TheSearch forthe magic scrolls
TheReturn oftheSoulfur Part3
LarsLaustsen
LarsLaustsen
Lars Laustsen´s:The Realmofthe Cat-People
TheSearchfor theMagic Scrolls
TheReturnofthe Soulfur
Hello,dear readers! This is adifferentway, theco-writer of this novel. I, along with Lars andthe others,haveworkedveryhardtobring this novelinto existence.But it is youwho made it successful.The love youshowedus gave meaningtoour journey. When Iwas goingthrough atough time in life, storiesand novels gave me thecourage to keep fighting. Itookthisproject hoping that theloveI want to sharewithyou throughthisnovel will help you fight your toughtimes in life as well,justasMeowhelpedotherswiththe love in herheart. So, Ihopethatthrough love,you find thestrengthtokeepgoing andspread that love to others so that they canalsokeepfightingthrough thetough times in life.
Howmanylives does acat have?
Youwill findout afterreading this book…purrhaps.
©2025LarsLaustsen
ISBN:978-91-8097-832-3
Publisher: BoD· BooksonDemand, Östermalmstorg1, 114 42 Stockholm, Sweden,bod@bod.se
Printed: LibriPlureos GmbH,Friedensallee273, 22763 Hamburg, Germany
Writer: Lars Laustsen
Co-Writer: Avinanda Basak- adifferentway
Illustrator: Cristina Villafranca– Azifri
Second illustrator: AliceDraw
Characterhelp: SarahMørch
Characterillustrator: biku-comics
LarsLaustsen.com
Thhe e S Siinnggruhhaam m
City
I,Chapter1
TheSingruham City
alongwithmyband, enter Singruham, thecityofthe ligor-people.
"Never have Ieverseen aplace as beautifulasthe oneyou have gothere,"I saytoPrincessLeorisaswewalkslowly throughthe main road.Small houses gluedupwitheachother arelined up on both sidesofthe road.Someofthemare little, andsomeare significantlytallerthan others.Eachofthemispainted using differenthuesthatmatch thecolours of theovergrown flowershanging from the sky-touching treesstandingbesidethem.
"Yeah,Meow. As youcan remember,it wasnot likethisbefore. Many things have
changedinthistownsince thelasttimeyou visitedhere. Yousee those hugeflowertrees with bigflowers over eachhouse,right?The onewho lives in thereisassignedtothe jobofwatchingovertheir owntrees."
"HaveI ever been to this town before this?"
“Ofcourse. Youcameherewithme.”
“Uh… Iapologise formypurrmemory, butI cannot seem to remember that at all, Leoris.”
"Hehe, it is alright, Meow.Noneed to be so formal with me.” Then sheturns herhead from me andlooks ahead as shecontinues,“It waswhenwewere studying the Ways of thePrincesses.I do notblame youfor not rememberingthisplace,though.Backthen, therewereonlya fewhutsand smallhouseshere. Butnow it haschanged so much as we aregrowing very fast.Itisnosurprisethatyou couldnot recognisethistown."
"Indeed, youhavegrown alot," Isay while watching aligormancut some leaves from histrees.AsI walk by him, with my head down,"Haolo!"hesays to me
"Haolo!" Igreet himbackaswell.
"Huh? ‘Haolo?’ What does that mean?" asks Mari with oneofher eyebrows raised.
"Ifyou areour friend andyou arelooking at oneofus, we shallshowrespect to youinour tongue with theword, ‘Ha-o-lo’,"Leorisexplainstomycurious furless.
"Soitmeans'Irespect you' by saying only a‘hey’ in your language?” Mari asks again.
“Hahaha, notreally.Itisnot just a‘hey’.Thisisthe processofshowing respectbygreetingthem.”AsLeorisfinishesexplaining, we stop suddenly, forfourfemales arecrossing thestreet with averylongdandelion on their shoulders. Oneisholding theend of it,one is carrying themiddlepart, and theother twoare bearingthe weight of thetop,along with aflower.
"Haolo!" surprising allofusMarisaystothem.
Thosefourligor-ladiesfreeze, look at herwiththeir flabbergastedfaces andthenturntotheir princess with questionsintheir eyes.Leorishardlycontrols herlittlechuckle, looksatthemwitha soft smile on herfaceand nods.Withthat, theiralarmed expression meltsaway.
"Haolo," in asimultaneousvoice,theyrespond to Mari andthenmoveforward withouta care in their naturalway.
"Mari, youare notknown to anyone here as youare knowntoPrincess Meow…uh… Imean, theHighPrincessMeowhere."
"Uh… so that is why! Iget it now."
