The Quest of The Priceless Treasure

By: Ethan Yu

One day, when I was at school, I heard my classmates say that there was a priceless treasure hidden in the Caves of the forest. Rumour said that there lived a magical lion wizard! I asked my friends if they were interested in a treasure hunt and Apollo said yes! I was so ecstatic about that! If I could collect the treasure, I would be the wealthiest boy in the world! I thought just before my thoughts were interrupted by the arrogant voice of Bob the Bully. ‘I have already been there! The lion has granted me immortality and now I am invincible!’

I whispered in Apollo’s ear, ‘That's all just bluff ya know? I think he only knew about the treasure until now.’

‘Yeah’ He agreed “What do you say, Astral? Want to compete with him to get the treasure?”

We came up to Bob and challenged him to the race. He said ‘Ha! You two puny kids can never beat me! I already know the secret spot of the treasure!’ But I could tell by the quiver in his voice that he knew absolutely nothing.

‘Hehe’, I said, ‘This is gonna be easy.”

Later that day, Apollo was at my house readying for the quest. We got an explorer's cap, and clothes. We also got a backpack and put a 3L bottle in it. We were ready for the quest.

When Apollo and I stepped into the forest, I finally noticed that we didn’t have any clues to start with. Then, a torn, old map fell down the trees! It was the map to find the treasure!

‘Ha’ I told Apollo, ‘This will be much easier.’

We followed the path on the map, but the next obstacle was creeping past a crocodile lake!

When we were at the lake, a crocodile was sleeping. Phew, I thought, we wouldn’t be dead after all. All of a sudden, the crocodile jerked its head towards us. ‘RUN!’ I howled. But something unexpected happened. The crocodile’s eyes suddenly were full of fear. Huh. That was strange! I thought. I couldn’t see who scared the crocodile.

Then there was a panda. He roared at us and ferociously scratched at us. It was weird. Each time we thought he was gonna get us for sure, he seemed to get further away from us. He could run as fast as a cheetah! But suddenly, our legs were as fast as Flash! It seemed as if our legs were enchanted to be that fast! I thought we broke multiple world records and quickly threw the panda behind us. We ran for around 10 minutes, but out of the ordinary, we were not tired. I felt like I could still run for 10 miles!

I thought we ran past multiple obstacles because we were at the cave where the treasure was hidden. But the problem was, there was a gigantic boulder blocking it. Apollo found a hammer by the side of a road and hit it on the boulder. BOOM! The boulder exploded into a million pieces. ‘Wow,’ I said ‘That must have been magic. Think again. How did the crocodile become scared of us? How did the panda never manage to lay a claw on us? How did we run so fast? Magic.’

‘Yeah’ Apollo agreed ‘It is magic. I think The Lion Wizard did it.’

We went inside, but unfortunately, there wasn't any treasure box, but a single note was lying on a rock. There was a riddle written on it:

A single step leads your death,

A single climb grants you life.

A single breath gives you wisdom,

A single coin plants your kingdom,

But a single touch strikes fear into the deepest of hearts

‘A riddle?’ I asked

‘Yeah’ Apollo agreed. ‘Another clue.’

‘Let’s prepare for the second quest tomorrow!’ I suggested eagerly.

The lion wizard was following them all the time. He helped them because he saw the spirit in their eyes and the bravery. The lion wizard was waiting for centuries for a person worthy of the treasure.

The End

Continue for part 2...