Writing Challenge Winner: Iason Whitlock and the North Star by Aine Strange

Aine Strange is fourteen-year old writer who participated in and completed the summer 2024 Hero’s Journey Writing Challenge. Aine’s short story tells of celestial characters and great adventures.

Read Aine’s short story below!

Iason

“Anyone can be a hero.” My English teacher said as he handed me a massive pile of paper and a pen.

“Choose a hero, write about them, and give them five trials. Most importantly, be original. I know you can do that Iason. Oh, and I don’t want to see you in my office again. This is the third time this week.”

“Mr. Martin, I didn’t do it. I was Josh Hanford and Johnny Hess. You don’t understand. They made me do it!” I attempted to explain.

“Enough. I know what you think happened. You never refrain from sharing your point of view. Evidence shows that you are suspect, and the evidence is better than you think.” Mr Martin responded.

Right, I thought, two jerks push you into a locker and leave you there with a school laptop, and then you’re in trouble. To stop myself from saying anything else that would get me into trouble, I grabbed the papers and left.

The next class was history class, my favorite (for real!). My teacher, Mr. Wilson was great. He did examples, and let us play with irreplaceable historical artifacts. Plus, when he played the educational films, he let me sleep through them.

After school, I went to meet up with my best friend, Tracer Orion. He’s this introvert who always wears this silly black blazer to school. He claims the ladies “dig it”. He told me that Josh and Johnny were planning something extra for tomorrow. I just nodded. When are they not?

We walked to my house to play the new God of War game, and when we walked in, we could hear the melodious sound of my Mom singing in the kitchen.

“Hey, boys! How was school today?” She asked as she ruf fled my honey-colored hair. I grinned at her. She is one of those sweet people who could make you happy, even after being pulverized by Josh. I went on to tell her how school was, leaving out the part about how my English teacher was a mega-jerk and Josh had almost killed me.

She smiled, patted me on the shoulder and went back to making dinner. As we left she stopped Tracer and asked him if he was staying for dinner. (Tracer has a rough home life. His mom left him with his dad years ago, and they don’t get along too well. Tracer stays at our house a lot.)

“Sure, I mean, if it’s okay with you.” Tracer said.

“Of course, that’s why I asked, Hon.” My mom continued making a pot of chili and started singing about cornbread. We decided it was a good time to leave, so we headed to my room and played God of War for the rest of the night.

Ione

I sat on a swing in the middle of the day and watched the stars dance across the sky. Had it been actual night, I would have loved to watch the stars, but that just wasn’t the case.

My name is Ione Beckett. I can’t even remember how old I am. Since I was a kid, I used to love watching the stars with my Dad, until I couldn’t anymore. When I was fifteen, I was taken by these men called the Spites. They are evil spirits who wait for someone to be happy, when you cross them, they use the thing you love to drive you mad. For me, that was the stars.

The Spites take that thing you love and make it your life. They use it until you don’t love it anymore. My case is extra spiteful though. Every time someone dies, they become a star, and every time there’s a new star another year gets added to my life. You may be thinking oh, that’s cool, you’re immortal! It is not cool. If some shady guy ever walks up to you and says what’s your favorite thing? Walk away…. No, run!

I was talking to Sagittarius the centaur ( and constellation), and he told me to look for a boy named Iason Whitlock, the healer of the world, who is being taunted by the Spites. Sagittarius made me a path and walked that way to warn him and bring him to safety.

Tracer

I woke up before Iason and walked out to the bathroom, but on the way I heard something weird. I saw a man taking Mrs. Whitlock out of the second story window. His face was changing as he turned and faced me. He started to lunge at me, and then I realized it was a dream or a vision. I woke up with a start.

“You alright, Dude?” Iason said as he       fluffed his curly hair.

“We need to leave now! Where’s your mom?” I said quickly, as my heart was about to beat out of my chest.

“What do you mean, we have to leave? School doesn’t start for another hour!” Iason asked.

“No time to explain! We need to get to your Mom now, before they come and take her!” I realized I’d said too much. He started to panic.

