The Cursed Wand

The two brothers eventually made their way back to their house. They walked along the outside of the wooden fence. Kuro scratched on the other side excitedly. “We’ll be back from our adventure soon, boy.” Yuto tried to reassure Kuro. Sota walked past them, and then heard the sound of chirping. He called over to his brother, “Yuto! Lift me up!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Yuto replied, walking over and lifting Sota up. “Be careful, okay? Mom will kill us both if you hurt yourself.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Sota replied. He grabbed the branch and pulled himself up, soon to sit on it. He hugged the branch and scooted his way forward towards the chirping. There was a nest, and a wooden handle underneath it. If he wasn’t careful, the baby birds could be in trouble.

Sota looked up in shock. A giant phoenix blocked out the sun above him. Its orange head and blackened beak turned towards him. It spread its wings and flapped them furiously, gusts of wind rushing towards him. Sota held onto the branch in desperation, with Yuto lifting his arms against the wind. “Careful, Sota! Don’t let that stupid bird bring you down!”

Yuto gritted his teeth as the phoenix started to try to pierce Sota with its beak. Sota winced and carefully reached for the wand and made a pained face. The wand itself was jagged, and a terrible smell came off of it, with another note attached to it with string. Sota couldn’t take it anymore. With the wand successfully grabbed, he fell from the branch. “AHHHHH!”

“SOTA!” Yuto yelled, jumping after his brother and catching him.

The sky was bright again, and the robin that was pecking at Sota angrily chirped at the brothers and kept its eye on them from the nest.

Sota rubbed his head and stood up out of his brother’s arms.

Yuto got up. “WHAT is that smell?!” he yelled.

“It’s the cursed wand, Yuto. That’s the smell of the curse.” Sota responded.

“That’s the smell of dog poop, Sota.” he frowned. At this point, he wants to find the prankster who set them on this ‘journey’ to personally give him this ‘wand’ back.

Yuto untied the string on the wand and opened the note. It read: “Well done. I managed to get this wand from an ancient brown magical stone. I pass it to you.”

“No thanks.” Replied Sota.

“Your next treasure will carry you outside of your current realm. Be sure to be prepared. Next you’ll be looking for a portrait of ancient heroes. Travel to town, young ones. Find the container in 27.”