Dark World

• Nicholas Chua, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2014

You were playing with your friend on a snowy day, but you accidentally went too far and got lost. As you’re trying to get back home, you fall into a pit covered in snow. You get up on your feet, but you realise that the atmosphere is extremely humid and you leave your jacket on the ground. You decide to explore the hole you fell in.

As you get deeper, the air starts to burn and you decide to head back. But once again, you get lost and end up at a room with a chilly atmosphere. You start to regret leaving your jacket instead of taking it with you. You turn around and try to get back to where you came from. You find yourself in a more spacious room. Then a lightning bolt almost fries you and instead hits about one metre in front of you. You immediately run away and start to cry, wanting to go home.

You bump into a icicle when you were running. You fall on your back and stare at a mural of three birds and a human. The three birds were humongous compared to the human. You get back on your feet, wondering if this room is going to be the last thing you see.

You walk into the room and there is a glint on every corner of the room. You cannot believe your eyes. You’ve only seen things like these on TV when they interview a celebrity. You walk around the treasure you found, touching every single thing gleaming at you, not thinking it could be a trap.

Three large birds walked into each entrance of the room. You turn around and stood aghast at the overwhelming presence of the three birds. You cautiously walk backwards to slowly run away. But there are no other exits and you end up with your back to a copper plaque. You turn around, hoping it’s a way out, but instead it talks about how the three birds fought side by side with a human who ended a massive war and that when the calamity ended, the human built a shrine for each bird. Then that same human predicted that the same calamity will return and that darkness will return to fully swallow them whole. Only the three birds have the power to defeat that darkness, but they need someone to guide them.

You turn back around and find that the birds are really up close and are staring you down. They look like they will devour you, like as if they are the darkness the plaque was talking about. But instead they hand over a necklace that looks like it’s about a hundred years old. You take the necklace courageously, knowing full well that you will have to leave your normal life to lead the most intense battle that will go down in history. You set out to live your next years in danger.