I ran over to Mrs. Whitlock’s room and banged on the door. It creaked open, and I could see the bad guys from my dream were already climbing out the window with her!

“The keys are on the table!”, she yelled to me. “Get Iason out of here. The truth will unfold itself in time; just run!” I could tell she meant it, because her tone was more serious than I’d ever heard her. I ran to get Iason, and he was right behind me and ready to go. He was scared and fighting back tears. He would drive because he had a permit. We got in the car and peeled out of the neighborhood.

We drove in silence, but I wanted to tell him that one of the faces I had seen was Josh’s.

Ione

I had been walking, following the stars along country roads for miles without seeing a single living thing or any cars. I saw some hazy headlights coming over the hill. The stars suddenly stopped the path they had been showing me, so I stood staring at the sky in confusion. The last thing I remember was getting hit, and falling against gravel.

When I woke up, two boys were looking down at me and one of them said:

“Is she dead?”

I blinked and looked up at them, confused at how young they looked. One of them said:

“What if she’s one of them?”

“One of who?” I asked, rubbing my throbbing head. They gasped in shock that I was still alive.

“These, like shape-shifting dudes that suck the happy out of you.” The dark-haired boy answered.

“Dude, shut up!” The blonde boy said.

“What is shut up?” I said in confusion at their strange way of speaking.

“She’s definitely not one of them. That was Josh’s favorite thing to say.” The dark-haired said.

“What are you talking about? It was just like a ghost!” The blonde boy said.

“Oh, yeah! I forgot to tell you that Josh was the spirit dude the whole time!”

“What?!” The blonde boy and I said at the same time as I did.

“It was him?” The blonde boy asked in shock. His question would have to wait. I had to get them to safety. I tried to stand but crumpled to the ground. They looked back and agreed I “couldn’t be one”. The boys helped me to the car, and I told them everything. The weirdest part was, they didn’t question any of it. They acted like they expected it.

I asked the boys if either one of them was named Iason. The blonde boy’s eyebrows shot up.

“How did you know?” He asked in a fearful tone.

“There is so much I need to tell you.” I replied.

Iason

When we hit Ione I don’t know how, but she survived. The back of my mind was filled with weird medical stuff about what should’ve happened but I don’t know why. It was not only that, it was as if I could sense the whole world’s pain.

Ione noticed me drifting away to my thoughts and asked if I was all right.

“Yeah! Oh yeah, I’m fine. I just still have so many questions. I mean, this is sorta weird.” I said, half paying attention to her, half paying attention to the ongoing road.

“Iason, there is something…The stars, well, Sagittarius to be exact, sent me because he thought you were special; that you could fix the broken world. ‘Iason’ means healer. The Spites must have cursed you at some point. They must have been following you around your whole life, monitoring you. We aren’t the only ones who know you are special.” She said shakily.

“So, these guys you told me about, the Spites, have disguised themselves and followed me around my whole life in different disguises. They gave me powers, and you talk to stars and see the future. You expect me to believe this is normal and that a nerdy freshmen in high school can save the world. I may as well run the car into a ditch and save the whole world now, because it’d be better off that way. I am not a hero!” I said, fuming with rage and confusion.

“Go ahead and turn into the ditch.”she said calmly.

“What?” I questioned, now even angrier than before.

“The village is straight ahead if you turn right about now; go ahead.” She said, still calm, even after my mental breakdown.

Reluctantly, I turned and drove through a grove of birch trees to a small cave that couldn’t possibly be a village.

About a hundred feet away Ione said “Leave the car. They will be furious if I bring a fossil fuels car into the village. We hate pollution.”

“Well, at least there won’t be a Fossil Fuels Man.” Tracer said, after hours of silence. Humor was his way of hiding his fear.

Ione, however, ignored him and we walked into the cave. She felt the wall until she heard a little click then the ground below us disappeared. We fell for what seemed like forever, then we hit the ground. Instead of hitting rock, we bounced up as if we were on a trampoline. I felt the ground afterwards and it was still rock. Ione impatiently looked at me as if I shouldn’t be confused by this and she led us onward.

