The Secret Library: The Tale of the Mysterious Kingdom

Chapter 2: New Cortexia

The very next day, Sofia and her family, and Baileywick were in the winged royal coach, heading towards the mysterious kingdom.

Of course, they were dressed in their fanciest clothes; Amber in her ballgown from 'Once Upon A Princess', James in his suit from 'Day of the Sorcerers', Miranda in her green dress from 'The Crown of Blossoms', Roland was dressed in the suit he wore in 'Elena & the Secret of Avalor', Baileywick in a dark blue version of his suit, and Sofia was wearing her light blue dress* from 'Holiday in Enchancia'.

[*-that dress was from before she freed Elena from her amulet.]

"So, Sofia, what does this mysterious kingdom look like?" Roland asked. "Well," Sofia said, "I remember that the buildings were strange shapes, and there were neon lights."

"Like those?" James said, noticing a sign that said 'Welcome to New Cortexia' flashing in blue neon. "New Cortexia?" Roland said. "I've never seen that kingdom before."

Almost immediately, they came down to a landing pad, and it was then Sofia and her family saw what the buildings of 'New Cortexia' looked like; they were all big skyscrapers from the future, all based on the 'Future Frenzy' scenery from Crash Bandicoot: Warped, but as it looked in the N Sane Trilogy. 'Those are the same buildings I saw in the book!' thought Sofia.

The winged royal coach landed. Sofia, her family, and Baileywick got out and stared at the scenery of New Cortexia.

"Well... This... is... more than I was expecting." Miranda said, quite surprised.

"These lights are so... weird." James said. At that moment, Sofia noticed a sign nearby. It said: 'THIS WAY TO THE PALACE'. "We should go that way." She said. "OK." Roland said.

When they followed the sign, they soon found themselves on a moving green conveyor belt, that seemed to take them through the 'kingdom'. They saw all sorts of futuristic signs, buildings, and strange people with brown hair and wearing glasses working and chatting nearby. Sofia was quite surprised. If this was part of the story, she knew she'd have her work cut out for her this time, as the Storykeeper.

Soon, about half an hour later, they soon reached the palace of the kingdom of New Cortexia.

But, to be honest, 'palace' wasn't quite the word used to describe it: The building looked like a mix of The White House, Big Ben, and an ancient temple, and a weird-looking castle, complete with a blimp-like thing attached to the topmost tower. and it was colored in the same colors of the buildings of 'New Cortexia'.

They saw a huge steel door open. "This palace is definitely nothing like back home." Amber said. The royal family and Baileywick went in via the conveyor, and the door shut behind them.

Once inside, the conveyor stopped, and soon, they found themselves in a big long hall, all coloured dark purple and gold. All the lights in it were off, and the hall was silent. Eerily silent.

"Hello?" Roland called. But nobody answered, and his voice echoed around the hall.

"OK, Daddy," Amber said, "I think nobody's in, so we should leave right now, and-

Then, all the lights in the hall went on. These lights were VERY bright; in fact, they were so bright, the royal family yelled in shock at such brightness.

Then, a loud trumpet fanfare filled the room, an extremely loud one, making them all wince and cover their ears.

Suddenly!

More of the strange people they saw, this time all wearing medieval guard clothes, all walked in. "What on earth?" Baileywick said, his ears still ringing.

One of the guards spoke. "Presenting, the ruler of New Cortexia, Dr Neo Periwinkle Cortex!" he said.

The guards parted on either side of the hall, and a big red carpet rolled out, just stopping in front of Sofia and her family and Baileywick.

Then they saw what the ruler of New Cortexia looked like, and when they did, they WERE surprised; for this is what he looked like:

He was a short, balding, yellow-skinned, large-headed human with a giant permanent tattoo symboled N on his forehead. He was wearing a lab coat, with some sort of black clothing underneath, and donning leather gloves and boots. Since he was balding, he had black frazzled hair only on the sides of his head and a thick strand on top, complete with a short beard in the same colour of his hair on his face.

"Oh... ummm..." Roland said, staring at the guy who was 'the ruler of New Cortexia'. "Greetings... Mr... umm... 'Your Highness."

Seeing how short Cortex was, he knelt down so he could shake his hand. "I am King Roland II from Enchancia. This is my wife, Miranda, and my steward, Baileywick, and my children, Sofia, James, and Amber."

The others curtsied and bowed. Sofia noticed the N on Cortex's forehead. "That must be the ruler of this kingdom!" she thought.

"Welcome." Cortex said. "I am Dr Neo Cortex, the ruler of this kingdom, called New Cortexia." "We noticed." James said. "It's very nice."

"We're here on a visit." Sofia said, as politely as she could. "I know." Cortex said. "I saw you arrive. Tell me, honestly, What do you think of the castle of New Cortexia?" The royal family looked around at how weird it looked; there were also busts of Cortex's head, and strange pictures of different creatures and machines.

"It's so..." Roland said, quite nervously, as if he was trying to say something nicely without offending Cortex. "Ummmm... great!"

"I know." Cortex said grandly. "Isn't it marvellous! It was assembled all in 1 single night!"

"Technically, that's impossible-" James started, before Amber covered his mouth. "Impossibly amazing." Amber said quickly.

Cortexs grinned. "How would you like something to eat?" "we would be very much grateful." Miranda said. "Good." Cortex said. "Follow me."

With that, Sofia, Baileywick, and the royal family followed Cortex down the hall.

TO them, there was definitely something fishy about 'New Cortexia'. But what was it? And could Sofia give the story of 'The Tale of the Mysterious Kingdom' a happy ending?