artofyano

[artofyano]

Some “Ferdie The Wizard” sketches

You can read his short story on my previous post

[artofyano]

Testing again?

If you see this post, please like it(?) I wanna know if people exist here.

[artofyano]

The last days of October rushed by like my brother Ferdie on his broomstick as he landed on my apartment balcony. I was at my study table when he exclaimed, “Danny! The plants are drier than last year.” I replied, “That’s what happens when you actually go to school…you forget to water them.” He shot back, “If that’s what you learn there, maybe school isn’t a good idea.” “You wouldn’t understand. You want things easy, thinking magic solves everything.” “ALMOST everything. Anyway, I see you left the balcony doors open. You look forward to my visits after all.” “I left them open for air. I keep forgetting what I read. Could be the heat. My grades are spiraling down. Why are you here?” “I brought you a pumpkin.” I was puzzled. “What for?” “Well, I figured you’d need it—to cook, make soup, pie…” “Need it? Is that really what I need now?” “What else would you need—” I felt my blood boil, & the words spilled out, “This is useless! They’ll never forgive you! You left home to fly around on that silly broom, learning nothing but tricks! You need an education! You need to make it up to Mom and Dad! The future is inventions, Ferdie! The future is money. With money, I can buy a pumpkin!” “But this one’s my gift.” “It’s just a pumpkin.” “…that I grew.” I sighed impatiently & nodded for him to place it on the table. He quietly dropped it, pulled out a tiny knife, and cut a slice. With a flick of his wand, the slice steamed warm. “Try it. It’s quite good,” he said. The aroma made me hungry, so I took a bite. I closed my eyes, savoring its mildly sweet flavor, like it had cinnamon sprinkled over it. It tasted like a hug. When I opened my eyes, Ferdie was gone. I shrugged & returned to my school book. Suddenly, the pages felt familiar, like I had written them myself. Something had changed. I vividly remembered everything I studied that day, the day before, and the last three weeks! Then it hit me as I looked around me, remembering to water the plants. Right then, all I could only say was “It’s not just a pumpkin.” 🪶

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If you see this post, please like it(?) I wanna know if people exist here.

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CHAPTER 9: BOUNCE

“Show us how much you love gold! Only then I’ll believe you that you’d spare my life for my golden shoes.” “Shoes first, no debate.” “No. You gotta promise me you'd prove it first!” King Toad’s closed his eyes, thinking. Without warning, his slippery, long tongue whipped out of his mouth and wrapped Knico’s legs. Fam hissed & jumped onto Knico’s back. “No! You can’t eat us yet!” The tongue pulled them high & dropped them on the toad’s head, the crown pushed against their backs. “My hidden cave, we bounce straight! There you see gold I don’t hate!” said King Toad. He sprung his vocal sac against the cave floor again & again until the springing turned to bouncing. And off they bounced out of the cave hole. “It worked. I got us out. Now, how do we escape from him?” Knico thought.

TO BE CONTINUED 🪶

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CHAPTER 7: DRIP

The shoes kept Knico walking through the forest. The clearing was close, but something caught Knico’s eye: a forest of giant mushrooms. A standout amongst the shrooms was a translucent one, glimmering like a giant jello under the soft, hazy forest sun rays. The golden shoes vibrated Knico’s feet to a pull away from the shrooms, but Knico insisted, “You don’t wear me. I wear you!” Knico walked towards the shiny mushroom. Fam followed. He excitedly started running towards it, then -- BLOOP! Knico & Fam were inside it. A giant blob of water swallowed them. Their weight started making it sink and wriggling into the ground. They started swimming to escape from it, but their efforts were to no avail. “The grround’s sw-allo-o-w-wing us, F-am!” was his mumble in the water. The blob drooped to a drip. Knico held himself to balance as the drip gradually collected weight. He could see that the underground was hollow, like a cave. Then he felt himself falling. Falling into the dark abyss…

TO BE CONTINUED 🪶

[artofyano]

