Jade Amulet And The Leer Of Evil

Chapter four: Aditya's disappearance

Sidharth and Rajveer were looking very restless. They were standing outside of Aditya's house and Rajveer was continuously calling him but he was not picking up. ‘come on man' Sidharth said ‘it is already 2:30' ‘I think he is not here' Rajveer said ‘maybe, gone to his village' ‘so, what we do now' ‘let's go' Rajveer said ‘we just have to inspect so..' ‘see, you too have not gone to stadium' Sidharth scolded ‘couldn't he cancel his plans for one day'
‘doesn't matter, leave' they moved from there. They took an auto rickshaw halfway and another for the second half and after walking a few miles they reached the tomb's gate. The front wall of the tomb was about 35 feet high, made of red stone and small domes had been made on the top with some space between. Before the main entrance, there was a huge park covering all the way around. They bought the tickets from a shed made just before the entrance. Now they were on a wide staircase which was not actually stairs, it was like a ramp. The entry was through a small door, finely crafted all around. Right upon the door, was a beautiful balcony. Sidharth and Rajveer entered through the door, after entering there was a staircase, going upward. After taking two right turns the staircase was connected to a door, same as they crossed earlier. They followed the stairs and after getting out of the door. They saw a beautiful garden, square in shape with a fountain in the middle, made of white marble and the same in shape. The place was like a courtyard. And there were dozens of rooms, and most of them were closed. After getting out of the door, a beautiful white dome could be seen, Upon the right side of the courtyard with golden workmanship, two more were standing both of the sides, but one third in size and made of the granite, little less attractive than the middle ones. Red bricks had been used for the rest of the complex. Sidharth and Rajveer started to walk left on the path and after reaching the corner they turned right and then after walking some steps there was a room with a wooden door and upon the door "archaeological museum" was written with golden painted metal. They entered the museum. They were here for there for inspection only but they were already having a pang of guilt like they were doing something wrong and anytime they would get caught. Although they had come here many times for outing, but this time, Nervousness could be easily seen on their faces. After entering in the hall there were many showcases with the wooden base, attached with the walls. There were many ancient artefacts displayed like relics of statues, crafted pillars, bowls and dishes, handmade clay toys and many other types of crockery from 1st to 3rd century A.D. when Sidharth and Rajveer were crossing in front of the toys section, they had almost crossed it when suddenly Sidharth sheered back. His hands were on the glass now and he was gazing open-mouthed at a small toy, placed in the middle. ‘this is it.' he almost yelled but then he controlled himself. He gestured Rajveer to have a look, Rajveer tried to look for what Sidharth is asking him to see. ‘what' he asked. Sidharth put his finger on the glass pointing on a small thing which was hardly looking like a key. It seemed, archaeologist misunderstood the key as a toy, it was made of bonze but it was kept in the clay toys section. ‘this is what I' Sidharth muttered ‘saw in the vision.' Rajveer gazed at it for a minute ‘okay…' he exhaled, then he slapped his friend on his shoulder, grinned and said ‘you know what this means Sidharth' ‘what' Sidharth gestured. ‘it is the proof that everything you had seen till now, really exist' Rajveer said ‘and if the key is here that means the temple also must be here'. Sidharth and Rajveer both were looking very excited now. Their feet were not touching the ground, so far everything they were doing was just imaginary, they didn't even know whatever Sidharth was seeing in his visions whether it was true or just his imagination, but now they knew it that they were going in the right direction. ‘so, what next' Sidharth asked. Rajveer thought for a second while interlocking his arms and squinting at the roof corners of the hall. ‘C.C. TVs' Rajveer said ‘whatever we will do but we have to be careful, but this is the later thing, for now, let's have a look outside' Sidharth nodded and they walked out of there but Sidharth's mind was still there. while they were leaving from the place he was frequently looking back at the key. If he could, he would have stolen it right away. Now they were heading to the north-west for the archaeological sites to check the ancient well but that was not so easy. It takes almost half an hour to find the right way to the mound. There were dozens of stairs and corridors going up and down like a maze, Half of them were closed with iron bars in the end. While they were finding the way, Rajveer was a bit anxious. Whenever Sidharth cracks a joke or asks something from Rajveer, he was answering just in one or two words like yah, right, hmm etc. or just a smile. It was clear that he was thinking about something. Soon Sidharth realized that too and they both stayed quiet for the rest of the way. Rajveer was thinking about his girlfriend all the way long. "Pakhi" the only person in his life who never lost faith in him. she always encouraged him, helped him whenever Rajveer needed. In this five year of the relationship, Rajveer spent three years trying so many things to be financially settled but nothing had worked. He tried as hard as he could but maybe luck was not in his favour. Rajveer had tried singing, tattoo making, YouTube, army, police, martial arts, going abroad for study but nothing worked, though he had performed very well in every field, but the real obstruct was his financial situation which was not allowing him to succeed. Every time he works hard to do something, bad things happened and he had to start up with a new thing. ‘I am about 20 years old' he thought ‘I have to do something soon if I not wanted to lose her. More two or three years and her parents shall get her married' yet Rajveer know that Pakhi will wait for him as long as it takes but he Rajveer had a commitment with himself that he will never marry anyone until he would become capable of keeping his future wife and children happy because his own life was ruined because his father's failure. He doesn't want to be the same person his mom always blamed for her condition which was true to a great extent. he doesn't want to ruin Pakhi's life as well. But that did not mean he hated his father. Rajveer still loves his father. His father was just like him, nice and decent and talented. Whenever Rajveer met any of his dad's friends they always used to say about his father that he is the nicest person they ever met and Rajveer feels the same way. His dad was always nice and sportive to him but His mom always curses Rajveer about being like his dad because His father didn't stick to any work his whole life which was the greatest cause of his failure. Sometimes even Rajveer started to think the same because whatever was the reason luck, bad luck but the truth was that he had also not succeeded in any work till now. On this quest, Rajveer was hoping for some good for his future too. He was hoping somehow finding the temple would prove to be good for all of them although he didn't know how. When they reached there the whole site was covered with spiky railings, long up to the waist. They had to jump over it which was not hard for Rajveer, within the seconds he was standing 6 feet down from Sidharth. the place was lower than the rest of the mound. Sidharth saw his friend and jumped after crossing the railing. Rajveer helped him to get up when Sidharth hands touched the ground after the jump. It was a ruin. Only relics of rooms which were ever used to be there. The place was square in shape and the walls all around were somewhere higher than others according to the shape of the mound. that time they were standing facing south and at some distance, the well could be seen easily at the end of the site. They both advanced toward the well. When they reached there, they both exchanged an excited look. The well was really different than normal ones. it was like a big "D" and on one side was a dais, maybe for a water lifting mechanism. Rajveer looked inside, and he found that the well was deep. The bottom was about 15 feet deep and it was huge in size. If wanted, 5 persons can easily climb down in that. ‘okay, we should bring' Rajveer said ‘a rope when we would come next time' ‘there is a lot' Sidharth replied ‘to plan' ‘yeah right, we have to visit here again when Aditya will come back' ‘call him, man, where is he?' Sidharth frowned. Rajveer called Aditya but he didn't pick up. Till now it was 4:30 and the place was going to be closed after half an hour. They checked the time and they rushed to their homes.