Origin 7

Marcel remained on the floor, an epitome of emotions going through him. He started to crawl backward as the children stayed close to him, their eyes intently stayed close to the book inside the glass.

Suddenly the kids heard the echo of the basement doors from upstairs. They stayed down on the floor, the dust covering their faces and the light shining off their faces into different corners of the room.

Marcel stood up and balled his fists ready for a fight, it could have been Mr. Watson. Tough Mr. Watson wasn't that smart of a man to make this elaborate place. He couldn't have been.

Marcel felt his heart race as the echoing footsteps from the spiral staircase reverberated through the room, shaking the dust off the cobwebbed corners. He exchanged worried glances with the four other children standing beside him, all of whom he had only met moments before.

Their eyes darted around the room, searching for a place to hide, but there was nowhere to go. The only exit was the way they had come, and they had already tried that. The glass enclosure that held the glowing book in their hands seemed to offer little protection.

As the footsteps grew louder and closer, Marcel could feel a knot forming in his stomach. He wondered who it could be - someone coming to rescue them, or someone coming to take them away? The possibilities were endless, but none of them seemed particularly promising.

Suddenly, the footsteps stopped. The silence was even more terrifying than the noise had been. Marcel and the others held their breath, waiting for something to happen.

Mr. Watson descended the last few steps of the spiral staircase, and as he reached the bottom, he stopped abruptly. His eyes flickered over the faces of the children, and then he fixed his gaze on the glowing book that they held in their hands.

Marcel couldn't help but notice the look of dread that crossed Mr. Watson's face as he saw the book. It was as though he knew what it was and what it represented, and the thought filled Marcel with an even deeper sense of unease.

For several long moments, there was silence in the room. No one moved or spoke. The air was thick with tension, and Marcel could feel his heart beating faster in his chest.

Finally, Mr. Watson broke the silence. "You should not have come down here," he said in a low voice. "You do not understand the danger you are in. But since you are here, I suppose I have no choice but to explain."

--

Mr. Watson gestured for the children to follow him as he turned and started back up the spiral staircase. Marcel hesitated for a moment, looking back at the glowing book that they had been examining only moments before. But he knew that there was no choice but to follow.

As they ascended the stairs, Marcel couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. He had gone down the same staircase earlier, but it had felt different - eerie and ominous, with a sense of foreboding that had made his skin crawl. But now, as they climbed, the stairs felt normal - almost too normal, in fact.

Marcel couldn't put his finger on what was different, but he knew that something had changed. And the fact that he couldn't explain it made him even more afraid.

The children followed Mr. Watson into the small room and found themselves seated around a wooden table. Marcel's eyes were immediately drawn to the empty space on the tabletop where the glowing book had been. But that was not what worried him the most. He could not see the strange rune that had been engraved on the surface before.

As the children exchanged questioning looks, Mr. Watson's eyes flickered over them. "You are all in grave danger," he said in a low voice. "I cannot stress this enough. The book that you found contains knowledge that is forbidden, and there are those who would do anything to get their hands on it."

Marcel could feel the tension in the room growing with each passing second. He wanted to ask Mr. Watson more questions, but he could sense the anger that was brewing just beneath the surface. And so he, like the others, remained silent as Mr. Watson opened the red textbook and began to explain.

"I created that room ten years ago when a certain man came to me and asked me to keep the book safe and we both built this elaborate basement, with the goal to hide this book," Mr. Watson said his eyes gleaming as with remembering the past.

"The room downstairs was made with intricate design by a workgroup of elves, their old architecture could hide items with much comfort but it looks like they had broken through the invisibility defenses. Now all they need is a reason to come inside the house for the public, and the cross empire will have their hands on the book." Mr. Watson explained, his teeth jittering as he stayed close, talking to the children.

"That man had long died now," Mr. Watson continued. "I had become an elf savior because of him, I promised to keep children safe, and look where I am now," Mr. Watson said, his eyes teary and discontent.

The children tried to raise their hands or to call out a question but Mr. Watson cleared his throat, wiped his eyes, and leaned in towards the children, his voice barely above a whisper. "Ignore that but for now I cannot explain everything to you right now, but I will do my best to give you the basic information. As you may know, I have not told you the full history of the elven empire, other than its fall. But I think it's important for you to know about the five legendary artifacts that the last members of the royal family possessed."

Marcel leaned forward, his eyes wide with curiosity. The other children looked equally interested, and they all leaned in to listen as Mr. Watson spoke.

"The first artifact is the Lightning Sword," he continued. "It is said to have the power to control the weather and strike down enemies with lightning bolts, it is the pride of weapons from the old elf empire. The second is the Ring of Power, which grants the wearer immense strength and influence over others, the ring influenced the decisions of many, but the drawbacks were too much not even the king had used it during his lifetime. The third is the Book of Knowledge, which contains all the knowledge and secrets of the elven empire."

"The fourth artifact is the Orb of Creation, which is believed to have the power to create and manipulate matter. And the fifth... well, the fifth artifact is unknown. It was lost with the last members of the royal family."

The children looked at each other in amazement as Mr. Watson spoke. The idea of powerful artifacts with such incredible abilities was almost too much to believe. Marcel's mind raced with the possibilities of what he could do with such power.

