Welcome back to Standing the Test of Time! If you’re new to this, I personally recommend reading the previous chapters in order to fully understand what’s going on so far. If you want a brief recap, here’s how it goes: The Vidić family went on vacation that ended with an urgent phone call from the Ramaswamis. Not long afterwards, Ana and Jelena became teens, causing Vlastimir to ponder about the future of his legacy. Finally, the girls and their friends were invited to a “party” by a certain “friend”, but they all got knocked out cold in the end.

With that said, let’s continue, shall we?

It had been six hours since Ana and Jelena left home, yet there was still no sign of them despite their assurance that they’ll be back three hours ago. Selena had been peering into the mirror for about two hours or so, and her back felt sore as a result.

“Where are they?” she asked herself while trying to ignore her aching back.

“Honey,” said a voice coming from behind her.

She turned around to see her husband smiling.

“You’ve been staring at the mirror for so long now,” Vlastimir put his arms around her. “I think you need to take it easy.”

“But how am I supposed to take things easy in a situation like this?” she replied. “I haven’t felt this uneasy since you were away from the battle of the bands.”

“Look, I know that seeing the girls far away from us makes you feel uneasy, but please try not to get too stressed out about it.”

Deep down inside, Selena felt a suppressed feeling emerging within her. For years, she had kept a calm face at many times, even if they are contrary to her actual feelings given the situation. In fact, this habit has made her look meek in front of everyone despite her strong opinions on matters.

This time, however, she found it necessary to display her innate assertiveness, especially in times of crisis like this. She couldn’t bear to see her children gone missing and not do anything about it. Reminded by her determination to attract people to move to Verdant Cliffs, she found her chance to express herself once again.

“Have you ever felt what it feels like to be far away from the one you love, Vlastimir?!” she snapped. “Have you? Because that’s how I felt right after I graduated! I missed you and was wondering where have you been. Why won’t you tell me everything that happened to you?”

“Whoa! Calm down and take it easy! I just wanna cheer you up!”

“Calm down? Don’t you care about your own family? What if something bad has happened to the girls? I can’t just sit there and do nothing. I…”

“I don’t want to imagine how it felt like to be alone in the middle of the night again,” she finally broke down into a sob. “And nor do I want them to feel alone and in certain danger. After I graduated, I felt like I was missing something inside me despite the people I’ve worked with. Even though the people were nice, they couldn’t replace you in my heart.”

Unable to bear seeing his wife in tears, Vlastimir felt a sense of distress in him. He wondered whether or not he felt like a failure as a husband for caring so much about work that he didn’t bother asking his wife about her concerns.

“Hey,” he put his hand on her shoulder as she continued her sobs. “I’m sorry I haven’t told you about what happened to me after I graduated, but I don’t want to shock you with the details because I’m scared of losing you. I still thought of you during those times, but I never had the means to do so. I’ll tell you all about it at some point.”

However, she kept crying without a hint of comfort in her face.

“I know how you’re feeling about the girls, but crying isn’t going to make anything better. Maybe we should search around to get them back.”

After hearing those words, Selena slowed down until she finally stopped crying. Vlastimir grabbed her arms after watching her crying for so long.

“We can find them together, and things will be okay in the end.”

“B-b-but…” Selena spoke slowly as she wiped her tears from her eyes, “What if they’re in danger?”

“Don’t be scared. I can handle this.”

“I can’t bear to see them in danger; it’s just too much for me to handle.”

“Selena, no matter what happens, I will always be at your side. This is the time when we must take courage and face the danger together. We are not letting our daughters get in danger any longer, and to do that, we must face the danger itself. I understand your concerns, but our daughters’ lives are in our hands. Let’s go, shall we?”

After Vlastimir finished talking, Selena immediately hugged him. He smiled and hugged her back.

“We’ll work together to bring the girls back,” he said. “I’m sure this will succeed.”

“It better be.”

Their embrace was interrupted by knocking coming from the first floor. They walked out of their room to find out who was at the front door, wondering who would visit them in the middle of the night.

Opening the front door revealed a couple of unexpected guests in front of the house.

“Hello, guys.”

Surprised to see his friends whom he haven’t seen in a while, Vlastimir asked, “Sanjay, Priya, why are you two here?”