Thepathinfront of us is clearagain,and we begintowalkoncemore. That remindsme, "Infact, Leoris,where theDarthaare we going?"
"Hehe, Meow,you forgot again…”I stareather with awrinkle between my eyebrows as shespeaksagain,“…tothe cave,ofcourse. Is it notwhere youare supposedtomeet that viera?"
"Hehehe, that is notjustany cave.Thatone is asecretcavethatonlyI,Fray andthe former high princess,Alicia,can enter."
"Isthatright?I thoughtitwas thecavethatwehavehereinthistown."
As we go on with ourconversation, Mari goes around from housetohouse on theslides of theroad, smells theflowers in frontofthemand gets alittle bitcrazy with her‘Haolo’ as shegoesongreetingall theligor-peoplethatlive here around this road.
"Whatdoyou have thereinyourcave?"I askPrincessLeoris.
"Uh, that…hmm…itisjustsomething we grew in theretomakeall theother things that we grow in this pieceofland, bigger."
Mari hurries back to us as shesays, "I…wo-u-ld…liketo… s-e-ethat!"
Somethingisnot rightwithher.She is acting too much outofit. What is wrongwithher?
"Yo-u-u-uare the… be-e-e-st!"she says to Linusas shestumblesand falls rightintohis arms.Linus holds herinorder forher nottofallonthe ground while she chuckles,hanging onto hisarm.I wonder what happenedtothisfurless again.
“Linus,pleaseholdher still formefor amoment.”
As soon as Icomeclosertoher to take alookintothismatter, everything becomesclear to me.Thisissurelythe smellofcatnip. Shemusthave consumed alot of them forher to actlikethis. Butfromwhere didshe even gether littlepawsonit? *Nyaigh… what am Itodowiththisfurless of mine? It is so hard to take care of herasshe does notknowmanythingsabout this world. With ahelplessexpression, IlookbackatLinus,“Canyou pleasehelp herwalk?”
Linus, clueless aboutMari’scurrent situation, repliestomewitha gentle voice, “Withpleasure, Princess Meow.I shalltakecareofher.”
Hisassuringwords provide my mind with temporaryrelief. It is takencareof fornow
“Hehehe, is shenot quitecutelikethis?”PrincessLeorislaughsa bitand then continues, "Asweare alreadyonthe waytoour cave,why notgothere to seeit!"saysPrincessLeoris.
"Oops!!" Mari exclaims as shestumblesagain,but Linuscatches herbefore that.Hewraps hisarmsaroundher to hold herbetterasshe looksupathim andsaysinher distortedvoice,"Y-y-y-ou are- -be-e-eautifu-u-u-u-l! Hihihi!"
Confused by Mari’s unusual behaviour, Linuslooks over to Princess Leoris as he asks in aworried voice, "Whathappenedtoher?"
"Haha, sheisalright,Linus.Itisjustthatshe hassmelled theflowers of the catnip toomuchalong with theother flowersoverthere,infront of that house,"she says as shepointstoa redhouse with auniquekindoftree. This tree is in full bloomand is dividedbyflowers of twodifferent colours.
Thus,halfofthistreeispinkand theother half is yellow. Rightbesideit, Ido seea bush with some purplishwhite flowers, butthatseems to be abushof catnip!How canthey…?!
"Leoris, catnip trees do notproduce anyflowers.Isthatnot right?"I sayto herbecause Idohavea wholetreebackathomefromwhere Iplucked some before Icameout to investigatethiscase, andthere is still alittlebit of it left in my pocket.SoI know very well what thecatnipplantslooklike.
"Thatisright,Meow, but…”PrincessLeorislooks at me with aproud expression on herfaceasshe says in aconfident tone,“…inthislandof overgrowingtrees,itdoes!"
“Heh!Singruham trulyhas many surprisesfor outsiderslikeus…”
“Hahaha! Tell me what youthink of thesurprises later.”
While we keep moving forward, Zata keepslaughingat Mari andLinus’s couple-likelovey-earlingery attitude.I cansee that he is beingreally nice andgentletoher. Hehe,good foryou,Mari. “Chuckle…”
“Whatisthe matter, Meow?”
Oh no…thatwas loud…“It is nothing, Leoris.”
