"Mum! I can't imagine an idol will tell us to go to Zantis", Dave complained, while selecting the clothes he'll travel with.
His Mum sat on the bed and said;"It's not just an idol, Lucifer's spirit is within it."
"Let's assume so! What connection does he have with Zantis that we must help them in order to get back our powers?", Dave asked, concentrating fully on his Mum.
His Mum started feeling guilty. "Dave doesn't know our lives fully depend on him and his friends right now. We'll die if they don't destroy Mr Black", his Mum spoke within herself.
Dave noticed his Mum was quiet and sweating a lot. "Mum! Is anything wrong?", he called for her attention.
"Nothing dear! I'm just thinking of how much I'm gonna miss you if you go tomorrow", she covered up. Dave didn't know what to say next. He was now done with selecting clothes and putting them in his box. He got up and carried the box and kept it beside his wardrobe.
Dave's two younger sisters walked into the room. They looked very sad.
"What happened to you guys?", their Mum asked. "We're gonna miss Dave", one of them replied. Dave went to them and tried cheering them up, promising them that he won't be away for long. He also promised to do things for them when he comes back. His sisters brightened up after hearing all the promises. Dave started feeling sleepy and yawned greatly. His Mum saw this and told his sisters to let him sleep. His sisters bid him goodnight and left.
"You're gonna know the importance of this journey you're gonna embark on at the end of it", his Mum bid him goodnight and left. Dave reasoned her statement and thought;"I hope these guys aren't hiding anything from us?" He yawned again suddenly and felt he should go to bed. He rushed in to the bed and switched off his lamp.
* * *
The next morning! Everyone was gathered in the room, talking to each other, as they awaited for the arrival of Master Noah. Master Noah appeared suddenly, soon after. Everybody went to their respective chairs and stood there.
"Where are your luggages?", he asked the clique. They got up and carried their belongings to him. They stopped them on the ground and each stood behind his or her own.
Master Noah opened a portal. "This is the way to Zantis. You're free to go in", he told the clique. People were amazed when they saw the portal.
"I never knew Master Noah could create dimensional portals", Dave's Mum whispered to Finley's Dad. He replied;"Neither did I!"
The clique picked up their luggages and walked up to the portal. They then turned back and waved goodbye to others. Others, including Master Noah, waved back in return. The mothers especially, were showing off signs of them crying soon.
Finley's Dad saw his wife about crying and comforted her;"They'll be back soon, all without blemish."
The clique now walked into the portal with their luggages and then the portal closed up. "Safe journey kids!", Master Noah spoke quietly to himself.
* * *
The clique hopped out of the portal and their properties were thrown out after. The portal then closed up. They turned back to behold the mansion Master Noah showed to them, right behind them.
"Wow! It's really big! Bigger than I expected!", Chloe exclaimed, feeling awestruck.
"So, we've been brought back to the past just to get back our powers?", Ethan asked curiously. Darcie turned right and saw a very big cemetery beside the very the big mansion.
"Why's there a very big cemetery close to this building?"she got curious. The rest turned to see the graveyard.
"What a graveyard!", Amber spoke in a low tone. "Well! We were told to live in this place throughout our stay here. So, whatever we see here shouldn't make us start thinking twice on where we'll reside rather than here. I believe Master Noah has his reasons", Finley spoke to his friends. He carried then, his luggage to go inside the mansion. The rest joined him.
"Hey!", a man behind called the clique. They turned and saw a man, dressed on a black gown with strange writings on it. The man also had some strange bangles and necklaces on him. He was scary looking in his dressing. The clique looked a little bit frightened as the man walked towards them.
The man asked;"I haven't seen your faces before. Are you guys foreigners?" They nodded their heads to confirm his guess. "We're here to help the people of Zantis from the disease outbreak", Dave told him. The man got confused;"What disease outbreak? There's nothing of such here. All I can say is that this place is filled with horrified and poor people."
The clique started murmuring amongst themselves. After a while, the man called for their attention by clearing his throat. They stopped murmuring and Chloe asked him;"What's the cause of this?" "You guys came to help so, find out yourself", he replied with a weird smile. Silence now reigned for a while.
The man looked up at the mansion and asked the clique, breaking the silence;"You wanted to go inside this mansion. Is this where you want to live in? "Yes! We'd loved to see the owner of this house", Darcie replied.
"I'm the owner", he told them. "We're gonna stay here for a month. How much will it cost us?", Chloe asked.
"That will be £10000", he replied. Dave opened his bag, counted the money and brought it out, giving it to the man. He counted it again to confirm.
"Nice doing business with you! The house is yours", he shook hands with Dave and the turned to leave. Dave called him back;"Wait! You didn't tell us your name."
