Michael Ende
PROLOGUE
Bastian is overweight and gets picked in by all of the other kids in his class. To hide from them on his way to school, he runs into a book shop. A man, Mr. Correander, doesn’t like children because he thinks they have no respect for books and are useless. Bastian says not all children are like that. Mr. Correander asks him to introduce himself and tell him why he is there. After Bastian explains, the phone rings and Mr. Correander gets up to answer it. Bastian is frozen in the spot and can hear the old man mumbling something that included his name. Bastian is drawn to the book he had been reading. He makes his way over to it and is excited about the title: The Neverending Story. He feels compelled to take the book. He tucks it under his shirt and runs out the door. He keeps running not knowing where to go. He is a thief now and will not be able to go home. He wonders if his dad would even notice. He ends up deciding the school attic will be a. Good hiding place. He saw where the janitor keeps the key when he helped him take a few things up weeks ago. Bastian uses some old mats and army blankets to make a sort of nest and opens the book to start reading.
1. A will-o’-the-wisp named Blubb is ironically a bit lost. It flies around with its white flag (indicating it is a messenger) until it sees a group of other creatures. When it noticed they all also have white on them, it goes to them and introduces itself to Gluckuk (a tiny - lived in trees and tides a snail), Vooshvazool (a night-hobb - caterpillar with big eyes), and Pyornkrachzark (a rock chewer - eat rocks and everything made of rocks). They each have a message to take to the childlike empress. Guessing they all probably have the same concern, Blubb starts to fiscribe the trouble h has seen at his home. The lands are being over taken by nothing which makes things disappear. People are drawn to it and parts of and whole people have disappeared as well. While they all have the same mission, they all decide it would be best for them to all go their own ways alone. They disperse. Bastian loves books that draw him in and make him feel like he is in the story. He thinks he has found the perfect book. He is glad he isn’t in the classroom below studying nature. A week later, Vooshvazool arrives at his destination. His bat flies over the labyrinth and lands at the city like Ivory tower. He is greeted and given a cup from which he takes a sip and gives back. His bat combs up to a perch and falls asleep upside down. When he goes to see about seeing the Childlike Empress, he finds the tiny, Gluckuk, is there. He made an appointment when he arrived the previous day, but there are so many messengers he hasn’t been able to see her yet because she is very ill. Vooshvazool decided not to make a separate appointment and stays with Gluckuk. Blubb arrives the next day and Pyornkrachzark they day after that. The four new friends decide to stay together from then on.
2. Doctors and healers come from all over the world to try to figure out what is wrong with the Childlike Empress, but none of them know. She rules Fantastica peacefully because all of the inhabitants know their lives are connected to hers. Bastian is reminded of the hospital hallways from when his mother was sick. After she died, his father changed and has barely noticed his existence. The healers all gather in the throne room and discuss the empress’s illness. Cairon (centaur) comes in bearing the medallion Auryn (two snakes eating each other’s tails) which indicates he is acting on behalf of the Childlike Empress. He announces the illness and destruction of Fantasia began at the same time and none of them have the answers. The Childlike Empress is entrusting Auryn to a pathfinder named Atreyu who will seek out the knowledge to help them all. Bastian notes the Childlike Empress’ seal is on the book. When the clock chimes ten, he notices how much more quickly time is moving than when he is normally in class. It takes 10 days of running for Cairon to reach the Grass Ocean where Atreyu lived. Everyone gathers around him and he notices it is mostly women and children. He asks for Atreyu and a little girl rides off to get him. Cairon passes out and when he wakes up, he is on fire inside a tent. Atreyu is brought to him and he is shocked to find the hero is only about ten years old. Atreyu says he was anoxia to start the hunt that would make him a man and will have to wait another year to do it now. Cairon explains the situation to him and says it is his choice to accept or decline the mission. He will have to go without weapons or any assistance. Atreyu accepts it and asks questions all night long. Cairon tells him he needs to say goodbye to his parents and be off. Atreyu says his parents were killed by a purple buffalo shortly after he was born. Bastian relates to this as he feels like he doesn’t have a parent anymore. Atreyu mounts his horse, Artax, and they take off and are swollowed up by the darkness. Somewhere across the world, the darkness forms into a doglike creature that has caught the scent it has been looking for and takes off. The clock chimes 11 and Bastian’s schoolmates go out for recess. He gets up to wake up his legs and mounts the fake horse pretending he is Atreyu. He is about to eat his lunch, but decides he will need to make his food last as long as possible.
