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(My good copy of my random story for the very stupid literacy day tommorrow, I'm going to have to summarize this because it's so long...I guess I got carried away with it. sweatdrop Oh well...yay for the random ending! It really goes off with a 'boom', I'm not kidding, hard to beleive this is supposed to be non-violent? I don't think I'll be getting marks for that. xp )

Black Phoenix Curse

Chapter 1, The Dare

Sahiru, a normal 12 year old in Egypt, was running around playing with her friends. Everything was normal there; there wasn?t a war or anything. Sahiru was an adopted child, she helped her foster father with his job, he was a pottery maker. She and her friends ran down some alleys, when they reached the edge of town a wall blocked the outside. They climbed up a ladder that led to a top of a building?s roof, which was taller than the wall. It was a wonderful scene, a vast desert surrounding them, outside in the distance, just on the horizon, was a faint outlining of the forbidden ruins.
Fandarel looked over at her, with a grin on his face, and said in a taunting way, ?I hear there?s monsters and ghosts there?which is probably why the old timers won?t let us over there. I bet you couldn?t go over there without chickening out and running back!?
Sahiru rolled her eyes at him, seeing it only as child?s play. She wasn?t fond of dares, but she didn?t want her friends whining to her that she was too afraid to go?so, she straightened up confidently, and replied to his request, ?I?ll go! I won?t run back! I?ll stay there for the whole night!?
All her other friends stared at her, especially Fandarel, who wasn?t expecting such a reply. After discussing it, Fandarel and all the others left, leaving Sahiru, and her other friend, Kita, with her. Kita looked at her concerned, she stuttered as she spoke, she was 4 years younger then her, ?A-are you sure about doing that? You know t-the adults are very s-strict about not going there?what if it isn?t all superstition and there?s an actual reason??
Sahiru replied, still confident, ?They just want to spoil the fun, don?t worry. I?ll be fine. If you see Zepherus tell him I?m staying with you tonight at your house so he won?t worry, okay??
Kita sighed, and said, ?All right?I?ve got to be heading home now anyways, bye.? She went over to the side of the building and climbed down the ladder onto the ground, Sahiru was still on top of the building so she could see her walk off down the alley into the main street.
Sahiru still wasn?t afraid to go; the excitement of doing something like this drowned the shivering fear out of her. She snuck home, being very quiet so Zepherus would not hear her. She took a bag, put some bread and water into it for a snack for later, went outside and put the bag onto the back of their camel and pulled herself up. They began to head to outside of town, and outside of the giant gates into the vast desert.

It took a couple of hours to get to the Ruins. She tied up her camel to a stone column that was still standing. She sat up against what remained of a wall, watching the last bit of sun light disappear, the sun had set and the moon had risen, night had come. She wrapped herself in her robe like a cloak, wishing the sun would come again quicker. She didn?t enjoy it much there, there were many rumours about this place, and especially how it had become Ruins in the first place, many of them involved the creatures and ghosts that Fandarel mentioned.
She was beginning to become afraid now, so she wasn?t able to sleep. She was awake for a long time, shivering, until she heard the sound of beating wings of a giant creature approaching. She saw a faint glow of dark red on some of the ruins ahead of her, she was definitely terrified now.
What was it? Was it a ghost that gave off an evil glow? She had guessed wrong, when a black phoenix with a blood red glow approaching her, it even made her blood curdle. She could see it now, she stared at it in amazement and confusion. Her head began to hurt, as if something was trying to force itself in.
It was then she heard someone speak, it was not her voice, but a deep voice, that was likely the giant birds. The thing invading her thoughts said, ?What are you doing here, human child? It has been said enough that this place is off limits to people like you, now you shall pay the price for your ignorance?? Its eyes glowed red, a pain came into the back of her neck, as if something was stabbing her there.
On her neck, was a black mark shaped like a single flame. She heard the voice inside her head again and it said, ?Leave now, cursed one, I have laid this burden upon you. Spend the time you can, for once it completely spreads, you will fall into a sleep you will never wake up from again.?
Sahiru quickly ran to her camel, untied it, and was too frightened to climb up onto its back again, so she just pulled it along by her by the reins as she ran as fast as her legs could take her.
Once she got outside of the Ruins, she fell down beside her camel, taking a break to catch her breathe. What could she do now? She couldn?t return home like this, what would her father say? Would he give her out to another family to make her their slave for her punishment? She couldn?t return now after the thought of it, so she decided while she was still mostly free of the curse, she would go out into the dessert and search for a cure.

