Quest for the Arcane Crown

by Yajat Sharma

  “But how do I do that?”

  “I will transmit two powerful spells into your mind. The first spell will destroy the Crown of Magic. Once the Crown breaks, you need to cast the second spell on the Death Lord. If you can do that, the Death Lord will be imprisoned forever in the pieces of the broken Crown. I know it’s difficult to execute the spells perfectly, but you have to do it for the sake of the two worlds.”

  “But what about Raven? Won’t he be imprisoned too?”

  Arcane nodded ruefully. “Raven has long been dead. You would rather be freeing his soul from evil.”

  The Scavenger bowed to him. “Thank you, my Lord.”

  Arcane smiled again and disappeared. Almost at once, the Scavenger’s mind was filled with words. He started to chant the first spell.

  Without the Arcane Crown, the Death Lord was a bit weakened. The children surrounded the Scavenger and faced the roaring Death Lord.

  James sent waves of water towards the Death Lord’s feet, disturbing his balance. Matt summoned the most powerful winds and directed it towards the Death Lord. Archer threw powerful heat waves at the Death Lord. Daniel stood to the side and concentrated on the ground, splitting it into two pieces. The Death Lord fumbled and struggled to regain his balance.

  There was a humongous blast as the Scavenger finished his spell. The Arcane Crown broke into several pieces. The Death Lord shouted with rage, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

  The Scavenger shouted at the children. “Hold him for some time. I have to cast the second spell to imprison him forever! Use this!”

  The Scavenger threw the Lightning Sword at the children. Everyone scattered, and it fell into an unsuspecting Daniel’s hand.

  Daniel yelled in surprise as he felt the power of the Lightning Sword. Bolts of lightning shot out from the sword, hitting the Death Lord and propelling him backwards. The children continued barraging the Death Lord with their powers. They were all getting exhausted to the point of no return, but they couldn’t stop. Not now.

  The Scavenger started chanting the spell on the Death Lord. However, the Death Lord was strong. He threw powerful blasts towards the children. He ran towards the Scavenger, who was engrossed in chanting the spell.

  Suddenly, the walls split up as Daniel concentrated his powers on it. Warriors of all the kings supporting the Scavenger stormed in to fight the Death Lord. The pyramid started to collapse as the Scavenger, the children and the entire good army fought the Death Lord. Trolls, Ogres, Panthers and thousands of good Clans held the Death Lord back. The air was buzzing with tumultuous energy.

  Archer glanced at the Scavenger, who was chanting the spell with his eyes closed. “Quickly,” he thought to himself, “Millions of lives depend on you.”

  Every second that passed, the Death Lord fought his way, getting closer and closer to the Scavenger.

  In a fit of rage, the Death Lord summoned dark energy and threw it on the people around.

  The Death Lord almost reached the Scavenger. Time seemed to stop as the children watched helplessly.

  Suddenly, the Scavenger opened his eyes.

  “You want the Crown,” the Scavenger yelled at the Death Lord. “Here, take it!”

  The Scavenger raised his hands, and the Arcane Crown rose. Bolts of white light struck the Death Lord, bringing him down on his knees. The Scavenger extended his hands, and the Crown broke into seven pieces. They shone brightly as they surrounded the Death Lord.

  The ground and the skies shook. The Death Lord was trapped in a colourful cage formed by the pieces. The Death Lord shrunk as he started to get sucked into the broken Crown.

  As his face disappeared under the Arcane Crown, he yelled, I WILL RETURN!

  24

  Archer couldn’t believe it. They had won.

  The Dark World was free from Death Lord at last. The broken pieces of the Arcane Crown had trapped him. The Dark World and the Earth were safe.

  At least for now.

  The war was over.

  Before disappearing into the pieces of the broken Crown, the Death Lord had yelled three words, “I will return.” These words kept reverberating in Archer’s mind.

  The people all around were cheering and celebrating as the evil forces started to crumble to pieces. The people hefted the children and the Scavenger over their shoulders and carried them to a raised platform.

  Standing on the platform, the Scavenger addressed them,

  “My friends, you fought well! Without you, we could have never won! Thank you! This land is yours, and will always be yours!”

  Everyone cheered, their eyes full of tears of happiness. The deaths of thousands of good people at the hands of the Death Lord had been avenged.

  The King of Unicorns came forward. “You are the ones who made us victorious. And in your honour, I command the people to build five large statues of those without whom we would have never succeeded.”

  The Death Lord’s Palace had turned into a beautiful place, free from any malice. The dark clouds had left, revealing clear skies. The black walls and doors turned golden and silver. It was the most beautiful sight anyone had ever seen.