3. Atreyu travels for days and when he sleeps, he dreams of a purple buffalo. He thinks he is supposed to hunt it, but something stops him. He makes his way into the Howling Forest where the group of messengers met earlier. He runs into three bark trolls. Each one of them has a part of them missing. They try to explain the Nothing to him, but decide it would be better to show him. They tell him to climb a tall tree and have a look for himself. He is astounded by what he sees. The bark trolls tell him that it draws people in. They are not in pain from their missing parts, but eventually, the rest of them will disappear as well. That night, the buffalo is in his dream again and tells him to go through the Swamp of Sadness to Tortoise She’ll Mountain to find Morla the Aged One. As he and Artax travel through the swamp, the horse is weighed down by the sadness. Atreyu is protected by the Childlike Empress’ amulet. He wants to give it to Artax to save him, but Artax points out he needs to complete his mission for all of Fantastica. His horse asks him to leave so Atreyu Doran my have to watch his end. Atreyu continues on and finds the mountain. He climbs it and hears voices. He starts towards the voices when the mouthing moves and he slides off and lands in a tree. The mountain is Morla. She tells him she is so old that she doesn’t care what happens. Atreyu points out that if she doesn’t care, she could tell him what is wrong with the Childlike Empress. Morla likes his cunning and tells him the Empress lives in names rather than time. She needs a new name give. By someone who is not in Fantastica to recover. She says he will need to travel to Uyulala in the Southern Oracle, but there is no way he could make it there in time. The shadowy figure heads towards the swamp of sadness to hunt Atreyu. Bastian wishes he was more like Atreyu, but is glad not to have his dangerous mission. He think he would be good at giving the Childlike Empress a new name.
4. Atreyu is lost, but knows he must keep moving. He comes to a giant chasm. He decides to move along it, but starts losing hope. He sees a luck dragon. Suddenly, it is attacked by Ygramul which is made up of many small parts forming other creatures. Atreyu yells for them to stop, but the fight is too loud for them to hear him. He runs up the spiderweb to speak ti the monster. Bastian gasps and Ygramul seems to hear it and looks around for a second person. Ygramul and asks her to release the luck dragon so it can take him to the southern oracle because she has already bitten him and will die soon. Ygramul says she can get him to the Southern Oracle. Her bite can take him there instantly, but her poison will only let him live an hour. He is skeptical, but she points out all the hours in his current location aren’t any good anyway. He agrees to it and she bites him. He passes out thinking of the Southern Oracle.
5. When he wakes up, the luck dragon, Falkor is with him. He heard what Ygramul told Atreyu and used the poison to travel to Atreyu. He says he owes Atreyu his life and luck will find them and everything will work out. Atreyu collapses against Falkor, but is given medicine by a wrinkled creature when he wakes up. He asks about Falkor and the creature tells him he’ll be alright as well. Atreyu passes out again. Bastian goes down into the school now that everyone is gone. He runs to the bathroom and hears the janitor coming. Bastian runs back to the attic and settles back onto his mat and blankets. When Atreyu wakes up again, the gnome Urgl is there to give him medicine. She asks how they got there and what they are doing. Atreyu explains his mission. While Urgl feeds Atreyu, her husband, Enguwook, shows him the first gate to the Oracle, a pair of Sphinx. He has been researching the Oracle and says he will explain
6. Engywook tells Atreyu to ask him questions, but gets frustrated when he asks who and what Uyulala is. Atreyu starts asking questions about gates. Engywook explains the first gate can only be passed if the Sphinx keep their eyes closed. Otherwise, the person will be caught staring into the eyes of the sphinx and be stuck answering all the world’s riddles. Engywook doesn’t think the amulet will make a difference because the sphinx don’t see anything. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to who the sphinx allows through. Only after getting through the first gate will the second gate appear. This one is a mirror that shows the person’s true self and can only be entered after self reflection. Atreyu thinks this sounds easier than the first gate, but Engywook warns him men have come back screaming to them. The third gate is made out of Fantastica selenium which reacts to a person’s will. To get through the No Key gate, he must want nothing at all.
