The Ring 

Leo starred at the old, earthy coloured leather diary. He experienced mixed sentiments. His face which held an astounding appearance a few moments ago now showed the look of scepticism.

He glanced around the basement in confusion. His eyes finally came to settle on Adi. She too held a similar expression as him.

The diary had left them speechless for several minutes.

"What the hell is this? If this is a prank I am going to sue that person." Leo said annoyingly, breaking the silence. 

"Why do you think it's a prank?" Adi said, furrowing her brows. She battled in her mind whether to believe in it or not. Her mind made her accept the truth but her heart ached against it knowing the end misery, the blood spattered letter.

"Adi, this is complete gibberish. I don't trust it. As I said, it is just a joke. Someone has tricked us. Don't worry, we will figure out how and who thought to execute it. There are numerous antique shops that deal in these items." Leo contemplated. He was amused looking at the other objects in the basement.

"No Leo. It has this strange picture of us. SEE." She showed the painted picture which glowed softly.

"Adi, calm down. It must be Alex. And you do know how good he is at pranks and causing ruckus. He becomes a boffin doing all sorts of research and planning several minute details perfectly. Similarly, he must have done this time too. Must have hired someone who copied my handwriting and about the pictures, it must be some technology used to create it."

"What might be said about the basement? Don't tell me that Alex built it with some supernatural power and thought of doing a stupid prank." She said, raising her voice.

"I don't get why you are believing in this stupid diary instead of listening to me. I better call Alex and clear out the things. It's all because of him who intended to execute this stupid prank." Leo said, frowningly.

Adi still tangled between her heart and mind. She didn't want to take any risk, even if there are thousands of reasons for not believing in it, it was wise to be prepared. It was warned in the diary after all not to ignore it.

Leo called Alex. 

In a huge glassed office, a man sat there completely immersed in his work. In front of him was a black, heavy metal table. On that table, a half-unfilled glass of water was kept at a side. Right in front of the table was a push button. Whenever pressed, a screen would pop up. Alex was working on that screen in front of him.Holographic head popups from his wrist band. 

To say, the two men may have completely different characters however both of them were spectacular. Alex had black hair while Leo had brown hair complimenting his dark brows. Alex had black eyes while Leo had dark brown eyes. Both the men looked incredibly handsome with perfectly defined sharp features. While one was charming the other had an intense aura of intimidation.

He slides his thumb at the base of his wristwatch and a full, holographic figure of Leo appears on the floor. 'He looks pissed off' Alex mentioned in his head.

Leo: You fool, why do you have to prank us this way? Adi is frightened and all because of your stupid prank.

Alex: Leo, What are you talking about? By the way, I am out of town for 5 days. It's this project I was struggling for years to get my hands on. Finally got it. And as it was urgent I couldn't inform you earlier. Was working on this for weeks.

Leo: For god sake stop playing around and tell me the truth. Adi is too frightened.

Alex: I'm out of town. Tell me in detail about the prank which you think I did. Was this prank that great of my level? I surely want to know every single detail...hello hello?

Leo deliberately cuts the call after listening to his blabbering. It was clear that this wasn't  Alex's deed. Two of them appeared serious and the matter was still obscured. 

Adi said, "We should recheck the diary once again and try to figure out some clues."

"....."

"Leo, there is nothing wrong in checking it once right?"

"Yeah. Fine."

Adi began flipping the pages in the hope to get some hint. Finally after an hour she found something and said to Leo,

"I found something."

"Umm?"

"It's about this page. It looks like it was attached later. It is different from the rest of the pages in the dairy."

Leo took the diary. He investigated the pages himself. It was true that it wasn't part of the diary. It also had some red stains and the writing was different. It was written by Ada.

He let out a deep sigh. "This can't be true Adi. Magic doesn't exist. We are in the era where reasoning works. Forgot about it Adi."

"You just don't want to believe it because of the letter that says we are going to die. But we can't ignore the fact that it's true. Our fate is already written Leo."

"Please listen to me. We will figure it out. Give me some time. I am sure I will get this." 

"There's nothing wrong in believing once, Leo." She said, trying to convince him.

'I truly don't believe in this stuff. Nevertheless, it's better to be with Adi. It's not safe to leave her with this alone.' He thought in his mind and nodded.

"So let's first find the mentioned ring. She said it is somewhere here in the basement."

"Fine." He said with a gentle smile.

Two days passed and they still had no clue about the mentioned ring. Still, Leo wasn't convinced about the words written in the diary. He was just there to be with Adi and explore the basement.

"Did you find the ring?" Adi asked Leo.

"Nope." He replied.

He was curious how the basement appeared suddenly and why couldn’t they perceive it earlier. But, but, but this doesn’t mean that he was hoping to discover the ring as he was not convinced in the first place. Anyways there's nothing wrong with giving it a shot.

He called her, "Adi?"

"Yes?" Came a monotonous response from bustling Adi looking for the ring on a shelf and between the books.

"Do you know it's been two days since we have been trying to find the ring?"

"I know Leo, why are you informing me about that?"

"It’s because, you know, sometimes, if we are trying to find something for some unknown reason we don't get it." Leo started speaking facing his back towards Adi.

"Leo!" Adi said in a cheerful voice looking towards Leo who was picking another book from the shelf.

"Also there is a saying that goes as Ignorance is bliss." Leo continued without looking at Adi and attempting to persuade her that it's all fake.

"I found it, LEO!" Adi said excitedly, strolling towards him with the ring in her fist.

"That's impossible!" Leo exclaimed. He was not expecting to discover anything related to what the diary mentioned.

"Is this ring even real?" Leo asked. 

"I don't know. It should be true. Well it looks like an antique."

"Let me see it."

Leo began investigating the ring. It was made of gold and had a diamond mounted on top of it. It appeared just like an ordinary ring that people used to wear decades ago. 

Unknowingly Leo brushed his thumb on top of the diamond. The ring started shaking vigorously. Leo dropped the ring due to sudden violent movement.

Soon a small projection-like beam emitted from the diamond and hit on the wall before it. There appeared a black tiny circle gradually expanding its width. The black smoke exited from it and vanished in thin air.

Leo's and Adi's faces were horror-struck. Mouth gaped and eyes staring at the dark opening expanding gradually to the size from which any human could easily pass.

"So it’s all true." Leo said, finally realizing the truth and getting convinced by the words written in the diary.

"....." Adi couldn't find appropriate words. She became anxious thinking what must be in there and where will it take them? 

"Don't worry Adi, we will find a way for it and complete all the quests to save our lives just like an adventure video game quest."

"Hope so."

"So shall we start our journey dear?"

"I think so."

"Okay then."

They were about to enter the black portal, they heard a breaking of glass in their hall. They glanced at each other and ran upstairs towards the source of the noise.