by Yajat Sharma
“No chance. Why don’t you surrender and give up?”
The creature laughed. “Have you seen the numbers?
“We are the prophesied children,” Matt trumpeted. “And the Elementals too.”
The creature stepped forward. “Enough fool play.”
“Wait!” Matt cried frantically. “I guess that whoever captures us will get a big reward from the Death Lord?”
The creature nodded. “Oh yes! There is an attractive price placed on your heads and I am going to get it!”
Matt saw the other creatures fidget uneasily. He could tell that they were not too happy to hear that, and here he saw a silver lining.
“But why only you? Why not these other creatures, who are just as powerful?”
A murmur went through the crowd. The big giant spoke up, “I should get the reward! I am the most powerful!”
“No!” another giant said. “I am! I deserve a reward.”
“No, me!”
“It should be me!”
“Not you, me!”
Matt watched the crowd slowly starting to fight and bicker amongst themselves. Seizing this opportunity, he quickly summoned the power of the wind.
Strong gusts of wind lifted him and his friends towards the windows. The monsters suddenly saw the children escaping and started jumping to catch them, but they were too late.
Soon, they were out of the factory and on the grass. Matt quickly rose.
“Come on,” he urged Archer and Daniel. “Create the force field. I will take care of the monsters!”
Already, a few monsters had jumped out of the window and were rushing towards the children.
“What about the Scavenger and James? They are still inside!” Archer reminded.
“We can’t go inside. It is too risky. We can just pray and hope that James and the Scavenger come out soon,” Matt said.
Archer and Daniel closed their eyes and began their spell to create the force field.
Suddenly, there were frantic whacks on the front gate.
Matt ran towards it and yanked it apart. The Scavenger and James tumbled out.
Matt sighed with relief.
“Get inside the force field, quickly,” the Scavenger urged. “The timer is about to go off!”
Matt rushed towards Archer and Daniel. He could see a faint outline of the force field they were making, but it was not powerful enough. As he, James and the Scavenger got inside the force field, the outline wavered. The three of them had to lend their powers to Archer and Daniel.
Suddenly, the doors split apart and hundreds of creatures plummeted out.
At the same time, the timer went off. A powerful blast darkened everyone’s vision. Matt was the first to lose consciousness.
***
You will die…
Matt’s body was racked in pain.
You will not survive…
The pain shot through his body again and his vision reddened. He opened his eyes.
You will not win…
Matt found himself in a barren land, surrounded by white wisps of smoke that looked like spirits. As he watched, suddenly, he felt a blistering pain.
You fooled me… You refused to accept my control… Now you will pay…
Matt shouted as someone smashed him against something.
I sense you will be the One, but no… You cannot defeat me…
Matt couldn’t feel anything. He was only aware of searing pain, nothing more. And then it stopped. A gust of wind lifted him to his knees.
Brave… and powerful…
Matt saw a shadow in front of him, but he couldn’t see the shadow’s face.
You control the power of the Wind…
Matt tried to stand, but he was in so much pain that he fell to the ground.
You could be my greatest enemy and could be the ray of light in the darkness. You will be the One…
Matt was lifted to his feet again by another gust of wind.
But I will end this here…
The shadow moved forward towards Matt.
I will take my revenge…
Matt stood helpless as a light shone all around him.
NOOOOOO! You cannot escape from me this time.
Matt was yanked and twisted, and he yelled in pain.
He opened his eyes and saw the Scavenger and his friends staring at him with fearful expressions.
“You were howling in your sleep. We didn’t know what to do except to wake you up,” Daniel explained.
Matt sat up straight. “Where are we?”
The Scavenger replied, “In the forest once again. The force field saved us, but you were all injured and hurt. I somehow summoned the chariot and threw you in. I was barely awake myself.”
“That’s all right,” James said, turning to Matt. “But why were you shouting so frantically in your sleep?”
A chill ran down Matt’s spine as he thought of the voice he had heard. He recounted his dream to them.
The Scavenger’s face turned grim. “I am sure the voice you heard was that of the Death Lord. He has the power to manipulate dreams.”
“But I felt the pain too,” Matt said, shuddering. “How’s that possible?”
“It’s possible. The Death Lord is a master of dark magic,” the Scavenger said mournfully.
“I am more worried about why he did this,” Matt wondered aloud.
“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” James said. “For the second riddle, you fooled him by giving him the wrong paper. He must be seeking revenge.”
“And that line, he said? ‘I sense you will be the One.’ What does that mean?”
“I think I know,” the Scavenger said. “The One means one of the four prophesied children who will be the most important. He will have the power to be able to hold the Arcane Crown.”
The Scavenger paused and looked at Matt. “I am afraid now the Death Lord will stop at nothing to destroy you.”
16
After an amazing lunch and a good sleep, Daniel was feeling refreshed. He and his friends sat around a table, discussing their next destination.
“Going by the riddle, we have managed to get the Tiger’s Hide,” the Scavenger said. “Now we just have to find the altar of Lord Arcane. We are pretty close to the third piece.”
