Rise of The Sorcerers: Part 1

"Life isn't always fair, you must learn to get the hang of it." - Lakshya Gupta

Chapter 1 

Outta the planet

Universe is very unique, especially the Harmond Galaxy. It is an alternate galaxy of our Milky Way. Things are pretty similar. I mean that the planets and the structure are not the same but the plants, animals and foods are basically the same. It's just like you have a fraternal twin and that's it.

Harmond Galaxy, a very jolly and elated one, was ruled by the Apexes since the beginning. But it was captured by the Griffs in 1505 until 2019. But all thanks to Captain Nicholas Roy. He stopped those aliens' torture. Griffs were very ugly and cruel, elf-like aliens who lived in Gregor Galaxy. They came to Harmond to rule the whole galaxy and become the most powerful organisms of all time.

The Griffs had bluish hair and white bodies. They were very eerie. They had really sharp canines exactly 2,000 times sharper than the Blue Whale of Earth. Oh my god! Now comes the most disgusting part! They were cannibals! They ate aliens as their meal. They executed the aliens who refused to accept them as their king. They imprisoned the warriors who tried to fight with them and threw away the aliens out of the galaxy who tried to betray them. Their oppression and torture was endless. Life in this galaxy was very horrid. Wars every other day.

They took over the Kingdom of Apexes. It was the largest planet of the galaxy. They executed many Apexes. Apexes were like human beings of the Milky Way. They were not the antagonists like the Griffs. They were benevolent and gentle aliens.

Nicholas was a unique Apex born in 1975. He had blue eyes and long eyebrows. His hair and beard were brown. He has been very smart and friendly since he was a kid. 

 He was tortured by the Griffs when he was a child. His parents and sister were imprisoned. But, the Griffs never imprison or kill Nicholas because he was unique. A pretty birthmark on his ankle made me special. 

Griffin Chalkburg was their king. He was an evil looking tall, arrogant and hubris Griff. His eyebrows were narrow, eyes wide, teeth sharp and was always in a uniform with a cape that made him fly. He thought that it made him lucky. His only three qualities were cruel, violent and powerful. Always ready for killing. He was 513 years old! I know some of us might be shocked but Griffs are aliens who can live up to 10,000 years. His castle was a type of obelisk and was so huge that one thousand people could live there. He had a lazy assistant Howard Heights. 

 He was very friendly with Nicholas but he never liked those Griffs. Instead, he hated them. They didn't let him go to school. They sent him to the School of Flying Spaceships. So, he was a born pilot. They told him to carry out various rescue missions for the Griffs during the Apex and the Griff war in 1999. Poor boy had no option but to take the Griffs' side. 

The process of stopping those cruel creatures was very tough and time-consuming. It wasn't really easy for Nicholas or his crew to do that. But somehow, they protected the universe from a very terrible danger.

It all began on one terrific night full of black clouds and lightning on Kingdom of Apexes. KOS, for short. Nicholas Roy had stolen the power wand of Griffin Chalkburg. He was caught red handed by the guards. He was being taken to Griffin for announcing his punishment.

 "Poor fellow, how did you even dare to go near my closet and rob my power wand? You must be thrown out of Harmond, right away. I am very disappointed. I was very friendly with you. I explained to you the benefits of joining us in our mission. You always refused. Why? You know, you're a gift to Harmond. Together, we can rule it. Last time, deal or not?" Griffin asked in a hoarse voice.

 "Nooooo! I will never help you dingbats. You took over our kingdom! I won't let you succeed. I don't mind if you kill me or throw me out!" Nicholas screamed.

 "This was your last chance, my foe. I am indomitable and you can't defeat me. Soldiers throw him out of this planet along with his spaceship. And Nich, after that you will drive your spaceship out of this galaxy and go into another. I don't want betrayers here," Griffin said with tears. He had always lived like a friend with Nicholas. But Nicholas was always against him.

Nicholas left the planet at once. He didn't even say goodbye to his pals. He set off to go to Milky Way Galaxy, the closest. But who knows what he was thinking. He wouldn't give up so fast. Would he? He had a plan. But I wouldn't tell the plan so soon. 

Nine hours later, Nicholas switched on the autopilot mode. He wanted some rest. He was tired of driving. He wore a simple loose T-shirt and kept his spacesuit aside. He gotta eat some slices of pizza. But, it is called Barbaro in Harmond Galaxy. The Barbaro was full of toppings such as pepperoni, broccoli, onion, corn, olives and tomatoes. It was a pan crust with mozzarella cheese. He was drinking some soda. I know, that sounds like some Earthy food but Harmond's foods are similar to Earth's.

He was watching his favourite show on his tablet named' The Apexes '. That show was being broadcasted in the Altopia galaxy for almost 300 years. It represented the power of Apexes. How the Griffs stole their power and executed them. needless to say, Griffs started that show so that the whole universe realizes their strength.

Nicholas's ship was on autopilot mode. All those storms, asteroids and stardust were coming in the way. But technology! You know that, it is so advanced, it handles everything. Even the obstacles coming in the way. It circumvents them. 

 

Nicholas's mind had myriads of thoughts. He had reached the border of Harmond and the Milky Way galaxy. So fast! Isn't it rad? He was so deep in his thoughts that he didn't even notice a couple of space capsules ahead of him. The pilots were racing them. His spaceship and one capsule was about to bump when the spaceship turned to the left. As soon as it turned, the capsule stopped.

Chapter 2

The Rotten Teenager

 Nicholas broke his chain of thoughts and noticed some space capsules on the radar. He was very angry. "It must be a rotten teenager racing with his friends," he said to himself. Without wasting a minute, he wore his magnetic space shoes and spacesuit and stood on his spaceship.

 His magnetic shoes made him stand. "Who are you? Why are you racing in this danger zone? I request you to stand on your capsule!" Nicholas exclaimed in his most loud voice. "A boy with an expression of shame came up. He seemed to be below twenty-five. He was wearing a blue T-shirt with grey pants.

 He said, "I am Andrew Swepson. Sorry! I was racing with my team. How careless of me!"

 Nicholas let out an expression of reassuring, "That's okay, my friend! You know that it is a very dangerous zone. Lots of meteors, rocks and violent storms are here. Be careful next time! I can offer you and your team my spaceship if you all would like to!"

 "That would be so great! Wait, let me tell my team," he thanked Nicholas.

Then, he called his team from his wrist phone and told them to come on Nicholas's ship. They did as they were told. They came inside and Nicholas asked them for a drink. All of them asked for soda but Andrew Swepson asked for cider. "Welcome onboard! This is my spaceship, June 43. Now please introduce yourselves and tell me what brings you in this dangerous place," Nicholas requested after some minutes. 

 "I am Andrew Swepson. I was a scholar in the Rutford Engineering University on planet Alsaw. The whole university was tortured there by the Griffs. We had to ixnay our lessons in between and help them. They were very rude to us. They hit the children who were not so well in studies. I started a campaign against them with my team. But soon they found that out and abandoned us off the planet. They gave us some space capsules and told us to go out of the galaxy. We reached here and were racing when we found you. Thank you so much!" Andrew explained his whole story. 

"Oh my goodness! That's too bad! Everyone has a right to study," replied Nicholas. 

"I am Volvo Zarc. I am the best friend of Andrew. We are buddies," replied a slim boy who was wearing sunglasses. He was in a white sweatshirt. His skin color was kind of dark and he had brown hair. He seemed kind of dumb and undisciplined. He always wanted to be stylish and famous.

"I am Prof. Charlotte Donelly. I teach Michael and Volvo engineering," said a blonde woman with spectacles. She was fair complexioned. She was beautiful and had two braids. They were tied by a blue rubber band. She was slim and was wearing a cloak. She seemed pretty wise, if I should judge by her face. But she was really wise. She had invented space dirigibles and was an expert at engineering. 

"And I am Lieutenant Nathan Zarc Livesey. I am…..ahem….. the father of Volvo Zarc," a man with a brown beard wearing a blue coat cleared his throat. The man had hardly any hair on his head and had a birthmark on his forehead. He had black complexion and was peculiar. It seemed that he had chickenpox by the dots on his face. He was ashamed for being a father of a freaky noob dude. Of course, he didn't like him. 

"Hmm.. Your story is ain't nice. You can….." Nicholas said.

"What about you? What is your name? Please tell us your story," Volvo interrupted.

"Well.. My story... I don't know where I should begin! Well, I am Nicholas Roy, an Apex. You can call me Mr. Roy or Captain Roy. I am a pilot. I was born on KOS. My parents were imprisoned when I was two. My kingdom was snatched from me by Griffin Chalkburg, the ruler of the Griffs. I didn't go to normal school. I was sent to a school of flying. I used to carry out various rescue missions for them. I had no choice but to support them. Yesterday, I tried to steal Griffin's power wand but I was caught red-handed. I was told to leave the galaxy but don't think that I am a thief. I did that on purpose, I mean I just wanted to have a reason for leaving the planet, I mean the galaxy. But why, you will know that later," said Nicholas.

It was time for breakfast. Everybody onboard was hungry. Nicholas was making some omelettes for them. The smirk on his face was very glorious. He smiled very rarely because of the torture he faced. All others were resting in the resting chambers. As soon as the breakfast was ready, Nicholas called them with his wrist phone and asked them to come into the kitchen. Everybody came. 

Andrew was drinking some cider while Volvo was chewing some gum. Charlotte was reading a treatise whereas Joe was on his phone.

Everybody sat on the dining table. Nicholas gave them a plate with omelettes and a pair of forks and butter knives. "Hmm….Mr. Roy, you were saying that you will tell us why you stole Griffin's power wand. Can't you tell us now? I….." Volvo asked but was interrupted by his father.

 "Are you mad? Are you supposed to talk so rudely? You are lapsed from gentility" screamed a rage father. Volvo was ashamed. 

"That's okay! I will tell you that now. I stole Griffin's power wand because I have a reason. A very very very important reason. And that is to stop those cruel Griffs," Nicholas let out a shriek of reassuring.

"How?" Charlotte asked in a serious voice.

"I wanted to search for a true crew who had faced problems because of Griffs. I wanted a team for planning and stopping the threat to the universe. And you must have guessed by now! That true crew is yours! You are my team. Together, we will fight. Together, we will get our kingdoms and planets back and together we will stop them!" Nicholas exclaimed as he finished his omelette. 

Chapter 3

Start of A Great Mission

Everyone finished their omelettes. They were ready for an adventurous mission. 

They all gathered at the main room where all the members have a cabin. In the cabins, there are computers to work. There were five cabinets in the main room. 