CHAPTER 6: GOLDEN

Knico inspected the whirling map before him. The longer he stared, the more it dawned on him that he couldn’t understand it. “This looks nothing like the maps I’ve known.” The orb’s whirling stopped right after his statement, like it had heard him. It started swirling fast until its light shone brighter, golden. The swirling loosened into a dance of malleable metal sheets and drifted towards Knico’s foot. He could see shoes of butter-yellow light forming. He heard Fam hiss as everything went quiet. As he looked down, a beautiful pair of shoes shimmered. They were worn by his feet. Its seams resembled the sphere map with the star symbol for its quarters. “Wow…” said Knico. The star then shifted to a symbol of a droplet (💧). Knico felt the shoes vibrate to a specific direction. “Oh, it’s going to guide us to the star!“ Knico exclaimed. Fam purred. Knico started walking in the direction where the vibration led him. But as he was walking, he wondered, “Why is the symbol now a drip?”

TO BE CONTINUED 🪶

[artofyano]

CHAPTER 5: MAP

The ball inside Knico's bag vibrated from the buzz of a cicada to needing a pull of the ropes around the neck of a horse endlessly galloping. Knico was not letting it away, clutching the bag like inside it were halloween candies. Suddenly, Fam appeared behind his legs, toppling him down. The ball rolled an arm away from him. This time, it emitted no light. Its surface glistened a hint of sunset gold. It looked mechanical. Then it glowed, suspended midair, and droned beautiful acoustics of rattling gearwheels as it expanded in size, enough for Knico to see it more clearly. The ball now looked like a metallic planet, whirling mechanically as unfamiliar symbols drifted along its surface. Knico recognized one of them: the star with a girl in it. "Fam, I think I know what this is. It's a map."

TO BE CONTINUED 🪶

[artofyano]

CHAPTER 4: DODGE

“Is it the star?” Knico asked. “Meow?” was Fam’s answer. It was a ball of light suspended mid-air, almost the size of a baseball. It was emitting a light too bright to be recognized. “We have to go closer to it.” As Knico got closer, he saw the ball of light change its spot. He kept moving towards it. It swooped past around him, now farther. “It’s a dodging ball!” Knico felt it smirking, challenging him to a chasing game. “Stay here, Fam.” Knico dropped his bag where Fam was & ran towards the ball. He was hopping barefoot on the natural damp lawn of the forest. Fam then joined in chasing. They dodged trees as a ball of light eluded them like a bursting firefly. It was moving so fast, like a flicker of lighting. Then suddenly Knico stopped as an idea came to him, “It knows I want it… Fam, let’s walk away.” With Fam in his bag, he walked away from the ball. The light ball stood still at its spot. Knico then stealthily climbed a tree behind the ball. Up on the tree, he let Fam out of his bag & whispered, “Stay here.” He clutched his bag & crawled on the bark, stopping where the light came directly underneath him. He was not looking at it, but the light from below was enough for him to know its spot. “It can’t be faster than me now.” He remembered what his big sister, Luna, had told him: Gravity is 9.8 meters per second and doubles that the next second, and so on. “I just hope this tree is tall enough for that but not tall enough to knock me out.” Knicko dropped his body, his arms raising the bag’s opening towards the ball. It started moving when suddenly —darkness… “Meow.” Knico heard Fam from above the tree as he was lying on the ground, the bag in his arms. It was vibrating. “I caught it.”

TO BE CONTINUED 🪶

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CHAPTER 3: PATH

At the corner of their garden walls stood an old tree whose leaves had shed earlier than the rest. The spiders went on with their marching band towards its massive roots, especially one that arched for a hole in a ground fit for Knico & Fam to crawl into. "This is it —the gate towards your way to find the star in your dreams. Farewell, little sir!" said the leader of the spiders. Though he was still in his pajamas, Knico managed to carry a bag pack with him for Fam to climb into. As soon as Knico crawled into the hole, the marching band's music faded behind them. The spiders closed the gate with a web & what was left was a dead end of hard soil. A sudden stillness enfolded the tunnel. There is no turning back. As Knico crawled on & out of the hole, a winding path stretched into a dark forest. Tall trees crowded along it. Mushrooms filled its edges. At the far end of the path, Knico noticed something bright. "Look, Fam! That could be the star!"

