The Pages of Destiny | The Four Elementals Trilogy by Yajat Sharma | Sneak Peek

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What’s so special?

We are glad to present you a sneak peek into a fantastic fantasy fiction The Four Elementals: The Pages of Destiny by Yajat Sharma.

“The Pages Of Destiny” is the third book in the series.

Yajat Sharma – The Author

Yajat Sharma, born on 30th May 2006, has been an avid reader since the age of three. His passion for reading inspired this book through which he gave life to his creative imagination. Typing skills gained at an early age of five helped him in being a published author at the young age of 12 years. It is a remarkable achievement indeed.

Yajat lives in Delhi with parents Dr. Ritu Dwivedi and Anish Prasad and sister Jagriti.

Yajat and his father are very humble and during our conversation they privileged us to share a sneak peek into this book, the first chapter of the same.

Chapter 1

The messenger’s horse raced quickly through the barren path, rustling past shrubs and bushes.

He carried just a small solid casing. But that casing contained a letter which could decide the very existence of the Dark World.

The messenger felt that he heard a sound behind him. He turned but found nothing.

He rode faster.

He sensed someone behind him… someone lethal and desperate…

The Kingdom of the Dark World was taken in mere hours. The attack was sudden, and before they knew it, everyone inside the Capital of Dark World- the Castle of Fate was captured by the hooded people. A few escaped, but they were hunted down and killed. No one in the Dark World knew what had happened in the Castle of Fate on that day. The good Kingdom run by the Kings of Necron was secretly taken over.

The messenger escaped. He had to somehow deliver the message of the Kings of Necron to the Scavenger.

The messenger heard the sounds again, and this time the sounds appeared closer. He didn’t dare look behind.

Of the two suns in the Dark World, one had set. The other sun was fast setting in the blood-red sky. The envelope of darkness was expanding over the forest with every passing moment.

The messenger looked up forward, and his excitement soared. He had almost reached his destination- the cliff.

The messenger jumped from the speeding horse, who, with a whine jumped to the right, distracting the pursuers.

The messenger rolled and stood up. As he ran towards the cliff, he caught a glimpse of his pursuers- two large, hooded men with black cloaks, accompanied by ferocious hounds. He ran towards the cliff with whatever energy he could muster.

While running, the messenger sifted through his coat and pulled out the casing. Just as he was about to throw the casing down the cliff, the hooded men got him.

As the hooded men plunged their swords into the messenger’s chest, the messenger pulled up his hand… and sent the casing deep down the ravine.

The hooded men lunged in desperation, but couldn’t grasp the casing.

***

The letter in the sturdy casing travelled a hundred miles, beaten by the wind, trampled by the hooves of animals, soiled with dirt, crushed by rocks… but surviving till it reached its destination.

On a sunny morning, an aged yet sturdy man went outside his cave and saw the casing. As his trained eyes recognised the seal on it, his heartbeat soared.

***
In a remote corner of the Dark World, James sat down on the grass.

The suns were rising.

Even after having spent months in the Dark World, James was never tired of seeing the beauty of the sunrise and the sunset.

Several weeks had passed since the war with the Skull Warrior got over. They were able to form one of the most legendary weapons in the Universe- the Slayer- and banish the Skull Warrior to a different dimension. But in the process, they lost their brave friend Matt, who had made the ultimate sacrifice by jumping into the dimension, taking the Skull Warrior along with him.

James knew that the Scavenger had his priorities well laid out. They needed to find Matt, and from the very next day of the war, they had started to work on their mission with full determination. The Kings of Necron- Ekthatep, Othos, Aproph, Kakhom and Thekten- were entrusted to rule the Dark World after the Scavenger declined the offer. The Scavenger, like a true friend, was determined to find Matt.

The scene of Matt disappearing along with the Skull Warrior to save the Dark World was unforgettable. The children had promised that they would return to Earth as all four together.
In one of the last few words he spoke before embracing death, their friend Lynx had told them to search for Pyros who might help in their mission.

Lynx.

James’s heart filled with respect and sorrow while thinking of Lynx. Lynx and so many others had sacrificed their lives in the war against the Skull Warrior. Lynx, Aronicle, Insanity, Venoz and countless others… Nothing could bring them back again.

But Matt could be saved. And finding Matt was their only mission in life right now.
The King of Necrons told them that Pyros could be located in an area called Nervon, which was surrounded by dense forests and challenging to reach.

