“Well then,” Daniel said, “can you help in getting back Matt?”
Pyros nodded. “I can help. However, the journey is full of unimaginable dangers. Your experience in handling the Death Lord and the Skull Warrior would not be sufficient, my dear fellows. This time we are talking of breaching a time dimension.”
The Scavenger frowned. “What do you mean by unimaginable dangers? The Dark World is with us. There is no evil left in the Dark World.”
Pyros’s expression changed. He took out a letter from a hard casing and handed it to the Scavenger. “Sorry to disappoint you. This letter has been waiting for you.”
The Scavenger took the letter, which had the five signatures of the Kings of Necron and started reading.
Dearest friend Scavenger,
We were attacked in the middle of the night. The enemy is unknown but intelligent.
The mighty Castle of Fate was secretly taken over in a matter of hours. Sudden betrayals surprised us. We managed to reach the protective chambers just in time.
All our spies have been caught. We don’t know about what is happening outside. It seems that the people of the Dark World have been told that for several weeks a sacrificial ritual will go on inside the Castle. Therefore, no one will be allowed to move in or out of the Castle. The rulers have changed, but the people will continue to follow orders from the Castle, thinking that they are coming from the Kings of Necron.
Save us.
– The Kings of Necron
The Scavenger looked up, his face pale. “I thought we destroyed all evil. Who could have done such a thing?”
Pyros shrugged. “I have no idea.”
The Scavenger frowned. “I thought you knew everything.”
Pyros laughed. “Oh no, you’re mistaken. People consider me knowledgeable, but that doesn’t mean that I am all-knowing.”
“You mean you don’t know everything?”
“That’s not exactly true,” Pyros replied. “You see, I have a passion for books. I possess unlimited quantity of books, scrolls, etc., stored underground in this cave’s Library. I can call upon any book at any time but that doesn’t mean that I am know everything.”
“Oh wow! Library!” James was suddenly excited. “But this cave appears to be small?”
“Looks can be deceiving,” Pyros said. “My magical cave has everything, from a Library to Armoury. You just have to say the name of the thing, and it will present itself before you.”
Archer bought the conversation back on track. “Anyway, please help us. We are short of time.”
Pyros closed his eyes and sat in a meditative pose. A pile of books appeared before him.
“This might take a while,” Pyros said. “Meanwhile, please rest.”
He waved his hands, and plush sofas appeared. The others sat down, while Pyros skimmed through the books.
After about half an hour, Pyros began to speak.
“A time dimension is a powerful thing,” he said. “It is as difficult to get someone inside it as it is to get someone out from it. First of all, a large amount of energy is required. Matt could open the dimension only because he used the power of the Slayer – the sword with unlimited power.”
“How does this bit of fact help to get him out?” Daniel asked, annoyed.
Pyros glared at him. “Patience. Now, you don’t have any comparable substance having great energy. Two of such things were the Arcane Crown and the Slayer, but they have been used. I guess, one thing that still remains... which is the -”
“Pages of Destiny!”
Everyone turned towards where the voice came from, and, to their surprise, saw James snapping his fingers.
Pyros nodded. “How do you know?”
“Lynx had said this,” James said. “Too long ago... it almost seems like eternity. When we had first met Lynx, and asked him how to fight the Skull Warrior, he mentioned about the Pages of Destiny. But, he didn’t discuss this much and rather focused on the Slayer. I remember he said that getting the Pages of Destiny was not possible at that time.”
Pyros nodded. “And he was right.” He picked up a paper outlined with intricate symbols carved on it. “It is the replica of the two Pages of Destiny.”
Pyros continued, “In the Master Library of the Dark World at Cotton Village, there is an ancient book having 1007 pages – the ‘Book of the Universe’. It must be billions of years old. The legend goes that the ancient Sages – who existed just after the creation of the Universe – had created the Book.
“The pages of the Book contained magical knowledge of the entire Universe. Over the years, as more and more knowledge got added into the ‘Book of the Universe’, it started to convert itself into a significant power source. The power of the entire book got concentrated in two pages, written on both sides, called the Pages of Destiny. One Page has the serial numbers 499 and 500 and the other Page has the serial numbers 501 and 502.
“As the ‘Book of the Universe’ became a one-in-all power source, the Sages feared that the power source could one day gobble up the entire Universe within it. To prevent that from happening, a few of the Sages gave their life essence to the Book by embedding their souls inside the Book. The power so created was enough to tear away the Pages of Destiny from the Book. The Sages then sent the two Pages to different parts of the Universe. The location of these Pages are mentioned in the scroll, but they are in cryptic riddle. No one, so far, has been able to decipher the riddle and find the exact location of the Pages.
“These Pages of Destiny, if placed in the Book again at the appropriate place, will create a power source so significant that it could open the time dimension in which your brave friend Matt is trapped along with the Skull Warrior. But you have to bear in mind that when you get Matt out of the dimension, you run the risk of letting out the Skull Warrior as well. Heavens
