Orichalum

Rohit found an ax in his backyard.

"How strange," he said. "There should not be an ax here! This is a place for trees and grass and shrubs, not axes."

He decided to find his parents, so that they could tell him where to put it.

But he ran into something even stranger on the way!

"Anticorns!" Roheet said, alarmed. "Attacking some poor, helpless creature! Look at it, just lying there on the ground."

He attacked the anticorns with his axe. "Go away, you meanies!" he politely suggested. "You should not attack things that are smaller than you!" He considered. "Also, things that are not hurting anyone!"

The anticorns complied, galumphing away in abject terror. Obviously, Rohit's silver tongue had won the day.

"This is a really good axe!" Rohit decided.

Then he went to look at the poor helpless creature. "Are you okay?" he asked. "Did the mean anticorns hurt you?"

The creature did not respond.

Rohit became worried. "Are you asleep?" he wondered. "This is a silly time to sleep! I will wake you up." He leaned closer to the creature, reaching to nudge it awake.

The creature suddenly reared upright and roared! Its red eyes glowed like furnaces.

"You are not a small helpless creature!" Rohit said, very upset. "You are a demon-ghost! That is not the same thing at all!"

Then he went for the axe. "I will use this against you, because otherwise you will eat me!" he explained. Rohit was raised to always be polite and explain the reasons for his actions, especially when they might be ambiguous or confusing otherwise.

The demon-ghost seemed unimpressed. It did not want Rohit to get to the axe; at least, Rohit guessed that was why it bit him so painfully. "Ow!" Rohit shouted, but he still got the ax. He was paying extra attention to what he was doing! He did not want to get distracted, not when there was a demon-ghost trying to eat him. He did not think that a stomach was a nice place to be! He wasn't sure, but - wait, no, this was not a good time to be distracted.

Rohit raised the ax. Apologetically, he told the demon-ghost, "I'm sorry if this hurts!" and then swung the axe at the evil creature.

The ax sank into the demon-ghost. "Ha!" Rohit said, crossing his arms over his midsection. He had done a good job!"

The demon-ghost pulled out the ax and dropped it on the ground. It seemed unimpressed.

Rohit scratched his head. "Have I done something wrong?" he wondered. "Perhaps I should pick up the ax and do it again."

He reached for the ax.

The demon-ghost roared again, leapt, and pinned Rohit to the ground. It swelled to many times its previous size. Now Rohit was covered in darkness and nasty-smelling demon-ghost.

"Oh, this is not good!" Rohit said, alarmed. "I do not want to be eaten by a demon-ghost! But I think I am about to be!"

"Maybe it is not so bad," he consoled himself. "Maybe it is fun inside a stomach! There is candy-corn and apple-jacks and all sorts of other nice things inside. It could be!"

Rohit closed his eyes and hoped.

Then he opened them again, a moment later, when he heard a strange noise.

It was the anticorns! They had returned, and popped the demon-ghost like a balloon. It had swollen to become big - but it had stretched, too! Distracted by trying to eat Rohit, it had not noticed the anticorns when they came back. Just one lick was enough to break it all apart!

Rohit was very happy. "Yay!" he said. "You saved me! I'm sorry for the mean things I said!" Then he gave each of the anticorns a hug.

When he found his parents, not only did they know what to do with the axe, but they let him keep the anticorns as pets!

It was Rohit's favourite day ever.