ã€ŠAcross the border - Book Iã€‹


 1 Chapter - 1

    "David, wake up", Sussan shouted and shook her husband with fear clearly visible in her face.

    "What''s wrong, Sussan?"David asked with annoyance as he just got a few hours of sleep after 3 days.

    "It is about Peter! Peter is missing! I cannot find him anywhere", Sussan cried.

    "Don''t worry, he must have gone near somewhere to answer nature''s call. He will be back in a few minutes. Just relax" Saying that he started continuing to sleep.

    But Sussan could not rest her mind at ease and started worrying a lot. She could not sit around and wait. So she started to search in the area nearby.

    It is already too dark outside the campsite and her little boy is too afraid of the dark. She is sure that something is not right.

    She searched as far as she could but still could not find him anywhere.

    She started imagining the worst and almost immediately remembered him saying he would go and search for Elly.

    She half walked and half ran to the tent while holding her chest. ''No, please no. It is a war out there and I cannot afford losing them both. Please be safe. Please! Please! Please''

    She saw David fully awake and even the other tent mates were standing next to each other and discussing something serious.

    When she reached them, she saw David talking to Sommer, "Are you sure? What your son said is true?"

    Sommer looked irritated for being woken up in the middle of the night and when David did not believe him and started questioning his son''s authenticity of the news.

    So, he just stared at David and let out a grunt.

    When David saw Sussan coming faster towards them, his heart twitched in pain and he was sure she just could not take the harsh news.

    "What happened, David? Did you find out anything?", before she could even come near she shouted at David. Seeing David hesitating to speak she gave a nudge on his arm to force him.

    "Sommer''s son overheard Peter talking with Robert that they are both going to find Elly across the border", David said while holding his breath.

    With more hesitation, he added, "I checked with Brenda and her son Robert is still with them. They said Robert never met Peter. I wanted to talk to Robert but they would not let me".

    "How could she not let us talk to their son? This is ridiculous. How much would we have helped them back then? Let me see her and ask once more" Sussan started moving towards her best friend''s tent.

    David held her arm and stopped her saying, "They both left with Robert and even other families are moving out from this place, as it is not safe for anyone. They highly doubt if the military finds out about Peter, then he might bring them here to cause more trouble. So, everyone is packing and leaving this place"

    Sommer patted David''s back as he saw his family already packed and ready to leave. He just shook his head to the couple and left.

    Left with no one around them and having to stare at the wide desert with people moving away from them, they both were left speechless.

    They remembered the happy times living with their whole family and how much everything has changed in a minute, leaving their dreams scattered.

    Now they have both their kids gone missing and have no idea what to do next.

    Sussan sat down holding her head and bawled her lungs out.

    "What do we do now David? What do we do¡­?"

    She just cannot figure out what she had done wrong?

    All they wanted was to live in a place peacefully but why can''t they have that? It is a wide world but nowhere they are allowed to go.

    They don''t have any identity and no one wants to give them one even after struggling a lot. Everyone called them Lambanies and all they did was call them different names and insult them.

    They were even described as witches and dark craft people while they are just like everyone else as normal as anyone can be.

    How long do they have to run around and how long do they have to pretend everything is okay. No, it has to stop, everything has come to a stop.

    Sussan got up from where she sat and stared at David with her red eyes.

    David felt his heart skip a beat, as he understood what Sussan was thinking and he knows for sure that it is not good for anyone right now.

    "No, Sussan. I don''t agree with it. Let us just stop for a minute and think of a real practical solution", David knows it won''t stop her but he still tried and knows very well what it means by exposing their true self.

    They would lose everything they have worked so far.

    "I don''t care about anything now. You said the same for Elly and I made a mistake by listening to you. I won''t do the same now. I want both my children and for that, I would go to any extreme. Even if it means leaving this world and traveling to another" Sussan informed David as she realized this was her last hope.

    David held Sussan in his arms and tried to console her but she pushed him away and looked straight into his eyes and asked, " Do you want to stay with me and find our kids or follow these cowards and keep running for our lives?"

    "I took a blood oath and promised you with my life when I married you. And I would follow you to hell if needed but at this time we cannot make any rash decision which we may regret later. Just calmed down for a bit, please" David begged her while kneeling and hugging her legs.

    But Sussan has already made her decision and would do it at any cost. "I can reverse the blood oath and you are well aware of this. You can go ahead with what you want to do and I don''t want you to be implicated with these. Anyways they are not your kids, to begin with, and I do not hold you accountable" said Sussan

    Sussan tried to move away from him and took a knife to draw the symbol of the dark lord.

    David ran towards her and stopped her before she could even draw a circle.

    "I promised you my life and I will not allow you to do any harm to yourself. They are my kids as well not only yours, so don''t even think about leaving me out of this. I will follow you anywhere even if you stop me. I love you, Sussan. I will give you my life if needed without you asking for it" David hugged her and snatched the knife from her hand and hid it from her.

    "Now, let us go and find our children together" David pulled Sussan towards the border.

 2 Chapter - 2

    When Peter reached the border, he found a portal to reach the other side but with a glitch.

    He knows his mother had warned him several times to run away from the portal whenever he saw a glitch surrounding it.

    Even if it is the slightest glitch, it would mean he might lose half of his life if he tries to cross it.

    But this one looked even scarier and there was no code entry system on this portal.

    He knows by just looking at it, that he cannot use this portal and he needs to search for another one.

    But as he looked up at the sky, he noticed the glimpses of the brightest star ''Asher'' arising which is followed by the small flakes of burning fire sent down to the ''Laphire'' mountain.

    He understood they have come down for the search and he doesn''t have much time left.

    He started moving faster towards the portal at the far end which looked better compared to the one in front of him.

    But at the same time instead of moving further away from the search team, he started moving towards them.

    Without realizing his mistake, he kept on moving along the fence. Just as he was about to reach the bigger portal, he noticed a smaller portal growing steadily.

    He stood aside and saw it grow bigger to his size and stopped flickering.

    "Boohh¡­." someone shouted near his ears which made Peter jump in fright.

    Just as he turned around, he noticed his friend Robert laughing holding the flying rocks and throwing it at the portal to check the strength. It flicked it a little but stood steady.

    "Okay, our first experiment is a success. What are you doing standing with your mouth open wide? Let us go get our Elly back" Robert pulled his collar and jumped into the portal seconds before the search team reached that area.

    The portal became dark and mingled with the background.

    When Draven reached the glitch portal, he noticed something flickering near that area but before he could check what that is, it disappeared in a blink.

    He ordered his subordinates to check the perimeter thoroughly.

    "Do you think those dark ones crossed the portal again?" Linda asked sarcastically.

    "No, not in this portal. If they do then they know it would take their lives away" Draven scuffed at the half of the stone which was broken while Robert threw them inside the small portal.

    "Then why do you look upset? If they did not use the portal then what is missing here? I don''t understand" Linda started looking around to check if she missed something.

    She saw a pouch and hid them under her feet after looking around to make sure no one saw.

    Draven touched her shoulder and she jumped up in fright and lost a beat.

    "Relax, I am here to protect you. You don''t have to worry. Those dark ones cannot come near as we have activated the force shield detector" he tried to soothe her which in turn angered Linda and pushed his hand and gave him a kick on his calf.

    "Stop trying to find reasons to touch me all the time", saying that she stamped him on his feet and Draven sat down holding his leg.

    He saw a pouch lying around with flying stones in it. When he picked it up, he raised his eyebrows and looked at Linda.

    Linda shook her head and snatched the bag from him.

    "I took the stones for research. We can find out who came here by scanning it once we reach the lab. If you are done here, let''s move to the next portal" while saying that she started flying towards the next portal.

    Even though he felt something missing, he ordered his subordinates to follow her.

    He stayed behind while switching on his communicator and throwing some commands, before setting off and saying with dark eyes ''I hope you don''t disappoint me Lin''.

 3 Chapter - 3

    When David and Sussan reached the border, it was already too late. Linda noticed them before they even knew about it.

    Linda has the power to scan the place for people and can shift objects without touching them and can even manipulate them.

    When she noticed Draven is not following her, he made a detour to where her brother is and stood before them while staring at them.

    "This is all I could do. But let us hope that this will be our meeting and we do not have to come across each other ever again" Linda scuffed at David and threw the pouch which she found near the portal at him.

    "Lin, please. Peter is missing. I need your help, so please one last time help me" David begged.

    "No, I don''t want to and I will not. This ends here and I do not want to be involved with dark ones anymore" Linda stared at Sussan and started to move towards the last portal so as to reach before Draven.

    "Lin, please! just for the sake of old times. Elly is also missing and now Peter is gone. I listened to you and left that place with everyone, even leaving Elly behind. I beg you now, do not abandon your family" David held Linda''s hand and stopped her from moving.

    "Looks like you are practicing your raw skills pretty good even after giving me all your powers back then. We had a deal - you give me all your powers and I allowed you, three people, to escape from that place. I did my part of the deal. Now we have nothing to do with each other. Just for the sake of being my brother, I helped you one last time. I just want you to disappear from my sight or else I would inform Draven about this matter" Linda yelled and pushed her brother away and flew away.

    Sussan held David''s hand and squeezed it tightly. She knows people change easily but she never thought she would ever encounter such things in her life.

    "I am sorry it is all my fault. Once we find Elly and Peter, I would move away from Milanda and will never come back to this place. You can unite with your family and live a happy life" Sussan started walking forward without noticing the poisonous plants which are engulfing her foot and trying to swallow her whole.

    David took a knife and tried to cut the plants. Sussan stopped him and snatched the knife.

    "Don''t you know if you cut it with this sorcerer''s knife it would destroy them?" Sussan slowly started spelling some magic words and the plant holding her legs started easing its tentacles and started moving away slowly.

    Sussan took a piece of meat that she saved for her son from her bag and started feeding the plant.

    She saw a few saplings attached to the plants and she cut the meat into small pieces and fed them too.

    The plant, in turn, gave her a golden flower which shocked them. It is not a common flower. It has the capacity to even melt the hardest of metals and even a drop can cure any diseases.

    It is very rare and most of the people who went to search for this flower have been gone forever or only their bones were left scattered around that area. After realizing that it is a Hygelnewl plant, they searched for its guardian and it is nowhere to be found.

    Before they could analyze the situation further the plant moved towards the portal which was created by Robert before jumping into the portal.

    David and Sussan looked at one another and whispered together, "ROBERT!!!"

    "So, if Robert is with Peter then who is with Brenda?", David asked Sussan.

    "Either Brenda is lying or it must be Robert''s twin brother Nameless. Do you remember I once told you, every time a lady in the family conceived, it would always be twins but either one of the twins died or they would become one when the baby is born. According to their family history, the kids born would be highly intelligent and they can separate from each other for a short period of time by practicing magic for years" Sussan said with her mind running wild and trying to remember Brenda''s family''s history.

    "David, I feel something is definitely going wrong. We need to reach Brenda sooner and let her know. If they do not realize the mistake sooner, both the kids will be in a terrible state. Let us warm them. Hurry!" Sussan held David''s hand and rushed towards their campsite forgetting her own son was also in danger.

    David held her back and shouted, "Sussan even Peter is in danger and if we rush through the newly created portal we can save all of them"

    Sussan stared at David and pulled her hands away and said, "we are not Hygelnewl plants and we cannot shrink ourselves to the size of the portal. Our only option now is to find Robert''s brother nameless and ask him to direct us to Robert. They are linked and I cannot think of any other option right now"

    David looked dejected and he felt powerless. Only if he was a little brave and looked for Elly more, then they would have long left this planet and went to Asher to live on.

    Looking at David who looked depressed, Sussan gave him a kiss and said,

    "I am sorry. All these incidents are making me helpless and upset. All we wanted was our family to be happy but now everything is out of our hands".

    "Don''t worry Sussan, I will always be with you in all difficult situations and we will bring our family together" David then tried to use his raw power to communicate with Sommer to inform Brenda.

    But before he could reach Sommer, he saw Brenda rushing towards them with Nameless in hand.

    "I am so sorry, I was not a good friend and I am selfish. Because of this war, I must have lost my mind. Sussan please ask David to save Robert. He is a physician and only he can save him. Please Sussan, I beg you. I would even allow Robert to find Peter" Brenda fell on her knees and cried.

    "Brenda, relax. I fear the one you are holding is not Robert but his twin brother nameless" Sussan said.

    "What? How is it possible?" Shocked Brenda hugged Nameless even more tightly.

    "There is a new portal created near the border and we think it is done by Robert" David said.

 4 Chapter - 4

    "Are you sure we are going the right way?" Peter asked Robert with doubtful eyes.

    "Don''t you worry, as per my sixth eye we are right on our way to find Elly faster" Robert joked.

    Peter gave a light punch on Robert''s shoulder and said, "For the nth time I am saying this, you don''t have the sixth eye and there are only five eyes on your head"

    "Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" Robert held his chest and sat down on the mud and struggled to breathe.

    "What happened, Rob? I did not hit you on your chest but shoulders. So stop overreacting" Peter kicked him on the butt now to make him get up from the ground.

    "Ok, six more times left and if we calculate duration we will return home before my fifth attack," Robert said jovially.

    Peter hit his head and hugged Robert, "I want you to go back now. I don''t want to risk losing you and your twin nameless. I know we planned it well but now I am not confident anymore"

    "No way, this is our adventure and you promised. Are you going to break your promise now?" Robert smirked.

    "I am not breaking any promise. When did I even promise you? I promised Nameless and not you. You can give me the map and I can go by myself" Peter tried to download the content into his digital system.

    "Hell, no. I am not giving anything to you. First of all, you can not even go to the bathroom without help and you want to go alone on this adventure? Who do you think you are, Great Maple?"

    "I am not Great Maple and I know that. He united our nations but we fight against it now. Where we are going is more severe and it''s a war out there. And I worry about you. I do not want to lose my best friend"

    "You won''t lose anyone and as per my calculations we are already halfway"

    When they tried to move faster, they saw some weird plant hopping towards them and jumped on them. They shouted and ran faster.

    But the plant jumped at them even more hurriedly and held them together with its tentacles.

    "Easy boy, easy" Robert patted the plant and saw Peter almost on the verge of kissing the plant, so he started laughing loudly.

    ''Hygelnewl'' plant started running in circles around the boys and suddenly shrunk and jumped into Peter''s bag.

    They both looked at that plant and understood it wanted to come along with them. They patted the plant and fed the snack which Robert got along with him.

    Even they fed the saplings attached to it. One of the sap gave Robert a purple flower, looking at it he jumped up in joy.

    "Do you know what this flower is? Oh my goodness, it''s a treasure! A TREASURE"

    "I do not see a treasure and all I see is a flower which has a common color of purple. Aren''t almost all the flowers in this country carry some level of purple color?"

    "Ignorant is bliss. But let me tell you my dear fool how valuable this flower is! You can find your sister in less than half the time using this flower"

    "Really? Does a small flower like this have such super magical powers?" Peter exclaimed.

    "Lower your voice, do you want the whole sleeping city to wake up and offer yourself as a dish flavored with desert mud? Listen, just with this flower we cannot do that but with little more ingredients it is definitely possible"

    "What nonsense are you blurting out? If we keep this slow pace, we can never reach the heart of the city even by next month"

    "We don''t have to do that, we can just transport to your sister''s location from here."

    "What are you talking about? I am not understanding anything"

    "That''s why I said you need to read the books your mother gives you instead of pushing all the hard work to me. In one of the book, it is written that a little purple flower from Hygelnewl combined with the right amount of dust from Asher star and a pinch of fine Renlow powder along with your sisters'' scent will make us travel directly to her place"

    "Here is my sister''s scent, do not use it completely if your technique doesn''t work then we need to use it for our next one. But I don''t have the remaining ingredients"

    "Who said you don''t have anymore? Take out the dust from Asher star"

    Looking at Peter''s innocent eyes and getting irritated at his ignorance, Robert took the necklace from Peter''s neck and opened the cap of the tube pendant.

    He took a pinch of the pink dust and added the flower into a small mud cup along with a pinch of Elly''s scent and closed it with a lid tightly. All that is left out of the mixture is Renlow powder.

    He looked around and asked Peter if he had them but all he got was a shake of his head and Robert really lost it. "Ignorant! Ignorant! Ignorant!"

    "Come on, you never said I would need all these before leaving and even you did not bring them" Peter complained. After thinking for a second he asked, "why don''t we feed the plant again and ask to give us the ingredient?

    "Good idea, my brainy boy" Robert took a small piece of a snack from his pocket and tried to feed the plant but the plant just opened and closed its eyes and started sleeping.

    "What now ?" Peter asked.

    At that time a small voice was heard from inside the plant which made them jump up in surprise.

    "I can give you the powder but what can you give me in return?" asked a small figure who climbed out of the plant.

    "Who are you and why are you coming from the plant?" Peter asked.

    "Are you the guardian of this plant? And why are you so small?" asked Robert.

