I was stuck in Ms. Thompson's class, trying to stay awake while she rambled on about some ancient book called the "Eldritch Bestiary." It was a magical book full of stories about mystical creatures, written by a wizard named Ronan. Yeah, right.
Anyway, I must've nodded off because suddenly I'm in this wacky dream, standing in the middle of this circle, like something out of a bad horror movie, with all these crazy symbols drawn on the ground. And there's me, holding a stick that's glowing like it's got a serious case of diarrhea or something.
Opposite me is this giant thunderbird, crackling with electricity like it's about to burst into a lightning bolt disco. I'm pretty sure my dream was sponsored by the local electricity company.
So there I am, facing off against this zappy bird, and I swear, I start reciting what can only be described as gibberish. But hey, it sounded pretty convincing in the moment.
By moon's light and shadows deep, Awaken beasts from ancient sleep.
Before I could see what kind of chaos I was about to unleash with this weird shit spell, I'm rudely awakened by Ms. Thompson's high-pitched voice calling my name.
As I stumbled out of my dreamlike haze, I realized the whole class was laughing. Apparently, they thought my impromptu spell-casting session was the funniest thing since Tom and Jerry. Even Ms. Thompson joined in, joking about me being "high on milk" or something equally ridiculous, wow seriously Ms. Thompson? Is that even a thing? Great, I'm the class clown now.
But before I could dwell on my newfound comedic status, the bell rang, signaling recess. Everyone rushed for the door like it was the last day of school, but when I tried to stand up, something caught my eye. There, nestled among a pile of textbooks and pencil shavings, was a crappy-looking key with a red jewel engraved on it. It looked like something straight out of a B-movie fantasy adventure really.
I scooped it up out of curiosity, and stuffed it into my pocket as I headed outside to join the rest of my classmates. Today was the day of our field trip to the grand museum, and I was not looking forward to it actually. I'd rather stay and play Mobile Legends but what could I say? I was just a ten-year-old kid. Besides, mom and dad wanted me to go out more, see the world meet new friends, yeah right, sorry to disappoint you guys but I'm not a fan of Dora the Explorer. I'm good with playing Minecraft, and skating thank you so much!
My best friend Rowie was waiting for me at the door, concern painted all over his face. Yeah, he's the kind of kid parents can trust. Me? No. He'd been listening to my ramblings about this recurring dreams and mystical beasts running wild in New York city for weeks now, and I could tell he was starting to worry. Yeah, he's that kind of kid too which can be annoying sometimes but I got used to it. We've known each other since we were kids, like we're literally Harry and Ron from Harry Potter, just a little bit more handsome.
"Hey man, you alright?" he asked, nudging me with his elbow. "You've been talking about stuff a lot lately. You sure you haven't been watching too many movies or playing too many video games?"
I laughed it off, but deep down, I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something more to my dreams than just my overactive imagination. And as we stepped into the museum, I kind of knew in my gut that today was going to be anything but ordinary.
So, like, we were stuck in this museum with Ms. Thompson going on and on in her squeaky voice about not breaking the line. And seriously, I was so bored I could feel my kidneys about to burst. So, what does a good kid do in this situation? Yup, you guessed it—I broke the line and went off on my own museum tour.
I got lost in a sea of doors and buzzing people, desperately searching for the comfort room. But, being me, I ended up in the wrong room. It was all dusty and smelled like old wood, but there was this cool-looking table in the middle with a book called "Eldritch Bestiary" lying on it. Remembering Ms. Thompson blabbing about some lost book, I thought, "Hey, maybe I'll be world-famous for finding it!"
So, I dusted off the old book and noticed there was a keyhole in the middle. And guess what? I had picked up a key earlier! Talk about coincidence, right? I stuck the key in, turned it, and bam! The book opened up, and suddenly, there was this crazy wind swirling around the room like a tornado.
Books were flying everywhere, and I ended up flat on my back. The pages of the book I'd just opened were flapping like they had a mind of their own, heading straight for the windows. I scrambled to shut the book, and as soon as it closed, the wind stopped, and everything was calm again. Well, except for me—I was totally confused and out of my wits.
