The picture shook and blurred, the extras stared at the Magic Stone, the acting was clumsy, and the magical effects were crude... But Annan found himself drawn into the story's brief few dozen minutes:
A country boy fell asleep beside a cowshed and met a beautiful Noble girl in his dreams. A few days later, he dreamed of her again. She told him she was a princess of the Montemis Kingdom, trapped in a dream by an evil Wizard, and begged him to rescue her from the Dream Realm.
They went through a series of fantastical adventures and fell for each other as they escaped the Dream Realm. At last, the boy brought the princess into the real world, and they embraced beneath a tree at dusk—
Then the boy woke beside the cowshed.
Annan guessed that "Dream Princess" was a famous work in this world. "What should I call you?" he asked the two nervous young men.
"We're the Bert Brothers from Chopping Wood Town!" they said in unison.
"The story's great, but the filming and acting are still too amateurish. And it's only a few dozen minutes long... Do you want it screened?"
The Bert Brothers anxiously gripped the hems of their clothes. "Well... We watched your Magic Films over and over to learn how you shoot, but we're too stupid. We still couldn't get it right..."
"I like the story, and some of the shots have real life to them... Would you like to film it again?"
Annan had meant to sponsor them, but the Bert Brothers misunderstood. They hugged each other excitedly, then knelt before Annan and thanked him for taking them in.
Well... that worked too. Making money by bringing in Magic Films on his own was too slow. This world had countless beloved stories,