    "Yes, I am. And I asked you questions first which neither of you answered yet", Short-tempered short man asked.

    "We only have snacks with us, if you want them we can give you that" Peter answered.

    "No, that is not what I want. I want a pinch of the dust of Asher in exchange for a bottle of the Renlow powder. Can we consider it a deal then?" Short man asked impatiently.

    Peter was almost reaching for his neck but Robert stopped him and said "What you are asking is impossible! This is no deal"

    "But it is just a pinch he is asking¡­" Before Peter could protest, Robert kicked his legs and silenced him with his eyes.

    Then he turned towards the short man and said with confidence,

    "We are not interested in this deal, so take your plant and move away from here"

    Feeling the distraught around it, ''Hygelnewl'' jumped from the bag and took its original size.

 5 Chapter - 5

    Sussan took the golden flower from her bag and broke a part of the petal. She started mixing with several rare powders along with a pinch of Asher''s dust and fed it to Nameless.

    Nameless instantly woke up but looking at the people around him, he started shivering. He had never been with so many people before and it made him uncomfortable.

    "Don''t even try to hide anything anymore, I know you are not Robert!", Brenda said harshly.

    Nameless shook and tears formed on all his five eyes. Sussan hugged the boy and comforted him and glared at Brenda. Brenda looked down and shook her head.

    "It is ok. Don''t be afraid. Just tell us where is Robert now? Are there any ways to go to the other side of the border?" Sussan asked patiently.

    Nameless still hesitated to speak as he promised his only friend that he would not tell anything about this trip to anyone.

    Seeing his hesitation, Brenda was about to lose her patience once again but Sussan stopped her.

    "Look here, I understand you must have promised them but I am not going to ask where they are going to! But you can tell me where they are now, so you won''t break the promise and at the same time you can save them both. They can be in danger and we want to rescue them. We will rescue all of them, I promise" Sussan promised Nameless as every wasted minute is precious.

    Hearing that his friend and brother might be in danger, Nameless started showing them where they are using his telepathic mind.

    When they saw the boys along with a short strange man, everyone grasped. Even though they couldn''t hear the conversation, they saw them being alert and as well as Hygelnewl near them.

    Sussan understood that the short man must be the guardian of that plant. But this is the first time seeing someone as short as him being the guardian.

    She is well aware that the guardian cannot shrink and something is not right. So she asked Nameless to communicate with Robert.

    "Ask Robert to be careful and make them come back at once"

    But Nameless''s face changed when he received a reply from Robert but still, he conveyed the message to Sussan and even told her about the bargain.

    "We are not coming, we got the purple flower and now we only need Renlow powder. Once we get it, we will track Elly and bring her back. We are definitely not going to bargain with this short man anymore"

    When Sussan understood what they were going to do, she told Nameless to communicate again and ask them to come back once again. But the stubborn kids did not listen and they stood their stand on finding Elly.

    So, without much chance, the elders tried to think of a solution. And they decided to send the Feliocian with the Renlow powder.

    They made Nameless inform them about the Feliocian and he will bring the powder.

    David brought the statue of the bird out and tapped its head while Sussan said some magical words.

    Feliocian flapped its wings and rose high in the sky. When he came down David whispered in its sharp ears and gave the Powder which he swallowed and took off.

    They waited anxiously in a distance watching the Feliocian flapping its wings and went as high as possible but still he struggled to reach the end of the fence.

    Sussan said some magic words and it acted like a boost and crossed the border. But before it could fly even a meter into the border, it was shot and pushed back several meters.

    But still, it tried once again and this time he wounded one of his wings and came down in milliseconds.

    Nameless took his hands and made a circle in the air while pulling the bird into it. Once Feliocian is safe, they hear the siren wailing off.

    Brenda got agitated and pulled Nameless and started running away at great speed. Sussan and David followed them behind and when they saw a deep hole on the ground they jumped in without a thought.

    Once they were inside they saw several kids hiding in it and got shocked. When they went near, they saw several Elly''s, Peter and Robert coming towards them with their arms open.

    But before they could reach them Nameless rushed forward and broke the glasses around them.

    When the elders realized what had happened they realized it as illusions, They understood they were in deep trouble.

    This is the hole of a nightmare. Whoever you miss will be reflected in front of your eyes and it will later slowly swallow them into the mirror making them believe that everything around them is real.

    They will forever be trapped inside the mirror.

    Sussan started pulling out sheets and asked everyone to cover the mirrors surrounding them. All of them started acting fast but there were too many for them to handle.

    So their only option is to run along the caves of mirrors closing their eyes to reach an exit.

    "Why did you break the mirrors when we entered the cave?" David asked Nameless.

    Nameless stayed quiet and hesitated.

 6 Chapter - 6

    Looking around him, the short man noticed that these kids were happily whispering and jumping in joy.

    He realized that he might be running out of luck in laying his hands on Asher''s dust. He needs to come up with some other plan to get that from these naughty kids.

    "Fine. If you kids are not okay with giving me Asher''s dust but you need to promise me that you would keep us with you throughout the journey and feed us food", before he could complete saying his demands Robert received a message from Nameless saying they could not send ''Renlow'' powder as the fence security is too tight and Feliocian could not cross the border.

    "Ok deal. But promise me you won''t try to do any dirty tricks to lay your hands on Asher''s dust" Robert made a deal with the short man.

    "I promise!"

    "Oh! Not so fast. I want you to swear on Hygelnewl plant"

    Looking at the short man hesitating, Robert encouraged him. Even though Peter wanted to say something he stopped himself as he knows that he is a little naive and it is better if Robert dealt with him.

    "Come on. Go ahead. It is not so difficult"

    "Ok. I promise on the Angel plant whom I guard with my life, I won''t try to get Asher''s dust even if you offer me"

    "Angel plant?"

    "Yes, we call them that..."

    "So, they are many more of them?"

    "Sorry kid, there are rules we need to follow. I cannot say anything more than that"

    The short man took the Renlow powder and handed it to Robert. Robert then added it to the previous mixture and shook a little while saying a few magical words.

    The mixture made sparks and lifted the boys up in the sky. Hygelnewl shrunk itself and jumped into Peter''s bag while the short man held on to the plant thinking ''whatever. I don''t care about angels or these kids. All I want is to get my hands on Asher''s dust and I would live a carefree life''.

    When they reached where Elly was hiding it had become dark and the place around them looked creepy.

    They saw homeless kids running around looking for food or anything edible. After looking at this scene, Peter''s heart ached.

    "This place is too dirty. Do you even want a sister from this place? I can get you one from a better place" Short man opened his dirty mouth.

    "Shut up! If you speak one more word, I would leave you here to fend for yourself" Peter groaned.

    Seeing Peter getting agitated, Robert held his hand and squeezed it. When they roamed around the place they saw a few knights roaming around in beggar''s clothes.

    Robert pushed Peter into a dark alley and hid from them while a door next to them opened.

    "Brother!"

    They heard a young girl''s voice which made them rejoiced.

    "Elly!"

    Peter ran towards her and hugged her. Even though she was in ragged clothes, she looked slightly well compared to what he expected.

    "Let''s get out of here before those knights catch us" Roberts hurried them and pulled them deep into that dark alley.

    But Elly stopped them and said "We cannot go out of here. This place may look poor but people here are not. This is all a pretense. Let us get inside and speak about a plan before we escape"

    When they entered they saw the eminence of the place and wondered whether they had entered the wrong place.

    But seeing Elly joyfully skipping through the crowd of famous people, they opened their mouths in awe.

    When they reached the end of the hallway, they saw Peter''s grandmother.

    "Grandma!"

    Peter shouted and ran to hug her which made grandma lose her balance when he slammed against her.

    "My baby, darling! I missed you!"

    Granny Rose hugged Peter and kissed him. Then she noticed Robert but before she could smile she saw the Hygelnewl and its guardian emerging from Peters'' bag.

    Rose knit her eyebrows and before anyone can realize the situation, Hygelnewl grew larger which made the people scream and scattered around the house.

    Everyone stood in one corner further away from that plant with fear evident in their eyes.

    "Everyone calm down. Peter can you explain to us what is going on and why are you carrying this devil plant in your bag?" Grandma demanded.

    Peter started explaining everything from when he left the campsite and how he reached this place and as well what happened to their parents.

    Everyone around them felt tears strained their face and they know all these happened because of their stupidity to let the unknowns into their territory which made them split among themselves into dark ones and sabers.

 7 Chapter - 7

    When Sussan urged him, Nameless could not decide if telling them about his powers is good or not?

    Robert has always told him to hide from anyone as it may create issues regarding his identity.

    Seeing even after so many pushes Nameless would not open his mouth to say anything, Sussan decided to let him be for the time being.

    "Let''s try to find the exit from this place. It gives me creeps" Brenda pulled Nameless and started moving towards a mirror.

    David pulled Nameless another hand which made Brenda fall behind.

    "That''s a mirror where you are headed. We need to go in the opposite direction" David explained his action to make sure Brenda is not upset for the way he pulled Nameless hand.

    Brenda nodded her head to show her understanding and asked Sussan, "will Robert be ok? I am worried. I don''t know why but I have this feeling like something heavy is placed on my heart and it is making me difficult to breathe."

    Sussan hugged Brenda and patted her back. Then she opened a bottle of calming potion and made her drink a drop.

    Even though it made her breathe a little easier, still her eyes teared.

    While holding her hands Sussan said, "It is better to make Nameless communicate with Robert and see what happened on the other side. But now we need to be strong and try to move out of this place. I feel that the mirrors are moving in towards us"

    "You are right. Space has cramped from the time we entered. I think we need to hurry" David said while thinking of a way to move everyone to safety.

    In the meantime, they failed to notice Nameless eyes had changed color and turned mustard green color.

    He realized his second attack is about to happen anytime now. And he tried to hide the fact from everyone.

    When they made a turn, they noticed that lava was flowing from one end and the way they entered closed behind them.

    The heat waves surrounded them and made them difficult to open their eyes.

    Sussan broke one of the golden color petals and sprinkled Asher''s dust on it and let it float to the other end. It made the lava harden and created a solid bridge.

    "Let us hurry, it won''t stay like this for long. We need to be faster." Sussan pulled David and ran on the bridge.

    When they were about to reach the other end, she noticed that Nameless did not cross the bridge and sniffed the Asher''s dust on the ground.

    "Nameless!" Shouted Sussan.

    Like he woke up from a dream, Nameless face wore a blank expression.

    "Do not waste any more time, the bridge will collapse any minute. Make haste" ordered Brenda.

    Still Nameless stood without any reaction, so David rushed towards him and pulled him to the other side.

    By the time they reached, Nameless fainted and his whole body had turned into ash color.

    Sussan asked David to carry him out of the cave. When they reached outside they noticed that they entered ''Secare'' forest.

    Sussan stopped everyone and made David put Nameless on the ground.

    She told Brenda and David to hold Nameless hands and legs and she covered his eyes with a yellow cloth.

    She started saying magical words and took a little bit of Asher''s dust and put it near his nose. Nameless shivered and started shaking his body.

    Then she took a pouch and put a little bit of Asher''s dust, Renlow powder and half of the remaining golden petal.

    She turned towards Brenda and asked her if she had anything related to Robert with her handy.

    Brenda started digging her bag and found a locket that belonged to Robert.

    She held it tightly and did not know when Robert put his locket into her bag.

    Sussan took the locket and put it into the pouch and closed it saying magical words.

    Once done, the sparks ignited from the pouch made them close their eyes. She then held Nameless head and said a few words.

    Sussan then turned to Brenda and said, "I cannot explain fully now but I need you to open a portal for Nameless to travel. He does not have much time. If we leave him as it is he may become a Zombie in his third or fourth attack. We may never be able to bring him back"

    Brenda could not take what she heard and shook her head.

    "We do not have an option now. I know you learned how to open the portal but never once told anyone and I know you are hesitating because of your husband but listen to me, Peter is there with Robert and he won''t let anyone harm his friends. Please trust me this is the best option now as I cannot allow Nameless to suffer for our fault." Sussan tried to convince Brenda who still remained silent.

    "Brenda, please we don''t have much time left. We need to send Nameless, so please ask yourself, are you going to let the kids suffer for the elders'' mistake?" Sussan shook Brenda''s arm.

    Brenda stood up and started rotating her hands in the air.

    With the force of the air and light combined with her inner strength, she opened new portal thinking of Robert.

    "I cannot hold the portal open for a long time. You might need to hurry." Brenda almost lost half of her strength while trying to hold the portal from closing.

    Sussan whispered a few words into Nameless ears and put the yellow cloth with magical power into Nameless pocket, "Do not open the yellow cloth till you meet Robert. This will take you directly to him and I have made sure to hide your presence to anyone else other than Robert. Do not let your inner demon to wake up before you both merge"

    David lifted Nameless and threw him into the portal.

    Brenda fell down while coughing blood.

    Sussan held her and fed her two drops of strengthening potion.

    Brenda sat down and hugged her own legs and started crying. Sussan patted her back and left her alone for some time.

 8 Chapter - 8

    Nameless traveled through the portal and fell on Robert''s head. Both of them crashed down and Robert tried to push Nameless down but Nameless held on to this hand.

    Everyone looked at Robert strangely as he was struggling to get up from where he fell. All of them could see was Robert making weird actions in the air.

    Elly noticed the half-visible pouch and tried to pull it but Nameless grasped her hand. Elly got frightened and jumped away. Seeing that Peter came to Robert and helped him up.

    Granny Rose asked everyone to rest and they will discuss the remaining matters tomorrow.

    Once everyone left, Granny rose turned towards Peter and said, "It''s time to help your new friend. Let''s go to the underground."

    "Granny, you have an underground here?" Peter asked in awe.

    "There are so many things which you don''t know about. You will get to know one by one slowly" Granny said with a smile.

    In a hushed voice, Robert asked Peter, "How did Nameless reach here? And why didn''t anyone ask us anything about him?"

    "Where? What are you talking about? How can Nameless be here? Stop daydreaming" said Peter.

    "You can not see this huge person walking beside me like he is glued to me?" Robert asked with confusion clearly on his face.

    "Not only Peter, nobody can see him unless you are a fully grown wizard. Even Elly could only see his pouch because it belonged to her mother closely. My daughter has done a good job concealing him well" Granny Rose praised her daughter and felt so proud.

    "So Nameless is seriously here!" Peter tried to sway his hands in the air and Nameless instantly avoided his contact.

    As Peter couldn''t touch Nameless, he pouted his mouth and walked down the stairs while holding a torch-lit with magical flames.

    They all walked for more than ten minutes before they reached the door to the magical sector.

    Granny Rose lifted her hands high above and chanted a few magical words which created an orange flame on her palm. She then took some ''Spilden'' powder which is made from the bones of the ''Bovimaliason'' and threw it on the flame which turned the flame to blue.

    She knocked on the door in a rhythmic way which in turn let out a bluish-green metal hand. Granny Rose put the flames on the hand which later turned red and the door opened.

    The interior of the sector looked dark and the torch which Peter carried went off. It frightened the kids and they held onto each other.

    It took some time to adjust their eyes to the darkness but once they did, all they saw was a laboratory with many instruments.

    The animals were kept in cages of all sizes and even a pair of Feliocian birds were kept in a cage which was very much smaller for their sizes.

    The Hygelnewl plant shivered in fear and looked at all the things around it with fear. Peter and Robert after seeing all these, understood that something is quite not right.

    "Granny, I do not like this place. Let us go upstairs", Elly said in a frightened tone.

    "Ha Haha! On the first day when I caught you, I wanted to throw you into the cage. But I wanted to see if your loving mother will come to your rescue? If so, I would have caught the greatest witch ever. But now it is not too bad, I have caught both her children along with a creature who is yet to be seen" Granny Rose took off her mask and came out an ugly person with limbs crawling around.

    "You! You are The Unknown! Why are you doing this?", Peter shouted and took the nearby chair and tossed it at the unknown''s face.

    Then he pulled Robert and Elly and ran towards the exit but before they could reach the exit, the door closed and a bright light lit up which showed the complete horror of that place.

    "This is against the rules. When the military knows what you are doing here, they would definitely throw you out" Robert screamed at the old witch.

    "Oh! I just missed to notice you! Robert, isn''t? Your father is a military commander but he drove his wife out didn''t he?" The old witch laughed looking at Robert.

    She then whispered next to Robert''s ears, " So now, tell me. Who is the person you are carrying around and what is in that pouch he brought?"

    "You unknown old witch, I am not going to tell you anything but you better be prepared. This is not going to end well for you, if you do not let us go", Robert took a pinch of ''Renlow Powder'' and cut his finger and poured a drop of blood into it and held it in front of the old witch''s face.

    "Oh! Come on. I am already so old, how can you have the heart to punish me? Is this how your parents taught you? Very ill-mannered kids! What is with you and your way of speaking? By the way, my name is not an unknown old witch and we are not Unknowns. We have a name and it is known throughout the entire galaxy; it is ''Amellander''. We ruled this universe, we are the originals. You guys are just small creatures and dare to drive us to extinction. We are back and we will seek our revenge"

    Old witch roared with all her might and grabbed Robert''s hand and licked the Renlow powder and swallowed it.