The further we walked the more breathtaking everything got. There were flowers that had a sort of glow to them, vines from the ceiling and moss that sort of made pictures on the walls. I was awestruck by the amazing scenery, but I couldn’t stay to look at it. The world needed me, so I kept walking. I had a feeling I’d be back later anyway.

We walked up to some giant gates surrounded by guards. Ione went up and talked to one of them. Without hesitating, they let us in, and as I walked through they trembled.

When we got through the gates people were waiting for Ione to arrive back from her quest. I figured she must be pretty important. All the people looked different, just like her, and they all had some kind of ability. One girl was talking to animals and another guy had plants sprouting from his hands.

A guy who seemed to be changing colors walked up to her with a clipboard in his hands and starting bombarding her with questions and requests from the village. She just waved her hand and said “Later, Gus. There’s more important things to do.” and she kept walking. Gus decided to follow anyway.

He looked at me,turned bright yellow and started smiling, I smiled back, even though it was weird. I pretended I didn’t see him staring. Ione led us into what looked like a throne room and sat down in a big chair.

“Welcome to the underground, the hidden village for victims of the Spites, Iason Whitlock and Tracer Orion. I am the queen, Ione Beckett, and I will appoint your quest, should you choose to accept it.” She said, regally.

Tracer laughed and said “What is this, ‘Mission Impossible’?”

“Silence! I am a queen. You are a cursed-child.” She snapped.

“No, I am not. Sorry to disappoint you, your Majesty”. Tracer said, refraining from a laugh.

“Yes, you are. You never thought about it. Your curse is to make others happy, but never yourself. You must go with Iason to keep him mentally strong throughout the quest. He will face many challenges, and he will always need you. Do not go your separate ways. Ever. Understand?” She stated firmly.

“Yes, your Majesty.” He said, now very serious.

“Now, Iason Whitlock, you will be appointed the task of finding the king of the Spites, stealing his crown, and bringing down his kingdom. Return the crown to me; the rightful owner.” She said, sounding full of spite herself.

“Right. Sounds good. When do we leave?” I said, trying to sound calm.

She summoned Gus, and he placed some backpacks on our backs, then she stepped forward and told us to hold hands.

“Eww….. gross!” we said at the same time.

She sighed in frustration, grabbed our hands, and put them together. Then, she placed two of her fingers from each hand on my temples. I heard her voice in my head saying:

“I am your guide; your North Star. Hold on tight.”

Then the last thing I heard was Tracer singing ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’ before everything went bright. My stomach was tickling from the inside, and my body felt like it was folding itself backwards and inside-out.

Iason

“Iason, get up. You gotta see this, Dude.” Tracer said, shaking me.

I groaned as I got up, stumbling a few times. This place was weird. The air smelled like a stuffy basement, everything was hazy and dead, and had a gray hue to it.

Tracer walked on (which was surprisingly brave for him). We walked until we ran into a weird creature that looked like a bear and a chicken had a baby. It was walking in circles, screaming. Tracer and I stopped in our tracks and Ione’s voice filled my head

“That is a Dolt. They are much like you and your friend. Brave, but stupid. As you may see, they are right outside the gate. Look in you bag and defeat them with yours wits. This is only one of many daunting tasks.”

Then her voice faded. Wits. I thought to myself. Of course it had to be wits. Just when I thought it would be something fun, like using a sword or a bow!

I unzipped the backpack and started digging around. I grabbed a spool of parachute string and a slice of watermelon that had a hole in its rind. Next, I grabbed a sharp rock and cut off a short amount of string, threading it through the melon for bait. Then, I saw two dead trees and tied string to each and stretched it between them, making the perfect bear-chicken trap. I totally felt like MacGyver right now! I handed Tracer the melon string and he walked to the opposite of the side the Dolt and held it up the watermelon. I grabbed a nearby rock and waited.

As the Dolt ran forward and tripped on the string, I came down on its head with the large rock, knocking the Dolt unconscious. Tracer and I marched on after giving each other a quick high five.

When we got inside the palace there was a large pool of lava (the only bright thing in the room) and there were wolves pacing around it. I reached into my bag and pulled out a large javelin; then I charged at the wolves, killing all but one. This lone wolf was now on top of Tracer ripping at him with its fangs. I ran over and stabbed the wolf as quickly as I could, throwing it off of my friend and inspecting the damage it had done.

