We stood around the strange stone door for a while, trying to understand what to do next. It looked old, covered with rust and dust, but still strong enough to survive years without breaking. I touched it lightly, and it felt cold and solid like metal mixed with rock.
Palash stepped forward and crossed his arms. "Let's just try to break it," he said, sounding confident as always.
Chakshu looked at him like he just heard the dumbest idea ever. "Bro, if breaking it was that easy, don't you think someone would have already done it?"
Palash shrugged. "Talking won't open it. So why not try?"
None of us had any better idea, so we agreed. We tried pushing, pulling, kicking, and even using rocks to hit it. We did everything we could think of, but it didn't even move an inch. It felt like trying to break a mountain with bare hands.
After a few minutes, we stepped back, breathing hard."Well, that was useless," Chakshu said, collapsing onto the ground.
"It's not going to open unless we find the keys," I said, looking at the seven keyholes again.
Living leaned against the wall quietly. "We should rest, at least until morning. Going outside right now is dangerous."
He was right. The forest outside was dark and full of sounds that didn't feel normal. So we decided to stay in the cave for the night. We sat close together, trying to stay warm and silent. My flashlight was getting dim, and the air was cold enough to make my fingers stiff.
We were just starting to relax when we heard footsteps. Not one or two — many.They were coming from outside the cave entrance.
We froze immediately. Chakshu whispered, "Someone's out there…"
The sounds got louder — boots crushing leaves, soft voices, the cracking of branches. I slowly moved over to the entrance and peeked outside without making a sound. My heart was beating too fast.
Outside in the darkness, I saw the silhouettes of a group of people. At least eight or nine of them. I couldn't see their faces, but they were holding flashlights and some of them had weapons.
I came back quietly and whispered, "There's a group out there. I don't know if they're friendly or not. They look serious."
Chakshu swallowed hard. "Great. Just what we needed."
Palash's voice dropped low. "If they find this cave, we're done."
Living stared at the stone door behind us. "We stay quiet. No matter what."
So we sat still, barely breathing, hoping they would not come closer. The footsteps stopped right outside the cave entrance, and the light from their flashlights slid across the walls like they were searching for something.
For a moment, I thought we were caught.
The footsteps stayed near the cave entrance, and the sound of voices made it clear they were searching for something. My stomach twisted — if they walked just a little farther inside, they would see us for sure.
Chakshu leaned toward us and whispered, "We should strike first before they do."
I stared at him. "Are you crazy? We are unarmed. We lost all our stuff when we ran earlier."
He shrugged nervously. "I mean… what else do we do? We just wait and let them catch us?"
Palash shook his head. "That's suicide. There are more of them than us. Even I know that's a stupid idea."
Chakshu whispered back, "Okay, fine! But we need a plan. We can't just sit here like snacks waiting to get grabbed."
Living stayed silent, but his eyes were locked on the cave entrance. He spoke suddenly, his voice low, "They might not know we're in here. If we make any move right now, they will."
We all went quiet again, thinking. The air felt so tight and heavy that it was hard to breathe.
I whispered, "Let's wait. If they walk away, we sneak deeper into the cave. Maybe there's another exit."
Chakshu looked unsure but nodded slowly.
The lights from outside scanned the walls again, brighter this time. One of them stepped closer — I could see the shadow of boots entering a little. My heart almost stopped.
We pressed ourselves against the wall, trying to hide in the dark. None of us moved a muscle.
Then — a voice came from outside:
"Nothing in here. Keep going! The map says the clue is deeper in the forest."
Their lights turned away. Slowly, the footsteps moved farther and farther until the forest swallowed their sounds completely.
We let out breaths we didn't know we were holding.
"Whoever they are," Palash whispered, "they have a map too."
That fact hit all of us like a punch. We weren't the only ones who knew about this place. We weren't the only ones searching for the treasure.
And worse — they clearly knew more than we did.
Chakshu rubbed his face. "Great. So we have crazy treasure hunters with weapons, a door that won't open, and no food. What a perfect night."