    "Do know that this used to be my favorite snacks - Renlow powder mixed with half Saber''s blood. Mmmmm¡­ Yumm...Tasty! Oh! By the way, my name is ''Bairania'' and for your guys, it is ''Your Majesty'', Bairania patted Robert''s cheeks and clapped her hands.

    Two lowly creatures appeared before them and awaited her instructions by humbly lowering themselves.

    "Catch them and put them into the newly built cage. Make sure that they are tightly locked with ''Yunacel'' so that their magic does not work and they cannot escape. It is time to test our new cell" Bairania ordered; she put on her mask and went out.

    The two creatures lifted their hands in the air and caught the kids with a magical purple ring and carried them to the cell next door.

    "No! Let me go. I am not with them. Your Majesty! Your Majesty!", the short man shouted.

    But Bairania already left long back and his shouts just hit the locked door with no one to hear his plea.

    Robert rolled his eyes and ''Hygelnewl'' plant held him with one of the tentacles and put a drop of purple liquid in his mouth and he went to sleep.

    Once they were thrown inside the cell, they noticed a young ''Yunacel'' in the corner of the cage with sadness visible in its face.

    "Brother, I am afraid. It is so dark and scary here. I want mommy and daddy" Elly started crying and Peter did not know how to console her.

    Robert sat beside her and hugged her while patting her back, trying to console her. Nameless followed wherever he went like a lifeless soul.

    Once Elly stopped crying, Robert looked around them and started examining the room. Even though it looked small, its capacity is not to be underestimated.

    "Peter, we need to find a way for Nameless to merge with me. I almost lost half of the strength when I tried to scare that old witch with my spell earlier. Now I don''t know how much time left before the next attack. Maybe minutes or seconds now" Robert said while sitting in the other corner of the room opposite Yunacel and keeping a watch on her.

    Nameless tiredly lifted his body and moved towards Robert once again. Looking at him Peter''s heart ached and tried to hold him but Nameless pushed him away with his last strength and fainted on top of Robert once again.

 9 Chapter - 9

    Sussan looked around her and found a water stream nearby. She started walking towards it but David held her hand and stopped her.

    "Where do you think you are going alone?" David asked with frustration.

    He thought she could leave him any time she wants and he needs to live in constant fear of her leaving. This made David really mad at her and he held her wrist tightly.

    "David, you are hurting me, so leave my hand. I am not going anywhere without you. I just saw the stream nearby and wanted to get some water for us. It is a tiring journey and I am thirsty." Sussan understood his fear but did not show it on her face while she tried to explain patiently.

    "Why am I here for then? If you need anything, just tell me and I will do anything for you. I will go and get the water, so give me the pouch" David said.

    Sussan sighed and gave the magical pouch to David and reminded him that, "Before you can fill, do not be so impatient and hurt the pouch. It is just a baby".

    The baby pouch yawned and blinked his eyes. Seeing that David is the one holding him and not Sussan, it started crying.

    Sussan immediately took the pouch and gave a pinch of Asher''s dust. Then it became happy and opened its wide mouth to show that it is ready to fill the water.

    Brenda got up from where she was sitting and came to the arguing couple.

    "You guys cannot live a day without arguing. Come on, let us go" Brenda moved forward towards the stream.

    From where they stood the stream looked near but once they started moving, it felt like the stream was moving further away from them. It made them blink at each other. They kept on walking for more than half an hour but the place where the stream was not any nearer to them anymore.

    They all sat on the huge rock to rest before they could start once again. But the moment they sat down, the rock started moving and lifted off the ground.

    It flapped its wings and they were all pushed into the center and were carried in the air. David tried to hold its huge neck but was pushed backward, so Sussan held one of the wings in one hand and the other she held David. Brenda held the other wing.

    When they were high in the air they saw the stream below them and it is not a normal stream, it''s a flying stream. It moved around and they couldn''t see the end of the stream.

    The bird flew above the stream, as they saw that it was the only option everyone jumped into the stream. But what they did not realize was that the stream was super hot and not a cold stream. Luckily, the stream moved away again and they fell on a giant leaf.

    But what they did not expect was that the giant leaf rolled and closed itself and pulled them along with it under the ground.

    They felt like they were going down a giant slide and it was like forever and there is no end to it. They started doubting if there will ever be any ground.

    In the meantime, the plant jumped back up and the whole place looked very peaceful with no calamities around. The place looked like it came out of the picture and was very attractive once again.

    Sussan and Brenda''s scream echoed around them and David tried his best to hold the walls around him. But every time he tried to hold on, the solid wall turned into jelly. He held the mud jelly in his hand and threw it hard in front of him.

    Sussan felt like she got hit with a small stone on her head. So she turned and saw what David was trying to do and couldn''t stop laughing.

    "Ha Ha Ha¡­ what are you doing, David?" Sussan asked after noticing his distressed face.

    "Can''t you see I am trying to hold onto something to stop from sliding?" David replied coldly; because of his inability to stop all these without his magical powers.

    "It is ok, cool down. It is not like we can do anything when we are surrounded by ''Necticsand''. You cannot control them even with magic. They will show us our ways to the right land. Let us just allow the ''Necticsand'' to guide us" Sussan explained to David which made him relax.

    Later David realized that this was the first time after so long that Sussan laughed wholeheartedly. After the rules established by the military and they started fleeing, there was not even a single day went by without tears in her eyes.

    Brenda tried to look up but suddenly she saw a bright light that is brighter than the ''Asher'' star blind her eyes.

    "Cover your eyes and ears," Brenda shouted loudly.

    Sussan and David took a cloth and tied it on their eyes along the way blocking their ears.

    "Looks like the ''Necticsand'' is falling apart. Something huge is happening outside" saying that Brenda took a board from her bag and drew a few lines which in turn created a Dinghy.

    Brenda shouted, "Come on! Jump you both!"

    Sussan and David jumped one after another into the Dinghy, Brenda gave them the paddle as the sand entered her eyes and ears by the time everyone jumped into the Dinghy.

    Once the ''Necticsand'' ended they realized that they entered the stream which they missed out before.

    Sussan made the Dinghy magical, so it was able to take the heat radiated by the hot stream.

    While they were traveling across the stream they realized that the water was turning cold. When they looked around the place, it looked different and they soon realized that they left ''Secare'' forest.

    They paddled the boat and reached the shore.

 10 Chapter - 10

    "I can help you", a small voice said from the other corner.

    Everyone turned around and looked at the voice. The young ''Yunacel'' crawled near them. ''Yunacel'' are known for their beauty but the one which is crawling before them made them move even further away.

    Noticing their hesitation, she stopped crawling and looked between her fallen hair. She was confused about whether she needs to go ahead or stay where she is?

    Her shabby clothes and her hidden face made Elly screech and she went behind Robert to hide.

    Peter walked towards the ''Yunacel'' and asked, "Are you sure you can help my friends get better?"

    "My name is Nina. I am the daughter of Nigin and Gina. I swear on my dead parents, I can cure them a hundred percent", Nina said in a serious tone and she stood up.

    Nina did not even reach Peter''s shoulder level but the way she spoke made the atmosphere light.

    All of them laughed and Elly came out from her hiding place. She extended her hand to hold Nina''s arm and pulled her towards Robert.

    Nina took a small magical horn out from her pocket and blew it. In seconds several hundreds of miniature figurines marched from the small window and stood in straight lines.

    Nina made different horn sounds and they nodded and marched towards Robert. But before they could reach him, they were all pushed backward by some unknown force.

    "Your friend is hiding something in his pocket. Ask him to take it out" Nina said looking at Peter.

    Robert pulled both his pockets out but nothing came out.

    "Not you but the other one," Nina said.

    Robert with great difficulty slightly moved Nameless from this shoulder and pulled the pouch out.

    "You! Who is standing tall like a tree? come and pick it up", Nina pointed at Peter; ordering him like a queen.

    "I am not YOU! My name is Peter and I don''t like people ordering me", Peter said coldly but still picked up the pouch.

    Nameless struggled to get the pouch back from Peter''s hand but he couldn''t even lift his hand.

    "Do not stress yourself. My Minia''s will try to put them together, so I want everyone to stay far away." saying that Nina took the horn and blew a few more different tunes.

    As per Nina''s command, the Minia''s made Robert and Nameless sleep next to each other and started drawing circles around them.

    Nina said a few words in some language which Peter did not understand and had a blank face.

    Robert and Nameless lifted high in the air and started rotating around themself and at one point, no one could see them other than strong wind around that area.

    Peter wanted to move forward but Elly held his hand tightly and stopped him. When he looked at Peter, she shook her head and pulled him down into a kneeling position. Peter looked confused and wanted to ask what''s wrong?

    But Elly put her fingers on her lips and Shushed him. Peter rolled his eyes as he could not understand what was going on around him anymore. He missed Robert who would know everything and would tell him anything.

    Once the spinning stopped above their head, Robert came down and Nina made the Minia''s to make a ''Cowa tree'' leaf bed and made him lie down on it. She then started knitting the leaves around him and completely covered him in it.

    Once Elly noticed that the process was over, she pulled Peter and went near Nina and held her head down and greeted her.

    "Princess Nina, Ruler of the ''Asher''; we welcome you to our planet ''Ether''", Elly sat down and crossed her arms on her chest and welcomed her in Ether''s old fashioned way.

    Peter looked at sandwiched Robert and then at her phobic sister acting all brave before an unknown person and even calling her princess and doing the traditional greeting. Everything seems foreign to him and he just badly missed Robert''s loudmouth.

    "What did you do with Robert? Let him out" Peter shouted.

    Elly hit Peter''s leg behind the knee to make him kneel down in front of the princess but it instead made Peter lose his stance and fall forward. While falling Peter tried to hold the object near him to minimize the falling effect.

    But what no one expected was that Nina''s dress tore and her pink animated innerwear came to everyone''s sight. Still, Peter hit the floor hard and knocked badly on his face, especially his nose became dark pink and even blood oozed out.

    Elly watched with wide-mouthed in horror. Even Minias'' could not stop laughing and closed their mouths with four hands to stop making loud noises so as to avoid angering their angel, Nina.

    Elly could not decide whether she needed to console his brother or Nina. She looked back and forth at their faces but unable to decide whom she should go to first.

    Nina took the horn and blew angrily. Minias started marching towards Peter and started removing his pants. Peter tried to hold his nose on one hand and pulled his pants up in another.

    But Minias overpowered Peter and pulled his pants out and took it to Nina. Nina pulled the pants above the torn dress and buttoned it. But how much ever she tried to keep it up, it slid down due to the difference in size. She took the torn part of the dress and tied it around her waist.

    She went and sat in the corner gloomily. Peter searched in his bag and wore a pant. He then wiped his face with a medicinal herb which immediately healed his injuries.

    He took Elly''s dress from the bag, he brought and walked towards Nina. He then placed the dress near her with some dragon fruits.

 11 Chapter - 11

    Sussan looked around and shook her head. She now realized that she has been brought even further away from her kids.

    The stream just disappeared, once they reached the shore. The place around them looked completely covered in red. Like it is spilled with blood everywhere.

    "David, we are moving further away from our kids. I am afraid if we will ever see our kids again?", Sussan said with tears spread across her eyes.

    David hugged Sussan and tried to console her but words just would not come out of his mouth. How much ever he tried, he just could not bring himself to give Sussan a false hope. He knows it is nearly impossible to cross the border right now.

    Even if they entered, all awaited them was death. They need to have a proper plan before they can proceed into that war zone.

    "Robert is with Peter now, do not worry; I have taught him well. Robert''s dad is in the military and he would definitely not let anything happen to the kids. At least that much, I can have faith in him." Brenda said without any emotions.

    Brenda''s only pain was her husband''s betrayal, if only he was a little bit more considerate; all these would have not happened in the first place. He could have stood by their side and fought for them.

    But he chose to be on the neutral side and even he didn''t care about his own wife and kid when they faced eviction. His betrayal brought disaster to his own family and he acted as if he never cared.

    Sussan tried hard to swallow the sob which escaped her mouth and left David''s embrace. At least she has someone to lean on right now but Brenda is all alone and it''s partly her family''s fault.

    "I am sorry, Brenda. It''s my fault, I did not teach Peter well. I promise you, I will definitely find a way to bring our kids back. I promise!" Sussan held Brenda''s hand and said with determination.

    Brenda shook her head and removed her hands from Sussan, "It is not Peter''s fault. Robert is like his father, he would always keep his friends first rather than family, so I do not blame you. In fact, it is my fault for falling in love with that person. All the love and care he showed disappeared, once we faced an issue or else why would he leave us when we were facing issues."

    "Do not you feel there is definitely something is quite not right. When we were all together nobody would be able to fight us and win against us. I feel like someone is deliberately trying to drive a wedge between us. Why are they trying to separate Lambanies and Sabers? Only when we both are united, we are stronger. Even though we never got recognition for a decade and we never felt that as an issue that needed to be raised before. We all lived under one roof and always thought of each other as one" said Sussan, as she regretted when she went to Asher last time she should have raised the issue in front of the council and got recognition for their people.

    But at that time everything was picture perfect and everyone was on friendly terms. There was never a need to make such arrangements and their life was always filled with joy and happiness all the time. Most people never even knew until the war started, that there is actually a difference between each other.

    No one would have thought or imagined a planet full of people with millions in number would suddenly turn against one another and would abandon a clan and even banish them.

    The actual funny thing is that it all started because of a decree from Asher. The council sitting on the Asher, who always remained neutral to all the planets in its solar system has now started to act against few communities. It is now sending decree''s to all the planets and trying to banish the people with abilities.

    So many people are fleeing for their lives and hiding as if they have committed a huge sin. So many kids were taken away from their homes and every wrongdoing were now connected to us ''Lambanies''

    All of a sudden out of nowhere David asked, "What if the decree is not from the council and it is a forgery?"

    Brenda looked at him in surprise, how could David know about the decree? It is a top military secret and other than the higher up no one knew about it. Even Brenda came to know about it just by coincidence when she was on her way to meet her husband after receiving the eviction notice.

    Sussan and Brenda turned towards David and looked at him in surprise but both of them had different elements of surprise.

    Brenda said "It is not impossible but the seal which I saw in the letter in my husband''s office is real. I saw the decree once and it is a hundred percent original. But.."

    Sussan immediately interrupted and asked "Hold on for a second! What decree? What is happening? Why do I feel I am not following anything?"

    David and Brenda looked at one another and they were not sure how Sussan would react.

    Even though Brenda had her own uncertainty about the decree and could not point out exactly what was wrong but something definitely did not feel quite right about the decree.

    Sussan lost her patience as both David and Brenda looked at each other and then blinked at her. They both understand Sussan''s character well enough and if Sussan knows that the decree might not be original then she would definitely find a way to go to Asher.

    "Come on! Spill it out, both of you. We do not have all day here" Sussan glared at David and Brenda.

    As Brenda saw David is not ready to start, left with no option she started saying what she knows about the decree.

    "But you still have some uncertainty about the decree! That is enough then; Let us go to Asher and find the council and raise our issue" Sussan declared.

    What David and Brenda feared happened as Sussan became the stubborn lady and just jumped into action without a plan.

    "But how are you planning to go? Do you think we will get one more magical stream and it will take us directly to Asher? Are you brainless? Don''t you know all the portals have been damaged and even traveling internally has become a big mess" David shouted as he was having a headache looking at his wife who just jumps to solutions without much thought and it is always impossible to convince her otherwise, once she decides to do something!

    Sussan stared at him angrily. David then understood that without food and water for almost a day his brain got fried and he shouted at his ferocious wife.

    "Aaah¡­ I am so thirsty! I''m hungry! I am fainting...I am falling down..." David acted as if he would really faint any second.

    He coughed loudly and fell on Sussan''s shoulder with a thud and held her tightly. Sussan then took the infinite pouch and fed him water which she collected from the stream and patted his back.

    She understood David''s questions were not wrong. Without the military''s help, there is no way they could reach Asher easily.

    Unless they try the old traditional way but it is not good to mention it at this moment as David would never agree. Not only is it more dangerous than crossing the border but it is highly risky to do anything right now.

    "Let us eat now. It''s quite a tiresome adventure we had, better fill yourself and rest to think clearly later about our issues in hand one by one", Brenda tried to change the topic as she could not face this love-hate couple argument anymore.

    She might just blow up and start fighting with these two if they once again start their mind-blowing performance.

    Sussan just nodded her head and took out the wild fruits and berries. While Brenda took out a loaf and a few fresh homemade dishes from a pack which made Sussan raise her eyebrow.

    "What? I am not going to starve in this wild goose chase. I have to maintain my strength to keep my spirits high for upcoming days", Brenda started cutting the loaf with a knife and sharing it with the couple.

    Seeing that Sussan is still staring at her, suddenly the thought hit her¡­ Oops...