Nicholas asked, "Hey guys. Let me explain to you the main room! As you see, there are five cabinets. Frontmost cabinet is mine. It is for the pilots and has all of the controls. "The cabinet on the left is of Charlotte and on the back of her cabin is Volvo's cabin. The cabin on the right is Mr. Livesey's and on the back of it is Andrew's cabin. So, on your cabin is a computer on which you have the map of the galaxy, tracking apps, research engines and radar. So, I will tell you when you have to do anything because I don't have a computer. Okay?" 

"Yes!" everybody said as they sat in their cabin.

All of them opened their computers. Suddenly, they realized that the spaceship started to move. They were perplexed. Was it a meteor attack or Captain Roy started the spaceship?

"Are we going somewhere?" Charlotte asked in a serious voice.

"Didn't you realize that before? We have been moving for ten minutes!" Nicholas laughed. Everybody was shocked. 

"Where are we going? To the Milky Way?" Andrew asked.

"That's a good question. No, we are not going to the Milky Way, we are going back to Harmond. I forgot to switch off the autopilot mode and it brought me to the edge of the Milky Way. I am very forgetful. Anyways, do you guys know any secret or hidden place in Harmond where we can hide our spaceship? We have to make sure our spaceship camouflages with the place and the Griffs don't see that on their radar. Think some revolutionary ideas," said Nicholas

Andrew named different places such as Yonking Island, Huji Comet Belt and Jovinnenan Star but the reply was no. 

"Rutmellan Stardust?" asked Volvo.

"Shooting Stars! I didn't think that before. That's perfect! Our spaceship is blue and the stardust is also blue. It can easily camouflage. Marvelous job, Volvo!" Nicholas exclaimed. Volvo thought that Andrew was jealous of him and was full of glee from inside. First time, he had said something wise. 

Nicholas turned the spaceship to the northeast part of Harmond. Rutmellan stardust was a blue stardust found in the northeast part of the Harmond galaxy. It was surrounded by various asteroids.

Meanwhile on KOS, Griffin was trying to figure out the location of Nicholas. He noticed him going towards the northeast and was very angry.

"Oh goodness! This chucklehead hasn't left my galaxy still. He is going to the northeast. Wait, let me teach him a lesson," Griffin was disappointed. "Joe dear! Come here." 

Just then, a fair complexioned boy with a blue hat came. His name was Joe Chalkburg and he was the son of Griffin Chalkburg. He had black hair with red dye. He hardly had any neck and walked like water. He was always in his spacesuit. He was a melancholy boy. He had no feelings and he never smiled. Instead, he always seemed always bored. But he was obedient. He would do anything for his father. He was kinda a detective or what you say undercover agent for his father. He was eating a pancake when his father called him.

"Yes, dad. What happened?" he asked as if he was kind of irritated. 

His dad whispered a plan into his ears. 

"Hmph…!" Joe groaned.

Meanwhile, crew aboard the June 43 were also very exhausted and perspiration came down on their spacesuits as if they had done hundred push-ups! But they were approaching the Luna Balls around which the temperature was too hot.

Luna Balls are the green eyed balls made up of iron and nickel. They are located in east Harmond. They have powerful radiation belts and various types of rings which can kill anyone who stepped on them or even passed beside them. They are over 2,ooo,ooo,ooo of them. The temperature around them is over 75 million degree celsius. 

"I request everyone to go to their rooms and remove their jackets. We are approaching the Luna Balls. The temperature will be very hot now onwards," Nicholas said while soaking his perspiration from a blue handkerchief. 

"Oh… That's why I feel so hot. It's burning and you know that the Luna Ball are types of stars. That's why they are so hot but compared to the sun, they are less hot," Volvo said as if his science class was going on there. Nicholas shook his head. 

All of them excluding Nicholas went into their rooms, removed their jackets and came back about fifteen minutes later. Volvo took a bottle of cappuccino and sat in his cabin. He opened his computer and asked Nicholas if there was an Xbox onboard the ship. 

"Yes! There is! Check in Andrew's cupboard," Nicholas exclaimed. 

However, Andrew wasn't paying attention. He was drinking cider as usual and texting someone through his wrist phone. Without waiting a minute, Volvo went to Andrew's cabin, rudely pushed his seat, took Xbox and returned to his cabin. Andrew didn't even notice him. After some minutes of fixing the Xbox, Volvo started playing it.

Chapter 4 

The Voice Mail

On the radar, other crew members were noticing various magnificent sights of Luna balls burning and various stardusts approaching. They were fascinating! 

Charlotte noticed that she received a voice message on her email from somebody named Joe. 

"Captain Roy! I received an audio message on my email from some person named Joe," Charlotte informed Nicholas.

"Quickly open it and all of us will hear. Make sure you turn the volume up to 200%. It is quite a bit slow," Nicholas quickly replied.

She turned the volume up and opened the email.

"Hello! I am Joe Anderson from Luna 34X Ship. I am on Jorrio planet. Please save me! Griffin is trying to find and kill me," the message said.

"Quick! We got to help this fellow," Nicholas said. "I am going to switch on the autopilot mode and then go to Jorrio planet with Volvo. You all stay here and keep watching the radar. If anything abnormal occurs, inform me."

"Volvo? Captain, I suggest you. Don't take Volvo along with you. Take someone else. He is….ahem….quite a bit silly and does misconduct...well...a few times…..," Volvo's father quickly replied, skeptically. 

"No!! My decision is consistent and final! I will take Volvo with me," Nicholas said angrily. Volvo was very excited and nervous.

Then, Nicholas quickly turned the ship on autopilot mode and launched a space capsule. Along with Volvo, he quickly waved goodbye to all and sat in it. The capsule detached from the ship and raced rapidly across the space. It headed straight towards the Jigsaw Luna Ball which was in the center of all the Luna Balls. Next to it was Jorrio planet. 

It took them about half an hour to reach there. The Jigsaw ball was burning bright. The temperature was lukewarm. Not so hot. And the planet was very beautiful. It was covered with clouds. Nicholas landed the capsule on it and started to search for Joe along with Volvo. They both saw various craters on the planet. Some as small as a book while some as massive as a spaceship. There were sand dunes. They saw water bodies. 

The planet was uninhabited. No aliens were there. They were roaming there for two hours. They started to think that they were befooled by some trickster. Suddenly, they heard a creak of a critter . It seemed that he was Joe. They went in the direction from which the creak came. 

"It must be Joe!" Volvo murmured.

"Let's investigate," Nicholas said softly.

They heard another creak and finally saw the critter . He was standing near a maroon rock. He was Griffin Chalkburg. Volvo was very frightened so he stepped backwards. But Griffin had seen them. 

"Hi dear foe! How are you? Seems that you are quite nice but you won't be nice in the graveyard when I kill you here on this planet. You didn't desert the galaxy, right? But now, I am going to help you desert the world," Griffin let out an evil shriek.

"Hmm..Now I understand your trick. You captured Joe and asked him to call me so that you can kill me, right? But not so easily!" Nicholas exclaimed.

"Yeah! You seem pretty wise!" Griffin said.

"I was born wise," Nicholas laughed. Griffin was angry. 

"Captain! I am very afraid," Volvo murmured in Nicholas's ear. 

"Oh! So you have brought a fraidy marionette along with you!" Griffin laughed as he had overheard their conversation.

"Hey you remorseless beast! You don't know what you are blabbering. Keep your dreadful mouth closed so that no more dreadful words come out of it. Come here and fight!" Nicholas screamed and grabbed a stick lying on the ground.

"How dare you?" Griffin pulled out his sword.

His sword was shining brightly. It was white and very pointed. Both of them gazed in each other's eyes with anger holding their weapons. Both the warriors stood with pride on the planet. While Volvo seemed scared. 

Nicholas raised his stick towards Griffin to hit him but Griffin cut it without wasting a minute. Nicholas panicked. Griffin dropped his sword. He kicked Nicholas on his belly. Nicholas fell onto the ground as if a mountain had fallen from a range. Volvo closed his eyes to avoid the horror. He couldn't help him because he wasn't a warrior. He was a simple person and didn't know how to do Taekwondo. Nicholas stood up but Griffin punched him on his whole body approximately fifteen times. He hit him so badly with punches and kicks. He even did Karate on him as if he was a punching bag. Nicholas couldn't do even one stroke on Griffin because Griffin didn't give him a second to do so. He was badly hurt. Wounds all over his body, face red and spacesuit torn. Volvo weeped after seeing his Captain's circumstances. But he couldn't help. 

Suddenly, Volvo heard a noise. The voice was asking to help. He quickly ran in the direction which the voice came from. He saw an injured man screaming for help. He helped him stand and took him into his space capsule using his flying space skateboard. He asked the man to wait and went back to Nicholas. 

"From now on, tell him to get out of the galaxy and never come back. If he comes back then he will have to face the consequences," Griffin said and disappeared.

Nicholas stood up and went to the space capsule with Volvo. Volvo helped him. When they reached the space capsule, Volvo applied ointment to Nicholas and the injured man. He quickly switched on the autopilot mode and put the destination of Luna Ball No. 1310. That was the place where they had seen their spaceship before but it was going forward. He informed the other crew members about the incident and asked them to stop the ship near Luna Ball No. 1310. He told them that soon they will reach there.

"These injuries of Nicholas and him will take time to heal," Mr. Nathan Said after the three of them had reached the spaceship. 

He examined their wounds and applied iodine. He was a doctor before he became a lieutenant. So he knew all that stuff a doctor needs to know.

"Goodness! Captain is badly beaten! He shouldn't have gone there to help this man. He needs to know that we are not ubiquitous and can't help any anonymous critter anywhere in this world," Charlotte said rudely.

"No! We have to help people in need as much as we can!" Andrew exclaimed in rebuttal. 

After three hours, it was time for lunch. Charlotte had cooked some spaghetti with a lot of Parmesan Cheese. All of them sat on the dining table. Captain Nicholas felt better. He had taken some rest but was still covered from several bandages from head to toe. Everyone praised Charlotte's spaghetti and ate a lot of it. 

"Nice spaghetti, isn't it?" asked Mr. Nathan. Everyone agreed.

"By the way, you didn't introduce yourself lad, did you? Tell me. And explain why Griffin tried to kill you," said Nicholas.

"I am Joe Anderson. I was a greengrocer on KOS. I was t0 give free vegetables to Mr. Chalkburg. I didn't get any penny in return. So I decided to rebel against him. He fought with me, hit me and left me alone on Jorrio. He even tried to smother me. Then you found me. I am profoundly grateful to you!" explained the stranger.

The stranger was actually Joe Chalkburg, Griffin's son. It was all part of their secret plan. He wanted to teach a lesson to the treasoners. 

