ASRAN SERIES- ACROSS THE BORDER

Chapter - 48

Brenda could not decide if she had made a wrong decision by allowing Sussan to go alone to meet the Ashes Lord. But then she did not stand a chance against Sussan and neither could she have entered the barrier as it did not allow her to cross it.

But she can say one thing for sure that the Ashes Lord must have realized their presence, the minute they set foot on his current territory. The more uncertain he thinks of them, the more dangerous it will be for everyone.

‘What should I do now? I hope my mom is near so that I could ask for her help,’ Brenda closed her eyes and thought.

Just when she opened her eyes, she saw Cathy in front of her. She rushed near her and hugged her. She then with tear-filled eyes said, “Sussan left us! Sussan… Sussan…” 

She was unable to speak anymore and could only point her fingers at the barrier in front of them. Cathy looked at her daughter’s poor appearance with a scrunched face and then at the place where Brenda was pointing her fingers.

‘I wonder how she managed to live with James for so long? Or how he managed to bear with this foolish daughter of mine without complaining even once?’ Cathy wondered after she pushed her daughter away from her as usual.

“I heard from David just now,” Cathy said and moved near the barrier to examine it.

“He had always lived by himself in that whole of Ashes planet with only a couple of guardian families who protected a few lousy plants from dying in that heat. He was said to be created by the star Asran itself and he is almost as old as Asran,” Cathy mumbled and lifted her hand to touch the barrier.

“Mom, No!” Brenda came near her and held Cathy’s arm before she could place it on top of the barrier.

“I am just checking if it was really a barrier or not,” Cathy uttered and moved away from there.

She then walked near Victor and sat next to him. For a few seconds, she did not talk and maintained silence. Victor looked at Cathy once and then turned his head in another direction.

“Do you think Wallace was able to enter along with his team because it was a trap set by the Ashes Lord to lure Sussan inside the barrier?” Cathy asked him in a low voice.

“Cathy…” Victor gripped his hands together and said, “I don’t know but I promise I have nothing to do with this. I tried to stop them as you have told me but Wallace had already made up his mind to meet the Ashes Lord and others joined him too…”

“Mmmm… Do speak of this to anyone. We can only hopelessly wait here and aim for Sussan to succeed in convincing the Ashes Lord to help us,” Cathy said with her eyes closed and praying that Asran shows some mercy to them.

“Do you know when he was selected as the king of Asran the last time, he made a replica of himself with all his good qualities and sent him there? He never left the planet Ashes even then and only used his replica. But I think he did make an exception this time as he came here to meet Sussan,” Cathy murmured to herself.

Then she continued to say, “As he would become the King of Asran and would be residing in the Asran star for that period of time, he had dimmed his inner demon and worked hard to maintain peace in all the planets.”

“What happened to everything now? Why did he lose his confidence in us? Even the Asran star had turned against us. What are we going to do now?” Cathy stared at the sky and asked herself.

“Mom, what are you doing sitting here alone and babbling something?” Brenda came near her and asked her mother, Cathy.

Cathy had tears in her eyes and she looked very sad. She did not respond to Brenda and kept on staring at the sky.

As it occurred a very long time again, no one was able to predict how it actually happened or why it had happened! As that was the first time in recorded history that the Asran star chose the Ashes Lord as their king only after millions of years later.

Cathy glanced at Brenda and asked her, “Brenda, until now everything was going fine but what would have happened to Asran’s Lord that he had to come here to live in hiding. Even though he cannot create lifelike Asran does, his powers are not any less.”

She then gazed at the barrier and said, “If he is here, leaving the Ashes Planet behind then something is wrong over there as well… Why is he trying to create an imbalance in the whole system by risking everything he had protected until now just to come here to meet Sussan?”

Brenda was confused too after hearing what her mother Cathy asked just now. She too could not believe that Lord Ashes came over here to meet Sussan.

At the same time on the other side of the barrier, Sussan moved faster towards the yellow light that was glowing in that dark place. She set her goal to save her kins rather than fighting with the Ashes Lord.

She knew that the Ashes Lord hated when someone entered his territory. But right now, she did not have a choice and she decided to be very careful while handling him.

‘What if he gets angry and tries to hurt them? Should I fight with him and defeat him to save our clan members?’ Questions bombarded her mind as the path seemed never-ending.

Just when she was about to lose her hope in finding the Ashes Lord, she saw Wallace and his team members enjoying a feast with the guardian families from the planet Ashes.

“They are fine! Thank goodness! If anything happened to them then I don’t know what I would have done. Didn’t I warn them to not enter the Ashes Lord’s territory and only report about his location?” Sussan mumbled and hurried her footsteps towards them.

When she got very close to them, what they ate looked so different compared to the food they get in that desert. Suddenly a thought crossed Sussan’s might and she tried to stop them from eating it. 

“What if it’s poisonous? Have you all lost your mind? What would I tell your family if something happened to you all?” Sussan shouted while glaring at them.

She took one of the fruits on the ground and sniffed it. Her brain almost had a shocking wave and something zoomed inside her head. This has some high drugs that could cause one’s brain to freeze or even burst.

“How could you give these to them?” She questioned those guardians without any fear.

The guardians looked at one another in utter shock after hearing her speak. Then they ran inside a cave that suddenly appeared out of nowhere in exhilaration. They looked like they had already lost their minds and she was afraid the same thing would happen to her clan members too.

Those guardians even giggled and showcased their elation by dancing while running deep into the cave. It all seemed suspicious to Sussan as she examined the location around her.

‘Are they really crazy? I don’t remember seeing them with the Ashes Lord before,’ She thought and suddenly felt something was wrong.

Her eyes then landed on the cave those guardians entered earlier. She had never seen anything like this cave which was made out of pure ashes. She then swiftly tried to follow the guardian’s inside while ordering her clan members to stay put.

“Don’t move an inch from here. Also, stop eating the food that’s on the ground,” Sussan screamed at the team before dashing behind the guardians.

“I don’t know how those minions got all these people intoxicated. They are known for being careful all the time,” She shook her head in disappointment and rushed until her head hit something hard.

She came to a halt and lifted her head to look at the rock that hurt her. At first, she could not believe her eyes, and then when she came to her senses, she moved behind with a shivering leg.

“He is really here… He came here and … Why?” Sussan stuttered and her back hit the cave’s wall.