Rohan's Calling Online

by A. J. Chaudhury

  “Well, they tried to catch all of us, but we escaped,” Grimguy said, “you fell and died. At the same time, congrats on becoming a perma player.”

  “I think I wasted my money doing that,” I said, “I mean, everyone is technically perma as the matters stand.”

  “I am afraid you didn’t waste your money,” Mastermind said. “But I don’t know how to prove my point.”

  “What are you saying?” I asked, not understanding Mastermind.

  “You know, it’ll not be a great thing if the members of the Kartoshi gang got stuck in the game world,” Mastermind said. “I think they are the only ones in this world who can still log out. Which means… I might still be able to log out.”

  Lovebird gasped at this. She seemed to think it was unfair that Mastermind should be able to log out while she was stuck in this world.

  “I am afraid to prove it though,” Mastermind said, “I don’t really want to go back to the real world.”

  “Can’t you log back right in?” I asked.

  “What if it makes them suspicious of me? I am in one of the Kartoshi gang’s capsules after all,” Mastermind said. “I will also have to drink the foul liquid again.”

  “Anyway,” Grimguy said, “who’s going to fight in the tournament tomorrow?”

  “I am at level one,” I said, “So I guess one of you three must do it. What kind of tournament is it anyway? Do we have to defeat this monster Rak?”

  Just thinking about it made my hair stand on end. I would be the size of a mouse when compared to the Rak, and just as harmless.

  “Yes,” Mastermind said, “but first it is required to win the fight-as-you-wish tournament.”

  I couldn’t really see the logic of the tournament organisers. What was the point of the fight-as-you-wish tournament?

  “But how can they be sure that whoever wins the fight-as-you-wish tournament will be able to fight the Rak?” I asked.

  Mastermind let out a laugh.

  “This tournament has never been won,” he said.

  I raised a brow at him.

  “Really?” Everybody in the tents nearby looked so enthusiastic that I had thought surely there was some hero who had defeated the giant Rak before.

  “How often is this tournament held?” I asked. If it was held once in a year or two, then it was unlikely that any actual players had fought with the Rak. Since the game world had been launched only two months back.

  “Every week,” Mastermind replied. “Tomorrow is the day of the tournament. Nobody has won it so far, but we must win despite everything. If we want to get the artefact to destroy Death13 that is.”

  “You think I will stand any chance?” Grimguy asked, extending his arms, presenting himself like he wanted us to decide if he could fight in the tournament.

  “Mastermind should be stronger than you,” I said. I hadn’t really meant to be so straightforward, but Mastermind was many levels higher than Grimguy.

  Mastermind chuckled.

  “There are players who are in level 150 or more,” he said, “you think I will have any chance against them? The Rak himself is a unique one of level 300. No particular class. So he probably has the powers of warriors and priests and farmers and workers. Everything. He might just use his massive foot and trample you so that you wake back in the place where you have kept your birthstone.”

  “I brought my birthstone along,” I said. “I was too afraid to leave it in the inn.”

  “In the last week, the guy who won the fight-as-you-wish tournament and got to fight the Rak could only survive fifteen seconds from what I heard,” Mastermind said, “And the one before that week survived about ten seconds. Plus, there is a huge fee to participate in the tournament. At least 20,000 gold. Most of the people here have come to watch the tournament and only a brave and rich few are going to fight and try their luck.”

  “Twenty thousand gold, eh?” I repeated. “I don’t think I have that much gold left.”

  “I do," Mastermind said, "The gold is no worry of mine. But what I am worried about is that if we don’t defeat the Rak tomorrow, we’ll have to wait an entire week before we can fight it again.”

  “What are the chances that we are going to defeat the monster tomorrow?” Grimguy said. “Lower than none? There is no way we can defeat the monster.”

  “There is a way,” Lovebird said, and she really seemed to be clinging to that ray of hope. “There is always a way.”

