ASRAN SERIES- ACROSS THE BORDER

Chapter - 24

“Oh! Come on. Do you think I will be afraid of your little tricks?" She screamed at Robert.

Robert did not back away and threw a little of the mixture at the old witch. She got burned a little and cried out aloud. She then changed her tactics and said,

"I am already so old, how could you have the heart to let me suffer like this with your magic? Is this how your parents taught you to behave in front of an old lady? You all are very ill-mannered kids! What is with you all and the way you are speaking to me?"

She asked them and then said, "Oh! By the way, my name is not an unknown old witch and we are not Unknowns. We have a name and it was once very well known throughout the entire galaxy. Do you want to know that popular name?"

She waited patiently for a few seconds but then when the kids did not show any interest in knowing the same, she shrugged her shoulders and pouted her mouth in disdain.

"It is ‘Amellander’. Did you all hear me clearly? We are called 'Amellander'. We ruled this entire universe and we are the original rulers of these planets. You guys are just small creatures and now how dare you to drive us... these great rulers to extinction. We are back now and we will seek out our revenge for everything that we had lost in time and space.” She proclaimed and circled the kids while laughing like a maniac. 

The Old witch kept on roaring with all her might as if she was calling for her supporters. She then suddenly grabbed Robert’s hand and licked the Renlow powder and even swallowed it before he could react.

“Do you know that this used to be one of my favorite snacks in ancient times? Renlow powder mixed with half of Saber's blood... Mmmmm… Yummy... Yummy...Tasty! And the remaining half of the blood I will let it drain out naturally out of them and then will enjoy watching them scream in pain.” She laughed and then said, 

“Oh! Oh! Oh! Let me tell you what my name is before I suck away all the blood from your body, you five-eyed boy... I am ‘Bairania’ and for you guys, it is ‘Your Majesty’," Bairania patted Robert's cheeks and then clapped her hands.

Instantly, two lowly creatures appeared before them and awaited her instructions by humbly lowering themselves and kneeling on the ground. Bairania pointed at the kids and ordered them,

“Catch them and put them all into the newly built cage. Make sure that they are tightly locked with the help of ‘Yunacel’ so that their magic does not work inside the cage and that they could never escape from here. It is now time to test our new experiment on them.” 

Once she gave the instructions, Bairania put on her mask and turned into an old grandmother with a sweet face. She then walked towards the main door for the underground basement. The two creatures lifted their hands in the air and caught the kids in a magical purple ring. They then carried them to the large cage which was kept in the next room.

“No! No! No! Let me go... Let me go... I am not with them. Your Majesty! Your Majesty!” The Tiny man shouted at the top of his lungs and tried to make his presence visible.

But Bairania had already left long ago from there and his shouts could only hit the locked door as no one was interested in hearing his plea. Robert rolled his eyes at this color-changing tiny man and then at the ‘Hygelnewl’ plant.

As if the miracle plant understood what Robert wanted, it held the tiny man with one of the tentacles and put a drop of its purple liquid in his mouth. The tiny man immediately dozed off and went into a deep slumber.

Once they were thrown inside the cage, they noticed a young girl at the corner of the cage with some kind of darkness around her. She looked very scary to look at and Elly even started to cry.

“Brother, I am afraid. It is so dark and scary here. I want to go to mommy and daddy,” Elly wailed and Peter did not know how he should console her.

So, Robert sat next to her and hugged her with one hand while patting her back with another. He did not have any courageous words to say to her and neither could he make any false promises and tell her that he would help her get to her parents. So he sat quietly beside her and kept on comforting her with his actions.

 Nameless followed him wherever Robert went like a lifeless soul. He also sat next to him and tried to pat Elly. Once Elly stopped crying, Robert looked around them and started to examine the room. Even though it looked small, its capacity was 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 I have left before the next attack. Maybe minutes or seconds from now on,” Robert said in a low voice.

He then stared at the location where the strange young girl was sitting and kept a close eye on her to watch any movements from her. He then slowly walked to the opposite side of the room and sat directly in front of the girl.

Nameless tiredly lifted his body and moved towards Robert once again. By then the magic spell placed on Nameless wore off and he became visible to everyone. After looking at his appearance, Peter's heart ached and so tried to hold him. 

But Nameless pushed him away with all his last strength and suddenly fainted on top of Robert.

"Nameless... Nameless... wake up... wake up..." Peter shook him but he did not get any response from Nameless.

...

Meanwhile, Sussan looked around the forest and found a water stream close to them. She then started walking towards it without any wariness, so David held her hand and stopped her.

“Where do you think you are going alone, my lady?” David asked with frustration. 

He had already had enough with Nameless's unpredictable behavior and right now, he did not want to get into any more trouble because of anyone. Also, he did not like the way Sussan was behaving towards him and she gave the impression that she could abandon him at any time she wanted.

Also, he hated that he needs to live in constant fear of her leaving him. This made David really mad at her and he gripped her wrist tightly.

“David! David, let go of my hand. You are hurting me, so please leave my hand. Also, I am not going anywhere without you. I just saw the stream nearby and wanted to get some water for us to drink. It is a tiring journey for all of us and I am a little thirsty.” Sussan answered him as if she understood his fear.

But then she did not show it on her face when she tried to explain her reasons to him patiently.

“Why am I here with you for then? If you need something or anything, just tell me or order me and I will do it for you. Now, I will go and get the water, you stay here. Give me that pouch,” David said and extended his hands in front of her.

Sussan sighed but then gave the magical water collecting pouch to him. Still, before he left, she reminded him, “Before you fill this pouch with water... make sure to give it enough time to float on the water. Do not be so impatient and hurt the pouch. It is just like a baby as I have recently created it and still doesn't understand the concept of storage yet.”

The baby water pouch yawned and blinked its eyes. After noticing that David was the one who was holding it and not Sussan, it started to shed tears and tremble in fear. 

Sussan immediately took the pouch in her hands and gave it a pinch of Asran’s dust to console the new pouch. The Asran dust made it happy and the baby pouch opened its mouth wide to imply that it was ready to fill as much as the water they needed.

"He is ready now! You can take him to the water..." Sussan carefully gave the pouch back to David.

David shook his head in contempt but did not say or comment anything about it.