Even in the dark, I could see the fear in everyone's eyes — even Palash. The adventure that sounded fun at first now felt dangerous and real.
I looked back at the stone door.
"We need those keys," I whispered, "Before they do."
Palash looked at the door and then at us. "If we go somewhere else, how do we mark this location? This is a deep forest, we can't just put a sign or something. If we leave any mark, someone will find it before we come back."
He was right. If we walked away, we might never find this place again — everything around looked the same, just trees and rocks and darkness. But if we marked the area, the other teams might discover it, and then the door would be useless to us.
Chakshu ran a hand through his hair. "Man… this is a mess. We can't stay here forever, and we can't risk losing this spot either."
Living looked up quietly. "What if we don't leave any marks outside? What if we mark something inside the cave?"
I turned to him. "Inside?"
He nodded. "Something only we would notice. Something small. Not a big sign."
I looked around, and an idea came to my mind. "What if we scratch a tiny symbol on the cave wall, right next to this door? Just something simple that we can recognize later. No one else would care or understand it."
Palash thought for a moment and then nodded slowly. "That could work. But it has to be small."
Chakshu picked up a sharp flat stone from the ground. "Okay then, what symbol? Maybe just a circle?"
I shook my head. "Too common. Anyone might think it means something. How about… a small 'X' with a dot in the center? Looks random, but we'll remember."
Palash smiled a little. "Not bad. Do it."
So I kneeled down next to the strange stone door and carefully scratched a tiny X with a dot in the center on the rock beside it, small enough that you'd only see it if you were looking closely.
"There," I said, standing up. "If we ever come back, we'll know this is the right spot."
We all stared at the door again. The seven keyholes seemed to watch us silently, like they were waiting.
Chakshu whispered, "Let's hope it's still here when we return."
"Let's hope we're still alive," Palash added quietly.
We packed what we had left and slowly began moving toward the entrance of the cave, ready to climb out when the sun rose.
Morning finally came, and the forest slowly lit up with pale sunlight. We were tired, cold, and hungry, but we kept walking. None of us talked much. Our minds were still stuck on the cave, the door, and the group we saw outside that night.
After hours of walking through muddy paths and broken branches, we finally reached the edge of our town. I expected to feel safe… but instead, my heart dropped as soon as I saw the smoke rising in the distance.
We ran the rest of the way, and when we reached the town entrance, we stopped in shock.Everything looked destroyed.
Houses were burned down completely, black smoke still rising from broken roofs. Doors were smashed, windows shattered, and the ground was covered in ashes and broken wood. The streets were silent — too silent — like the whole town had been frozen in fear.
Chakshu covered his mouth with his hand. "What… what happened here?"
Palash took a slow step forward. "This can't be real…"
We walked toward the townhall, and the sight hit us even harder. The walls were stained with dried blood, dark red streaks across the stone. Furniture inside was broken and thrown everywhere. Papers were scattered on the ground, some soaked in blood, others burned around the edges.
Chakshu's voice cracked as he spoke again. "Did the treasure hunt… cause all this?"
I couldn't answer. My throat felt tight. The town we grew up in, the place we always felt safe… now it looked like a battlefield.
Living stood still, staring at the ground. His face was pale, eyes empty. "People fought here," he said quietly. "They fought for clues."
Palash clenched his fists. "Those teams… the ones we saw in the forest. They must have come here."
Chakshu's voice shook. "But why destroy everything? This wasn't just a fight… this is like they wanted to send a message."
The wind blew through the empty streets, moving dust and ashes around us. There was no sound of children, no shops open, no voices — nothing. Just silence.
I felt my hands trembling. "We left for one night… and our town turned into this."
No one replied. There was nothing to say.
After a few moments, Living looked up slowly. "If they did all of this just to find the keys… then the treasure must be something far bigger than we thought."
Palash looked around carefully. "Then we need to decide right now. Do we keep going… or do we stop?"
Chakshu turned to me. "Magic… you choose."
All of them stared at me, waiting.
The burned air smelled like metal and smoke. My chest felt heavy. I looked at the destroyed townhall again — the place where all of this started.