"But why are they hunting for the artifacts?" one of the girls asked.

"Because they believe that whoever possesses them can rule the world, just like the elves did" Mr. Watson replied, his voice growing

"The book of knowledge had been held safe here for years, but now they are trying to upset the balance of the world by retaking it for themselves, ungrateful bastards," Mr. Watson said.

The kids were shaken since they had never seen Mr. Watson curse before, this event was serious, and the little ones had just realized the immense importance of keeping the book safe.

"The book is able to control any spell, any dormant knowledge, but the users, it varies, only a few in the world with immense innate systemo can control this book," Mr. Watson said, his eyes gleaming at Marcel.

"What does it have to do with the things downstairs," Marcel asked, still shaken from the incident.

"That is the book of knowledge," Mr. Watson said quietly.

The kids stayed still, sweat dripping from their heads, they looked at each other, knowing that the thing Marcel was about to touch, was an artifact of immense power.

"So that is why that man Dynasty came," Marcel said, all the pieces coming together.

"Yes, that's why, I had to lie and I'm sorry to show that, but we must get protection, currently outside we have robot guards under our control because tomorrow, the cross empire will raid this building and even now they have 24/7 surveillance of this home," Mr. Watson said, his fists in a ball as he held back the anger from his body.

Marcel's mind raced as he tried to process the gravity of the situation. They were in possession of an artifact that the Cross Empire was after, and they were planning to raid the building tomorrow. He knew they needed to act fast, but he had no idea what to do.

"What can we do to protect ourselves and the book?" Marcel asked, trying to keep his voice steady.

Mr. Watson looked at him with a serious expression. "We need to leave this place and head towards the continent of Lyca. That's where the rich life collided with politics, there is a secret escort and we can use it to go to a new colonizer planet, AB-70, and the Cross Empire wouldn't dare to hunt us down for at least five to ten years."

"How are we going to get there?" one of the girls asked, her voice trembling.

Mr. Watson rubbed his temples, deep in thought. "We can't risk being detected by their surveillance," he muttered. "We need a way to leave without being noticed."

"Can't we just disguise ourselves as robot guards or something?" the boy suggested.

Mr. Watson shook his head. "The guards are under our control, but if the Cross Empire gets wind of us trying to leave, they'll shut down the whole system. We need something foolproof."

Silence fell over the group as they all tried to come up with a plan. Marcel wracked his brain, trying to think of a way to get out undetected. Suddenly, an idea struck him.

"What about an invisibility spell?" he suggested. "If we could make ourselves invisible, we could sneak out without anyone seeing us."

Mr. Watson shook his head. "The Cross Empire has a detection system for magic, they'll catch us before we even leave the house."

Marcel's heart sank. They were running out of options, and fast.

As Mr. Watson's beer gut feel back with him as he leaned into the chair he suddenly noticed the restraints off Marcels arms.

"Marcel, where are your restraints," Mr. Watson asked, his body scared and shaking.

"They melted away when I stepped on a rune," Marcel said, unnerved by the whole thing.

"Marcel, what rune are you talking about," Mr. Watson said, standing up his voice raised.

"What are you talking about, you put it there, a blue shiny rune, it went through me and melted away my restraints," Marcel said, gulping.

'MARCEL DID YOU TAKE OFF THE RESTRAINTS!" Mr. Watson screamed out, Marcel started to sink back into his seat.

"Marcel whatever you did tell me the truth, because of this, they have a correct use to not raid the house tomorrow but today," Mr. Watson said.

Suddenly a crash noise was heard upstairs from the basement and mumbling noises walked around upstairs.

"Are we going to die," the youngest boy started to say in a panic, his hands grabbing onto his hand.

Marcel suddenly fell to the floor, he had done nothing, now he was panicking, were they really gonna die now? The noises upstairs were slowly increasing towards the basement room.

Suddenly a knock was heard on the basement door and a familiar voice was heard.

"I am back," Dynasty said, chuckling as he said it.

Mr. Watson laid back in his chair, hands covering his face, Marcel sat down and was unmoving on the floor and the children cried silent tears.

"They're going to find it huh," Mr. Watson said.

Suddenly a memory opened up in Mr. Watson's head, a middle-aged man handing a pouch to Mr. Watson, and a tracking device with which he could track somebody with.

Mr. Watson suddenly had an idea. He turned and started walking down the spiral staircase, motioning for the children to follow. He pointed at Marcel to follow him first.

"Where are we going?" one of the girls asked her voice that of a whimper.

"To the basement," Mr. Watson said. "I think I might have something that could help us escape undetected."

The group followed Mr. Watson down the stairs, their footsteps echoing in the silence. Marcel's heart was pounding in his chest as they made their way to the basement.

As the group reached the basement, Mr. Watson pointed at the enclosed glass cage for the book of knowledge.

"Marcel I know how we can escape, you've always wanted to use systemo right?" Mr. Watson asked.

The basement door was struck open by force and a loud thud was heard upstairs Mr. Watson looked back at Marcel.

'WHY ARE YOU ASKING ME THIS NOW!" Marcel screamed.

"I am saying this because you and this book, are our ticket out of here," Mr. Watson said, leaning back as he waited for a stunned Marcel to understand.