Young Writers Society

A new morning dawned over Candytopia. I was walking throughout the village, looking around as I watched the townspeople rebuilding their homes and businesses. Since the Queen was busy with her regal duties, I was granted permission to stroll around without a guide. Due to my distraught episode, the Queen and I weren’t able to finish our tour, so I decided to finish it today. Also, after that ordeal that happened yesterday, I really needed to relax my nerves.

Yesterday…

As for the source of the ordeal, it was quickly burned on a pyre as all the candy people celebrated in a festival of victory.

I wanted to eat the thing. However, Queen Sugar explained, “The hybrid-beasts’ flesh is too tough and bitter to eat. Believe me, we all tried.”

You learn something knew every day, especially the part about the candy people actually being capable of eating meat.

During the celebration, everyone dance until midnight. They brought out kegs of beer—peppermint beer to be précised—and everyone got drunk off of it.

Music played all around. An assortment of drums and flutes could be heard in the atmosphere. I smiled, enjoying the festival in front of me.

Suddenly, a mug of the peppermint beer was shoved in front of my face. “Here! Try it! It’s pretty good! After everything we went through you and I really need to have some fun!” said the queen cheerfully, appearing beside me with a smile on her face

“This beverage is only distributed on times for celebration!” the queen explained, shouting in my ear from the loud music.

At first, I was curious about why that was. However, I was too stressed to care.

Even though I was 16 and wasn’t legally eligible to drink yet, I thought what the hell! And took a swig of it. It tasted just like the name suggested, and at that moment, I was in the middle of a hedonistic debauchery with everyone, drinking dance, and doing…other things. I mean, I saw a gumdrop girl give a jawbreaker man a BJ before getting blown all over by rainbow stuff, or the sight of a gummy girl getting on all fours and being rammed by one of the rock candy guards. My face couldn’t help but contort in both disgust and in awe by what I was seeing. Talk about carpe diem, am I right?!

When turned back to the Queen and was completely awestruck by the way she looked. She was stunning, although that could be just the effect of the beer. Either way, she was beautiful.

Tracing a hand softly around my face, she grinned slyly and said with a blush, “~Come one, let’s have some fun! Just you and me, what do you say?!”

I was stunned and unable to respond. From the way her face was red and the slurs in her vocabulary, I could tell that she was already drunk.

“Sugar, I think you have enough to drink,” I pointed out before taking her mug away.

Then I continued, “Let me take you home before we do something we’ll regret.”

However, when I grabbed her hand and tried to guide her back to the castle, she wrapped herself around me and embraced my lips. Because of the leverage, we both fell to the floor. Then, everything went dark and all I could here was a slight giggle.

Present time…

Apparently, I learned that peppermint beer served, not only as a beverage, but also as a narcotic too. It was the reason why it was only distributed during times of celebration, which was why the celebration of victory quickly turned into a Burning Man Festival’s Orgy Dome after they all did mushrooms. Anyway, back to the present moment.

“Excuse me! Do you need any help?!” I shouted inquisitively.

I had walked up to a construction team who were preoccupied with reconstructing the local hospital. They had already closed up the roof. Right now, they were working on what remained of the foundation.

“Nah! That’s all right! We’re almost done with it! If we need help with the rest, we’ll contact you!” declined the first construction worker politely who looked like a peanut butter cup in a hardhat.

Well, at least I offered to help, but they’re professionals. So, they wouldn’t need someone like me. I replied, “Okay! I’ll be available if you do need me!” then I walked away, leaving them all be.

However, I paused for a second when I heard one of the construction workers muttered “human” behind my back in disgust. Fortunately, I just brushed it off and kept on walking.

3-blocks-away, I found myself in another part of Candytopia. From the look of it, I might have wondered in what use to be Adventureland and Frontierland, deducing my location based on the more western/safari-esque surroundings, along with the decayed signs of “Jungle Cruise” and “Tarzan’s Treehouse”. Well, from there, I learned where the Candy People got their water supply, instead of the water from the presumably wasteland environment outside the walls.

Just then, I noticed something that seemed…out of place from the area.

In the middle of Adventureland, there was a tall, circular building colored pink and beige. In front was a stone staircase of what I believed to be forty steps leading up to the arched entrance. On top of it was a wooden spiral rooftop with a pointy tip. Lastly, on each side were five window openings, bringing light into the building while a large oak door sealed the front entrance.

