'I must. My parents, my village, myself, we are under... control. A large tree
has become awfully powerful. We don't know what to do. His... stems and branches...
they hold up his, his... his brain, he controls all of the plants about us.
We try to leave but his ESP senses it. He has large teeth and though foreigners
cannot see his hatred, he destroys anyone who tries to object to his supreme
ruling. In order to live, he must drain the spirit, mind, brain, and blood from
the victim. If we do not gather food, he destroys us, or worse, sends all of
our family a curse with the plague. I wish to find a way to destroy his power,
but I'm worried about my family. I have two little sisters. They're only three.
I…' at this point he dropped to the earth, tears flinging from his coal black
eyes. Suddenly, he threw his hands into the air and screamed out,
'Oh, Great One!! Why!? Why do you feel that this should be?? Not only do you
allow this tragedy to me, but what about my town people? Should they suffer
as well? I… don't understand it!!' She grabbed his arm. A large medallion shone
in the light.
'Wow… I guess that you actually, well, DO have a reason… what is your name?'
He wiped off the flow of water from his large and worried eyes.
'Riegel. Please, go back to your hometown, get help. My father is an older
man, he can't take this anymore. Oh please… say that you will.' Slowly, she
confessed.
'I once thought that the Monocerous was in an underground pit, and once my
entire village prepared to attack, it was just a large Skeith with a toothache.
Since then, everyone calls me a whistling dixie. What am I going to do? They
won't believe me…' The young and handsome Lupe rose to his feet and said with
an agitated voice,
'What are YOU going to do? The thing is, what am I going to do! No, actually,
the thing is, what are WE going to do?! I'll tell you we are going to your village!
And, then we are going to get help and defeat that--' He stopped immediately
and lay down on the ground.
'What? What's wrong?' asked the Kougra.
'I can't leave… the ESP thing, remember? I hope he hasn't heard this conversation…'
Once again, he remained motionless as in a quandary. He had obviously tried
to escape before, and the scars on his neck proved his punishment. Just then,
the moonlight hit the medallion once again, and it strangely started to glow.
Sasha grabbed it in her paw.
'What is this? It's… glowing!" A pulsating purple light beamed from it, it
was getting brighter by the second.
'That? My grandfather found it. He gave it to me… right before the Brain Tree…
ki- ki, destroyed him. Why is it pulsating like that?' As the question spurred
from his mouth, the medallion beamed out a strange arrangement of bright lights.
They eyed the cold, hard ground and brown, lifeless plant where they watched
words appear on the ground in a majestic stream of light. It said: 'Riegel…
you and your friend must stop the Brain Tree.'
The young Lupe blurted out, 'Grandfather, is it possibly you? I, wow, it is
wonderful to be able to communicate again!' The glow turned an angered orange.
'Look at yourself, Riegel. Look at what you have become. Look at what you
almost did tonight to this girl. She is important to stopping the tree. Look,
look at yourself.' Riegel peered into a shallow mud puddle, his reflection casting
out a cruel and heartless portrayal. His coal-like eyes no longer had the emerald
green shine that they had when he was a younger wolf. His hood and black cloak
made it worse, and as he grasped his scythe, he noticed what he had become:
a life sucker, a Grim Reaper. He lunged into the dirt helplessly. What had he
done to himself? It was now apparent why his two sisters ran away as he entered
the small cottage.
'Oh, Grandfather, you are right. Why do I rob others when I, myself should
be robbed of this irreplaceable life? I cannot undo the destrouction and sorrow
I have caused, but I can stop now, and destroy the Brain Tree's powerful ways.
I can make him nothing than an ugly shrub. But how? I am just an ignorant child
who cares only to live for himself.' The light transitioned into a soft blue
caressing flow.
'You are more than you think. Look at yourself. You have grown tall and strong.
I am impressed by your extreme intelligence, not only in knowing in knowing
what you have done wrong, but how you can create such devious and evil plans.
Luring victims is not easy, Riegel. But you did that with flying colours, and
also paralysed victim.'
'Grandfather, Sasha was easy to lure in, yet she… wasn't paralysed Why?' Sasha
figured that this was family business, so she was looking about the clearing,
at the strange organisms living in the brown, acrid ponds.
'She is different. She is special, like you.'
'How so?' he questioned.
'I cannot say exactly… she is definitely different. I think she may be wearing
another pendent.'
'Really? But how could that help?' 'When the charms combine, anything is possible.
I have seen it many times, and the results are like that in a dream. I have
seen creatures launch lightning beams from their paws. They can fly, too. So,
see what you can do. You may be surprised to find your dreams come true.'
'Dreams… I haven't had a dream for years. Only dark colours
'Well, maybe after mastering the Tree, you will.' The light continuously glowed,
but then it stopped and declined in its brightness.
'This is the end of my visit. Good luck, my grandchild.' 'No…' he whispered
softly. But, as the light retrieved into the amulet's stone, a strange sensation
warmed about his body. He himself started to glow. A feeling of reassurance
came over him. The faint light faded, and now he was sure that he could obliterate
the creature.
'YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!' a high-pitched shriek screamed through
the bountiful but dreaded forest.
'Sasha!' he cried out. He ran through the marshland, agile like a cat, swift
like a rabbit, never falling. A blur of black he was, and easily could be mistaken
for a demon. Behind him, he left a trail of billowing smoke filled broken trees
and branches. He finally found Sasha, clasped in the Esophagor's muddy claws.
