Clarence was done and he had only just opened his eyes for the day. With a deep breath, he slid out of bed and got ready for work as a messenger. He had his bag, a slice of bread, and some good reading material for a break. Out the door with minutes to spare!

It was oddly quiet on his way to work. Just the way Clarence liked it! With little to no foot traffic it would be easy to get around everywhere he needed to for messages. At work his boss wasn’t there yet, which was a little weird, but great for Clarence! Now he could do his work with no one nagging at him! He sat down and began to sort all the messages that would need to be delivered today. When lunch came around he realized there weren’t even any interruptions! This day was really shaping out to be a good one.

For lunch he made his way to his favorite shop. Usually it was the busiest in the kingdom, but it must be closed today because no one was there. Maybe there was some event going on because it was still pretty quiet outside, but Clarence didn’t mind. Instead he stopped by the community gardens and grabbed a few things to eat while he read his book. After an hour, he headed back to the Message Post.

He packed the messages and walked around delivering them until it was time to go home. At home he ate dinner and then read his book until bedtime. Overall, it was truly a wonderful day! If only tomorrow would be just as peaceful!

Just a few miles away from Clarence, another man seemed to be having just as good of a day! Until he wasn’t.

“Finally! I have finally frozen every living thing in the capital! Now that I’ve done this the requirements have been fulfilled for the ultimate spell to ruin the kingdom!” The sorcerer cackled. He turned the page in his spell book and began the incantation. And nothing happened. He tried again. Still nothing.

Surely if the freezing spell hadn’t fully worked someone would have made a fuss by now. What was he missing? All the ingredients were there. He was pronouncing the incantation correctly. The sorcerer threw his hands up in the air and stormed out of his work room. He only had enough magic stored up to keep everybody frozen for so long. The sorcerer needed a break. He would come back after lunch and try again. Except it still didn’t work.

The sorcerer tried everything he could but his life’s work he created to ruin the kingdom was a failure. By the next morning, his magic had run out and everyone woke up like normal, not even knowing a day had passed.

Clarence was a bit sad that the next day was as busy as normal, but he hoped that another day soon would be just as quiet.

And that is the story of how Clarence, a normal introverted man, saved the kingdom.