Screams. This took. So long.. cries.. 9 more episodes to go...
Enjoy.
- Mira
Chapter 1: The Old Mist Grill
Night had fallen, overtaking the breathless Autumn-draped forest in a tidal wave of darkness. The warm colors of the Fall season lay hidden beneath a firm layer of inky blackness, fog rolling over the dark and chilly path. The sun had set hours ago, leaving the mysterious forest of the Unknown even more discombobulating and without any hope for navigation than it was during the day.
Crickets and bugs played their quiet tunes throughout the woods, tall trees looming over the beaten and worn path two boys walked upon. Somewhere above them, a bird flew off, traveling through the foliage in the darkness of the evening.
"Maybe Giggly? Oh, or Jumpy! Tom? Thomas Tambourine Legface McCullen! No? Hm, Artichoke? Penguin? Pete? Steve? That's one everyone uses all the time!" a voice cut-through the gentle song of the woods, the two boys walking side by side through the dark forest. The taller of the two, a pleasantly plump boy with combed brown hair, chattered on, "Well, I think the very worst name possible for this frog we found is-"
"Uh, wait, wait, wait a second," the other child cut-in, a good few heads shorter than the first. Placing his hand on the other's leg to catch his attention, the younger of the two looked around worriedly, "G-Greg...where are we?"
Darkness hide everything around them, tall gangly trees appearing as if they had arms and horrifying expressions, ready to swoop down and steal you away. In a tree trunk, an owl hooted, cutting through the relatively peaceful and familiar songs of the night. Red eyes glared down at the children, animals chattering amongst themselves, as if planning to do horrible things to them. It was more than enough to make the younger child nervous.
"Well, that's easy! We're in the woods," the elder replied simply, petting the frog he held in his hands. He appeared completely nonplussed by their situation, perfectly at ease in the dark and seemingly dangerous forest.
"No, no, I mean...what are we doing out here?" the slighter of the two questioned, tearing his gaze away from the burning red eyes and giving their surroundings another once over. He did not like this one bit! Where were they? When had they gotten here? Nothing around looked familiar, and to be honest, his older brother was the last person he wanted to get lost in the woods with.
"We're walking home, Wirt!" Greg had replied cheerily, gesturing around them as if there was nothing wrong with their surroundings.
Wirt was the complete opposite of his brother, both in personality and appearance. Where Greg was short and plump, Wirt was lean and wiry. Greg saw the good in every situation, often completely oblivious to the dangers of a situation, while Wirt was serious and academically inclined, more pessimistic than optimistic. It wasn't really a secret that the younger child was not the biggest fan of his older brother, and his frustrations with the other's lack of care for their situation was apparent as he tore at his hair.
"G-Greg, I think we're lost!" he exclaimed, spinning around himself again. Nothing here looked familiar, nothing at all. Oh, what he wouldn't give to be back home right now! Swishing around his navy blue cloak, the child lamented, "W-We should have left a trail or something, like in Hansel and Gretel!"
"Oh! We can leave a trail of the candy from my pockets!" Greg cut-in, cheerful as ever as he pulled out some candy and threw it around the area.
If it were any other situation, Wirt would comment on how childish his brother was acting right now, and how the other really needed to act more his age. At the moment, though, he was more focused on how lost they were. Heck, Greg didn't even know where they were! If Greg didn't know, Wirt certainly didn't. The mousy brown-haired boy was the more introverted of the two, and often spent the majority of his time indoors. If anyone would know the woods well, it would be Greg, and if Greg didn't know, well...that was Bad.
Feeling slightly panicked, the boy let out a small sigh and started reciting poetry to calm himself down, a habit he had picked up in the recent year through his reading, "Even though I am lost, my hurt pride lies back home, in pieces, thrown around the graveyard of my lost dignity, for only-" he began, only to stop at a dull thud sound repeating somewhere close by.
Letting out a quiet gasp, the boy glanced around, "Do you hear that…?" he asked his brother, following the sound without a second thought. Maybe there was help over there!
