Mastermind nodded.
“Let’s accept the quest together then, shall we?”
I touched the book he was holding and the quest message popped up in my vision again. Both of us accepted it.
Congratulations!
Quest One Unlocked!
Read "Immortality" and find the first artefact.
“Quest one? So this is a quest chain? I guess we’ll need to complete quite a few quests to defeat Death13 then,” Mastermind remarked.
“I think you should rather do the reading part,” I told Mastermind as I had already skimmed through the book earlier. Mastermind nodded with much seriousness. He went back to the table. I decided to take a stroll along the corridor.
I went and stood in front of an ancient window covered with fungi and moss. The woods began at a short distance from the library. In the distance I could see monkeys jumping from one branch to another, while birds flew in the blue sky.
I could see the orb of light still there in front of the great door of the library. I hoped it would be possible for me to return to Kapilpura in a few hours. Still, I could barely believe my luck that of all the books in the library, I had picked up the one book that was pivotal for our success. I felt quite accomplished for the morning, though I was well aware that defeating Death13 would be far harder than conquering a Rak village.
Just then, I heard some noises coming from below, like someone was running up the stairs. I went to the stairs to investigate. My heart leapt to my throat when I saw eight Raks ascending the stairs.
“Catch him!” one of them cried. There was no way I could fight all of them alone, so I ran as fast as I could to the big room where Mastermind was.
“Hey!” I yelled, immediately grabbing his attention.
“What?” he said.
“Raks are coming.”
Mastermind let out a curse and got up.
“I don’t think they are normal Raks. They could only be players Raks that are members of the Kartoshi gang. They have been following me for a while now.”
“There he is!” I heard a cry, and I turned to see that the Raks were already in the corridor. I ran inside the room to Mastermind.
“What do we do?” I said.
“Let me... think,” Mastermind said, putting a hand on his forehead. But there was no time to think. The Raks had reached the door of the room.
“Run!” Mastermind said.
I kicked a big book case and it fell, making an obstacle for the Raks. But the Raks just leapt over it. I kicked more book cases. However, in a few moments we had been cornered, and there was no way we could escape without a fight.
“Shit,” I said, turning at Mastermind, who was as horrified as me.
“You are so many levels higher than me, do something,” I said to Mastermind.
“I can’t!’ Mastermind said, as the Raks made their way to us, stepping over fallen shelves and books. “They might be able to identity who I am in the real world if I use any of my spells on them.”
Just then I looked down at the floor of the room. It had so many cracks in it.
“Do you have any spell to create a hole in the floor?” I asked Mastermind.
Mastermind pursed his lips.
“Give us that book,” cried the Rak closest to us. “And we will let you go.”
The Raks wanted the book on immortality. So that was why they had come.
I grabbed the book from Mastermind.
“You want this, eh?” I said. “You come any closer and I will burn it.”
I moved my fingers below the book as though I really knew a spell that could create flames.
The Rak let out a laugh.
“Yes, go on, do it,” he said, while the other Raks also joined in on the laughter, “we want to destroy the book. If you do it for us we’ll only be happy.”
I focused on one of the Raks at random, and saw that he was a level 50 warrior. The players were obviously stronger and powerful than the NPC Raks.
“Yeah,” Mastermind whispered to me, “I can create a hole in the floor.”
Mastermind made a complicated motion with his hand. A burst of fire went from his palm and hit the floor with a lot of power. The next few moments were ones of utter confusion for me. There was a lot of dust in the air, and I coughed like I was going to vomit out my lungs.
It was a minute before I could properly take in what had happened. I realised that the entire first floor had collapsed, such had been the intensity of Mastermind’s spell. I helped Mastermind stand up, as the Raks too pushed debris aside and got to their feet, grunting.
Mastermind and I ran to the door, and he blasted it away with a spell.
“What next?” I said, as I ran past the orb of light that was my only way to return to Kapilpura. I wanted to run back to it, but the Raks were in pursuit. “We can’t be running forever, can we?”
“Let me summon my good pet,” Mastermind said. And he said his summoning words. Just then one of the Raks shot an arrow and it hit my thigh. I fell down. I grunted as Mastermind tried to help me get back to my feet, but with the arrow embedded in my thigh, the pain would shoot up every time I tried to stand up.
“You carry on without me,” I told Mastermind, giving him a push, as the Raks neared us.
“I will be back,” Mastermind said and let go of my arm. He ran.
Six of the Raks gave him chase, while the other two boxed and kicked me.
“Tried to be clever, eh?” one of them said as he punched me on the nose. Stinging pain overcame my nose as blood leaked out of it. I recalled the time I had broken Grimguy’s nose and now understood what he must have felt like.
Luckily Mastermind had taken the book from me before fleeing. Despite all my pain, I managed to laugh a bloody laugh at the face of the Raks.
“I am useless to you,” I told them. Wrong words.
“Well, if you are useless to us then we can dispose you, right?” one of the Raks said, raising his sword.
I could have paralysed the Rak with my spell, but I recalled Mastermind’s words that doing so might make it possible for them to trace my real world identity. I didn’t want to die in my real life while sleeping inside a capsule. I rather preferred death in the game world, so I would be able to respawn in the Ravana inn.