    "Oh! Are you asking how I got all this food?" Brenda asked with naughtiness smiling in the corner of her lips¡­

    Still not receiving a response, Brenda said,

    "Oh! Come on! My grandfather left an inheritance to me and it included this cute little pack, using which I can take anything from anywhere on this planet. But all I did was take some tiny little food from my own kitchen. And I lived in that house for 15 years, so that is acceptable" said Brenda without any guilt of hiding such a thing from Sussan.

    Sussan just shook her head and started eating but all of a sudden she felt something was definitely wrong.

    "Are you sure, your husband let you go just like that? If not, why does it feel like he ordered the kitchen to make all your favorites?", Sussan just kept staring at her without blinking.

    David just smiled and nudge Sussan''s elbow to make her stop the staring contest and eat.

    With all the hassle, Brenda did not notice it before but now even Brenda felt that it was a little weird. From day one she started taking food until today, she found that all the food was to her liking and Roberts.

    But then Brenda realized, today when she took she noticed that only her favorites were there and not Robert''s. This definitely confused her a lot but still unsure if she should tell the couple before her that her husband James might have found out about their sons being traveled across the border.

    Brenda then thought to wait for some more time to be sure and reveal it to her best friend, Sussan, and David.

    By the time they finished their food, they saw a group coming from the east which is from the direction of the border. They were not sure if it was help or foe.

    So thinking that it is better to be safe than sorry, they started clearing the area and hiding their prints. Slowly they moved away and searched for a place to hide. But before they could find a spot to hide, they heard a familiar song near them.

 12 Chapter - 12

    Nina looked at the dress and the fruit next to her. She could not decide if she could eat that or not, so she lifted her head and looked at Peter.

    Until Nina lifted her head, Peter was quietly staring at her but the moment her eyes were about to meet his, he shifted his whole body and started walking near Robert. He behaved as if he did not care if she took them or not. Even though he was walking in the opposite direction his heart was beating faster than normal.

    "Stop!"Nina shouted, which made Elly jump up in horror.

    Peter stopped but did not turn around. He was thinking of a way to confront her refusal and make her eat at least.

    Nina ran towards Peter and held his hand. He looked surprised and looked at the tiny hand which held his wrist.

    "You cannot touch him yet", Nina pointed at Robert.

    "Why?" Peter asked.

    "I said you cannot! Then you cannot! It is an order" Nina stood in between Peter and Robert in a protective stance.

    At first, Peter did not know that he was walking towards Robert as it became a habit for him; whenever he faced any issue or if his feelings were flustered he would run to Robert.

    While looking at her standing like a brave little soldier ready to attack any moment, a small smile spread across Peter''s face and his eyes glowed.

    Elly turned her head to look at Peter first and then at Nina but could not decide once again whose side should she take? She blinked her beautiful round eyes and moved it to one side after another and finally, it landed where Robert was; as the leaf slowly was pushed away and out came Robert with five eyes.

    Nina turned around to look at him and instantly jumped on Peter and held on to him tight.

    "He...He has... five eyes" Nina shuttered while hugging peter tightly.

    "Yes! He does, doesn''t he?" Peter said, still trying to figure out where to place his hand? Should he hold her, so that she would fall or just to let her fall down?

    Robert got up and moved his hands before his face which made his eyes disappear. He looked like everyone else.

    "I am so sorry! I frightened you." Robert came near Peter and Nina.

    Nina hugged Peter even more tightly and hid her face in his chest. Peter patted her head trying to soothe her.

    She turned her head slightly and looked in between her hair. When she saw Robert, all she saw was two eyes and an innocent look.

    Nina climbed down from Peter and bent her knees and stood in an apologizing way.

    "I am the one who should be sorry! I overreacted. Please forgive me!", Nina stood still and showed stubbornness while waiting for Robert to forgive her.

    Robert just patted her back and said "Get up my junior sister. In our clan whatever naughtiness our sisters do, they do not have to apologize. We brothers always take good care of them. Since you saved us, we will always be indebted to you Princess Nina"

    Nina stood up straight and smiled between her hair. Peter looked at her and thought if only she tied her hair, it would look much better and remove the gloominess around her.

    "Let''s introduce ourselves first, I am the great Robert!..."Before Robert could finish, Peter coughed hard¡­ Robert ran towards the backpack and took a pouch with water.

    "I am Peter. This is my sister Elly." He started telling her about how they came here and what happened later before they met her¡­

    Robert just held the pouch and looked at Peter in awe. The boy who is always shy to talk to girls kept on narrating stories and even made Nina laugh. It all looked unreal to him and he started rubbing his eyes.

    Elly held Robert''s and pinched him. Even she was thinking if all this is actually happening.

    "Ouch" Robert shook his hand in pain due to Elly''s pinch.

    "Why did you pinch me?" Rubbing his arm, Robert started at Elly. But his anger disappeared the moment he saw Elly''s sad face.

    "I just wanted to check that this is not a dream. It all feels too unreal. First, my grandma turned into some whom we do not know and then you became a roll into a sandwich and now Peter is talking to a girl without being shy. I still could not believe that we are all together" Elly said in awe.

    Elly never imagined that she had been with a witch because whatever she did exactly resemble grandma Rosie. She started fearing if her grandma is alright or not.

    "Robby, I am afraid that something might have happened to grandma. We need to find her as soon as possible." Elly said to Robert while running towards the cage.

    Nina flew from her place and stood in between the cage and Elly. The cage burnt her skin in the back and made marks. Peter went and held her before Nina could fall down.

    Robert and Elly looked at one another in shock. Peter struggled to hold Nina as her back was burnt and he felt that the temperature of her body increased to very high.

    Elly moved forward to help Peter but Peter shouted at her, "Stay back. Do not come near."

    Peter never shouted at Elly before, she got a little jealous by the way Peter treated Nina. Elly started crying and in between her sobs, she said, "I didn''t mean to hurt her. I did not know that touching the cage would hurt. All I wanted to do was find Grandma Rosie, as she might be in danger. I didn''t even know why she came before me and protected me. I am sorry... I am so sorry".

    Elly knelt down and wept. Robert held her shoulders and stared at Peter. But before he could speak, Peter said "We both are poisoned. That''s why I asked Elly to not come. So, don''t you dare start your lecture now? Quickly find the Minia''s who treated you. They might help us in finding a cure for us both"

    Robert found the horn on the corner where Nina was sitting before but before he could reach that place, the wall behind them was broken with magic.

    "Daddy!" Robert exclaimed but he stopped himself from going forward as he felt that his daddy left him and his mother to suffer in that desert all by themselves.

    So he just turned his back towards him and started walking towards the horn. Looking at his son who is ignoring him made his father, Peter think that his kid had grown up in just a few days.

    He went near Peter and Nina and examined them. Looking at the poison spreading through their veins, the condition did not look too good. And getting the antidote before it can spread through the body might be difficult.

    He turned and looked at his foolish son once more, who is now trying to blow the horn. He just thought his son, Robert has grown but looking at his stupid act, he just shook his head.

    "Elly, stop him from blowing that horn. It won''t listen to anyone other than Nina and it may contain some other lethal poison which in turn will create more mess than he already is in" James scoffed at Robert.

    James looked around and saw the leaves lying around. He became angry and stood up. He went near Robert and held his collar, "Did you separate him from you again? How many times do I have to tell you not to do that? What if one day you realize he vanished altogether? Till that time won''t you stop hurting him?"

    Robert held his dad''s hand and looked at his eyes without fear and said, "Nothing would happen to him. Peter needed my help and mom won''t allow me to go. Didn''t you say, if your friend is in danger it is even ok to not worry about our lives and help? That is what we both did and I don''t fear you, so leave my collar. You are choking me!"

    James left him and wondered what happened to Linda who is supposed to come after checking the surroundings. He turned to Elly and instructed her to pack all their belongings.

    After Elly and Robert packed their stuff, Elly asked James, "Uncle, can we free all those animals and people? They have suffered a lot already and I feel we should not abandon them"

    James looked ahead but he knows it will be too risky if they are exposed and he did not want to take that risk with so many children with him. His first priority was to see to it that these children escaped safely.

    "We cannot take them now, but I will make sure to come back again and release them and even if required I will send them to their own planets. I promise" James promised Elly, as he knows that it would be difficult if she refused to leave with him now and time is running out.

    His team cannot hold the barrier for this place for long as they were already too tired because of this war. They would have not even agreed to come if they knew that this witch was involved in all these in the first place.

    "Don''t expect anything from him, Elly, he would never keep his promise. Look at me and my mother for example." Robert looked at James with disdain.

    James controlled his anger and his temptation to hit his child. He just said,

    "Let us talk about who did not keep the promise once your mother is also here. Why don''t we do one thing, let us better wait for the witch to come and destroy my whole team and us all together, then you will be satisfied"

 13 Chapter - 13

    As the song they heard was familiar, Sussan and Brenda looked at one another. David came out from the hiding and saw Sommer was playing the music and walking in the front while other people were dancing and singing according to the music.

    David signaled Sussan and Brenda to come out from the hiding. When they came out, Brenda saw her mother and ran towards her.

    "Mom, I am sorry! I had to save Robert and I had no choice. I had to leave you behind! I am sorry! I did not fulfill my responsibilities and left you by yourself", Brenda sobbed and hugged her mother Cathy.

    Cathy pushed her away and hit her head with the musical instrument, she was holding.

    "When did I even ask you to take responsibility? You ran away from your home and don''t even put the blame on me. Do you think your husband will not blame me for how you behave now?"

    She just pushed Brenda aside and came towards Sussan. Cathy held Sussan''s hand and said,

    "You have been through so much trouble. Do not worry, we will find a way to send you to Asher and talk to my old man over there, he will have some solutions. But I feel like it is chaotic even over there or else there would be no way we would have received that decree."

    The whole of their solar system consists of 68 planets, and whenever the time for a person is over, they would be sent to Asher, never to return. Every planet has a different lifespan and on their planet Ester, people live for 500 years of Ester life and 100 years of Asher life.

    Once the 500 years of Ester''s life, they will be sent to Asher to spend the 100 years. When their whole lifespan is done, they will turn to Asher dust, which is magical and priceless. It contains the soul and blessings of the people of Ester.

    Only one from every planet was chosen to carry on this task and for Ester, it was Sussan right now. No one other than Sussan can enter Asher and if they try, they would be burned and their soul will be sent to the planet ''Ashes'' which is far away from every other planet and it''s the last planet on their solar system.

    And the witch which entered into their planet was from one of the neighboring ''Ashes'' planets. Their keeper died or rumored that he was brutally murdered because a gang formed under the rebels wanted to enter Asher and become the controller of Asher, which in turn will give them the power to control all the sixty-eight planets.

    They started spreading silently among the people of all the planets, as they have the skills to disguise themselves as whoever they want to be and even imitate them better than the original hosts. No one can identify them easily until they decide to reveal themselves.

    The king for Asher was chosen every 1000 years from one of the 68 planets. Even the lord of Ashes planet was chosen once. There was no discrimination among the selection as the Asher chooses its own ruler. And this current king whom the Asher chose was just 400 years before and he still has so many years left.

    When Sussan met the king last time, she felt that he was very warm and even treated everyone from all the planets equally and respectfully. So she was confused when everyone said that such a decree came and she still refused to believe that.

    Not one planet escaped from this mess. Everywhere it was chaotic and so many people disappeared one after another with no end to it.

    When they were discussing all these, they saw Asher disappear which confused them, as there was still an hour left before it went down. When everyone was wondering what''s happening, a blue light lit on the sky which resembled the newly formed planet, very near to Ester.

    Whenever a new planet is formed, it means that some other planet is dying. But it happened only once in several thousands of billions of years. And they hardly heard or known about it as only the Asher kings have access to all those details. And most of the planets are relatively only a few million years old, even the furthest plant on the solar system.

    So why did a new planet arise now?? Just when they were thinking about how it was possible for a new planet to arise in so less time, they felt the whole planet shaking.

    "Take cover everyone. The new planet is crashing on our planet", Someone shouted.

    But he forgot, what use will it be even if he takes cover?? Everything will be destroyed along with the new planet. And Asher would not want that. It takes Asher so many millions of years to create one new planet, so it''s definitely not from there.

    Unless ''Poisidion'' was involved. He was the guardian of the neighboring star, which contains only one planet with people and the remaining planets consist of either animals or organisms or just plain lands without any gravity.

    He was always jealous of Asher and wanted to settle here but his body constitution is not suitable for any planets on this system. So how much ever he tried, he had to admit defeat and return to his star.

    "Is it Poisidion?", Robert''s grandma Cathy asked.

    "No, it is illusionary. The whole thing is a setup, looks like we all are poisoned with that witch''s medicine before we even left the border." Sussan said.

    "It is going to become even worse the more we try to walk away from where we lived. I have read about this poison in a book in my husband''s library. There is no exact cure for this but its symptoms can be reduced with a little bit of ''Ashes'' dust mixed with the only plant grown in Ashes planet ''Ginnewl''. It looks exactly like our ''Hygelnewl'' but the only difference is it can shrink and adjust to any temperatures for its living, even the guardians of this plant can do the same,'''' Brenda said.

    David and Sussan looked at one another and thought why did they let that plant run away. Looking at their expression, Brenda asked,

    "Don''t tell me you saw a Ginnewl here and let it go? Please don''t tell me this rubbish, I definitely won''t believe you."

    Cathy ignored Brenda''s foolish talks and asked Sussan, "when and where did you see that plant?"

    "We saw that when we tried to find Peter near the border", David answered as Sussan just stood there blinking.

    " I saw that plant with Ashes Lord. How could I miss that? I just remembered, last time when I went to collect Asher''s dust, I saw him and the plant followed him everywhere he went. So that means even the Ashes lord is also here. If he is here, then all he needs to do is summon the plant and it would be with him in no time." Sussan declared.

    "If you say that it never left him, then why was it alone when we saw and even the guardian of the plant was missing", David asked.

    "When we contacted Robert, we saw a small man hanging on that plant. Maybe he is the guardian, and as it is said even they can shrink just like the plant" Brenda said with excitement as she found something useful.

    "So, even you saw and missed it? hmph", Cathy mocked her daughter Brenda.

    Brenda just blinked and tried to change the topic, "If the Ginnewl is across that border and it is away from the Ashes Lord, then does it mean that he is injured very badly and instructed the plant to get you for treatment? But still, it crossed you and went to Peter! Does that mean Peter holds something which you do not?"

    "I cannot say for sure but I know one thing, we need to find the Ashes Lord before others do. And if he is seriously injured, then it means even his planet might be in a warlike ours. But if it is then, it means our days are not going to be just running away. People will hunt us down in no seconds if they actually start their search more sincerely." David said with worry clearly visible in his voice.

    "Then let us fight them, we are one of the strongest powers if we all are united", Sussan declared.

    "It is not about the fight but who are you going to fight against. It is going to be our own kin and friends, will you have the heart to hurt any one of them?", as David asked, Sussan regretted saying such a thing without any thought.

    "I am sorry, all these things happening around us made my mind go blank and uttered without thinking. First, let us try to find Ashes Lord, it would be our most important priority as once we find him we can get more information about our unknown enemy," Sussan said.

    "Sussan you are the best. You know when to apologize and take a step back and at the same time think of a solution even in difficult situations. Unlike someone who is only good at eating and nothing else", Cathy pointed at her daughter with disappointment.

    "Sussan, let us go search for Ashes Lord that side" Brenda pulled Sussan''s hand and just ignored her mother Cathy.

    "Let us search the Ashes Lord, every one. But please do not go far and make sure to stay at least a group of five. If you find anything unusual, do not forget to hide immediately and escape from there. We will meet in an hour over here and then will think about what to do next as per the result of our search", David gave instruction to the group.

 14 Chapter - 14

    As Peter fainted, Robert rushed forward to hold him but Nina lifted her hand in the air and with her last remaining strength pushed Robert away with magic. Robert almost flew outside the broken wall. The air was heavy outside and he saw several uniformed men try to keep the protection shield open.

    Nina gave a yellow potion which she took from one of her pockets to Peter and informed James that,

    "I gave him a potion which could freeze his body and it will slowly stop the spread of the poison. You do not have enough time, the old witch would have realized now that there are intruders in her, so you need to hurry."

    Before she could even finish her sentence properly, Nina spat out blood and it turned black immediately when it was exposed in the air. She took Asher''s water and sprayed on it.

    "If you do not leave now, then everyone will be infected. Hurry! Go away", Nina shouted.

    James left with no option signaled two of his men, once they reached, he ordered then to place Peter on the leaves left in that corner. They left with Peter while Robert went along with them.

    Elly kept on crying and said, "I won''t leave you behind. You too come with us, we will find a cure for the poison. Please, princess Nina! I beg you!"

    Elly ran towards Nina but James held her back and stopped her. Elly struggled to get out his grasp while wailing even louder. Ella felt too guilty, it was because of her carelessness that both Nina and her brother got affected. James got worried as it might alert the witch, that they have not only infiltrated the boundary but also entered her chamber.