Having been listening to his brother's monologue, Greg blinked back into focus and followed after his younger sibling, "Yeah! Sounds like someone is playing with a ball or something," he commented, trying to move a bit ahead of his sibling. He was supposed to be the leader, after all. The older brother who leads his bookish younger sibling around on adventures!
"Do you think it's some kind of scary guy with an axe waiting out there in the darkness for innocent kids like us to come by so he can attack us?" Wirt spoke quickly, peeking out from behind the tree to peer into the night towards the source of the sounds. The darkness did tend to make him nervous, and the constant sounds did nothing to quell his overactive imagination.
"Hmm...as the older brother, I'll go check!" Greg smiled brightly, rushing forward into the blackness.
"G-Greg!" the younger called out quietly, trying to stop his older sibling from marching towards almost certain doom, "Greg!"
An animal chirped nearby, jolting the young boy a bit as his eyes rolled around, searching for the source of the noise. Letting out a nervous sound, the child raced forward, following after his brother, "Greg, you're gonna get us killed, don't leave me alone!" he hissed, stopping behind another tree with his handful of a brother. He didn't get paid enough for this, heck, he didn't get paid at all!
"Hmm," singing close by cut the child off, both boys' finding their gazes locked onto the figure of an older male beyond the safety of their hiding place behind the tree. Letting out a gasp, Wirt stepped back a bit, watching with wide eyes as the old man sang to himself.
A small lantern burned brilliantly on the stump of a nearby tree, the man bending down to pick up the little twigs and branches from the fallen trunk behind him. An axe sat wedged into the wood of the tree stump, ominous in the sparse lighting.
"We should ask him for help, I'm sure he knows where we are," Greg suggested, moving to step over the tree roots.
"No!" the younger of the two exclaimed, grabbing onto his brother's arm, "We really shouldn't ask the crazy old man with an axe for help," he reasoned, frowning hard at his sibling.
"But-" the other started, making no move to shake the much smaller boy off of his arm.
"Shh, he might hear us!" Wirt cut-in, glancing nervously at the axe once more. No, he was not going to be attacked by a crazy old man tonight, no thank you!
"Then you shh, too!" Greg narrowed his eyes in slight annoyance, having had enough of his younger brother telling him what to do. There was absolutely nothing wrong with asking that old guy for help!
"Shh!" the other countered again, making an attempt to tackle his brother to the ground when he was returned with another loud hushing sound. They were gonna get caught with all of this stupid noise!
Once again, the old man's singing cut them off, both boys turning to watch as the man and his lantern grew dimmer and dimmer the further away they walked, the darkness now more of a comfort than something to fear. Greg had his hand covering Wirt's mouth, the younger boy's shorter arms reaching to cover his brother's as well, neither making a sound as they made sure that the man had gone.
It was only when the man had completely disappeared from sight that Wirt dared to speak up again, "Oh, shoot...do you think we maybe should have asked him for help?"
Greg gave a shrug in reply, not bothering to point out he had originally been planning to ask the old man for help in the first place. He didn't really want to get into a fight with his little brother, and bringing up that fact would probably spark a conflict with Wirt.
"Hey, I can help you. I mean, you guys are lost, right?" a female voice cut-in from behind them, causing the two boys to turn towards the source.
Upon a branch on the tree the boys were hiding behind sat a small bluebird, looking down at them with a sort of pitying look.
Wirt let out a little gasp, rubbing his eyes as if to make sure what he was seeing was really true. Next to him, Greg let out a sound of wonder and smiled broadly. The younger of the pair glanced up again uncertainly, gasping again as he saw it wasn't an illusion, "W-What is going on?"
"Uh, well, you were rubbing your eyes, and I'm answering your question, and-" the heavier of the two responded, a hand on his hip as he held his pet frog close.
"No, no, Greg, I mean...birds aren't supposed to talk! That kind of stuff only happens in storybooks and fairy tales, not in real life," the child responded, turning to address his elder.
"Hey, I can assure you I am completely real," the girl hissed out, looking annoyed that the other had seemed to suggest she wasn't real.
