#9 - Long live the Queen

The world flooded very quickly as the ice melted away. Within days half the original Fairyland was covered in water. Fishes found new territory. Land beings scrambled up the tallest mountains. Merpeople rose from the depths of the oceans and established their expanded territory. A castle of pearls, reflecting rainbow colors under the sunlight, emerged in the center of the land. It was a new age, and the merpeople seized all the shipsand secured every trade route in the newly formed world.

The land beings were not happy. Their time was short, and space was scarce. A meeting between the King of the merpeople and the last remaining Prince of the land will be their only hope for any sort of... well, hope.

Only the last remaining Prince wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone. He hid in his castle, half submerged in the waters. He curled up in the cellar, waiting. He slept very little, but dreamt a lot. He has waited for many years to finally leave his castle. The day is coming. But not yet. And until that time comes, he will remain in his castle.

*

The King of Mermaids, King Neptune, sat by the shore. The Forbidden Forest was by then more like the Forbidden Beach. Masses gathered by the shore, waiting for their Prince to come.

"Where is your representative? I much desire to speak with him?" asked King Neptune.

"We do not know, King Neptune. He has not appeared in a long time," answered an elf.

"Then how am I to decide anything? I want the best for both worlds. I do not want to reject the gods and not embrace the era of Merpeople, but I do not want to be a cruel king. Land beings have great men and women, and I have known some of them. Your kind have value, and I do not wish to see you all dead? Find your Prince. He will give you hope."

"We dare not seek him out, Mer-King"

"Why not?"

"Because he is a coward!" cried a voice, "and he is most likely dead!"

The masses looked high and low, searching for the source of the voice.

"I am the representative that you seek. I am Queen Cinderella, and with me the Godfather of Fairies."

A great murmur took place, and the Merpeople and the land people saw two little hamsters scramble through the crowds to stand before King Neptune. The first hamster, a he hamster, was clod in glass clothing, and had glass slippers. The second hamster, a she-hamster, was a naked hamster. King Neptune observed the hamsters, and asked, "and who might you be?"

"Didn't I just say?" said the he-hamster with a loud booming voice. "I am Queen Cinderella, the ruler of this land."

King Neptune giggled, and asked, "You, he-hamster, are the Queen of this land? You must have made a mistake."

"Look King of Mermaids. I died once. And while I was busy trying to reincarnate myself me and the Godfather of Fairies miscommunicated our message to the visiting hamsters and we ended up being in the wrong body. But we will sort that out eventually. But in the meantime, I am the QUEEN OF THIS LAND!"

The masses laughed, as did the King of Merpeople. He beckoned the Godfather of Fairies, the naked she-hamster, to perform a spell to prove his identity.

"I'll show you, King Neptune," squeaked the young girly hamster, "what only the Godfather of Fairies can do."

The masses laughed at their Queen and her advisor. The she-hamster jumped on two feet, danced about in circles, then pointed her/his tail at the elf who spoke to the King earlier, and made him psychotic. The elf began to sing songs of the underworld, and songs of the Mannikin, and songs of the sea nymphs. He sang and sang and sang until he hit his head on a tree, and fainted.

The masses stopped laughing.

"So, King Neptune. Shall we negotiate?" growled Queen Cinderella.

"Sure. Forgive my laughter. You may speak first, Queen Cinderella."

"Leave this place. I am more powerful than you, chanted the he-hamster Cinderella. I can chop you up into a million pieces. I can dig a hole into the core of this earth and unleash the larva beneath and consume your waters. I can restore land. So if you will, leave, and never harrass us."

"Or what?" laughed the King.

"Or I, the Godfather of Fairies, shall-"

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Burp.

The masses stayed silent.

"And who might you be? O great Beast?" asked King Neptune as he marvelled at the giant beast that towered above him.

"I am the Prince of the Forbidden Forest. I am the Prince that lost my daughter to the Godfather of Fairies. I am the Prince that lost my wife Belle to the insanities of this world. I am the last Prince."

"You just ate the Godfather of Fairies,"

"Yea. It was an oath. I swore to kill him. And now I have. And before you ask. This is your era. Rule wisely. I have no intentions and no demands, except that you never torture or take a life of any land being that causes you no offense. My people will die, as should they. But they will not all die, for that is the nature of Fairyland. Your waterworld will end, one day, even if it takes a thousand years. But I am certain that it will end, for that is the nature of Fairyland. If my people die, then so be it, for that is also the nature of Fairyland. I can do nothing. I cannot make you unflood this world, nor can I make my citizens grow gills."

"Wise words, Prince of Beasts. I am sorry. And I promise you no harm shall come from the Merpeople for as long as I live, and I intend to live for another few centuries."

"Thank you."

As King Neptune departed and submerged into the oceans beyond, the Prince of Beasts walked away, toward the remaining pockets of the forest. The masses did not like what they have just heard, but they knew their time has come to an end, and they bowed in silence as the Prince of Beasts walked among his people for the last time.

*

Somewhere in the Forest...

"I am anointed, chosen, destined to be the Queen of Hamsters. Even the Prince of Beasts let me go. He found me too precious to kill, and spared my life. No other hamster can claim such an encounter. I bid all of you, hamsters of this realm, to submit to my rule! I can take this realm, this species, to greater heights!"

"Hail Queen Cinderella! Long live the queen!!! Long live the Queen!!!"

*

Here ends the of trilogy of trilogies. Here ends the major plot. All tales that follow are random tales related to the first nine.