The Rainbow's End's Treasure

Have you heard of the legend which tells about the treasure which lies at the end of the rainbow?

Have you heard of a man, who found the treasure that was completely unexpected?

Well, I’ll tell you about it.

It was a very pleasant day, mildly sunny.

There was a house, overlooking the river, in which lived a father named Ahmed and a son of his, named Suraj. Quite abruptly, it started raining, and a marvelous sight of a rainbow appeared across the sky.

Now, Ahmed, you see, was a very greedy man who heard about the legend. He was so greedy that he would give up his own son just for the treasure. He now saw the rainbow as a perfect opportunity to get the treasure. He would be the first man ever to get and find the treasure. He jumped on his bistro scooter, racing off, and reached till the rainbow’s end.

When he reached the rainbow’s end, he saw a curious sight. There were some Gnomes dancing around the fire. Only that there were not as little as garden gnomes. He approached them and asked

“Where is the Treasure?”

“We are forbidden to tell you.” said one of the gnomes.

“Forbidden by who?” asked Ahmed, perplexed.

“By the gods.” said one of other gnomes, simply

“By the gods?” repeated Ahmed, completely perplexed. “Anyway, it’s not like you shouldn’t tell me. I am very good. I just wanted to find it because I …………er……uh…wanted to tell everyone that I have found the treasure. I won’t tell anyone about its whereabouts. I don’t want it at all. I just wanted to find it.” lied Ahmed, hesitating.

“We will not listen and trust you. Humans are cunning. We know you will take the treasure for yourself. You cannot see it.” said the gnomes firmly.

“Please, please, can’t I see and have the treasure? I’ll give whatever it takes. Please? Pretty, pretty, please?” begged Ahmed, now not concealing the fact that he wants to have it since the gnomes knew already that he wants the treasure.

“Well, you can have it in one way. But if you accept it, you cannot back away from it, due to any reason” said a kind hearted gnome named Emma.

“Okay, so what is the way?” asked Ahmed eagerly.

“You must bring a kind, loyal, clever, brave, and who is willing to get the treasure for you. But I can’t assure he will come back safely.” said Emma

“I know just a person like that.” said Ahmed eagerly “I’ll go home and bring him.”

“Who is that person?” asked Emma

“My son, Suraj.” replied Ahmed.

“What??!” said Emma shocked. “You want the treasure at the price of you losing your son?? How can you be so selfish, bad, and cruel-hearted?”

Ahmed ignored this, dreaming of a pile of gold and him being the owner of it.

“So, shall I go and fetch him now?” he asked.

“Wait, before you go, you must swear to this that Suraj will not withdrew from this challenge, since you accepted, and also not blame us if something happens to your son.” said Emma.

“Okay, I swear.” said Ahmed, hopping on his bistro scooter, zooming off to his house.

When he reached his house, he went in and told Suraj everything, excluding the fact that he might not survive.

Suraj, knowing his father, knew that his father was concealing the fact that he might not survive. Anyway, to him, there are more important things than living, like contenting your father, according to him, so he agreed. So, they together went to the Rainbow’s end, where the gnomes were waiting.

“Oh, I see you have gotten your son.” said Emma, seeing Suraj

Emma beckoned Suraj to follow her and started walking towards a desolated place, which was quite big, and quite far from the spot Suraj was in. Suraj didn’t want to go in there; it seemed spooky to him, yet he obeyed.

“This is not a fun matter.” said Emma, seriously.

“There will be 1 challenge. What it is, that I cannot tell you. You will find out for yourself. This challenge will be taking place on the Sun.”

“You must be joking!” said Suraj, horrified.

“No, I am not. As I said before, this is a serious matter.” replied Emma

“But how will I go there? How will I not get burnt?” asked Suraj, voicing his thoughts aloud.

“The sun will not be able to burn you, because of your qualities. Trust me.” assured Emma “And as for going there, you will go there, by a rocket…just a second. I need to do something. Do not follow me.”

“Okay, you have my word.” promised Suraj, as Emma left him alone.

