The Cursed Boy

The Kick Off

When akshay opened his eyes, all the other members were surrounding him. Akshay coughed and puked all the water he had drunk.

Akshay asked "am I dead?"

Ashwin said "no man, you're fine"

They were in the middle of a ranch of trees. The ground was all dusty and covered with dry leaves.

Akshay asked "how did I end up here"

Lokesh said "we were swimming along the current, then we grabbed the roots of the nearby trees and crossed the stream"

Aravind said "we saw you carried along the current unconscious, so we formed a human rope and carried you aside.

Ashwin asked "where's Oli"

In all this mess, he totally forgot about him. When he tried to remember, he started crying.

Kiran asked "what happened dude"

Akshay explained everything from the beginning with tears in his eyes.
"It's my mistake, I should have jumped when he said"

The others consoled him but they also had tears in their eyes. They all have been together for 3 years. They couldn't overcome the death of their friend.

Aravind wiped his tears and asked "how could a lion set foot in a reserved forest?"

Kiran said "I don't know, Oli brought us here. He just told me the name of the forest"

Yuvaraj asked "what's that?"

Kiran said "kolli hills"

Lokesh said "the name itself is scary, how are we going to escape?"

Ashwin shouted from a nearby ridge, when the others reached the spot, they saw the place they've been looking for.

There was a cave just below the ridge they were standing. They decided to head there.

When they reached the cave, yuvaraj said "guys we don't know what's inside that cave"

Aravind said "but we have to try something, we're already short of food and water"

All this time yuvaraj maintained silence. The others thought that he couldn't get over the grief of oli.

But yuvaraj had no feelings for oli, he just thought of one thing "how do I escape". He was selfish.

When they reached the cave, they hesitated to go in cuz they heard some bats growling inside the cave.

But akshay stepped up "oli was very curious about this cave. I consider this as his last wish and I'm going in"

They had to follow him inside cuz they couldn't part ways now. There were multiple roots inside the cave.

They took random left and right. They wondered who dug a cave in such an
intrigue manner.

After few minutes of walking, they found few cotton straps lying on the floor. They understood that someone had already come here for something.

Yuvaraj tried to convince the others to go back but akshay wouldn't listen to him.

When they headed further inside, they heard some kind of noise but it was gentle. There was a big hollow space between the slopes. It was more likely a room.

Inside the room, they saw something glittering in green colour in the corner of the room.

The others tried to warn lokesh but he touched it. Immediately it started floating. When the brightness toned down, they noticed that it was book.

They backed off from the book. A green colour smoke started to flow out from the book. Within a few seconds they were completely surrounded by the mist.

A dark figure came out of the book. He was muscular,tall and he also had long hair.

It said "welcome my warriors, I have been waiting to see you"

Initially they were all frozen to death but after a few seconds, they got the guts to speak.

Lokesh asked "are you some kind of genei like in Aladdin?"

It said "no, I'm not"

Kiran asked "can I ask you a question"

It said "yes"

Kiran started to speak but it stopped him "your chance is over"

Kiran said "but I haven't asked anything"

It replied "yes, but you said 'Can I ask' that counts as a question and only one question per head.

Kiran said "shit, I wish I had two heads"

Akshay asked "what do you expect from us?"

It sighed "ah, finally a worthy question. I've been imprisoned in this cave for almost a thousand years. I want you participate in a mystical game and release me"

Aravind asked "what if we say no?"

It replied "what else can you do, you don't even know your way back out of the forest"

Yuvaraj asked "have you been spying on us"

It said "I have psychic ability which allows me to see through the whole forest. In all these centuries, many came into the forest and some even participated in the game but no one has ever finished it"

The boys discussed for a few minutes. They clearly knew that they had no other choice cuz they were already out of food. So, they decided to do it.

Aravind stepped forward and said "yes, we're ready"

It turned to ashwin "you still have a question"

Ashwin asked "what's your name?"

It's image flickered. The moment it snapped its fingers, the green smoke encircled them and started spinning around their feet.

Ashwin shouted "that's not fair, you haven't answered my question"

Just before the moment of teleportation, it shouted in a base voice "varman" and then they all just disappeared.