The crew members introduced themselves to him. Nicholas explained to him their mission and asked him if he would join.

"Fine, I will join. I want to teach them a lesson. Am quite a bit apprehensive for our mission," said Joe.

"So let's initiate…." said Nicholas.

"No! You need rest! We will initiate tomorrow," Charlotte interrupted.

"Fine!" Nicholas replied. 

All of them ate their lunch and headed straight to the main room except Nicholas and Joe. Nicholas was in his bedroom, resting and Joe excused to go to the bathroom. Charlotte told him where the bathroom was. Joe crept into the bathroom mysteriously. He ought to tell the status of June 43 to his father. He called him through his wrist phone.

"Dear daddy! I have a lot to tell you! Here aboard the spaceship, Nicholas has started a campaign to stop us. He has a crew made up from the people who were told to leave the galaxy. He asked me to join their campaign. I accepted his invitation so that I can inform you of the latest gossip of theirs," said Joe in a voice not above a whisper.

"Ooh, is that so? You did a great job, darling! Keep it up! Actually……" said Griffin.

"Daddy, bye! Someone is coming," interrupted Joe and hung up the phone. He had listened to a creak of somebody coming near the bathroom. It was Nicholas. Nicholas knocked on the bathroom door through the door knocker. Joe came out pushing Nicholas on the left side. He ran to the main room. Nicholas stood there perplexed by Joe's strange behaviour. He was definitely not amused by that. In fact, he was humiliated. He didn't expect Joe to do so. Anyways, he went inside the bathroom.

Meanwhile on KOS, Griffin and his assistant Howard Heights were drinking a drink! They were doing pranks and telling jokes. It seemed that they both had gone extremely mad.

They sat on a ravine and were screaming mindlessly.

"Howard, you nerd! You don't even have common sense! You think Nicholas is a fool, right? He is not a fool! He is asinine. He is a coward. You know, he is going to desert Harmond soon," Nicholas conjectured as he drank a sip of what he called Bewitched Pepsi! It was actually a normal soda with some ridiculous ingredients. 

Howard let out a jerky and jocular laughter.

"Almighty! Please tell me what is your plan," Howard requested Griffin.

Griffin was very angry, "Howard! I said that the plan remains consistent and concealed!" Howard nodded in disappointment and begged Griffin's pardon.

"It's fine! Be happy! Cheers!" said Griffin.

Meanwhile on June 43, there was so much to worry about. 

Suddenly, a meteor shaped object landed on the ship. No one noticed it. Even no one felt its presence. Actually, it wasn't a meteor. It was something else. Something, never spotted in Harmond. The meteor, I mean the strange thing was not hard. It was a smooth, sticky thing. The outer cover was very soft. Inside it was a green chemical. And in the center, there was a rusty metallic ball. It released powerful radiations. We cannot find this object in any science laboratory. The thing was very small. It was not a critter, needless to say! No mad person would just land itself on a spaceship to get itself wiped away and killed!   

After three hours, the tea time was over. Everyone was coming back into their cabins. Volvo was the first one and he quickly started playing Xbox. 

Unfortunately, the Xbox, in fact his computer wasn't working. He tried to refresh several times but still no success.

"Guys…" said Nicholas

"My Xbox isn't working! Please do something!" Volvo interrupted.

 

"That's an irrelevant thing to discuss, son. Moreover, you shouldn't interrupt," said Mr. Nathan.

"Nasty old habit," said Andrew chewing some gum.

"Wait! That's relevant! Even the radar isn't working," said Nicholas. Everyone stared at him in astonishment. Everyone saw that even their computer wasn't working when they opened it. Their wrist phones and other gadgets weren't working too! Things were getting pretty awkward.

"Oh no! My phone!" exclaimed Charlotte.

"My Xbox!" cried Volvo.

"There's no need to shout! The antennae on the top of the ship must have been displaced!" said Andrew coldly. 

"If that is the matter then let's go up!" Nicholas exclaimed.

"Yes," said Mr. Nathan. Everybody wore their magnetic shoes and went on the spaceship. It was an important thing to worry about. The radar, wrist phones and all that stuff. They were an important means of gadgets to use, find way and communicate. They checked that the antennae was at the right place! They saw that strange sticky object lying aside. Nicholas wore a glove and picked up the object. As soon as he got off the body of the ship, new notifications started coming in Charlotte's phone. She looked at the notifications and yelled in amusement. Her phone started working. Everyone including Nicholas looked at their phones and their phone also started working! They returned to their cabins and opened their computers and Volvo opened his Xbox. Nicholas looked at the radar and Joe looked at his Ipad. These gadgets were also working! It was a miracle!

"I don't understand how these worked finally?" asked Charlotte.

"Chetnical...I mean technical problems, prof!" replied Andrew. Everyone agreed except Nicholas who just kept quiet.

Chapter 5

The Plan

It was nighttime. Everyone was in their bedroom, sleeping except Nicholas who was probably always an exception. He sneaked into the kitchen and grabbed a packet of trail mix. The trail mix was made up from cashew nuts, almonds, raisins, pistachios, figs, pretzels, chocolate chips and truffles. It contained a lot more fancy and lip smacking stuff. On the right corner, he saw a thing in a bowl having a very bad stench. He saw that it was bacon. He was a vegan but he ate only eggs. Then also, he was amused to see bacon. He grabbed that too! 

He went straight towards his room. He ate some trail mix and then put some bacon up inside a cage hung on a hook on the wall. The cage was made up from rusty metal that was built centuries ago. Inside the cage was a puppy! The puppy was Nicholas's. His name was Champ. It was a cute little white colored pug with black shiny spots. He seldom barked and never licked Nicholas. He peed inside the cage. He was a secret no one ever came to know about. Nicholas stole the puppy from cruel and mean Dr. Jonas Gracefred on KOS. He was a Griff. Nicholas put bacon for Champ to eat it. 

Now you would wonder why a gentle Nicholas put the cute little puppy inside a cage. The puppy had a sickness named Puppy Koma. The puppy was paralized and he would only eat bacon. He couldn't bark. Nicholas would steal some bacon for him during the night and serve him a bowl of water per day in the morning. He was grieved for the cute puppy.

"We are approaching our destination, Champ!" exclaimed Nicholas. Champ didn't see him or bark. He stayed the same as he was before as if he was hypnotized. 

"Come on, Champ!" said Nicholas with an expectation of any bark. "When will you get alright?" 

Nicholas was very upset and he was about to cry seeing Champ's circumstances. Suddenly, he noticed that the spaceship started to shake as if there was an earthquake.He crept into the main room and saw that they had approached the stardust. He drove the ship into a piece of blue dust very deep inside. I think the shaking was probably just a radiation wave or any small asteroid. That's why the ship must have skewed. However, Nicholas didn't think so. He landed the ship there and went back to his room. 

His minds were having myriads of thoughts. He drifted left to right and left to right in his bedroom trying to contemplate and concentrate. Why did Joe bump into him? What was that object that landed on their ship in the evening? Why did it turn off their gadgets? What was the object that hit their spaceship when they were sleeping? Was it Griffin's plan? Or was it someone else? Some antagonist who was trying to jeopardize their mission. He sat on his table, wore gloves and took out that strange object that landed on their ship. 

The object was peculiar. Well not really! It was, I should say, peculiarest. I know that the word doesn't exist but I think I invented it right now! The shell of the object was very soft and smooth and Nicholas ripped it off as if it was papyrus. He saw that the object had a chemical and it smelled like a ferret's poop! Yuck! He put the chemical in a vessel. There was one more thing. It was a rusty metallic ball. He put that object in an EsLoc. EsLocs were like ZipLocs. He glanced at the chemical and did some research on it. He worked all night doing research and adding other strange chemicals into it. At last, there was a product, I mean a chemical left behind. One thing was for sure that Nicholas made a new chemical using that for a purpose. His inventions and experiments were always for a benefit. Not useless! 

He slept at five in the morning and woke up at eleveN. His crew was very shocked because he came into the main room at noon. Now, you would say at eleven, but it takes time to fresh and dress up, right? 

"Captain, what in this galaxy happened to you?" asked Charlotte.

"What? What happened to me?" replied Nicholas.

"You are la….late."

"Oh! I worked late at night. That's why."

"I see! Don't ever do that again! You need to sleep at least eight hours," Joe said coldly.

"Anyways. Did you notice where we are?" 

"Yes, Rutmellan Stardust! It's so cool!!" exclaimed Andrew

"Of course! Rutmellan Stardust. You know, it is the biggest group of stardusts in the whole galaxy! They are of different types and have different colors. They are one of the KOS Heritage Wonders," said Mr. Nathan. 

"Yeah. Do you know what I found last night?" asked Nicholas. Everybody nodded their head in denial.

"You know that the things are getting very awkward, right? The landing of the strange thing on our ship, our gadgets not working and you know, one thing hit our ship last night. It felt like there was an earthquake. You all were in your bedrooms covered with cosy blankets but I wasn't. I was contemplating. I think someone is trying to jeopardize our mission. I explored that strange object last night. It had a nasty chemical. And you know, that chemical is considered a Trioloixide. Trioloixides are kind of bad chemicals that are produced by the Black Ninjas's blood. They release radiation that affects gadgets when they are in contact with a rusty metal. There was a rusty metallic ball in that too. I am 101% sure Black Ninjas are in partnership with Griffin," said Nicholas

"Black Ninjas! They were friends of Apexes. They betrayed us. They are treasoners. They should be executed. They were to support us. Instead, they are with Griffs trying to jeopardize us from our mission? This isn't great. Now, we have two things to do. First, to stop Griffin and second, to fight with Black Ninjas. But how? We don't know anything. We don't know where they are hiding," Charlotte expressed her anxiety. 

"Calm down, Charlotte! We will find a way," Joe reassured.

"Yes! Joe is right. I do have a plan, you know. That is to find my uncle Steve Gutman. He is a spy but he is currently imprisoned. He is a Black Ninja. He is the only guy who can help us. I will go to Alsaw Jailhouse disguised as Griffin Chalkburg and then I will give them orders to the inspector to release him," Explained Nicholas.

"A Black Ninja? Your uncle?" asked Andrew.

"Yes! A Black Ninja. My grandfather adopted him. So he is my uncle. And he can never betray anyone. He's got a brain of a sly fox"

"What about your uncle Frank?" Joe blurted. 

"How do you know about my uncle Frank? I never told you guys about my family, did I?" 

Joe tried to think of something he could say. He had made a big mistake.

"Oh! From the newspaper. I read in the newspaper that your uncle Frank started a business of convertibles. Am I right?" asked Joe

"Oh yeah. You are absolutely correct. He started a business. But now he is not among us. Uncle Steve shooted him because he was taking the side of Griffs. He betrayed uncle Steve. That's why," replied Nicholas wiping his tears.