    "Do not worry, nothing will happen to me. We will meet again", Saying that Nina closed her eyes.

    James picked Elly in one hand and the things which they got in the other hand and flew towards the exit. But before he could reach, he saw the witch come into the prison but she did not do anything to stop them, other than smiling as her plan worked.

    Her clone entered the team and even Peter is poisoned. She finally had a great victory, she just pushed Linda into another cage and she ordered her slaves to rebuild the broken wall.

    James wondered and felt that something was wrong when the witch did not do anything at all even when they rescued the kids. He thought she let them go because Elly might have become one of her kind. He stared at Elly who was still crying her eyes out but James could not just believe her yet.

    When Linda was pushed inside, she saw Nina disappearing into thin air. Just a speck of dust moved upwards. Nina''s soul traveled to Asher where she will be reborn again.

    A Yunacel has the power to be reborn fifteen times, since her life ended tragically and also very young, Nina''s soul would travel back to Asher and she would begin her life once again from where it ended.

    But even though she was reborn again, she would forget everything that had happened to her in this life.

    As James noticed, Linda, coming from the west, he became alert. He questioned Linda, "Did you not go east to check the perimeters? What were you doing for so long? Where did you go?"

    "Chief relax, I first went to eat and then to the west, just to be sure that everything is alright and we were not discovered. Once it is done, I flew directly here." Linda said cooly.

    At that time someone shouted, "The portal is closing outside, we need to rush!"

    They all flew towards the exit in a hurry, so they failed to notice that Linda''s eyes changed. But Elly saw this change and tried to question her aunt Linda about it but before she could even open the mouth, Linda pressed her hand on her forehead and made her sleep.

    While everyone was rushing forward, Linda went slowly and once everyone entered the portal, her head alone turned back and smirked at the Old witch who was watching them from afar. She jumped into the portal and disappeared.

    Once they reached the camp, they sent the children into a tent while they carried Peter into a restricted area. When Robert tried to stick around, James held him back. When he tried to struggle out of his hands, James whispered into Robert''s ears, "Keep an eye on Elly! She may not be one of us"

    "Oh! Shut up! Why are you now trying to drive a wedge between us?", Robert pushed him back.

    "I am not doing anything. Our operation had only a ten percent chance of success. Even though we were not fully prepared, we came expecting a fight. But everything went smoothly and even though the witch could have interfered, she did not! It is not very usual as per her character"

    Robert understood what his father said made sense! when they came searching for Elly, even though they used the magic to find her, he surely did not expect that Elly would just appear before them so easily.

    As James saw that Robert is actually getting him and he waited for him to share his opinion but being stubborn Robert did not open his mouth even after a long time. So James continued to say his own thoughts,

    "Elly may not be the one but the witch had enough time to infiltrate our team easily. I have my eyes on one more person but I would not tell you now! Just make sure to keep an eye on Elly"

    When James finished, he turned his head towards Linda. Linda, who was listening to their conversation till now, just jolted awake and rushed to the other side.

    Linda, once little away from everyone, started making plans to change James''s distrust completely towards Elly. Before she could think of a full plan someone hugged her from behind.

    "Lin, darling, my wife! I missed you! Why don''t you turn your head and give me a kiss?" Draven in a drunken state, leaning even more towards Linda!

    Linda just turned her head alone and kissed him. Being kissed by Linda, Draven almost became sober! But before he could realize what happened, Linda put her hand on his head and made him sleep!

 15 Chapter - 15

    The whole team searched for more than an hour but he did not find any trace of Ashes Lord. So they decide to move a little further to a better-hidden place to take shelter for that night.

    The more further they went, the whole color of the land suddenly turned to golden yellow from red and it looked like it was on fire. And it actually felt too hot and everyone started sweating. They could not understand why it changed so much in just a few steps.

    So they discussed among themselves and decided to send a team of five forward and a team of five backward. And once they come back and report the situation, they would decide which direction to go further or take shelter at their current place.

    The team that they sent forward had been instructed to come back in twenty minutes as they did not want them to go far away which would delay their journey.

    In five minutes the team which was sent to inspect the way which they used before, rushed forward and said they did not see much difference but they noticed an astonishing thing.

    When they were coming back until they reached a certain distance, they could not see anyone at all. All of a sudden as if there was fog covering this area disappeared and revealed everyone.

    Sussan after hearing that wanted to check the perimeter, so she took David and went to check it out. As the team said, it was until they reached the yellow patch they could not see anyone at all from the other end.

    The distance was not so big, it was just a foot difference. When they touched the yellow part, they saw everyone and even if a little bit of their body was on the red side, then they can''t see them at all.

    Sussan immediately shouted, "We are near where Ashes Lord''s is! All these tricks only he is capable of doing. And the heat, it is exactly like Ashes planet''s environment. He is here and that''s why we felt abnormal heat but it is normal for him."

    David then realized something and said, "We need to rush and save the team of five which went forward. If the Ashes Lord see them, we do not know who will start the fight but the result may turn irreversible"

    Sussan and David hurried forward and informed everyone about it. As it is now slightly safe for them to stay wherever they are; they decided to let them rest for some time.

    "Let me join you in the search for him," Brenda said.

    "No, I want you to stay here and protect the clan. I cannot leave them unprepared like how I left them before. It was my responsibility to protect them but I ignored it, as I had to search for my son before. But now I can only entrust their safety with you. Please take care" Sussan objected as she was sure that the more people she brings, the more danger it will become.

    At the same time, she needs to save the team of five. So she decided to go by herself. Ashes Lord only knew her and no one else. She even denied David''s request to follow her by leaving some distance.

    But she knows that Ashes Lord must have realized their presence when they set foot on his current territory. The more uncertain he becomes, the more danger it will be for everyone.

    He always lived by himself in that whole of Ashes planet with only a couple of guardian families. He was said to be created by the star Asher itself and he is almost as old as Asher.

    Even when he was selected as the king of Asher''s previous time, he made a replica of himself with all his good qualities. As he would be the King and would be residing in Asher for that period of time, Asher would dim his inner demon and maintain peace.

    As it happened a long time again, no one was able to predict why it actually happened and how? As that was the first time in the recorded history that Asher chose Ashes as the king.

    Everything was fine till now but what happened to Asher''s Lord he had to live in hiding. Even though he cannot create lifelike Asher does, his powers are not any less so why is he trying to create an imbalance in the whole system.

    As Sussan got more confused, she tried to keep the goal of saving her kin rather than defeating Ashes Lord. But when she was about to lose hope in finding him, she saw the team of five had been enjoying a feast with the guardian families from Ashes.

    But what they ate looked different and Sussan thought it might be poisonous, so she hurried towards them to stop them from eating that. All the guardian families looked at one another and ran behind some cave.

    It all looked suspicious to Sussan as till now she never saw anything like this cave which is made from pure ashes. She hurriedly tried to follow the guardians inside but before she could move further, Ashes Lord came out while grey ashes were falling out from his body.

    "Greetings, Sussan. We meet again!" Ashes Lord bowed and showed his respect to the lady.

    Sussan just stood in awe while looking at him and the ashes which now almost covered the Ashes Lord. Few of the guardian families started clearing the ashes and put it around the cave.

    "Why? Why are you like this? Are you dying?" Sussan asked him.

    "Yes. I am" Ashes Lord replied.

    "Why are you here on our planet instead of Ashes", Sussan asked.

    "I will tell you everything but not here. Let us go inside that cave" Ashes Lord requested.

    Sussan followed the path of ashes which was created by the Ashes Lord while he walked. She was not even sure if she could just walk on it like this. But almost everywhere she stepped on she saw ashes lying around.

    "The answer to everything you asked and everything you want is in this book", he handed over a grey book which is made of ashes.

    Sussan took the book in her hands and tried to open it. Ashes Lord shivered and felt down. With great difficulty, he said,

    "Not so fast, the book is me and I am the book. Only after I die can you open the book and it will answer all you want to know and even some which you do not want to know. I have been waiting for a long time to meet you. Remember even though you can use this book for now, but the rightful owner of this book is your son, Peter. When you meet Peter, you need to hand over the book to him and remember, no one must know of its existence except you and Peter! No one else must know"

 16 Chapter - 16

    Peter felt like he was being traveled to some other planet. The place was fully covered in ashes and nothing else! There was a man who was sitting above the ash pile and ashes were flowing out of his body. He pulled him towards the place where he was sitting.

    "I have been waiting for a long time now, Peter. I was even losing hope thinking about whether I would even be able to meet you or not. My life is almost over, so all I can do now is give you life."

    He picked little ash from his heart and gave it to Peter and said, "Eat this! The poison in your body will be destroyed. This is only a small gift from me as I expect you to do me a favor. Once you are awake, do not trust other than your mother. I have given a book to your mother for safekeeping, remember no one must know of its existence other than you and your mother. No one!"

    Peter looked at him with a feeling of uncertainty but also he felt worried about this unknown person.

    "Who are you? Why are you helping me? And why does your body have ashes flowing out? Are you sick? Can I do anything to help you feel better?" Peter asked many questions to the man in front of him.

    "Peter, if I only met you before! Now listen, Peter, I am dying and you cannot do anything to save me. I am just a replica that was created by Lord Ashes before he went to serve as the king of Asher. Listen carefully, I ask you for this one favor, please promise me you would do it for me!"

    "I promise", Peter said.

    "Peter, my child! Take care of yourself until you meet Ashes Lord, You need to promise me that when you see Ashes Lord you would forgive him and help him out of his misery. Please give him some hope in his life"

    "Why should I forgive him? Did he do something wrong?", Peter asked.

    "You have to figure out all the details yourself Peter. But remember your promise well..."Before the man could finish his sentence, Peter drifted away.

    As Peter woke up from his dreams, he saw Robert lying on the floor. He looked around his surroundings, everything looked completely different. He tried to get up but he felt too weak and fell down on Robert.

    Robert woke up with a jolt and saw Peter lying on him while struggling to get up. He helped him up and made him sit on the military cot.

    "Peter! You are finally awake!" Robert hugged him tightly which made Peter gasp for air.

    "Let me go, Robert! Let me go. You are holding me tight, release me." Peter hit Robert''s shoulders.

    "I will go to inform dad and Elly. oh, yes! I forgot to mention, your aunt Linda is here" Robert ran outside while shouting everyone''s name.

    When they all gathered, they realized Peter had changed! His hair had turned grey, ashes color and he looked a bit mature than before.

    "What happened to you? Why do you look changed? Even when I left you seconds before you were fine!" Robert exclaimed!

    "I don''t know," Peter said.

    When he woke up he saw that he was not actually cured and the poison was still there in his body. When he saw the ashes in his hands, he realized that that dream he saw was actually real! He ate the ashes and he felt some changes in him.

    He now felt like he had got some visions. He was able to feel and see the differences between each individual. At that time, he saw his aunt Linda and asked, "who are you?"

    "It''s your aunt, Linda. You haven''t met her in a while, so you might have forgotten." James said.

    "No! She is not my aunt Linda! Who are you? You are not one of them. I can see it", Peter moved closed to her while standing guard against her.

    Everyone turned and looked at her. They did not see any difference but why was Peter saying she is not his aunt.

    "That''s correct! I saw her turn her head towards me without turning her body but when I told everyone they laughed it off" Draven shouted from behind.

    "Where is my aunt Linda?" Peter asked while his eyes turned dark red and blue flames raised from his body.

    "So you met that coward, he could not fight with us, so went to hide but I know for sure that he gave you his powers, then that means he is already dead. Hahaha¡­" Linda laughed and disappeared into the air.

    "Everyone started searching the area, find her at all cost" James shouted.

    But whoever tried to move even an inch felt like they were sinking into a deep pit. Many of them fell into the pit and nobody could help them out. Even the one who tried to pull them up went along with them instead.

    "Stop moving! She turned the whole place into a deep hole and if you fell down there, then there is no coming out" Peter said.

    After analyzing the area, Peter found out that nothing was happening to him. He realized that this magic is actually from Ashes itself and because of that he was not affected and instead he like he is home.

    "We need to create several portals and send everyone out using that. I will try to move everyone out using my power but I don''t know how much it could work as I am more surprised myself than anyone here." Peter said.

    Robert felt his friend was not his friend anymore. He not only looked different but he behaved differently. Did the poison roast his brain and make him smarter and sharper?

    Should he have taken the poison instead? Then he could have become like him as well and he would not feel like left alone by himself. He could have also helped Peter now.

    Once almost everyone had left on the portal, only Elly, James, Robert, and Draven stood in that area.

    Peter asked Elly, "Elly, I need you to be brave and go with uncle James and Draven to save our aunt Linda. Will you do that for me?"

    "But Peter, what are you planning and why are you not telling us anything? What are you hiding, Peter?" James asked.

    He was worried something was wrong with Peter and he did not understand why Peter would ask Elly to go with them on such a dangerous operation? Isn''t he supposed to worry about her safety?

    Normal Peter would never send his own sister into danger. He even came here all by himself to rescue his sister but now he is sending her back? Why? He just could not understand this Peter anymore.

    "James, Elly knows in and out of the witch''s place and she can help you locate Linda. It would be much better with help rather than going there blindly and trying to fight her" Peter said.

    Even though what Peter said made sense, still James could not bring himself to take Elly with him. But before he could oppose the idea once more, Peter shouted, "It is an order"

    James automatically replied, "Yes sir"

    Once they left, Robert looked at Peter with a worried look along with fear. His face looked funny as he changed it between fear and worry simultaneously.

    "I am sorry if I frightened you. I will just send you back along with them." Peter said and tried to move towards Robert.

    "No! No! It''s fine. It is just that this is all too much to take right now", Robert said.

    "I know! Even though I don''t know what came over me right now and why did I talk to everyone like that? I know one thing for sure, all this which is happening is related to the guy I met in my¡­Aaahhh" Peter held his heart and kneeled on the ground.

 17 Chapter - 17

    Sussan looked at the book in her hand and then at the man who now almost turned into ashes. She felt too helpless as she could not save him. He did not deserve this, no one would want him to suffer all alone.

    While he was in his last breath, he said, "I met Peter! He was poisoned by the witch but do not worry he is ok now. He has my heart power but you might need to be careful as I cannot protect you once you are on your own. My time is almost up! The guardians will take me back to Ashes and until you give the book to Peter, you might face great danger because there are people out there who may kill anyone to get this book."

    Sussan wanted to say this book is not as important as his life but he couldn''t mouth out the words. She squatted down and held his hand while tears rolled down her eyes.

    "I am sorry, I feel helpless. I don''t know what I can do to make you feel better! Let me know about anything you need, I will try to fulfill it" Sussan said.

    "Now I know why he took a liking to you. If only he never met you, everything would have been fine now. After being alone for so many thousands of years, he wanted a family of his own but the girl who he fell in love with was actually already taken. He tried to control himself but he could not, so..." Ashes Lord''s replica said and he almost looked like he was in his last moments.

    "No one should know about Peter and Elly. No one! It is quite dangerous if they know he has 2 kids. The people will do anything to attain that much level of power. It is for this reason, Asher always made sure to keep him alone. His power brings destruction and nothing else. Please save Ashes Lord! This is my last request! I beg you¡­ I am sorry..." Before he could finish, he took his last breath, and his whole body crumbled into ashes.

    The light emitted later entered the book and disappeared into it. Sussan sat there for who knows how long. She could not digest the news she heard just now. She is in love with David and he is her husband now.

    Even though he never asked about the origin of Peter and Elly, She knows, he wants to know about it. Not that she did not want to tell him but she herself did not know how she got pregnant.

    Now she understood! She remembered and was able to connect the dots now. Every time she went to Asher, he was there! And she felt like she had forgotten something or some part of her memory and could not recall whatever that was! It was always blank and when she found out she was pregnant, she went into hiding!

    She did not know how it happened, all she had was fear! Uncertainty! Hopelessness! But now she is stronger than before! She will make sure Ashes Lord pays for what he did to them.

    When she came to her senses, everything around her was empty. The book which was in her hand disappeared. David came running towards her and lifted her up.

    "What happened? Where is Ashes Lord? Did he say anything?" David asked her many questions but all he heard was silence from her.

    Sussan just looked at David and then walked away without saying a word. She stood next to Brenda and said, "Let us go back. We need to find our kids."

    "What is wrong with you, Sussan? Why are you behaving this way? Did Ashes Lord say something? What did he say?" David kept on asking Sussan, looking all worried.

    Sussan ignored him and walked away pulling Brenda along with her. David chased them and stood in front of them.

    "Tell me, what do you know? What did he give you? Take it out right now." David demanded.

    His appearance totally changed, his skin became wrinkled and old. He looked very scary and his face showed no mercy.

    "Everyone run," Sussan shouted. She took a little bit of ''birneoseis'' powder and murmuring some magical words, she threw it at him.

