Chapter 13: Saarya’s choice, part 3
"Hello?!" she yelled "Hello? Mom?"
"Don't you have one of those inter-realm phones?" asked the demon
"They are expensive, so only my parents have it because of work" said Saarya, adjusting herself to be comfortable inside the demon's grip
"Hmm, I like things to be in my favor" said the demon
They finally reached a dark cave, carefully hidden amongst the clever pattern of the hills. He set her down and Saarya's mouth fell open staring at the roof of the cave, it extended till infinity!
She got up and looked around, the demon had made a comfortable lifestyle for himself
"Why did you bring me here? How am I useful to you?" asked Saarya
"First, come here" he picked her up and bound her in chains
"I tested your wit and strength" he said "You will vanish before my eyes"
Saarya felt strangely proud being 'praised' by a demon
"But..but" began Saarya but her head swirled like a merry-go-round "Why?" she blurted with wobbly speech
"You have the power I need to renew my energy, strangely only you possess such high amounts of it" said the demon gathering strange items
With shooting head pains, Saarya tried to shake off the dizziness
"What..is happening?" she asked
"Ohh" the demon snickered "It is very potent I see"
"What is it?" yelled Saarya
"Terrazine" said the demon "Your chains. But don't worry it won't kill you, I need you alive for this"
Meanwhile the news of Saarya's abduction created chaos among the Deys
"LET'S GO!!" yelled Saarya's mom "I will kill that demon with my hands, how dare he?"
"We will go mom but where?" said her brother "Nobody knows where he took her"
Saarya's dad was on the phone trying to get the location of the demon from the other realms
Moyo awkwardly sat there, feeling guilty if he decides to leave and useless if he decides to stay
Something else added to the chaos. Someone started banging their door. All of them rushed to see
"Are you Saarya Dey's family?" asked a man
"Yes!" the three of them yelled in unison along with a "Not me" from Moyo for which he got quick glares
"I am Jay. Saarya's….umm friend" said the man who turned out to be Jay "I know where that demon took her"
"Where?" they yelled
They all sat down and Jay explained them the location
"We cannot go there on foot or by vehicle" he said
"By the time the authorities reach there, it might be too late. We have to go now" said San
"But how?" they all wondered it out loud but another knock made them rush
"Tae?" the three of them said in unison
"Don't worry Mrs. Dey, Mr. Dey and San. I will bring back Saarya" said Tae panting
"Did you run?" asked San
"Yeah, the tire punctured so I had to run" he said gasping for air
So they gave him water and the new party sat down together
"Are you sure of this location?" he asked Jay, almost in a threatening tone
"Yes, my friend sent me this video. See!" said Jay "And I mapped out the exact the route and location"
Tae was already weary of Jay, something within him knew that he can't trust this guy. He had already planned to beat the living daylights out of him
"The only question is how?" San reminded them again
"May I say something?" said Moyo "I have a plane"
All of them stared at him for a few seconds
"Then let's go!" Tae got up
"But it is my own design, it is a prototype" said Moyo hesitant
"A prototype plane...no!" began Saarya's dad
"Let's go!" said Saarya's mom. She had already packed all essentials and was ready in all gear she could find
"All of us can't go" Saarya's dad tried to argue
"Ok then you stay here" said her mom and was already opening the front door. The rest of them nodded at him and took off
"Wait!" he yelled and followed them
The oddly-shaped plane finally took flight barely fitting all of them inside
"Why is the plane-shaped like this?" asked Tae
"I am trying this design so the plane uses less energy. Also it has wind turbines at the back, so hopefully our journey will be green" said Moyo
The realm gates opened and the plane flew through with a lot of turbulence! It is always be chaotic to jump realms but Moyo was an expert, he easily stabilized it
"We are here!" said Jay "Land the plane far away from the cave" he said
"No!" said Tae "Wait" he picked up the binoculars
"The cave has a large opening" Tae noted
"Is it possible to fly the plane inside the cave? The opening is huge" said Tae
"What if Saarya gets hurt?" asked her dad
"The demon wouldn't let her sit near the entrance" said Tae
"Let's go, I think the plane can get in" said Moyo
The plane swooped down and carefully flew in between the large rocky mountains. Moyo was highly skilled, he smoothly passed through the entrance
The party cheered and sighed with relief
"Land it here" said Tae
In a few minutes Tae was already out. He stuck his finger to his lips signaling the rest of them to be very silent. Carefully placing one foot after the other they could finally hear some voices
"So everything is ready for you Miss Saarya" said the demon delighted
"Can I have something to eat before you end me?" asked Saarya, still weak
The demon groaned "What do you want? I have caterpillar fries, critter crinks, moss candy, yellow-eyed…"
Before Saarya could puke listening to all this she yelled "Chocolate! Do you have chocolate?"