7. Atreyu promises to tell Engywook about the rest of the gates secrets when he returns if he is able to. He makes it through the first gate and moves on to the second. He looks into the mirror and see Bastian sitting in the attic reading the book. He walks through and he can’t remember who he is or anything about his quest. He looks at the No Key Gate. He walks behind it and doesn’t see anything. He decides to turn back. Bastian tells him to go through the gate. Atreyu turns around and touches the gate. It cracks open and he sticks his head through. He decides to go through the gate and finds a world completely different than when he looked around the gate. The clock strikes four and Bastian is losing light. He pulls out some matches from his bag and uses them to light the candles in the candelabra. He goes back to the book.
8. A voice is floating around Atreyu and he learns it is Uyulala the Southern Oracle. She tells him she will only acknowledge him when he speaks in rhyme. He asks about her and she tells him she is only a fading voice and will disappear soon. She reminds him of his quest to find a new name for the Childlike Empress. She tells him of the Outter World and the humans that live there. They cannot travel to that world, but humans can travel to theirs. He needs to find a human to come to Fantastica and name the Childlike Empress. Bastian wishes it could be him. Atreyu falls asleep and when he wakes up, he can see the colors have been fading and the Riddle gate distroyed. He looks around for the gnomes and waves at them when he sees Falkor rise up into the sky. Falkor goes to him and brings him back to the gnomes’ home. Urgl insists on feeding him while he tells Engywook what he has learned. Engywook is distraught that the Oracle and his life’s work are gone just as he has the information he needed to finish it. The gnomes go to pack their things while Falkor and Atreyu leave to continue their quest.
9. They fly through the air for a long Tim searching for the boarder of Fantastica. The Nothing is spreading. Falkor asks Atreyu what his mission is exactly. Atreyu explains it is to find out what the Childlike Empress’ sickness is. The Luck Dragon points out that he has that information and suggests they return to give the information to the Childlike Empress. Atreyu suggests they go for another hour and if they haven’t found a boarder, they will do as Falkor suggests. Suddenly, storms blow in as the four wind giants are having a wind battle. When they get close enough, Atreyu asks them where the boarders of Fantastica are. Each responds that there aren’t any. Atreyu falls off Falkor and into a sea. He wakes up on a beach and Auryn is gone from around his neck and Falkor is nowhere to be seen. He starts moving and sees a parade of witches, ghosts, and other dark creatures. He follows them quietly and then sees they are jumping into the darkness. He feels himself being drawn to the Nothing and runs away as quickly as he can. He finds a gate and decides to go in.
10. Atreyu is in Spook City, famous for the scary stories that come from it. The city is completely empty aside from a chained up werewolf named Gmork. When the werewolf asks they boy for his name, he says he is Nobody. Atreyu wants to free the ravenous beast, but it warns him that he would kill him and that the chains are magical. He can only be released by the person that captured him. The dark princess has gone into the Nothing with everyone else. Atreyu looks around for food he could give Gmork, but nothing is around them. Gmork reveals that he can travel to different lands and appears differently in each one. I’m the land of the humans, he appears as one of them. Atreyu asks how he could get there as well. Gmork warns him that Fantasticans that travel to the human world cannot return. They transform into lies and live in the heads of humans. This makes humans not want to know about Fantastica and leads to the Nothing taking it over. He says that he was sent to Fantastica to prevent Atreyu from saving it because his kind are jealous they don’t have their own world. He was tracking Atreyu, but lost him at the chasm. He found Spook City and like it and the people. He talked to the princess too long and revealed his mission. He fell asleep and when he woke up, he was chained. She told him about the magic binding him there and that only she could release him, but she was going into the Nothing. Slowly, the other inhabitants of Spook City were also drawn in. Gmork points out that Atreyu has made a similar mistake as his own. The Nothing is now surrounding the city and closing in on them. Atreyu reveals his identity just before Gmork dies. Atreyu touches his coat and in his death, Gmork bites his leg. Atreyu is unable to free himself as the Nothing creeps closer.