And I took a deep breath.
I couldn't answer Chakshu's question. My mind was empty, like everything inside me stopped working. We walked through the quiet streets slowly, stepping over broken wood and ashes. Nothing felt real.
We reached my house first.
Or what was left of it.
The roof had collapsed, the walls were black and cracked, and smoke still rose from the broken pieces. The wooden chair I sat on last night, the desk where I kept my sketchbook — everything was gone. Burned into nothing.
I stood there, staring without blinking. My hands were shaking, but I didn't even feel them. My throat was dry, and words wouldn't come out.
Chakshu placed a hand on my shoulder. "Magic…"
I didn't answer. I just kept looking at the ruins like maybe, if I stared long enough, everything would fix itself.
Palash looked around the wreckage. "Let's check if anything survived," he said softly.
We stepped closer, but there wasn't much to check — only ashes, metal pieces melted together, and black dust. The heat still coming from the ground was enough to burn skin.
There was no home left.
After a moment, Chakshu spoke again, voice low. "We should check ours too… maybe something is still there."
I nodded weakly.
Chakshu and Palash went their separate ways toward their houses, running through the ruined street with hope still left in them. Living stayed silent beside me, staring at the burned pieces of wood that used to be my front door.
I crouched down and picked up a half-burned piece of paper — or maybe it used to be. I couldn't even tell what it was. It crumbled instantly in my fingers, turning into black dust that flew away with the wind.
Everything was gone.
I sat on what used to be the front steps and buried my face in my hands. For the first time in a long time, I felt completely lost. No plan, no place to go, no idea what would happen next.
The treasure hunt… the map… the door…None of it felt exciting anymore.
It just felt painful.
Living quietly sat down beside me. He didn't say a word, but somehow his silence said everything. Maybe he felt the same.
Minutes passed.
The town was still, like it was holding its breath.
And then — from far away — I heard fast footsteps running toward us.
It was Chakshu.
His face was pale and his breath was shaking as he shouted—
"Magic! Come quick! Palash… he found something!"
I stood up quickly when I heard Chakshu shouting. His face was filled with panic and surprise."Come on!" he said, grabbing my arm, and we ran toward Palash's house as fast as we could.
Palash's house wasn't in better shape than mine. The walls were broken, the whole place smelled like smoke and burned wood. But Palash was kneeling in the middle of the ruins, staring at something in his hand with wide eyes.
"What happened?" I asked, breathing hard.
Palash looked up at us slowly. "I… I found this."
He opened his hand, and there it was — something small, dusty, and old. At first it looked like just a broken metal piece, but when I looked closer, my heart started beating faster.
It looked like a key.
Not a normal key — it had the same strange symbol that we saw above one of the keyholes on the stone door. It was shaped unevenly, made of dark metal with lines carved into it, almost like a puzzle piece.
Chakshu stared at it in shock. "No way… Is that really one of the keys?"
Palash nodded slowly. "It has the same mark as the second keyhole…"
Living stepped closer and looked at it quietly. "So the keys were hidden all around us… and the fight in town was because someone expected to find them here."
It hit me suddenly — the burning houses, the blood in the townhall, the searchers in the forest…
"They were looking for the keys," I said softly. "They came here searching… and destroyed everything for it."
Chakshu clenched his fists. "Those animals… they attacked our town for a piece of metal."
Palash stood up, holding the key tightly. "We can't let them get the others."
Living looked toward the forest again. "They must already be hunting the next one."
Then Palash turned to me. "Magic… if we go back to that cave, and try the key, at least we'll know if it fits. And if it fits, then we start searching for the rest before they do."
I looked at the ruined town one more time — the ashes, the empty silence. Nothing was left here for us. No home. No safety.
Only one thing was left now: A reason to keep going.
I took a deep breath. "Let's go. We're not stopping now."
Chakshu nodded. "Then let's finish what we started."
Living picked up his backpack. "Time is running out."
Together, we turned toward the forest again — back to the cave, back to the stone door, and back to the treasure hunt that had become a fight for survival...