“Same reason why you might be preparing to go out, I think.”

“How do you guys know?” asked a confused Selena.

“Because…”

“…our own kids are in danger.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Uuuggghhh… Wh-what happened in here?”

“Where am I?” Jelena stood up and looked around after rubbing her eyes. After looking around her surroundings, she found herself in a small room. No doubt that she was no longer at the house, or so it seemed.

“Come on,” she tried to open the door, but to no avail. Someone or something must have locked her inside.

Mustering all the might she had, Jelena mustered all the strength she had and punched the door. She must find out what happened to her sister and friends and get back home before anything bad happens.

Punching the door, however, didn’t help either.

All of her efforts to escape have proven to be futile, and she cowered herself to a corner of the room. She couldn’t help but feel despair and shame for getting into this kind of trouble along with her sister and friends. After all, she felt that it was her responsibility to keep her sister and friends in check whenever they hang around so that they won’t get into further trouble. But with the current situation that she believed she could’ve prevented in the first place, she found that it was already too late.

She heard a few bangs from one of the walls, but she ignored it and pretend it didn’t exist out of fear that it was an illusion. That is, until she heard a very faint voice.

“Anyone?” said the voice. “Please let me out of here!”

However, Jelena didn’t respond while the banging continued.

“You can’t ignore me forever, whoever you are!” shouted the voice in the midst of the banging.

After hearing those words, Jelena finally stood up and faced the wall. “I’m trapped like you are.”

The banging stopped as soon as she finished her sentence, followed by a silent pause. It worked, didn’t it?

Then suddenly, the voice started talking again. “Let me guess; Jelena, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” replied Jelena.

“It’s me, Ana,” the voice replied louder than before. “I’m sorry for the way I talked to you just now, but I just wanna know whether or not you’re okay.”

“I’m fine, but what about Parvati and Mowgli?”

“They’re fine for now, aside from being held in rooms similar to ours.”

“What we need to do now is to make an escape plan to get all four of us out of here and tell everyone about this trap we’ve gotten ourselves into.”

“But how are we supposed to do that? Who knows if it’s well-guarded outside?”

From the other side of the wall, Ana let out a sigh. Sometimes, her sister could be too hesitant to go outside and enjoy life, and that bothered her. She knew that Jelena preferred to remain alone, but that hasn’t stopped Ana’s efforts to continually persuade her.

“This is the time for us to take action,” she said as loudly as she could. “I understand that there might be danger outside, but we can’t just leave our friends behind, let alone let the bad guys win while we do nothing. We’ll never get things done if we just sit around and wait for some outside force to fix everything.

“I know I have my own problems, especially with homework and such, which is why I have to ask mom, dad, or even you sometimes. This time, I’m here to help you in any way possible because I’m your sister, and I believe we can get out of here alive.”

After finishing her speech, Ana panted softly to catch her breath while hoping to get a response from her twin.

The silence was broken by the sound of coughing from the other side of the wall. No, both walls, the one in front and the one behind. Ana ran towards the door and banged it as hard as she could.

“Let me out of here, whoever you are!” she shouted.

It wasn’t long before she could smell an odd, yet familiar, smell around the room. She stopped banging the door and searched around the room for its source while holding her breath in order to stop herself from inhaling it.

All the searching, however, had proven to be in vain, and she succumbed to the gas.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So,” asked Vlastimir, “Any ideas to rescue our kids?”

“None that I could think of,” replied Sanjay. “We tried asking the cops for help, but they couldn’t find them anywhere.”

“I even flew around the area and asked my fellow witches from my coven to search where they might be, but no such luck as well,” added Priya. “We believe some sort of strange magic is behind this.”

“How can you be sure that there’s magic involved?” asked Selena. “There has to be some sort of logical explanation behind this, like a dense fog for instance.”

“I flew around and there was no fog. The only houses I could see are ours while the rest are public buildings. Trust me on that.”

“Well, have you and the cops checked those places?”

“We have, but as my husband has said, nothing at all. The park, the gym across the bridge, and even the graveyard and mausoleum have no trace of our kids.”