It felt like they had been out there forever, the never ending sand always was what they found ahead of them. Her camel was still fine, since it could store water for a long time, but Sahiru was already hungry and thirsty. They had set out when they left the ruins farther into the dessert, and were still wandering. It was about mid-day, and it was very warm.
She used her sleeve to wipe the sweat off of her, but then she enjoyed the wonderful breeze was blowing. She knew it was unnatural because there had been none before, but she was enjoying it too much to really care. Then it became much harder, lifting the sand up with it, then she knew something was wrong, it was a sand storm.
The camel became uneasy, she quickly looked around for shelter, and then she saw a cave. They ran over to it and inside, just avoiding the giant cloud of dust that had blasted towards them. She rubbed her eyes, irritated from the wind. She opened them, looked around, she was wondering if she had something in her eye or she was seeing a mirage.
Inside of the cave was a giant pool of clear, clean water, and at its edge was a twisted like tree with an odd fruit growing on it, it was like an apple, but a perfect oval and wasn?t red, but a gleaming silver. She had never seen that kind of fruit before, but she ran over and drank from the water. She then filled up her bottle, and then used some of the water to wash her face. Just as she had reached up for the fruit, she suddenly felt uneasy. The mark on the back of her neck tingled, and there were more marks around it now, they were completely covering her neck. Her camel ran out of the cave in fear, for there was now a growling beast with bright yellow glowing eyes glaring straight out at them from farther back in the cave.
She stopped reaching for the fruit, and pulled her hand away from it and backed away from the tree. This just wasn?t her day?first she gets cursed, a sandstorm just blew in, she just lost her ride, and now she was probably going to become some monster?s snack.
A great black dog walked out of the darkness, he was about the size of a horse, which greatly reminded her of the fabled god Anubis. He approached her, he frowned at her, he was calm though, and she knew this because he didn?t growl or bare his fangs at her. He was eyeing the marks on her neck, then he looked straight up into her eyes and spoke in a powerful voice, ?Well, it seems you have angered a creature of high power?mind explaining what would cause such a fate??
Sahiru was kind of caught by its bright yellow eyes, she was wondering if she had fallen asleep in the ruins somehow and this was all a dream?but her hunger was nothing unreal. Neither was the fear that was too real to be fake. She managed to pull herself out of her thoughts, and brought up her courage to speak to this creature, ?Yes, you are right?? she explained the story about her and her friend?s conversation about the dare, and how she got the curse from the black fire bird and forward from there, ??then I came here to shelter myself from that sand storm, I?m sorry for disturbing you-?
The black dog raised his eye brow at her, as if questioning a bit of what she had explained to him. He said, ?It?s alright, I understand your reasoning, no need to be afraid. Orith cannot completely consider himself a god after such a thoughtless act, but you still should have listened to your fears when they told you to stay home when you first felt them. They may not always be right, but in situations like these, it is better listen to them. My name is Kurmac, son of Anubis. I am no powerful god such as him, but as you can see, I?m not a natural canine you would see running along the streets. I?m sorry for scaring away your humped-back livestock, mind of I assist you to make up for it??
Sahiru shrugged a bit, and said, ?It?s okay, it?d be great if you could be of assistance. Everything seems to be so difficult now?? She sighed, it felt as if everything was going down in a spiral ever since she left her beautiful city and all her friends?she wished she had at least left a letter to calm their nerves somewhat, but it was too late for that now.
Kurmac stared at her for a moment, as if confused by her depressing words. After a few seconds, he said, ?Don?t worry, like I said earlier, everything will be alright, I?m sure everything will turn out fine. Go get something to eat, you can take some fruit from the tree, don?t worry, it isn?t poisonous. Take as much as you like, I?ll tell you about my idea to fix your problem and we?ll set out to our destination.?
Sahiru decided it was better not to argue with him, she went back over to the tree and picked off some of the fruit and began to eat one. She sat up against the stone cave wall, and listened to Kurmac?s idea.

