"Hey! You are early." said Dhruv looking up from his phone screen and greeting Jai.
Jai- an 18-year-old young lad standing at the height of 1.75 m with above average looks, dark hair and brown eyes- smiled while returning the greeting and said "I can say same for you"
Dhruv-a 17(soon to be 18) year old boy standing at the height of 1.77 m with handsome features, brown hair and hazel eyes- shrugged and said, "You already know, well everybody knows, Principal Sharma would give a long lecture even if one person is late and being late according to him is not arriving 10 minutes before the schedule."*Sigh* He sighed as he continued "So as to not extend this graduation 'celebration' either you arrive early or not come at all"
Jai and Dhruv have been best friends since 6th grade. While Jai being an extrovert and Dhruv being a little introverted in nature they bonded pretty quickly.
"I understand that, but can't he just go easy on us now that we have graduated? I mean come on finals ended early April, we already saw our results online what's the point of this?"*Sigh* Jai sighs as he continued "We all know he will give a boring speech on how we are young and choose our career wisely and all that stuff with also going on and on about his life experiences and about our results. I... no we have heard about his life so many times that we may know more about him than his wife and his own children."
While they were talking a few of their classmates and teachers also arrive at the venue. Watching as they arrive, Dhruv and Jai greet them one after another. "Good morning, Mr. Mehra"
"Good morning, Miss Neeti"
"Good morning, Mr. Kumar"
They return their greetings. Jai checks time "It's 9:17 am, Principal Sharma maybe will arrive in another 30 minutes." He thought to himself.
While he and Dhruv continues their conversation, rest of the classmates also talk to each other.
"On man, it will be so boring."
"Wish we could just skip this thing entirely and can join actual celebration in the evening."
"We could have if not for Principal Sharma."
While they all were talking and enjoying each other's company, an invisible ripple in fabric of space-time spread from a corner felt by none.
CRACKLE!! THUNDER!!
Then they all herd it as the fabric of space-time was ripped apart, forming a portal to another world, startling them. The portal was myriads of colors, swirling with white electric sparks around its circumference. They all were too stunned to speak, then after few moments, which felt like eternity, someone broke the silence, not knowing what they were witnessing.
"W-what is that thing?" someone asked.
"How would I know?" replied the one standing beside him, same question hovering in his and everyone's head. They all were still thinking for possible answers when unexpectedly a suction force came from the portal, sucking inside everyone present, with a few dozen chairs, helplessly without giving them even time to scream. While crossing the portal all their senses were being triggered hyper actively, due to this they were feeling nauseous, had a stabbing pain in their head and a primal fear had griped their minds, hearts and souls.
***********
When they came to their senses, they were lying on a rocky ground. The nausea and headache had mostly subsided, but fear was still there. Looking around they found the portal was still there, albeit was shrinking slowly, but they didn't notice it at the moment. Standing up, all covered in dirt, dusting the dirt off and looking around they found themselves in an ancient ruin of some sort, with no windows, lit only by glowing mushroom enough to survey their surroundings.
"What is this place? Where are we?" Similar questions echoed but no one answered, nobody knew where they were, confusion and fear filled the environment.
Mr. Mehra- their biology teacher, a man in his late twenties standing at the height of 1.75 m with average looks, dark hair and dark eyes, a clean shaved beard and moustache, wearing a blue shirt, black formal pants with a dark brown leather belt and a pair of brown formal shoes- looked around conforming that every present at the scene were there, a total of 13 people including himself, and asked with concern "Is anyone hurt or feeling unwell?"
His question was answered with-" I am good, just some scratches nothing else." "Just feeling a little nauseous." "A little headache nothing serious."-and similar words.
Suddenly, they all felt it, their whole being inside out was filled with an indescribable pleasant feeling, it only lasted for a moment. After it was over they all felt like as if they have been reborn, all the scratches they have suffered due to their rough exit from the portal were healed as if they never had any, even the dirt on their body and clothes was gone. They all exclaimed in surprise- "I feel light." "I don't need glasses anymore; I can see perfectly even without them!" "I feel 10 years younger!" "I feel more energetic than I have felt in my entire life. Even my back pain is gone!" "The scar on my arm is gone too!"- more of such were heard.
"Hey, the...portal or whatever it is, is still there. Should we jump inside it? Maybe it leads back home." said Shub, one of their classmates.
"Is that even a question? Of course we should!" said Riya, another of their classmate, as she walks towards the portal.
"Wait!" Dhruv stops her.
Annoyed, she turns around and looks directly towards him as she spoke-"Why are you stopping me? Don't you want to return home?"
"I want to. But please, let me test something first." he replied as he picked up a rock the size of a tennis ball. He then, without waiting for her reply, throws the rock inside the portal. But before it could enter the portal it exploded and turned to dust. Riya froze on spot in fear as the thought of what would have happened if she had tried to enter the portal crossed her mind. All of them watched this dumbfounded as they now realized that their only known way home was off limits.
"What will we do know?" "How will we get out of this place?" "I should have just stayed home today." As panic filled the place Mr. Mehra along with other two teachers started to calm the teenagers, after calming them down a little he clapped his hands to gain their attention as he spoke-"Okay kids now listen, we will divide in three groups each lead by one of us and we will try to find an exit from this place if we can, otherwise we will meet here again in 15 minutes to think of other solution."
Soon they were all divided into three groups. Jai, Dhruv and Shub were in group lead by Mr. Mehra. While other two groups were composed of Riya, Neha, Tanya and Yug lead by Miss Neeti and Yash, Aditya and Abhay lead by Mr. Kumar.
"So, there are four exists from this room. Mr. Kumar, you and your group should go right, Miss Neeti with your group should go left, while me with my group will explore the front. If anyone finishes early, they can explore last one or wait for others to come to explore together. If no one has a problem we will go by this arrangement." Mr. Mehra said while looking at other two and pointing at the exits.
"I have no problem with the arrangement." Mr. Kumar said.
"I too have no problem." Miss Neeti said a little nervously.
"Let's begin then."
As they started to move towards their respective destinations, now that they are calmer, they start to observe their surroundings more clearly. There were chairs around them that were sucked in the portal with them, there were also furniture native to the place, but their wood was already rotten, crushed under wheel of time. Many tiles were broken and torn from the floor, central area had a small crater around 50 cm deep and 5 m in diameter as if an explosion happened there. There were murals carved on the walls, depicting various scenery, from lush grasslands to dense forests, from oceans to rivers flowing from mountains, from fiery volcanoes to frigid snowfields and so on. These kinds of murals were on every wall they saw.
**********
"How did you know that trying to enter the portal might cause us harm?" Jai whispered to Dhruv.
Dhruv replied in a somewhat joking tone trying to ease the tension, "I did not, but I have read enough comics and novels to know that in a similar situation a hot-bloodied person will try to enter the portal which for some reason is 'only entry no exit' and then dies as a warning for others. Well, I saved a life and didn't even get a thank you in return." he too whispering, last part said in mock sadness.
Jai, knowing his intention, smiled a little. As they were walking in the corridor they saw a room with a broken door, as they entered the room it was a little dark in there, so they used the flashlight of their phone to inspect the room only to find rotting wood and a few utensils made from metal, such as fork, spoon, knives, glasses and pots, but they too were covered in rust.
"Okay kids search every inch of this room and try to find anything useful and tell me immediately if you find something." Mr. Mehra instructed.
They all searched the room but found except what was already visible when they entered. But they observed a few things, despite being only a short distance away from where they were transported this room had little to no mushrooms whereas previous place was filled with those glowing mushrooms, the floor was not broken except for a few cracked tiles and despite being abandoned this room had no insects or even spider webs. It all felt strange to them and this all would have been ignored if Dhruv had not spoken about it.
After searching and not finding anything useful they left the room and returned to the corridor, it was long and wide enough that four adult men can walk side to side in it comfortably. They saw the path ahead with the help of their flashlight. At the end of it there was a wall, while there were five rooms on each side of corridor; doors arranged in such a manner that they do not face each other. Realizing that it will be more efficient to split and search the rooms Jai suggested to search rooms individually. Mr. Mehra thought about his suggestion for a while before agreeing to it, but he warned, "If you find yourself in a pinch try to be calm and call for help, I am right here. Now go and search."
Before anyone departed Dhruv advised to pay attention to the condition of rooms and report it after coming back to which everyone nodded and left.
While searching, Jai found this place familiar especially the murals, but he can't put finger on where he has seen them.