The map lay in my trembling hands, its edges frayed, its parchment stained with time and secrets. I stared at it, my throat dry, my heart pounding like war drums.
This wasn't just ink and paper. It was a key—a key to something no human was meant to unlock.
Magic: "So this… this is the fourth key."
Palash:(nodding) "Yes. And it's the one they've hidden the hardest. The one not even the fake mayor dared to mention."
I looked at him, eyes narrowing.Magic: "But why hide it at all, if they wanted the door opened?"
Palash: "Because the fourth key isn't like the others. It's not just hidden… it's guarded."
A chill crept down my spine.Magic: "Guarded? By what?"
Palash didn't answer right away. Instead, he turned and walked toward the window, staring out into the night like he expected something—or someone—to appear in the shadows.
Palash: "By something ancient. Something that was never meant to wake."
The silence between us thickened, heavy with dread.
I looked back down at the map. The symbols weren't just markings—they were warnings. The kind no one bothered to understand until it was too late.
Magic: "We have to destroy it. Right now. Burn it, rip it apart—whatever it takes."
Palash turned to me slowly, his expression unreadable.
Palash: "Do you think it would be that easy?"
He stepped forward and grabbed the map from my hands. Without hesitation, he held it over a candle flame.
The paper caught fire—but then… it refused to burn.
The flame danced across it like it was alive, crackling, twisting—and then it extinguished itself, leaving the map untouched.
I stumbled back.
Magic: "What the hell…?"
Palash: "It's protected. This map is bound to something beyond us. We can't destroy it—not unless we find the gate itself and seal it forever."
Magic: "Then we need to find it. And stop whoever's trying to open it."
Palash: "You don't get it. Now that you've been chosen… there's no turning back. They're watching you. Hunting you."
Suddenly, a gust of wind slammed against the window. The candle flickered. Somewhere outside, a dog barked. Then silence.
Too much silence.
We both froze.
Then—
BANG!
The front window shattered as something black and clawed smashed through it, landing hard on the floor. It was humanoid—but twisted, deformed, its eyes glowing with an eerie, violet light.
Magic (shouting): "WHAT IS THAT!?"
Palash: "RUN!"
We bolted. Palash grabbed his gun. I snatched the map. We dove through the back door just as the creature lunged at us, snarling like a beast from a nightmare.
Out into the night.
Into the forest.
Our feet pounded the dirt path, branches whipped across our faces, and shadows closed in all around us.
Palash: "We need to get to the old monastery! It's the only place they can't follow!"
Magic: "Why!?"
Palash: "Because it was built to keep them out… centuries ago!"
The cries of the creature echoed behind us—no, creatures. More than one.
We were being hunted.
And this wasn't just a game anymore.
This was war....
A war not fought with soldiers and armies—but with fear, obsession, greed, and desperation. A war over three ancient keys… and now, a fourth.
Palash and I burst through the trees, gasping for air, every muscle in my body screaming for rest. But we couldn't stop—not yet.
Magic: "We need help… we can't do this alone."
Palash nodded grimly.Palash: "Then we bring the old crew back together."
The next day, hidden deep in the shadows of a forgotten warehouse on the outskirts of town, I stood staring at four familiar faces—each of them changed by time, but bound to me by something stronger: survival.
Chakshu. The ever-loyal friend. Reckless, bold, and always the first to jump into danger if I needed him.
Yosuf. The planner. Sharp as a blade, always two steps ahead, already analyzing everything about the map before I could even open my mouth.
Living. The silent one. He didn't say much, but when he did—it mattered. Calm under pressure, and deadly when it counted.
And Palash, the man who dragged me into this storm, and maybe the only one who truly understood what was coming.
Magic (stepping forward): "This isn't just about money. It never was. We're dealing with something ancient… dangerous. We need to stick together—because the others? They're willing to kill for these keys."
Chakshu leaned forward, tapping the table where the maps were spread.Chakshu: "So what's the plan? 'Cause hiding forever ain't it."
Yosuf unfolded the fourth map and compared it to the first three.
Yosuf: "These symbols… they're not locations. They're trials. Each key is locked behind a challenge—meant to test the person seeking it. But this fourth map… it's different."
Palash: "Because it leads to the truth. Not just a key."
Living: "What's the truth?"
Palash looked at each of us, his voice dropping to a whisper.Palash: "The door isn't sealed by keys. It's sealed by sacrifice."
Silence fell over the room.
Magic: "Sacrifice... of what?"
Palash: "People. The original keepers sacrificed themselves to keep it closed. And now... someone's trying to undo all of that."
Yosuf slammed his fist down.Yosuf: "So this whole thing... it's a trap."
Chakshu: "Then we flip the trap on them. We go for the fifth location. Whatever's behind that, it's our only shot at stopping this."
Living: "And what if it kills us?"
I looked at each of them, feeling the weight of their trust, their fear, their courage.
Magic: "Then we go down fighting. But we do it together."
The warehouse smelled like dust and rusted metal, the silence broken only by the quiet tapping of Yosuf's pen against a cracked map. We had gathered every clue, every scrap of knowledge we could find—time was running out.
All across the state, chaos was spreading like wildfire. People were desperate. Dangerous. Willing to kill for a fragment of a clue.
If we didn't move first, it wouldn't just be treasure they'd uncover.
It would be something far worse.
Magic: "We can't go after all the keys at once—it'll take too long, and if someone else finds even one of them before we do..."
Palash (cutting in): "Then the seal weakens. That door… that portal… it can't open."
Living: "So we split up?"
Yosuf nodded slowly.Yosuf: "Two groups. One goes west, toward the cliffs—where Key Two was last spotted near that broken monastery. The other heads toward the swamp valley. There's chatter about ruins resurfacing there after the last flood. Could be where Key Three is."
Chakshu (grinning): "I call the swamp. Always wanted to punch a snake."
Magic: "Then it's set. Chakshu and Living, you two take the swamp route. Palash, Yosuf, and I will go west."
Palash: "Time is our enemy. No contact for more than 12 hours, and we assume something's wrong."
Living: "And what about the fourth key?"
We fell quiet.
That one was different. Hidden. Forbidden. It had found me, not the other way around.
Magic (placing the fourth map down): "It'll stay with me. We don't use it… not unless there's no other choice."
Yosuf looked up, his voice sharper than before.Yosuf: "And what about the portal? You still haven't told us where it leads."
Palash exhaled like the answer tasted bitter.
Palash: "It's not a door to treasure. It's a gateway to the Lost Dimension—that was sealed off thousands of years ago. No maps. No records. Just stories passed down by the Keepers."
Chakshu: "What's inside it?"
Palash: "No one knows. It's where the ancient rulers exiled things they couldn't destroy. Cursed beings. Forbidden knowledge. Even entire civilizations lost to madness."
A long silence followed.
Magic: "So if someone opens it—"
Yosuf: "We could lose everything."
Living: "Then we don't let that happen."
We all nodded, the weight of our mission settling over us like a storm cloud.
This wasn't about keys anymore.
This was about protecting our world from something ancient, unknown, and possibly unstoppable.
We packed in silence. Loaded our bags. Checked our gear.
Before splitting, we gathered in a circle.
Magic: "Remember—no glory, no treasure. We're not doing this to win. We're doing this to survive. To make sure no one else opens that portal. Trust no one. Move fast. And if things go bad…"
Chakshu (grinning): "We raise hell."
Palash (smirking): "We end this… or we go down trying."
And just like that, we scattered—two teams, one mission.
To stop a war of greed.
To stop a door from opening.