A Deadly Bewray

CHAPTER I

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JUSTIN!!! You're a man now! You are ready to take life into your own hands!"

"Wow! You guys actually came." says Justin, opening the door.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world." affirms Layla, smiling widely back at him.

"Thank you very much, guys! This is gonna be the best day of my life!"

  Justin welcomes them in and, just when he's about to close the door, Dylan comes running and tackle hugs him.

"Yo! Missed me, birthday boy?" he smirks, giving him a noogie.

"Yeah, yeah, Dylan. Missed you the most." he rolls his eyes while smiling.

"I knew it! NOW, LET'S PARTY!!!"

  After hours of partying, they all sit down on the couch and give Justin his gifts. He opens them and sees that inside the last one it is a brand-new album. Oliver looks at him:

"It's for new memories." They both smile, but suddenly Kyle stands up:

"Do you guys remember our old album? You know, the one from our childhood, full of stupid things we did."

"Oh, yes! Do you remember when we used to do themed parties as children? The party I had enjoyed the most was the Pirates Party, when your mother was hiding the birthday cake and we were supposed to find it in order to eat it!" says Layla.

"YES! intervenes in discussion Oliver. Our parties were the best in the neighbourhood!"

"Now we have grown and we can't fight each other with those wooden swords anymore... From now, as adults, we have to learn that life isn't a game".

"OH, come on, Abigail! You are such a spoilsport..." Dylan interrupts her.

"Guys, I think I have the photo album from our childhood somewhere in the attic! Let's find it and bring back memories!"

  Justin, Layla, Oliver, Aby, Dylan and Kyle walk up the shabby stairs, to the attic. Once there, the cobwebs and the boxes that were thrown everywhere were the only things they could see. Justin was showing some boxes to his friends:

"Let's look over there!"

  Justin and Layla are heading for those boxes, and the others peek through other boxes nearby, above which was an old painting hung on the wall. When Justin stood up after looking in the box, he hit the painting which eventually fell on his head.

"Hahaha! Not even the painting likes you!" Layla teases him. The others gather around. Kyle points at something:

"What is that?"

  Behind the painting was a hole in the wall. Justin gets up, looks closely and reaches his hand to see what's in there.

"It's an envelope!." He pulls it out, opens it carefully and he realises that ...it's a map! But what does this map show? And why was it in Justin's wall? Everyone had questions but one thing was sure, they all knew something wasn't right.

***

  In that day of the summer of 2019, when the rays of sunlight were shining upon the slightly wet grass making it sparkle like all the stars of heaven had fallen down and the birds were singing a mesmerizing song, along with the soft wind blowing through the trees, Justin had gathered his childhood friends to celebrate his 21st birthday.But they didn't know that this would be the last day like this.

...Justin's and his friends'adventure has just started...

"What is this map?" asked Kyle.

"It's the map of Ireland." says Aby.

"I know that. I meant, why was it in Justin's wall and why is it marked with three points?"

"We must find something, I don't know what, but we'll know soon. This old house belonged to my grandfather. He never told me anything about a map. Actually...If I think about it, he told me something about that before he died, explains Justin.

"*The fate of the whole humanity could be in your hands

If the Dragon-story survived on our lands* "

"Wait .. Isn't it the same message which is written on the back of the map?" notices Oliver.

"I've never understood what it meant back then."

"Has he told you anything else?" asks Dylan.

"No... He told me that when the right moment comes, I will find out the truth. He told me to avoid the dragons, I found it odd. I stopped believing in dragons a long time ago. Now that I look at this dragon drawn next to these words, I think they are related."

"Let's see where this map leads!" says Layla.

"As there are three landmarks on the map, we could separate into three groups of two people each." 

"Great idea, Dylan! says Kyle enthusiastic.

"Then I'll go with Justin in Galway!" says Layla.

"I propose that Aby and Oliver should go together." says Kyle.

"Don't we have other options?" says Aby annoyed.

"No, because I go with Dylan so it's just you two."

"Ugh! But I don't wanna go with you!" says Dylan.

"If we can try to get along then so can you." says Oliver sighting.

"Alright, I want to remain here, in Swords, so we are going there!" says Aby pointing at the map.

"They're right, Dylan, the last place seems to be Powerscourt Waterfall, so let's go!" says Kyle smiling gently at him.

  After they decided the teams, they took all the necessary items before starting the journeys, like flashlights, food, universal tools that might help and, of course, a copy of the mysterious map.

The next morning every team left for the place they chose to find all the "puzzle pieces".