EXAMINATION

Chapter Eight

sorry for the late update guys , hope u enjoying the story 

______________________________________________________________________

"Where are you guys going?" One of them; a man ,spoke startling them.

"We? We're going to the other side of the forest." Khizar replied. His tone was cold and wary.

"Why?" This time, it was a woman who asked the next question.

"We have a mission." Asbar replied in the same way as Khizar.

"What kind of mission?" They were asking question one by one.

They looked at each other. These people were getting a bit too nosy for their taste.

"We... have to follow a special path and get to the other side of the forest." Mah-Rukh replied, giving as little details as possible.

"But, that will be very hard." Another spoke up in a surprised voice.

Shad shrugged answering them. " Our reward is worth the difficulties."

"But why don't you guys come here? Look! it's way more comfortable here!" They replied.

The five of them looked at where they were pointing. The scene had changed. Instead of the red sky and earth, there were greens fields and a clear blue sky. The green fields were dotted with huge fabulous palaces.

"Look at these palaces! They are already furnished to your liking. And you can change whatever you want in them. "

As soon as these words were spoken, the five of them could suddenly see inside the walls of the palaces. There they saw soft beds, cool air-conditioned rooms, and delicious meals spread out on luxurious tables.

"Why are you pushing yourselves so hard for a reward you can't even see and have no proof of? Come and stay in these palaces. You can see them right before your eyes." This time the speaker was a girl, and her voice flowed over them like honey.

They felt their hearts weakening. Why were they working so hard anyways? It's not like they really had any proof that Mahad was telling the truth, or that any reward was waiting for them on the other side. They felt their will power and faith slowly weakening.

"Hmm... Yeah.. It's not like we have anything to go on for.." Asbar spoke as if in a daze.

He started relaxing his defensive posture. The others followed.

Suddenly Khizar cried out in pain. And it was as if they had all woken from a trance. Lowering his dagger, he had dropped it on his foot, causing him to cry out. But his moment of pain had saved them from the spell these people were trying to cast on them No doubt these were Afreet's Hunchmen.

They looked at each other shocked and a little afraid. They had almost gone under this time. But the danger was not over yet.

The people, now seeing that the spell had been broken, were glaring at them in a menacing way. They glared back, their resolve and willpower restored. Then, as suddenly as someone had pressed a trigger, they advanced on the five of them.

Khizar, Asbar, Mah-Rukh, Sehr, and Shad ran for their lives. The people ran after them, screaming and taunting now, all their former "kindness" forgotten.

"You're all idiots! Running desperately towards things you don't even know about!"

"You're travelling uselessly! You don't have any proof of this "reward" you talk about!"

"You'll all perish! You will never reach any where alive!"

"Useless"

"Fools!"

"Stupid!"

Their voices followed them a long way. They felt the words like spears in their hearts, and Asabr's face started turning red from embarrassment.

"Hey!" Mah-Rukh said, looking over at him "Don't listen to them!"

"That's easy to say, but not so easy to do!" He yelled back over the voices.

"Then we'll out yell them!" Shad said, also yelling.

"What? We just start yelling like maniacs?" Asbar answered looking at Shad like he had gone mad.

"Yeah why not? Just start yelling nonsense!" Sehr replied, then started yelling on the top of her voice, like her clothes were on fire. "Ahhhh! Help! I'm dying!"

And even though the situation wasn't amusing in the least, that coaxed a laugh out of all of them.

Then, all of them started yelling like mentally disabled people. It was silly, but it worked. All of their voices combined drowned out the sound of the people running and yelling behind a long way behind them.

And then, the scene around them started to change. The red sky and ground changed back to the golden desert and dusty sky, and slowly, the voices faded, until they stopped entirely.

They stopped to catch their breaths. Sehr was gasping with her hands on her knees and Mah-Rukh dropped to the ground. They rest of them also sat down to regain their energy. They all had big smiles on their faces, which broke out into laughter.

"Oh my god! We looked hilarious! Even Khizar!" Mah-Rukh said giggling.

"Hey! It was necessary!" Khizar protested, his cheeks turned red, and he looked away.

That made the rest of them laugh harder.

"Oh man! Khizar actually BLUSHED!" Asbar said laughing in huge guffaws.

"Oh shut up." Khizar replied scowling.

"Hey you blush too you know!" Sehr said.

"Do not!" Asabr replied immediately.

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Hey, stop bickering. We got out of that just barely." Shad stepped in.

"Yep, that's for sure." Khizar said, standing up again.

He looked out towards the horizon in front of them. Asabr followed his gaze, then exclaimed.

"Hey! Look! We arrived at the jungle!"

Sure enough, they could all see the trees of the jungle towering in a row a few feet from them. Their path disappeared between the trees. They stood shoulder to shoulder gazing at the dark jungle before them. The second part of their adventure had now begun.