The Pages of Destiny (The Four Elementals Book 3) by Yajat Sharma (best authors to read TXT) 📕

need to rescue him, for which we need to open the dimension. Therefore, we aren’t going to give the First Page to Osay.”

“Absolutely,” James said. “First of all, we don’t even know whether Osay really has the Second Page.”

“What do you mean?” Daniel said.

“As clever as he is, it is very much possible that he’s lying to trick us into giving the First Page to him,” James said.

“Hmmm...” Archer said.

“I don’t understand something,” Daniel said. “Why did Osay let us go? We are free without supervision. The way I see it, Osay must be knowing that we can take a portal to anywhere and escape from him. Isn’t it?”

“But where?” the Scavenger asked. “The whole Dark World is his. Sooner or later, he will capture us. And Osay also knows you three will not run away from the Dark World without rescuing Matt.”

“Yes,” James said. “Moreover, he had no other option than to release us. How else would Osay get the First Page? Osay knows that the Scavenger is immortal and he can resist any amount of torture. Other than tricking him into taking the First Page out of the Magic Compartment, nothing else will work. But he was cautious. Remember those spy devices that he put on us.”

“You are spot on, James. But now we are stuck,” Pyros said in a sad tone. “We cannot leave the Dark World. We cannot hand over the First Page. What should we do?”

No one seemed to have any ideas.

“A rest would do us good,” the Scavenger said. “We have three days. Let’s rest and do nothing for a day. Maybe we’ll get some ideas in due time.”

Everyone was exhausted. But James shook his head.

“You all can sleep,” James said. “I am going to do some thinking.”

The Scavenger shrugged, and except for James, everyone went to sleep.

The next morning, they were awoken by a shriek.

James was jumping all around.

“I’ve got it!” he said. Then he plunked down on a sofa and started snoring.

“Let him sleep,” the Scavenger said, looking around. There were open books and parchments and scrolls lying everywhere. It seemed James had done his research. “He deserves it.”

A few hours later, James woke up.

Everyone gathered around him. The Scavenger said, “We are curious to know. What did you get?”

James said, “Osay is smart. I don’t doubt that he has planned for every eventuality. True to his name, Osay is one step ahead of us. The only way to defeat him is to play out of the box. Something unexpected. Something he didn’t think could happen. Something he didn’t plan for.”

“Meaning?” Pyros said.

James paused for a moment and said, “We need to get ourselves banished from the Dark World.”

Everyone was shocked by what James said. James didn’t elaborate further and took the Scavenger and Pyros aside for discussions.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, please wait!!!” Archer intervened after some time. “Is it some conspiracy that is being planned against Daniel and me?”

Daniel was quick to pitch in. “Yes, I also feel that way. It’s pretty rude to exclude both of us from essential discussions. If I may put it straight, I don’t feel that we deserve such treatment.”

“My bad,” James started to explain in an apologetic tone. “I should have told you the most crucial part of my plan: You both should look and act naturally without knowing what the next step in the plan is. That is the only way forward.”

Archer and Daniel were disappointed that they wouldn’t be included in the plans, but they trusted James’s decisions.

James, Pyros and the Scavenger again huddled together for discussions. As James whispered to them in a hushed tone, the Scavenger’s face lit up with each word. Archer and Daniel went for a walk inside the cave.

It was after an hour that James finally turned and he saw that Archer and Daniel had returned. “All right, let’s go.”

“But where?” Daniel asked.

“Didn’t you hear me?” James said. “To get banished.” He then raised a hand. “Oh wait. I know what you are thinking. That we should not get banished from the Dark World without taking Matt. Are we not betraying our friend and ourselves? Well, no. We decided to honour our promise. Your concern has been taken care of in the plan. Don’t worry. I cannot elaborate further as the more you know, the more difficult it will be to execute the plan. I need you to be completely natural.”

The Scavenger nodded. “Absolutely. The plan seems to be fool-proof.”

“I vouch for it,” Pyros added.

James took Archer aside and told him his next steps. Daniel gave them a frustrated look. Pyros was smiling.

“Melamine and immense heat-resisting fabric.” James turned to Pyros. “We need our armour coated with melamine and the magical fabric. You have it, don’t you?” Pyros nodded in reply. “The weapons need to be coated too. And our clothes. Just everything we are having or wearing once we go outside.”

Once Pyros had summoned what James wanted, everyone started to wear the melamine and magic coated armour over their clothes.

James approached Archer. “Are you ready?”

Archer nodded, sweat visible on his face.

“Are you sure you’ve understood the task?” James asked. “I mean, I don’t doubt you, but what we are about to do is... brave.”

“I think a better word would be... suicidal,” Archer said, wiping his face with a napkin.

“Oh, it’s not that bad,” James said confidently. “If everything goes as per plan, we’ll be fine.”

“It seldom does,” Archer muttered softly as they all walked towards the door.

The Scavenger looked regal and formidable in his armour and weapons. Pyros appeared uncomfortable in the armour, perhaps due to his slightly overweight body. The children looked like circus clowns as they moved awkwardly.

They marched outside the cave towards Cotton Village.

An hour later, they were right outside the Library from where they had been captured earlier by Osay. A group of warriors were standing in front of the Library.

One warrior opened the door and disappeared inside.

A few minutes later, the voice of Osay resonated out of the