Bastian Balthazar Bux, “a fat little boy of ten or twelve,” enters a book shop and encounters the owner, Carl Conrad Coreander (5). Coreander expresses his dislike for children and asks what the boy is doing in his shop. Bastian explains that he is escaping from school bullies and admits that he lacks the bravery to fight back. When asked about his parents, Bastian explains that his father is uninterested in his life and his mother has recently died. While Coreander leaves his armchair to answer the phone, Bastian notices the book the man had been reading. Titled The Neverending Story, the book calls to Bastian, and he decides to steal the volume and run from the shop. Almost immediately, Bastian feels guilt and fear, but the pull of the book remains strong, and Bastian decides to hide in the school attic to read.

In the Howling Forest of Fantastica, four magical creatures meet to discuss a growing threat to their world. These beings—a will-o’-the-wisp, a night-hob, a rock giant, and a tiny—have been sent by their respective species as messengers. All have noticed the Nothing, an evil force that creates absence and loss by obliterating beings and things, and they plan to alert the ruler of Fantastica, the Childlike Empress, of this danger.