  “She is right,” Mastermind said, “there is always a way out. The quest wouldn’t exist if it was impossible to defeat the Rak.”

  Just then I noticed that there were guards standing around the Rak. Warrior Rakshasha guards as well as human guards. At lease fifteen of them were there and they had created a perimeter around the sleeping Rak. There were many other player Raks in the tournament field as well. It seemed that this was a place where Raks and humans coexisted.

  “Are we in some kind of a neutral area?” I asked Mastermind.

  “Yes, we are,” Mastermind said. “Here anyone of any race can come. This land belongs to everyone.”

  “Don’t you think it’s odd that guards should be positioned around the Rak?” I said.

  “I guess they are there to protect the players and not the Rak,” Grimguy said. “But I don’t think they will have any chance if the monster decides to swat everyone.”

  I observed the Rak for a while. I focussed on him to get the details.

  Kumbhakarna: Version 2.0

  Class: None

  Race: Rak

  Sex: Male

  Level: 310

  Strength: 7660

  Health: 4456/5000

  Mana: 566

  Intelligence: 121

  Karma: 3000

  “He actually has 3000 Karma?” I said.

  “He sure did some good deed at some point,” Mastermind said.

  “And look, he is named Kumbhakarna,” I said.

  “Well, Raks always have weird names,” Mastermind commented.

  “But Kumbhakarna is not a random name!” I said. The more I thought about it, I felt like I was on the verge of solving some puzzle. “It’s the name of one of Ravana’s brother! You guys don’t know the story of the Ramayana?”

  All three of them shook their heads.

  “I just knew Ravana was some Rakshasha who kidnaps a lady. The story is something like that, right?” Grimguy said.

  “Yes,” I said, “Kumbhakarna was the brother of Ravana. He slept for six months at a time. This one seems to sleep for only a week. Well, it was not easy to awake the actual Kumbhakarna before the six months were completed. He was ultimately killed using a weapon called the Brahmastra.”

  Quest Two Unlocked!

  Find the Brahmastra and defeat Kumbhakarna!

  Rewards: Unknown

  My jaw dropped.

  I couldn’t believe it. I had unlocked the quest just by speaking the word “Brahmastra”? The other three gaped, apparently also receiving the pop up.

  “Now that’s something,” Grimguy said. He didn’t look so grim anymore.

  “You have done it!” Lovebird said with a clap, excited that I had unlocked the quest.

  “Wait, wait,” I said, “it’s not done yet.”

  “But it explains why nobody has been able to win the tournament’s second phase!” Mastermind said enthusiastically. "Because the Brahmastra is required to defest the monster Rak!"

  Just then, some players who were passing us looked our way with curiosity.

  “I guess it will not be a bad idea to talk in a low voice,” Grimguy whispered.

  "The Brahmastra is a weapon, right?” Mastermind said in a tiny voice this time.

  “Yes,” I said, “a very powerful one from what I know. I thought you could acquire it by performing some ritual or by praying to a god. But that’s mythology. I wonder how we will get the Brahmastra here.”

  “Will it be possible that the organisers know about it?” Lovebird asked.

  “They have to,
right?” Grimguy said, “But I am not sure if they will give it to us just because we ask them.”

  “You know what,” I found myself saying, “I need a different place to think. Away from all this place. There are so many people here.”

  The others agreed. And so we began to walk away from the field of the tournament. Soon we reached a place that was at the edge of the woods. It was darker here, now that we were away from the light of the torches and fires in the field. I looked at the great Rak, Kumbhakarna. He was sleeping not a big distance away from the wrestling platform. I scratched my chin. I knew now that it was possible to defeat Kumbhakarna. But first we needed to find the Brahmastra, which existed without a doubt.

  Just then, I received a message from Rajahard.

  “Hey, where are you?”

  “Where are you?” I asked him instead.

  “In Kapilpura. What’s going on here? Everyone is running around. There are buildings destroyed. There is utter chaos here. I am in your inn right now. But here too there is a lot of destruction.”