The man turned back and chuckled;"Oh! Yeah! My name is Mr Black." Amber smiled and told Finley;"What a weird name right?" "Shhhh! You wouldn't want to get into trouble on your first day", Finley cautioned her.
"My name is Dave", he replied to Mr Black. He also introduced his friends to Mr Black. "Nice to meet you guys! Excuse me! I have something important to attend to. Goodbye for now!", he bowed. They waved at him in response. Mr Black continued his journey.
Mr Black smiled and spoke in his mind;"They don't know what's going to befall on them soon." He left the compound and the clique were still looking at him. Dave spoke in his mind;"He may not be bad after all."
"£10000 has gone already", Ethan ended the silence. Amber smiled and replied;"Luckily, we were all given birth to with silver spoons in our mouths." "Let's go in guys!", Dave picked up his luggages and went to open the door. Others picked up theirs and followed him.
Dave dropped his luggages and tried opening the main door. He learnt it couldn't open. He left his mouth agape, turned to others and said;"Mr Black didn't give us the house keys." "We didn't think of it", Ethan added.
Darcie saw a small box on the ground and picked it up. "Hey guys! I found a key", she called on their attention. "This may be the key", Chloe suggested. "Darcie do the honours!", said Dave.
Darcie brought out the key and kept the box on the ground. She went to the door and used the key to try open it. The door opened and everybody walked inside. Darcie carried the key and closed the door behind them.
"Wow! The inside is also very beautiful", Finley got awestruck. "I expected it to be so dusty because it seemed abandoned to me", Dave added. "Maybe, Mr Black has been keeping it clean from time to time", Chloe suggested. "I think so", Dave was looking round the mansion. The rest sat on chairs in the living room, feeling so tired.
"I see pictures of a family all over the place", Dave informed everyone. His friends looked round and saw same. "This family don't like smiling in pictures", Finley added.
"What a beautiful family of four! A husband and a wife with two children, a boy and a girl", Darcie commended the pictures. Amber turned once again to the pictures and saw the family smiling greatly but strangely. She got scared and rubbed on her eyes with her hands. She then stopped and opened her eyes to see the pictures again. They looked normal again to her. She heaved a sigh of relief. "It must have been of my imagination", she spoke to herself.
Dave observed everyone was tired and aired out;"Let's take our luggages upstairs into our rooms and then have our lunch." "Nice idea!", said Finley. "Come on guys! Let's go!", he spoke to others. They all got up, picked up their belongings and climbed up the staircase. When they had all climbed up, the family in the various pictures started smiling again greatly.
The clique were now upstairs. "Wow! A lot of rooms!", said Amber in amazement. "There's that same box we saw outside in front of every door. There must be keys in them", Dave pointed at them, showing them to his friends.
Each of them picked his or her room, unlocked them and took their belongings inside. They all came out except for Amber who took some time.
"Amber! We're waiting for you", Finley called on her. "Ok!", she rushed to leave the room. As she was about reaching the door, someone tapped on her back. She stopped;"What the..." She turned slowly to see the person and saw no one.
"What's going on here?", she spoke quietly to herself. Her friends kept on calling on her. She took a deep breath;"This is just a mere imagination."
She opened the door and walked past her friends;"Sorry for taking too much of your time." Her friends looked at each other, looking confused at what Amber did. They shrugged and followed her behind.
They met Amber at the stairs and went down with her. "What are we gonna eat?", Amber asked them. "Let's have oats", Dave suggested. They all supported his suggestion. Dave ran upstairs to go get some oats.
"Guys! I don't know but I've seen and felt strange things ever since we came in here", Amber alerted her friends. "Please explain!", Finley requested. "I saw this family smiling in the pictures", she explained, pointing at the pictures. Her friends turned to the pictures but didn't see anyone smiling. They looked backed at Amber, looking puzzled.
"I'm telling you what I saw", Amber insisted. "But what you saw wasn't true", Darcie replied. "It could be out of illusion. You know! This isn't the first time you claimed to have seen something. Remember! You've been proven wrong most times", Chloe added. Amber kept quiet, having a feeling what Chloe had just said could be true.
Dave ran down the staircase with the oats. "Guys! Oats are here", said Finley. "Wow! That's a lot of oats!" Amber exclaimed. "I want everyone to be satisfied", Dave replied. "There's still more. I brought a lot of them", he added.
"Let's start eating guys. I'm hungry!", Ethan complained. "Oh! Sorry! Where's the kitchen?", Dave asked. They showed him where it was.
"Let's go then!", said Dave. He asked his friends to help him bring some water that they'd need. They agreed to help and all went to the kitchen, talking to each other playfully.