Selena felt her heart beating faster upon the mention of the recently-established graveyard and its mausoleum built for her family for generations. It kept giving her an uneasy feeling. When her real estate company was still struggling to finance the construction of more houses in Verdant Cliffs despite her success in other areas and the construction of a few public areas, like the gym and the park in the hopes that it would give people more incentive to move in.

The graveyard, on the other hand, wasn’t what came into her mind at first. When people said that they need a proper place to bury their dead, she initially tried to shrug it off. It didn’t work, which left her with no choice but to give in. What she didn’t expect was the construction of a mausoleum in the middle of the graveyard. While she wanted to leave to leave a legacy on the town, a mausoleum felt like a bit of a stretch then. She didn’t want to arrange her funeral that early.

Looking at the tense atmosphere in the dining room, Vlastimir saw an opportunity to lighten the mood up. A little chat shouldn’t hurt a while before they get back to business.

“I’m glad you’ve come to visit us,” he said to Sanjay. “We haven’t seen each other since my girls’ birthday party.”

“Honey, I don’t think that’s an appropriate thing to say at this moment,” admonished a fidgeted Selena, fearing that their guests would take offense at his words.

“It’s alright; I’m also trying to calm myself down from this tension,” assured Sanjay. He then turned to Vlastimir.

“Well, it also feels nice for me to visit you for once even for a situation like this. Been having a busy life lately with my job and more children to raise. Aside from Parvati, you’ve probably heard of Mowgli, but Priya and I have two more children as well; a nanny is currently at the house watching over them.”

“Well, that’s great news! I hope my family could meet them someday.”

“Yeah,” he responded, “Someday.”

“By the way,” interrupted Priya, “May I ask you whether or not you’ve chosen which daughter to succeed you? Sorry that it feels so abrupt for me to say this, but just in case something happens to your family after you.”

“I have, actually.”

“Well, that sounds great, but remember that your decision affects future generations to come, and the same goes for those after you.”

“Oh, please,” he rolled his eyes, “Spare me the lecture.”

“Alright, let’s get back to business,” interrupted Selena, tired of the chattering. “We need to split up and search the area to find where our kids are. Who knows if it’s somewhere else we haven’t found out about.”

“As I’ve said earlier,” said Priya, “There has to be magic involved, but this is no ordinary magic practiced by us warlocks and witches.”

“Then what is it?”

Priya took a deep breath, then sighed. “This kind of magic is an ancient one practiced by elves and their renegade kin the dark elves, I believe. It’s sometimes impossible to dispel it with my own magic, but only when the original caster calls it off at will or when the person doesn’t have a high level of skill. I could go into further detail, but that would mean endless blabber from me. Besides, as you’ve said earlier, we need to think of a way to find our kids.”

“Alright,” said Vlastimir. “So how about this: Sanjay and I will go to the hills in the north while you two can go to the east across the bridge. And in case any one of us discovers something or is in trouble, call the other group. How does that sound?”

“Sure,” replied Sanjay.

“I’m fine with that,” added Priya.

“Sounds good,” said Selena.

“So it’s settled, then. Each person brings a flashlight to look around the area just in case we get lost. We’ll meet in the Ramaswami house once we have our kids back with us.”

Selena looked at her husband and smiled. Words can’t express how lucky she is to have such a decisive man for a husband. With the plan in motion, she had faith that the kids will be brought back safely.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vlastimir and Sanjay tightly held their flashlights as they ventured into the hills to the north in the dark of the night. It was a deserted place, with only trees growing on the slopes and nothing else besides grass on the flat areas. Selena would see it as a place for potential future development.

“You know,” said Sanjay as they kept walking, “I suspect that the Jarring Jackals are behind this.”

“What makes you think of that?”

“Remember the fire that burnt down my old house and the Swaggy Sari back in SimCity? It felt like they were reminding me of the threat they still pose, and who knows if they followed us here?”

“Sanjay, this place is practically located in the middle of nowhere,” said Vlastimir. “I’ve only faced one burglary, and the cops quickly caught the culprit, so no harm done in the end.”

However, Sanjay didn’t reply, but stopped at his tracks. Confused by his friend, Vlastimir turned to him.

“Ummm… Sanjay?” he asked his friend.