Suraj glanced around. This was a place which had buildings, which now were in ruins. Emma had gone in a building, which was the only one which wasn’t in ruins. It seemed as if 2 gnomes, one of them Emma, were talking in hushed whispers. Evidently, they didn’t trust humans, even if some were good.

Emma came after some time. “The gnome I was talking to, didn’t have proper rockets. They’re of terrible quality. But unfortunately, there is no other shop which sells rockets. So, the best rocket I could find, will break into pieces after entering space… so you will use this rope” said Emma, giving a rope with an arrow at the end. “Use this to aim at the sun. This rope is heat- proof, so it will not burn. Then, you will press this red button.” she referred to a button just beneath the arrow “and then you will be pulled towards the sun. This rope will serve as a weapon too and will be helpful to you in the challenge. You must walk until you meet the challenge. Then you must complete the challenge. Good luck.”

“Thank you” said Suraj.

“So, now, I shall show you where the rocket is.”

Emma led the way towards a rocket. 

“Just press this button, and you’ll be launched into space.” she said.

“Okay, got it” Suraj replied. “One thing, my father didn’t mention why I must do this, why isn’t that he can’t do the thing himself?” he asked, curious.

“He didn’t tell you why you were doing and not him?” asked Emma, raising an eyebrow. “Well, that is the conditions to which your father swore. The conditions are that, he must bring a person who would be willing to bring the treasure. Your father told me, that you would be willing to bring the treasure, and give it to him. You are, right?”

“Yes, I am okay to bring him the treasure; just asking.” said Suraj hastily.

“Now, you will have to go inside the rocket. Again, wishing you good luck.”

Suraj went inside the rocket and pressed the button and he was automatically launched into space.

The rocket then broke into pieces. Suraj used the rope to pull himself towards the sun. He aimed at the sun. Success! He pressed the button and he was pulled towards the sun.

Taking a deep breath, he stepped forward.

To his enormous surprise however, he didn’t burn.

Going ahead, the sun was covered in pink and blue tiles. How weird!

First, there are these gnomes. Then, he doesn’t burn while stepping on the sun. Finally, the sun is covered in pink and blue tiles. What a magic!!!

What was more curious were the small volcanoes, hardly the size of Suraj, spurted out lava, present on a tile, on the blue tiles.

Knowing he must reach the end of the sun, he ran ahead. But what a surprise he got!!

The pink tile upon which he stepped, suddenly exploded like a bomb, spreading it’s remains everywhere, then it calmed down, and made a hole in the sun.

Suraj retreated, scared.

He retreated upon a pink tile, which exploded, then calmed down, and left a hole in the sun.

“Oh no” he thought. “These tiles are exploding when I stand on them. Problem is, that time I didn’t know and stepped on them. The tiles have now caused a hole. I can’t go ahead, running or walking, because I might fall into the holes”

He looked down at his body. He had nothing except the rope.

“The rope!” he thought.

He sprang into action, leaping into the air. He aimed for a pink tile, which was after the hole. He then pressed the button. He was instantly pulled towards the tile. The tile exploded at his touch. He again leapt, aimed for the next pink tile, about 6 tiles far from the tile he was currently in, and pressed the button. He was pulled towards the tile. The tile exploded, Suraj leaped, he aimed at the pink tile which was 6 tiles away from his tile which he was in, pressed the button, was pulled towards the tile, it exploded and so on.

Soon he met a gigantic hole. His rope couldn’t reach to the tile on the other side of the hole. Also, there was no way around the hole. Behind him, were the geysers, bursting lava. The lava would soon reach him, if he didn’t do anything. He had to do something. He knew one thing which he could do, but there was easily a chance that he would fail and die. Still, it was worth a try. He would burn with that lava and there was still the faintest of a chance he might succeed. He used his rope, and aimed for a star straight above him. The rope was starting to burn a little; the heat of this star was too much. He pressed the button and was immediately hoisted up to the star. The rope would soon snap into two. He started dangling and was soon exactly above the other side of the hole. Suraj then took the rope out of the star. The next thing he knew, he was falling from the star.