The demon sighed, he picked up his phone and smiled ominously after hanging up. In less that 2 minutes a small packet with the chocolate arrived. The delivery guy was taken aback seeing all this commotion trying to fit into the entrance. Moyo took the packet from him and asked him to leave silently. He handed the packet to Tae
Tae carefully walked ahead
"Delivery!" he called
"I specifically said to leave it there!" the demon yelled
There was absolute silence
"I'd rather not!" said Tae
The demon looked up bewildered but before he could see Tae, a large arrow came swinging and got stuck in his eye
Tae quickly went over to Saarya and tried to undo her chains
"Careful. It's terrazine" she said weakly
Tae was worried seeing her condition, he tried to open the chains, pull them out but no use
"Tae look out!" yelled San and blocked the demon's attack on time. A large rock covered in terrazine!
"You gave me some wonderful ideas human-bugs" he said "You can either run away, or die here choice is yours"
Tae got up and attacked the demon, dodging the huge rocks he threw at him
"Stay away guys!" he told the others
Tae unleashed a full on attack on him, while the others tried to free Saarya
"What will work against terrazine?" asked Moyo
Saarya's mother was busy shuffling her bag to find something, she even tried a few things but they weren't powerful enough. They even hammered the chains which filled the demon with so much rage he almost threw Tae against wall
"I got it!" said San and sprinted across the cave, searching was the demon's phone
"Got it" he said and called
"Help guys!" yelled Tae barely hanging onto the demon's back who was trying to shake him off, very violently
"Open my bag!" he yelled oscillating at the full speed
The bag was filled with the largest raw blue lace agates Tae could find
"What to do?" asked Jay
"Wait for my signal" said Tae
The demon finally got hold of Tae and threw him across the cave
"Tae!" yelled Saarya. Tae landed just beside her and smiled weakly
"Don't worry" he whispered "I think nothing is broken" struggling to get up, he limped ahead
"Give up already!" the demon yelled "Wait, let me just sit on all of you!"
The demon had a weird idea and he was going to implement it! But at the same time something strange happened
"Delivery!" called the delivery guy but this time he walked straight in
San ran ahead and took the packet from him. The delivery guy almost collapsed seeing all the chaos
"Quick! Inform the authorities and tell them to come here quick!" San said to him
"Dad help me with this" called San
"What's this?" asked Moyo
"Hydrochloric acid" said San "It is the only thing that works against terrazine"
"Be very very careful! Otherwise it could end up hurting Dee or us" warned San
His Dad and San carefully fished out the bottle and the dropper sent along with it
Slowly and carefully they poured the liquid, leaving out the wrists and viola! Saarya was free!
"No! You bug-eyed nimrods!" yelled the demon enraged. The triggered him deeply and his eyes glowed a brighter more dangerous red
"AHH!" he yelled and unleashed his fury at them
"Guys be ready!" yelled Tae
Quickly mounting his arrow he pointed it in a strange manner
"Now!" he yelled letting go of the arrow which surprisingly landed vertically in the demon's mouth, forcing it to be open
All of them began mounted the rocks on a catapult device Saarya's dad fished out on time. They pulled it back and shot it in the demon's mouth
All the blue lace agates went directly into his body
"What will happen now?" asked Moyo
"I have no idea. Either a demon bomb will burst or he will end up with the worst diarrhea of his life" said Tae running towards them
"RUN!" yelled Saarya alarmed at the strange glow emitting from the demon's mouth
All of them got inside the plane and Moyo flew it out on time, even before the authorities got there! They flew away from the mysterious cave and rocky mountains, beaten and tattered. None of them found out what happened to the demon
They safely got back home and the authorities got a huge scolding from Saarya's dad. Well, at least the department shaped up after this incident
Saarya slept for days after this incident, her energy had severely depleted. Tae was in the hospital for a few days, thankfully his agile body did not end up with fractures only bruises
One beautiful morning, there was a knock on the door
"Saarya there's someone here to see you" called her mum
Saarya hopped down the stairs and was surprised to see Tae smiling
"How are you?" she asked. They sat outside the house to talk
"Better now" said Tae and handed her a sunflower and box of chocolates
Saarya smiled brightly. She took a deep breath and held Tae's hand
"Thank you so much!" she said "Thank you so much for saving me"
Tae pressed her hand and stared at her shyly "I will do it again" he said
Saarya was shy and speechless not knowing how to react
"If you ever get in trouble, I will save you too" she said
"But will you do it only to repay the favor?" asked Tae
"Umm.." said Saarya thinking her next words because her mind suddenly went blank at this question
"Saarya?" called a voice
They both looked up, only to find Jay standing there
"Oh Jay" said Saarya in a deflated tone while Tae groaned
"I came to meet you" he said "Can we talk?"