    But before it could even touch him, he shifted and moved like the wind behind Sussan. Brenda opened a portal and pushed the old man into it. While he was pushed, he held Sussan and tried to pull her with him.

    Cathy came running towards them and took a magical knife and threw it at the old man. It went straight for his chest, and so to avoid it he left Sussan''s hand.

    "You ok, dear?" Cathy asked Sussan.

    Sussan just fell down because of the force and hit the rock next to her.

    Sussan could not process, what had just happened? If David is not David then where is David? Whatever happened today had made Sussan wonder what she should actually believe and what she should not?

    At that time, Peter along with Robert jumped out from a portal. Everyone looked at them in awe. Cathy was the first to react and ran towards Robert to hug him.

    "Robert, my dear grandson! You are back! How could you leave such an old lady alone with your mother? You know how horri.."

    Before Cathy could complain, Brenda shouted, "Mom..."

    Peter went near his mother and kneeled down before her. She put his hands on her shoulders and said,

    "It''s going to be ok, Mom! Let us go find, Dad. We will find them together. Do not worry, I am here for you"

    She lifted her head and looked at Peter, she hugged him and whispered into his ears, "I have the book"

    "I know but let us not talk about it now, Mom. We need to go and help rescue Aunt Linda" Peter said.

    Sussan turned and looked at her clan who was now standing around them. Hiding her fear and sadness she looked around and said, "Now it is our time to fight back and not to run. We are brave, we have magic in our hands, We know these witches can disguise themselves and can mingle with us. So if we are cautious and act with our cunningness which our ancestors taught us, then we will be the winner and no one can stand against us."

    "I want you all to go back to the border, while I and my mother will go rescue the people who the Old witch imprisoned. Cathy will lead the group but do not try to cross the border until you see my signal across the border"

 18 Chapter - 18

    Brenda and Robert helped them to open a portal to the old witch''s place. As the old witch''s place keeps moving from one place to another and that too with a protective shield, Robert was not sure if he could exactly point to the place which they needed to go.

    But as the time was most precious at the moment, he informed Peter to be careful. Peter just nodded his head and whispered something into his ears alone. Robert nodded his head and left the place along with his mother, once he made sure Peter and Sussan went inside the portal successfully.

    The portal closed and their long journey towards the border started! They did not know what is right or what''s wrong. All they wanted was to get back to their own home. Now they understood fleeing was never a solution at all.

    "I hope we did not make a big mistake by leaving earlier," Cathy said worriedly.

    "We did not leave that place because we were afraid but we wanted them to live in peace. We are their friends and as well as family. So how could we simply put them in danger along with ours? We did not mind dying but we definitely did not want to see them die" Brenda cried.

    Brenda missed her husband very badly. She remembered the time he proposed to her. When Robert was born, the happiest person was James. They had so many memorable memories but leaving was the only option she could think of at that time. She wanted him to live a good life.

    Even if she was asked to choose once again, she would definitely not have any change in her decision. James is the best and she would do anything for him to keep him safe.

    Brenda also felt bad for her friend Sussan. she could not figure out if David is not David, then where the hell is he? How could they not even differentiate between David and that creature?

    If she couldn''t find out then it is fine but why not Sussan? Did they intentionally keep Elly with them, so as to distract Sussan and get her attention diverted? She wanted to pull all her hair out. It was too confusing and nerve-racking. She just hoped that Sussan and Peter would find Elly faster so that they can concentrate on the war and try to stop it altogether.

    "Who started the rumor first that there was going to be a war if we Lambanies continued to stay there?" Brenda asked around all of a sudden as if she realized something was definitely wrong!

    "Isn''t David?, I meant the duplicate, David?" Sommer said.

    He was upset that the one he trusted to be a friend had all of a sudden turned into an old man and even tried to kill everyone. Sommer still could not believe all that happened around him and especially with the man whom he trusted the most.

    After analyzing the situation, Brenda thought if it was spread by the duplicate David, then it means they intentionally want them to be away from their places.

    It is always easy to defeat an enemy whom we can see with our naked eyes but an enemy who can disguise as one among us and try to create the fight, it is going to be the most dangerous war and even the most difficult one to win. History has never recorded anything like this ever before!!

    Brenda shivered and shouted to everyone, "We need to move fast! Looks like our greatest enemy might be within us and we need to fight harder to separate them from us, so we can defeat them."

    At that time Robert who was silently preparing a potion rushed towards his mom and said, "Mom, I have made a magical potion which can act as an invisible paint. Peter told me that no witch can see those except us! This will help us differentiate between our people and the witches. Peter already scanned each of us and he assured me that everyone present here is a Lambanies. Now we need to paint everyone''s hand so that if anyone tries to mingle with us, then we can be cautious. And I added Birneoseis powder a little bit to the potion, so that if anyone other than our clam members tried to use this paint, then it will burn them to ashes."

    Brenda immediately informed everyone around them about this and said, "I will paint your hand with invisible paint so that we will know who belongs to our clan and who doesn''t. My son, Robert, has prepared this potion and he even made sure to add Birneoseis powder. So do not worry, they can never mingle with us with this special paint mark"

    Cathy finally felt a little proud of her daughter Brenda, who took the initiative to maintain a little calmness among the clan members. She even knew that most of the credit goes to Robert and his friend Peter.

    So she ignored Brenda and helped Robert in applying the invisible paint on everyone''s hand. Once they were done, they started their journey to the border.

    When Peter and Sussan reached the other side of the Portal, they saw that they came to a wide desert and there were no stones, just sand everywhere. Did they reach the wrong place as the witch shifted her place once again?

    So they tried to jump into the portal to reach some other nearest place but before they could do that, a gap appeared before them and they saw the witch''s slave.

    "Our majesty, invite you humbly inside our small place", one of the slaves said without any emotions.

    Sussan and Peter stood on guard! As Peter already has an experience of him being tied around a magical rope with just their finger shake, he tried to move his mother behind him.

    Sussan looked at her son, who normally would even hesitate to speak to anyone, was acting all brave today. She never once in her life expected that Peter would actually stand before her in a protective stance.

    It is her duty to protect her son! Why was the role reversed? Still, Sussan felt a deep satisfaction in her heart. Anyways being Ashes son, this is one of the qualities expected out of him. Thinking of Ashes lord, she was reminded about David.

    She wanted to know whether David she married was the actual David or the imposter? Why? Why her? She knew something was missing but she could not point out what it was?

    Suddenly she realized something and looked at Peter! It is for Peter! They all are after Peter! They know he was Ashes son and the only way to assure that they have his power is trying to convince Peter himself.

    But Peter leaving in search of his sister Elly put their plan at risk. But then the imposter actually knows about the book even before her! Who are these people? Why are they here?

    Only by meeting the witch, they will find out. So, she took Peter''s hand and pulled him inside the half-opened protective barrier.

 19 Chapter - 19

    "Welcome, My dear visitor", Bairania welcomed them with a huge smile.

    But her smile could not hide the ugliness of her face. Her scheming eyes examined Sussan and displayed hatred. She did not bother much with them but still, everyone present there could feel the tension in the air.

    "Where is my husband, David?", Sussan asked directly.

    "Are you even sure he was your husband?", Bairania asked with a smirk in the corner of her mouth.

    "What are you trying to say?", Sussan asked in a confused state.

    "Oh, boy! This is going to be more difficult than I imagined. Sussan! my dear Sussan! Really? Don''t you understand it all already after what you saw? I have always heard everyone praise you, Sussan. You are the brilliant person on this whole Asher system but look at you now! I feel pity for you! You do not even know that the David whom everyone saw was actually one of us." Bairania said while holding her chair and looking outside the vast area.

    Just that time Peter noticed that what she was looking at is not Ether but some other planet. Realizing that Peter had noticed it, Bairania had a smile on her face. These people are so easy to fool, and she could not understand what Ashes Lord saw in them.

    If only he had helped them before, then they would have not spent so much time on these foolish people and even had to trick them into doing certain things.

    "Whatever, I do not want to argue with you! I want to see David, right now!" Sussan shouted.

    Bairania took a blue powder from her pouch and blew it on Sussan''s face when no one was expecting. Peter became alarmed and tried to come in front of his mother. But it was too late!

    "What did you do?", Peter took his original form and stood in a threatening form.

    "Oh! Peter boy, just relax. Looks like you need this powder more than your mother. But what to do, since you have his heart, nothing would work on you" Bairania said while looking a little sad.

    "Do not change the subject, I ask you for the last time! What did you throw at my mother" Peter asked angrily.

    "Fine!Fine! It is just a relaxing powder. Your mother looked like she needed some after looking at the way she saw shouting", said Bairania.

    Peter looked at Bairania with cautious eyes. How did she find out about what happened with him and the Ashes Lord, that too it all happened when he was in his dreams.

    Is that why she tried to poison him, and she sent that clone before. So that she can monitor his movements.

    "Where is Linda?" Peter asked.

    Sussan looked at him when he mentioned Linda. She thought Linda must know where David is?

    "Now that is the right question to ask! Let us all go, I will take you to Linda" Bairania took them to the dungeon where Peter and Robert were kept as prisoners.

    Linda was lying on one corner of the cage and she did not look good. When she heard noises around her, she lifted her head up. When she met Sussan''s eyes, she could not hide her guilty consciousness.

    She lowered her head and continued to lie down, pretending like a dead person. Sussan walked towards the cage hurriedly and was about to touch it. But Peter was even faster and pulled her back.

    Bairania laughed and said, "Oh, Peter do not worry. I did not put any poison this time. Anyways happy reunion to you all. Bye-bye. I am leaving."

    Saying this Bairania flew away and even disappeared. His slaves followed her. They left everything behind which confused Peter. What are they planning to do?

    But right now, his priority was to find his sister Elly and the remaining people who came to rescue Linda. Sussan opened the door of the cage and rushed towards Linda.

    After looking at Sussan, tears dropped from her eyes. She just kept on saying, "Sorry, I am so sorry.."

    Sussan hugged her and comforted her. Linda rejected that comfort by pushing her away.

    She said, " I do not deserve you comforting me. I have done a sin by letting David come back. It is all my fault. Now he is gone! All I wanted was to be with my brother for long but later I realized what a grave sin I have committed. But it is all now too late. Nothing can be changed."

    "Do not cry. It is ok, it is not your fault. Let us get out of this place first. Come on! Get up!" Sussan pulled Linda up with all her strength.

    But Linda did not want to go with her and refused her saying she deserved to die and no one should show any mercy to her. At that time Draven came near her and touched her face.

    "If you deserve to die then so am I. Even I hid the truth from everyone. I already found out about it on the first day when we went to check the portals, across the border. So, I will stay with you here", Draven said with confidence.

    Linda started to think and stood up. She even pulled up Draven and said with determined eyes,

    "Let us all hunt down that witch! I know where to find her"

    Peter went around and rescued everyone including the animals and plants which were locked by the witch.

    First, he found Elly, James, and others. They were locked in the same cage which was used to imprison them before. Once they were out, everyone ran around and opened the cages which were stacked in everyone.

    By the time they rescued and came out, the place started to crumble down. It collapsed and soon disappeared. The protective barrier also disappeared right after the building started its own destruction.

 20 Chapter - 20

    Once Peter saw the deserted place around them, he wondered why he did not know about such a place before. When he turned to ask James about it, James already realized what Peter wants to know, and so he replied,

    "This is a restricted military area. Here they test new weapons after the completion of the final phase. But it has been closed for some decade as the place became unsuitable for even visiting after they invented a wrong weapon and brought it to test it here. It caused the area to be completely filled with dangerous poison. It was the head at that time who helped to conceal the poison but he went missing right after that incident"

    Peter felt like James was hiding something but still out of curiosity he asked, "So did they find him later?"

    James looked at Peter and wondered should he tell the kid the truth or not. After he saw the powers of the kid, he did not think it was right for him to hide it. He knows even if he hides it now, later he would definitely find it out.

    "He came back to us a few months before with a decree. As it was brought by the elder and it held the seal of the council, we couldn''t avoid what had happened later! We all regret it", James informed Peter with a guilty expression as because of this, his stupid wife Brenda left him without even informing him in advance.

    When he came back to his empty house, he just wanted to shout out aloud. How could she just run away from home and that too at this age? Doesn''t she know how much he loves her? How could she do this to him?

    Peter did not want to miss this opportunity to know more about this incident, and so he asked, "So he disappeared and came back, that too, with a decree from Asher''s council directly?"

    "Yes," James replied calmly, even though he felt that he was being questioned by a kid who is not even half his age.

    "Do you mean to say that, the elder himself went to Asher?", Peter asked once again to understand the whole situation.

    "We do not know the exact details. All we know is that when he came back he was the one holding the decree. But still, we cannot assume anything until we ask him the truth" James concluded as he did not want to create any misunderstanding as the elder was considered as a legend.

    "Fine. Then I will go and ask him myself," Peter announced and did not wait to take even his mother''s permission.

    "Peter, how can you go alone? You are still a small kid. We already did not have a conversation about how you left the camp without informing me before, to find your sister across the border. And now you want to go once again all by yourself? No! No! It is not happening!" Sussan declared and protested against his idea of going alone.

    "I am sorry, at that time all I could think of is about sister Elly. I am sorry, I hurt you mom. But now I really need to go before the elder disappear and we miss the target once again." Peter tried to convince her mother.

    But after looking at her stubborn expression all he could do is sigh and said,

    "Alright, fine! If you are against me going alone by myself, then I will take Draven with me."

    Draven, who was hanging around Linda while flirting with her, when he heard his name being mentioned, he just raised his head for a second. Then he went back to continue his flirting with Linda as if his name was not mentioned at all and ignored everyone else.

    James just coughed after looking at the way Draven behaved. He just wanted to kick him and make him run around the field as a punishment. But right now as he saw that the time was precious, he called Draven and asked him to go with Peter.

    "What? No! I need to give emotional support to Linda. She just came out of such trauma and needs me now. I cannot go! Please send someone else, major!" Draven replied as if he did not want to get involved in all these politics and just wanted to spend time with Linda alone.

    Linda, who was already getting irritated with all his teasing and wooing, just kicked him on his legs.

    Linda said, "who wants your emotional support? Did I ask you? Just go with Peter! And I hope I never have to see your face ever again! I heard that you kissed the clone before! You even have the nerve to come and talk to me shamelessly. Go and love that clone! Leave me alone!"

    Draven felt hurt and tried to explain it was that clone who took advantage of him by kissing. He is still as pure as before and also waiting for love from Linda.

    As he did not want to be kicked again, he just hung his head and followed Peter. Before leaving, Peter instructed everyone else to go near the border to let their clan come inside the border.

    Also, he informed his mother, "You need to check each and everyone''s hand for an invisible paint marking. Only those people belong to our clan. If you see anyone with those markings, then make sure to arrest them. Or if they try to put out a fight, Uncle James, you know what to do"

    Once he made sure that he had informed them of all the required details, he walked forward while Draven followed behind. Once he was sure that everyone has left, he turned towards the sulking Draven and said,

    "You need to disguise yourself as someone else. It is dangerous and I already warn you, surviving is slightly difficult if you do not follow what I tell you to do"

    Draven looked at the kid with a smirk, as he thought Peter is just a kid with some little extra power. He did not take Peter seriously and tried to walk around him.

    Peter pulled him back and showed his real form. He then ordered, "If you do not do what I tell you to do, then I will make sure that you never see Linda again! Do you understand what I am saying now?"

    Looking at Peter who suddenly turned from a small, cute little kid to a Devil, Draven shivered. He just nodded his head and started to disguise himself into a pretty little girl.

    Looking at his comedic face, Peter just couldn''t hold his laugh. But still, he controlled him so as to make Draven follow his advice.

 21 Chapter - 21

    James, Sussan, Elly, and Linda reached the border to let everyone in. Sussan went across the border with the help of James. When they reached that side of the border, James used the latest technology to open a huge artificial portal to let everyone in.

    Sussan and Brenda stood on each side checking every one of their clan member''s hands who stood orderly in a row. When the last person reached the portal, he turned around and tried to skip the checking.

    Brenda took a magical rope and held his neck while James tied an electrical cord on both his hands and legs. He felt down while puffing and then fainted.

    Sussan went to examine his hands and saw no marks visible. Slowly the young man turned into an old man with wrinkles. Looking at him, they wondered still how many more do they need to hunt down.

    Looked like the infiltration started way before they even started noticing. They could not come to a conclusion when it all started but now they had a rough idea that it is going to be more dangerous from now on.

    Elly and Linda received the people who came out of the portal. When Elly saw Robert, she went running towards him to hug him. Robert looked at Linda worriedly.

    Linda came towards him and patted his back and said, "Do not worry lad, nothing can happen to me until I hunt that old witch down."

    Robert then looked around for Peter, when he could not find him, he started to look at Linda questioningly. Linda just ignored him and turned around when she saw Sussan and Brenda come out of the portal.

    James went on to check the perimeters when he was about to reach the last portal he saw the portal did not have any glitch. It looked like it was newly fixed.