TO BE CONTINUED 🪶

[artofyano]

CHAPTER 2: SPIDERS

Knico dragged himself to the breakfast table. "You're up! Take whatever you want. You'll find anything in the fridge or cabinet. I will be late for school," said Luna, his elder sister. She fumbled inside her bag to check if she had everything before leaving. "…pencil. Calculator… yeah. This makes me feel I'm bringing two phones. Alright." "You could leave a note?" "Boy, I wanted to see you up and right. Last night, I heard you sleep-talking. LOUD." Knico's eyes grew. "Anyway, just text me if you need anything. Don't worry, it's a Saturday. My class will end at 3." Luna took the car keys & left. Knico decided he wanted a box of cereals but couldn't reach for them from the highest shelf. He kept looking for other goods, until he found a box of cereal inside a broom closet. 'Luna must have kept this one for me here,' he thought. "Meow!" Fam gave the box a silent sniff. Knico then placed a bowl on the table & stuck the box's flaps out with a spoon. He shook the box lazily & out poured not cereal but spiders! They made a cheery noise. The leader crawled up to the bowl's brim & said, "Alas! You have freed us, generations of arachnid wisdom locked in a box! Allow us to repay you with anything you'd like to ask!" Knico couldn't believe it. Fam was staring at the spiders, so he knew he must not be dreaming. "Was last night all a dream?" Eight of the leader's eyes opened, "Life awake & life asleep is the life complete. Both things you touch & things you feel make what is real! The star girl visited you." "How do I find her?" "Daring it is to journey for a dream. But let me help you, else you drown us in cream. To find the star, follow us to your garden. Under the leafless tree, you crawl into a hole in a land so foreign. In that world, you will find what you're missing. So waste no time, for an adventure is beginning!" The spiders started their marching band as they moved outside the window. Knico's eyes followed them, "Fam, come with me." That morning, no breakfast was held at the table, which was left with an empty bowl, an empty spoon, & an empty box of cereal.

TO BE CONTINUED 🪶


[artofyano]

CHAPTER 1: DREAM

Once upon a time, in a curious little town, in a curious little house, in a curious little bed, laid a boy named Knico. He was in a slumber so deep that he could wander into the vast plethora of darkness, which freed him from all the memories he had had since. Except the darkness reminded him of his cat, Fam, who was staring through the window into the night. An ocean of stars twinkled perpetually as the cat's eyes had not blinked once. All at once, one of the millions of starlights grew bigger. Shone brighter. It shone so bright that both Fam's darkness of the night and Knico's darkness of slumber collided into a birth of a dream. Knico was awakened by the blinding light emerging from his bedroom window. He sensed that the starlight did not mean to intrude but to visit. As he squinted, he noticed a figure gliding in the star. A silhouette of a girl waved at him, saying, "Hello, Knico. I have always waited for you to find me." Knico rubbed his eyes, "Who are you? I have never met you." "You don't know me now. But you will. For in dreams, you find your quest. And in quests, you find your questions. And in questions, you find your answers." The girl's voice came from a whisper to thundering echoes as her light flashed to its end. Then, the only light left in the room was the faint glimmer of Fam's moonlit gaze. "What a dream…" mumbled Knico, as he laid back in his bed, going back to sleep with his last conscious thoughts dancing around the curious visit of a star girl. "What a dream..."

TO BE CONTINUED 🪶

[artofyano]

Witches traveled to Southwestern Europe every autumn to gather famous potion ingredients like chestnuts. Lola, a young witch, grabbed the opportunity to open a witch hat store by the street in the town of Porto.

Aside from meeting witches, she loved that street for something special: across it lived a man named Diogo. She would stare at him at night as he sat at the terrace, having tea before turning the lights off after his big yawn.

