Land of Sweeten

Art remained quiet as he walked through the unnatural meadow, turning his head often to take in his surroundings and appreciate the view. The trees glowed a bright orange cyan and pink, with chocolate made mammals climbing in the trees. A strange species was crawling on the edge of the bark. An insectoid with a body of what seemed to be candy canes. There were small bugs all over the air glowing a bright blue, pink, and orange, almost matching the hue of the trees. The view was incredible, almost magical as the sun started to set.

"What are those things?" Art asked Doan, pointing to the colorful critters luminating the landscape.

Doan reached out to grab one of the bugs, completely harmless to him, as he observed it for a moment.

"These are bumble glows. They glow the color of the nectar corresponding to the tree they consume from." Doan explained.

Art nodded, listening to the man, captivated by the information.

Art looked to other side of him seeing one of the chocolate mammals hanging by a tree with its long arms.

"And what about that thing?" Art pointed to the small mammal, hanging by one arm.

Doan turned his head to see the mammal but continued walking.

"That's what we all call a Chocu. A playful mammal that is made of chocolate. It uses its tail and its long arms to get around, usually keeping their feet tucked by their bellies."

Art smiled at the Chocu and waved as the animal seemed to find pleasure in the company of the boy, smiling back.

They walked for about an hour until they started arriving at a gate. The gate was surrounded by purple brick walls, stretching far to each side, covering something.

The gate itself was also made with purple bricks, much smoother than the rest of the wall. At the top of it was a pole with a banner hung up on it, dark green in color. The banner had embroidered a symbol that looked like two pieces of candy, one a bit above the other both the same color. A white body with a red swirl on it, as the side of the wrappers were a light pink.

"So many bright colors" Art said, looking at the big wall in front of him.

A guard who was standing there wearing a type of knightly armor vibrant in coloring without a word, raised his spear that was made out of a black metal. He lifted it slightly, and hit the bottom of the spear against the ground, a small clanging sound being heard.

"Welcome to the Land of Sweeten! Our kingdom is the kindest and strongest of all the lands!" The man boasted.

Art looked at the man, nodding and smiling as he glanced at the black spear frequently.

"Mankind in our land is very.. well.. Sweet!" The man laughs to himself, as if he told the world's greatest joke.

Art turned to look at Doan in confusion, but Doan just shrugged unable to help.

The man felt the silence was awkward so he cleared his throat.

"I hope you enjoy your time here young visitor." He motioned with the spear for Art and Doan to enter, giving them the confirmation to go in.

Art ran through the front gate excitedly, as he stopped and looked at everything around him.

There were a few carriages different colors all being reined by Candys, all bigger in muscle then the one Art had seen previously. Children running around playing together happily, laughter and giggles being heard. A couple of women were chatting with tables of fruits and other foods on display on the vending stands. An old lady waving at her grandson, who was catching up to her as they entered a small shop. Old fashioned buildings, all made of orange wood but with a strong architectural design. The ground was decorated nicely in a rocky white marble looking stone with specs of colors.

"This place is awesome" Art whispered to himself eyes filled with excitement.

He walked up to the food stand closest to him, with many colorful fruits and picked one up. It was round and see through, with a blue color and had a stem coming out of it. The ladies stopped chatting and stood up all moving off to their own stand as a middle aged woman remained. She smiled warmly at the young boy observing the fruit.

"Can I help you dear?" She asked.

"What is this thing?" Art looked at the lady curiously, and held up the fruit.

"That's a gapple, grown and harvested by the villages best!" She explained, her business woman voice already turned on.

Art studied the fruit some more and held it close to his face sniffing it, it had a very sweet aroma, simply making his fatigued state crave for it even more.

"Can I eat it?" Art asked the old woman, wiping a sliver of drool from the side of his mouth.

The woman nodded smiling warmly

"Normally I'd have you pay in Treats, but you seem quite young and new to Sweeten, I'm sure you've traveled pretty far so you must be hungry." The woman grabbed a bag and threw one of every fruit that she had in her stand including and extra gapple into it as Art took a bite from the one he held.

The woman sat down, smiling.

"Those gapples are grown straight from a rare blue gummy tree. It's quite rare as they all come in white and red!" She handed Art the bag of fruits.

Art savored the taste of the blue gapple, It tasted sweet and just like a gummy. He took another bite, and before he knew it he had already finished the sweet fruit.

He walked off waving goodbye to the woman as he continued walking through the streets of Sweeten.

With Doan right behind him, he went further into the street, waving at a few pedestrians and children running around. Then he waved at man who was steering a carriage.

After walking past the buildings for what seemed like half an hour, they arrived at another gate. This one much cleaner and sophisticated, with a darker hue of purple than the first.

"Halt, only nobles are allowed past this gate."

Doan walked up to the knight who was standing guard. He seemed to be holding a matching black spear as the last knight. Only difference was this one was sharper and had a thicker handle to it.

"Don't worry the kid is with me" Doan gestured, pointing at Art.

"I see, apologies Sir Hilbert." The knight relaxed his stance and let Art and the man he addressed so formally pass.

'Woah that guy treated Doan completely different.' Art noticed.

This time, Art followed along behind Doan, noticing the buildings past the gate were more sleek and built with smoother materials.

"Wow this place looks much better than back there."

There were men in full knightly armor, who marched past, led by a tall man.

The rest of town had different stages of elevation, at the very top showing a massive castle with the Sweeten emblem on a flag waving from the peak of the castle.

As Art and Doan came to a stop at the center of the town, a loud signal was heard, it came from the castle as Art stood there wondering what was the sound and what it meant.

Then the large doors to castle opened, and a tall old man stepped out, looking down upon the citizens of Sweeten with a smile.

It was the King of Sweeten himself.