He used his rope, aimed at the tile. He succeeded! Oh boy, what a relief!!! He pressed the button and was pulled towards the tile. He was now on the other end of the hole. The tile exploded immediately at his touch. He leaped, aimed at the tile, pressed the button and was pulled towards the tile. Soon his feet found the sun without tiles. But suddenly there was an earthquake, sorry, an sunquake. Everything started shaking. Suddenly, an enormous figure emerged from the sun. The figure appeared to be a dinosaur. It reacted so quickly that Suraj barely had time to react and swallowed Suraj in a gulp. Suraj looked desperately around. He had to get out of this dinosaur’s belly. He tried climbing up and repeatedly slipped. It was too slippery to climb up. He aimed at the dinosaur’s heart. It missed. He was not an expert shooter. He withdrew it back, and again aimed. This time he got it. The dinosaur opened his mouth in agony and pain and collapsed. Suraj quickly went out of the dinosaur’s open mouth leaving it collapsed in a heap, a sight greeted his eyed. The most humungous machine he had ever seen was placed upon the sun.

There were about a thousand demons standing in a line, alert of every movement. The machine was labelled “Human – Demon”. And placed right in front of this machine was his father so tightly bound that he couldn’t move a muscle.

Suraj had no idea whatsoever, about how his father was here, but he did know one thing: he had to save him. After all, maybe he had put Suraj in this situation, maybe he was very greedy, but he was his father, and Suraj knew there was good in him.

Rage blazed through Suraj. First all these challenges could have caused him to die. He might die in this challenge, but there was no way he was letting his father die too. He used his rope to aim at one of the demons, but missed. It went through the extender chamber in the machine. Suraj pressed the red button, withdrawing the rope, amazed. It was now super- duper long. Suddenly, he got an idea.

He swung his rope overhead, aiming at one of the stars directly above the machine. He pressed the red button, and then the star came crashing down at the machine. The machine rolled over the demons, crushing them.

But the challenge wasn’t over yet. The machine was smashed to bits. The demons suddenly reformed taking the form of an enormous demon. It had millions of weapons in each of his hand. There was no way Suraj could defeat this guy.

He wished that the machine would come back to life, because maybe there was a reverse button, which would make the demon be turned into a human. Now the demon was chasing Suraj, stomping so loudly, that it seemed every one of its stomps, was an earthquake. Suraj crouched behind the machine’s shattered remains.

Overhead zoomed a shooting star which seemed so close. Suraj immediately got his wish granted of the machine being repaired. The demon was following him. He went into the machine. Quickly, he fumbled for the manual. By luck, it was in the front page itself. He had to put the red wire into the green socket inside the cable. The demon was approaching the machine. He had to have the demon positioned exactly in the place. He got ready and waited for the demon to come in place. The demon approached.

He now pressed the button which would reverse him into a human. The demon suddenly vanished, instead of him being a human turned, he turned into an ant.

Suraj glanced at the manual. Oops!!! He had to put the green wire in the red socket in the cable, and he did it the other way around. Anyway, this was better, this was really good luck. The demon could have become stronger, but the opposite happened.

He suddenly remembered about the treasure. There was the treasure chest, smashed to bits. The machine must have crushed it, while crushing the demons.

Oh, how disappointed his father would have been. Maybe Suraj got out there alive, but he failed in his goal of contenting of his father. Where was his father anyway?

The chains binding his father suddenly released. He rushed to Suraj, hugged him very tightly.

Suraj wondered what had brought the change in him.

“Suraj.” his father said “Please forgive me. I was so wrong in sending you, you might have even died. And all this for treasure? I was really greedy. Only a son like you, so loyal, clever, brave and all can make a father not greedy. I already have the treasure. You are my treasure.”

Suraj and his father hugged each other, more tightly, shedding happy tears. They returned to Earth, happy and content. Emma and some other gnomes expressed their congrats for Suraj to have safely completed the challenge and the change in Ahmed by giving them some rare flowers, which no one had ever seen and some money.

What a happy ending!!!!