the thmgau rewrite

The Prophecy

Long, long ago, a prophecy was foretold by Fate itself. A prophecy of good & evil, a prophecy of light & dark. One day, far, far into the future, 5 heroes will emerge & save the multiverse from destruction, maintaining balance between the goods & the evils of this world.

These 5 heroes, even though they may not show it or believe it, have strengths & qualities beyond their wildest dreams. Passion, hospitality, kindness, flexibility, patience... this was how Fate had described the prophesied heroes. Even though she had never met these heroes yet, she could see far into the future, & she knew these were the ones.

Now here we are: January 14th, 2023. 5 friends sat in an apartment complex, having a sleepover. They were eating snacks & talking about the logistics of whether Kirby could beat Sonic the Hedgehog in a fight.

"Sonic would just run out of the way, though!" Kalani said. "He's, like, the fastest thing alive, right?"
"But if Kirby inhaled him & got his powers, Kirby would be just as fast as Sonic is!" Juniper replied, taking a bite out of a pretzel.
"Then they'd just be the exact same speed." Cherry rolled her eyes. "It's an unwinnable battle for both of them."
"If Kirby inhaled Sonic & spat him off of, say, a rooftop, there's no way Sonic's surviving that. Kirby wins." Nora said.
"Kirby's too nice for that, though!" Leslie said, crossing their arms. "They wouldn't even be fighting in the first place. They would be eating chili dogs together."
"Then it's a contest to see how many chili dogs they can eat."
"Well, that's just unfair for Sonic! Kirby would eat all of them before Sonic even had a chance to take a bite."
"Maybe Sonic just has a skill issue then."
"Sonic does NOT have a skill issue!"

Cherry yawned. "Damn, I'm tired."
"It is getting a little late. Maybe we should all conk out for the night." Kalani said, checking the time on his phone.
"Yeah," Leslie mumbled, pulling a blanket over itself. "I'm heading to sleepies. Goodnight!"
"G'night!"

The 5 of them soon fell asleep, all cozy & warm in the living room, & nothing questionable happened during that night at all.

That was a lie, by the way. Something very questionable & strange happened that night.

It was a dream. It didn't feel like a dream, but it didn't feel NOT like a dream, either. Not a lucid dream, & most certainly not a fever dream. They were simultaneously alone & together at the same time, standing before a shadowed figure.

The figure approached them, holding a necklace in its hands.

"Heroes of the prophecy," the shadow's voice echoed in their minds. "You have been chosen to maintain the balance between good & evil in this world, as decided by Fate itself."

The figure held up the necklace. "The necklace will guide your way." it said. "Find your way to the book. You will know what to do from there."

As morning crawled its way into Cincinnati, Cherry, Nora, Leslie, Juniper, & Kalani awoke.

"Ugh, my head hurts.." Cherry grumbled, holding their palm up to their forehead.
"Same.." Kalani yawned. "I had a really weird dream last night. There was this tall shadow thing & it handed me a necklace that looked kind of like a tie &-"
"& it said to find some book?"
"I- Yeah, it did.. how did you know?"
"I had that dream too."
"Now that you mention it, I also had a dream like that."
"I did, as well."
"Did we all have the same dream?"
"I guess so."

Cherry sighed. "It probably means nothing. Juni, do you know where you keep your tylenol?"
"Bathroom. In the mirror cabinet."
"Thanks." She got up & headed toward the bathroom.

Leslie got up as well. "You all want some breakfast? I can make some if you want."
"That'd be awesome, Les."
"Alright, let's see what Juni has in faer fridge." it said, heading toward the kitchen. As it opened the refrigerator, a scream rang out from the bathroom. Everyone's heads perked up.

"Cherry!" Nora called out. "You ok?!"
"NO!!!" they yelled back.

The other 4 all rushed to the bathroom to see what the matter was. Cherry stood in front of the mirror, bottle of tylenol in her hands, & a red tie necklace around her neck.

"What's wrong?"
"The necklace!! Where did it COME FROM?"
"Isn't that the necklace we all saw in our dreams?"
"Well, my necklace was green."
"Mine was yellow."
"Hey," Leslie pointed at the mirror. "We're all wearing necklaces too."
"Huh?"

Everyone looked at the mirror. They were, indeed, wearing almost-identical tie necklaces. Nora's was yellow, Leslie's was gray, Juniper's was green, & Kalani's was blue.

"Jesus christ. It's like we sleep-walked our way to a jewelry store & stole these or something."
"Jewelry stores don't sell tie-shaped necklaces."
"Well, where else would we get these?"
"..maybe the dream wasn't a dream?"

Everyone turned toward Leslie.

"What do you mean it 'wasn't a dream?' We were all VERY MUCH asleep."
"You all remember that shadow figure from the dream, right? It gave us the necklaces in the dream, & now we're all wearing the necklaces!"
"That's.. physically not possible."
"If it's not possible, why did it happen, eh?"

"Didn't the shadow figure mention a book?" Nora perked up. "The necklaces are supposed to guide us to some book."
"There's tons of books in this world! That would take literally forever!"
"If this so-called book is real, it would have to be relatively close to us, right? Whatever this shadow figure is wouldn't hide a book in, like, Europe or something."
"You have a point. I guess."
"We should get some breakfast first, though, & there's barely anything to cook with in your fridge, Juni."

Juniper crossed her arms. "What, you can't make a hotdog breakfast, Les?"
"No."
"Well, where DO we get breakfast, then?"

The group thought about it for a moment.

"Oh! I got it!" Kalani said. "There's this new banana restaurant that opened up recently. We could go there!"
"Banana restaurant?"
"Yeah. Restaurant that sells bananas. & banana-themed foods."
"..doesn't hurt to try, I guess."
"Alright! Let's go!!"