The Storm King

• Abraham Jomon, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2022

The day I became king of the sky started with being whacked over the head with a metal rod. My window shattered before my eyes, sending millions of glass shards flying across the room. I got up, dazed and confused, just as a long metal stick flew through the window at the speed of sound and thwacked me over the head, knocking me out. As I looked up for the second time this morning, I noticed that the metal stick was actually quite lovely. It was an ivory staff with ribbon-like waves of adamantine swirling around the length of it, creating a hypnotic effect. The orb on top was black marble with glass flecks of silver running through it. The orb was filled with swirling mist that pulsed a soft greyish light like a lantern.I then got up and achingly started to clean up the broken glass and went over to the bathroom sink to brush my teeth.

After a breakfast of bacon and scrambled eggs, I climbed up to the roof to attempt to understand the staff where there would be as little destruction as possible. I held the staff at arms length and a wave of frost surged through me. I felt my body tingling and sparks ejected out of the orb. The mist inside began to pulsate brighter until it was almost blinding. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw the sky beginning to darken and a hurricane forming around me. Lightning tore through the sky around the hurricane, only to get sucked into the spinning vortex.

Suddenly, the swirling expanse of thunder clouds jutted down into the orb of the staff. The typhoon started to rise up again and now, it was taking the staff with it. The storm started to rip up the houses in the block and from the point of the hurricane, freezing sheets of ice were starting to spread. It kept on spreading until the neighbours backyard was completely frozen, sending waves of bone-chilling through to the rest of the house. Panicked, I rushed up to the highest point of the roof and a crazy idea started to form in my mind. Taking a deep breath, I braced myself and leapt off the roof. As I suspected, the storm swept me up, making me spin around and around the staff which was hovering directly in the eye of the storm.

I lept at it, and after struggling through the waves of air blowing me back, I managed to get a grip on the staff. The hurricane abruptly stopped, letting me see the true extent of the damage caused. Suddenly, sleek figures crept out of the shadows. They looked as though they were made out of mist, which made me shudder. They were in many shapes that looked like eagles, lions and pegasi. Then, in unison, they roared “All Hail the Storm King.”