"Sorry Captain! I didn't mean to hurt you." 

"It's okay! Ain't your fault. Anyways, let us proceed with our mission. Andrew go to my workshop and you will see a box of Howard's dressings. Wear them and I am going to dress like Griffin. Then, we will go to Alsaw and release uncle."

Both of them rushed to the workshop. Nicholas opened an almirah and held a box full of disguises. It was not a box, for instance, it was a type of enormous chest for it had so much clothes. They both dressed like Howard and Griffin used to for they always wore the same attire with a cape everyday. 

"Let's go!" Nicholas launched a capsule. Andrew and him sat in there and waved goodbye. The space capsule detached. Nicholas opened the map. Planet Alsaw was 300 miles from Rutmellan Stardust. It would take them twenty minutes to reach there according to 25 miles per minute. rad technology, eh? 

After 25 miles, they both landed on planet Alsaw. The port was very crowded and they were the center of attraction. The parking for them was free. Everybody knelt down. Nicholas thanked and told them to stand. Everybody was astonished because for the first time they had seen Griffin behave so nicely.

They hired a taxi and went straight towards the jailhouse. The guards knelt down and opened the gate for them to enter. Inside were thousands of cells in which the criminals were confined. Inside each cell, was a water tanker. Among those cells, was a unique solitary cell built for highly hazardous criminals. On the outer gate was a board in which it was written- 'Spy Steve Gutman'. Griffin aka Nicholas peeped inside the hole and saw his uncle.

"Open this!" Griffin ordered the guards standing there. 

"B-b-ut…" said one of the guards.

"Are you deaf? Didn't you hear what Cap...I mean Majesty said?" said Howard aka Andrew coldly.

The guard, scared, reluctantly opened the gate. Both of them went inside and saw Uncle Steve in handcuffs. He was drinking water in a glass. As he noticed them approaching, he dropped the glass. It shattered into tiny bits of pieces on the ground like grains of wheat. Water spilled down and it made the friction level decrease. Howard's feet slipped and he fell down with a thud!

"Why?" asked Howard.

"Shut up! I don't talk to ruthless brutes like you!" screamed Steve.

"Mind your language, Mr. Steve. You don't know who I am,"

"I know…"

"Shut up! I don't want you both talking nonsense," replied an irritated Griffin.

"Nephew! Is that you?" asked a happy Steve. 

"Yes! I am your nephew, Nicholas. I have come here to rescue you. So please be quiet, okay?" asked the fake Griffin. "Guards! Release this man out of here without a counter argument." 

The guards outside came in. One of them removed the handcuffs from his hands. Steve Gutman was free! After that, Steve went to the restroom and changed his prisoner costume. He wore a spacesuit which was taken away from him approximately nine years ago. His spacesuit was still in his locker. He quickly went out of the jailhouse with both of them and was revived. To see the world once again after so many years. The trees, the fresh air and the busy streets. He thought that he would never see them again because he would be sent to the gallows. But his nephew saved him!

"Nephew! Your idea was awesome! What makes you come here on Alsaw in an ugly disguise to save your unreal uncle who killed your real uncle?" asked Steve.

"No time for questions, uncle! I will explain everything to you," replied Nicholas as they sat in the space capsule.

Chapter 6

Steve Gutman's Story 

Kingdom of Apexes, 4 August 2011

"Norman! Come on! You are so slow. We got to sneak into Griffin's castle!" exclaimed spy Steve Gutman to his assistant spy Norman Harbor.

Steve Gutman was the most efficient, reliable, brave and smart spy in the Spy Field of Alsaw. He was a tall slim man with a brown beard. He was very old but he looked like he was a teen. His mustaches were very small and he was fair complexioned. His eyes were very scary like a black panther. He was a Black Ninja. He knew how to do Ninja Stunts. He had caught the world's greatest criminal gang within a jiffy. He didn't like betrayers who deceive people. He was always against the Griffs. He had two brothers and one nephew and one niece. 

Norman Harbor was the second most efficient, reliable, brave and smart spy. He was the assistant of Steve Gutman. He was an orphan. He was short in height and fat in weight. He was a pot bellied man. He always wore a regular ancient blazer and jeans. 

"I'm going to try my best. I'll make it. It's not so hard," replied Norman.

Steve had told him to climb the very high obelisk castle of Griffin Chalkburg. Then, he would go inside and open the main gate for Steve. It was nighttime so no one would notice him. 

"I made it, sir!" said Norman

"Yeah. Right. You did it! Fine. Keep it up. You know what to do next, right?" said Steve.

Norman was climbing the highest floor and even one mistake would let him lose his life. He broke one of the windows. There was some noise but not that much. There was a soldier sleeping. He quickly wore a mask and sprayed nausea spray in there. He opened the door of the room and saw a corridor. He grabbed a gun on one of the desks in the corridor. He went to the ground floor through the lift. It took him five minutes. The ground floor was in a dark condition. There were candles and diyas and lamps only inside the rooms, Norman thought. He switched on a torch from his Quechua backpack. He turned left and right and left and right not knowing where to go. The beam only lit a small piece of the room. 

After minutes of investigating, he saw the main gate. He knew if he would even touch it with hands, an alarm would start to beep. Instead of opening it with hand, he opened it with the torch. It was a hard process. Nonetheless, he got rid of the Superior Security System (SSS or SES). It was a very tough security system to deal with. 

Norman knew how to break every single of the security systems but this one was perhaps too difficult. It sensed the fingerprints of any bad guy in the eye of Griffin and if there would be one, it would beep! He along with Steve were bad guys according to Greewrot! The system was built by Griffs to protect their caste from bandits and other bad guys. And Greewrot was a manual written by Griffin Chalkburg. It had names of all the people residing in the galaxy and their personalities- good or bad.

"Goodness! It is taking me so much time," exclaimed Norman as he broke the first panel of the security chamber. Steve was hiding behind a very ancient and huge palm tree surrounded by goldenrod plants in the courtyard. 

It took Norman tons of minutes to break all of them, probably hours. It was 2 A.M. As he succeeded, he let out a shout of exhaustion. 

"Shut up! Asinine! You don't know what it means to be quiet, Harbor," replied Steve coldly to his shout. He entered the obelisk. Harbor was ashamed. Steve switched on his torch. The torch beam showed a chair there . Norman went there and sat. 

"I want some rest," he said. 

"Come on! Come on! Don't be a tired baby!"

"Fine, sir! You are always commanding me. I wanted a small nap but you won't let me. Anyways, what do we do next? You told me nothing about Plan 2 as we have finished the Plan 1,"

"We got to find out the secret cabinet of Howard Heights. He has fancy and hazardous and mysterious stuff in there. Maybe it has the secret of destroying the Griffs,"

"Hmm...I wouldn't go in there,"

"You have too! Silly! We're going to find the cabinet and you are going to investigate it, okay?"

"Fine!"

Now you would ask how Steve knew Howard had a secret cabinet. Howard and Griffin went to planet Ringer to build a hydro plant. So it was a lucky opportunity for Spy Field of Alsaw to explore their castle on KOS. The deputies had stolen some CCTV cameras of the Castle. When Steve watched all of them, he noticed Howard heights sitting and doing various mysterious things in a strange cabinet. He couldn't tell in which place the cabinet was situated. So he was there to find that out. 

He was to do everything very wisely because his brother lieutenant Frank Roy was in charge of the safety of the castle. He had betrayed his brothers and was on Griffs' side.

Frank Roy was a tall dark complexioned man without any mustache or beard. He was bald. He was always in a cloak, neckerchief and sunglasses. He was both intelligent and a noob. He never did anything that ought to be hilarious.

"Rotten Bananas! What is this?" said Steve because torch's batteries came out to be dead; they only worked for about a minute or so. 

"Sir, at this time you want to eat rotten bananas?" laughed Norman.

"Do you think I am in a gaming mood?"

"Uh-oh!"

"What happened?"

"I lost my torch. I dropped it somewhere behind. Now we are lost in this castle."

"What?? Oh, no! Go back."

Chapter 7

Steve Gutman's Story Part 2:

The Basement

Steve and Norman went back near the gate and searched for the torch. They finally found it under the chair on which Norman sat. 

"Thank god! I found it!" exclaimed Norman

"Now let's continue our mission. We have already wasted so much of the time on nonsense things!" said Steve.

Norman opened his backpack and took out the map of the castle which he printed for the mission. They were currently at the center point of the ground room corridor and the lift was on the right. They rapidly went there and took the lift for the first floor. And one by one they investigated all of the forty-three floors except the basement. There was no sign of any secret cabinet or any concealed enveloped room. It was one hour to dawn. They had to rush or else they would be in a very big circumstance. 

"I am 101% sure that the secret room is located in the basement of the castle," said Steve to Norman when they both met again after hours of investigation.

"Yeah," replied Norman.

"Hurry up! We gotta go to the basement fast!"

 

They both went to the lift and pressed to go to the basement. The basement was not dark. It was well lit up with lights and was guarded by thousands of soldiers with rifles and swords. On the top was a golden and silver chandelier that looked a bit fancy and pretty. They both came out of the lift without making a single noise, in a pin drop silence and hid behind a wall. 

"What are we supposed to do now? There are triads of soldiers here, guarding the place," whispered Norman.

"I don't care. Just grab a rifle or anything and get ready for a battle. I don't know if we will survive or die," Steve made Norman more tense. Norman was a spy, not a soldier or Taekwondo master. 

He didn't know what to reply or do instantly but he just took out his rifle. He turned on the silencer and quickly stepped ahead. There was a soldier guarding. He put the rifle beside the soldier's forehead and shot him. He fell down. Noise pollution was conserved so everybody knew that it was just normal. 

"That's a brave Normie!" whispered Steve.

Norman and Steve both stepped ahead slowly and kept killing the soldiers until they both were in grave danger. They saw a tall bald man with a cigar in his mouth. He was in a cloak and had a neckerchief around his neck. He had a very hazardous laser pistol in his left hand and a bottle with tobacco juicein it in his right hand. Steve recognized the man at once but Norman was pretty unsure. 

"Frank please don't kill us. I am your dear brother. Pleeeeeease!" pleaded Steve.

"Hmm...So why're you both dingbats here? You're supposed to be in your homes sleeping," said Frank in a hoarse voice. "I have to tell Griffin Majesty! You both have sneaked into our castle and killed many of our brave soldiers."

"Majesty? Is Griffin the Majesty? Our brother Robert is the Majesty. You aren't talking about Griffin, right?"