11. Falkor continues his search for Atreyu. The only thing keeping Atreyu from being sucked into the Nothing is Gmork’s bite in his leg. Falkor finds him and they are able to free his leg. They take off and start flying to the Ivory Tower where the Childlike Empress lives. Atreyu asks who she is. Falkor says she’s not human, but no one knows all her secrets. As they get closer, the colors are faded. Falkor lands as far up the tower as he can and gives Atreyu Auryn back. Atreyu asks where to go, but Flkor lays as if dead. Atreyu goes through three gates into the Magnolia Pavillion and sees the Golden-Eyed Commander of Wishes. Bastian is surprised that he actually sees her face rather than just imagining it. In that instance, he knew her name is Moon Child. It is 10pm and he keeps reading.
12. Atreyu apologizes to the Childlike Empress for not being able to bring her a human that can give her a new name. He gives her back Auryn, which she used to travel with him. She admits that when he lost it, she was unable to see what happened to him. He tells her what she misses. She explains that Atreyu brought the human boy with him and Bastian only needs to call out her name to join the in Fantastica. She will continue the quest on her own and tells Atreyu he will be taken to a place with Falkor to heal. She is carried off by her invisible servants in a glass litter.
13. The servants carry the Childlike Empress as far as they can down the singular path the Nothing allows. They carry her as far as she can up the frozen mountain side. Signs are there to warn her away from the old man that lives at the top. She enters his cave and sees he is writing the Neverending story. The old man of the mountain doesn’t speak, but after he writes his words, she hears them as if she remembered him saying them. He cannot see the future, only the past. She asks him to tell her the history of Fantastica. He warns her that it would result in an infinite loop of him rewriting what is already written. Since Bastian hasn’t called out her name to come to them, she says they don’t have any other choice. The infinite loop starts. Bastian eventually calls out Moon Child’s name.
14. Bastian is brought into the darkness of the Moon Child’s world. She tells him it is the start of a new world and he can build it with his wishes. He wants to see her as he did the first time and she is happy he is starting to make wishes. She asks him what took him so long to come to her and he explains he didn’t want to be ashamed by disappointing her. She tells him to look at himself and he does in a mirror that appears. He is strong and handsome rather than a fat, awkward boy. He starts dreaming up places and naming them. He finds himself in the middle of thick Knight Woods of Peregrine and only remembers pieces of his own world. He decides to get a view from up high and climbs a rope like he never could in gym class. He climbs to the top and crawls into a red bloom and falls asleep.
15. Bastian wakes up and is bored with the forest. He thinks a dessert would be a good adventure. Everything around him crumbles into sand. He climbs down the tall tree and it too crumbles. He wanders the dessert for days with his will outweighing his thirst. No one had crossed Goab the dessert of colors before and is determined to get to the other side. He thinks how his new adventure must be written into the Neverending story by the old man of Wondery Mountain. He leaves his initials as a message. He remembers that he used to be a wimp and wishes for a beast that would challenge his courage. A fiery red Lion appears named Gorgomon, the many colored death. Bastian hides at first, but then confronts the creature. Bastian asks how to come out of the dessert. Gorgomon says Bastian has only survived the dessert because of Auryn. Bastian thanks Moon Child under his breath. Bastian asks for water. Gorgomon agrees to take him to his palace and makes him promise not to take off the amulet that protects him. When they get to the palace, Gorgomon explains Bastian is his first visitor ever. Bastian eats, drinks and bathes. Bastian wishes to leave the dessert and the Peregrine Forrest grows closer to him. Grogaman seems to weaken and crawls into a black rock and dies. Bastian crawls between his paws, mourns his new friend, and falls asleep.
