Hail Approaching

• Jaden Yu, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2021

An arc of trees crested a dark lake in an elderly embrace, as magic flowed through the withered and gnarled roots like a coursing river. My eyes trailed away from the ring of trees as the stream of a mystifying winding river caught my attention. Carrying a lone boat, the deep blue expanse shifting to light blue when transcending the shadows, was as smooth as marble and created a finality of calmness and mystery. The black stone castle overshadowed the scenery like a vulture overseeing the last moments of its prey's life as I examined the uncanny lake.

“He must be coming.” I thought. He swore he would bequeath the knowledge to me, so I could stop the imminent war. It was an ancient and odd place to meet. A sound made me whirl on the spot as a crack of a twig indicated that something or someone was behind me, but it was only a deer and at my sudden movement it cantered off leaving me quite alone. Perhaps I stood motionless; it hadn't noticed me. I sighed and lapsed into silence once again.

The minutes lengthened to hours, my patience waned and without warning, it happened. A shaded dome seemed to fall and engulfed the area but made no mark on the grass yet it made silence so pressing, I felt my eyes being forced back. A sharp voice like a knife rang through the air and again I spun on the spot. There stood a man, tall and slanting, with snow bluebell flaming hair and a pale face, his black blindfold was seemed to be made of material between a jet black raincoat and polished leather. Wearing a long dark grey jacket and pants with the same material gave him a forbidding appearance. He stared at me from the slits of his black blindfold, which sent a chill down my spine.

“We are not going to talk here. Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies for now.” He grinned, as he snapped his fingers with a “SNAP”. I felt a pull so hard that all the breath escaped from me as I was wrenched into a widening hole in the palm of his hand and I was savagely yanked into the unknown while my yell of surprise was lost in a whirl of colours and shapes. I screamed as I was dragged through time and space. Looking down at my body, I let out a yell of shock. My limbs were elongated and stretched like rubber. Then as suddenly as it started, it all stopped and I lay sprawled in a heap, trying desperately to gulp down air. Barely hanging on the threads of my consciousness, I wrenched my eyelids open by a fraction. Vision blurred with sweat, I just made out the miraculous object in my hand. Light as a feather but seemed to be made out of water and wind. Before I could comprehend what was in my grasp, all went black.