Fiction

“Papa!” A young girl’s voice echoed off the forest. She had found something that had peaked her curiosity. It was an ornate object, silver gleaming bright with the light filtering down between the treetop above. It had a handle of silver strips only slightly larger than thread intertwining and spiralling from end to end, leading to a shaft with various circles and intricate swirls carved into the metal. Towards the end a thin block of the gleaming metal was protruding from the rod, it’s edge displaying many grooves, points, and bumps. A small delicate chain was linked to the handle. Stringing a crescent of crystal to it. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen and she wanted nothing more than to pick it up and take a closer look, but father said she shouldn’t touch anything in the woods. Even beautiful things could be dangerous. She heard the sounds on twigs being snapped and the rustling of branches.

“What is it?” she heard her father ask from behind the trees.

“I found something!” she told him. She could hear him coming closer.

“Well, what is it?” he hollered back.

She paused for a moment. What was it? She hadn’t seen anything that could hold a candle to it. The basic shape did remind her of something she had seen before.

“Looks like the stick they use to open and close the temple,” she explained.

“Maki is gone and she lost her key,” he grumbled, for that was the name of the village priestess.

“Grab it and we can give it to her when we get back.”

She knew it didn’t belong to the temple. Her best guess was that it opened a palace. However, he said it was okay to grab it and that was good enough for her. Excitedly she scooped up the little treasure in her hand.

However as soon it was in her hand it began to glow. Stunned, she could do nothing but watch amazed as it rose to float above her hand. Suddenly it shot toward her causing her to let out a scream which rang out through the woods. The force of the impact knocked her off her feet. Her body felt strange all over, skin prickling and going cool. Her head was light and spinning but she could make out a figure or rather a few identical figures; her father was running toward her. She wanted to tell him that she was okay but she couldn’t form the words in her mind. The edges of her vision were growing dark, and before he could reach her, it clouded over.