One morning, Lola was sketching outside her store when a figure suddenly shadowed her. “Hi,” Diogo was looking at the sketch. Lola blushed & managed to say, “Hi.” “What is it?” “I’m designing some hats.” “You made all these?” He looked awestruck by the hats displayed on the store facade. “Yes, I did.” “It’s the 3rd autumn that I have seen this shop open. Tomorrow, I am moving out of this town.” Lola’s eyes widened. Diogo continued, “But I was curious. I’ve been meaning to ask: what’s the pointy hat for?” “Fascinating isn’t it? It has no use. I love making them as they’re something witches don’t need but choose to get. I think that’s cute.” “I’ll buy one.” Lola was taken aback. “For?” Diogo smiled, “does it matter? I thought it had no use?” Lola chuckled, “Since you’re leaving anyway, have one for free. Consider it a souvenir from this street. Choose any from the hats here.” “Any?” “Any!” “That one you’re wearing.” “Oh, but it’s mine!” “But you said ‘any’!” Lola sighed, “Touché.” Diogo took the hat, thanked Lola, & left.

The next day Diogo returned with a bouquet. But no one was there except a cat. “Little cat, have you seen Lola?” The cat sniffed the flowers & purred. Diogo waited but saw no sign of Lola. He tore a piece of paper at the counter and wrote, “Dear Lola. I brought you flowers. I had to leave because I could not miss the train. I hope the curious cat staring at me every night won’t ruin the flowers. I’ll see you next autumn. Love, Diogo. P.S. Hah! Hat’s useful. It could collect flowers into a bouquet!”

After Diego left, the cat climbed onto the counter, sniffed the flowers, & sighed from its scent, a sigh blown from the lips now those of a woman, those of a blushing witch named Lola. ✍️

FOLLOW FOR MORE OF MY SHORT STORIES WITH ILLUSTRATIONS! LOVE, YANO ♥️

[artofyano]

Yes, it was my choice to cross oceans from a country scarce in resources to work as a cook and maid to keep my children’s stomachs full with my earnings. But those foreign people I got to work for were never my choice. I never liked this family. When they looked at me, they saw brooms and kitchenware, not me. The wife would beat me with the strength of a man. And the husband deluded himself into believing he had two wives in the house, me the other. And their son loved testing the flat iron’s heat limits on my skin. I could tell these people were prisoners of their selves. Hence, they tried to imprison me. I couldn’t leave because the laws of their land did not listen to people like me. I forgot who I was in this house. Except I remembered one thing: I serve the food they eat. So I prepared the most delicious meal these imprisoned people deserved to set them free forever. ✍🏼

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I have Cornelia, my secret friend, a unicorn by the lake. We speak to each other with our minds. One afternoon, she told me about the price of their horn. At its height, it was worth ten times its weight in gold in the 16th century. It was bad news for their population, so they found a way to disguise themselves into many species magically and eventually settled as ugly brutes but not monstrous enough to be a threat to humanity. They became rhinoceroses. “But it never worked, as you see in the news today. It’s been centuries, but the human heart remained dark.“ She sounded certain. “Have you tried disguising yourselves as humans?” I suggested. With a slow and collected gait, she left as she whispered, “Anything but those who slay their own kind. If we do that, still we walk to extinction.” ✍🏼

[artofyano]

I did a no-reference challenge today. I’m liking this sketch. ♥️

[artofyano]

The humans call us “bats”. I do not like it because it is quick to say and sounds like “bad”. The “bad” gets serious when they use our image for decoration during their scary season. Anyway, I think they are worse than us because when I go to this big white house many of them stay in, all I hear are screams. Inside, they love hurting each other; all I see is death. And around 3:41 this morning, I was awakened by the loudest cry of agony I’ve heard in this big house, louder than I’ve ever heard before. So loud that all my friends flew away in horror. Strangely, there was no death. What came after was a tiny young human - life!

✍🏼