“Why did you come here?” asked Tirian.
“One day, while I was watching the morning news, it said an archaeologist disappeared under
an old Saxaul tree. I was fascinated, so I started my trip with my family. It was the same Saxaul
tree which led us here,” Franklin answered.
“Oh! So I was on TV?”
“Yes, of course!”
The two chatted like good old friends while the others were sleeping soundly. Tirian fished out
a small piece of stone from his ruck sack. It was blue like sapphire but extremely heavy. He got
out a bottle of white powder and sprayed them over the stone. Carvings in ancient Egyptian were
vaguely seen.
“After analyzing the carvings in detail, I am sure they were carved during the Cretaceous
period when human beings did not exist,” Tirian was astonished.
“What do the carvings mean?” asked Franklin.
“They seem nonsense, or maybe I can’t decode them,” Tirian pondered for a while.
“Can I try it out?” Franklin stretched out his left hand and tried to grab it.
Once Franklin touched it, the stone cracked and burnt vigorously into ashes.
Nancy woke up and screamed, “Oh! Our room is on fire! Help me out, Dad.”
While they were searching for the way out, the flame died out.
“Amazing!” Franklin and Tirian uttered instantaneously, staring at the ashes on the floor,
which seemed to have some meaning. But, Dr Franklin can’t resist stretching out his hand to
touch them. Just then, a cold breeze touched their faces lightly. Some patterns seemed to trace out
from the ashes.
Dr Franklin pondered, “It really looks like some kind of map!”
He studied it hard. At last, he found a tortuous path. At the end of it, there was a splendid but
eerie castle. He examined it carefully and saw a mighty creature with a flat body and four heads.
“That creature looks so familiar,” Dr Franklin scratched his head, “Oh! It should be the blanket
monster we’ve met before!”
“Dr Franklin, can you see that fearsome and vicious creature sitting next to the blanket
monster?” asked Tirian.
Dr Franklin frowned, with his head full of questions. He thought, “What’s the creature beside
the blanket monster? Why does the blanket monster look so humble to it?”
A bright idea suddenly flashed in his mind. “The terrible blanket monster could be the
creature’s servant! It told us it was the servant of God of Evil before it died. God of Evil should
have sensed our presence and sent blanket monster to kill us,” explained Dr Franklin.
After a long discussion, Dr Franklin and Tirian decided to find God of Evil to reveal the truth
on the missing of people in front of the Saxaul tree. Then, they had a nice rest for a few hours.
Chapter Five - Where Are You, Castle?
At early dawn, Dr Franklin was awakened by the shrieking sound of some crows. As he
reached out his hand to turn off the alarm as usual, he realized that he was in the land of Lomse,
where an arduous journey was waiting for them. As everybody was ready, they set off and left.
Tirian and Dr Franklin’s family walked and walked along the corridor. No matter how hard they
tried, they found it hard to decide which way to go. They passed through long narrow tunnels
and walked up flights of stairs, but all they could see were concrete walls. They seemed to be