It had been weeks that they all had left the Castle of Fate. James, Archer, Daniel and the Scavenger were no longer fugitives in the Dark World, but they were now celebrities- everyone honouring them wherever they went. Leaving the cities and towns, they finally entered the dark forests where no one lived. They knew it could be months before they could find Nervon but they were determined to find and rescue Matt.

James’s stream of thoughts was broken as the Scavenger sat down beside him, his arms full of berries.

“Are we ready to go?” James asked.

“Soon,” The Scavenger said. “Once Daniel and Archer wake up.”

James plucked a berry, “How long shall it take?”

“We have almost reached Nervon,” The Scavenger said. “We need to find the exact spot.”

“What? I don’t understand,” Daniel said.

The Scavenger said nothing and started to walk. The children followed. After minutes of walking, they stopped. There was nothing except dense foliage.

“This is Nervon. Pyros lives here.” The Scavenger announced.

“Are you crazy?” Daniel said, “How can someone live here?”.

“Just be watchful, you’ll find an opening,” The Scavenger told everyone.

They examined every single detail- every leaf, every tree trunk and branches- but could not find any signs of Pyros living there. The Scavenger seemed nervous and frustrated but determined.
Suddenly, something moved.

“What is it?” Daniel asked.

The Scavenger replied grimly. “Someone is watching us.”

James looked about but saw nothing out of place. Archer, Daniel and the Scavenger huddled together with James.

Archer groaned in exasperation. “This is insane. How do we find this guy?”

“You don’t find him,” A voice came behind them. “He finds you.”

Before they could turn, the ground they were standing on disappeared, and they fell.
They landed on soft mattresses in a well-decorated room whose walls were adorned by flowers.
In the middle of the room stood a wizened aged man, dressed in a long cloak and carrying a staff.

“Welcome,” He said, smiling. “I am Pyros. I was expecting you.”

“So why did you make us wait for so long?” Archer muttered.
The Scavenger said from the corner of his mouth. “Warrior tactics. We might be impostors. Pyros needed to be sure.”

Pyros nodded. “Exactly.”

“We are delighted to meet you.” The Scavenger said, “Lynx mentioned about you-”

“I know everything,” Pyros interrupted. His eyes brimmed with tears. “Lynx was such a dear friend. His loss is unbearable. The world was a better place with him.”
There was silence as everyone prayed to Lynx’s soul.

James broke the silence. “If you are such a good friend of Lynx,” He said in a cold voice. “Then why didn’t you come to help us in the war with the Skull Warrior?”

Pyros raised a hand, and scroll flew into his hand. “This is a letter from Lynx. It’s almost ten pages long. I will tell you its summary. Remember the message the Gods had sent in everyone’s minds?”

The group nodded.

In their war with the Skull Warrior, to call the Scavenger’s allies spread out everwhere in the Dark World, Paragon- the leader of the Gods- had sent a mental message to everyone on the good side in the Dark World, alerting them to come to the Scavenger’s help.

“I got the message too,” Pyros said. “I had almost started to leave for helping you all, but a bird delivered this letter. Through this letter, Lynx told me not to come.”

Pyros handed the letter to the Scavenger who started reading it. Pyros continued, “Lynx never wanted the Skull Warrior to know about me. Lynx had planned for everything. Just in case, war turned to the Skull Warrior’s side, someone trusted had to act as the backup and as a last resort. That’s why he stopped me from coming. You see, how visionary Lynx was. No one anticipated Matt’s disappearance, but now atleast we have hope.”

The Scavenger, handed the letter back to Pyros and said, “Fate has aligned many things in order. It has-”

James said. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I don’t believe in fate and destiny anymore. If there were fate, it wouldn’t have been so cruel.”

“The loss of your friend has rendered you a little rude,” Pyros observed. “But don’t worry. That is all to pass.”

James’s heart lifted with such hope that it almost skipped a beat. Here was an all-knowledgeable man telling them that the bad times would go away. What could be better?

“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 having 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, the people of the Dark World have been told that for several weeks, a sacrificial ritual would go on inside the Castle. Therefore, no one would be allowed to move in or out of the Castle. The rulers have changed, but people would continue to follow orders from the Castle, thinking that they are coming from the Kings of Necrons.

Save us.

The Kings of Necrons

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 knowledgable, 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 all knowledgable.”

“Oh Wow! Library,” James was suddenly excited, “But this cave appears to be small?”

“Looks could 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 would 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 annoyingly.
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 to 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 discussed 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 made the Book.

