Nick knelt down next to his bike, trying to get it up and going when he heard a voice calling out for help, "Please someone, anyone, I need help," the elderly man insisted, "It's my brother, we were walking just up the road and some creature grabbed him."
A small crowd had gathered around the man, all of them looking at each other with skeptical looks. Nick rolled his eyes, Keeper's curse, if that old guy and his brother weren't Keepers then this whole thing was set up so that he would fall under the curse. If he had known that he would be subject to an age-old curse when he was adopted he would have asked not to be.
"I fear for the worst," the man cried out, yep defiantly a Keeper, "The Creature took him into the woods."
And once again we're back into the woods, Nick thought to himself, as everyone started to shake their heads and back away.
"Won't somebody help me?" the man asked.
Nick shook his head and let out a sigh, he was going to regret this, but if this man was a Keeper, he couldn't let him suffer through the curse by himself. It wasn't his fault that his ancestor annoyed the wrong people, "I'll help you," he announced, wincing at himself that he had even talked, at least this would prove his parents wrong, he could, if he wanted to, be responsible and step up when he was needed, "I could use the break."
"Thank you," the man said walking up to him, a boy just older than he was following close behind.
"Hi, I'm Xander," the boy said in a thick accent, "You're new around here aren't cha?" he asked, "Probably aren't aware of all the facts," he nodded softly at that as if he thought Nick was some Idiot, "And there's just one, you go into those woods, you don't come out."
"I heard about it," Nick said rolling his eyes, Thank you Kira and your weird teammates with their conspiracy websites, "But this man needs help and nobody else seems to care in this city."
"I'll go with you," a female with short black hair and blonde bangs called out, "Not everyone in this city is a coward."
"I'll go too," a redhead added, "I've always wanted to go on a dangerous quest," with that he turned to the female that had spoken up, "This is a dangerous quest, right?"
"Perilous," the girl insisted.
"Sweet," he crowed, pumping his hands in the air, before following the others into the woods.
…
Nick glanced at the danger signs as they walked past them, as the old man stopped in front of a sign that warned them not to go any further, wow maybe there was something to this place after all, he figured, what would Ethan say about that.
"Are you sure you're willing to enter?" the old man asked the three of them.
Nick groaned, the hair on the back of his neck prickling as he continued, "The woods are a very scary place."
"You sure ask a lot of questions for someone whose brother's in danger," Nick pointed out, something strange was happening, he could feel his family crest ring pulsing against his chest from where it hung on a chain tucked under his shirt. He had honestly forgotten it was there until now. That morning he had had a strange feeling like he should wear the ring, which supposedly had some sort of protective spell embedded in it.
"Everyone's in danger," the old man whispered low and husky.
"Everyone's in danger?" the redhead echoed, a smile spreading across his face, he was really starting to remind Nick of his eleven-year-old sister, Ruby, "Yeah!"
Nick frowned, everyone was in danger, that was probably why his ring was acting up, but he couldn't back down after what he had said, in front of everyone, what could he say anyway? Sorry everyone I can't go in there because my ring is acting up, yeah right.
Just then there was a loud sound of a car horn as a jeep pulled up beside them.
"Xander," the girl snarled, "I told you if you ever took my car I was going to rearrange your limbs."
"You're going into the woods and never returning," Xander insisted, as he and a girl with a black ponytail got out of the car, "As if you'll ever see it again."
The second girl stepped up next to Xander, "You're my sister," she insisted, "Where you go, I go."
"And so there are five," the old man whispered so softly that Nick almost didn't hear him, five, what did that have to do with… power rangers, most teams contain, three or five main rangers. Why couldn't it have been Ronny who broke down here? She actually wanted to be a power ranger, and he did not.
…
Nick shivered as he walked through what was obviously some kind of magical barrier, by this point his ring was almost burning him it was so hot, yet it didn't feel painful at the same time, it was happy. He looked around, this place felt familiar, as if he had been there before. Maybe it was just because he had grown up in the woods.
He brushed his misgivings to the side as the short-haired girl's sister asked, "What was that, I felt something, something weird?" Nick turned to face her, and kind of blushed, she was wrinkling her nose and it was absolutely adorable. He shook his head, now wasn't the time to notice that his companion was cute, even though she totally was. He forced himself to look away from her, looking around the woods, when he noticed something extremely important.
