The Mysterious Box
It was dark outside. There was a man’s head in front of me; no body, just a head. It was floating in the air. Except this head wasn’t ordinary. To begin with, part of the head was actually missing, which included one of the eyes. The remaining eye was green. His whole head was unusually narrow. There was also some blue fabric attached to it. His mouth was wide open.
“I have come to take you away!” the head stated loudly. I was hiding under a small shelter. It just consisted of a red and white blanket, which was held up by four small tree trunks that had been cut down.
“No!” I shouted. All of a sudden, the head lunged forward and jumped on top of the shelter. I crawled under and away from it before the head reached it. The moment he landed on the red and white blanket, it fell to the ground, bringing the head down with it. The head was still unfazed, though.
Now I was standing in front of him, away from the collapsed fort. I looked around frantically for something that could help me defeat this evil creature. I spotted a blade on the ground, like a knife blade, but way bigger and it didn’t have a handle. I could just throw it at the man! I ran over and grabbed it. It was quite heavy. With all my might, I threw it at the floating head. I watched as it sailed through the air. The blade hit his green eye. Blood abruptly filled it. His eye was now bright red. “Ahhhhhhh!”
The head lunged at me once more, but flipped over in the air, very unstable. He was half blind, after all.“What have you done?” he shouted at me. He looked around very slowly.
“You will regret that! I will be back. Mark my words!” he shouted. And with that, he disappeared. I had no idea who the man was, but I needed to find out. He did say that he would be back. I took a moment to look around. There were things floating in the night sky, and I saw a cube, except it looked like earth; a blue ocean, and green land. That meant, I was in space. The strange thing was, I could still breathe. There was also a brick wall in front of me, along with a few other things floating around. There were also egg yolks splattered around everywhere. That was when I saw a swing. It was hanging from the air. There was an egg sitting on it.There were a few other swings in the distance behind the first, but there were no eggs sitting on them. That must be where all the egg yolks came from, I thought.
The egg on the first swing looked like it was about to crack. I ran over to it. Suddenly, it started to shake. I took a step back. After a few seconds, it abruptly burst open, revealing a small, yellow, baby duck. It looked up. It looked straight at me. It started to jump up and down.
“Hello,” I said softly. It was so cute! “I think I am going to name you…” I thought for a second. “Fluffy! That is the perfect name for you.”
***
Time passed by. Fluffy soon learned how to fly. She grew big, yellow feathers. I slept on the floor everyday by a huge tree. Fluffy would sit next to me. Sometimes, we would swim in the pond together during the day. I would drink water from the river. It was stale, but there was nothing I could do. I ate berries from the forest.
One day, I went to the forest for a walk. I found it very peaceful there. Fluffy was flying beside me, and I had to run to keep up. Soon we were racing. At one point I ran as fast as I could, and raced in front of Fluffy. After two minutes, I decided to take a break. I turned around to get Fluffy. But she wasn’t there. I looked up in the air to see if she was flying high up, but I still couldn't see her anywhere. I looked all around. But Fluffy was nowhere to be found.
“Fluffy!” I called loudly. “Fluffy?” Normally, when I called Fluffy by her name, she would come flying to me, because she was never that far away. But what if she was far away right now? I thought about the head I had seen and battled, just two weeks ago. Then something occurred to me. I was at the same spot I had been when that happened. What if the head had captured Fluffy?
I started to panic. I heard a voice behind me. “Hello. Did you lose something?” I turned around slowly. There standing in front of me was that head again. Nothing had changed about his face. Even his eye was still bright red. Fluffy was floating next to him. The strange thing was, she didn’t seem like she wanted to leave. She was just staring straight ahead, motionless.
“Ha! Did I not tell you that I would come back? Now, you will come with me. I will bring you to my people and we will destroy you! We are the leaders of this kingdom. You have invaded our land, and you will pay for it! By the way, my name is Ripper.” he shouted. Then he laughed evilly.
“Why do you think I will come with you after you told me all of that?” I asked. “And this is not your land!”
Ripper frowned. “First of all, this is our land. And secondly, can’t you see, you foolish girl? I have full control of your stupid duck! So, if you come with me I might set her free.” He shook his head. “And maybe give her a better name, something more evil!’’
Now it was my turn to frown. I looked around to see if there was anything I could use to escape. I spotted a hole in the ground. It had a ladder leading underground. I knew that I could fit through it. Fluffy could too. But I also knew that I had no chance of getting Fluffy back. I would have to get her later. I ran towards the hole. I heard Ripper calling for me, but I ignored him. When I reached the hole, I slowly lowered myself underground. Once I was out of sight of Ripper, I climbed quickly down the ladder.