But then, out of nowhere, this stuffed toy-looking white cat with a red jewel on its forehead popped out of the book. At first, I thought it was just some fancy decoration, but when I got closer and touched it, its eyes blinked, and we both freaked out.
I hid from the creepy little cat, and it hid from me, too. We just stared at each other for what felt like forever, until I remembered I had some candy in my pocket. I gave it to the cat, and it happily licked it up. Then, out of the blue, it said my name and called me the "Beast Seeker."
I was like, "Whaaat?!" and bolted away, hiding from this bizarre little creature. You can't blame me for acting scared! For Chrissake I'm just ten and recently learned how to walk without constantly falling. A talking cat oughta scare the living hell in me! Seriously, who knew a museum visit could turn into a scene straight out of a wacky fantasy movie?
So there I was, stuck in this spooky looking room with Pororo, the name of the most obnoxious cat-thing (whatever he is) I'd ever met. He waltzed up to me like he owned the place and introduced himself as a mythical beast Chimera, the familiar and the duly appointed Bookeeper of some grand wizard named Ronan Eldritch. Yeah, real fancy stuff.
Pororo started yapping about how Ronan had tasked him with guarding this book, and now that the magical beasts inside had escaped, it was suddenly all my fault. Classic blame game, right? So I fired back, telling Pororo he was the lousiest, laziest guardian ever.
"Oh please, as if you could do any better!" Pororo shot back, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "You're probably worse!"
Well, that hit a nerve. I wasn't about to let some talking cat diss me like that so I thought of the most noble deed a ten-year-old kid had ever done and told the cat, "Hey, I'll have you know I once kept a goldfish alive for a whole week!" I retorted, crossing my arms defiantly.
Pororo rolled his eyes, his tail flicking irritably. "Congratulations, you're practically a hero," he muttered, his tone dripping with sarcasm.
But I wasn't done yet. "And you! You're the one who let those magical beasts escape in the first place! So don't go pointing your furry little paw at me!"
Pororo bristled, his fur standing on end. "Oh, like you could do any better, Kyle! You couldn't even keep track of your own socks, let alone a bunch of magical monsters!"
I felt my cheeks flush with anger. "Well, at least I don't spend my days licking my balls and napping in sunbeams!" I shot back, unable to resist the jab.
Pororo's eyes narrowed into slits. "I am a chimera you dumb kid!"
"Oh really? Well, you look to me like a cheap stuff toy than a mythical beast," I continued.
"You wait until I get my powers back, you'll be my first meal you know!" He fumed.
As we continued to exchange barbs, the room around us suddenly shifted and changed. We were no longer in the museum but standing in the middle of a dense, foggy forest. "It's the Will-o'-the-wisp," the cat declared. "Will...whaatt??!" "Will-o'-the-wisp, you dumb kid, it's a mischievous ghost type monster with an ability to create an illusion spell that wouldn't break until you find it." "Am I gonna be stack in here forever?" "You're not listening to what I just said, we can break the spell when we find it and seal it back in the book." "And how are we supposed to find it?" "Grab the book genius and start reading!" I grabbed the book and started looking for the page intended for the Will-o'-the-wisp.
Description: The Will-o'-the-Wisp is extremely elusive due to its ethereal nature and evasive abilities. Capturing it requires advanced tracking skills and magical means to prevent it from using its escape abilities. Any attempt to catch it must account for its ability to disorient and frighten pursuers. Tracking checks against it are made with disadvantage, and any restraining methods must be able to counter its Misty Escape ability.
Type: Ghost
Threat level: Goblin
Difficulty Level to Catch: Easy
Skill:
Ethereal Glow: Emits a ghostly light that can illuminate dark areas within a 20-foot radius.
Phantasmal Illusion: Creates illusions and shifts surroundings to confuse and disorient enemies.
Misty Escape: Transforms into a mist to evade capture and can move through solid objects.
Weakness: Psychic type beasts
"You ready to catch some mythical beast?" Pororo said, his round eyes twinkled in determination. I hoped I could feel the same. I blinked, trying to wrap my head around this sorcery. But one thing was for sure—this was just the beginning.