"U-Uh, I-I mean, I-I'm just saying...you're really weird!" Wirt explained, moving his arms as he spoke nervously, "L-Like, not normal, I mean, oh my gosh, I should just stop talking to it," he mumbled, ignoring as his brother gave a piece of candy to a little turtle passing by. It's not like the child wanted to insult the weird bird-lady, but she was just, well, weird! Animals didn't talk, they weren't supposed to. Animals only spoke in those stories for little kids that he used to have read to him before he learned to read himself.
"'It'?" the bird repeated, seeming even more annoyed than before.
"U-Uh, I-" the child rushed to fix himself, always afraid of having others annoyed with him. He was so engrossed in his stuttering that he didn't notice as Greg stuck a piece of candy to his cloak, snickering to himself as he admired his candy-work (Ha! That was a good one! He would have to remember that for his pun book back home!).
"What are you doing here?" a voice cut-in once more, lantern light spilling over the pair of boys, causing Wirt to let out a girly shriek and hide behind Greg, "Explain yourselves!"
"And I'll see you guys later, bye," the bluebird dismissed, turning around and flying off before the woodsman could address her properly.
"Aw, now calm down mister Old Man, we were just passing through!" Greg replied with a smile, not at all frightened by the sudden confrontation.
"Y-Yeah, w-whatever you're doing is y-your own business, we just wanna get home without any trouble," Wirt called out from behind his brother's larger stature, peeking out at the frightening figure before them.
"These woods are no place for children," the man started, narrowing his eyes at the pair of kids, "Don't you know The Beast is afoot here?"
"'The Beast'? Who's that? We're just trying to get home, ya see!" the elder explained, looking confused at the term.
"'T-The Beast'?" the other boy whimpered, hiding further behind his brother. Oh no, that didn't sound good at all. He did not want to come across any sort of beast in the dark scary woods at night while lost and far from home!
"Well, welcome to The Unknown, boys. You're more lost than you realize," the old man explained, a sour look painting his features.
Wirt began to shake a bit, eyes flying this way and that as he took another look around him. The tree nearby suddenly had a face, looming and angry as it towered over them, the wind playing through its decrepit and hollow openings while leaves blew past. The lantern light did little to make it appear less-frightening, causing the sight to be even more scary than it would have been without the added lighting.
"I found this homestead abandoned and re-purposed its mill for my...needs," the man explained as he bent over a fireplace, knocking together a stone and a flint to light a spark. After explaining to the boys where they were, the old man had taken them to a house on a river, offering them a sort of respite from the chilly and dark woods.
"You and your brother should be safe here while I work," he continued to explain, turning to face the listening child as a fire grew before him in the fireplace, shedding a warm glow throughout the room.
"Candy trail, candy trail, candy trail," Greg hummed to himself, placing a trail of candy along their path while the other spoke, not listening in the least. Since he didn't think of it before, he might as well start their candy trail now in case they got lost again!
"W-What do you do for work, exactly?" the younger boy squeaked out, still a bit intimidated by the frightening older man that had taken them in.
"Everyone has a torch to burn, and this here's mine," the other explained after a beat, patting the metal lantern at his feet, "I grind the horrid Edelwood trees into oil to keep this lantern lit," he continued, taking one of the branches from the pack on his back and breaking it into two, throwing the pieces away and under a nearby couch. Looking towards the fire, the old man went on, "This is my lot in life, this is my burden."
"Psst, Greg," Wirt whispered, tugging on his elder brother's arm.
"Hm?" the other questioned, bending down to his sibling's level.
"This guy sounds kind of crazy, maybe we should try and run away. I mean, if we can, but, uhm, he probably knows the woods really well, so we may need to distract him first," the boy explained, putting emphasis on the 'really', "Except, uh, that might turn out sort of bad, huh? Yeah, bad, bad idea, bad plan, forget it, bad plan," the child shook his head, looking incredibly conflicted.
"Okay, I'll think of something too!" Greg exclaimed, overtly loud when compared to Wirt's whisper.
"What are you boys whispering about?" the man turned the side of his head so that one eye was on the pair, scrutinizing them carefully.