"I am! That idiot Robert is in prison, asinine!"

"I know. He is the real king. You brats captured him and are doing bad things. Please help us. You are an Apex."

"I know I am an Apex-Griff. I want wealth and power. Soon after everything comes under our control and we execute people like you, I am going to kill Griffin and become the king!"

"Traitor! Before you become the king, I am going to kill you!" 

Steve shot him. Frank fell down on the ground with a thud. He was dead. The bottle containing tobacco juice was broken into thousands of pieces. 

"What did you do, sir?" Norman looked on Steve's face with disappointment. "You killed him." 

Steve looked down at his dead brother. Tears wiped down his face. Soon after, the soldiers spotted both of them and put them into prison.

Two days later.

Chalkburg was visiting spy Gutman in the prison. He was in a mood of very much anger and he couldn't express how he felt. Frank was his most brave, powerful and brilliant lieutenant. He was reliable and gullible. He had always protected him from various dangers and bad guys like Steve. He was like a son to him. He had feelings for him and Griffin thought that after he died, Frank would be his heir. 

"Gutman! Would you mind telling me why you killed my most brilliant lieutenant?"    Griffin yelled in a very hoarse and loud voice. 

"No," replied Steve and whistled. 

"Hey, mind your language. I am your king! Now, tell me."

"I said NO" 

"I'll kill Norman else."

"Fine. Kill him. He is a useless person. He doesn't have manners and is very slow. He is a big asinine," Steve fancied. Steve told the guards guarding the cell to shoot Norman Harbor who was in another cell just right to Steve's. 

One of the guards pulled his rifle from his waistband and shot Norman from a window-like hole on the outer wall of the cell. Norman was eating a peach at that time and was unaware of anything happening outside. He didn't even hear Griffin's loud voice. He lied on the ground. Blood trickled down from his chest. The floor was full with red blood as if a vampire had sunken it. 

"They killed your assistant. Poor guy! He didn't even know that his master would kill him," Griffin laughed and returned. He didn't continue asking. 

Next day, he told his laborers to make a solitary cell for Steve Gutman. He was the most dangerous spy of the world.

Chapter 8

Persuade Steve 

 June 43, 9 December 2018

"You guys want me to join your crew, eh?" said Steve Gutman when Nicholas brought him to his spaceship and told him what their mission was, the events that happened and asked him to be a part of their crew. 

"Yeah," said Mr. Nathan.

"I willn't join. I don't want to get into that useless 7 year old thing again. I tried a lot but Griffin is indomitable."

"Fine. You don't join. I am going to drop you again into that stupid solitary cellar built for you," said Nicholas after a long time waiting.

"Why? I am your uncle."

"You were. But you killed uncle Frank. You are of no use for me. I just brought you here because I wanted you to join my crew . You're a great spy!"

"I have no other option."

It was evening. Everybody had drunk a glass of fresh, sour lemonade and eaten some mac and cheese. June 43 was still hiding among the stardusts. 

"So, what's our next step, captain?" asked Charlotte impatiently. 

"I was thinking that we have two missions, right? We can't work on both of them together. Every slightest clue we have would be mixed up. In fact, we all would be perplexed. So, I thought that we could split up. Uncle Steve, Volvo, Mr. Nathan and Joe csn take care of Black Ninjas and Charlotte, Andrew and me will take care of the Griffs. That way, we all could focus nicely and our work would also be completed," explained Nicholas. 

"That would be great but how will we travel? We only have one spaceship, asked Joe. 

"Space capsules!" exclaimed volvo. 

"No! We can't do that! Space capsules have very less fuel and energy than our spaceship. It only can help us during short travels and we don't know how much time it is going to take us. I wish we had space pods!" said Andrew.

"Yes, he is right. I also learnt that in college!" said Volvo.

"How about my space dirigibles?" asked Charlotte. "They are one of my latest inventions. They are just like space pods!" 

"Wow! Of course, we can use that!" exclaimed Steve in excitement.

Charlotte, Andrew and Nicholas went to Charlotte's space capsule in which she came to Harmond and Milky Way's border. Remember, they were racing!

Charlotte took out a box more like a carton and pressed the button on its top surface. The box vibrated and suddenly it turned into a dirigible. It was very very big so she made it back into a box.

"Wow!" exclaimed Nicholas. "You're a great inventor."

Then the trio packed all the necessities they needed for the trip and said goodbye to all. 

"Goodbye!" exclaimed Mr. Nathan. "All the best!"

The dirigible went outside. They went inside it through a door. Charlotte operated it. There was a small driving seat in it just like in a car and a pillion too. It had steering wheel, handbrakes, escalator and all that regular driving stuff.

"Does it work on autopilot?" asked Andrew.

"Nope," replied Charlotte.

The dirigible moved around the space just like a balloon does. Young lady's invention was magnificent and eco-friendly. It required less fuel than a pod. It took her years to build it. Imagine if she could build thousands of them. She would be so rich!

Charlotte was focused on the steering while Andew was gazing around. Nicholas was kind of confused. He was thinking what step they would do next. Would they focus on finding Howard's hidden cabinet? Or would they find a power source that could defeat the Griffs?

Meanwhile on June 43, everyone was sitting in their cabins and practically doing nothing. Just time-pass.

"Mr. Steve! I think…" said Joe.

"Hmmm...I know. You are bored. You want to do something," guessed Steve.

"Yeah!"

"But what should we do?" asked Mr. Nathan.

"Wait. You guys try to do research on the leader of the Black Ninjas. Maybe, it is one of our only slightest clues," said Steve eating something gross made from jackfruits. 

All of them opened their computers. They searched for the leader of the Black Ninjas on the web browser. Many results came, all referring to a man named Henry Dock. In the pics, he was a man with a very long beard. He had very long hair that was knotted together by a band . His lips were black. His face was so serious and scary that everyone who saw him would run for their lives. He was a master in Ninja stunts.

"Mr. Steve! I found that! Their leader is Henry Dock. He…" said Volvo.

"Wait. Wait. Wait a sec. Do you guys watch Instagram?" asked Steve.

"I don't have an account," replied Mr. Nathan.

"Not interested in social media," said Joe.

"No. There are many more rad things than…." said Volvo.

"Fine. Fine. Fine," interrupted Steve.

"He's a very nice interrupter!" murmured Volvo.

"What?"

"No--Nothing!" 

"Henry Dock is a very famous and rich businessman. He lives on planet Lettuce. He makes very dangerous and unique weapons such as laser guns, frost swords, computer hackers, bombs and battery snatchers. He uploads a video about them on Instagram. I watch every single of them and I know how bad those weapons are. I think that Henry Dock is the leader of Black Ninjas. He has teamed up with the Griffs too! He transports the weapons to them. I am pretty sure. I noticed that my brother Frank was using them . He was with the Griffs. Henry's plan is to stop us." told Steve.

That's a very sinister conspiracy and Griffin Chalkburg is the main conspirator," said Mr. Nathan. Joe was afraid that someone would suspect him and know his truth.

"Planet Lettuce is uninhabited. How're we going to find Henry in there?" Mr. Nathan asked.

"That's a myth!" replied Volvo.

"Yes, that's a myth. Lettuce is a very tiny planet. It's a desert. People living there are called Lettucians. They only live near an oasis in the desert. The rest of the desert is a heritage site," explained Steve.

"Oh!" Mr. Nathan was surprised.

Everyone was ready. They wore their spacesuits and removed their jackets because the trip to a desert was going to be hot. 

"Switch off the spaceship!" ordered Steve.

"Why? We need it to go there," said Joe.

"No, we'll go there by a capsule."

Mr. Nathan launched a capsule and switched off the spaceship. Everybody sat in the capsule and headed straight towards planet Lettuce. 

Meanwhile, Nicholas, Andrew and Charlotte were going to reach KOS. They were going to find Howard Heights's hidden cabin in the basement of the obelisk Griff castle.

 

Chapter 9

Jumbo's Inn

Steve and everybody else landed on planet Lettuce. It was just like Jorrio. It was a desert. Craters, sand dunes and pyramids were common sights. As everybody went out, they noticed that there was a sandstorm flowing. Various types of sands were hitting their faces and they were becoming sandy. 

"This place is nuts!" yelled Mr. Nathan. "Somebody there?"

"Shut up! Not to be rude. Let me open up the map of the place. I think we are in Genesis Desert," said Joe pointing to a desert on the map. "We got to walk towards the west because there is a small oasis there. There is a town named Rwyle situated near the oasis. Maybe we can enquire about Henry Dock there."

"Thanks, Joe. For the information. According to this compass the north is on our right," said Steve glancing at his old-fashioned compass. 

"My god! Another very big sandstorm!" yelled Volvo.

"It's coming from the south, I mean left. Hurry to the north, I mean right."

Everybody headed towards their left which was the north. For about two hours, they were running to escape from the storm. Fortunately, the storm ceased and they reached Rwyle.

The town was old-fashioned. Just like Steve's compass. There were no skyscrapers and tall buildings. Instead, there were shacks. Everybody was dressed like the 1800s. They were wearing hats and coats. No person was in t-shirts and jeans. There were no cars and bikes. Instead, there were animal-carts. 

"Am I in the 1800s?" asked Volvo.

"Come on! Hide somewhere in the bushes. This town is old-fashioned. We're the only ones in spacesuits. So, we'll be the center of attraction. Everybody will think we're witches!" said Steve. 

Everybody hid behind the bushes. They were thinking about how they were going to deal with the situation.

"Come on critters," a man appeared in the bushes. He had red hair and a red beard. His eyes were green. He was dressed like Santa Claus. 

"Who in the galaxy are you?" asked a shocked Joe.

"........Ahem………. I am Narwhal Claus. HO HO HO!" exclaimed the strange man.

"Nonsense. Narwhal Claus doesn't exist. Funny myth. Now, get lost. You have to deal with nothing," said Mr. Nathan coldly. 

"Narwhal!" yelled Steve. "Oh my friend. It's an immense pleasure meeting you after 64 years!"

"Are you more than 64?"

"Of course. I'm 78."

 

"I exist. I am a friend of Santa Claus. I help him in delivering presents to nice kids across the galaxy. I was just stopping at Rwyle when I saw my old friend Steve Gutman. And yes, I'm very exhilarated after meeting you. Tell me, how can I help you?" asked Narwhal. 

"Narwhal, can you give us the clothes people living near Rwyle wear? And can you tell us where we can find a person who knows Henry Dock?" asked Mr. Nathan.

"Of course. HO HO HO!" Narwhal shrieked and disappeared.