He didn’t say a word, though he nudged him a bit. Vlastimir turned around to see what his friend saw. Like Sanjay, he couldn’t help but stare at what he had seen.

In front of them was a house flanked by two owl statues in front. Vlastimir flinched and gulped at the sight of them. Could this be the place Ana and Jelena were? If so, that would mean they were more than just in trouble.

Sanjay noticed him and gave a confused look. “Are you alright?”

Upon hearing those words, Vlastimir looked at his friend, then he turned to the house again. Feeling confidence rising in him once again, he walked towards the house, hoping to find the kids in there.

“Should we tell our wives about this?” he asked.

“They can wait.”

With their flashlights turned off and tucked into their pockets, Vlastimir opened the door without ringing the bell as Sanjay followed him. Oddly enough, the living room contained no traces of a party as mentioned by Ana. Perhaps they were tricked into believing it.

“Looks like someone had a fun time here,” said Vlasitimir.

“Not my idea of fun, though,” replied Sanjay, even if the scene didn’t convince him.

Before they could go further, there was moaning coming to their direction, followed by something that stopped the two men in their tracks.

Two gray-skinned figures shambled their way into the room as they moaned unintelligibly. However, these weren’t just anyone in general.

“Manny? Moe?” a puzzled Sanjay looked at his enemies whom they defeated at the battle of the bands years ago. If seeing them again was shocking enough, then seeing them in this conditions.

Instead of replying, the two men kept shambling towards them with angry faces and arms that seemed poised to reach out to them.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” asked Vlastimir, preparing his fists against the figures.

“Yup,” replied Sanjay, replicating his friend’s pose. “Let’s start, shall we?”

“Yeah.”

Selena felt her heart beating rapidly as she entered the main building of Steel Abs Gym and Pool. As one of the newly-constructed buildings in the area, the gym was supposed to be a source of pride and a step forward to attracting people to settle in the area. It boasted high-quality exercise equipment, a large swimming pool, and hot tubs, enough to attract visitors far and wide.

However, she felt neither satisfaction nor excitement. Instead, she could only feel the fear of seeing her own daughters in more than just deep trouble or worse, her husband in a similar situation. The only source of comfort she had at the moment was Priya accompanying her during their search, and she highly appreciated it even if it wasn’t much.

On her way to the stairs, she heard Priya calling her name from outside. Anxious to see what was going on, she turned around and ran outside. It better mean that the kids are found or something.

Once outside, she saw Priya standing near the fountain talking on the phone.

“Are you sure about this, honey?” she asked.

“Why would I lie?” replied Sanjay from the house while Vlastimir crouched towards Manny and Moe lying unconscious on the floor. “You two should call the cops and then come here with us.”

“And tell Selena that I say hi.”

“Alright, we’ll be there in no time,” Priya giggled before she hung up.

“What did they say?” Selena approached her.

“We have to call the cops and then go to the hills north of here to meet our husbands,” answered Priya.

“But what about our kids?”

“Don’t worry. I’m sure we’ll find them soon enough. By the way, your husband said hi to you.”

Selena smiled. She knew Vlastimir will never forget her.

“What should we do about them?” Vlastimir stood up after examining Manny and Moe. “I’ve searched them carefully for anything about our kids but nothing so far.”

“Let’s just leave them here as we look around,” said Sanjay.

Before they could go back to searching around, the entire house went dark in the blink of an eye. The two men grabbed their flashlights as they walked around the house. Unless this was a power outage, someone probably knew they were here and were determined to stop them at all costs.

Vlastimir took a deep breath and sighed as he walked to the stairs. The darkness and silence was making him sleepy, but the thought of his daughters kept him awake lest things get worse. Better not let the bad guys win on this one.

Before he could reach the stairs, he heard a loud bang from behind. When he turned around, all he could do was to try contain the shock rising in him.

He walked towards Sanjay lying on the floor with his flashlight still in his hand. From the looks of it, he got knocked out from behind.

How strange, thought Vlastimir. Could this be…

Before he could finish his thoughts, a powerful bang struck him on the head, getting rid of any chances to get up, let alone turn around to see who did it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Uuurrrnnnggghhh… Wh-Wh-Where am I? And wh-wh-who are you?”