"Oh, we were just talking about leaving here," the elder brother explained, not seeing a problem with telling the nice old guy who had brought them to his house.
"Shh, shh!" Wirt's eyes widened, trying in vain to jump up and quiet his brother. It was in times like these that the five-year old really hated his short stature.
"No, you shh!"
"Shh!" they both fought again, only to be cut-off by the old man for what seemed like the nth time.
"Leave if you wish, but remember, The Beast haunts these woods," the man warned again, his lantern casting an eerie glow around him, "Forever singing his mortal melody," he dramatized, moving forward as he clutched at the air, "In search of lost souls such as yourselves!" the lantern was held up, further pronouncing how creepy the old man appeared to be.
"To help us out?" Greg questioned, seeming not to grasp the warning that the old man was giving them.
"No, not to help you," the woodsman dismissed, turning away from the boys and making his way towards the door. Opening the door, he continued, "I have work to do in the mill, when I am finished I will do what I can to guide you," the man turned towards them, the door half-closed, "if you are still here when I return."
With that, the door closed with a creak, leaving the two boys alone in the warm sitting room.
"Uhm, I guess that means we can just leave…?" Wirt pondered, looking a bit confused by the whole situation, "But, I don't know...that guy was still scary...and The Beast sounds even scarier…" he mumbled to himself, kicking at the floor with a frown.
Behind him, Greg walked off with his frog, picking up a cut of wood and swinging it around, "Uh, Greg!"
If they were leaving, they would have to leave together, and as the elder of them, Greg needed to decide!
"What?" the other questioned, swinging the wood through the air with a huff of exertion, then throwing it aside with a smile and making his way back over to his little brother.
"Do you think there really is a Beast out there, or is that crazy old guy just trying to scare us?" he asked, frowning a bit as his sibling continued to mess around with the things in the room.
"Uh-huh," Greg gave a noncommittal reply, swinging the statue he now held in his grasp. He seemed to really want to test out these items for some reason.
"I mean, he hasn't really attacked us yet if that was his plan," the boy frowned, then scooted closer to the fire and gestured towards it, "and he lit this fire! That's...pretty nice," he shrugged, taking a seat on the red couch close to the flames.
"Yeah! There was nothing to worry about, I told you, little brother o' mine," Greg grinned, wandering around the room in his mini little "adventure".
"There probably really is a beast in that scary forest...I mean, there was a talking bird, and if this is all like a fairy tale there's probably the bad guy, but…" Wirt mumbled, moving his hands around as he spoke.
"Yeah, probably! A villain for us to slay!" his brother shouted enthusiastically, seeming to enjoy his little trek.
Letting out a small squeak, the younger of the two laid down on the couch, trying to soak in the warmth and ignore his sibling's words. No, he did not want there to be a villain, even if there was the possibility of one existing! Looking up at the ceiling, the boy thought back to his favorite lines of poetry his mother had read to him recently, trying to create his own, "Sometimes I feel like I'm like a little boat...on a really big- No, wait, that's no good, uhm, a ginormous river, going on forever towards really dark clouds...on and on, floating away from home, from, uhm, me on the shore…" Wirt monologued, moving his hands dramatically as he attempted to weave together a poem.
"Oh, I didn't know you felt like that," Greg replied, as if the other had been speaking to him, "You should take a break from all of that poem-y stuff and have some candy!" the boy grinned, pausing in his little trek around the room and throwing candy at his little brother.
"Hey, Greg, no, stop that, I don't like candy," the other complained, holding his hands up to shield his face from the onslaught of sugary treats.
"What! Everyone likes candy, Wirt," the elder replied, looking scandalous.
"Yeah, well, I don't," Wirt grumbled, laying back down again. He really just wanted to go back home and sleep, this whole mess was not something he wanted to deal with.
"Agh, you're not being really helpful. Hey, where did your frog go?" the younger noticed, looking around the room.
"Aw, beans! Where is that frog o' mine?" Greg questioned, standing up from his sitting position, making his way to the door, the boy paused, "Hold on a second, brother o' mine, I'll be back soon for our plan," he promised, throwing another shower of candy before leaving the room.
