Secret basement

"What was that?" Adi asked Leo.

"Let’s check."

The two of them strolled up the stairs from the secret basement towards the entrance of their living room. As soon as they reached the last step, they saw a man in black jeans and a black hoodie at the entrance looking ahead, running his fingers to set his hair.

"Alex." Adi and Leo called out in unison. 

Alex frowned at the voice he heard. He searched for the source of the voice. He was certain he heard it came from the mirror in front of him. He began analyzing it curiously.

"Is he not able to see us?" Adi asked.

"From the way he is behaving, it seems so." 

Alex was examining the mirror when he saw two grinning faces emerging out from the mirror. He recognized them as Adi and Leo. He was surprised and shocked. He opened his mouth to ask them and he saw both of their eyes widened and Adi yelled, "EMILY NO!"

He turned around only to get hit on his forehead and passed out. 

A few hours later... 

Alex felt he was lying on clouds, similar to the feeling that he was in paradise. He slowly opened his eyes to see walls that were completely painted in white. Sunlight was blocked by the thick light blue curtains. The room temperature was peacefully warm. Everything felt good.

He didn't recollect what he was doing here. He tried to get up and look for other people around. He felt a slight pain on his forehead and recalled what happened. 

He screamed on top of his lungs, "LEO...LEEEEOOOO!"

Both Adi and Leo run towards their guest room where Alex was sleeping.

"Stop screaming Alex!" A woman scolded him. 

"I won't Vivi." He said furiously, to which she looked at him sternly, crossing her arms. 

Vivi was Alex's girlfriend. She had olive skin and brown eyes. She had tied her mid length hairs into a ponytail.

"Wow, it’s good to see that you are alive." Leo commented, looking at a furious but hilarious face in front of him of his dearest friend.

"THAT STUPID, LITTLE, PRIMITIVE SCREWHEAD OF YOURS TRIED TO KILL ME. IT TRIED TO KILL ME." Alex shrieked. 

"You look fine Alex. Stop overreacting" said Leo in boredom.

"WHAAAAT! I GOT HIT ON HANDSOME FACE OF MINE BY YOUR SO-CALLED EMILY."

"Miss Emily sir." Came a female robotic voice. 

Emily was Leo's and Adi's robotic maid like everyone else had. Though it was unique from others in many aspects as Leo had personally requested to insert a program so that it would take its decisions on its own for some extent without waiting for the command like other robot servants.

She was about 4 feet in height, had an all-steel body, and shaped in the form of a human. She was named Emily by Adi. She was Emily for Adi and Leo but for others, she preferred to be called Miss Emily.

"We are so sorry Alex. Are you alright?" Adi apologized.

"It’s alright Adi, it was not your fault." Alex said.

"It was not my fault either, sir Alex." Miss Emily said.

Alex glared at it. 

"It must be hurting." Adi said to Alex, pointing at his forehead as it was a little red and swollen.

"It's alright Adi. Don’t worry about him much." Vivi said to which Adi smiled ruefully. 

"Yes, Miss Adi. I had not utilized my complete power to hit on sir Alex. My motive was to just make him unconscious." Emily added.

Alex glared at it once again while Leo chuckled at Emily’s reasoning.

"Just unconscious, you would have killed me." Alex said furiously to the robotic servant.

"Tell me Emily, for what reason did you try to hurt him?" Leo enquired. 

"Sir Leo, I was mistaken by the sudden appearance. I couldn't see his face and Miss Vivian wasn't around at that time either. I thought there was an invader and was here to steal the precious items from the house, sir. So I hit him only to stop the thief."

"Thief. THIEF! Do I look like a thief, you little screwhead?" Alex said fiercely.

"Emily, you should apologize for your actions to Alex." Adi ordered.

"Please accept my apology, sir Alex." Miss Emily said bowingly.

"Fine Emily. Just maintain 6 feet of distance from me now onwards." Alex said, glaring at her.

"Miss Emily, sir."

Adi and Leo described to Alex and Vivian all the events that occurred in the diary and showed them the antique ring.

"It all seems so thrilling. Just like some movie." Alex said.

"Is this really true?" Vivi asked curiously, unable to believe. 

Adi smiled and then nodded.

"The other time, in front of the mirror, weren't you able to see us Alex?" 

Alex blinked at Leo blankly trying to grasp what Leo was asking. He then realized and replied, "Oh no. I was only able to hear your voice and saw you two emerging from the mirror." 

"Let's check the mirror." Leo proposed and the four figures strolled towards the antique mirror. 

They only were able to see their reflection. Leo touched the mirror and felt his fingers penetrate. Same did Alex. His eyes widened as the fingers penetrated the mirror. They decided to enter the basement. 

Entering the basement, the only person who was flabbergasted was of course Alex. The basement was completely dark but as they stepped down the stairs, the oil lamps or specifically the lanterns ahead of them, illuminated and showed them the way. 

He couldn't figure out why the oil had not exhausted and how the lanterns were still lit. When they arrived at the last step, all the lanterns lightened, making the basement fully illuminated. 

Walls of the room were huge and dark in color. Three walls had racks built in them. The racks of two walls were occupied by the books and a thick layer of dust settled on them. The third wall was occupied by the antique items, some of which Alex recognized at once, and others seemed to be mysterious. 

At the center of the room, was a wooden table and a chair. A lantern was kept on the table. The table was a complete mess with the papers and quills sprawled on it. On the floor, there was a small broken glass bottle that contained blue-colored ink.

"This. Basement. Is. Incredible and have a lot of mysterious stuff which I can show to my grandsons and granddaughters for ages." Alex said, which made Adi giggle and Leo looked at him in boredom.

He was completely captivated by the items and dragged himself to the wall where items were placed. He picked up the items one by one and observed them curiously.

"Should we take him with us?" Leo whispered to Adi.

"No. I mean we can't put his life in danger." concerned Adi.

"Indeed. I was wondering if he would agree to stay here rather than accompanying us." 

"Maybe we should try to convince him and caution him with risks. He might agree." suggested Adi.

"Agree to what?" Alex questioned as he walked towards them with a mysterious item in his hand. This caught Vivi's attention who was looking at the parchments placed on the table. 

"Umm...Alex, Vivi, we were thinking," Adi began.

"Yes?" Vivi listened patiently to her.

"After thinking rationally, we concluded that we shouldn't risk someone's life," Adi continued.

"Wait, don't say you won’t be taking me and her, right?" Alex interrupted.

Adi's look gave out the answer. She became worried as she wasn't ready to put their life in danger. They were the only family that Leo and she counted on.

"If it is about danger, then even we shouldn't let you alone to fight. We can take care of ourselves and remember there should always be a person to look at your back and warn you about the threat and we will be that person." Vivi said.

Leo looked confused and still wasn't convinced to agree to take them along. It was a deathly battle. 

"Leo, if it’s going to be this dangerous then we must accompany you. We can't stay here and chill while you both are in danger. If there is truly a grave threat then we will confront it together. Even Vivi will support me this time for sure." Alex said in a serious tone this time, depicting he wasn't kidding anymore and was to be taken seriously.

Both Leo and Adi looked at each other and considered it for a while. Knowing Alex, they were sure he wouldn't agree with them and would perceive them till they agreed to him.

Leo sighed as he thought about it and nodded. He was glad to have friends like them who are his only family. 

"Shall we begin our journey to the mysterious past?" Leo asked. 

"Yes." Adi replied and Vivian agreed to it as well.

"I think we will have to wait for some more hours." Alex said, placing the parchments aside.

"And why is that?" Leo asked him sternly.

"Well, ahem," Alex cleared his throat and continued, "According to this parchment, the portal can be opened once a day as it requires to refill enough energy for transportation." 

Leo sighed.

"It's alright Leo. We will go tomorrow." Adi said.

Journey being postponed to the next day, Adi persuaded Alex and Vivi to stay in their guestroom. They all had dinner prepared by Miss Emily and went towards their respective rooms.

Adi was tired so she fell asleep as soon as she hit the bed.

Leo looked at her serene face. Being distressed about the recent events, her face, which had furrowed brows, now looked serene. 

He came forward and kissed her forehead.

"Good night"

"Good night" mumbled Adi in her sleep which brought a smile on Leo's weary face.