16. Bastian wakes up to find his friend alive again. Grogaman explains he does every night and comes back to life every morning. A sword is drawn to Bastian. Grogaman explains it has been waiting for its master: the visitor to his palace to weep over his death. He warns that the sword cannot be drawn out to be used. The sword must leap into his hands to be used. He names it Sikanda. Bastian stays with Grogaman for a while and they play, Bastian wants to stay with him, but the Lion points out he cannot because it is only life and death there. He holds Auryn and only needs to wish to be somewhere else to be out of the dessert. Bastian no longer feels fear and forgets his past timidity. A new wish is forming. A cleft to the temple of a thousand doors appears. He looks back at Grogaman and says good bye with a promise to return he would never keep.
17. Bastian walks through several doors as his new wish starts to formulate in his mind. Eventually, he realizes that he wants to see Atreyu. He goes through a door that reminds him of the color of Atreyu’s skin. There are heroes gathering to compete in a tournament for the opportunity to go with Atreyu to find the Savior and become the Savior’s personal body guards. One boy named Hero Hynreck is particularly boastful and Bastian wants to teach him a lesson. Bastian doesn’t tell them who is is but goes with them to compete in the tournament. They offer him a mule and he starts riding to town with them. The mule holds back to tell Bastian it knows who he is. He asks the mule to keep his secret and it agrees. When they arrive, Bastian wanders off to explore the city on his own. He spots Atreyu and Falkor in a box high up watching the events. When Bastian watches the tournament, he sees Hero Hynreck defeats those who come up agains him and yell out a challenge. Bastian accepts his challenge. Hynreck challenges him to first shoot an arrow the highest and Bastion splits his arrow in two. He then Challenges Bastian to collect cards on a foil. When the card are thrown into the air, Hynreck is able to pierce the Ace of hearts in the center. When it is Bastian’s turn, he collects all the cards in order as they fall. Bastian give the next challenge to swim a race across the Lake of Tears. Hynreck thinks the challenge is madness because anything the water of Moru dissolves everything. Bastian is not afraid because he has Auryn. Hynreck charges him with his sword and Sikanda jumps out of its sheath and into Bastian’s hand. It fights Hynreck, cuts off his clothes, and cuts his sword into tiny pieces. The crowd cheers for Bastian. Atreyu comes down to greet him and tells everyone he is the Savior. Bastian introduces himself and thanks Atreyu for bringing him to Fantastica. They celebrate.
18. The next morning, Bastian and Atreyu get to talking. Bastian shows him how he has the amulet now. When Atreyu seems upset about this, Bastian offers it to him. Atreyu declines. He seems less impressed with Bastian’s heroic tale now that he knows he had the amulet. Adrian tries to think of something he can do that will impress Atreyu that Auryn would not affect. He falls asleep thinking about how he could win a story telling contest. The next day, it is announced that they will honor the Savior with a story telling contest. There are a limited number of stories and all are told before Bastian gets his turn. He tells them how a great library containing all of his stories formed and they realize it is in the middle of their city. The rush to it and there is an inscription on the wall saying the unicorn gem’s name must be spoken to unlock the door and give light for 100 years. If the name is said twice, it will give the light of 100 years in an instant. Bastian names it and it falls into his hand. He puts it in his pocket. Atreyu asks if Bastian is ready to start looking for the way back to his own world. Bastian can’t remember much about himself from there and agrees he should return. Three of the knights he travelled to town with ask to join him and he agrees. They go to find Hynreck who is moping over the loss of his princess. Bastian tells a story about her being kidnapped by a huge dragon and the quest Hynreck must go on to save her . He doesn’t believe Bastian at first, but when the dragon flies overhead with the girl in his arms, Hynreck takes off to rescue her. He completes his quest and kills the dragon, but when the princess is offered to him, he turns her down. Bastian starts out on his own quest and insists on riding the mule he rode in on. She is very pleased he kept his word.