"Where's the old man?" he demanded.
"Ten seconds in and we're already lost," the redhead crowed, "Alright."
Nick tugged on his chain that his ring was dangling on, it had suddenly gotten heavier, something was wrong, his ring sensed something. He pulled the ring out from beneath his shirt, "We better keep together," he insisted, "There are probably wolves and bears and mountain lions in these woods."
"That's nothing," the redhead said, "There's trolls and goblins and elves, and I've also heard that a witch lives here. She's hideous, with green skin and a black tongue, with yellow drool that drips from the corner of her mouth as she speaks."
"You've been reading too many fairytales, my friend," Xander insisted, patting him on the back.
"That's an ogre," Nick muttered to himself, no wonder his ring was acting up, he was surprised the others hadn't noticed that it had started to glow the deeper into the woods they went, which was why he had fallen to the back of the group. Nobody seemed to hear him, "Guys, come on most witches are completely harmless and just misunderstood."
Everyone stared at him, "Oh okay," the redhead insisted as everyone started to look past him as his ring, now on the outside of his shirt started to jump up and down quite noticeably.
Nick sighed, forget the enchanted ring, it was just acting up for no reason, there was no way that these woods could be cursed, no way once so ever, and now the others are trying to convince him that someone was behind him so that they could jump out and say boo. He grew up with Ronny as a sister, it was pretty hard for him to get scared.
"There is someone behind you," the short-haired girl insisted.
Nick glanced behind him in time to see a hag standing behind him, his aunt Star had warned him about Hags, they look like elderly women, but they could be dangerous, and never assume that one was harmless just by their appearance.
Nick ran backward into the bundle of the other teens, "Anybody want to run?" the long-haired girl asked.
"Already tried," Xander announced, "But my feet won't move."
Great, just great, this is what he gets for trying to get away from his family for a little while, caught up in what was obviously family drama. There were noises around them as foot soldiers appeared out of nowhere.
"She brought friends," the short-haired girl insisted as the hag rose a wand and shouted something. Nick had heard a few spells, as Aunt Star used a couple in her line of work, but it wasn't one of the spells that she used, at least not one of the spells she had used in front of him.
The thing he knew he was being risked off by a broomstick, could today get any weirder? He thought as he and the others were carried over to a tree that towered over the rest of the trees. After a little while, the brooms dumped them onto the ground in front of a cave opening that looked like a dragon's head.
"Well, new guy," Xander announced, "Now you know why no one goes into the woods."
"My name is Nick," Nick insisted, "What is this place?"
"I call it Rootcore," a voice behind them spoke up, causing Nick to turn around, the hag had followed them, "Quick," he told the others, "In here."
…
Nick and the others rushed through a door, looking around, Nick knew enough about power rangers and headquarters to realize that that was what this place was.
"I thought it best if you were brought here," a voice announced from somewhere overhead, the hag had somehow beat them into the room.
"Hi," Xander said, waving his arms around, "I'm Xander. Really nice place you got here, it's really Woody."
Nick watched as the Hag revealed five flying broomsticks, before removing her cloak, revealing a beautiful redheaded sorceress, "I am the sorceress, Udonna," she announced, waving her arms wide, "Welcome to my home."
"When we entered the forest we entered a Magical Haven," Nick groaned, "a magical sanctuary, that explains all the mysterious disappearances around here, same thing happens in the Bermuda Triangle."
"There's a magical sanctuary right outside of Briarwood?" the redhead asked, "Do we live in a great city or what?"
"Years ago, darkness from another realm tried to take over ours," Udonna explained, "We were able to defeat them and seal them into their own realm, but at a great cost, the gate was sealed with a great spell. During the recent earthquake, the gate was damaged and evil has slipped through."
"And what does this have to do with us?" Xander asked.
"This could very well spell the end to all the realms," Udonna insisted.
"Look," Nick insisted, "Nice try, but you can tell Mom and Dad that their little trick didn't work. I'm not buying the I've been chosen to save the world thing."
"This is not a trick," Udonna insisted, "What I told you is what happened.
Nick snorted, "Yeah right."