With one step, I proceeded to head up the staircase and grabbing the handles on the doors, I pulled them open and waltzed right in before closing them behind me.

I was amazed by what was inside. Right in front of me were 12 rows of pews all facing each other up to the altar at the front. Around the room were 10 black candles stands placed beside the windows and on the ceiling were paintings of twelve candy people wearing togas and tunics: a peanut butter cup man, a chocolate bar woman, a Hershey Kisses girl, a bubblegum maiden, a jawbreaker warrior, a lollipop scholar, a jellybean artisan, a mysterious licorice, a jolly candy cane, a rock candy blacksmith, a taffy healer, and a cotton candy king.

“Welcome, human, to the temple of the Twelve!”

Turning my attention away from the ceiling, I looked to the altar and saw a candy-cane man dressed like a priest and standing at the podium. He got off and walked straight towards me.

“Temple of the Twelve?” I repeated inquisitively.

Religion had been the foundation of every civilization since the dawn of time. So, it made sense if Candytopia had its’ own religion.

“We of Candytopia are obligated to follow the teachings of the first twelve of our race, the gods who created us all in their image!” the priest answered.

Looking up he pointed as he named the figures on the ceiling, “Recess the Fatherly, Wonka the Motherly, Hershey the Innocent, Carmen the Virgin, Gobstopper the Brave, Tootsie the Scholarly, Jellybelly the Artisan, Dorval the Elusive, Spangler the Joyful, Jaggery the Blacksmith, Abbazaba the Apothecary, and Cinnamon I, the first king of Candytopia!”

My face deadpanned after hearing all the names. It wasn’t really much of a surprise, but it was a bit of a lackluster from the fact their names were familiar. My expression blanked when I looked up again and stared at the king’s piety portrait. He might’ve been Sugar’s ancestor, unless they had different dynasties before Sugar’s line. I wasn’t aware that the priest was still talking, unaware that I stopped listening to him when he finished naming the “gods” and started rambling about Candy People Mythology.

“Excuse me, priest, but is Queen Sugar anyway related to King Cinnamon?” I asked.

The priest ceased his storytelling, stopping from around the end of the creation myth to the beginning of the candy exodus. He turned to me and answered with a nod, “Why yes! Our Queen, Sugar, is a direct descendant of King Cinnamon through a line that stretch about 25 generations, thousands of years ago!” Throughout the sentence, he turned around and pointed at a stain glass mural of the Queen. His tone was very respectful when I mentioned the queen, and not in the regal kind of respect, but a pious kind of respect.

“To all of Candytopia, the queen is more than a monarch! She is a symbol to our kingdom, a living demigoddess to the candy people!” she continued, amplifying the amount of piety in his voice.

“Does…everyone in the kingdom agree with that?”

The priest frowned, remarking in a bitter tone, “Well, there are the naysayers who believe otherwise like General Butterscotch and Reginald, the Royal Publican! However, there voices are small compared to the thousands of believers all over Candytopia! Even the barbarians who dwell outside of the wall tremble at the queen’s presence.”

“Wait! There are others outside of Candytopia?!” I exclaimed surprisingly.

“Indeed, there are! In the south lie the heathen tribes of the beastmen and the lands of the unkempt, and in the east lie the kingdoms of fire and ice. In the northeast lies the Empire of the Metal Ones while in the far north remains unknown. The rest of the regions are mostly populated by roamers, bandits, and savages who have no respect for civil norms, which was one of the reasons the first king built the wall in the first place! To keep them out!”

My face fell stoic. I didn’t know how to respond to such religious devotion. 25-minutes-later, I bid the priest farewell and went on my way, far to the point of going into the red light district, passing by perverts, bums, and hookers to get through. I think I even passed through a strip joint also. Just then, after leaving the district, I halted when I almost collided with the wall. I was beginning to contemplate as I stopped.

I thought to myself: I wonder what’s outside beyond this wall? Are there other civilizations out there? If so, are they different from Candytopia? Then again, I’m not even sure how long I’ve been aseleep! I don’t even know how significant the whole planet earth had changed! I wonder…maybe I’m not really the last of my kind! Maybe there are some humans left out there, and maybe they’re living in the wilderness, trying to survive an ever-changing world! I’ll never know if I stay any longer!

I sighed softly. The oppressing sense of despair hovered over me as I continued staring at the wall. However, I had to stop when I began drawing attention from those around me.

I need to talk to the queen!