The Escape

There only remains one difficulty, is what Manas thought as he opened his eyes. He and his friend were taken and they had no clue where they were and what would happen to them. His head was spinning. He couldn’t see properly for a while. The blurry surroundings soon turned in focus. It was then that Manas realized - he wanted to be free first!
It took a lot of strength to look at his feet. His hands were tied behind the back and his body was hanging upside down from the ceiling. His feet were tied tightly by a rope suspended from a hook. To his right, he noticed Rishi too. He was still unconscious. Manas started scanning the surroundings.
They were in some sort of a cavernous chamber. There was no light or fan. The walls and the ceiling were all stony. They were hanging in one corner of the room. To the other side, he noticed a large table, on which there were many candles, placed around the centre. They were all lit recently. In the centre were fragrance sticks and a small statue which Manas saw for the first time. The rest of the room was clean. There was a mat below and a small opening near the table to the right for entering or leaving the area.
Manas closed his eyes. “Focus…he thought, focus Manas” He knew he had to help himself and do it quick. There was no way he wanted to face the person who got them here. Manas tried to move. He wiggled his body and he started moving front and back. Good, he thought. He tried wiggling more to sway harder. While moving back, his head hit the wall hard. Manas stopped. Water fell from his eyes. He couldn’t even cry loudly. But he had to be free. He looked at the ceiling, where the rope was tied to the hook. He began to wiggle, this time, he applied a downward force along with swaying, jerking his movements. While going behind, he hit the wall with his back and bounced ahead. He swayed to the middle of the room. Manas oscillated a few more times and jerked while coming back, He pushed himself down as hard as he could.
There was a loud thud, noise. Manas fell on his side, on the floor. The rope broke away from the hook. He noticed the chamber opening. There was no one.
Right then, he heard Rishi behind him, growling softly. Rishi opened his eyes and saw Manas on the floor.
“Don’t be loud” Manas told Rishi. It was a sight to see him. “Are you ok?”
Rishi nodded. He was perplexed too. He didn’t ask Manas anything. It took a while for Rishi to grasp his environment. He tried to think how the candles would help and something clicked.
“Manas try to see if you can reach those candles and disintegrate the ropes on your back.
Manas nodded. He reached the table and tried getting support to stand on his feet. Due to his height, he could bend backward. It pained, his hands were burning. He bent forward and tried moving his hands. Nothing. He had to concentrate harder.
“You can do it Manas” Rishi tried speaking
“That doesn’t help Rishi. We are in deep trouble man.” Manas struggled to be on his feet. This time, he
managed to have the candle flames right below the ropes. He started rubbing his hands. He broke the
rope instantly. Bending to his feet, he fidgeted with the knot for a while before getting it loose to pull his
feet out. He couldn’t open the knot entirely.
“Nice” Rishi was crying too, but was mum.
Manas stood on his feet and held one of the candles getting it behind Rishi. He untied his hands quickly
and got him free in no time, helping Rishi on his feet.
Rishi and Manas had a hunch that the statue meant something. They carried it outside along with the
candle stand. The friends did not know what was to come next
They passed the first test. The game had begun