions, let us
rest."

"You rest, my friend," Lance said, "I think that I
will stay awake a while longer."

And with that Joshua fixated himself on the ground and
slowly drifted off to sleep.

***

"How long do you think our little adventure will take
us?" Lance asked the next morning as he Joshua started
off for the day.

"Well," Joshua started to think about it, "even though
the weather is nice now, it's obvious it won't always
be that way, plus I'm sure that we'll run into trouble
at sometime. So adding all that on to the sheer
distance we have to travel, I'd say about two weeks
there and two weeks back. About a month altogether."

"Considering that," Lance replied, "it's obvious that
the bandits aren't in the cave yet, they're somewhere
ahead of us."

"Yes, but the prince was kidnapped in the morning, we
left as the sun was setting," Joshua explained, "and
I'm sure they traveled in a large band who took turns
keeping watch so they probably moved all night long,
there is no way we'll catch up them until we reach the
cave."

"Hush," Lance said as Joshua finished.

"What?"

"I sense something, lurking about, something that I
first sensed last night. That is why I did not go to
sleep as early as you." Lance explained as he stopped
the horse and climbed down. He began chanting the
words to a simple spell in his head and thrust his
right arm outward towards the surrounding forest.

"Ahh!" they heard a high pitched cry as a small
creature came floating onto the path they were
traveling.

"A forest elf," Lance said with a smile.

"Down, put me wizard!" the elf shrieked.

"Or what?" Lance asked. "I may be just an apprentice,
but everyone knows that elves, especially forest
elves, control very little magic."

"Last chance, this is!" the elf threatened.

"He'll let you go once you explain yourself!" Joshua
said forcefully as he rode towards the two slowly.
"Why are you following us?"

"Warned you, I did!" the elf shouted. Then he brought
his stubby little fingers to his lips and whistled
loudly. Suddenly loud crashes could be heard in the
forest, as if a great beast were charging.

"Lancelot," Joshua said worriedly as his horse began
to neigh with fear, "what is that?"

Suddenly a tree was knocked over and Joshua was bucked
off his horse with a loud `thud'. The two horses sped
off quickly. Joshua picked himself up and looked at
the monster that towered over he and his friend.

"An ogre," Lance said as he stepped back, "an angry
one."



That's it! Again, I love feedback:

reallybigdreamer@yahoo.com

Look for Chapter II in two weeks, RBD :)