On the couch, Wirt just let out another sigh.
"Hmm, hmm," Greg hummed to himself, looking around outside the mill. Where had that frog gotten to anyways? He hadn't left the animal alone for too long, he couldn't have gotten far! Water rushed through the stream nearby while the boy searched, calling out, "Kitty! Kitty? Now where did that frog named Kitty go?" the teen questioned, walking backwards until he tripped on one of the pieces of candy he had left outside.
"Whoops! I tripped on my own candy trail," the boy laughed, making no move to get up.
The sound of heavy breathing filled the air, taking up the space once joyous laughter had occupied. Letting out an inquisitive sound, Greg stood up and made his way towards the foliage, head cocked to the side in confusion, "Hm?"
He was about to go in when a sudden croaking caught his attention. Kitty! Turning back around, Greg walked over towards the mill with an amused statement, "That frog's giving me the runaround," tossing candy along the way.
Pushing aside the barrel that stood in front of the window, the heavyset boy peaked in through the opening, calling out, "Kitty!"
What he saw though, was something completely different. Inside the mill, the old woodsman stood, grinding up the Edelwood branches into oil and filling glass bottles with the liquid that came out while humming to himself. It was hard to say why, but there was something unsettling about the sight, despite it being exactly what the man said he would be doing.
"Yeesh," Greg commented to himself, "What a weirdo."
A ribbit broke through his thoughts, and the teen turned around at the sound, "...Kitty?"
The heavy breathing came again, distracting the boy once more. Frowning a bit, he stepped forward, "Hey, is that-" stopping as he tripped on his candy again and fell back onto the barrel, smashing into it and breaking the wood apart, "Whoopsies!"
A ribbit beneath him turned the boy's attention back, and he smiled down at the frog laying slightly squashed under his head, "Oh, there you are, Kitty!" the frog replying with a choked ribbit, to which the boy just gave a laugh.
The heavy breathing from before got louder and closer, the boy looking around in confusion, "...Wirt?" he called out, thinking it was his little brother playing a trick on him. With no reply, the boy called out again, "...Kitty?" why it would be the frog he was clearly laying on was beyond him, but it was worth a shot.
Two bright multi-colored eyes stared down at him, laying on the face of a large and dark wolf-like beast. Shying away from the ever-closer beast, Greg blurted out, "Y-You have beautiful eyes," as the creature growled in his face.
Uh-oh.
Inside the homestead, Wirt sat, tongue stuck out a bit in concentration as he tried to master the ball on the point game. Always so close, yet never quite good enough. Letting out a sound of frustration at his most recent failed attempt, the boy looked up in surprise as a raspy growl filled the air.
"Greg…?" he called out, knowing that there had to be something bad out there. Of course there was, of course! Was it The Beast? Oh, gosh, he really hoped it wasn't The Beast.
"What's happening?" the woodsman called out, bursting through the side door, "Where's your brother?"
"Uh, I don't know," the boy shrugged, face scrunched up a bit in confusion. Just what the heck was going on?
"Holy moly…hot dog…" Greg slipped in through the front door, looking discombobulated as he almost fell over, wooden boards from the barrel outside stuck to him in certain places. The two boys in the home looked towards him, watching as a large and rabid dark wolf pushed through the door after the teen, throwing the dizzy boy onto the stairs.
"I-It's The Beast!" Wirt squeaked, scrambling backwards towards the now cold fireplace. Oh man, oh man, oh man!
"Stay back, boys!" the old man commanded, raising his axe above him, ready to strike, "This creature which is known as," then he paused, "Huh?" as Greg knocked off his hat with a plank of wood.
Stepping on the statue of bluebirds on a branch, the woodsman fell backwards and slammed his head on the log of wood, effectively knocking himself out with a groan of pain. This allowed for The Beast to come further in, growling as he moved towards Wirt, "Greg, why did you do that?!" the child screamed, having watched all of this play out in shock.
"That was the plan, remember? Knock him out! I whalloped him good, huh, Wirt?" the other seemed proud of himself, throwing the wooden board over his shoulder nonchalantly.