I ripped up my flannel shirt, then searched in my bag for anything of use. I grabbed a thermos and poured water over Tracer’s wounds. Then I tied the pieces

of my flannel over the worst of his wounds. He winced when I helped him up but we both knew we had to keep going. Inside, I wanted to give up. We were high schoolers, not heroes.

We followed a line of stars along the ceiling into a domed room filled with wandering spirits. The only one who could see us was a small girl. She floated over and asked if she could come with us. She explained she could only leave the room if escorted by the living. We saw no harm, and invited her along; she may know the palace better than us, after all.

We talked to her and heard her story of the misfortune of how she had died and ended up there. She said the Spites cursed her and she joined their forces but betrayed them. The Spites immediately had her killed for treason and sent to their eternal prison.

I wanted to help her, really, but something was off. It was something in her tone. When we left the room she took a living form. I could usually sense people’s presence, but I couldn’t sense hers.

We walked into a room with a large strangely-placed arena. She said

“This is your stop, you stupid boys!” as she shoved us over the railing and quickly changed forms. She now appeared with a changing face, like Josh’s, but she was different: she wore a crown.

Why hadn’t Ione warned me? She said there were traps, that was kind of a warning, but she should’ve been like:

“Hey dummy, this quest could kill you guys!”

I hardly had time to react, however, because a gate on the side of the arena opened and a white lion came charging at us, baring its teeth. I looked around at my surroundings quickly and saw a chariot and helmets; there was also a javelin much like the one I had used earlier.

I realized it was like a Roman arena. This was what they did to the Greeks for entertainment. I told Tracer to follow me and we ran to the chariot. There was only one brown horse hitched to the chariot, but I led him forward. We were now circling the white lion in the chariot. Funny thing was, he had a collar on that said “Snowball!”

Tracer and I had put on our feathered helmets and I had given him the javelin. He was holding up surprisingly well for someone in his state, but I knew I still had to get him out of there.

I had an idea to bring Snowball down. Poking something as big as him would only make him angry, so I asked Tracer to cut the reigns off of the horse and the chariot. He looked puzzled but complied. When we came to a halt, I asked Tracer

to distract Snowball. I came up behind the lion with the reigns from the chariot and began to choke him. Snowball tried to shake me, but I was persistent. I held on until the giant creature hit the ground with a big thud.

I turned toward the horse, who apparently hadn’t realized the gate was open. I whistled to get the horse headed toward us. It trotted over and Tracer and I leapt up onto its back and raced out of the gate. We had survived this challenge, but I realized I had failed the most important one: retrieving the crown! Ione would probably be furious and disappointed. I was feeling the same way. I felt like giving up.

Tracer

I was sitting on the back of the horse we had named “Hope” when Iason collapsed and the horse started going from side to side. I seized the horse by his hair and rode to a nearby palace wall to set Iason down.

I set Iason down on the ground and noticed his eyes were glowing a bright gold. Then he started speaking in Ione’s voice, which was super weird, but not was weird as what he was saying.

“Tracer, the bag on your friend’s back has the required contents to defeat the king. You do not know what this means now, but read the names. I was not ignoring you while you were in need. The king dulls my powers. You are not forgotten. I have a gift for Iason, but the second gift is for you and you alone. Remove your bandages; you should be completely healed. Do not give up hope. You and your friend are true heroes. You must rest for tonight; the battle will be in the morning. Your future is bright; I see it in the stars.”

Then her voice was gone. I looked down at my wounds that were not yet healed. Then something weird happened: my skin started to glow and I removed the bandages to reveal healed skin. Awesome!

I looked over at Iason and saw his eyes weren’t glowing anymore but he was asleep. I tried to wake him and I called his name several times.

He woke up with a start. “What happened?”

“You got golden eyes, Ione spoke through you, and then you blacked out. It was super weird, but you’re back; that’s all that matters. Oh, and Ione sent you a gift. It’s in my bag.” I pulled out a bagged gift.