The Scavenger put his finger to the map on the table. “Arcane built this altar using the finest stones and marbles, and I had helped. I don’t exactly know the location, but I have a fair idea of how to reach it.”
The Scavenger traced his finger over the map, stopping at a place labelled – DEMON LAND.
“This is a land full of demons. It was from the Demon Land’s King, I took the precious metals. The Demon King and Lord Arcane were great friends back then, but when the Demon King changed sides and became evil, Arcane punished him by turning him into a rat. The people of the land hated Arcane. But the interesting thing here is that that the Demon King maintained a diary, which contains the exact location of the altar. So all we need to do is go to Demon Land, find the diary, and find the location.”
“So how far is the Demon Land?” Daniel asked.
“A few hours, I think,” the Scavenger said. “We will get there by midnight.”
***
It was pitch dark in the moonless midnight except for the faint flickers of light coming from some of the houses in the village. The Scavenger and the children walked noiselessly through the roads. They had left the chariot before entering the village.
They crept stealthily.
Outside the gates of the castle, they bumped into two guards. They quickly neutralized them and hid them in the shadows of the walls. Step by step, they climbed the walls of the palace, using the holes designed in the walls as supports.
The Scavenger reached the top of the wall first. As expected, there were a few demon guards, but they were all sleepy and not alert at all. The Scavenger knocked them out in seconds. The Scavenger led the way, choosing turns and stairs assertively, as if it was all carved in his mind.
They reached a hall. Daniel could make out the shape of a big vault in front of him that had three numbers inscribed on it. It was password protected.
The Scavenger went ahead and punched in code after code on the wall, getting it wrong every time. “No other way,” he whispered. “I don’t know the password. I’ll just keep on trying.”
“It’s a three-digit code,” James said to himself. “So by the concept of permutations, there are nine multiplied by ten multiplied by ten possibilities, considering zero is not the first digit, or else it would be a two-digit number. So that’s nine hundred possibilities.”
Everyone looked at him.
James shrugged. “It’s basic maths. You can keep trying the whole day. Worst case scenario is we take eight hundred and ninety-nine tries to get the digits right -”
Suddenly the vault opened with a large creak.
“Or not…” James said as the Scavenger quickly extended his arm inside and pulled out a thin diary. Pocketing it, he ran, followed by the children.
It seemed their presence was noticed. Many guards were rushing towards the hall. Lights began to flicker on inside the palace.
Daniel tripped and fell. Grunting in pain, he quickly got up, but his fall cost them precious seconds. By then, demons and warriors had encircled them.
They were trapped.
At once, Daniel and the other children summoned their Elemental Powers, but the Scavenger halted them. Daniel was surprised to see such an act from the Scavenger, who otherwise always encouraged them to fight.
A bigger surprise awaited the children. The Scavenger announced, “We surrender!”
The demons threw magical ropes around them that restricted their magic. They pushed them along a corridor and threw them into a dirty prison.
After the guards left, the children turned to the Scavenger to protest, but the Scavenger started speaking first. “There are thousands of demons in Demon Land. If we had attacked those few, some would have escaped from there and would have alerted the whole palace. However powerful you may be, we couldn’t have fought the whole army. We would have been captured and put into prison.”
“So how is it better now?” Daniel grumbled. “We’re still in prison.”
“Yes, but they don’t know about your Elemental Powers!” the Scavenger argued.
The children nodded, impressed at the Scavenger’s foresight.
The Scavenger rubbed his hands. “Now for the plan I have.” He discussed his plan with the children.
In less than an hour, the demons arrived and took them to a blazing fire outside the palace. The group walked in a line. The Scavenger deliberately pushed Archer to the front. The plan was in motion.
The Demon King turned to them and grabbed Archer. He cut his ropes and the guards threw him into the fire by order of the Demon King.
They didn’t know … Archer controlled the Power of Fire.
A moment later, a blazing fire covered Archer. He shot wisps of fire towards his friends, burning their ropes. Daniel got up, grinning. He could already feel the magic of the ropes leaving and his Elemental Powers returning in full force.
“YOU ANGERED ME,” Archer said in his most creepy voice. “NOW FACE MY WRATH.”
Archer shot bursts of fire towards the demons, leaving them running around in fear. The Scavenger clicked his fingers and the chariot appeared, fit with refreshed horses. They got inside and fled the scene as fast as they could.
Daniel complimented Archer. “I liked the creepy tone.”
“Good work, Archer,” the Scavenger told him. “Did you look at the Demon King’s face? He was like – HELP!”
They burst out laughing.
“Back to business,” the Scavenger said, clicking his fingers, and the diary appeared. The Scavenger looked through it and said after a while, “The Altar is inside the Volcano of Ash. It’s quite far from here. Enough time for you to rest.”
“Wait a minute,” Daniel said. “Did you say… inside the Volcano?”
The Scavenger nodded grimly, but didn’t elaborate. Instead, he lay down to sleep and was snoring in seconds. The other children had already closed their eyes, and Daniel followed.
***
Daniel was bored. Everyone else was still dozing, but he had been wide awake for a couple of hours.