When I reached the bottom of the ladder, I turned around. I was expecting to see a dark, musty place with insects roaming around everywhere. Instead, when I turned around, I saw clean walls, which were painted white with a few colorful designs. There was also a hallway in front of me. I walked over to it. It looked safe. There was a soft, red carpet on the floor. The moment my feet touched it, I started to glow. I looked down. My feet were growing larger and larger. After a few seconds, they shrunk back to their normal size. A red box appeared in my hand. It was wrapped in a silver ribbon. It started to glow. A gas cloud floated up from the ground. “Hello, ma’am. I will be your minion. I shall serve you faithfully. If you need anything then tell me! Also, don’t forget to open the box!”
“What is your name?” I asked politely. I liked the idea of having a minion. I also wondered what was inside the box. The gas cloud looked at me, very uncomfortable. “I don't exactly have one. You see, the other family that I served wasn’t very nice to me. They didn’t think to name me. I am supposed to serve someone new every month. You seem very nice, so I chose you.”
“Ah, okay. Do you know what is inside the box?” I questioned him. “Also, do you know anyone named Ripper? I'm pretty sure I just met him. He’s just a head. He thinks that he rules this kingdom. He wants to destroy me because I invaded this place.”
“RIPPER!” the gas cloud shouted. Then it shuddered. “Ripper's family was the one that I served. It was horrid! He was so mean. He also does NOT like new people. But I must not tell you what is inside that box. That is for you to find out!” Then the cloud disappeared. I decided to open the box. I couldn’t wait any longer. I slowly lifted the lid. There, sitting inside the box, was an egg!
I couldn’t believe it. What was I supposed to do with one, small egg? I had imagined that it would be something more special. I picked it up and held it in my hand. It started to glow red too, just like the box. It looked like this egg was special! Just then, the cloud appeared again. “I see that you have opened the box. Now, listen carefully. This is a magical egg. When you throw it at your victim, you can either burn them, freeze them, or simply destroy them. Just talk to the egg! But when you use the egg, it will get destroyed too, so you must only use it once, and you must use it wisely.”
Right away, I knew I was going to use the egg on Ripper. I slowly climbed up the ladder leading out of the hole, and checked if the head was still there. He was starting to walk away, he still had Fluffy beside him, floating in the air. I knew I would have to time this right. I would have to throw the egg before he turned around and at the same time, not hit Fluffy. I would have to aim well for this to work.
All of a sudden, Ripper turned around. I ducked. After a few seconds, I slowly lifted my head up. Ripper was starting to walk away again. Soon, he was completely out of sight. That had been close! I needed to be more careful next time. If he saw me again, I would be destroyed!
***
A few weeks passed, and there was no sign of Ripper. I went looking for him every single day in hope of using my magical egg on him. But he was nowhere to be found. Then one day, when I went looking for him again, I found him floating by a tree. He still had Fluffy beside him. He looked like he was searching for someone. Probably me. I decided to sneak up on him. This was my only chance! I crept forward and I soon reached him. I tried to make as little noise as possible. I stood right behind him, only a few feet away. All of a sudden, a small stick cracked under my feet. He abruptly turned around . Oh, no! Now he would see me! The moment he made eye contact with me, I jumped up. I had the magical egg in my hand. But I couldn’t throw it right now. Ripper started to float towards me way faster than I thought was possible. I started to run away. Fluffy was also following Ripper, but she was still staring straight ahead. I needed to get far away; just enough to throw my egg at him. Then I thought of something. I could climb a tree! I spotted an extremely tall one. I raced towards it. I started climbing it. Ripper spotted me and started floating up the same tree too. The moment he was close enough, I lifted my arm to throw the egg at it. Then I stopped and recalled what the gas cloud had said. When you throw it at your victim, you can either burn them, freeze them, or simply destroy them. Just talk to the egg!
I decided to just destroy Ripper. I didn’t want to burn or freeze him. “DESTROY!” I shouted as loud as I could. Then I threw the egg at him, careful to not hit Fluffy. I missed her just by inches. The moment the egg hit Ripper, I heard a scream. Then he disappeared. Suddenly, Fluffy started to fly towards me. Ripper wasn’t in control of her anymore! I took Fluffy in my arms and we walked to the pond.
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