He sunk into his tar pit to devour her, the clawing tiger slashing deep gouges
into his arms. He knew that he was close enough to try his new-found powers,
and raised his long and brawny arm to the moon, releasing his dagger-like claws
and closed his eyes. Intensely thinking, he imagined great fires of bright lights
drying the tar. As he did so, he heard a strange sound and looked at his paws
to find that they were doing just as he imagined. The Esophagor's black beady
eyes glanced and his mouth opened. Never had he seen a mortal do such feats.
Riegel's paws blasted the beam out, and as he knew it would the tar dried up
in the extreme heat, crumbling about Sasha. She ran out of the muddy gooze and
blankly watched as he caught his breath.
'What was THAT?' she pondered. As she shook, a necklace fell from her fur,
and was a matching amulet.
'No, the question is, what is that? I knew it. You do have the amulet. If
you didn't, I wouldn't have been able to do that. My grandfather told me that
when two amulets merge their power, anything is possible. Don't you see? I wasn't
able to destroy you because you are supposed to help me defeat him!' Though
she was paying she couldn't help but notice a startling change that had come
over him.
'Your eyes… they have a beautiful ring of an emerald green about them.' 'Really?
I finally look like me again. Come on, let's go. We may not be ready, but we
have to do this. I know we can. Please, say you trust me. Please say you know
that you can hold the power of the stone in your heart.' He took her paw and
with pleading, merciful eyes, looked at her like the world was dependent upon
her. A warm feeling like that of Riegel's came over her.
'Okay. Okay, if you say I can. I'm in.'
And so she set off with him, a plan beginning to form, but while walking,
Riegel decided to try to fly. So, as he stepped at his steady pace, he concentrated
and imagined a light purple feather. The wind lifted it off, sending it soaring
high up. When he opened his eyes, he was slowly hovering, and as a gail erupted
from the back, he swam with into the sky, his eyes glowing with excitement.
'Sasha! Look at me! Yeeeeeehah!' He was definitely excited. Soon enough, Sasha
was right up there, too. And so they flew off, now even more confident that
somewhere it was written that they would save the village.
About three hours later, the trees turned into howling stumps, ugly faces
were carved in and teeth chopped as they flew by. At the top of the trees, a
big, breathing orange brain sat, pulsing, pulsing, and pulsing. Sasha sat still,
rather hovered, and watched the gnarled tree's branches shake as a small Gelert
ran up with a basket of food. The massive tree screamed at the dog.
'What is this? Corn? How does corn help me? What does a brain need to live?
I'll tell you! Intelligence!! I need deceased victims! Now, you shall have to
do!' And with a quick slap, the Brain Tree had bound the Gelert and was suffocating
her. Sasha gasped. She turned to Riegel. His eyes had gone from emerald green
to fiery demon's embers. He swooped down and grabbed the helpless spotted creature
and flew back up. The tree looked at it's clasp. It was empty.
'What?' he thought.
'For being so smart, I thought that you would at least be able to know what
happened. Maybe you brain is full of hot air, marsh mind.'
'Riegel!? You are supposed to be getting my life! I counted on you! You want
to be an enemy?? Well, then, fine! See if you can escape!' The rotting tree
let out a hollow laugh and enormous vines rose up. He set the Gelert in a nearby
hut. He grabbed his sickle and furiously chopped the vines. Sasha was also clawing
rapidly at them. 'YahhhHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!' screamed the hideous plant, Since he
was rooted to every plant; it was hurting him, badly.
'Why you miserable mutt! No I… what's this? You can fly! What the blazes is
going on?'
'Now! Sasha! Fire! He's a plant, fire will get him!' With that, the two concentrated,
and before the Brain Tree could think, a great orange rod of flaming sparks
flew down at the tree. Caught on fire, his massive brain was withering, but
he had the plants splash water on it. Strangely, he tried to get the plants
to attack, but his mind had shrunk, and his abilities had been destroyed.
'No! No! My… power! My life! My IQ! My brain! Do you two know what you have
done? Now I can't control anyone! I'm nothing but a shrub!' The agonised tree
screamed in unhappiness for hours, but he was so weak after losing his powers,
that he could barely speak.
'Wow… that was easy. Very. Right Sasha?'
'Well, actually, yeah. You said this would be hard.'
'It was supposed to be. But I think that we can go down now. And plus, maybe
because we worked together, he didn't stand a chance.'
They went down, walking past cheering crowds into Riegel's cabin. As he entered,
his sister's started to run, but they looked at his smiling face and his green
eyes. They ran past his parents, and hugged him hard.
'Hey, you two! How are my girls? Hm?' Then one of the girls said to him, '
Bad twee, it go bye-bye!! You go voosh! Twee start cwying!' He smiled. Then
he got up and looked at his parents.
'I talked to Grandpa; he said he wishes his love. What?' his father said,
nervously, 'You, well, flew. Fire shot from your paws. What is going on?'
'Well, Dad, I realised my errors, and in return… well.'
'Oh.' And so, from then on, the Brain Tree never controlled anyone, ever again.
Sometimes, if you pass by him, he will ask you to find information for you,
but don't give answers. Because you never know… he might just become his old
self. The vicious beast of his deep, wretched past may come back. As for Riegel,
he and Sasha still guard the haunted woods. The end."
"Is that a true story, Aunt Calista?" asked one child.
"Who knows? Maybe. Now, head up to bed," she replied with a smile. The children
fluttered their wings and flew up the enormous, spiraling staircase, whispering
opinionated thoughts and excitement.
A Kougra and a black Lupe with emerald eyes walked in.
"And how are my pets tonight?" cooed the Faerie. They said nothing, just smiled,
their adventures recorded in the dangling medallions that glittered around their
necks
The End | 