“Hangona little longer.Weare almost there,”Leorissaysasweare pretty closetothe cave of theligor-peoplenow.But,isitokayfor me to go there now? Do Ievenhavethe time forthisholymijaw?Every moment that is wasted canincreasethe risk of theMagic Tree beingattackedbythe dragon andShadow. Hopefully, Shadow will be waitingfor Drop to drop by before taking anyrobustaction. So that is supposed to buyussometime. As forthe dragon,inorder to eliminatethe MagicTree, it hastotakedown theshieldaround it first. Thankfully,thatisnot goingtobeveryeasyfor a creaturecontainingasmuchpower as he does.Now that Ithink of it,maybe theseare what Thunderand theGreen Sisterswerelooking for. They went to Sumatran City in search of theanswers to howtoremovethe shield around theMagic Tree,aswellaswhattodotostopShadow. Ihopethey have alreadyfound theiranswers in that place. That remindsme…
“Leoris,”I turn back to her, “The rumoursabout theGreen Sistersbeing from here…isittrue?”
“Uh… that one? Yeah,itis. They lived here andusedtomakethisplace funnier andfulleroflife. We alltruly miss them here.”
My eyes catcha housewhere aligor-ladyisspeakingtothe grassofher lawn.Thathouse’s lawn hasanother specialkindofflowering tree.
"Whatdoyou call that one? It looksjustlikea dandelion, butthe topofitis white."
"Wecallthatone apuff-flower.Itisverytough to raiseone of them.”
“Why so?”
“You seethe littlewhite petal-likethingsontop of it?Whentheyare stuck there, they arepetals, butoncetheytouch theground,theygrowintotrees if they arenot picked up in time.And eachtimethere is awindtoo strong, thosesmall ones flyaway. Now, if theowner does notfindthemagain and putthembackontop of it within that day, they will turn into newplantsthe next day, andthistreewill dieaswell. So theowner will have to planta new oneagain thenextday.Soitiseasytoplant onebut very hard to raiseone.”
“Hmm… interesting. Quitethe hard work to do.”
“Hehe, exactly. We do have awhole forest to thenorth-westjustwiththem, anditkeepsgrowing andgrowing."
"Go-o-od lu-u-uck…" Mari says to that ligor-lady, andjustasshe looksat her, shemumbles again, "Ha-o-l-ooooo."
That lady repliestothistipsy furlesswitha ‘hm’ andthenlooks down again andgoesbacktotalking to hergrass once more.
"WillMaricometoherself again?"asksZata.
"Ahhh, that is thespecialityofthistree. Sheismorethanherself now. She cannot lie andhas to saywhatevercomes to hermind."
"Are youfor real?" LinusasksLeorisinamazement.
“Yes,Linus.Anyonewho smells thoseflowers will sayanythingthatison theirminduntil they come back to theirsenses.”
“I see…”and he looksatMariwithaffectionateeyes.
"Wh-y-ydoyou-u-u…loooook at me…withthooose… dre-e-eamyeyes… filledwithstaaaaars?"
"I…I-I-I canlikeyou too, Mari," Linussaystoher
"I-i-isthatsooooo?I am a… luckygirllll.Shall we not… kill andeat an e-e-earlingertocele-braaaate?"Marisayswitha bigsmile on herface.
He holdsher firmly andsmilesbackather,"We candoanythingtogether."
"Weare here," Leoris stopssuddenlyinfront of ahill. Well,I am alittlehappy to have reachedthisplace.The sooner we finish it here,the better. Because once Iamout of here,I need to rush back to meet Thunderand thesisters by themagic tree in theforest. Iwonderiftheyhavealreadyreached there.
“The cave is situated on onesideofthishill,” Leoris tells me.But,where is it?I do notsee anydoororentrancehere. Shewinks at us.There areonly branches full of leaves hangingfromtwo bigtrees.These twotrees arequite weird. They arebig trees standing at alittledistancefromeachother.They both containbunches of little, whiteflowers.But thestrangest thingisthat onebranchofeachofthemisa bittoo extended towardsthe other. Those twobranchesget combined in themiddle, andfromthere,manythin branches full of greenleaves andthose whiteflowers arehanging down.As soon as Leoris movesthose branches,behindthose green leaves,an openingappears. Leoris looksatmeasI standthere dumbfounded. Then shegoesinsideitand says,“Come along.”
Uh!Loooook!A cave!Who-o-onder what's in-n-side."and with that she bursts into laughter at thewords coming outofher ownmouth.Thatmakes me ‘who-o-onder’whatissofunny aboutthat?
From theentranceofthiscave, theroadgoesstraightunderground.The walls aremadeofthe inside partsofthe hills. Thereismorethanjustone wayinsidethiscave. Allofthose ways in thecavehavelotsoffiretorches hangingfromthe walls, andatevery turn,there aretwo of them.The hill-
made roof inside this cave is very high,and as soon as we liftour heads, there, underthe roof of that cave,wesee flying around what seemstobea fewbirds at firstglance. Suddenly,one of them comesdownveryclose to Mari andquickly,ina habitual reflex,she pulls an arrowand triestoshoot Thebirdfliesawayfromher that instant.
