ASRAN SERIES- ACROSS THE BORDER

Chapter - 23

After seeing Elly's horrified face, Peter came near Robert and helped him up. At that moment, Granny Rose suddenly asked everyone to go get some rest and that they will discuss the remaining matters tomorrow. Once everyone left, Granny rose turned towards Peter and said, 

“Peter, it’s time to help your new friend. So, let’s go to the underground basement and see if we can fix him.”

“New friend?" Peter blinked his eyes but then he remembered the next sentence. So, he asked his grandmother in surprise, "Granny, do you have an underground basement here? In this city?”

Usually, in this part of the city, it was considered illegal to have an underground basement. Also, it was severely punishable if the authorities found out about it. So, he thought that his grandmother must be a brave woman to have an underground basement without militants knowing about it.

“There are so many things that you don’t know about and are still unaware of. So, it's too early for you to get surprised. Do not worry, I will make sure that you will get to know about everything one by one slowly,” Granny said with a cunning smile.

She then started to walk forward towards the inner part of the house while everyone else followed her including Elly.

In a hushed voice, Robert asked Peter, “How did Nameless reach here? And why didn’t anyone ask us anything about him other than Granny Rose?”

“Nameless? So, the new friend Grandma Rose was talking about is him? But where is he? Why could I not see him?" Peter asked Robert while searching for Nameless everywhere around them.

"What are you talking about? Nameless is just walking next to me while holding my hand. After he came here, he suddenly grew too attached to me. Normally, he would never hold my hand but today he is grasping it too tightly." Robert told him in a whisper.

"How can Nameless be here? If he is right next to you, then why am I not able to see him? Stop daydreaming, Robert. I know you must miss him a lot as he has been with you from the time you both were created. Still, that doesn't mean that you could try to fool me by using him,” Peter said to Robert and looked very upset that his friend lied to him.

“What? You can not see this huge person walking beside me like he is glued to me?” Robert asked with confusion clearly visible on his face.

He then said, "When I fell on the ground earlier, it was all because of him. He was the one who jumped on my head and made me lose my balance. How could you not see him?"

“Not only Peter, nobody can see him unless you are a fully grown wizard. Even Elly could only see the magical yellow cloth that poked out of his pocket because it once belonged to her mother and Sussan held it very dearly. My daughter has done a good job concealing him well,” Granny Rose praised her daughter, Sussan, and her face showed that she was feeling so proud about her.

“So... Nameless is seriously here! But why could I not see him? Where is he?” Peter tried to sway his hands in the air near Robert 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 given by Grandma Rose to him. They all walked for more than ten minutes before they finally reached the door to the underground basement. The door displayed the name, magical sector on top of it with bold letters and some sort of fire burning on it. 

Granny Rose lifted her hands high above her head and chanted a few magic words which created an orange flame on her palm. She then took some ‘Spilden’ powder which was made from the bones of the ‘Bovimaliason’ and threw it on the flame which turned the flame into blue color.

She then knocked on the door in a rhythmic way which in turn let out a bluish-green metal hand. Granny Rose put the flames on top of the hand which later turned red and the door opened.

The interior of the magical sector looked very dark and the torch that Peter was carrying immediately went off turning the whole area eerie. It frightened the kids and they held onto each other's hands for support. 

Moreover, it took them some time to adjust their eyes to the darkness but once they did, all they could see was a laboratory in front of them with many colorful apparatus hanging in the air. The liquid in the apparatus lit the underground basement. The lab had a foul smell and as the only light available was coming from the apparatus, they struggled to walk through the dirt path.

Robert almost hit a cage but immediately moved away as he came in close contact with it. He leaned towards the cages and saw that the several animals were locked in one single cage. It varied in all forms of sizes and shapes. 

He even caught sight of a rare pair of Felician birds that were kept in one of the cages in the basement. They seemed very much smaller compared to their original size.

"Are those really animals and birds, that I am seeing inside those cages?" Robert whispered to Peter but then his voice echoed throughout the basement and everyone heard it.

The Hygelnewl plant shivered in fear after hearing the echoes and glanced at all the things around it in horror. Peter after seeing all these in the magical sector he understood that something was quite not right about that place.

“Granny, I do not like this place at all. Why don't we go back upstairs?” Elly said in a frightened tone and even shivered while gripping Peter's hands.

“Haha Haha haha... Are you afraid now? From the first day when I laid my hands on you, I wanted to throw you into one of the cages here. But I also needed to see if your loving mother will come to your rescue. If so then I would have caught the greatest witch ever in this whole universe. Still, even now it is not too bad as I have caught both her children along with a creature who has even stayed hidden from my eyes,” Granny Rose pulled off her mask and came out as the ugliest creature with limbs crawling across the place. 

“You! You are the unknown creature who made this world turn horrible and even brought this great war among us!" Peter exclaimed and then shouted

"Why are you doing this to us? What is your purpose?” He asked her and then took the nearby chair.

He then tossed it at the unknown’s face but the creature blew it and the chair once again went back to its original position. By then Peter had pulled Robert and Elly and started to run towards the exit. But before they could reach the exit, the door automatically closed and a bright light lit up the basement which showed the complete horror of that place.

“This is against the rules. When the military finds out what sort of experiment you are doing here, they would definitely throw you out in the dungeon and punish you for your crimes,” Robert screamed at the old witch as he found that there was no escape for them now.

“Oh! I just missed noticing you little creep... Robert, isn’t it? Your father is a military commander but I heard a funny story that he drove his wife out as he was that sorceress's friend. Didn’t he?” The old witch questioned him and then laughed while staring at the space next to Robert. 

She then zoomed near Robert and whispered in his ears, “So now, tell me. Who is that invisible person you are carrying around and what is in that yellow cloth he brought with him?”

“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 right this minute,” Robert said while taking the bottle of ‘Renlow Powder’ from his bag.

He then made a cut on his finger slightly and poured a drop of blood into the bottle. He held the mixture in front of the old witch’s face which made her shrunk away a little. But then she still flew around him and shouted in a haughty voice with venom in her tongue.