  The Scavenger and the children went inside the palace, to their respective rooms. They were too tired to celebrate their victory. Each one of them collapsed on the sprawling beds.

  ***

  The children felt like they had slept for ages. They went outside their rooms in the Palace to take in some fresh air. Before them lay the battleground. The blood and gore had disappeared. Instead, there stood five glorious, gigantic statues of the five of them. Curiously, they rushed out towards the statues.

  On reaching there, they saw that in the middle was the tallest statue – that of the Scavenger. There were Archer and Matt on its right and to its left were James and Daniel. In front of them was a large white stone with bold black letters inscribed on it:

  ‘The Great Scavenger and the Prophesied Children’ Followed by smaller letters:

  ‘The people and their descendants of the Dark World will always remember them for bringing peace and will be forever obliged to them.’

  There was a small pillar beside each of the statues, with words inscribed on them.

  Archer read the one that was beside his statue:

  ‘Lord Archer: Elemental who controlled the Power of Fire.

  The Controller of Fire, The Burning Warrior, The Fire Master and The Dragon Fighter…’

  Archer moved to the next one,

  ‘Lord Matt: Elemental who controlled the Power of Wind.

  The Wind Master, The Air Slicer,

  The Controller of Winds, The Slasher…’

  Next, the Scavenger:

  ‘Lord Scavenger: Elemental who controlled the Power of Sky.

  The Sky Master, The Thunder Warrior,

  The Controller of Lightning, The Cloud Slicer…’

  For James, it read:

  ‘Lord James: Elemental who controlled the Power of Water.

  The Water Master, The Controller of Seas, The Salty Guy, The Ocean Carver…’

  And finally, the one for Daniel:

  Lord Daniel: Elemental who controlled the Power of Earth.

  The Earth Master, The Quaker, The Wood Laser, The Controller of the Ground…

  “Lord suits me!” Archer said, grinning. His friends chuckled.

  However, James was in a state of disbelief.

  “The Salty Guy! What kind of name is that? Archer, you got such cool names, and what do I get… Salty Guy!”

  Archer shrugged. “It suits you.”

  “Shut up!”

  While they bickered, the Scavenger walked up to them looking thoughtful.

  “The people here have decided to make me King of the Dark World. Should I accept?”

  “Of course!” James said. “This is a great opportunity. You can make sure that no evil rises, and at the same time, bring peace and harmony to the Dark World. A great idea!”

  The others supported him too.

  All the citizens of the Dark Worl
d announced the Scavenger to be their King. The Scavenger was nervous as he sat on the throne. The people bowed in respect. A colourful ceremony followed.

  After the celebrations were over, Archer walked up to the Scavenger and said, “It’s time for us to return home.”

  The Scavenger looked sad.

  “Can’t you stay here? You can help manage the kingdom with me.”

  Daniel shook his head. “We would have loved to stay with you. But we miss our families.”

  “I understand,” the Scavenger said.

  Matt asked him if they would be able to retain their Elemental Powers on Earth. The Scavenger told him that their Elemental Powers wouldn’t work on Earth.

  They bade a tearful farewell to the Scavenger.

  The Scavenger then formed a portal for them to return to Earth.

  Right before jumping into the portal, Archer looked back at the people and creatures of the Dark World led by the Scavenger.

  “We will always remember you. I will miss you, kids,” the Scavenger smiled through teary eyes.

  “And we will miss you too,” Archer whispered and dived into the swirling vortex of energy.

  25

  Matt, Archer, Daniel and James blinked.

  They looked around and recognized the walls, the familiar building and the classrooms.

  It was their school.

  Matt heaved a sigh of relief. They were finally back on Earth. But before he could express his happiness, he heard a cry.

  “THERE THEY ARE!”

  Matt looked ahead and saw a bunch of men and women run towards them, carrying torches. He couldn’t recognize them at first, but as they came closer, Matt realized that they were their parents.

  “Where were you?” Matt’s mother shouted at him. “We have been looking for you for hours! You scared the hell out of us!”

  Matt didn’t understand what she was saying. As far as he knew, he had been in the Dark World for months together.

  “You owe us an explanation, son.” Matt’s father glared at him. “It is eleven in the night now, and your school ends at two! Now, gentleman, explain this, where were you for nine hours?”

  Matt suddenly realized what the Scavenger had told him – one month in the Dark World equals to one hour on Earth. Matt and his friends were in the Dark World for nine months.

  Matt tried to explain this to his father. “Dad, we went to the Dark World, and we were there for nine months. We had been called by the Scavenger to save the Dark World from a villain called the Death Lord.”

