Days were just passing by for Badr and the subjects were starting to get harder and harder every day. Nothing exciting happened, and Badr was starting to get extremely bored since he was the type to have fun all the time, not just study.

One day, while Badr was walking in the break with Yousef and Yahya, they happened to pass by the front of the administration building, near the corner where the secret passageway to the forest was located.

"What's this?" Yahya asked, his gaze fixed towards the broken wall.

"It's a very cool place. There's a mysterious forest behind this wall," Badr answered.

Yousef advanced towards the wall and suggested, "Let's go there."

"Yes! Let's go!" Badr yelled.

"Wait, um, question," Yahya blurted in his usual low voice. "Do we just, like, jump over the wall?"

"Yeah!" Badr replied. "You can't you jump?"

"I can of course. Just wondering if there was a door or something."

The three boys were about to jump over the broken wall when they all heard the sound of footsteps. They all freaked out and ran away, because it was a teacher wandering nearby. When they finally dropped on the benches, Badr breathed, "I really don't wanna get in more trouble. I think I might be expelled soon."

A few days after that, the three boys talked to Malak and they all agreed to meet up and explore there later in the break.

"Yeah, I'll go with you," Malak nodded. "I'm glad they told you about that place, Yahya. It's really interesting, you'll see!"

Yahya smiled a little as Badr groaned, "As long as no teacher is around." He was really hoping for the best opportunity to come soon. But, as it turned out, Badr had detention that break so they couldn't go.

When Badr got out of the detention room, he found Yousef, Malak, and Yahya waiting for him at the door.

"Why do you disrupt the class so much? Maybe if you shut your mouth in class we would've went!" Malak scolded angrily. "We have an important history quiz next week, so we can't go!"

"Sorry!" Badr cried. "I didn't think that we were so busy next week! I'll try not to talk in class. I'll try not to sleep. I'll try, I swear. Please forgive me!"

"It's fine..." Yahya said with a tone of boredom. The bell rang and he walked away without a word.

"Let's go to class!" Malak grabbed Badr and marched to the class. Yousef hoped they would have another chance to visit the forest before the midterms came up again. He really wanted to know what was inside the cellar door.

Thursday arrived, and Badr finally did not have any detentions in the breaks. The only problem was that Malak was busy helping out a teacher in the first break, so they postponed it to the second break. As they approached the broken gate, they heard footsteps of, this time, two teachers strolling along nearby. They made a narrow escape and dashed back to the school playground.

"Let's go after school!" Badr suggested.

"No," protested Yahya. "There will be even more teachers, probably. It just won't work. This is hopeless."

"We can try..." Malak said, trying to be hopeful. "I might pick up some useful herbs, too. I really want to go."

"I'm not sure it would work, guys. Just listen to me," Yahya concluded.

"Come on, let's just try! It won't kill us, will it?" Badr persuaded Yahya. Yousef nodded his head in agreement.

Yahya shook his head slowly, "We might be expelled; especially you, stupid."

"Me? Why do you have to be so negative all the time?" Badr began.

"Who, me? Well then, you're telling me to go to some place that we'll sure be caught in then get myself expelled? You take too many risks!" Yahya bellowed.

"Don't come then!" Badr yelled loudly and then Yahya, glaring furiously, stormed away. Yousef and Malak sighed as the bell rang. Afterward, the three of them left for their clubs.

When the last bell was heard, Yousef and Yahya exited their classroom and ran to the meeting place. Badr and Malak arrived shortly after them.

"So you came," Badr said, noticing Yahya was there.

"Problem?" Yahya grumbled and Badr shook his head saying, "Not really."

The four of them walked cautiously to the hidden passageway. They jumped quietly over the wall and finally stood on the forest ground. Yahya was taken aback by the scenery and wandered slowly on the wet soil covered with old leaves, examining the rare bushes. Malak paced around him, picking up herbs on her way. Badr and Yousef explored deeper into the forest, trying to find what they had seen in the previous term. The sun was setting behind the icy mountains far away, and the night started slowly falling upon them, but they took no notice. Although the forest started giving spooky vibes as it became dark, Badr, Yousef, Malak, and Yahya were determined to find the mysterious cellar door. All of a sudden, they heard a thud coming from somewhere. Badr, Yousef, and Malak hid quickly behind the bushes while Yahya stood there, looking around.