Iason unwrapped it, revealing a photo album full of pictures of happy people.

Each photo had a name next to it.

“Iason, Ione gave me a plan to read the names in your album to the king. Hope weakens him, that’s why she didn’t help us earlier. He blocked her. She healed me when you were asleep. When she spoke through you, she said tomorrow we will fight the king in the arena. It’s a little bit hard to keep track of time in the palace since there’s no light, but I’ll see if I can find a window or something, so that we can tell when morning comes. Until then, you need to get some sleep.”

Iason

I watched Tracer walk away and I laid on the ground to attempt to get some rest, which proved to be easier than I thought. My eyes became heavier and heavier until I was in a deep sleep. Then a feeling of warmth overtook me as a dream began to form.

I was walking next someone who I didn’t recognize at first, then I realized it was my mom. We were walking on a beach in California. She turned and looked at me and ruffled my blond messy hair.

“You are my favorite person in the whole world, you know that, Iason? When I look at you it’s like all the pain of the past seems to melt away.”

I remembered this moment now. It was two years ago; we were on a trip to see my grandfather shortly before he passed away. We were discussing how he lived every day of his life looking for the highlights and shutting out the dark moments.

“You remind me so much of him, you know that? When I was your age I lived with him and even though there was some rough stuff. We went through, it was as though just his smile could heal the pain. The world needs more people like that.” She said it softly, but I could tell she really meant it

“But, Mom you are like that.” I said, as the cool wind hit my face. The memory was so sweet and so vivid it was as if the whole thing was happening all over again, the exact same way, and I didn’t want to change it.

“Honey, I try, but it isn’t so easy for me. You naturally strive to help people. You are like a ray of sunshine in a big dark world. You are a hero, and I’m so proud to have you in my life.” She said that as she pulled me in for a hug. Then the dream changed from a memory to a vision.

My mom was sitting in a cage, in what looked like a dungeon. I remembered she had been captured by the Spites. I had been so overwhelmed by all of these tests and trials that I had forgotten all about her! I felt awful.

I tried to yell her name, but she seemed to be knocked-out or too weak to respond. I called to her “It’s me, Iason, Mom! I’m coming to get you. Don’t worry.”

To my surprise, she looked up and said “I believe in you. I always have.”

My dream changed again to Ione. This time she said:

“Get up hero; it is time to fight. Your friend is waiting on you with the horse. Remember: fight the king, not with hatred but love, he needs to be rescued just as much as your Mother does. The crown holds him captive because of his false motives. Once you take the crown away from him, the king can rest eternally, like he was meant to do many years ago.”

I woke up, stretched, and grabbed my bag. I walked over to Tracer, who, sure enough, had gotten ‘Hope the horse’ ready. We both jumped onto Hope’s back and rode to the arena.

When we arrived, the King of the Spites was already waiting, and he did not look like he was going to let it be an easy win.

Iason

We sat there awkwardly on Hope for a while until the king decided it was a good time to make introductions.

“I am the ruler of the Spites. My name is Malice, and you dared to return here after your victory. Explain yourselves and state your names, young heroes.”

“We are Tracer Orion and Iason Whitlock, and we did not leave victorious last time. We have returned for my mother and Ione Beckett’s crown.” I snapped at the pretentious king.

“You must be joking, Jason Wilson, since you are only a child and I am eons old. I live for suffering and will see you die of it.” He yelled. His eyes stopped changing and turned into a blinding purple fire, which I assumed was his true form.

“Wow, you are really great with names.” I said sarcastically. “How about I see if you can remember some of these?”

I looked over at Tracer, who had told me the plan. I would read the names from my photo album, and he would run up behind the king and steal his crown. Our confidence would literally crush him.

The king snickered and said “I have many names, so your stupid tricks do not scare me, boy.”

“We’ll see about that, you arrogant jerk! Do you remember Alice Crown? How about Duncan Ward, or maybe Caroline Stevens?”

The king was starting to buckle at the knees which was a good sign, but the fight wasn’t over yet so I had to keep going.