Everybody saw a huge chest on the ground. Joe opened it. Everybody saw the clothes they wanted. There were four hats, four shirts, four overcoats, four pants and four boots. Moreover, there was a piece of paper on which it was written- 'Jumbo's Inn'.

Everybody sneaked into a nearby public bathroom and changed their clothes. They put their spacesuit in a locker placed there. 

"What's this Jumbo Inn thingy?" asked Volvo.

"Maybe there is someone at that place who can tell us about Henry," said Joe.

"Right," replied Steve.

Everybody was finding Jumbo's Inn. It was night when they found it. There was a tall shack at the edge of the road. The door was painted in creamy white color but a lot of part of it was faded. There was a goat shaped door knocker on it and a board on top of it. In green, it was written- 'Open'. Inside the shack was a small inn of two floors. The ground floor was full of tables and chairs. Many couples were sitting there, eating delicious meals. On the right corner, there was a small room in which a chef was cooking food. On the left corner, was the desk of the owner. 

They looked around. In the walls there were several crevices. The wall was painted in faded blue paint. The staircase was wooden and when someone stepped on it, it creaked as if it was about to fall. On the walls, were wooden photo frames. There were pictures of people eating and enjoying various delicacies. In the middle, was a pillar. There was a desk in front of it. On it there were all extra things such as napkins, pepper and salt bottles, ketchup pouches and mouth-freshners. On the pillar, was a papyrus tucked. On it, there were written names of various food items. It was the only menu.

Everybody sat on chairs next to an empty table next to the owner's desk. After minutes of waiting a waiter in a red tunic came to them asking for the food they wanted to order. 

"Namaste, fellows! Happy Dwarahaa! Welcome to Jumbo's Inn. So, please tell me your order. I will pass it to the chef," he said gladly. 

"Yeah. So four bottles of soda, a plate of spring rolls and one bacon sandwich," Steve ordered. "And before you go, you want to know that I am the city sheriff and these are the fellow deputies. I am here to enquire about a person so tell your staff to come here one by one so that I can do my work, okay?"

"Yeah. Fine. Okay. Thank you!" the waiter turned back frighteningly. 

"Gotcha! I'm very hungry," Volvo yawned. 

"Shut up, you idiot," scolded Joe.

And then, one by one all the staff including the owner came to the desk. Mr. Nathan and Steve asked them if they knew who Henry Dock was but no one knew him. They kept asking until one last person was left. 

He seemed very old and exhausted. He was short heighted and fair complexioned. He walked using a black cane with an 'A' carved on it. He had a tablecloth in his hand and perspiration ran down his whole body. 

"Namaste, sire! Good evening! I mean night. Tell me, what can I do for you?" said the old man sitting on a vacant chair.

"Yeah, hi! Actually, I wanted to enquire about a man from you guys. His name is Henry Dock. Somebody told me that someone among you knows about him but I can't find anyone. Tell me, do you know him?" asked Steve.

"Hmmm…...If I heard it properly then did you mention Henry Dock?" 

"Go ahead, Mr. Tell me everything you know about him."

"I am Vincent Trel. Henry Dock was my old friend. He used to live here on planet Lettuce. We used to live together. He was the son of the leader of the Black Ninjas. Soon, his father passed away and he became their leader. He had to leave planet Lettuce and go on planet Audakous for work. The last thing I know about him that he has changed. First, he was kind hearted and humble but now he is arrogant and mean. He makes dangerous weapons like lasers and other stuff and exports them to the cruel leader Griffin Chalkburg. He uses them to fight with people and conquer kingdoms," explained the old man. "This is all I know. Maybe he has forgotten his old pal who works as a table cleaner on Lettuce."

"Wait. How do you know about outer space, planets and Griffin Chalkburg? I thought this place is old fashioned," said Mr. Nathan.

"Lettucians don't know but I am a Sdere so I know everything. Sderes are from planet Sderio. Henry is a Black Ninja from planet Caleb. We both migrated here to live peacefully," the old man replied.

"Thank you so much! And take this food as a token of reward for your explanations. We don't want it," said Steve when the food he ordered arrived. 

"Thanks!" exclaimed the grateful old man. 

He was about to take the food but Volvo stopped him. He hopped from his chair.

"Wait. Please give me one bottle of lime soda and the bacon sandwich. I'm dying because of hunger!" he pleaded.

The old man quietly placed the bacon sandwich and the lime soda on the table and went back to work.

"Volvo! You're slandering me!" yelled Mr. Nathan angrily.

"He's addicted to it," laughed Joe.

"Don't blabber anything. Listen to me. We're dead. Space-pods are fuelless. They won't work the next day," said an irritated Steve.

"Then, we need another thing to go to planet Audakous tomorrow. But where will we find one? No one here knows the meaning of space," said Mr. Nathan, confused. 

"Let's stay here at the inn tonight. Tomorrow, maybe we'll need Vincent's help," told Joe. 

The next day was very hot. Very, very hot. On planet Lettuce and even on KOS. The weather was humid but there were no chances of rain. 

Andrew, Charlotte and Nicholas reached KOS. They parked their dirigible in the space port. The parking cost was 50 Flapjacks for one day. (Flapjacks are the official currency of KOS and Alsaw. 1 Flapjack is equal to 100 Deets.

"Come on everyone. Good morning! What a hot day!" exclaimed Nicholas when everyone had done all their necessary regular morning activities and they came to the driving cabin.

"Good Morning, captain!" Charlotte and Andrew both said loudly.

"I noticed that for the parking we need money. Do you guys have some?"

"Yeah. I have 2000 Flapjacks," Andrew quickly yelled back.

"Thank god! Come on, now let's pay the fees."

Everybody went out and headed towards the payment corner.

Meanwhile on planet Lettuce, Mr. Nathan was arguing with the owner of the inn.

"How can you guys do that, eh? You are barbarians. We only ordered some food and slept for one night. And you're charging us 1000 Letts. See, I am a deputy sheriff. I can send you jail. I don't know how you can commit such a crime. But I know that you are a trickster and you have befooled thousands of innocent people by this scandal!" Mr. Nathan gave the owner a warning.

"How can I be sure that you are a deputy?" the owner of the inn-- Mr. Ferdinand Von Hallow asked. "Do you have any proof?"

"Um……..I…..Er……Yes."

"Show it, then!" 

"Wait. Do you still not believe me? Do I have to show my identity card to a nerdy and sentimental thief like you? What the hell! I think I should arrest you right away. Right away, you'll go to prison!

"I…...Um…...Okay. I believe you...P-p-please don't arrest me! I have two small children. What will they do if I go to prison? I will only take 800 Letts from you. But please, please, please don't arrest me!"

"Hmmm…..Let me think. Fine. Never repeat this scam again or else you know what I do with racketeers. Here is your money." 

Mr. Nathan giggled and went back to his room. 

"Work done! The owner was foolish and naive. Ha ha ha!" he laughed. 

Joe, Steve and Volvo were waiting for him for several hours. Finally, they were relaxed and exhilarated to know that the owner of the inn had decreased their money. They all went downstairs. They asked where they would find Vincent Trel. After many hours, Vincent entered the inn. All four of them went straight towards him. 

"Hey sir! A pleasure to meet you again. Tell me, did you checkout?" asked Vincent when he saw them ahead of him in a line. 

"Yeah. We did. And we have a problem," replied Steve stressfully. 

Chapter 10

Howard's Secret Cabin In The Basement

"We've paid the man now for the parking. I think we should go to Griffin's obelisk. There, in the basement, we'll find Howard's hidden room," said Andrew.

'Yeah. You are right. It is very near. We just have to get out and then take a U-Turn," told Nicholas. 

"Then let's go!" exclaimed Charlotte.

The trio straight headed towards the obelisk. The sun was spreading its scorching heat all over the planet. Everybody there was in T-shirts and knickers. There was a strange man walking at the road in a fur jacket. He seemed as if he was a burglar. He had an umbrella in his hand. Everybody whispered about him. He was the center of attention. 

"Who is this man? He is in a jacket in such a scorching heat," asked Andrew, astonished.

"You know, everybody here is talking about him. I overheard someone's conversation. This man ran from asylum. He was a burglar before. He used to pick-pocket. But now, he is gone totally crazy," replied Charlotte. 

"Come on, now. We don't have time for these discussions," said Nicholas.

"You don't have time now, Captain. But you'll learn someday that I am the only one who can help you solve your biggest problem in life. Just wait and watch," the crazy man softly giggled. No one heard it.

They reached the obelisk. It was very high . One tall obelisk in the middle with two medium-sized obelisks on left and right with some space in between. In the spaces, a fort. It somewhat represented a castle.

It was entirely made up of stones. Isn't it great? It was built by Claudius Sanchez in the late 1400s. First it was claimed by the Apexes but the Griffs snatched it from them. On each stone, was a picture carved. On the stone on the peak was the picture of Travis Ahoy, the first emperor of the Apexes from 234 A.D. until his death in 289 A.D. 

"Isn't it magnificent, Captain Roy?" asked Charlotte, her eyes fixed on the building.

"Of course it is! Those jerks stole it from us," replied Nicholas.

"Come on. Now, we got to think of a plan to get in there," said Andrew.

"Yes, I got one. So, see there is a manhole in the road behind the medium-sized obelisk at the left. We will roll down through it. It will lead us down to a room. The room will have a passage leading towards the basement. I'm pretty sure!" 

"Is that so? I didn't l know about that," said Charlotte, astonished. 

"Yeah. I also learned that while working with Griffin."

Everybody rushed to the back of the obelisk at the left. When they reached there, they saw a lid as big as three plates covering a hole. It was very heavy so Andrew and Nicholas removed it together. The hole was big for all of them to get inside so without wasting a minute, they did that. For about twenty seconds, they rolled down as if they were sliding in a slide.

When all of them fell off, they noticed that they were in a dark room. There was an enormous door as big as the size of an elephant. They pushed the door and saw a passage leading forward. Everybody ran in the passage which was like a tunnel with flashlights in their hand. They kept running until they reached a part of passage with two round tables. The tables were entirely made up of wood covered with dust. On both of them, was a candle shining brightly in a candle holder. There was a door ahead of the tables. It was already open as if someone had passed through it. They walked through it.

On the other side, there were skulls of mammals hung on the wall. There were boards on the wall on which it was written-

Go away. I don't want intruders here. 

Ahead of them, was again another door on which there was a nameplate dipped in blood. Nicholas stepped ahead to open the door but stopped when Andrew shouted.

"Nooooooooo. Please don't go there. There might be danger. Don't be audacious," Andrew yelled. 

"Shut up! There is no danger," explained Nicholas. 