The Rak brought down his sword. But just an inch from my neck he stopped, as a cry pierced the air. He looked up at the sky, and so did I. In the distance there was a pterodactyl, coming fast towards us.
On top of the pterodactyl was Mastermind.
But hadn’t Rajahard earlier said it was impossible for a player to control pterodactyls? Well, who cared? As long as Mastermind saved me, I wasn’t going to question anything. Even as I watched, the pterodactyl came closer and closer at breakneck speed and even before I could gasp, the pterodactyl grabbed two of the Raks near me with its strong claws, took them to the air and dropped them from the great height.
When the Raks hit the ground, they burst into a thousand pieces. Some of their organs came and fell on me even though the Raks had hit the ground a good distance away. Thankfully, the organs disappeared in a matter of moments before I could vomit.
The pterodactyl came and landed on the ground just next to me.
“Climb onto my pet,” Mastermind said, as the other six Raks now approached.
“But my portal,” I said, pointing near the castle door that had been blasted by Mastermind.
“Forget it,” Mastermind said hurriedly, “just get on top here.”
I pulled out the arrow from my thigh, and with great effort climbed onto the pterodactyl. Just then an arrow whizzed past my ear. That was close, I thought. The arrow had been shot by one of the Raks.
The pterodactyl turned its head at the Raks, screeched loudly and beat its wings. Very soon we had taken to the air and were climbing height rapidly. My head swirled as I looked down at the castle below which was becoming smaller with the second.
“Good boy,” Mastermind said to the pterodactyl, rubbing its
head like one would rub the head of a loyal dog. “And Rohan, it’s a better idea not to look down.”
I nodded. Nausea was hitting me hard, and so was the wind as the pterodactyl was flying fast. I closed my eyes, and told myself it was okay. In my vision I could see my health declining slowly due to the nausea. I took out a health vial from my bag and put it to my lips. The nausea started to leave me slowly and I could open my eyes. The pain in my thigh also subsided. I looked at the clouds that surrounded us with fresh new eyes. I began to enjoy the flight.
“I thought it was impossible to control a pterodactyl,” I said to Mastermind once the nausea had completely left me.
“I am not controlling him,” Mastermind said, “he’s my friend and my pet. Only the Raks can control the pterodactyl with those rings that they use. When humans try to do the same, things usually go wildly wrong.”
I recalled the last time I had tried to control a pterodactyl with a ring. I had almost died and even nearly killed Danav in the process.
“How did you make him a pet?” I asked Mastermind.
“It’s a long story to be honest,” Mastermind replied, “I won him as a pet by completing a quest about a month ago. He’s a great pet, isn’t he? Do you have pets?”
“Yes,” I said, “Monkey people. A mother and son pair”
“Monkey people make good pets,” Mastermind said, “they are loyal, like my pterodactyl. His name is Pero by the way. But there are some pets which are lazy and they don’t obey their masters.”
“So where are we going by the way?” I asked Mastermind, checking my map. We seemed to be headed towards the east which barely had any red spot or Rakshasha village.
“Any place where I can read the book at peace,” Mastermind said.
“You said that if we use a spell on the Raks they might recognise us,” I said.
“Yes, there is a possibility,” Mastermind said in a more serious tone. “It’s because using magic on someone leaves traces on the person’s body which can be used to detect where the spell caster is located in the real world. It is a complicated process that takes time, but I didn’t want to take any risks.”
“So the other members of the Kartoshi gang don’t know what your online avatar is?” I said.
“Nope, they don’t. At least not so far. Though in the scenario that they come to know by some means, then I will have to go perma. Which wouldn’t be a great thing to do either, because then Death13 could forever delete me.”
Mastermind asked Pero to land in a remote place at the base of a large mountain that was surrounded by a few trees here and there. Not far away from the mountain, a river flowed. It was colder here than other places I had been to in Prithvi.
I jumped down from the pterodactyl’s back after the beast had landed, and so did Mastermind. Mastermind thanked Pero and then the pet disappeared.
“Now, let’s do some reading,” Mastermind said, sitting down on top of a boulder.
As Mastermind explored the book, I decided to explore the place. There were so many boulders here. I reckoned many of them had fallen from atop the mountain. I picked up a small rock and held it to the sunlight. The morning sunlight felt good on my skin as I observed the rock.
Even now, I found it hard to believe that I was in a game world. The rock, which felt real as one in the real world, had been created by humans. So had been the mountain itself, and the river and the sky and everything. Even the body that I was presently in. Everything had been created by humans in this world. It was pretty amazing how technology had advanced for us to do these amazing things. A thousand years ago, who would have thought that something like this would be possible? This wasn’t magic, but science. But then, science was magic, wasn’t it?
I threw the rock away and observed Mastermind, absorbed in the book.
“So what does the book say?” I asked.
“It seems that the artefact is not just one, but it is a combination of several artefacts. That's why the first quest is to find the first artefact,” Mastermind replied. “It seems well have to find the smaller artefacts and then join them together to get the powerful artefact that can be used to destroy Death13.”
