A gifted sorcerer named Pharaoh also kept warning Mascae about the growing evil, but Mascae never saw any threat to the Dark World. Instead, he used to mock Pharaoh.
One day, at Mascae’s court, Pharaoh shared his dream and warned Mascae of a massive attack on the kingdom by evil powers. Mascae laughed and made fun of Pharaoh in front of the entire court. The Scavenger was away or else he would have acted. He came to know of the incident much later. Feeling insulted and anguished, Pharaoh left the Palace of Mascae for an unknown destination.
After a few years, Pharaoh’s warning came true. Evil forces attacked Mascae’s kingdom. The Scavenger securely took away Mascae and his son Raven into the forests. Mascae and Raven blamed Pharaoh for it all, even to the extent where they thought that he might have conspired with the evil souls just to prove his predictions right.
The trio was now living in exile. Mascae remembered about the Crown of Magic. He asked the Scavenger to visit Earth and find the four prophesied children, and meanwhile, he and Raven would get the seven pieces one by one and assemble the Crown of Magic.
But the Scavenger refused. “It’s my duty to protect you. I cannot leave you at such a critical juncture, when there is such a grave danger to your life. Instead, I suggest we should take help from the Unicorns.”
Mascae agreed and the next day, they set off for the Land of Unicorns.
They rested at a spot in the middle of a dense and dreary forest. The Scavenger went to get food.
While the Scavenger was away, two assassins attacked Mascae. The stealth and surprise in the attack didn’t give Mascae a chance to retaliate and he was killed. However, his son Raven managed to escape.
When he returned, the Scavenger was shocked on seeing Mascae’s dead body. Tears filled his eyes, but he knew he could not grieve. He had to act and save Raven.
The Scavenger searched for Raven everywhere for many days, but in vain. The Scavenger decided to go to Earth to find the prophesied children. Evil had spread to a great extent. The Scavenger made a portal to the Earth and leapt into it.
***
Raven was left fuming and enraged at his father’s death. He blamed the sorcerer – Pharaoh – and swore to avenge the loss.
One day, Raven found Pharaoh, who was living peacefully in a village, oblivious to the wrath he was about to encounter.
What ensued next was a duel between Raven and Pharaoh that continued for six days and six nights. At the dawn of the seventh day, Pharaoh, exhausted of all his powers, used the deadliest spell of all times – the Death Curse – upon Raven. But, due to exhaustion, he failed to cast the spell appropriately. Instead of killing Raven, the spell turned Raven into a deadly immortal evil. The dark powers of the Death Curse raved inside Raven, and with a renewed energy, he killed Pharaoh.
Raven, bestowed with new evil powers, went back to reclaim his kingdom and began ruling the Dark World. He was the worst King ever in the Dark World. The noble souls present in the kingdom went into hiding. People named Raven ‘the Death Lord’, as he was the product of the failed Death Curse.
For many years, the Death Lord ruled the Dark World. But he wasn’t content. He wanted to conquer Earth, but he needed immense power to do that. And the only thing that could give him such stupendous power was the Crown of Magic. He remembered where his father had hidden the box that secured the clue to the first piece. He went to the place where it was buried and took it out. He opened it and read the first riddle.
The Death Lord smiled. It was time to conquer the Earth.
2
The Scavenger emerged on Earth on frozen ground with snow all around. There was no one around.
It was unlikely that the prophesied children would be in such a cold barren place, he thought.
The Scavenger visualized a busy and crowded place and snapped his fingers. He immediately disappeared and some moments later, appeared in the middle of a bustling street. A car was coming towards him. He leapt aside just before getting crushed. A bit unsure, he clenched his fist and decided to start search for the prophesied children.
While roaming on a busy street, the Scavenger could make out that the city was called London. It quite literally was another world altogether, he thought, admiring the tall spires and immaculate buildings.
He started his search, moving from place to place. It was frustrating as several days passed by. At times he thought of giving up but couldn’t. Not now. The commitment that he had given to Lord Arcane bound him.
As days turned into months, the Scavenger kept hopping from continent to continent on the Earth. He searched Africa, America and China but couldn’t locate the children. Going by the facial features of the children’s sketches, he decided to concentrate on every city in Europe.
One day, he decided to visit the Dark World mentally to check out the situation there. He sat silently in a park and meditated. By now, he had got a good idea about human life. Humans were always busy. They were not bothered about some old loser sitting on a park bench.
After some moments of meditation, the scenes from the Dark World started flashing in his mind.
The Dark World had once been a beautiful and affluent place under Lord Arcane’s rule. The sprawling houses, with well laid out gardens that bloomed with colourful flowers and the parks carpeted with lush green grass looked stunning in all the colours of the rainbow.
Alas, nothing seemed as it was.
The Dark World appeared grey and shadowy. The houses seemed dark and gloomy,