"No! No! Bad plan, that was a very bad plan! I thought we agreed to forget that plan!" the boy exclaimed, using the fireplace fan to fend off the beast as it tried to get a bite out of him. It was really difficult for the five-year old, and his arms shook with the effort, but there was no way he was just gonna let this creature take a bite out of him! After a moment, the boy gave in, putting the fan down and hiding behind it in vain.
"Bad dog! Bad doggie! Spank, spank, spank!" Greg cut-in, accenting each word with a hit from the wooden side of the axe, "Bad doggie, don't attack Wirt!"
The wolf then turned its attention towards the older child, growling as it made its way over to the boy. Meanwhile, Wirt scrambled forward, running from the room as fast as his little legs would take him, "Run, run, run, run, run, run, run!"
"Candy camouflage!" the remaining boy yelled, throwing candy on the ground as he grabbed Kitty and ran from the room, chanting a, "Run, run, run, run, run, run, run," just like his younger sibling had.
The Beast followed the boys, chasing them into the mill connected to the abandoned homestead. It lunged at Wirt, the small and agile boy nimbly jumping out of the way and towards the other side of the room as the creature crashed against the table in the room. Looking around wildly, the child called out for his older brother, "Greg!"
"This is pretty amazing, huh! A real life adventure!" the teen walked over, dragging the axe along with him.
Wirt was going to reply, but the wolf shook off its daze, coming towards them again. Looking around the area, the boy spotted a bag of potatoes and took action. You worked with what you could get, after all. With great effort, the small boy dragged the bag of potatoes over, throwing them at the wolf in an attempt to distract or stun him so he and Gregory could get away.
"Am I supposed to throw something too?" Greg asked, looking at the frog and the axe in his hands. He wasn't going to throw Kitty, and the axe was way too dangerous to throw around! The Beast gave a yell, startling the boy into falling over. The action made Greg remember something, and he let out an exclamation as he remembered the candy in his pockets, "Oh yeah!" he laughed, throwing the candy at the beast.
It seemed like the creature liked it, as it licked up his candy, pausing in its attacks on them. Further in the back, Greg and Wirt watched from behind a stone ring as the wolf licked up the food, "He's eating your candy," the smaller noted, watching the scene with awe.
"Huh, I wonder if he ate my whole candy trail that led to this mill," the older questioned aloud, seeming to find nothing wrong with that statement.
"Ah! Greg, you led The Beast right to us with your candy!" Wirt exclaimed, smacking his brother's leg lightly. Greg had the decency to look abashed, though the moment was ruined as the creature let out a roar and knocked over the whole platform, knocking the two boys to the ground.
After taking a moment to regain their senses, the pair stood up, watching as the wolf tried to get to them past the wooden platform that had fallen over and blocked its path, "Ah, w-we gotta get outta here!" Wirt worried, flinching back a bit with each scratching sound the wolf made as it scrambled against the wood.
"Over there!" Greg spoke, patting his brother's head to get his attention.
Following his pointed finger, Wirt gave a nod and the two clambered up an old wooden ladder. With a bit of effort, they walked along a thin beam on the wall and made it to the higher wooden platform, escaping through a hatch to the roof and seemingly safe from The Beast.
That is, of course, until the creature burst through the roof and cornered them.
Wirt let out a little scream, hiding behind Greg's legs once more as he shook in his loafers. No, no, no, no! This night could not go any worse than it already was! Looking up at his brother, the boy called out, "G-Greg, give him the rest of your candy!"
Looking through his various pockets, the boy frowned at the lack of candy that greeted him. Uh-oh, that wasn't good. At that moment, the teen noted the candy he had stuck to his younger sibling's cloak and gave a bright smile. Without a word he picked up the red-wrapped caramel and threw it over the roof, watching with relief as the creature jumped past them to get the candy, getting caught in the mill.