Saarya glanced at both of them and before she could make a decision
"Saarya?" another voice called for her. Who is it now?
Saarya turned only to be surprised by Moyo
"Oh hi" she said. He walked closer a bit awkwardly
"Can we talk?" he asked her
Saarya stood in the midst of the Bermuda triangle, unable to escape. All three men stood around her for an answer.
But lo behold! Saarya wasn't lucky enough to escape the demon but Vikaya was lucky enough to escape this Bermua Triangle situation. Vik was suddenly dragged back to her own world
"Whew!" she sighed loudly with relief
"How was it?" teased Zar "How many times did your heart flutter?"
"Ugh!" groaned Vik "3 Men? You give me 3 men?!" she yelled and grabbed the Hhital
Zar Hhital broke into a laughter "Love love" he sang "I need love love ooh to ease my mind"
"So now the question is Miss Pekkasador" his tone changed to a mysterious and sly one
"Which potential suitor out of the three is best for Saarya Dey?" Zar asked
"Uhh…we don't use the word suitor anymore" said Saarya
"I know but the word boyfriend just wasn't enough for the depth of this situation" he said having a deep repulsion against the word 'boyfriend'
"Out of the three…hmm" Vik knew the answer right away but she thought about each guy
"Oh wait!" something struck her "Send me back!"
"What?" asked Zar wildly. Never in all these years of his existence and experience he ever expected this
"Why?" he asked
"Just send me back and see. You will get the answer to your 'riddle'" said Vik quoting air bunnies for the word 'riddle'
Zar sighed and snapped his fingers. In a second Vikaya landed back as Saarya and found herself surrounded by three men.
"I am sorry to do this but can we meet in the evening today?" she turned to Tae and asked
Tae sighed and nodded. He got up and left, giving a long glare to Jay. She walked upto Moyo
"I know you are here to meet me but can you please go meet San while I finish this up?" she asked Moyo
Moyo understood and left. Finally she came to Jay and stood in front of him rather devoid of emotion
"I was so worried about you!" he said holding her shoulders. He pulled her closer and hugged her
But unfortunately for him Saarya didn't hug him back. Her arms which would have instantly held him tight a few weeks ago just hung there without a single vibration or movement
"Now tell me.." he began and grabbed her hand but she instantly dodged his grip
"I want to ask you something Jay" she said gravely
"Yes?" nodded Jay
"First of all, thank you for being a part of my rescue plan. No one would have found me if you didn't come with the location" she said
"But now I want to talk about us" she took a deep breath in
"What about us?" asked Jay wishing to drop this question
"Do you want to be in a relationship with me or not?" it was no point in beating around the bush anymore
"Umm" Jay had no words. If she had asked this on a text he would have come up with something clever but now he has to face it
"I…I don't want to push myself into something….that you and I will regret later on" he said struggling to find words
Saarya sighed "I am regretting now. Good bye Jay"
She turned but Jay grabbed her hand "I don't want to lose you"
Saarya decided to ignore his clever, rose-colored words and decided to finally ditch those rose-colored glasses
"I fell in love with you Jay but you will never know it. Please don't make things difficult, we want different things and it's a shame I let this get carried on for so long even though I felt the discomfort of it. I regret not being there for me. I regret getting swayed by your shallow words and your fake feelings. Just go" she said and tears streamed down her eyes. Jay reached to wipe them but she dodged and left
She walked inside straight into her room and had a deep, cleansing cry. Her heart broke not because she lost love but because she let down the greatest love of all - herself
After a while she came out and went to San's room
"Can we talk?" she asked Moyo. They went to the balcony in her room
"I guess I know what you came to ask me but I am sorry to disappoint you" said Saarya
Moyo sighed "I guess I am late" he smiled sheepishly
She patted him on the shoulder and they parted amicably
Fishing out her phone she searched for Tae's contact and called him
"Hey…umm this is odd to ask but are you single?" she said embarrassed
Tae chuckled "Yes"
"Good because I just rejected someone for you" she said
"Who? Jay?" Tae asked urgently
"Jay is long gone but I was talking about Moyo" said Saarya
The two of them chatted happily for a long time while Vikaya left and went back to her own world
"Satisfied?" she asked Zar
"Yes but not quite" said Zar
Well their bickering will go on but you will read about it next time