“Whoa! Mari!Donot do that here.Theyare just birds!”I exclaimasMari triestoshoot anotherarrow.
“Ormaybe…theyare si-i-imurghs likeso-o-omesma-a-a-ll-sizedwiiiiiingwolves…ormayyybetheyare littleaaalicorns,likethe alicorngod that…I have read of,Meowwwww!”Thenshe looksatthe bird that fliesawayand screams, “Comebackhere, youstupidsimurgh,orI shalllet thealicorngo afteryou!” andthenshe starts laughing at herown wordsagain.
We alllookather with ourjawsdroppedonthe ground as we do not understandwhatweird holy mijawshe utteredjustnow.She noticesour stupid expressionsand says in hertipsy voice, “You have noooooideaof… asimurgh…o-o-oranalicorn, do yo-o-u?Becauuuuseyou do nothave them hereeeeeee! It is s-s-somethingwesay back at home alooooot! Hihihihihi…” andthere shegoesagain with hercrazy laughter.But this time, we allbegin to laughalong with her.
Luckily,she missed theshot, so no onegot hurt. Butthatshotmadeall the birdsfly away from there. As soon as we turn to ourleft, Ican feel the weathercoolingdown. Butunder my pads,I do notfeel thehardcrust of hills. It is rather soft,and it feelsasifI am walkingonvelvet.
Behind us,Marigoesand takesa torchfromthe wall on theleft in herhand. Buther loveractsquickly to save herfromgetting herselfburnedinthe fire of that torch. “Tut,tut…” then shesaysina disappointed tone,“…Ish justttt acave. Howboooring!”
“Well, Mari,donot be so impatientjustyet,” Leoris says in ariddlingvoice.
“Whhat do youmeeeeean?”
“Haha, youshall soon discover,curious furless,”she repliestoMariwitha broadsmile on herfaceasshe creates suspense forall of us
Themorewegoin, themorethe temperaturedrops significantly. In ashort walk from theentrance, aftertakingsometurns to theleftand some turnsto theright around thecorners of theroads,weencounter asecretdoor.This must be thedooropening to themainchamber that is situated deeper in this cave.The frontofthisentranceiscovered with bushes andplantsofsoft, curlybranchesrunning wild,containinga lotofvibrant pink flowersall over.
"I wa-ant one…”Marilooks up at Linusand whines likea child.
“What?”Linus asks Mari in alovingvoice
“Tha-at! Apiiink one!"Marisaysasshe points at thepinkflowers.
“Heh,ofcourse,”and therehegoes, choosing thebiggest andmost beautifulpinkflowerwhile holdingMariverycarefully in hisarms. Then he plucks it andputsitinher hair
"You aresoooo kiiiiind…”She givesLinus asilly smile,thenshe looksaround this place, noticesthe door andsaysagain,“Uh!Loooook!...” andbefore shecan sayit, Iquickly pick up from there, “A newspecial cave inside of a cave!Whonder what secretsitisholding,isthatnot right, Mari?”
“Yo-u-uare becoming more likemeee,asI am becoming more youuu.I am so prooooudofyou,myMeow!”she says while sheletsgoofLinus’s arm andjumps on me to hugme.
As soon as Leoris touchesthose branches,theymoveaway, revealinga beautifully carved door of alovelypowderpinkcolourand abig bird that is lookingatus. It lookslikea bigparrotbut with theheadofanevil-looking eagle.Its head andtailare of aserenewhite colour.And yetits wingsare black, andthe rest of itsbodyisdarkgreen
"I have neverseen this kind of bird before.Whatisthe name of it?" Iend up asking Leoris.
"Huh!‘Name of it’hm!?Well, littlecat-lady, Ishall tell youwhatthis‘it’is…" thebirdscreamsangrily in aloudvoice,"…I am your worstnightmare!"
"A sillybirdcan speeeeeeak, hehehe…" Mari says in acheerfulvoice.Then sheleavesme, goes over to thebirdand says,"Haolo! IamMari."
ThePrincessScrollisnot what Meow thinks it is, eagertohavehis paws on it.Now he must snatch it failedtocollect allthe SorceressScrolls to becomethe most In aracetofinditfirst, shallMeowand Mari find Tree from thedragonand stop Shadow whonot worldbow to himbut also destroyitfor good?Love is thekey to savingyour favouritecat realm, Obbisia. Love is theway love is theway of bringing thefirst Soulfurtothe world. andthe evil Shadow is from Meow as he has powerful of all. away to save theMagic only wantstohavethe of Master andPet,and
