Two things I never understood in this film...

I just watched this like last night and, I remember the parts you speak of. I think that at the time, Bastian wasn't sure whether he would put himself in danger for Atreyu or not, but, in the end, I felt like Bastian, as his old self and not the bad guy Xayide was turning him into, would have put his life before Atreyu's. I mean, remember how Atreyu got captured right after that comment. Well, Bastian kept a hold of Atreyu so Atreyu wouldn't fall, even though one of Xayide's giants were attacking them. And, IMO, Mr. Koreander's purpose, his destiny or whatever you want to call it, is to help keep Bastian, or any child with as strong of an imagination, intact with the wonderful book of The Neverending Story. In simple terms, Bastian (or children like him) are generators, while Mr. Koreander is the one who switches the generators on, and, Fantasia is the place that has to be generated. So, Fantasia needs Bastian or those like him with dreams and big imaginations to help it stay alive, so to speak, and, Mr. Koreander is there to find those, like Bastian, who have such dreams and imaginations to keep Fantasia going. Or, at least, that's how I see it. And, let's face it, Bastian's father doesn't have such qualities that would require Mr. Koreander's help, therefore, not being able to find him.

I mean it is bad. Ya know. Like bad as in bad. Like, I'm bad, Jamal, you know it. -Elvira, M.O.T.D.

It might be that it was intended to be a joke. Bastian was pretending that he would have been too afraid to do something like that himself. Pretty weak joke though, and doesn't really make sense.

It also could be that the movie was filmed with all the scenes mixed up and in a completely different order than they appeared in the movie. Maybe the kid playing Bastian played the role as if he was already turned against Atreyu... so it could be a mistake by the director, or it could have been a "later" scene that got moved into the "earlier" part of the movie in editing. In bad movies like this, sometimes it's hard to tell if things are mistakes or not.

The emptiness had started taking over the real world too. Once Bastian was brought to Fantasia, there was no more point of the book store, hence, the emptiness had played it's role on Earth too.

Bastian was a kid, ask most kids if they would risk death to save someone else, most kids would probably be afraid of the idea. The willingness to die for someone tends to come with age and maturity. His response is what I would expect.

The shop disappeared for the same reason the pages of The Neverending Story were disappearing. The idea is all books were disappearing.

***
Permission to hug?! - Abby
You never have to ask. - Gibbs

Isn't it obvious? Why did Bastian get the book in the first place? Because he needed to learn courage, that's what he lacked and what he got once the movie ended. But at that point he still lacked courage, that's why he said 's..sure..' as if he didn't really know if he *could* do what Atreyu did for him.

"All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain"