Eighty-two people have died trying to find the enchanted teapot. And soon, there will be the eighty-third person riding to hell for the very same reason.
Jistal, a young and ambitious adventurer who dreamed of discovering humanity's treasures and secrets, with his passion nurtured from a very young age, holes in the front-yard which revealed small coins, weird things he walked up upon down the streets and tons of other similar found. Being a child in an adventuring-traditioned family has always been pride that Jistal brags about it with his friends, then his classmates would look up to Jistal as their idol. Each time his father came home, the young boy would run out to his dad and ask with an excited tone of voice:
"Daddy! Daddy! Tell me about your trip, please! Did you bring us any present? Or souvenir?" and hundreds of questions would flood Jistal's father's eardrum. At that time, the whole apartment is a mini-history museum, with maps and dream-catchers hanging on the walls, bookshelves full of myths and legends, statues and figures that appear all around the cosy home, too. After some time, a new historical item got added to the collection. Jistal's ambitions grow along with the expanding selection. Fed by tales about ancient civilizations, the dream of seeing lost artefacts with his own eyes is so vivid that he thought one day, his discoveries would outshine even the world's best explorers.
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With twenty years of imagining the scene of himself uncovering ancient tools from the ground, Jistal is now ready to kick-start his career by challenging himself on tracking down a notoriously mystical item - the teapot of Aragorn or known as the enchanted teapot. Many had lost their lives attempting to find the teapot, so many desired the magic teapot to make the tea poured out of it have magical effects, especially to the one who drinks the tea.
Despite the risks along the adventure, Jistal had set his goal to obtain the teapot no matter what - starting with a flight to South Europe.
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"Ladies and gentlemen, we have just been cleared to land at the Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza. Please make sure to fasten your seat belt securely. The flight attendants are currently passing around the cabin to make a final compliance check and pick up any remaining cups and glasses. Thank you."
Another announcement tailed in after a few minutes.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Tirana Airport International Airport Nënë Tereza. Local time is 1:17 A.M.
On behalf of X Airlines and the entire crew, I would like to thank you for joining us on this trip. We are looking forward to seeing you onboard again shortly. Have a please stay!"
Soon, the fresh air of Tirana filled Jistal's lungs. He inhaled as walking to the baggage carousel to reclaim his archaeologist tools - bags of magnifying glasses, torches and ropes. Retrieving his luggage, he went to the gate then hopped on the waiting taxi.
"Please take me to Y hotel. It's number 17 on Z street."
Some left-turns and right-turns were taking on the streets, and the hotel emerges from the darkness. It was a standard hotel, but with trees surrounding the building, Y hotel appears to be more appealing than the others. After a short chat with receptions and few steps up the staircase, Jistal throws himself on the comfy bed and enjoy his vintage suite.
"Let see, what's up for tomorrow."
Looking through his bag for his dad's diary - a little red notebook that records worth-admiring adventures. Jistal's finger kept on flipping the pages and stopped at a page that says:
May 28th, 1987
A remarkable event today is, do you know? Today Lindsey and I travelled to a small island off the Korean coast. The small island is named Pitie-Eks, where people believed to be the land that the Ormye community once built their kingdom. In the Ormyians myths, they worshipped seven gods. They are Joun-kulks, Vyei, Jymint, Xugaire, Jient, Ar-em and Jrey-hoph. After searching around the ruins, we found six little statues sculpturing the gods. Lindsey said that Jrey-hoph is missing from the artefacts we discovered, but I don't know she is correct or not. Lindsey knows more about the Ormyians than I do.
I must admit that Lindsey and Armont are in a race to be the deputy captain for me.
Then the Jistal continue onto another page that wrote:
April 17th, 1990
It's hard to believe what did Armont discovered today and hard to believe how mad Armont made Lindsey were, too. He found pieces of evidence of dental care in 2,120 years old ruins! Small strings made of animal's bones with 2,210 years old food on it Armont found, then two rocks shaped together like a puller and some fallen teeth followed after. Lindsey tried fighting Armont off that those are not human-made, perhaps an animal's wool, two coincidently puller-like rocks and small pebbles. But it ended up like a comedy more than a scientific discussion.
Flipped on to the following pages, he would find more memories of his deceased father. Moments of Jistal's father triumphant returns kept on replaying in the young man's mind. The fingers continued to take Jistal to further recordings, nearer to the present and stopped at a date:
September 9th, 1999
Setting up for the journey of finding the enchanted teapot is already tired, but that won't get my team and me on our knees. It's great to be this confident before a life-risking adventure. Just wait, humanity, look at what I will bring back after this trip.
And the next page is blank.
No doubt that September 9th is the end of this discovering timeline, the ending of a brave and trail-blazing archaeologist with his team. Furthermore, it's the first day of Jistal - an orphaned boy. Jistal found himself sighing on the comfy bed before being drifted away by a lingering sleep.
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A housekeeper approached Jistal's room with her footsteps echoed through the hallway eerily. Soon, she arrived in front of the dark wooden door, raising her hand and knock on the door "knock, knock":
"Housekeeping"
No response
"Housekeeping"
Silence
"Housekeeping"
No noises resounded. It's cleared that Jistal is deep into the land of dreams. As assured about being unspotted, the woman took out a card from her sleeves and slid it into the door gap. A small "click" and the door is unlocked, enabling the seemed-to-be-housekeeper entrance. She took something else out, a musty-looking scroll? Then tucked it in Jistal's luggage and left the room quietly.
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Banging thunder, howling winds, scraping canopies and the pouring rain composed a loud, horrifying song together, threatening anyone nearby to stay in their house. But Jistal didn't possess the ability to find shelter at that time. He couldn't move or even breathe. In short, he's strangled and frozen. Lying on the ground, creepy thoughts of the mythical creatures flooded the paralyzed adventurer mind while he awaits help, or perhaps staying for something worse. No assistance arrives in the next minutes. Instead, three shadows emerge from the mantle of darkness around Jistal and approaching him. Until they can stare into Jistal's desperately scared face, they stopped.
"Is this him?" one of the men started.
"Must be him, the boss said so." another replied.
"Then do what he commissioned us. Upperclassmen do not like waiting." the last one growled.
One of the men quickly get a syringe from his cloak and stabbed it into Jistal's arm. That liquid in that cylinder container slowly started to transfer into the poor man body, along with the burning sensation. Time couldn't slow down the pain's pace to run everywhere. In mere seconds, Jistal's mind shot out from the land of dreams, or nightmares would fit better. Sweat formed into small streams, dripping to the bed. He knows it's just a dream, but it's way too realistic to be unreal to him. Pulling himself together after the strange visions, he knew a new day has come. It all started with the forest's entrance, and Jistal tackled the little path leading deep into the trees.
The adventurer is on his way.
What he shall find, shall we not wait?