The boys watched as the wolf spat out a glob of black from the force of the mill's water power, falling into the river as the house broke apart from the power needed to squeeze the creature. As a result, the siblings were unceremoniously thrown into the river as well. Stepping out from the water, Wirt watched as a little turtle with a blue-wrapped candy crawled away from the thrown-up mess, seemingly the source of the infection.
"Hey, Wirt, look!" Greg called out from behind the boy, causing the younger to look around in confusion.
"Greg?" the child questioned, only to be stopped by a pair of arms picking him up and placing him on the back of a white and reddish-brown marked dog, "He spit out that turtle and now he's our new best friend!"
The dog, though, had other plans. Shaking itself to rid the water from its fur, the animal threw Wirt off its back and back into the river, soaking the child once more.
"Oh," Gregory frowned, watching as the dog walked off, "Hey, where are you going! ...Aw, ain't that just the way?"
Unamused, the younger of the two slipped out from the cold river again, shivering a bit, "Greg, where's the-"
"The mill is destroyed, the oil...all gone!" the woodsman cried out, staring at the destroyed section of the homestead. Getting down on his hands and knees, the man cradled the empty remains of a glass bottle, an inky black stain as dark as night painting the grass its pieces rested on.
"B-But look! We got The Beast problem solved!" Wirt exclaimed, shaking himself off a bit as he pointed towards the sleeping dog nearby.
"The dog?! That is not The Beast!" the old man exclaimed, pulling the axe from Greg's grasp, "The Beast cannot be mollified like some farmer's pet!" he continued, walking forward as Wirt looked on, horrified. If that wasn't The Beast, what was?
"He stalks into the night," the man spoke on, walking towards the river as he swung down with the axe he had taken back from Greg and cut a piece of a rock off, "He sings like the four winds, He is the death of hope! He steals the children, and then he…he'll...ruin...the...the..." the old man broke off into mumbling, sitting down on the bank.
"Aw, Greg, you really messed this one up," Wirt whispered, frowning up at his older sibling with clear disapproval.
"But we had a great adventure at least!" the other exclaimed, seeming completely unbothered by it.
"Boy, you have it wrong! You are the elder child, you should be the one in charge during these situations, not off gallivanting on an adventure," the woodsman stood up, turning around the point at Greg.
"Huh? But we were just havin' some fun," Greg replied, looking confused.
"W-We're sorry, maybe I can fix it…? I-I can't fix it," Wirt mumbled, looking at the ground. He had always hated it when adults got upset with him.
Shaking his head, the old man spoke, "You must go….Take your brother north, look for a town," he explained, pointing towards a path past the river.
"Uhm, yeah, thanks," the smaller of the pair mumbled, tugging on his confused brother's hand, "Come on, Greg."
As the boys jumped over the stones, the man called out to them once more, "One last thing, beware The Unknown! Fear The Beast! And leave these woods, if you can," he narrowed his eyes, "It is your burden to bear!"
"Uhm, yeah, right," Wirt gave a nod, nudging Greg to do the same, "got it."
"And little one, you are the younger child, don't take it upon yourself to always the lead the way. And, boys, you captured that frog, now give him a proper name," the man concluded.
"Okay!" the teen replied, seeming to already have forgotten he had been chastised, his frog giving a croak of agreement.
With that, the three split off, the two boys heading north and the woodsman making his way west in search of oil.
As the boys walked, Greg spoke up not too soon after, "Wirt, I think I've thought of a new name for our frog. I'm gonna call him Wirt!"
"Uh, that's gonna be too confusing," the younger frowned, "and I'm not a frog."
"No, I'm gonna call you Kitty from now on," the elder replied with a little grin, obviously teasing his sibling.
"What! Maybe I'll start calling you Candy Pants then!" Wirt replied, neither pausing in their trek through the woods.
"Woah, yeah!" Greg exclaimed, seeming to be more than pleased with his new nickname. The frog gave a croak of agreement, and the teen looked down at him with a smile, "Good one, Wirt!"
"Thanks," the five-year old replied, pleasantly surprised by the compliment.
"I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to Wirt!" Greg laughed, holding up his frog.
Up above, the half-moon shined as a bluebird looked down on the bickering siblings walking deeper into The Unknown.