Bubbling Heroes

A village’s residents who are all heroes lose their speech — all there is left is bubbles.

The village of Valoronia housed the most prominent heroes of the land, but it was now in chaos, for an evil curse was placed upon them by the witch they banished into the bad lands not long ago.

The heroes found themselves unable to communicate verbally. Every time they tried to speak, bubbles came out of their mouths instead of sound.

At first, they thought it was a lot of fun.

But as time went by, it was getting harder and harder for them to go on quests and help people without their voices.

The heroes decided to join forces and find a solution.

Among them was Arin, a warrior whose silence spoke volumes. His stare made the bad guys run and the ladies go weak in the knees.

Arin picked the bravest of the brave and marched to find the witch responsible for all of this. But as they were about to leave, Arin’s beloved stopped him and handed him an empty bucket.

The hero didn’t know what that was about and shrugged in puzzlement. She tried to explain, but once again only bubbles came out.

Arin decided to take the bucket anyway.

The hero’s journey through the dark forest of the bad lands was painfully boring as they couldn’t say a word to each other.

Thankfully, it didn’t take too long before they arrived on the other side of the woods.

Nearby, there was a small pond with a single lily pad floating in the middle.

The witch’s hut stood on the other side of the pond.

“Look — the witch’s hut!” everyone tried to say, but again only bubbles floated out of their mouths.

Arin was the first to approach. He started walking around the pond to get to the hut. But to his surprise, a forcefield pushed him back and prevented him from going any further.

Arin fell to the ground.

He quickly pointed his fellow heroes to the pond, implying that they need to pass through it to get to the witch.

The heroes stepped into the pond, which was only about waste deep, and proceeded toward the other side. But as soon as they got close to the lonely lily pad, the water began to ripple and the flower began to grow — it grew almost as big as the pond and swallowed the heroes whole.

Arin watched in dismay, but he knew that he was now the only one that could save his friends and their village.

He ran over the giant lily pad and reached the other side of the hut where the old bent-over witch was waiting for him.

Arin pulled out his mighty sword and gestured to get out of his way. But the witch swiftly transformed herself into a knight with armor and a sword of her own.

They clashed swords, each blow sending sparks flying. Arin thought about all the people that rely on him and that gave him a boost of strength. With a mighty swing, Arin’s sword cut through the witch’s armor, defeating her.

She transformed back into an old woman and could do nothing but run away slowly.

Arin took off his armor and dove into the pond, ripping the enchanted lily pad's roots and releasing his hero friends.

There was a brief moment of happiness before they realized they still had no way of speaking.

They searched the hut and found a vile of pills sitting on the witch’s night table. The label read “reversal” and they instantly deduced that they can reverse the effects of the curse if they took the pills.

Arin, being the bravest, tried it first. Unfortunately, the only thing the pills managed to reverse was his lunch.

So they kept looking.

Arin remembered the empty bucket and had an idea — he took the bucket to the pond, filled it with water, and brought it back to his friends.

Each of them took a sip and the curse was lifted — their speech returned and the bubbles disappeared.

Arin topped off the bucket with more pond water to take to the village and the heroes turned back to Valoronia.

This is a response to Jonathon Sawyer’s challenge! In return, I challenge Bradan Writes Stories.

My Score: Points: 12 Prompt #1: 2 Points Bubbles: +1 Point An empty bucket (that is full by the story’s end): +1 Point A lily pad: +1 Point A vile of pills: +1 Point An oxymoron: +5 Point Tally: +1 point