“And I assume it won’t be easy finding all the pieces of the artefact, would it?” I said.
“Nope. This book only points to the first artefact as of right now. But the book does promise that once we find the first artefact, it would tell us about the location of the second artefact. Drabund, the place where artefact number one is located, is far north, at the very edge of the Rakshasha lands, and borders Dinoland. There lives an old man in that place apparently who can lead us to the artefact. But the book also tells us to be wary of the old man himself. The book says we might have to fight a monster, or several monsters, just to acquire the first artefact. This is going to be very hard, Rohan. If you don’t want to do it, I can help you return to Kapilpura with the help of Pero.”
I thought about this for a moment. I would miss Lovebird and the other friends I had made in Kapilpura. But I had told Mastermind that I would help him. There was no turning back now. I had also seen how destructive Death13 was. I recalled Daddy1 and his destroyed birthstone and gritted my teeth. No, I would have to take a stance against this, regardless of whether it ended in success. Prithvi was a unique world and I wanted to preserve it as one. There needn’t be any junk codes going around deleting people.
“I told you earlier that I would help you,” I said to Mastermind, looking him in the eye, “I would help you no matter what losses I must suffer. Even if we have to face dangerous monsters, we would. But we need to destroy Death13.”
“Thanks,” Mastermind said. He closed the book and kept it inside his bag.
Just then I received a message from Grimguy.
“Hey, where are you man?” he said.
“Not far. Just a couple of thousand kilometres away from Kapilpura,” I replied.
He seemed to take a while to understand what I had said.
“Really?” he finally messaged back.
“Yup.”
“Did you use a portal?” he asked.
“Yes, there’s one in the land of the Raks. You can find it on your map too. It’s in the village the location of which is shown by the darkest red spot in the map.”
“The Raks didn’t kill you?”
“Yeah… They almost did. But that was because I forgot the name of the place where I had to go.” I hadn’t forgotten the name of the place. I hadn’t known the name of the place. “You just need to pay them a good amount of gold.”
“But where are you exactly? And why did you go so far away for? Is it some kind of quest?”
“Remember Mastermind? Came here to help him.”
“Has it got something to do with Death13?”
“Yeah. There seems to be an artefact that can be used to destroy Death13. We now need to find the pieces of the artefact and put it together.”
“Hmm… Why didn’t you ask me to go along with you?”|
“You were too busy with the puzzle.”
“Nah. I have given up on it. It was screwing my brain. It’s just not worth it.”
“Hey, you completed half of it. Why give up now?”
“The half I completed was the easier part. Plus, I seem to have lost some of the pieces. Anyway, listen, I want to go along with you too. I want to help Mastermind in every way possible.”
I relayed what Grimguy had said to Mastermind. Mastermind scratched his chin in thought.
“Tell him to wait for some time. Tell him to be ever ready. Anytime we will call him and he should come,” Mastermind told me. Grimguy was okay with this.
“Cool,” he said. “Call me whenever you need me. If you want, I can go and live with the Raks.”
“Haha. You don’t need to do that. Just go to them when we ask you to use the portal. Beware though, the portal costs thousands of gold.”
“I can manage that,” Grimguy said.
I ended the conversation with Grimguy. Only th
en did I see a message that Lovebird had sent me yesterday night, but I seem to have missed it earlier.
“Are you all right? Was worried for you since you left so suddenly.”
She was presently offline but I messaged her anyway telling her that I was okay, but it would be some time (possibly a long time) before the two of us would be able to meet again.
“The Ruins of Drabund are a long way away,” Mastermind said, jumping down from the boulder. “I guess, I will summon Pero again.”
So it happened that Mastermind summoned his pet. The two of us climbed the pterodactyl. Pero flapped his massive wings and off to the air we took. I knew at that moment that in the next few days I would travel large distances of the world of Prithvi. I was scared, but I was also excited. I was happy that I was at least taking the stance of the good side in the fight.
Chapter 17
It was after a day of travel that we reached the Ruins of Drabund. It wasn’t easy at all to sleep while being on Pero’s back at night. My body ached for sitting for so long. But the great sights that I had had the opportunity to witness at night had been totally worth it. There was no better feeling than flying thousands of feet above the ground, the moon casting its silvery light on us and the clouds that surrounded us. It had felt like something out of a really nice dream. There were also the villages of the Raks, such a great distance below us. Sometimes the villages had fires lit, but the fires looked like mere dots from our position in the sky.
We landed about a kilometre from the Ruins of Drabund because we didn’t know what kind of danger lurked in the ruins. Whatever monster dwelled there was probably a hundred times more powerful than the strongest Rak I had ever killed. I knew that there was a great possibility that I might die during this most unique of quests.
The place where we landed was one of dense vegetation. There were centipedes and millipedes of extremely large sizes in the trees surrounding us. This was probably because Dinoland was not far away.
The Ruins of Drabund seemed to be the last standing walls of what might have been an old castle. The roof of the castle had long gone. At least that was what I could make from the distance.
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