  “Did you log in only now?” I asked.

  “Yes, Ladyjane and I logged in only now. The other day we realised that we lived only a block away from each other in the real world. We went on a date. You know, she actually looks so much like she is in the real world. She is with me right now.”

  “Well. It was probably the last date you went with her in the real world.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Why don’t you try to log out? Nobody’s told you?”

  I then explained to him all the chaos that had been happening and about Death13 in as few words as I could. Rajahard didn’t seem that bothered at all.

  “Well, looks like I saved the gold that I would have otherwise spent to go perma. So, what do we do now? Come to you using the portal?”

  I told about what Rajahard had said to Mastermind. Mastermind shook his head.

  “It’ll be a bit problematic,” he said, “if we defeat the giant, then we will have to proceed to the next quest in search of the other parts of the artefact. Plus there is no portal in a radius of fifty kilometres here. Pero cannot carry everyone around. Let them stay in Kapilpura and tell them to keep letting us know all that is going on there. Kapilpura seems to be the main place of Death13's attack.”

  I messaged this to Rajahard.

  “That sucks. But we’ll keep letting you know whatever shit is going on here.”

  “Cool. Just make sure to keep your distance from Death13.”

  “Man, I am totally enjoying this end-of-the-world feeling though!”

  I ended the conversation. Rajahard really was a unique man. People were being deleted and he had the chance of suffering the same fate, yet he was excited about it.

  “Why haven’t the game developers made it impossible to log in? It would save so many people!” Lovebird said.

  “They are afraid,” Mastermind said in a brooding voice, “they would rather have people forever stuck in the game than make it impossible to log in. If they did it, then the real world will know that something is wrong with the game.”

  “But wouldn’t the real world come to know about it still?” I said.

  “They will. But it will take some time. The game developers are desperate. Perhaps they will make a run before anyone finds out in the real world that players are getting stuck in the game.”

  “I wish there was a way to communicate with people in the real world,” Grimguy said.

  I decided to focus on the task at hand. The Brahmastra was the main thing we should be concerned about as of the moment.

  “Can we beat up the tournament organisers and force them to tell where the Brahmastra is?” I said. I wasn’t serious. But the three of them said it wasn’t a bad idea, considering how little time we had. Mastermind even said he would summon Pero for the task. But I told him to wait. We needed to think it through.

  “I heard what you folks were speaking,” a voice said suddenly so that all the four of us were taken with surprise. But I had heard the voice before, just who it belonged to, I wasn’t sure.

  “Who is that?” I said in a cold voice, looking into the darkness of the woods. I dislike folks who eavesdrop.

  A figure came towards us. Before long, I realised that it was Babaguy. The same man who had given me the message stone.

  “You?” I said in surprise.

  “Me, that’s right,” Babaguy said, and he still had the stern expression stuck to his face. “And I can help you.”

  “You two know each other?” Lovebird said, looking at me with wide eyes.

  “He was kind enough to give me a message stone when I asked if he had a spare one,” I said. I turned at Babaguy. “So, can you help us in any way?”

  Babaguy observed the four of us with a considering eye.

  “I can. But first tell me all you know about Death13.”

  “You are a member of the Kartoshi gang, aren’t you?” Mastermind suddenly barked. “You have come here to get us.”

  “Yes,” Babaguy said. “I am a member of the Kartoshi gang. But I am not here to do any ill to you. I am sick of my brother who is focusing too much on looting this game world. I wanted to be a king of crime, but I don’t want to resort to mass murdering for that.”

  I watched as Mastermind’s jaw dropped.

  “You are… the younger brother?” he asked Babaguy, his eyes on the verge of popping out.

  “Yes, I am. I have been humiliated too much by my brother. If there is any way I can take revenge on him, I will.”

  “I thought you held your brother in high regards,” Mastermind said.

