ASRAN SERIES- ACROSS THE BORDER

Chapter - 15

“That’s right! That’s what I want him to do…” David nodded his head and confirmed Brenda’s guess.

“Didn’t Robert say that they were only missing that one single ingredient? If we send them the Renlow powder then they could finish their mission fast and come back to us sooner,” Brenda said with sparkling eyes.

“No... This is a crazy idea… Why do we even need to send the kids alone? Did you both forget that it's a war out there? What if something goes wrong and they get caught by the militants? '' Sussan shook her head and rejected their suggestion instantly.

“Sussan, give some thought about this plan for just one more time. If they succeed, Elly would be back with us. Anyway, we are unable to convince them to come back, so I think it is a better option to help them at least. Also, using that magic they could easily find Elly too, so, I don't think why not…” Brenda tried to convince Sussan with pleading eyes.

“Brenda, no! It’s highly risky and we are not even sure if Elly could be found so easily. Do you think that I did not use that method to find her before? But every time I tried, I would reach a location where she was last found. I could never go to her current location at all. What makes you both confident that they will reach the correct place this time?” Sussan asked them both.

She was afraid to even allow them to use such strong magic, forgetting about other things. What if they got lost in someplace from where they could not return. Just thinking about that made Sussan's heart skip a beat.

“But Sussan, we do not have any other choice. I am sure Elly is still in the main city and sending them there would be best as it looks like they are already halfway to the city. Moreover, I feel that the main city is a better place than the desert where they are currently standing with a carnivorous plant and an evil short man. Don’t you think so too?” David asked Sussan.

“Still… I believe that it would be better for them to return here rather than going on this blind expedition on their own,” Sussan could not agree with him and was still hesitant to let Peter and Robert go on this journey alone.

But then David held her hands and said in a calm voice, “Trust them! They will be fine. They are not small kids anymore who need to hide behind their mothers. They have grown up enough to handle any difficult situation on their own. See, they didn’t get caught by the militants even when they crossed the border alone. I think you should put more faith in them and I am sure they will succeed in their mission. I am confident about that.”

"But, David... They are..." Before Sussan could say anymore, David stopped her and said, "Shh... Don't you have trust in me? If you believe me then you will agree to let them travel to the main city and find Elly for us."

"Yes, I too think the same. Anyway, they have almost reached the city. It would be the same if they came back or visited the main city. I would say that we should let them try to find Elly before they return," Brenda said after giving it some more thought.

After being convinced by both of them, Sussan finally agreed to send the Renlow powder using Felician. They made Nameless inform Robert about the Felician and that he would bring the Renlow powder to them.

David brought the statue of the bird out from their secret stash and tapped its head twice. Meanwhile, Sussan said some magical words, and the bird came to life.

“hoo... hoo… hoo...” The bird whistled and fluttered its feathers.

Then Felician spread its wings wide across and rose high in the sky. Its red feathers emitted shiny sparkles across its body and circled the area once before landing on Sussan’s hand.

Sussan rubbed its head and whispered some words while moving close to him. Felician nodded his head and listened to her keenly. David then handed the Renlow powder to Felician and it swallowed the bottle immediately before taking off. 

They all waited anxiously in the distance while watching the Felician flapping its wings and soaring as high as possible but still, he struggled to reach the end of the fence. 

“I think the defense system is too much for Felician to take. We might have to call it back,” Sussan mumbled while watching the birds fighting to find an entry to cross the border.

Brenda said some magic words and then the Felician acted like it got a boost. 

“It's a good move. Thank you, Brenda,” David appreciated her and smiled at her.

But before they could get any happier, they saw something strike Felician. Sussan tried to run after him but David stopped her.

Felician couldn’t even fly a meter into the border before it was shot and pushed behind several meters towards them. Still, the bird did not accept defeat and tried once again.

This time, he got wounded on one of his wings and hit the ground in milliseconds. Even then the bird did not give up and tried again and again to cross the border.

Nameless couldn’t watch the bird hurt himself non-stop. He lifted his hands and made a circle in the air while pulling the bird into a portal. Once Felician was safe, they suddenly heard the siren wailing off nearby. 

Brenda got agitated and pulled Nameless’s hand and started running away at great speed. Sussan and David followed behind as fast as they could after them.

They heard lots of noise behind them and they didn’t have enough time to take cover. Nameless once again lifted his hand and dropped it at a high speed.

A deep hole appeared on the ground and Nameless said in a weak voice while pulling Brenda’s hand behind, “Here… jump, Mom!”

Brenda blinked her eyes and looked at her son’s pale face. Without asking anything to him, she jumped and then shouted at her friends to jump as well.

“Sussan, David… Over here… Fast…” Brenda screamed and alerted them.

When Sussan and David came near Brenda, they noticed a deep hole on the ground. 

“Come on, fast…” Brenda said and they jumped in without giving it much thought.

Nameless went after her and Sussan and David followed him. They kept on sliding deep into the hole and when they reached the button, they saw several kids hiding inside it which shocked them.

When they went close to the reflection, they noticed several images of Elly, Peter, and Robert dashing towards them with their open arms. 

“Elly, Peter…” Sussan said and walked near the mirror reflection while Brenda ran towards Robert.

But before they could reach them Nameless rushed forward and broke the glasses that surrounded them. When the elders realized what had happened they found that it was all an illusion. They understood that they were in deep trouble if they didn't get out of that place soon. 

“Isn’t this the hole of a nightmare? These mirrors show us whoever we miss in our lives and their images will be reflected in front of our eyes. Then it will slowly swallow them into the mirror making them believe that everything around them is real,” Sussan said and picked one of the shards of a glass piece Nameless broke.

“We will forever be trapped inside these mirrors,” Brenda mumbled and looked around her in horror.

The broken shards started to shake on the ground and in minutes formed a new mirror from each broken piece.

“We are screwed,” Brenda murmured and closed her eyes while holding Nameless’s hands tightly.

Sussan hurriedly pulled out dark sheets from inside her infinite pouch and gave them all.

“Try to cover as many mirrors as possible near us… We cannot let it trap us in here as there is no other way out once we are caught inside the mirror.” She said and continued to pull the drapes from her magic bag.

When all of them started acting fast and covered as much as they could, to their surprise, they still found that there were too many mirrors to hide. At one point, the clothes stopped coming out of the magical bag.

“I think that’s the maximum capacity I could get for today,” Sussan said in a trembling voice.