Chapter Text
It was a quiet June afternoon in the Peach Creek area, the high school had an open library day every Thursday for the summer for anyone wanting to check out books while the school was closed. Most of the kids in the Cul-De-Sac were there this particular Thursday afternoon: Jimmy and Sarah were checking out fairy tales and craft books, Johnny and Plank were looking for book about plants and trees, and even Rolf and Kevin were sitting at a table going through books and magazines about bikes and agriculture.
The Eds were going about between the shelves, picking out books (mostly of Edd's choosing). Eddy and Ed have a one or two books, Edd was still finding one more among the three he already selected.
"Jeez, Sockhead," Eddy began, holding his books about money around the world and business basics, "You think you have enough? You know you can only get four books at a time."
"Yes, I'm aware Eddy," Edd replied, his collection of books about microbiology, the elements of the periodic table, and parasites, "That's why I'm wanting to find a perfect last book."
"Whatever. Any ideas for Edd's last book, Ed?" Eddy asked, looking over to the tall friend.
Ed wasn't paying attention; he was fascinated with the spine of one particular book. It looked like the mangled bark of a particularly old tree with two blue gems on the top and bottom and the center had a creature that couldn't be made out, likely due to the age of the book's exterior. Both Eddy and Edd noticed Ed's focus on the book and his lack of an answer, they went back and have a look to see what got the boy's attention.
"What's up, big guy? What's got your attention?" Eddy asked.
"This book here," Ed said, pointing to the book.
Ed pulled it out and handed it to Edd, the eds then went over to a table to have a better look. Once they found an empty table, Edd placed his books down, sat down, and began to examine the book itself. The cover was leathery, and the center image was a simple-looking circle creature with stumpy looking arms and legs alongside with a long nose, probably not too different from creatures in medieval bestiaries. The eds all decided to open the book up and see what its contents intel, what they found in the book was nothing short of fascinating and awe-inspiring. It told of all kinds of magical creatures: men made from wood with a floating head to boot, lindworms, elves, and even floating legless dog-like creatures that would float in the skies like whales in the oceans.
After glancing at some of the contents in the book, all three were sold on the book. With that, they went to check out their books and made their way back to the neighborhood; once they got to Edd's backyard, they poured over more of the book's contents in greater detail. Edd and Ed of course being more focused than Eddy, but Eddy was extremely curious about the rest of the book and listened on as the two described what was written and illustrated.
"So, wait, you and Monobrow are saying there were giants in that world!?" Eddy asked.
"There were indeed," Edd said, "But they all left the world with no solid explanation. The only suspected way they left was 'They jumped into the sky and left the world'."
"I can jump like the giants too!" Ed said, beginning to jump, making no progress.
"Hehehe, you'll get there eventually, Lumpy," Eddy chuckled.
Edd continued to read through the book as Ed and Eddy went about their shenanigan's. He continued on until he got to the end, in the back was an envelope and the last page having a poem or closing statement, or so he thought.
"Um guys," Edd said, catching Ed and Eddy's attention, "You'll both want to see this."
The two walked over to see what Edd was talking about, they saw the envelope and the writing on the last page. The red-shirted boy opened the envelope and found a stick and a large jewel of sort, he looked at the other two for a moment before analyzing the items and writing. Eddy grabbed the jewel and observed it for a bit, Ed watched as Eddy took in the jewel's appearance and tapped it. Unimpressed just slightly, Eddy handed the jewel back to Edd and stood over the table to hear if Edd had anything else to say.
"From what I can tell from this paper," Edd began, "It would appear that this is some sort of spell."
"An actual spell?" Eddy asked, unconvinced.
"That's the only explanation I can come to."
"So that must be a wand then," Ed said, pointing to the stick.
Edd picked up the stick and the jewel and looked back at the paper. An idea came to the boy's head, he saw the diagram that was present in the picture and placed the jewel on the table with the pointed side up. Eddy and Ed looked over as Edd worked, they stood at the other side of the table.
"You're serious gonna try that spell?" Eddy asked, "You know magic isn't real."
"Awww, come on Eddy! I wanna see if there's magic," Ed whined, really wanting to see what would happen.
"Well at least let me try it. Science experiments can be failures too," Edd said, picking up the wand once again.
"Whatever, just get this over with."
Ed cleared his throat and looked at the sun and looked at the last page. The sun shone on the jewel just right and took in the words on the page before he began; with one deep breath, he tapped the tip of the wand to the jewel three times and began to read:
With the Jewel here and Wand in Hand
I Command the Jewel to Lead Me to Land
Where the Smallest Elves to the Large, Mighty Kraken Reside
Where the Trolls there have Mighty a Hide
But only Roam when the Moon is High
Lead Me Jewel my Time is Nigh!
After Edd's reading of the spell, the trio waited for a bit … But nothing had happened. Edd seemed very distraught at this realization while Eddy got up the Edd.
"See!? I told you that stupid spell wouldn't work," Eddy remarked.
Just like that, a sudden burst of blue-silver light beamed from the jewel, which shocked all the eds. Eddy especially turned white as a ghost with this sudden realization; the beam of light then morphed into a circular portal and began to suck everything in.
"It's a portal!" Ed said, holding onto the grass and trying not to get sucked in.
"That spell actually worked!?" Eddy yelled.
"It appears so!" Edd said.
The book, wand, and jewel all got sucked into the portal. The eds were in a state of absolute dismay at this event, how were they going get those back and where did this portal lead to? Edd then was getting closer and closer to the portal and eventually got sucked in, Eddy and Ed's eyes widened as they saw their friend got eaten by whatever this portal thing was.
"Edd!" Ed said.
"Not Sockhead!" Eddy yelled.
The two were then losing their grips and were both sucked in as well. Once all three eds were sucked in, the portal returned to the beam of light and then into nothing. The other kids in the Cul-De-Sac, looked over at the house with the backyard where the chaos occurred; after a moment or two of looking over, the kids returned to their activities. As for the eds, they were being sent to a place they never would imagine.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In a New Land ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In an apartment-like house, in the living room of said house, three kids and a mother were in the living room playing a board game. Alongside them were a small man-like creature, a creature described as a living ball of fuzz, and a dog-like creature with black antlers and hooves. The blue-haired girl moved a piece over on the board while everyone watched.
"Alright, three more spaces!" she said.
"Aw come on Hilda!" the brown-haired boy said, jokingly, "We're only just starting the game and you're already ahead."
"David is right," the black girl agreed, "Now please hand me the dice."
"Alright, here you are, Frida," Hilda said, passing the dice over.
Frida rolled the dice and moved her piece, the small man-like creature walked over to his piece afterwards. Just then, an older woman came in with a plate full of sandwiches and looked over at the board.
"Oh wow! Looks like Frida's in the lead now," she said, "I made some cucumber sandwiches for you guys. I know you can't play a game on an empty stomach."
"Oh, thank you Mum!" Hilda said.
"Oh yes! Thank you!"
Just as everyone was getting their food, the same blue-silver beam and then portal appeared and the eds all piled out onto the table and board, the jewel, book, and wand all falling out as well. Everyone was shocked at what had just happened as the eds got up and collected themselves; they all took a moment to look around and then at the people and creatures currently there.
"Um … Sockhead …" Eddy said in shock as he realized.
"Yes, I know … " Edd said, "We're not in the Cul-De-Sac anymore for sure."