“The pages of the Book contained magical knowledge of the entire Universe. Over the years, as more and more knowledge got added in 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 both sides, called the Pages of Destiny. One Page having serial numbers 499 and 500 and the other Page with 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, 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 its 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 would fall if the Skull Warrior is able to grasp the Slayer and use it. So the mission would be to take Matt out and close the dimension again by tearing away the Pages of Destiny before the Skull Warrior comes out of it.”

Archer asked, “But how can you be sure that by combining the Pages of Destiny, only that dimension would open that have Matt inside?”

“Good question. There could be thousands of dimensions about whom we don’t know. However, there is no activity happening within these dimensions. The dimension in which Matt is trapped with the Skull Warrior is active. Their struggle inside must be creating ripples across the dimension making it unstable. Wherever in the Universe, the dimension will find a power source, it will rush towards it with speed of light, collide with it and open up.”

James said, “OK. Let me summarise. First, we have to find the two Pages of Destiny and place them in an ancient Book of Universe kept at the Master Library at Cotton Village. The Book will then turn into a power source. The dimension in which Matt is trapped, would collide with the power source and open up. We need to take out Matt and before the Skull Warrior comes out of the dimension, we need to tear away the Pages of Destiny again to banish the Skull Warrior forever in that dimension. That’s it?”

Pyros nodded. “That’s it.”

“All right,” The Scavenger sounded optimistic. “That’s not so bad this time. The good thing is that there are only two Pages, unlike the seven pieces of the Arcane Crown and the five pieces of the Slayer.”

“Are you nuts?” Archer said, shaking his head. “This is bad. What chance do we have even to get the two Pages of Destiny? I don’t think anyone else so far had got them.”

The Scavenger replied, “Well, we got the Arcane Crown, which no one else got. We got the Slayer which no one else got. Now we can get the Pages of Destiny which no one else has got. That’s simple.”

“But where and how do we get the two pages to form the Pages of Destiny?” James asked.

“You haven’t heard the legend, have you?” Pyros asked. “The legend about the Pages of Destiny?”

“Oh, why haven’t we?” James said sarcastically. “We were born and brought up here in the Dark World, and we should be supposed to know all the legends here.”

Pyros ignored the sarcastic comment. “The legend says that the location of the two Pages of Destiny is hidden in two riddles. Here’s the first one for the First Page-

A mighty wind, red storm,

Oval, now smaller in form,

Red, red, red everywhere,

The First Page lies right there.

Hotter than the rest,

Fight through the tempest,

You need power,

Find the tower.

And that’s it,” Pyros finished.

“I don’t think that makes any sense,” Archer said.

“I agree,” Pyros said. “But we need to figure it out. I never felt any need for power, so I was
never interested in decoding such riddles.”

James was thinking hard. “Red,” he said. “Red, red, red. The riddle speaks of red a lot. What can be red? Blood? A sunset? Blood-red sky? What else…”

“Red armour,” Daniel suggested. “Red table. Red chair. Red window. Red-”

“Daniel, please,” James said exasperatedly. “The riddle also says, hotter than the rest. The rest. What’s the rest? The tower. What’s the tower? The tempest? Storm? HOTTER? STORM? AARGH!!”
James started stomping the floor in anger.

“James, calm down!” The Scavenger told him.

James sat down. “Sorry, but this riddle’s idiotic. What’s a red storm anyway? How can a storm be-?”

He stopped and stood up slowly.

Storms and planets…

Red storms…

Planets with storms…

James shrieked a single word, “JUPITER!”

“Excuse me?” Pyros asked.

“Just get me books on the planet Jupiter!” James said. “Quick.”

Pyros muttered something, and piles of books plopped down in front of him. James, at once started flipping their pages.

“GOT IT!” James jumped in delight as he pointed to the image of a circular spot. “It was right at the tip of my tongue!”

“What was?” Archer asked.

“I’ll tell you once we reach there,” James said, standing up and stretching his arms.

“Go where?!” Daniel asked infuriatingly. “Tell us!”

James had a smile on his face. “I never thought I might say this, but… let’s take a trip to Jupiter.”

Summary:

So, as you can see, it is a wonderful story moving ahead. It reminded me of Harry Potter and Narnia book series, and some parts made the memory of reading INKREDIA: Luwan of Brida. It seems a very promising trilogy from this Sneak peek, don’t you think so?

Feel free to share your views about it by all means.

We are eager to share with you all, our unbiased book reviews for all the books in “The Four Elementals” book trilogy, so stay tuned.

And yes, a “big thank you” to Yajat and his father, for sharing this wonderful chapter from the book with us.

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