Sahiru was now on the back of Kurmac as they looked through the desert for a certain mountain he had told her about. He also told her about the two phoenixs, Orith, the black phoenix, and Minora, the white phoenix. They had once be one being, but then it had developed different sides that clashed with each other until it split into two, making Minora and Orith.
Kurmac had mentioned Minora being really nice, so she might remove the curse Orith had put on her. He had said Minora lives on a mountain somewhere in the dessert, it was hard to find, but he said it was close by. They reached a mountain; it seemed to challenge the heavens with its height alone. She saw no sign of a silver phoenix around it; she either guessed it was not there or out of sight.
Kurmac yawned, and said tiredly as the sun was setting, ?It?s getting late, and it?s a long way to Minora?s lair on the mountain. You?ll need your rest, we should set up camp here.?
Sahiru nodded, slid off his back half asleep and said, ?Alright?I?ll collect some twigs for a fire?? She left her bag there, collected up the twigs and other burnable objects lying around, put it into a pile and made a fire. She lay down and used her bag as a pillow and dosed off, the last thing she saw before she fell asleep was the glow from the fire and Kurmac lying down beside it sleeping.
They woke up again in the morning, the fire had burnt itself out when it ran out of firewood to burn. Sahiru shivered a bit, since the mark had gotten bigger over night. She could still feel the tingling feeling, now it was down to her knee and her elbows. She looked at her reflection on the silver fruit she had put into her bag encase they got hungry on their journey, the marks were covering her face now. She knew now she didn?t have much time left before it sent her into eternal sleep. She woke up Kurmac, and then they started to head up the mountain, since they found a winding path that Kurmac said was supposed to lead to the top of the mountain.


It was a long time before they began to reach the top of the mountain, it was a long way up. They had set out at the crack of dawn; they?d need the light to see where they were going. The mountain was very tiring, sometimes they?d have to take a break on a ledge when Kurmac began to get tired.
It was a very harsh journey, it was no picnic. Sometimes there were such hazards as avalanches or the footing underneath them giving away, they had not run into such troubles, but it was still a threat to their safety, so they needed to be careful. It was worth all the effort though, because around the afternoon, they had reached Minora?s lair.
It was a giant space in the side of the mountain, kind of like a horizontal crack, which was a lot like a cave. Sahiru looked around in the cave and said disappointed, ?It looks like she isn?t here?what do we do now??
Kurmac thought for a moment, staring off into the distance absent mindedly, and then he said, ?We?ll just wait here for her, she?ll eventually come back.? He lay down at the edge of the cliff, watching off in the distance like a watch dog.
Sahiru just sat down beside him, looking up at the sky also. She wondered what Minora would be like, she was hoping she?d be different from Orith. He hadn?t been pleasant at all, but from what Kurmac had told her Minora was fine. She also wondered what she would do when she got home? Zepherus would definitely know she wasn?t over at Kita?s for this long, he certainly would have realized by now she was no longer in the city anymore.
Eventually Minora blew the world up because she didn?t want Sahiru and Kurmac on her mountain. It also turns out Minora wasn?t that much better then Orith, actually worse, so Sahiru was wrong, especially Kurmac because he?s the one who mentioned it in the first place.

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