The Skull Warrior by Yajat Sharma (popular books to read txt) 📕

either. I expect the village to be deserted,” Lynx said. “Except if Aronicle appears there by chance.”

Archer said, “And anyway, I think we have been trained well enough to fight against the lone Aronicle, even without our Elemental Powers. I think you can trust us.”

Daniel wailed, “But, I want to go with them. I don’t want to miss all the fun.”

Lynx glared at Daniel. “I need to research you, so you can’t go anywhere. I need a person with even a little amount of brain to work with me, and James fulfils the criteria.”

“And why do you need me?” the Scavenger asked.

“Well, there are a lot of menial tasks to do, like picking up books, rearranging them and stuff,” Lynx said. He looked at all of them and said firmly, “If you all want to succeed in your mission, you need to do what I say.”

The Scavenger groaned. “What has a warrior been reduced to?” He muttered, “I used to battle bloodthirsty monsters, whose mere appearances could paralyze people, and fight in wars against huge demons. Now I have to pick up books like a labourer.”

Lynx ignored him and looked at Archer and Matt. “Although I am confident you can protect yourself, you need to be careful about Aronicle. I reiterate – don’t touch him. Now go.”

Lynx summoned a portal, and Archer and Matt disappeared into it.

Lynx asked James to skim through a book – ’The History of Earth Magic’ – and find anything that could help the children regain their power. Lynx continued to sift through the pages, reading small bits and moving fast.

The Scavenger, on the other hand, went from shelf to shelf and table to table as Lynx ordered him to bring this thing, then that. He was the perfect one for the job because he wouldn’t get tired.

Time passed quickly. Suddenly, Lynx shouted, “AHA!”

“What is it?” James raised his head.

On Lynx’s desk was a sphere. It glowed red, then green, then grey and then blue.

“Archer, Daniel, Matt and then me,” James muttered.

“You are right. Impressive. Now you know why I retained you here. Red, green, grey and blue are the colours of the Elemental Powers of Fire, Earth, Wind and Water respectively,” Lynx said to James.

“What is this spherical thing?” James asked.

“This is the Sphere of Knowledge,” Lynx said, wiping the sweat off his face with a cloth. “This grants the maker an answer to the question he asks only once.”

“Then ask it!” James said.

Lynx put his face in front of the sphere. He closed his eyes and muttered something.

Suddenly, Aronicle’s face flashed on the sphere. The face disappeared within a moment.

Lynx sat back, frowning.

“What did you ask and what did you get?” the Scavenger asked.

“I asked about how to gain back the Elemental Powers of the children,” Lynx said. “And it showed me the face of Aronicle.”

“Of course.” James clicked his fingers. “Aronicle gave us our powers. He was the one who also took it back from us. And he would be the one who could give them back.”

Lynx stood up from his chair, his face filled with excitement. “We need to get Aronicle here, somehow. We need to free him from... whoever controls him. But it can take a lot of time.”

“Doesn’t matter.” The Scavenger banged his fist on the table. “We have all the time in the world. If you can free Aronicle, he could again give Elemental Powers to the children. BANG! All would be well and may the Skull Warrior go to hell.”

Lynx nodded. “It’s a strange dilemma. Even if Archer and Matt find Aronicle, they will not touch him as per my advice. How are they expected to bring him here without engaging him? I only wish they don’t meet him. At least if I get those ingredients, which I have told Archer and Matt to bring, I can speed up the process -”

“Wait!”

They turned to see Daniel with a panicked expression.

“What is it?” Lynx asked.

“It’s been five hours! Why aren’t Archer and Matt back yet?”

Matt and Archer landed in front of a hut, back in the village of the Isle of the Beast. The village wore a deserted look. Archer looked at his list. “Okay. So there are nine things that we have to find.”

“What are they?”

“An antique sword, five blue scrolls, a diary which shines, a Crown, and a – okay, I am not joking about this one – a pink pillow.”

“So where do we start?”

Archer pointed at the hut directly in front of them. “Let’s explore inside. Must be some reason or the other we landed right in front of this.”

“Could be.”

They made their way to the front door and pushed it. It opened easily. Inside, it was dark.

Archer stepped to the side and bowed with a flourish of his hands. “Ladies first.”

Matt sighed. Without any hesitation, he barged inside and fumbled his hand across the wall for a switch. He found one and pressed it and at once lights came on.

Archer followed him inside, and they closed the door behind them.

He and Matt searched the hut for anything they might find. It was a waste of time; they found nothing.

When they reached the terrace, Matt spotted a pink pillow at the edge of the roof.

He took it, and they went outside.

“What a strange fluffy pillow it is. Anyway, that’s one thing done. Eight more to go.”

For the next half hour, they searched a few more houses and found the five blue scrolls, all in one house. They also found the antique sword on the roof of one of the houses. Now only the diary and the Crown were left.

“Hey, look.” Matt nudged Archer and pointed at a house which was way more prominent than the rest. “Let’s look there. Maybe we will find something.”

The house was huge. The boys searched the house meticulously and managed to find the diary. They went up to the terrace.

To their horror, they saw Aronicle.

Aronicle’s back was towards them. He was wearing a small crown and was staring