They all walked through the door. There was a room. A very small room. An old golden chandelier hung on the ceiling with spider webs on the corner. There was an empty crystal case hung on a hook in the wall. On the left hand corner, there was a desk. There were some utensils on it. There were remains of salami, shrimp and bagels that the guy must've eaten a day before. There were some house flies hovering over it. There were some cups in which there was a cappuccino sip remaining. There were no other things on it except one pepsi bottle. It had no drawers.

While, on the right hand corner, there was another desk. On this desk, was a journal and an old-fashioned ink pen and a box of ink. The pen had a very pointed lead. There was a pair of glasses and a handkerchief. There were some passport size photographs of Howard Heights when he was married, his late wife Lana Heights, swimming blue stingrays, possums hung on maple trees and a place called Manchester. On the back of each photograph, was 'HOWARD'. There was a strange photograph on which it was the tombstone of Frank Roy.

This desk had three drawers. Each drawer had a rusty iron handle with 'Howard' inscripted on them. In the first drawer, were some papers with the same handwriting on the boards outside the room. In all of them, it was an article related to the Indian Priest or the Griffs. Inside the second drawer, were cases of ink boxes. And the third drawer had a lock placed on it. 

"So, we are in Howard's secret cellar, right? And if yes, isn't this guy old-fashioned?" asked Charlotte after waiting a long time. Everybody there was inspecting the items on the desk. 

"Mm-hmm," replied Nicholas to both the questions. "Maybe, we reached here….. Actually, I can't think of a reason. It's just….It's just, you know, a miracle."

 "Wait. Come here. See this. The third drawer has a lock," Nicholas added. "Maybe this lock was set by Howard to protect something very precious to him or to the Griffs. He doesn't want anyone to know about it, that's why he put the Frankenstein message to threaten them. See, when we pull the drawer, the lock asks for a password."

"Try, Howard. Or Lara. Stingray and possum and Manchester, too. I heard these names from the photographs on the desk," told Charlotte. 

Nicholas tried Howard and Lara but in both the cases, it showed that the password was incorrect. He also tried typing stingray and possum but he failed. At last, he typed Manchester with a hope that the drawer would open and yes, it opened! The password was correct! All of them hopped victoriously.

"Charlotte! You did it! We've unlocked the password," Nicholas yelled happily. "Let's see what's inside

Inside the drawer, was an old brown leather case on several golden plastic sheets. The case was covered with dust. The contents of the case was a very small book, a map and a packet with something white like salt. The book's title was, 'The Tales of Manchester. By The Indian Priest'.

"What could be this book about? Why is it so precious to the Griffs?" asked Nicholas, surprised. 

"'This all began in 993 A.D. in a small town called Manchester on planet Deciphin in the Magica Galaxy. I was an orphan. My name at that time was Lee Hawkins. I had a brother named Dee Hawkins. We both spent our childhood in orphanages, learning about the vastness of the universe and real magic. But, we didn't become astronomers or sorcerers when we both grew up. We both became priests in a church. As we began to do our work, my brother started to act strangely. 

'He used to eat sand with worms and drink holy water. He became more cruel, more arrogant and more mean. And one day, an evil lightning struck him and he turned into a powerful beast called Griffin. He committed many crimes and was against the laws. He started becoming ruthless and hungry for power. I was very shocked and I immediately cursed him. I captured him inside a power wand. I put that power wand in a chest and transported it to Fox Village, another planet and told their leader to guard it strictly.

 'For about 500 years, the wand was safe but one day, a naughty fox tried to break the chest and then, Griffin was free from his curse. He killed the fox and built his own galaxy using his powers. He created his own army known as the Griffs. They were very powerful and harsh so they started conquering galaxies and ruled them. They made draconian laws. One of them is planet KOS in the Harmond galaxy. They became Black Ninjas' allies.

'He thinks he is the king. I am writing this book to inform everyone about how to stop him. When he came back, he cursed me and now I am forever trapped in the center of planet KOS. There are two ways to stop him. First, is to just break his power wand. He can't live without it and eventually, he will die. Second way is to find the Power Snatcher being protected by gnomes on Gnome Island in the Harmond galaxy.

'If you want to meet me, carry some magical sugar along your way. I will be there to help you." Nicholas read the book aloud. 

Chapter 11

Harmond War

"Now we know the history of Dee Hawkins," said Charlotte.

"This guy was a priest before. Anyways, we need to get to the Indian Priest for the location of Gnome Island. I don't know any such planet in this galaxy. And moreover, we can't steal Griffin's power wand. C'mon. Take this sugar and this map. It will help us reach planet KOS," said Nicholas. 

Suddenly, they heard footsteps outside the room. And, a man entered the room. When he saw Andrew, Charlotte and Nicholas, he was astonished. He thought that he was dreaming. He rubbed his eyes.

"Andrew Swepson……..Uh..Charlotte…..Donnelly. And Nicholas….." The man tried to recall.

"Roy," interrupted Nicholas.

"I am Howard Heights," said the man.

 "Wait…...What the heck are you doing in my cabin? How did you brats reach here? Your Majesty told you to abandon," yelled Howard when he thought for a moment. "I am going to kill you."

Howard took out his pistol from his pocket and held it loosely. He aimed at Nicholas. He was about to pull the trigger when Andrew punched his pistol. Howard was holding it loose so it fell off his hands. Nicholas picked it up from the ground, swiftly and aimed at Howard. He was afraid so he stretched his arms up. 

"What were you saying? I am going to kill ya, right? Now see, you've turned as scared as a jack-rabbit that has heard the howl of a wolf. I am going to shoot you," laughed Nicholas. 

Howard closed his eyes to avoid the horror. Nicholas quietly put the gun in his pocket and whispered to everybody to run. All three of them quietly moved out of the room and ran. They were far too ahead when Howard opened his eyes and noticed that they befooled him. Howard was mad. He picked his pistol and ran as fast as he could to catch them. He ran and ran but Nicholas and his team had made it out of the passage and to the port. They boarded their dirigible and Charlotte raised to the sky. Howard watched them take off, angrily.

"What the…." he yelled angrily at them. 

"That was close. And, Captain your trick was awesome," Andrew laughed.

"Yeah. See, we got a packet of sugar and the map of Planet KOS. This place, 128 Magic Drive, Fredinson, KOS is highlighted using a marker. Maybe, this is our destination and the sugar is sort of a possession we have to retrieve to the Indian Priest," said Charlotte thoughtfully. 

"Let's go there. It will take us a day to reach. And see, I am too jaded of solving mysteries so I will linger at one place trying to sleep because I am not very good at that," Nicholas yawned.

Meanwhile on planet Lettuce, Vincent and others were having a discussion in Vincent's shack. It was more like an argument. All others had revealed their secret that they were not sheriffs but a team for a mission. 

"You want a spaceship, right? Why don't you say that simply? You are making it more complex. And see, I don't need to talk politely to you, because you are not the sheriff. You befooled the owner and called him a swindler just for your benefit. And now, you are asking for a free spaceship. I am not refusing but you are arguing with me. I shall call police, right now," Vincent growled. 

"Wait, wait. Wait. We are truly sorry but we didn't have any other choice. We are on a mission to stop Griffin Chalkburg and our pods are dead. We need a medium to go to our spaceship. It is," apologized Joe. "I hope you know one or else, we are stuck."

"Fine. I will forgive you. Forgiveness is the best revenge in the world. Yes, you are right. I have my own spaceship. It is five hundred fifty years old. Five hundred fifty years and seven months, to be precise. And if you request, I will give a ride to you all so that you can arrive at your destination."

All of them walked to Vincent's backyard. There was an old spaceship, more like a pod standing there. It seemed ancient and was covered with dust and webs. On the top of it, was a red flag with an unusual figure drawn on it. 

"You gotta be kidding. We will not go into this thing. It is so disgusting and has a very bad smell. Moreover, it has a funny flag," Volvo said and everybody else agreed. 

"Shut up, you knucklehead! We are going to travel in this. It is the one and only spaceship on this planet. You can stay here if you want," Vincent insisted. 

Everybody had no option but to travel in it. They knew it was going to be a truly ghastly trip. They boarded the ship. There was a wooden door, locked. Vincent took out a metal key from the pocket of his pants and unlocked the lock. The door opened. Inside, were two rooms blocked by a door in the center. Mr. Nathan grimaced when the wooden board they were walking upon, creaked.

"This spaceship is a piece of junk. I don't even think it works because it seems it was built centuries ago," he said, walking slowly over the wooden floor. 

No one listened to Mr. Nathan and went forward. The room was dark but the sunlight from the windows lit it up. There was a table at the corner with a tablecloth on it. A water dispenser was placed on it and it seemed like it was going to fall. There was an armchair and nothing else. The walls were covered with sceneries of a war. Webs hung around and a scorpion raced to the dust foot of the table. 

"Huh?" asked Vincent watching everyone staring at the room with their mouths wide open. "Whatcha guys up to? What's so bad about this?" 

Joe shook his head reluctantly. He sat on the floor and requested Vincent to drive them out of this planet. Vincent nodded and went to the surrounding room. It was the driving cabin. He pressed a button and went back to the previous room. 

"Autopilot? I thought this piece of junk is old and I mean, it doesn't have new technology," Mr. Nathan complained, stretching their legs wide. 

"Yes. Let me tell you all the history of this spaceship. Then you'll know that this junk played a pivotal role in the Harmond War," said Vincent, rubbing his specs with his blazer. 

"Harmond war? Well, I've never heard of that. I know Apex and Griff war, The battle of Deciphin, Luna Mission and all that stuff," Steve asked confusingly. 

 "It all began five hundred fifty years ago. There was a war between different kingdoms to claim this galaxy. Rios from planet Rex were led by their king, Julian Yukon. Sderes were from planet Sderio. Their king was Hawkeye Will. He was my ancestor. There were Roys from another galaxy, Magica. They were being led by Robert and Joyce Roy. And at last, there were Apexes from KOS being led by Theodore Williams. 

"They all had armies except for Roys. They were wizards. They could do anything with their magic. They wanted to rule this galaxy and became allies with the Apexes. Theodore promised Robert that he would give his kingdom to him if he let him win this battle. Robert and the other Apexes burnt planet Rex. They all buried our king, Hawkeye alive. This is the spaceship in which he used to travel. Roys won the battle with magical tricks. They all were cheaters. Tricksters. I am glad that Griffin took over them and taught them a lesson. This galaxy was ours!" sobbed Vincent. 

Everybody turned as pale as a mozzarella. Robert Roy was Nicholas's dad. They thought that Vincent was telling a lie because a father of such a noble person couldn't be such a jerk. 

"That's too bad. Now, tell me how much time will it take us to go out of this planet? Our spaceship is just 300 mile away from Lettuce," Mr. Nathan changed the topic.