  “I had to pretend, or he would have killed me, like he killed my twin. My twin and I were from a different wife of my father.” Babaguy frowned as he focused on Mastermind. “What’s your true identity, Mastermind?”

  “I was the guy who was asked to create the junk code for Death13.”

  “I remember you, then,” Babaguy said.

  “Wait a minute,” I said suddenly, “let’s keep introductions aside. How can you help us?”

  “First tell me how you plan to destroy Death13,” Babaguy said.

  I exchanged glances at Mastermind. Mastermind nodded at me, indicating that it was safe for me to speak. I told Babaguy all about the book of immortality and about the different artefacts required to create the supreme artefact that could destroy Death13. Babaguy listened wearing his stern expression.

  “So, you are in search for a Brahmastra?” he finally said, once I was done.

  I nodded eagerly. Did he know how to find a Brahmastra?

  “Enrol in the fight-as-you-wish tournament,” Babaguy told me instead.

  I raised a brow. I had almost been expecting him to hand me a Brahmastra.

  “What?”

  “Do as I said. You will win the tournament. And you will also be able to defeat Kumbhakarna.”

  “The wrestling will be a waste of time!” Mastermind said.

  “Trust me. I know you have reasons to not trust me, but for once, please do.”

  I looked from one to the other. I turned to Mastermind.

  “Why don’t you join the fight-as-you-wish tournament? You are the most experienced player.”

  “No, not him,” Babaguy said, before Mastermind could open his mouth. “You, Rohan, that’s your name, right? You will compete in the fight-as-you-wish tournament.”

  “Why me?” I asked. “I am the weakest right now.”

  “Don’t ask too many questions. Now let me be alone.”

  And without waiting for any other word from us, Babaguy went back into the woods. I scratched my head, as he disappeared into the foliage.

  Our heads full of questions, we made our way to the tent of the organisers.

  It was the biggest tent there was, and the people there sitting behind the desks were expensive looking folks wearing costly clothes. I enrolled myself as a player in the fight-as-you-wish tournament.

  “You are in level one, my friend,” the man
who was taking down names laughed, “you really think you have any chance in this tournament?”

  I looked at my three friends.

  “Go on,” Mastermind whispered to me. “Let’s trust Babaguy this once.”

  “Just write my name down,” I told the man. He laughed again, shaking his head, as though amused at me. But he wrote my name. I could barely believe that I had put so much trust into a person whom I had met barely an hour ago.

  Rohan.

  Class: Multi-tasker

  Race: Human

  Sex: Male

  Level: 1

  Strength: 150

  Health: 478/500

  Mana:149

  Intelligence: 60

  Karma: 0

  Chapter 19

  We rented one of the tents for the coming night. The owners were very happy for the 1000 gold that we gave them, probably because the tent had a few too many holes. But it didn’t look like it would rain at night and we felt relatively safe from the outside world in the tent.

  A few temporary stalls had been set up in the tournament field, and we had dinner in one of those.

  Then we lay down on our mattresses. Mastermind blew out the candle. For a moment, I observed a hole in the tent right above me. My mind began to wander to the times I had lived in the real world and if I would ever be able to return. Suddenly I noticed Lovebird looking at me. She was sleeping just a couple of metres away from me, her eyes sparkling.

  “Good night,” I said to her, because no other conversation came to me.

  “I hope this works out,” Lovebird said, “I hope Babaguy will really help us.”

  “I don’t know,” I heard Grimguy say. “I doubt him. Why didn’t he explain things to us in a better way? Why keep us in the dark?”

  “I think we can trust him,” Mastermind said, “I have seen him in the real world. He was a very serious kind of person most of the time. But whenever his brother was near, he would force himself to smile brightly and to talk with his brother like they were the best of friends. It was always clear to me that he hated his brother, and the hate undoubtedly doubled after his more cheerful twin was killed.”

  “I feel like trusting him,” I said, “but what if he doesn’t help us?”