"Yahya! Someone's coming!" Yousef grabbed his hand and pulled him behind a huge bush. Yahya slowly pulled from Yousef's grasp, saying, "It was a branch. A twig fell from a tree."

"Oh, ok," Yousef breathed.

Malak emerged from her hiding place as Badr stupidly asked Yousef, "What's a twig?"

Malak and Yahya both ambulated further away and examined the bushes, peering at the different herbs. Malak started explaining about the herbs and Yahya listened intently. Badr and Yousef strode around some more, searching for the secret cellar door.

"I remember it's somewhere around here," Yousef pointed to an unspecific area. Badr scanned his surroundings cautiously with his large chocolate brown eyes, and his sharp vision aided him in seeing the cellar door.

"It's here," Badr pointed and Yousef came beside him.

They immediately started pulling its cold handles and, of course, it was locked. Malak and Yahya neared the two struggling boys. Badr and Yousef stopped pulling as Yahya peeked at the door.

"Can't you see it's chained with a lock? We need a key," Yahya observed.

"I doubt we'd find one," Malak said, "There should be a better way."

She looked around the forest, hoping to find something to open the rusty cellar door with. She tried breaking it open with a stone but the wooden door would not break. She thought again and her eyes dilated, as she had a sudden idea.

"My hairpin," she suddenly pulled a cheap black hairpin from her messy hair. "I just need a paper clip."

Malak unzipped her bag and took out her folder. She removed a paperclip from a bunch of papers and reshaped it into an 'L' shape. She inserted the paper clip's shorter side into the rusty golden lock. She then placed the hairpin in and twisted it. She removed them both and the lock magically opened.

"Wow," the three boys mused, amazed.

"My grandpa taught me how," Malak explained, standing up.

"So cool," Badr told Malak, grinning. She smiled while he pulled at the handles of the cellar door. The door unfastened, and Badr stepped inside, the others directly behind him going down what felt like a rocky stairway.

It was very dark once they reached the solid ground. No one could see anything.

"It's so dark..." Badr observed. All of a sudden, Yahya turned around and ran upstairs.

"Wait-Yahya!" Yousef ran up behind him as Badr and Malak turned back, confused. He found Yahya unzipping his pencil case and taking out a pen.

"What's that?" Yousef asked.

Yahya pressed a button on the pen and a beam of light emerged from the back of the pen like a torch.

"Cool," Yousef looked closely at the pen. They went back downstairs and Yahya pressed the button again, his pen lighting up the underground room.

Badr and Malak didn't know what to be more surprised about, Yahya's cool pen or the now lit room, which had rows of books lined up on shelves. They ambled towards the center where a rectangular table with round edges sat on a smooth but musty carpet. Six chairs were lined up at the table and Malak sat down on one them to inspect the old papers and books she found on the table. There were three candles in the middle but they were all unlit.

Badr sauntered further behind the table to a mantel fireplace. There were a few wooden pieces left but they were already burnt and used up. Yousef and Yahya strode to the right of the fireplace and studied the dusty books that stood beneath the shelves. As Yahya directed his pen towards the rows of books, he silently read their titles one by one. He stopped shortly after, staring at one particular book.

"What is it?" Yousef asked him, and Yahya pointed at the book.

"It has a cool...name," he spoke a little awkwardly.

Yousef removed the large powdery book from the shelf and wiped the dust away with his sleeve. He took a close look at the title.

"It's called 'The Path to Your Ultimate Wish'," Yousef read. Badr and Malak came over and peered at the book as Yousef opened it. Yahya pointed his lit pen at the pages with the faint lettering.

Yousef flipped through the pages and stopped at a random one. It read, "'What is hidden in the ice mountains.'"

The four looked at each other. "What ice mountains?" asked Badr curiously.

"I don't know," Malak replied. "Yousef, read on."

"Okay," Yousef nodded. "'Located in the Qadrad ice mountains to the far south of Albasea lies a mysterious crystal with an inordinate but complex power. As the ancient philosopher Haitham once stated 'He who acquires the enchanted crystal shall be granted his greatest wish, and shall that wish be of good fortune.' The crystal has been believed to have a great power of granting any wish with no limits. It has also been stated once that the crystal might be the only way to stop war around the world. People of the newer generations do not know of this power, and if they do acquire it, a tragedy might strike Earth since they might use it for selfish reasons.'"

"Wow..." Malak whispered in disbelief.

"This...can't be true, can it?" Yahya muttered. "I mean...should we really believe this?"

"I don't know if this is true or not, but geez! This thing is pretty awesome!" Badr responded, peering closer at the book in Yousef's hand.

"I mean...if we get that crystal, will we really be able to make any wish come true?" Malak questioned. "Like...anything? Even...wishing someone back from the dead?"

Yahya's eyes widened slowly as Yousef gave Badr the book.

"I'm not sure," Yousef mumbled, his blue eyes fixated on the ground.

"Look! Look, guys, I don't think it works just like that," Badr said quickly, pointing at the book. "There is a place we have to put it in. As it says here 'Once this mysterious crystal is acquired, it shall be placed on the great pillar that lies in the ancient castle of the late king of Albasea.' It means there is a place we have to put it in. AND IT'S HERE IN ALBASEA!"

Badr glanced once more at the book. "Listen, guys. It says something else here. 'But this alone will not give the crystal enough energy to work just yet. It is to be accompanied with three special moonstones that shall be put in a specific order to give enough power for the crystal to work.' It needs three moonstones to work."

"Moonstones? You mean from Moonland?" Malak wondered.

Yousef gazed at the page once more. "I think so. Does anyone here not know about Moonland?"

"I know about Moonland; my grandpa went there! He told me stories about it when I was younger!" Badr exclaimed. "It was so fun to listen to them! I imagined what it would be like to be there...I want to go there someday!"

"Wow...your grandfather went? To Moonland? He must have been very brave!" Malak was impressed. "I know that Moonland is a place to get a special type of water. The water that heals any injury or disease. My grandpa told me that."

"Well, I wish I had a grandpa because you guys surely heard a lot from your grandpas..." Yahya observed. They all laughed quietly.

"True..." Yousef chuckled. "I know that Moonland is a place to get moonstones...magical moonstones of all types. Each of these moonstones have a power. Like, I read once that one moonstone could make you invisible. Another one could make you read other people's minds. It's so interesting, right?"

"Yes, that's so adventurous and exciting!" agreed Badr. "That's why I wanna go there!"

"It's so far away though..." Malak proclaimed. "We'll get there someday soon though. I'm sure of it. I wanna go there so badly too, you know? Don't you?"

"Yeah..." Yousef replied. He flipped through the book once more, silently reading random paragraphs.

"What about you, Yahya?" Malak asked, turning to Yahya. "What do you know about Moonland?"

"Er-me? Oh, um...it's...a cool place I guess..." Yahya stuttered uneasily. "But only really brave and heroic people go there...like...Badr's grandad..."

"Hahaha..." Badr giggled. "My grandpa is really heroic, even Yahya knows that!"

Malak smiled and shifted her head while gazing around the room. "Maybe we should get going. What time is it?"

"It's almost seven..." Yousef answered, looking at his watch.

"Wow, it's that late? Maybe we should go then..." Badr said as the rest nodded. Yousef returned the book to its place on the shelf and they all climbed the stairs. Yahya closed the cellar doors and turned around. They picked up their bags and took one last look at the cellar door.

"Let's go..." Badr led them out of the forest. They made their way out of the fortunately open school gates. Soon, they reached their destination but stopped and stood awkwardly at the entrance of the lower class dorms. Then they hurried over to where the two dorm buildings of first-year male and female students lied.

"Well...bye?" Malak finally broke the silence. The boys nodded and she turned around and left to her dorms. She shuffled her feet while looking at the ground. She always wondered about what her relationship with these boys was. Were they more than just her schoolmates?

The three boys walked to their dorms silently until Badr lastly exclaimed, "We should go to Moonland. It's a promise. You're both coming, too. Maybe we can change the world!"

"Okay," Yousef agreed, smiling faintly. He noticed that Yahya was fidgeting with his fingers. That particular night was sleepless for the four of them.

Author's note: Hey guys! This is the chapter we've been waiting for. We are so glad to have reached almost half the story now! This is where the main plot begins, so wait for the next few chapters when things get interesting. I hope you all like this chapter; please vote and comment if you liked reading it and maybe thought it was exciting. Thanks for reading! ^__^

P.s: Which moonstone would you like if you went to Moonland? It could be any inhuman power or it could be an element like fire or ice.

P.s: The picture above is kind of how I envision the underground library, and the artist is called Khaerii on deviantart. All rights belong to this amazing artist.