19. As they start traveling through the rain, the party can see some of the destruction caused by the dragon a Bastian created. He starts to realize that his wishes have consequences to the entire world. Bastian isn’t ready to return to his own world and keeps them wandering. When night approaches, they come to a cave and they all settle in. Atreyu asks Bastian to tell them more about the Krista, the girl he told stories to in his world. Bastian can’t seem to remember that. Atreyu is concerned that Bastian’s wishes come at the cost of his human memories. He asks Bastian to keep telling him his human memories and they are up late into the night. Atreyu tells Bastian his memory loss is because it Auryn and suggests he stop making wishes. Bastian refuses and thinks Atreyu is jealous. Atreyu and Bastian here cries in the darkness. Bastian pulls out the unicorn gem and eliminates the wailing creatures. They are the sad species whose crying created the Lake of Tears. Bastian feels guilty that his story created such miserable creatures and wishes them to fall asleep and morph into laughing butterflies overnight. They are all woken up to the laughing creature making so much noise in their want to destroy things. Bastian tries to befriend them now that they are happy, but they are too silly and destructive to carry on a conversation. The fly away and Bastian wonders if his wish was really a good deed.
20. They continue their journey and Atreyu tries to think a way cheer up Bastian. He asks to ride the mule and let Bastian ride Falkor. Bastian loves it. Falkor asks about the children at Bastian’s school that used to make fun of him, but Bastian can’t remember. Falkor advises him to stop making wishes so he can find his way home. Bastian admits he doesn’t want to go back. Atreyu makes the point that if Bastian doesn’t go back, Fantastica will eventually fade away again. Bastian feels like they want to get ride of him, but realize that sunny the case and they all apologize. When they start traveling again, they find they are going in circles and end up at the same ruined castle each night. Bastian’s mule knows they aren’t getting anywhere because he has stopped making wishes and doesn’t want to go home. She tells him they are heading towards the center of Fantastica and the Ivory Tower. He realizes he wants to see Moon Child. Atreyu apologizes for telling him not to make any more wishes and says he realizes he’ll have to make wishes ti get hom. Bastian announces his choice ti go to the Childlike Empress, but Falkor says he can only meet her once. Bastian points out he has already met her twice. Atreyu scout ahead. Atreyu wonders if the Childlike Empress cares about Bastian. Atreyu wants to help Bastian against her. Falkor says they will help him with luck. They return to the group and Atreyu tells them they are being followed from all directions. Bastian keeps his sword in that night. He dreams of Moon Child. As the followers catch up ti them, they ask to join Bastian’s party. Their group continues to grow as they continue on. Each creature wants Bastian to give them a story of their own. He says he must go to the Childlike Empress first. They travel into a forest of tree-sized orchids and post centuries while they sleep.
21. When they wake up, they continue through the forest and find the orchids are carnivorous. Bastian starts thinking about his situation. He feel Atreyu and Falkor treat him like a child and he finds himself wishing the others would fear him. When Atreyu asks Bastian to ride with him, Atreyu suggests he hold on to Auryn for Bastian because nothing bad happened to him when he had it. It guided him and he asks Bastian to let him guide him. Bastian refuses. When they land word comes back to them that the three knights that started out on their journey have been captured by the sorceress Xayide. Bastian sends the travel party away so he, Atreyu and Falkor can make a sneaky rescue. Atreyu looks around the castle, but cannot find a way in where they won’t be spotted. Bastian tells him and Falkor to go to the front door to make a scene so he can sneak in. As the guards are drawn to Atreyu, Bastian sneaks in. He finds the knights hanging over a chasm in the cellar and on of them says the key to the winch is under a floor stone. Bastian is able to find it and frees them. They are too exhausted to fight with him, so Bastian takes on the guards that are funnels through a door to them. Sikanda flies into his hand and chops up the guards that end up being only empty shells of armor. They make their way to the lobby and meet up with Atreyu and Falkor. They go into the throne room and find Xayide ready to surrender. Bastian accepts her apology and promise to obey him. She says she sent their party in a different directions says she can take them there. Falkor and Atreyu are reluctant, but Bastian orders Falkor to carry them all to the rest of the party. When they arrive, there is a litter carried by four of Xayide’a guards already there. Atreyu finds this suspicious, but Bastian is fed up with Atreyu trying to protect him and sends him and Falkor away. Xayide has a cruel smile on her face as Atreyu walks away.