    James immediately became alerted and sent messages to his team through a secured connection. When his team arrived, they started examining the area thoroughly.

    But they could not find anything suspicious. James broke the portal with his artificial rod and lit the fire on the portal. Then he ordered his team to retreat to safety.

    When James flew around, he saw a bush shake around heavily. He aimlessly shot the bush but still, it did not stop shaking. He then called for back up and one of his team members went to examine what was behind the bush.

    But even after waiting for a long time he did not come back, all that was left was the shaking bush and they could not even reach him. All the connections between him and the team got to cut all of a sudden.

    Everyone went around to check it together but suddenly the bush stopped shaking. It went under the soil and a stream appeared out of nowhere which swallowed everyone into it except one of the team members.

    James tried to jump out of the stream but it did not let him go. When the left out team member, Jack tried to follow the stream it quickly disappeared without a trace.

    He immediately flew across the border to inform Linda and others. When Sussan and Brenda heard that, they immediately shouted ''Secure'' forest.

    "Linda, you need to take everyone to safety, we need to go find James right now. I do not know why the magical stream appeared near the border, it looks like something is definitely wrong. Even though it can roam around, it has its own set limitation. It would never try to take someone forcefully if they do not wish to go somewhere." Sussan explained to Linda.

    Linda and Jack helped the clan members to move towards the secured military base while Sussan, Brenda, Elly, and Robert with the help of the portal which Brenda created traveled towards the Secure forest.

    When Peter and Draven reached the military base, they could not meet the elder at first as the security was too tight. The base was made to secure against any magical powers.

    They waited until the Asher disappeared, the sky became dark with no stars around. Slowly they crept along the fence where they found a small hole. Peter tried to enter through that hole as it seemed to be a perfect size for him.

    But Draven pulled him back, he almost literally shouted but looking around the area he controlled his voice and said, "Do you even know what you are trying to do? You are breaching the military base. Do you know what awaits the one who breaches it? Death! Only death! No one has even come out alive after entering this fence illegally."

    "So what now? Do we have to wait until someone will come and give us legal access?" Peter asked sarcastically.

    "Hell! No! You just need to use my access card to enter the base. But for that, I need to become me!" Draven replied with the same sarcasm.

    "No! Definitely no! You stay in this disguise, it is for your own safety." Peter said

    "I do not understand from whom you are protecting me from? I am a team member who works under James. I work here! I come here every day to submit my work report. So what do you think will happen to me at my own home? I feel safer here, it is my second home or maybe you can just say my first. Most of the time I sleep here at night rather than my own home" Draven replied without any worry.

    "Everything is fine until the witch does not see your face! She has seen it and you even got imprisoned by her", Peter said irritatingly as he was unable to make this adult understand what trouble he had got himself into.

    "So, you mean that the witch might be here or he has someone who might very well work for her?"

    Draven asked while thinking that it is highly impossible as they were the more secure and powerful compared to any other planet''s military system. They were especially loyal to the system and would not hesitate to sacrifice their lives to protect their planet.

    Peter sighed while he understood Draven''s gaze. It is not only their military who would be ready to do sacrifices, but even his own clan members would not hesitate if there were any such incidents. But right now the situation is different, he controlled his emotions and looked at Draven.

    "I think the elder whom James mentioned before, I suspect he might be involved in all these. This is just my thoughts and I want to make sure that whatever I am thinking is not the truth" Peter said.

    Draven looked back at Peter and one part of his brain suggested that Peter might be correct, while the other hesitated as Elder is considered as a legend and he was in a higher position than anyone else.

    "Look, if you want to meet the elder then why are we here in the military base? We just need to go to his house" Draven suggested.

    "So, he doesn''t live here? I thought all the higher-ups were supposed to stay at the military base as per rules." Peter said.

    "Yes, as per the normal rule that is correct but Elder came back after a long time and the military did not allocate a position to the elder yet. So, for the time being, he is staying at his vacation home" Draven replied casually.

    "So what are we waiting for? Let us go" Peter said.

    "Really? How? Do you think I have his address in my pocket and would roam around with it every day?" Draven said.

    "Then go find the address," Peter said.

    "No one will give me his address if I go in this disguise," Draven said.

    Peter just nodded his head to indicate that he can change out of it now. Draven immediately removed it and ran towards the entrance of the military base.

 22 Chapter 22

    When Draven came back, he had a huge smile while shaking the hands in the air with the copied address on the small digital monitor. Peter looked at him and smiled back.

    "So, let us go" Draven started the flying machine but Peter did not hop on.

    Draven looked at Peter who was just staring at him with no intention to get in.

    "What now?" Draven asked impatiently.

    "Your disguise!" Peter replied calmly.

    "Seriously? Right now! Is it really important?" Draven asked.

    "Yes," Peter said.

    "Ok fine! I did not know that you had this weird interest in seeing a man wearing girl''s clothes! Awesome! Just Awesome!" Draven complained.

    "I never asked you to disguise as a girl! It was you who chose that costume!"

    When Peter saw that Draven was almost back to being a girl, he got in and they both flew together. Within minutes they were at the place where the elder lived.

    Once they got down, Draven shrunk the machine and put it in his backpack. Peter signaled Draven to stay behind but he did not listen and followed Peter with some distance.

    Peter checked the area and realized that he was getting a familiar feeling about this place. When he turned around, all of a sudden he realized that they came to the place where he met Elly before.

    The kids running around the street, it all looked real. He stopped a kid only to notice that he had no eyes. When a bunch of kids saw that Peter had stopped a kid, they started to disappear into the dark alley.

    Peter felt something unusual about the kid, so he asked, "Who are you?"

    The kid did not say anything. He just stood there and in seconds, before Peter could realize what had happened the kid melted away. The other kids came out after watching that with fear.

    "You are our savior! You have finally come back to save us all! Long live Ashes! Long live Ashes Lord!" a group of people out of nowhere jumped in front of Peter and took him away.

    Draven who looked at this felt his jaw drop. Ashes? Ashes Lord? Why do these people belong to Ashes on our planet? And why did they say that Peter is their savior?

    Before Draven could get confused by himself, Peter came running towards him while pulling him away.

    "We need to fly now¡­ Make it fast, I do not have enough energy to stop everyone who is chasing us now" Peter said in a hurry.

    "What do you mean by us? It is you! They are after you!" Draven said.

    But still, he opened his backpack only to realize that it was empty with nothing in it. No! How is it possible?

    "What happened? Hurry!" Peter urged.

    "Hmm¡­ Even if you want me to hurry, I cannot! As someone emptied my backpack completely." Draven finally understood the severity.

    "Are you sure?" Peter asked.

    "I am sure but there is a way to stop them!" Draven stopped halfway and said with a smile.

    "What?" Peter got irritated as he could not understand what Draven said.

    "Look at the kid behind you," Draven said.

    Peter tried to look behind him but could not find any kid. He looked at him questioningly. Draven just shook his shoulder and lifted the tiny kid who was holding onto Peter from behind.

    "Oh! Let me go right now!", the little kid shouted.

    Peter looked at the tiny kid and then back at Draven, as he still could not understand what Draven was trying to say!

    "Ok¡­ All we need to do is make this kid pretend like you!" Draven said.

    "How? We are not the old witch who can change the appearance as we want" Peter said irritatingly.

    "No! All you need to do is ask him. And he will change! Won''t you do that for us Elder?" Draven said.

    The little kid immediately changed into an old man and stood before them.

    "Draven, my son, you are as clever as always. You have become brighter and sharper than the last time we met. My son!" Elder said in an excited voice and even tried to hug him.

    Draven pushed him away and said, "You are not my father! Who are you?"

    "I am your father! How can you doubt that? Without me, you could have not survived" Elder said.

    "I do not care! Stop those people right now and ask them to return all my things back" Draven ordered.

    "So now you have even grown up to order me? Your Father?" The elder shouted angrily.

    "You are not my father! He died as a hero! He became a legend who will be remembered for his good deeds. But who are you? Why do you want to spoil my father''s name?" Draven asked.

    "So, Elder is your father," Peter asked while looking at both of them in astonishment.

    "Yes! He was! But I do not know the person in front of us" Draven said.

    "Then who are you?" Peter asked the Elder once again.

    "I am Draven''s father." The elder replied once again.

    "How can you be my father? I sent my father to Asher by myself. My father sacrificed himself to protect everyone on this planet. But you, on the other hand, came here to destroy this planet and the whole Asher system." Draven said.

 22 Chapter - 22

    When Draven came back, he had a huge smile while shaking the hands in the air with the copied address on the small digital monitor. Peter looked at him and smiled back.

    "So, let us go" Draven started the flying machine but Peter did not hop on.

    Draven looked at Peter who was just staring at him with no intention to get in.

    "What now?" Draven asked impatiently.

    "Your disguise!" Peter replied calmly.

    "Seriously? Right now! Is it really important?" Draven asked.

    "Yes," Peter said.

    "Ok fine! I did not know that you had this weird interest in seeing a man wearing girl''s clothes! Awesome! Just Awesome!" Draven complained.

    "I never asked you to disguise as a girl! It was you who chose that costume!"

    When Peter saw that Draven was almost back to being a girl, he got in and they both flew together. Within minutes they were at the place where the elder lived.

    Once they got down, Draven shrunk the machine and put it in his backpack. Peter signaled Draven to stay behind but he did not listen and followed Peter with some distance.

    Peter checked the area and realized that he was getting a familiar feeling about this place. When he turned around, all of a sudden he realized that they came to the place where he met Elly before.

    The kids running around the street, it all looked real. He stopped a kid only to notice that he had no eyes. When a bunch of kids saw that Peter had stopped a kid, they started to disappear into the dark alley.

    Peter felt something unusual about the kid, so he asked, "Who are you?"

    The kid did not say anything. He just stood there and in seconds, before Peter could realize what had happened the kid melted away. The other kids came out after watching that with fear.

    "You are our savior! You have finally come back to save us all! Long live Ashes! Long live Ashes Lord!" a group of people out of nowhere jumped in front of Peter and took him away.

    Draven who looked at this felt his jaw drop. Ashes? Ashes Lord? Why do these people belong to Ashes on our planet? And why did they say that Peter is their savior?

    Before Draven could get confused by himself, Peter came running towards him while pulling him away.

    "We need to fly now¡­ Make it fast, I do not have enough energy to stop everyone who is chasing us now" Peter said in a hurry.

    "What do you mean by us? It is you! They are after you!" Draven said.

    But still, he opened his backpack only to realize that it was empty with nothing in it. No! How is it possible?

    "What happened? Hurry!" Peter urged.

    "Hmm¡­ Even if you want me to hurry, I cannot! As someone emptied my backpack completely." Draven finally understood the severity.

    "Are you sure?" Peter asked.

    "I am sure but there is a way to stop them!" Draven stopped halfway and said with a smile.

    "What?" Peter got irritated as he could not understand what Draven said.

    "Look at the kid behind you," Draven said.

    Peter tried to look behind him but could not find any kid. He looked at him questioningly. Draven just shook his shoulder and lifted the tiny kid who was holding onto Peter from behind.

    "Oh! Let me go right now!", the little kid shouted.

    Peter looked at the tiny kid and then back at Draven, as he still could not understand what Draven was trying to say!

    "Ok¡­ All we need to do is make this kid pretend like you!" Draven said.

    "How? We are not the old witch who can change the appearance as we want" Peter said irritatingly.

    "No! All you need to do is ask him. And he will change! Won''t you do that for us Elder?" Draven said.

    The little kid immediately changed into an old man and stood before them.

    "Draven, my son, you are as clever as always. You have become brighter and sharper than the last time we met. My son!" Elder said in an excited voice and even tried to hug him.

    Draven pushed him away and said, "You are not my father! Who are you?"

    "I am your father! How can you doubt that? Without me, you could have not survived" Elder said.

    "I do not care! Stop those people right now and ask them to return all my things back" Draven ordered.

    "So now you have even grown up to order me? Your Father?" The elder shouted angrily.

    "You are not my father! He died as a hero! He became a legend who will be remembered for his good deeds. But who are you? Why do you want to spoil my father''s name?" Draven asked.

    "So, Elder is your father," Peter asked while looking at both of them in astonishment.

    "Yes! He was! But I do not know the person in front of us" Draven said.

    "Then who are you?" Peter asked the Elder once again.

    "I am Draven''s father." The elder replied once again.

    "How can you be my father? I sent my father to Asher by myself. My father sacrificed himself to protect everyone on this planet. But you, on the other hand, came here to destroy this planet and the whole Asher system." Draven grunted.

 23 Chapter - 23

    When Sussan and Brenda along with Robert and Elly reached Secare forest, they saw other than James everyone else was lying down on the floor. Brenda and Robert rushed towards James to hold him tight. They couldn''t imagine what would have happened if anything went wrong to him.

    Sussan hurried towards them to check if everyone is still alive. Once, she confirmed that she breathed a sigh of relief.

    "What happened?" She looked at James and asked.

    James just stared at her but did not give any response. Brenda looked worried and tried to shake him out of his state. But the more she shook, the more she felt that only his body was here but not his mind.

    Sussan went forward and examined him. She looked at Brenda and shook her head. She stopped Brenda who was about to bawl, and said,

    "He is unconscious like all others but he can still hear us. He just could not respond to us yet. Looks like his consciousness drifted off to some other place."

    "You are correct! He is not alive nor he is dead. He is not supposed to be here in the first place" a voice spoke but how much ever they searched the nearby forest area they couldn''t see anyone.

    "You cannot find me with your naked eyes. I want you all to leave my forest" the voice said.

    Elly ran towards her mother and pulled her towards the lake which magically appeared minutes after they arrived. When they all looked inside, they saw all the soldiers who had fainted in front of them.

    They were tied to a magical vine and they all looked drunk. Everyone was present except James.

    "Where is James? Where is he? You better let my husband go or else I will burn down this whole forest" Brenda shouted at the top of her lungs.

    But all they heard back was just a laugh! The voice just laughed for a few minutes before it sent a wave of the storm towards them. They were all lifted in the air and were being pushed inside the lake.

    Sussan took the last remaining petal and a little of Asher powder to throw it at the storm. But before it could even reach the storm, it disappeared into the lake.

    As they were waiting to be swallowed by the lake, all of a sudden everything returned back to the time they just arrived. The process just repeated multiple times and at one point Sussan shouted "STOP".

    "Let us try some other method! We are just going on indefinite loops and we do not know what this forest wants from us" Brenda suggested.

    They all sat in one place and waited for the voice to appear but as they did not do anything, they did not hear anyone speak anymore. Elly slowly moved towards a bush and caught an insect.

    Before Sussan could run towards her and stop her, the insect already jumped down from her hands and enlarged in size.

    "You finally found me, little girl! I am the guardian angel of this forest. No one must enter this forest! You all must leave the forest at once" Ectoproda insect spoke which made everyone speechless.

    "Then why did the magic stream kidnap my husband and his team? We did not come here willingly and we do not wish to come to such an insecure forest. Let my husband and his team go, then we would never come back here again" Brenda almost went to hit the insect''s head.

    Sussan and Robert held her back and tried to calm her down. But she was not ready to listen as she was now feeling worried for James. Looking at the way Brenda was behaving, Ectoproda lost his patience and took the magical rod he was holding to hit her head slightly.

    Brenda lost consciousness like everyone else and fainted. Her soul moved inside the lake and got locked by the magical vine.

    Sussan held Brenda''s unconscious body and made her lie down next to James. She looked at Ectoproda and then at the lake which had everyone''s soul tightly tied to the magical vine.

    "Alright, what do you want from us?" Sussan asked, looking at Ectoproda directly.

    "Correct question! I want you all to leave this forest right now" Ectoproda said.

    "We will leave but we need everyone''s soul back to them, then we can all leave" Sussan answered.

    "Wrong answer! I want you all to leave this forest right now" Ectoproda said.

    "How can we leave without them?" Sussan asked.

    "Wrong question. I want you all to leave this forest right now" Ectoproda said once again.

    "Ok. what should we do to make you release them?" Sussan asked.

    "Wrong question! I want you all to leave this forest right now" Ectoproda said.

    Robert then pulled Sussan and Elly away. At first, Sussan thought they were going out of the forest but Robert actually brought them even deeper into the forest.

    "Aunt Sussan, I don''t think that insect would do what we ask him to! Daddy was still conscious and he signaled me to take you both away. He was just acting to be like everyone else so as to find a way to escape from that insect. And that is why we did not see his soul inside the lake."

    "Thank Goodness, at least he is still ok! I am sorry about Brenda, darling! I should have stopped her but I failed" Sussan said while patting Robert''s head.

    "It is ok Aunt Sussan. We all know how my mom is! She always acts first and then thinks. So do not worry, let us just try to find some way to help dad rescue everyone!" Robert said.

    When they looked around, they saw a completely different world around them. The place looked like it was formed of multi-colored crystal rocks. The magic they felt was too extreme, so Sussan asked the children to not enter that place.