“It doesn’t matter where you are nor who I am,” the boy said. “What really matters is that you, your daughters and friends are as good as dead.”

After listening to the boy’s words, Vlastimir slowly shook his head to regain his consciousness. He tried moving his hands and legs, only to realize he couldn’t move them at all. He heard the voices of his daughters, Sanjay, and Sanjay’s children as they also tried to move their arms and legs, but to no avail.

“Andy, you fiend!” shouted Mowgli. “I thought you’re my friend.”

“Well, was,” the boy snickered as he walked towards Mowgli. “Now you’re just a fly that got caught in my web.”

“How dare you do this to us! What is it that you want?”

“Well, it’s not all of you that I’m specifically after. In fact, you and your family are of no use to me.”

He walked towards Vlastimir and the girls with both eyes staring at them.

“You three, on the other hand,” he said, “Happen to have some important connections with my boss, and he wants you dead.”

“Dead? Us? What have we done to you?” cried Jelena, with anger rising in her voice.

“You two are nothing but psychos!” added Ana.

“Stay away from my daughters, you scoundrel!” shouted Vlastimir, feeling fury for the first time since the battle of the bands. “Or I’ll beat you to a pulp!”

“Oh, don’t worry,” sniffed Andy. “Because I’m taking everyone down at the same time.”

“You may have survived our threats to silence you to submission, defeated our best infiltrators in a musical showdown, found out this place when I accidentally turned it off momentarily, and knocked them down as zombies just now! Well, at least that fire my fellow Jackals and I caused years ago brought some of you here to make our bite more exciting. And it’s a good thing that as a dark elf, I bet my magic is impervious to any witchcraft I know would come soon.”

Andy snapped his fingers and walked towards the stairs as flames appeared on the floor and spread around like a ring.

“Now you’ll know how it feels like to feel our bite,” he smiled while suppressing the urge to laugh.

All six hostages helplessly looked on as the fire slowly spread inwards to their direction. With hands and legs tied to their chairs, there was no way they could get out of their imminent deaths. Only the anger they felt by seeing their captor freely walking away from them felt hotter and more unbearable to see.

Andy beamed in satisfaction as he walked downstairs. Confident that the entire area was tightly secured so as to prevent anyone from trying to infiltrate the house, he couldn’t wait to celebrate his achievements once he came back. Seeing the flames slowly incinerate them to ashes was fun enough for him, but he won’t let himself be distracted too much. Besides, he couldn’t wait to tell the news to his boss and imagine his expression upon hearing it.

Once he reached the living room, his phone rang.

“Hello?” he picked it up, hoping that it came from his boss.

“Andrija,” replied a harsh, rasping sound from the other line, “Have you taken care of them yet?”

“I have. In fact, they’re slowly being roasted upstairs,” he beamed, hoping for his boss to congratulate him. He could imagine his boss smiling at him upon hearing the news. Now all he had to do was to wait for his boss to congratulate him.

“Dying?” a shout from the other line suddenly interrupted Andy’s thoughts. The tone of voice wasn’t what anyone would consider ecstatic, but far from it. Andy’s excitement faded away and with it his hopes for praise. “That is not enough! I want them dead now, and dying does not mean the same thing!”

“Oh, come on, boss! I can assure you they’ll be dead in no time!” he cried. He tightened his grip on his phone as he found himself hating his boss more than ever. As if his refusal to acknowledge him wasn’t enough, his dissatisfaction of his accomplishments diminished any little respect he had for that man.

Andy remembered the first time he first worked for his boss. He already heard so many negative things about him from other people, but for the most part he shrugged them off until the first few months after he started working for him. Not only were the tasks given to him hard to achieve, but the time limits for them were unreasonably short, and the punishment for failing to fulfill them in time was death. Even worse, anyone who asked for longer time limits was killed as well.

“You always said that you will get them as soon as possible, but all I got was nothing!”

“Alright, alright,” assured Andy, frustrated at his boss’ demanding attitude. “This time, I’m not lying that they’ll be dead in no time, so sit back and relax. Once they’re dead, I’ll tell you about it.”

“By the way, unless you want to risk blowing your cover, make sure you hide those pylons I gave to you whenever you deactivate them.”