22. Atreyu and Falkor stay in the rear of the pack and do not speak to Bastian. Bastian starts riding in Xayide’s litter with her. She tells him she can control anything that is empty with her will. Bye asks if he could do the same and she says he can. She tells him to try, he decides he doesn’t want to right then. She asks why he rides an old mule because he is worthy of better. The next day while leading the army, Bastian decides to set Yika free. He tells her there is a winged stallion madly in love with her that will give her a son. The mule leaves and Bastian is a bit sad to see her go. When Bastian goes back to Xayide. She gives him a belt that turns the wearer invisible. He puts it on, but panics when he can’t figure out how to get it back off. Xayide helps him and he laughs at himself. She tells him Atreyu and Falkor want to harm him, but Bastian is upset by the suggestion. That night, Bastian wishes for wisdom. Owls come along as messengers from the Deep Thinkers asking for Bastian’s help. There are six owls that can carry three people. Bastian summons Xayide and Atreyu to go with him, and they meet the three Deep Thinkers. They ask Bastian questions about their existence and he tells them they are part of the Neverending story. They ask for proof of this. He uses up the power of the unicorn gem to show them the attic he was reading the book in. They each see a version of themselves in the attic (owl, eagle, and fox) and start to argue over who is right. Bastian tells them they are all and eventually that would split them into factions. Bastian doesn’t consider the impact he has had and leaves them to rejoin his army.
23. Bastian’s army has finally gotten close to the Ivory Tower. A messenger rabbit comes to tell him the Childlike Empress is not there and no one has seen her since she left. Bastian uses the invisibility belt to sneak over to Atreyu and Falkor and hears Atreyu’s plan to steal Aryun from Bastian. Feeling betrayed, Bastian has them banished. Xayide’s whispering me convince him that he should be the new Childlike Emperor and he likes the idea. Bastian demands they to the Tower, but he cannot get into Moon Child’s Magnolia room. He picks another room as high as he can. He spends days trying to think, but nothing comes to him. They day of his coranation comes, and Atreyu and Falkor lead a rebellion. Atreyu comes to face Bastian and puts his sword to Bastian’s chest to ask for the amulet. Bastian refuses, but his own sword will does not come out to defend him. Bastian forces it out of the sheath and it turns to black rock. He wounds Atreyu in the stomach before the olive skinned boy takes off. Bastian looks around to see many of his friends and followers dead as the Ivory Tower burns and crumbles. He takes the invisibility belt and calls out that Atreyu will pay for what he has done. He takes off on a metallic horse controlling it with his will.
24. Bastian goes as quickly as he can to punish Atreyu for interrupting his coronation. He comes across a small city filled with people that were once humans like himself. A little grey monkey, Argax, tells him they are other humans that have come to Fantastica. All had been or wanted to be emperors of Fantastica in their time. They had used up all their memories making wishes and were not able to get back to their own world. All of them had had Auryn at some point. Bastian realizes Atreyu saved him by not letting him be crowned emperor. Argax has made up a jumble game for them to play with letters because they cannot think or speak anymore. Bastian knows he has to get out of the city and never come back. He asks how to get home and how many wishes he has left. Argax tells him he will have to cross the Sea of Mist and and find Yor to find the wish that will take him home. Bastian leaves and eventually makes it a town called Yskal or Baskerville. The inhabitants (Yskalmari) don’t see themselves as individuals, but a group. A few of them agree to take Bastian with them on their next voyage through the mist when the levels rise that night. The ship was steered by the Yskalmari’s dancing and chanting where their thoughts merge. Bastian learned to do this with them on their voyage. When one of them is carried off by a crow, the others do not seem to mind because they still have everything they need to continue on. Bastian realizes he is missing love. Bastian is glad when the dock and he enters the Land of Roses.
