The Colks and the Crown of the Wild

Chapter 4: The Crown of the Wild

I started to walk back toward the cabin. All of the flowers that used to be bright and cheerful now seemed to be dark and dreary and staring at me with evil glares. At the edge of the house, I noticed smoke coming out of the hole in the roof. Maybe Noh is cooking up some game he caught when he was out. The fire didn't smell like it had anything over it though. When I walked in, a strange old man appeared in the house. He must be the Wizard of Knowledge. He wore an old grey, pointed hat that hit the ceiling and drooped down. His face was warm and cheerful but dead serious. Judging by how his head hit the ceiling, he was about 6 foot 4 at least. His white overcoat made him look special in an absurd way.
" Hello, I am the Wizard of Knowledge, and you are young Ecolk from the Castle of the West. I am here to give you actual weapons even though you have tried all day to make somewhat useful ones. I was also the object walking through the forest when you were startled. I hope you don't object to joining me on my mission. I suspect Noh, my friend, will accompany us also."
The man spoke with great authority and wisdom.
"What is this great mission that you ask me to accompany you on" I asked.
"It is a big deal of the possible end of the Earth. Your unfortunate brother, has stolen the Crown of the Wild. I do not know how but he for sure has it. The Crown is hidden in a volcano slightly east from the position of where we are. We are to travel through the forest to the volcano. On the way, war hogs will try to attack us because Era has control over them. The Crown of the Wild gives the person who wears it the power to control all of nature. The crown should be destroyed as quickly as possible. We have to leave for the volcano by sunset tonight." He said with a kind nature.
I shook his hand. All of my life I had wanted to go on an adventure like the people in legends. I never thought I would have the chance to do it myself. This was one of the most important events in my life. I was going to accept no matter what the consequences. Then, Noh walked into the room. I explained to him what the wizard told me. He had a little smirk on his face.
"We are going to get new weapons" He spoke just above a whisper but as loud as an elephant.
I walked up to the Wizard of Knowledge and asked him what our weapons were. He took out his hand knit sack and pulled it onto his lap. Inside was a iron shortsword and a sharp stone spear welded into the wood and tied in a ferocious knot. A great big smile appeared on my face as wide as a train stretching 40 carts. I picked up the short sword and placed it on my tearing belt. It looked as if killing game would take less effort as long as we ever lived. This would also take way less time when on the mission. War hogs who are full size and 2 tons won't ever be able to stop us now.
I was so excited I almost screamed. We have much better weapons and we are going on a journey tonight. I have to admit, adventures are the type of thing I have been wanting for many long years, and now it has come to the time I'll go on an adventure.
The Wizard of Knowledge looked out the small window looking up at the blue peaceful sky.
He looked back at me and said "It's about noon. We shall leave in about 6 hours. During that time I will be getting ready by packing your useful things up. You will need to practice using your weapons by attacking harbitts. We have to leave tonight or else."
"Why do we have to leave tonight" I asked with a curious face.
The Wizard of Knowledge answered "Era, your brother, will make the trees watch us next morning. That is also why I didn't come at that time like I said in the note. All the plants and animals will be controlled by Era. That is also why the war hogs won't attack Era."
The Wizard of Knowledge told me to go tell Noh about what he told me and how to practice fighting with the weapons he has given us. We need as much help as we can get."
So I got outside the cabin and looked into the dense forest. "Noh could be anywhere" I thought to myself as I looked into the ongoing forest.
I soon thought "He would of course go to a nearby tree."
So I looked around the area, but Noh couldn't be found. "Hello Ecolk" I heard in a high pitch voice.
I said back "Noh. I know it's you."
I got a big grin on my face. "I totally got you" Noh said as he jumped from behind me.
He was smiling so much it looked like his head would explode.
I told him quickly "We need to go out tonight with the Wizard of Knowledge. He's in the cabin right now packing our things up. Also, here are the weapons he gave us."
I showed him the iron shortsword and stone spear, then handed the spear to him.
"Let's go fight some critters with these new weapons" I told him like a shepherd guiding his sheep.
So we looked around for some critters like harbitts. Though none could be found. We then looked even for the smallest critters you could find, but still no creature could be found. Bugs like the crickets and grasshoppers which used to be everywhere still couldn't be found. After a few hours of looking we went back inside the cabin where the great Wizard of Knowledge was.
He said "I know none of you found anything. It was because Era has controlled them to come to him."
It was terrible now. We can't practice with our weapons just because a crown has been stolen controlling the animals and all the other wildlife. That's when I realized how important it was to get the Crown of the Wild back from Era and then destroy it.
Now I really know we need practice in less than a few hours. Well, what would we do? It should be a bit easier to at least practice killing CREATURES. I could tell Noh was wondering the same thing too. Right then, an idea popped in my mind.
I walked up to Noh who was sitting by the fireplace and asked him "Would you mind if we fought against each other? So then we would then still get some practice for killing."
Noh shook his head. "We don't have time to waist battling against each other. We could possibly injure ourselves while fighting."
So we waited instead until we would go on the adventure to the volcano and get the crown. Only in a few hours we would go on the exciting, heroic adventure.