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

emotional too. It was a farewell that would remain etched in their memories throughout their life.

The four Elementals entered the waiting portal. As they waved to everyone, they smiled.

They had, after all, accomplished a mission impossible.

The children emerged on the grey pavement in front of their neighbouring houses.

It was late evening and the streets were deserted.

“Where is everyone? It’s not that late. People used to walk around at this time after dinner,” Matt said.

“You forgot, Matt,” Daniel said. “The COVID-19 pandemic, remember?”

Matt’s house was the nearest. The parked vehicles suggested that all their parents were together at Matt’s house.

Matt clicked his fingers. “Come on, let’s give our parents a big surprise.”

Archer said, “All of them together means they are tense and worried. Be ready for the shouts and scolds. I suggest we should tell them the truth.”

“It’s been a year in the Dark World,” Daniel said. “Which means that we have disappeared for twelve hours.”

Matt had a worried expression on his face. He said, “My father must be really angry. Today’s his birthday. Every year we celebrate it together as a family.”

Daniel shrugged. “Anyway, don’t speculate. Let’s face it.”

The children’s hearts raced as they climbed the porch steps of Matt’s house.

They rang the bell.

Footsteps came rushing from behind the door, and it opened to reveal the hopeful faces of all eight parents.

There were mixed reactions. The moms started crying, while the dads gave them stern looks.

The children greeted Matt’s father with birthday wishes, but he was in a bad mood.

As the children sat around the table, Matt’s dad said, “Where the hell were you guys? We had informed the police. I was expecting the police when the doorbell rang.”

James took a deep breath and started speaking. “I don’t know how much of this you will believe, but please bear with us. The truth is that we were trying to save a world called the Dark World, situated deep inside the Earth, from a powerful enemy called the Skull Warrior. The Dark World was created by Lord Arcane and was administered by his loyal servant

and warrior – the Scavenger. On the call of the Scavenger, we had earlier visited the Dark World and saved it from an evil named the Death Lord, to whom, the Skull Warrior was fiercely loyal. We trapped the Death Lord in the broken pieces of the legendary Arcane Crown. But he managed to summon the Skull Warrior, who took over the Dark World. The Scavenger – again – sought our help. We were successful in defeating the Skull Warrior, but unfortunately, Matt got trapped in a time dimension along with the Skull Warrior. We spent a long time searching for Matt, and in the journey, another enemy named Osay, or Urrax, was discovered. But we finally got Matt back, defeated all the enemies, saved the Dark World, and here we are.”

There was a long silence. The parents looked at each other with incredulous expressions. Archer’s mother said, “Yeah, right. You must be tired. I can see that. Well, we will not insist on finding out where you had gone but we just want you all safe. Maybe you will feel better tomorrow. We only hope you did not commit any crime or do anything illegal in the last twelve hours.”

Daniel’s father said, “Let me inform the police that you have reached home.”

“Please, Dad, we can’t explain all this to the police,” Daniel said in a concerned voice.

“Oh! Don’t worry. I think you need rest. A lot of rest,” Daniel’s father said.

Archer intervened and looked at his mother. “Mom, you all think that maybe we have gone crazy. But please believe us. James is speaking the truth.”

“Don’t think about it any further,” Matt’s mother said. “I suggest you all sleep here together. We will celebrate your return with a surprise Sunday breakfast tomorrow.”

The children were relieved by their parents’ response. They thought that they were fortunate to have such wonderful parents.

After dinner, the four children went upstairs to Matt’s room to sleep. The parents sat on the sofas in the drawing room.

Archer’s dad said, “I am worried. The children are having hallucinations due to exhaustion.” He looked at Matt’s mother, “You handled them well. Any scolding from us would have been very stressful for the kids.”

Daniel’s mother said, “But, we need to find out where they were.”

The parents decided to meet for breakfast and dispersed. The children, brimming with exhaustion, fell asleep as soon as they got to bed.

Next morning, sunlight flooded into their room. Matt awoke first and quickly woke up the others. After freshening up, they came down to have breakfast. Their parents were waiting for them.

Matt’s dad said in a serious tone, “I hope you all had a good sleep. I can see you are looking much fresher. Please brief us on where you guys were, and we want no lies.”

James calmly said, “I have already told the truth last night. I know it’s difficult for anyone to believe. I have no idea how to convince you all.”

Daniel’s father started to get irritated. “Listen, James. You know there are no fairy worlds. You are a student of science. I bet you were capable of telling us a good story, but I wonder why you came up with a fairy tale instead?”

James said in an exasperated tone, “Oh, you all have got to believe us. Why would we tell you a fairy tale?”

Daniel interrupted, “We can’t prove it. But if you care to believe how we saved an entire Dark World, you would be proud of your boys.”

“ENOUGH!” Daniel’s mother shouted. “Enough of your crap! You better tell us, or we will ask the police to find out! You wouldn’t be able to lie to them!”

Daniel replied, “Okay. We had been to the planet Jupiter and also traversed through outer space near the Earth’s orbit. And if you ask about a place on Earth, it was the Bermuda Triangle.”

“What the hell? Are you guys making fun of your parents?” shouted James’s