    So, they all hid behind a huge crystal to monitor the insect. Soon, it became dark and the crystal behind them started to shine brightly. It made them feel like all the crystals had just come to life.

    And they were not wrong, few of the crystals extended their arms and yawned.

    "How many times have I told you not to yawn in front of our guests?" a crystal which sounded like a lady scolded the crystal man behind her.

    Few tiny shaped crystals ran around the three in circles. Elly knelt down and tried to lift one of the crystal kids up but he escaped through her fingers to hide behind his mother.

 24 Chapter - 24

    "Hi, I am Kristine. We are the Crystalinans. We humbly welcome you all to our home" The mother welcomed them.

    "We are sorry to intrude you, without any prior warning. Our friends were caught by that insect and when one of our friends tried to rescue them, he captured her soul as well" Sussan said.

    "Oh! He is one nasty bug. He had always done that when someone tried to invade his territory. No one had escaped from his claws until now. So I am not sure if you will ever be able to see your friends again." The kid''s father Kristone said.

    Elly sat down on one of the colored rocks, it shook her off. Kristine''s kids laughed and ran around Elly. Robert helped Elly up and shooed the kids away.

    "Our kids are slightly naughty until they turn twenty years old. We are sorry, it is really difficult to control them but they mean no harm" Kristine explained.

    "It is ok, I understand. I have two kids and they used to be quite a handful when they were little." Sussan smiled and tried to soothe the awkward situation.

    At that time James came running with Brenda in his arms. Looking at that Kristone cleared the area for him to place Brenda down.

    "I sneaked out when the insect went out for a hunt. I will leave Brenda here and will try to get as many soldiers as possible before the insect comes back" saying that James tried to go back.

    "Wait! I can help you with bringing them all back in one go" Kristone said.

    Kristone, along with his clan, easily opened a dark hole. They asked Sussan and James to lift them one by one through that hole and pulled them out.

    Finally, before the insect came back, everyone was rescued.

    But still, their soul is trapped inside the lake. Kristine made a crystal block for every single one of them and hid them complete.

    "If we do not hide them properly then, Ectoproda would come here to retrieve them as the souls are still connected to the bodies. He would be able to track the cord and find them. Then all our efforts would go to waste." Kristine explained her action for making them hide under the crystal blocks.

    Sussan and James nodded their heads in understanding. Sussan was still not sure how much they could trust these Crystalinans yet. But as they had no other option now, she decided to take help from them.

    "Thank you, Kristine, for your help. I hope we will be able to find a solution for them to revive once again." James said.

    "I am sorry we cannot help you to revive them. If we do then we might have to break the peace which we maintained in this land till now." Kristone said.

    Sussan found something odd in his response so she asked, "So do you know any ways to revive them?"

    "As Kristone said we cannot help you! Please do not put us in a difficult situation by asking this question" Kristine looked wary of them now.

    Robert, who looked at the kids who were running around, definitely felt something was definitely wrong with this place. These kids did not behave like normal kids, they looked like they did not have a mind of their own.

    They just jumped and hopped everywhere but exactly every fifteen minutes later they would run behind Kristine and hide. It doesn''t matter what they were doing, they would do this without missing even once.

    "Dad, something is quite wrong here" Robert pulled James aside and whispered in his ears, what he noticed about the kids.

    Even James started to look at the kids with caution. Looking at that Kristine signaled Kristone to bring the kids away. But before he could do so, James stopped him.

    "Tell us what is wrong with those kids" James held Kristone down with one swipe and demanded.

    "Nothing is wrong! Nothing!" Kristone shuttered.

    "What is wrong with you people? Why are you behaving so rudely even after we helped you protect your friends? Leave my husband alone or else I will kill your wife" Kristine held Brenda in her hands within minutes.

    "Relax everyone! James, let Kristone go and Kristine, you also let Brenda go" Sussan shouted and tried to stop them from going against each other.

    Once they both let go of the people they were holding Sussan moved towards James to pat his shoulders. She gave him a magic potion to drink which will calm him down for the time being.

    "So, what are you hiding from us, Kristine? Why are your kids behaving oddly? Please do not tell me they were just innocent and naughty kids. I would not believe it now" Sussan asked calmly.

    Kristine looked at Kristone and when he nodded his head, she started to tell the reason behind their kid''s behavior.

    "It all happened when Bairania visited our land a decade ago. We welcomed her without realizing the danger she was going to inflict on us. She started to rule this Secare forest and slowly damaged its core value. Almost all the creatures who once roamed freely became extinct. When we noticed that it was too late. She captured all of them and experimented on them. We couldn''t rescue any of them"

    Kristine stopped there and started to bawl her eyes out. Kristone who could bear to see his wife cry went and held her tightly.

    "Can we talk about this later? She cannot take any more stress and even your magic potion won''t work on us. If you really want to revive your friends, then you will have to bring this forest to life. Then I would even give my life to save your friends" Kristone said decisively.

    "No, Kristone! Do not make such promises. Did you not see how our children are now? They entered the lake to bring back the soul for Bairania and see how they have returned?" Kristine said.

    "Kris, we need to save this forest, we used to be the most selfless people on this whole Asher system. That is who we are! We changed and looked at our situation now. Everything has to come to a stop now before Secare forest becomes history and once and for all forgotten forever" Kristone said with a cold voice and left the place.

    Sussan signaled James to follow him while he turned towards Kristine''s kids. She called them near her and started to examine them one by one. On the outside even though they did not show any symptoms when she closed her eyes and saw inside their body, she saw a black hole instead of a heart.

    She looked at Kristine with a worried face and asked, "Do you know what is exactly going on with them?"

    "Yes, I do. It''s their heart! I know! I know! It is all my fault" Kristine started to sob once more.

    "I do not know if we will be able to bring this forest to life again but I will try my best to help your kids," Sussan said.

    Kristine looked at her with teary eyes and could not decide if she could trust Sussan or not. But right now they are running out of time, and she knows it.

 25 Chapter - 25

    Peter understood who the Elder was now. He had seen him before somewhere but could not recall exactly when! When he noticed Draven''s disturbing appearance, he pushed him behind and faced the Elder with vigilance.

    "Oh! Relax Peter! I am not here to harm anyone. I just came to warn you about your friends and family being stuck in Secare forest. If you do not hurry, then I cannot guarantee their safety" Elder laughed.

    "What did you do to them? I would never let you hurt anyone" Peter said angrily while blue flames started to arise from his body.

    "Peter! Peter! I never said I hurt anyone. It is your mother who is the cause of all the disasters which are happening to this planet. If only she never met Ashes Lord, then we did not have to face such a calamity" Elder uttered.

    Peter pulled Draven away and before he could even realize they were ported to Secure forest magically. Peter realized that his power was increasing day by day.

    Draven looked at Peter in shock. He had never seen anyone who could teleport without the help of a portal. And not only that, Peter even took Draven along with him¡­

    "Let us just keep this a secret between us and not tell anyone about this for the time being," Peter warned Darven.

    Draven nodded his head and looked around. Even though this place looked prosperous, he still felt that it was almost empty. The gloominess surrounding this forest made him shiver.

    "I don''t feel good about this forest. I have been to many expeditions but this is the first time I saw such a rich forest which is so empty. Something is definitely not right", Draven whispered.

    Peter just walked forward ignoring his warning. After walking for almost a mile, they still could not find anyone. Peter started to think if he made a mistake by listening to the Elder and coming here.

    They roamed around for a few more hours and they saw a stream floating around. Draven felt thirsty and tried to drink water from the stream but it jumped away.

    He tried to hold the water once more, only to be splashed by the stream once again. Peter said some magical words and raised his hands in the air. Then he folded his fingers and tried to lift the dark magic which surrounded the stream.

    A reddish dark brown cloud surrounding the stream started to move away from the stream and went into Peter''s hand. The stream altogether disappeared and a child dressed in a cloak emerged in that place.

    "I am Elino, the king who used to protect this forest. Due to the witch''s trick, the forest started to forget about me. Then the witch turned me into a stream and used me to travel anywhere she desired to go. Thank you for releasing me from the curse. I would grant you a wish for saving me from the torturous life." Elino spoke clearly while expressing his gratitude by giving them his magical Grapline knife.

    When the child said he was the king, Draven struggled to control his laugh. Peter sent him a warning glare and asked Elino, "We do not have any wish but could you please help us guide to where my mother is?"

    "Sure. I would help you in finding your mother. I know this forest inside out. But you must at least accept a welcoming gift from me. I carved this knife with my own hand and it has unlimited magical powers. This knife would never leave you and even if you throw it away, it will come back to you. I hope you will like this gift" Elino affirmed.

    Peter took the knife and said, "Thank you"

    "I want some water, I am thirsty! Can someone look at my pity self and help me out?" Draven implored.

    Elino went near a huge tree and hit the trunk twice, the tree bent itself and in its huge leaf it held water. Elino signaled Draven to come near and drink it.

    Draven had never drunk such tasty water before in his life. It made him feel so refreshed and he even felt like he gained some new powers inside him.

    Without even asking, the tree bent down once again and gave Peter some water. But this time the color of the water was Ash grey.

    "This tree can get water from any of the sixty-eight planets from here. I do not have to tell you, where the tree got its water from?" Elino stated to Peter.

    Peter nodded his head and drank the water from Ashes Planet. When the water touched his tongue, he felt something special. He closed his eyes and tried to feel the energy source that was emitting from the water.

    He saw the planet''s dark side and felt like home. He swallowed the water drop by drop and immersed himself in the pleasure of drinking that water. He felt the land below and the sky above, it finally dawned on him that he missed that place.

    Draven looked at his satisfied face and nudged his shoulders.

    "I know that water is tasty but we need to go now! I take back what I said before, now I understand this is one of the most wonderful places on this planet." Draven excitedly proclaimed.

    "Let us go, find my mom. That will be our first mission comrade, Draven" Peter spoke with a new spirit.

    Elino tapped on a rock and the crystal cave zoomed in front of them. They walked for a few minutes into the cave when Peter saw his mother tending to the little Crystalinans. Elly and Robert were gathering food for everyone.

 26 Chapter - 26

    Peter rushed towards his mother Sussan and shouted, "Mom!"

    "Peter, Thank goodness you are finally here." His mother pulled him away and they went behind a huge crystal that hid them from everyone.

    "What happened? Did you find the Elder?" Sussan asked.

    "Yes! But he said you are in danger, so I had to rush here. I couldn''t find anything from him. I was not expecting that Draven was Elder''s son. I was quite shocked. But now I understand why I picked Draven out of everyone else. My mind chose Draven, the minute I laid my eye on him." Peter divulged.

    "Peter, my boy, listen! I am still not sure what does Ashes lord expects from you. But from the time I understood that he is your father the difficulties and the danger you are going to face from now on will be more challenging and painful." Sussan worriedly held her son''s hand.

    "Mom, I understand. I feel completely different now. I can sense the powers running through my veins. I know a lot of things which I never expected to know in my life." Peter claimed.

    "Peter, my dear, please think carefully before you do whatever you thought of doing. I feel that you are all grown up now and I cannot control you anymore. If this is the destiny awaiting you, then I do not think I can stop you from going ahead. But always remember you will have my support unconditionally" Sussan stated.

    "Here, this is the book which Ashes Lord''s replica gave me. I am passing it to you now. Hide it well from everyone''s eyes and never disclose it to anyone." Sussan handed over the Ashes book.

    Once Peter touched it, it disappeared. He felt that the knowledge in that book was getting stored in one part of his brain. He still couldn''t understand how this book was going to help or what it could do?

    But Peter definitely felt a big difference within him and it impacted greatly on the knowledge he acquired.

    Sussan and Peter went out to meet Kristone''s family. When Peter heard what had happened to Brenda and everyone else, he walked towards the insect.

    Looking at Peter, Ectoproda shivered. It decided to run away for its life. But Draven and James stood on the other side and blocked its escape.

    "Release all of them now! It''s an order" Peter ordered.

    "I am sorry my Lord! I did not know these people are your slaves! I beg you to spare me. I will release all of them at once." Ectoproda immediately took the magical rod and whirled the water strongly.

    The soul raised high in the air and rotated for a few minutes before going back to their own respective bodies.

    "James, you are safe! Goodness, I thought I lost you" Brenda who then just woke up ran towards her husband and hugged him.

    "Good to see you back too" James with joy hugged her back.

    "I order you to not capture anyone into the lake from now on! Until or unless anyone threatens the secure forest''s existence" Peter declared.

    "This humble slave will obey your order, my Lord" Ectoproda bent on all eight knees and hit his head on the ground.

    Peter then walked towards the Kristone kids and lifted them in the air using a magic spell. He then lifted the dark magic which was surrounding them and returned them to their parents.

    Slowly, the sky cleared and Secare forest became livelier once again. Even though it did not retail its past glories, this situation turned much better than before.

    Elly ran towards Peter and gave him a tiny scroll. Peter looked at Elly questioningly.

    "This might be left behind by Nina for you," Elly explained.

    Peter, then opened the scroll to find a totally different language that he never learned before. But once his eyes met the words, the message became clear to him.

    ''Awaiting for your arrival in Asher! Hope to see you soon!''

    The message was small but it made Peter happy. She is alive! He felt a sense of relief running through him. He was eager to meet Nina once again.

    "Mom, I need to leave Ether right now! I have a mission to find someone in Asher" Peter declared.

    "Do not worry, I will make the necessary arrangements for you to reach Asher safely." James volunteered.

    Peter looked at his mother for approval. Sussan nodded her head as she knows now, that it is time for Peter to flap his own wings to fly away.

    They opened a huge portal and jumped into it after bidding their goodbyes to Crystalians. At that time King Elino held Peter''s hand and stopped him.

    "As you did not ask me for any wish, then I would grant you one myself. You can take it as a token of my appreciation for doing so much for the secare forest." Elino mumbled quietly.

    Elino whispered a few words into Peter''s ears and tied a magical band on his hand.

    "This will help you to disguise yourself as a normal being. And the powers you have within your body won''t be disclosed to the naked eye" Elino said.

    "Thank you King Elino. But if you do not mind, may I ask why no one looked like they remember you at all" Peter enquired.

    "Hahaha¡­ You noticed! Just like how the forest forgot about me, every living being in this forest failed to remember my existence. But I like it this way. I want to continue living like everyone else and will wait for the day I am called to Asher. I hope we may meet again in Asher one day" Elino uttered.

    Peter then nodded his head to the once-forgotten king and jumped into the portal. The portal slowly closed itself and disappeared from their view.

    When they reached the military base a piece of shocking news awaited them. They were informed that the Elder passed away and he is waiting to be brought to the Asher.

    Draven felt heartbroken, as this will be his second time sending him away. But what he did not understand was how could a person who was already sent to Asher come back alive?

    Did his father really die or he was acting once again? He cannot find out until they reach Asher. Normally a dead person can only be woken up after he enters Asher.

    He wanted to shake the Elder and find out but he was not allowed to go near him as per his father''s instruction before he passed away.

    Peter patted Draven''s shoulder and whispered into his ears, "Do not worry, I will ask James to allow you to be the sender. I am also going to Asher to find Nina. So mostly, I would travel along with your father."

    Draven just stared at him blankly but Peter understood that he got the meaning behind his words. Draven left the area and disappeared from everyone''s sight.

    He slowly sneaked into the launching pad area, but someone held his hand tight and pulled him back.

    "Where do you think you are going?" Linda roared.

    "Let go of my hand" Draven sneered.

    "Listen, I made a mistake and I regret it now. I hope that you won''t follow the same path. I really missed my brother David and made a deal with the witch. She promised me to bring David back and I would help them to hide the truth about my brother being passed away. The deal sounds like it was in no way, would bring harm to anyone. But my little foolishness brought war upon everyone on this planet. So, please I beg you! Do not go!" Linda''s tears fell on Draven''s hand.

    Draven hugged her and his heart ached to see his love cry. He patted her back and said, "I knew all of this from the beginning and I am also a culprit. Now I am not trying to bring back my father to life but to stop him from coming back into this planet once again!"

    After saying that he left her immediately and went away. The procedures were done and Peter along with Elder boarded the flying ship. It took off almost immediately.

    Almost when they reached the entrance of Asher, before the ship could even touch the atmosphere, the elder''s body turned to Ashes. It immediately disappeared into the vast galaxy.

    Draven halted the ship midway and came behind. He saw a scroll left behind by the Elder. As it was addressed to Peter, he turned around and gave it to him. That was written by Elder and it said,

    ''Peter! My dear! You still do not know your purpose, do you? I know I would never get access to Asher. But in Ashes, I would welcome you with my open hands.''

    Peter hid the scroll into the infinite pouch which his mother gave! Asher''s guard sent magical stairways near the ship. Peter got down after bidding his farewell to Draven and entered Asher.

    Draven''s ship flew back to Ether while Peter disappeared into the powerful star Asher. Asher''s guard closed the door to the entrance and stood next to the portal with closed eyes like a statue.