Andy gulped. The owl pylons he placed in front of his house were given to him by his boss to conceal his house so nobody, not even the strongest form of witchcraft humans can master, can dispel. And he had forgotten them for all this time. Yet the fact that the teens went inside despite the presence of those pylons meant a stroke of luck in his part.

“I know, I know,”

“Very well, then,” replied his boss. “But should it fail, you know what will come after you. Let’s bite!”

Andy said nothing, not even the slogan for the Jarring Jackals his boss just said, knowing that only his human minions would reply in turn while dark elves like him wouldn’t care. Instead, he waited for the other line to hang up. When all he could hear was a long beeping sound, he promptly hung up his phone.

With the phone conversation done, Andy closed his eyes and let out a deep breath. A surge of tension mounted on him as he tried to suppress them. The demands of his boss were more than enough to stress him out while having to blend in with the humans was more than enough. Perhaps something soothing will relieve him of his stress for a while. Besides, he was certain the fire won’t spread to the first floor in any second, for he was told that there was a layer of concrete beneath the wooden floor that should be more fireproof than the wood.

Upstairs, the fire showed no signs of dying down as it moved closer to the hostages. The combination of the searing heat and suffocating smoke brought death closer to their very lives.

“What should we do?” asked Jelena.

“I don’t know,” replied Ana. “If only we could move our arms, hands, or legs. This is getting out of hand already!”

“Just stay calm, girls,” interjected Vlastimir. “I know you’re scared, but so am I. I’ll try getting you out of here even if I have to die.”

“Appa, I’m scared,” said Parvati, diverting her eyes from the flames.

“Me too,” added Mowgli.

“Don’t worry, kids,” assured Sanjay. “Rest assured that help will arrive as soon as possible.”

“This is hopeless,” said Vlastimir. “If they haven’t come yet, all of us will die and whatever legacy I’m supposed to leave behind will die out.”

“Yeah, but why did he have to eliminate my family alongside yours?” Sanjay responded despite sitting behind his friend.

“I don’t know, but I can’t bear to see any of you dead. And if we die today, I hope what I’ve done won’t be in vain.”

“Not tonight,” interrupted a familiar voice, catching everyone’s attention.

Much to the surprise of the kids and the relief of their fathers, Priya teleported to a relatively safe area on the floor.

“Hang in there.” she aimed her wand at the fire and waved it. “Exflammo!”

Within seconds, all the flames were extinguished, giving Priya time to untie all six hostages.

“Amma!” Parvati and Mowgli rushed to hug their mother.

“Oh, sweetie,” she replied, “I’m so glad you’re all okay.”

“Dad,” cried Ana and Jelena as they hugged Vlastimir.

“I thought I’ll lost you girls,” Vlastimir smiled as he hugged his daughters.

“Thanks for saving us,” Jelena walked towards Priya. “We would’ve died in that fire if it weren’t for you.”

“You’re welcome, dear,” she replied.

“But I have a question; I remember that guy saying that he’s a dark elf and his magic is said to be stronger than a witch’s or warlock’s. If so, how come you managed to put out the fire?”

“Well, I guess he overestimated himself that he didn’t notice that weaker kinds of dark elf magic can still be subdued by a witch like me,” answered Priya.

“I’m deeply indebted to you, Priya,” Vlastimir walked towards the witch. “By the way, where’s Selena?”

“She’s in my house taking care of my younger kids,” she replied. “I don’t completely trust the nanny to do the babysitting for me.”

“Ahem!” interrupted Mowgli. “Will the cops come?”

“Of course,” replied his mother.

“But what if he’s still around?” said Parvati. “He’ll eliminate them.”

“I’ll check to see if he’s still there, and then we’ll sneak out.”

Mowgli walked down the stairs and into the living room as quietly as possible to check any signs of Andy. He was nowhere to be seen, and the entire room was cleared from any party decorations he saw earlier. He also checked the kitchen and dining room just in case he could be there too.

“Did you see anything down there?” asked Parvati, trying to keep her voice not too loud in case it alerts their captor.

“Nothing,” said Mowgli. “Could be a trap, though. But other than that, let’s go before he shows up.”