  His father’s looked bewildered. “What are you saying? Have you gone mad?”

  Matt realized there was no point in giving any explanation. The only thing he could do was to listen to his father’s scolding silently.

  Finally, he reached home along with his parents, and so did the other three children. After more scolding, his parents finally allowed him to go to sleep.

  Matt couldn’t fall asleep and kept twisting and turning in his bed. He finally got up, put on his jacket and slippers and stepped outside his house. In the middle of the street, he heard the sound of footsteps behind him. Matt whirled around, ready to take on whoever came at him… only to find his friends. They couldn’t sleep too.

  They looked at the skies above. Suddenly, something caught their attention. The stars aligned themselves to form something that looked like the Scavenger’s face. As they gazed above, the face smiled. They stood there for a long time and recollected their adventures in the Dark World.

  Tired, they headed back home and went off to sleep.

  ***

  A week later…

  After dinner, Matt retired to his room. Matt couldn’t get the adventures of the Dark World out of his head since the time they had returned to Earth.

  That night, he had a dream. In his dream, he was standing in front of the Pyramid of Destiny.

  He looked around and saw that Archer, Daniel and James were there too. Along with the Scavenger.

  “You called us,” Matt asked the Scavenger. “Is everything okay?”

  The Scavenger nodded. “I have been the King of the Dark World for fourteen years now. Everything is great in the Dark World. The barren field of the Moor of Death is now a beautiful realm. People are happy and satisfied. Yes, there are challenges, but we are managing well. I miss you guys.” He sighed.

  Archer shrugged. “So much has happened here and only a week has passed on Earth.”

  The Scavenger laughed. “Yes!”

  “So why did you call us?” Daniel stared at his face, concerned.

  In a sad tone, he replied, “I have been having nightmares related to one particular thing.”

  “And what’s that?” James asked.

  The Scavenger took a deep breath and continued, “Of late, the Death Lord has been tormenting me in my dreams. Remember he said that he will return. I can see him trapped in the Arcane Crown. But, he has found a way to soak the energy of the Crown. Each passing day, he is reclaiming his lost strength. When he has soaked enough energy from the Crown, he can either break free or can summon evil powers to free him from the Crown.”

  Matt listened gravely.

  The Scavenger continued, “Just last night, in my dreams, I saw him summoning someone that only the myths and legends speak of.”

  “Who?” Matt could see stress creeping onto the Scavenger’s face.

  “A dangerous and evil warrior that no one would ever dare talk about... the Death Lord chanted the forbidden spell and called the evil warrior.”

  “I don’t understand.” Daniel grew impatient.

  “Who?” Matt stomped the ground in irritation. “Who has he called?”

  “The Skull Warrior!” The Scavenger closed his eyes and sighed. “The Death Lord was powerful, but the Skull Warrior is a million times stronger and deadlier. He is extremely loyal to the Death Lord and will stop at nothing to try and free the Death Lord. If the Death Lord comes out again, he will completely ruin the Dark World as well as the Earth.”

  “So is that why you called us?” James asked. “To help you again?”

  The Scavenger nodded. “Yes. Will you be prepared to venture into the Dark World once again?”

  Matt thought about it, as the Scavenger continued, “The Death Lord was right when he had said that he would return. He has been able to summon the Skull Warrior. I am sure there are dangerous times ahead.”

  Matt thought about it. Would he favour the idea of living a routine life on Earth, safe from the dangers of the Dark World?

  The idea seemed tempting, but he couldn’t do it.

  Matt looked at the Scavenger. “I am ready. When should we start?”

  Archer, James and Daniel echoed, “We’re in. What do we have to do?”

  The Scavenger smiled. “Nothing now. As I said, I will call you when the time comes.”

  “And when will that be?”

  “I don’t know. As per your Earth’s timings, I assume it could be soon,” the Scavenger said. “Just look out for each other and remain safe.”

  They all nodded.

  “And remember, you have agreed to something hazardous, involving great risk to your lives,” the Scavenger remarked.

  “Anything for a friend.” Matt grinned extending his hand. Daniel, Matt and James put their hands immediately on Matt’s hand.

  “I love that,” the Scavenger said, as he started fading away. “I will come to you when it’s time. And I will talk to you frequently in your dreams. Bye for now.”

  The Scavenger disappeared.

  The children had dealt with the Death Lord. They had saved the Dark World and the Earth. But it seemed that it might not be for long.

  The quest for the Arcane Crown was the end of an adventure and the beginning of another. The difference is that the next one would most probably be a suicide mission for anyone who would dare to take the challenge.

  The End

  (For Now)

  Quest for the Arcane Crown