“Herold Miller, Margo Turner, Cathy Heath, Robert Crawford, Martin and Kira Hallows? All these people look so happy. The Hallows got married, and six years later had a son and a family puppy. How sweet. And Molly Adams… remember her? She met her father for the first time at the age of three because he had been deployed in the military. Patrick Strauss died last week of cancer at the age of ten, but met his hero through a locally funded project before he died; that’s so sweet.” The king was on the ground now, writhing in pain. Saying the names was powerful, but the stories the people were even better, and I was about to end this.

“How did you do that?” he wheezed from the ground, grabbing his sides.

“Easy. I used my gift. Since you remembered my name, maybe you’ll remember what my gift is.”

“I never gave gifts, I don’t know what you are talking about.” He moaned.

“My Name is Iason Whittlock, and you gave me the gift of healing. Trust me, I will never get tired of helping people, but no one will help you.”

Tracer reached to the the king’s head and snatched the crown. As soon as Tracer did this the king started withering and hyper-aging. The king’s face kept changing until it stopped on one that looked like an extra-ugly mummy.

“We have to go get your mom.” Tracer said as he wiped sweat off the bridge of his nose.

We asked Ione to lead us to my Mom. Ione showed us the way with the stars, but she said nothing to me in my head, which I figured meant she was either shocked or overjoyed by our success.

We followed the star trail on the ceiling, riding on horseback. We arrived at a double door with guards. When the guards saw Tracer carrying the crown, they ran away. We opened the doors and ran down a winding set of stairs. There I saw my mom in a cell, just like in my dream.

I ran over to her cell and reached into my bag for something to help. I guess Ione was feeling generous, because I pulled out an actual key, and simply unlocked the cell.

My mom was in the corner of the cell, and didn’t even notice we were there. I quickly ran over and shook her. She grabbed my hand and said “I knew you would save me.”

I carried my Mom over to Hope and I felt the same feeling I felt on the way there: a tingle in my gut. Suddenly, we were back at the village. Thankfully, Hope was with us, since I was touching her, but I had no idea Ione could teleport us without touch.

When we arrived, Ione ran to us and waited for us to get off of Hope, then she tackled us in a hug, football-player-style. She patted Hope on the nose and said “A fossil-fuel-free way of transport; yet another thing you two have done to impress me.”

Ione then gratefully received her crown and placed it on her head. She pulled out her sword, and for a second I thought she was gonna go rogue. Then I remembered as a part of our deal, she would make us knights in her kingdom.

Ione then went on to say, “I wish I could throw a feast for you two, but my powers and everyone else’s will be gone at midnight, so I will have to send you home soon.”

“Wait! Can we bring Hope back with us for my English paper presentation?” I said stupidly.

“There is no life for a horse in the city, but you may use him for your presentation, then you will have an excuse to return. Sure, it will be different, because we will be but a normal village, but you know where to find us. Oh, and one more thing, you don’t have to lose your power. Healing people is something anyone can do, but it seems to be your passion, so nothing stands in your way.”

Then Ione walked over to us and placed our hands together. The weird tingling feeling returned and we were home.

A week later, I was proudly riding to school (yep, riding!) to school on Hope with the finished paper I had written about our adventure. I rode right into the school on Hope’s back, and many heads turned at the sight of me. I couldn’t blame the kids for staring. I was gorgeous! It was surely not the horse they were staring at.

I was beaming with confidence as I entered the class, and great news: I was only half an hour late! My English teacher sighed and said,

“Hello, Iason. I hope you have a good reason for missing so many of my classes.”

“Uh….I brought a story….do you guys wanna hear it?” I replied stupidly.

The whole class prompted me on.

I began reading to the class about my adventures, and they all seemed to think it was a pretty stupid story. The class laughed at me and left the room. The teacher looked up at me and said,

“That is the worst story I have ever heard, and you brought a horse into my classroom. That has to be a B minus at best. And to think, I put so much faith in you.”

“Hey! Couldn’t you make it an A? You said anyone could be a hero.”

He snatched my paper, grabbed a red pen and wrote a big C minus on the top of it. I didn’t care; I had a feast to go to tonight.

Oh, and don’t listen to him, because anyone can be a hero.

The End