Everyone else walked downstairs as quietly as possible and followed Mowgli’s lead.

“Alright,” Mowgli whispered to himself. “Let’s get this over with before…”

“Going somewhere, my friends?” a voice interrupted him and the others.

They turned around to see Andy standing in front of a door in a corner of the room.

“You termites think you can get away from me?” Andy stared at them.

“We just broke free from your little show,” Mowgli shouted, “And I believe we can escape from your clutches even if it means fighting you in the process.”

“We’ll show you what we got,” added Parvati.

“So you think you can fight me, eh?” said Andy. “Well…”

“…think again.”

“Holy crap!” Parvati shouted as fire appeared out of nowhere. “What did he just do?”

“Darn it!” Priya lowered her head in disbelief. “I should’ve brought enough reagents for two fires instead of just one. If only I could teleport all of us out of here, that would be great.”

They tried going to the second floor, but it was engulfed in flames, leaving the small hallway down the stairs the only place with no fire, and it was slowly spreading to them.

Vlastimir and Sanjay in front of one of the windows and punched it as hard as possible while Priya and the kids watched. Everyone watched in delight as the window shattered in front of their eyes. With a clear opening in front of them, they could finally escape from the burning building and make their way to the Ramaswami house to meet with Selena and the younger Ramaswami kids.

With only one flashlight to guide their way, the journey to the house was slightly harder than expected. The fall wind had gotten stronger as of late, causing them to shiver without any winter clothing to maintain body warmth. Nevertheless, the hope of reuniting with Selena and the younger kids prevented their hopes from diminishing. Besides, they couldn’t wait to tell the news to everyone in town.

As they kept walking, they saw a faint light shining from the distance. They kept walking towards its direction until it turned out to be a white house.

“About time,” Parvati smiled. For a moment, she thought she won’t be going back home alive.

At the front door, Selena and the two younger children beamed as they moved towards their respective families to embrace them. Seeing them all alive and well was a miracle for them.

“Thank goodness you’re alright,” Selena hugged her husband and daughters. “For a moment, I thought I would never see you again.”

“Mom!” cried the girls. Seeing their mother comforted them. For a moment, they thought they wouldn’t see her again.

“I told you we would come back,” Vlastimir said.

“Amma! Appa! Guys!” Apu and Padma hugged their parents and older siblings.

“Oh, sweetie,” Priya said.

“Told you we’ll come back as soon as possible,” added Parvati.

“Thanks for rescuing my babies,” Selena turned towards Priya. “Without you, we wouldn’t be together again.”

“No problem,” Priya replied. “And thanks for taking care of the younger kids for me.”

Selena didn’t replay, but smiled instead.

Sanjay smiled as he faced his friend.

“I just want to say, thank you for helping me rescue my kids,” he said, “And I’m glad to be able to help you rescue yours at the same time.”

“Hey, no worries,” Vlastimir smiled.

“By the way, can we talk some other time? It’s been a long time.”

“Sure. Either on the phone or in person, it doesn’t matter.”

“Sounds good.”

Ana walked towards Mowgli with a slightly stern look on her face.

“Promise me you’ll never bring everyone else into a mess like this again, OK?” she warned.

“Alright,” Mowgli retorted. “I learned my lesson.”

“Come here, you,” Ana’s frown curled into a smile as she caressed her boyfriend while he chuckled.

“Anyway,” Vlastimir turned towards the Ramaswamis. “It’s getting pretty late, and we best get home by now.”

“Yeah,” Priya replied. “It sure is quite a day, and I better tuck kids to bed.”

“Amma!” Parvati groaned.

Priya chuckled.

“Alright, I’ll see you guys later,” the Vidićes waved their friends goodbye as they prepared to go home. Amidst the darkness of the night and the cold breeze, they imagined the comforts of light and warmth waiting for them.

Phew! That pretty much covered up what I’ve planned for this chapter. That felt like an achievement despite my procrastination.

Before I go, I also have something else to say before I close this chapter.

Since the Ramaswamis play a highly integral part in the legacy, I’ve decided to do an interlude focusing on them before I could get another proper chapter out. After all, I’m playing them along with my legacy family ever since Vlastimir set foot on Verdant Cliffs.

Stay tuned for it!