"This ship is very old. It will take us two days," Vincent sat on the armchair. Everybody was shocked. They had two spend two more days in the junk spaceship. 

"Do we have any food?' asked Volvo.

"Mm-hmm. We can eat scorpions and lizards ; they are tasty,"

Chapter 12

Bruselle Noit Rewin

Meanwhile after some hours, Nicholas, Andrew and Charlotte reached planet KOS. The weather was mild and there was sleet falling from the sky. The space port was busy with space travellers and their different spaceships. The parking was free. The trio reached out. 

"We're in Fredinson county and we have to reach Magic Drive," said Andrew touching his hips. "Maybe a taxi. There are a lot of them here because of the amount of passengers here. Let's stay here and wait."

"Are you trying to coax me, Andrew? I have a feeling you are pretty exhausted," laughed Nicholas.

They waited there for a couple of minutes until a taxi with a yellow board raced past them. Door opened. A man with a long cap, almost covering his hair came forward. His eyes were broad with black-brown eyeballs. His height was tall and he was wearing an overcoat extending to his knees. He was wearing a red bow with the figure of a rose on it. The overcoat had a pocket with a golden lace. It seemed like he was going to attend a party.

"Good morning, sir! Do you want to board my taxi for your trip?" He asked kindly, holding his cap from his left hand.

"Sure! We want to go to 128 Magic Drive," Charlotte quickly answered. They sat in the taxi and fastened their seat belts. 

"Anyways, can you tell me why you want to go there? The street has nothing but some ruins from an ancient fort or something. There is this stupid tyranny that whosoever goes there, the government will put him under house arrest. Many people who went there, never came back. Some people believe it is haunted by poltergeists or killer ghosts. My uncle, Sir Jim Parks went there in search of some clues about what was happening there. He never returned. I think you should not go there," explained the driver.

"Wait. We'll go anyways. We are secret agents doing research on an important case. Tell me, will you reveal this to the government?" Nicholas asked, scratching his wound on the edge of his ankle. 

"Well…."

"Thanks so much. You are really supportive," Nicholas said without even letting the driver complete his response. 

"Mention not," the driver sighed.

The driver led the trio to 128 Magic Drive. The place was in the middle of a rainforest. There was an old fort surrounded by tall oak trees and bushes. There were holes in trees in which owls were sleeping. You could hear the sound of crickets crawling and bats shrieking in the clearing. You could also hear the door creaking. 

"Oh goodness. Now this is getting creepy. Extremely creepy," Andrew exclaimed.

12 March 1823

"Grett jurwetqe?" a strange voice asked.

"Eqwhiuer jyurte omba lubr wanquios loshirfd tyko rweety," responded another voice. 

"Lamfre hkomto?"

"Gweredf omba wanshee nabtqwu kalazam gerera."

"Grett? Jarumbk?"

"Wuhan...erre jyurte loshirfd qwani bakumba."

"What in the name of goddess Wanqwi did you do?"

"Inglace?"

"Shut up, dingbat! The identities are not revealed yet. Maybe you don't get this stuff. The gauntlets of mankind are just forbidden. You gotta.."

"Ah. What should I expect?"

"A nice tombstone!"

"You are insane"

"I'm not. You don't understand."

"The Harshemeiv is active, nevertheless."

"Oh my."

"Go ahead, sire. On the contrary, it's just a matter. To be precise, I haven't yet again located the scroll. If you don't mind, can I cook myself a tuna sandwich?"

"Sure. Before you do so, come here. This is the map of Harmond. The gauntlets are hidden somewhere in this galaxy. The Siberyian Oval is being guarded by Giqres. So nobody from the nearby galaxies will be able to help. Now, I guess, we just have to make sure the bombs are in the right place. The gauntlets shouldn't be blown. Griffin knows we are here so he will come after us."

"Ka lika manarawa Griffin?"

"Jo. Manarawa Griffin garucha opanwe tichara."

Chapter 13

The Wonders of Magica Part 1

2018, Milky Way

Fabian Qwan came back home from work but was startled by his wife in the courtyard, holding a dusty book in her hand.

"Well, see what I found in the attic today," she said. "Seems like an old novel or something, y'know. But, when I read the prologue, it was kind of weird. Y'know anything about it, do you?"

"Well, show me," Fabian said, taking the book from her wife, Allison's hand. The cover of the book was soft because it was made of velvet cloth. The title of the book was, 'Sidalajora: A Novel' and it was written in golden font. It flickered in the night. Fabian stared at the book in amazement.

"See, Al, there are many things I haven't told you about," Fabian said, looking down. He seemed kind of half-sad and half-guilty. 

"Yeah, I know. Like, your family. But, what does it have to do with this?" Allison said politely, noticing Fabian's expression. 

"A lot. First of all, let me confirm to you that I am not a human being."

"What the…." Allison gasped in horror. "Then, who are you? Ahh. A ghost? An alien? A cannibal?"

"Well, alien is a bit of an appropriate word for me. But, not quite. I am a Dece and I come from another galaxy. I am an orphan and I have a brother."

"Oh, shoot. Sorry, Fab. But I don't quite understand……."

"Open this book and flip the page to chapter 2. Read it and you'll understand everything," Fabian said and handed the book to Allison. Allison opened the book and kept flipping the pages til she reached page 21. There were two words in golden print, 'Chapter 2' and then she started reading it. 

The sky was full of realms and planets. Young Sidalajora was born in a small enchanted realm in the Rowae Galaxy. Sidalajora was an orphan. But this little boy was mighty and fearless. He always dreamt of ruling the sky and becoming a god. As he grew up, that dream became his goal. He wore a knight's armor and set off on a journey to conquer every realm on his way and show his mighty strength on the cursed critters who tried to disobey him. Sidalajora ruled seventy galaxies. His power was infinite and he was unbeatable. He was honored by everyone. When he reached magica Galaxy, he noticed something different. 

The galaxy was full of magic, real magic- unlike others. Wizards, magicians and charlatans everywhere. He was amazed by the beauty and power of the beautiful place. He ended his journey there. He fought many other brave warriors and defeated him, very easily. He became the emperor of the galaxy and settled on planet Deciphin. 

He was given five Gauntlets of Mankind and Eriopethic Scrolls by gods, who were delighted by his bravery and courage. The Gauntlets of Mankind were five diamonds, each of a different color, texture and size. Those gauntlets would give you dark magic if you could put them in a magical potion. The recipe of the potion was written on the Eriopethic Scrolls in an unknown language. 

The gods told Sidalajora to guard it safely because if they get in the wrong hands, they could wreak havoc. Sidalajora placed them safely in a chamber located in the Wanqwi Castle, an amazing fortress guarded by knights. 

Soon, the fearless Sidalajora died and his son became the emperor. The son took his father's name. And since then, the Sidalajoras are the emperors of the majestic galaxy, sacrificing their lives to protect the precious items. Each Sidalajora is wise and worthy. 

Somewhat in the late 900 A.D.

Adam Qwan squinted at the Wanqwi Castle. A royal army of knights and soldiers guarded the place day and night. These knights were covered in armor from head to toe and had pointy swords and weapons that could even kill a hefty elephant. 

Adam Qwan was one of the Royal Wizards of the Manchester Pollock, a group of teachers who taught the princes and princesses sorcery. Adam used to teach Sidalajora's son, Dee Hawkins, Lee Hawkins and his own sons- Frederick and Fabian. Adam was a noble person who was regarded as the most powerful wizard in the world at that time. 

He glanced at the gray castle's door, the windows, the flag and the knights. He could feel those pointy swords stabbing him on the chest and tearing his organs. He breathed heavily and looked at his weapon- a fencing sword. There could be a possibility….hmm...if he could just have his wand and then with a tap, he could send the knights flying into the air. Anyway, he didn't have time to go back to his house, open his old, dusty trunk, grab his magical wand and then go back to the Wanqwi Castle. 

"I have to do this no matter what," he said to himself. "I wonder if this is the smartest move. Anyway, it doesn't matter. I am doing this for our nation, so that the gauntlets remain forbidden to any civilians. That has no chance to provoke an enemy."

Adam Qwan rushed forward and looked at the guards. He squirmed a bit.The guards looked back at him suspiciously. Mr. Adam Qwan, here, at this time. What is he planning? No, he cannot be a thief. He must have an important reason, I guess. One of the guards thought. Let me ask him.

"What brings you here, sir?" the guard grunted, clutching the papyrus in his hand clenchingly. "I mean, at this time, any important cause?"

"Hey, show some respect, moron. I guess you are a probationer, right? I am the most powerful wizard alive, you must know, if you don't. I am here to have a practice fight with one of the new knights. Just open the doors and let me in. Or else….." Adam said rudely, with a bad simper on his face and squirming a bit more. 

"Sure, sir," the guard riposted and then took out a golden key from his silver pocket. It had a fancy keyring with a shiny logo or something. He inserted it into the massive keyhole on the massive door and twisted it. With a fraction of a second, the egress of the castle was open and it made a very scratchy hullabaloo. 

"Here, please. Take this papyrus, it has all the names of the new knights who are practicing. It might aid you. But if you don't mind…." 

"I don't need this. Just give me your Haquei. I want it so that the knight doesn't know who I am and we can have a duel."

Haqueis were one of the most porky helmets of the tenth century. Worn by knights and soldiers, these helmets protected them from their opponents. These were made from knightmetal and weighed approximately 10 lbs. 

The guard did as he was told. Adam grabbed the Haquei from the guard's hand and wore it. His face felt like a huge wrecking ball was placed on a tiny rat. He quickly doffed it and said, "Holey, crud! This is such a corpulent Haquei. I can't bear its weight. And I can scarcely even see the outside from inside it. Don't you have a lighter Haaqqqqq…(he thought about his son)....Wait, wait, I am fine. I'll adjust, I'll adjust."

Adam reached inside the castle without any trouble. He tried to go to the chamber locating the scrolls and the gauntlets but was surprised by a knight. 

"Hey, why did you come here? You know that you are not allowed," the knight asked.

"Gimme the gauntlets and the scrolls. I want them, like, right now," Adam sighed.

"Who are you, crazy? Get outta here, you pest. Those things aren't meant for you," the knight said, coldly. 

"I don't wanna fight you, knight. So, now let me do my work."

The knight flared his nose. From his back, he pulled out his sword and attacked Adam. Adam couldn't resist. He fought back with his fencing sword. Both of them got into a duel. At last, the knight counter-attacked Adam and stabbed him in his stomach.

"You provoked me. Your bad," the knight said. "Now, let's see who are you behind the Haquei."

THE END 

PART 2 WILL COME LATER.......................