25. Xayide’s armored giants don’t follow her will anymore and end up trampling her to death. The three knights assume this was her will as that was how she controlled the giants and they no longer moved. They disband the army and go off to do their own thing. Bastian travels through the rose garden until he comes to the House of Change. It is constantly morphing. He is welcomed inside by a motherly woman, Dame Eyola, who feeds him fruit. She explains she has been waiting for him. As a plant like creature, she produces the fruit herself until she withers and dies and her seed creates the next iteration of herself/her offspring. Bastian stays several nights and tells Dame Eyola his story. He feels like he has failed everyone. He asks her where he can find the Water of Life. She says on the borders of Fantastica and only his last wish can take him there. Bastian’s wish to be able to live grows stronger and he loses the memory of his parents. It is time for him to leave the House of Change and he sets off into the cold.
26. When Bastian finds Yor who is blind during the day, but can see down in the mines when he is harvesting the frozen images of people’s forgotten dreams. He takes Bastian to his collection to try to find the one that will help him get home while he still has his last memory from his own world: his name. Yor has not mined the right picture yet and suggests Bastian go into the mines to help look. Bastian can’t see down there because he has already used up the power of the unicorn gem. Yor teaches him how to mine the lost dreams in the dark. They have to be very quiet to keep them from shattering. Eventually, Bastian finds a picture of a man frozen in ice and he wants to save him. He knows this is the picture he needs. He bids farewell to Yor and continues in his journey. He runs into the overly happy butterflies he created and they beg him to fix them. They need a purpose in life. The interaction ends up breaking the ice picture. Bastian loses all hope and starts to cry. He looks up to see Atreyu and Falkor approaching him.
27. Bastian and Atreyu make up. Bastian thanks him for trying to save him and apologizes for his behavior. Bastian gives up the amulet and sets it in the ground. It glows and takes all of them to the border of Fantastica by the head of the black snake eating the white snake’s tail. In the middle in the water of life. It is singing and only Falkor can understand what it says. It asks who they are. Atreyu and Falcor give their names, it Bastian doesn’t remember his. Atreyu says his name for him and says he will vouch for his friend Bastian. The water asks about his wound and Atreyu admits they were both wrong and right in their fight. The water accepts them, but tells Bastian he must give up all of his gifts from Fantastica. He agrees and goes into the Water of Life. Bastian wants to go home, but the water says he has to complete all the stories he started in Fantastica. Atreyu offers to do it for Bastian and the water accepts this. Bastian drinks the water and is full of love. He wants to take some home home to his dad. Atreyu points out he is allowed to take some home with him. Bastian cups his hands full of water and runs through the gate by the white snake head. He finds himself in the school attic the next morning after he was last there. The book is gone. He finds the school empty and goes home. His father had been looking for him all day and night. Bastian tells his dad about his adventure in great detail. His father is so happy to have him home he offers to keep him home from school the next day to do fun stuff together. Bastian says he needs ti go talk to Mr Correander first. The next day, Bastian goes to the bookshop and tells the shopkeeper that he stole the book. Mr. Correander tells him he never had that book. When Bastian describes it, the old man asks to hear Bastian’s adventure. After Bastian has told it, Mr. Correander tells him he can always go back to give the Childlike Empress a new name. Each time she has a new name, it is a different meeting of her and she can be seen again. Mr. Correander feels like Bastian will do a lot of good for both worlds, and he turns out to be right.