He decided to check out the upper deck of the chariot as it raced across the forest and went there to feel some fresh air on his face.
As he looked around, he noticed all the trees had strange branches. He tried to catch one, but as soon as he touched it, his hand started itching hard.
“OWWWWWW!”
The Scavenger woke up on hearing his cry and ran up. “What is it?”
“Itching! Ow!”
The Scavenger noticed the branches. “Oh, you shouldn’t have touched the wild trees! Well, there’s no cure to that. It will go in a few hours. You’ll just have to bear it.”
They turned to go inside when they heard a heart- wrenching, loud, deep-throated roar.
Everybody was awake now and had climbed up onto the deck. There was another roar.
The Scavenger’s face turned white. “I recognize this roar. It is a Griffin.”
With a thud, a strange-looking beast landed in front of their chariot.
It had the body, tail and hind legs of a lion and the head, wings and talons of an eagle. It was mammoth in size.
With one claw, the beast stopped the chariot, lifted it and smashed it to the ground.
“JUMP!” the Scavenger yelled as he dived.
Daniel jumped just in time, catching hold of a branch, and sailed down.
He saw the Scavenger atop the Griffin’s head with his sword raised high in the air, ready to plunge it into the Griffin. The Griffin suddenly shook itself, throwing the Scavenger off.
The Scavenger landed smoothly beside Daniel and hissed, “We have to defeat it. Griffins are known to never leave their prey. Running is no option.”
“Aim at its wings,” the Scavenger advised. “It’s their weakest part.”
Daniel lifted a branch into the air and shot it at the Griffin’s wing.
It was bang on the target, making the Griffin roar in pain. “Very good,” the Scavenger exclaimed.
Daniel lifted two other trees and threw them both. They hit their mark, and the Griffin roared so loud that Daniel had to cover his ears.
The Griffin was becoming more furious than ever. It swiped its claws. Its nails were so sharp that it cut the trees like paper.
It slashed again and just missed James and Archer.
“Use your Elemental Powers!” the Scavenger told them. The Scavenger raised his hands and summoned lightning.
Archer started creating a ball of fire.
James flooded the forest floor around the Griffin with water, trying to topple the Griffin, but the Griffin’s claws stuck deep into the ground, preventing it from falling.
Matt started generating a tornado.
And Daniel tossed tree after tree at the Griffin. But due to the itching, he was not able to concentrate.
Archer threw a massive fireball at the Griffin’s chest. When it struck, there was a big blast. Daniel shielded himself behind a tree.
Then Matt used his tornado. It raced towards the Griffin, catching water from below and throwing bursts of water on him. The Griffin was helpless as the tornado smacked it.
Lastly, the Scavenger summoned bolts of electricity, which rained down on the Griffin.
The Griffin roared in pain and then fell.
“NO!” the Scavenger cried, pointing. “The chariot!” But it was too late. The Griffin fell on the chariot, crushing it into pieces.
“Oh, no!” Daniel exclaimed. “That chariot had our supplies!”
“Yes, and now we will have to travel on foot,” the Scavenger sighed.
“Why can’t you summon another chariot?” Daniel groaned.
“I could, but I don’t have enough energy left. Maybe after a day. Now come on. We have to go far,
” the Scavenger said as he began walking, scanning the area.
“Why do you have to be so jumpy all the time?” James said, frowning.
“If I weren’t, we all would be dead meat even before you can say it!”
The branches rustled and the Scavenger motioned them to be quiet.
“You are just paranoid,” Daniel said, rolling his eyes.
As they continued walking, talking and joking with each other, suddenly dense foliage appeared in front of them, restricting their path. The Scavenger pulled out his sword and started cutting the hedges and roots that lined the path.
“NO! NO!” Daniel cried. “What are you doing!? Don’t you know that a tree cannot survive without roots?!”
“Yes, but -”
“No buts! Can’t you be gentle? Like this.”
Daniel raised his hands and the roots and thorns slithered away. Also, he realized that the itching had stopped at last.
They reached near a volcano. The sun was almost setting. The Scavenger increased his pace and told the children to hasten their weary steps.
Renewed with energy, Daniel jogged up. He had a doubt, “How do you think we will survive inside the volcano?”
“With magic, of course. I will cast a shield around you all.”
“But what if you need the energy for a fight?” James pointed out.
The Scavenger saw a point there and decided to make only four shields and conserve the remaining energy.
“So, you mean to say that one of us will have to stay behind?” Daniel asked.
“Afraid so.”
“Wait!” Archer said. “I control the Power of Fire. I don’t need a shield.”
“I am not sure if you could withstand the volcanic fire and lava in such huge amounts.”
Archer shook his head. “I am sure I will.” The Scavenger nodded. “Alright. But if you start feeling pressure, tell me, so that I can divert my energy to make another shield at the right time before it gets too late.”
Archer nodded back.
Further ahead, Daniel noticed that the grass was almost ashen and the trees were burnt like charcoal. They were walking on barren land at the end of which stood the towering volcano that seemed to touch the clouds.
From the wide crater of the volcano thin clouds of smoke were constantly coming out.