The NeverEnding Story Part II
Image taken from wikipedia.org
Atreyu and Falkor set out to reach the southern oracle. The way in which fantastica can be saved is by Atreyu finding a human child who can give the emperess a new name. Bastian, who is reading this, discovered that the book is breaking the fourth wall. It is happening as he is reading. He must keep going on. After flying around for a while, the pair runs the nothing.
Atreyu falls off of Falkor and into the Sea of Possibilities. He wakes up on a beach with the nothing not far away. Atreyu walks in sorrow to a stone garden not far away. He briefly encounters a large Rockbiter, who reveals his friends were taken by the nothing and decides he will be taken too. Atreyu sees a pictorial story of himself, from his moments being assigned his mission to the present.
At long last, Atreyu then meets Gmork. Gmork does not recognize Atreyu, as he has never seen the boy up close. Gmork tells him that Fantastica is actually the dream world of human beings. Because thoughts and dreams have no boundaries, neither does Fantastica. The nothing is a by-product of human apathy and despair, which eat away the dreams and goals of humanity.
Only one brave young boy could have saved Fantastica. Atreyu reveals his identity and challenges the wolf. Gmork charges at Atreyu, who in turn impales him with a sharp stone. The Nothing comes down full force on the area and violently tears the world apart as Atreyu clings to a tree. Falkor arrives at the last moment and saves Atreyu. Falkor and Atreyu are flying around the emptiness of space, as the rest of Fantasia is gone, leaving only an asteroid field. With the guide of the Auryn, they fly back to the Ivory Tower, which is the only intact structure left in the remains of Fantasia. Atreyu goes inside the tower and comes face to face with The Childlike Empress.
The Empress tells him that he has not failed, and has indeed brought a human child with him. The Empress begins to tell of the human child, who escaped bullies in a bookstore, then accompanied Atreyu on his journey all along. As Bastian reads the story of Atreyu’s journey, he realizes the book is aware of his presence. The Empress reiterates that all Fantastica needs is for the human child to give her a new name.
As the nothing begins attacking the area, causing it to start falling apart, Atreyu is knocked unconscious in the ensuing chaos. As thefalls it of the land begins to disintegrate, the empress tearfully addresses Bastian by name in the book’s text. Torn between his father’s insistence that he must live in the real world and the Empress’s plea, Bastian finally runs to the nearest open window, and screams the name Moonchild out into the night.
Bastian stand in front of the empress, who says that all of Fantastica was destroyed by the nothing, whereas Bastian’s bravery helped one grain of sand from the dream survive. With this one grain of sand, Bastian can rebuild the entire world through wishes and imagination. Bastian wishes for Fantasia’s restoration, and for a ride on the back of Falkor. His wish is granted and Fantastica returns to its glory.
