by Abhisek Basu
“Go ahead. Pull your screen down. I’m sure you haven’t had the chance to do that yet,” Josh said as his eyes started glowing. “If it’s a fight you want, I’ll give it to you. But please, use the time that we are fighting to think. I know you don’t give a damn about the Vice President. If you did, he’d be in your care dome, but he is not.”
Natalie kept quiet. Her screen wasn’t greyed out anymore. The only option that was greyed out was the “Message to Aurora” tab. She scrolled over to her inventory and saw all her weapons- the Obsidian swords and Alter-life gloves.
Natalie pressed on the Alter-life gloves and they appeared in her hands. She concentrated on her hands, and they started glowing. Immediately she looked up at Josh and saw him smiling with wide-open eyes.
“You can use these too. Go ahead, shoot a fireball at me!” Josh said.
“No,” Natalie said, although she was suddenly happy that she could wield her powers on Earth. But how was it happening? Just to make sure it was real, Natalie pointed her fist towards a dome in the corner and opened her palm, trying to see if it actually worked.
It did. A small fireball shot out of her hands and cracked at a tree nearby. A man in a red mask immediately moved towards the dome with a fire extinguisher to control the small flames on the carpet covering the dome. By the time he stopped, Natalie saw a large hole in the carpet. Whoever was in the dome was almost visible and had it not been for the reflecting light, Natalie would’ve been able to see who it was.
“Wonderful. Now do you believe it?” Josh asked.
“Believe what?” Natalie asked.
“That you and I are meant to be? If you go out of this arena, you won’t have your powers anymore. Neither will I. But here we are more powerful than ever! And soon, one of us will be able to rule over the world with our powers. No one can stop us,” Josh said.
“How is this even possible?” Natalie said.
“We are both from Tholos, and I’m sure you vividly remember your journey even now. The pains of my struggles here on Earth have eroded my memories a little, but I still remember my time there. That has shaped me into the man I am today, and I’m sure that was for a reason. I thought I’d get a worthy adversary, but when I saw your journey, I realized that I’ve been given so much more!” Josh said.
“You saw my journey?” Natalie asked.
“I did. Even they did,” Josh said, pointing at the two covered at the corner. “Each moment of how you transformed, how you stood for what is right and how you became the hero you are today, I saw everything. I even have proof of this- look-”
Josh held Natalie’s hand and tried to drag her towards the pillar, but Natalie pulled her hand away. If he saw her journey, why couldn’t she see hers? She knew only one person had to be responsible.
Josh smiled and held his hand outward, signalling her to follow him. “You want to see this, trust me,” he said and walked off.
Natalie followed him. As she went towards the three domes, Josh gestured at his men, who jumped down from the lower rungs of the arena and started pulling away the carpets covering the domes.
“That is Lewis,” Josh said as the first carpet came off, revealing a muscular man wearing a red suit. His mask was in his hand, and he waved from inside the dome. The dome had ROUND 1 glowing above it in yellow letters.
“That is Miss Tessa,” Josh said as the men pulled off the second carpet revealing a woman wearing a red dress. Her long black hair was neatly tied up behind her head and she had a sad smile on her face. She too waved when her name was called. ROUND 2 glowed above her dome in glowing letters.
“And that is Dr. Jerry, whom you already have had the pleasure of meeting,” Josh said as the last carpet came off. Dr. Jerry smiled, an evil smile that stretched across his face. The words ROUND 3 glowed above his dome. He was still wearing the white coat, and he didn’t bother to wave like the others. Instead, he extended his hands and said, “Ta da!”
“Dr. Jerry! How?” Natalie shouted.
“Dr. Jerry was one of my most trusted informants, giving me information about the government’s every move whenever it was necessary. The rest here are the people who joined The Red Alliance when it had just one member- me. They trusted the plan when a plan didn’t exist, which is to say they trusted me when no one did. I care about all these people deeply, and I wouldn’t want them to die today, as I’m sure you wouldn’t want the people in your care dome to die.”
“You took my uncle to the bunker. Is he okay? Is he safe?” Natalie shouted, but Dr. Jerry didn’t answer. Neither did Josh. Instead, he gestured his men to take off the carpets of the three domes on the other side.
As the carpets came off the first two domes, Natalie looked at the faces of Travis and Ian, confused as they were and screaming for help.
“Let us go!” Ian shouted, the words ROUND 1 glowing above his dome. “Help!” Travis screamed, the letters ROUND 2 glowing above his dome. The third dome, the one with Round 3 glowing above it, was uncovered, and it showed the last person that Natalie expected to be there.
“Hey! Natalie!” her uncle shouted. Natalie thought he’d be safe at the bunker, but he wasn’t. Dr. Jerry had helped kidnap him and bring him there.
“These people wouldn’t be in these domes had you not cared for them. Because you do, they’re there. It’s the same for me,” Josh said.
Natalie immediately held up her hands, fists glowing, ready to launch a fireball when Josh stepped in front of her.
She didn’t stop. She aimed and shot out a ball of fire at the dome holding Ian, but nothing happened. The fireball crashed against the dome and fizzled out.
“All these people will be able to walk away freely if you hand me over the key. Because I won’t be able to kill you, I sincerely believe we should be married. You can be by my side as we rule the world…”
Natalie shoved Josh aside and ran towards the dome that held Ian. She opened her inventory and clicked on both her Obsidian swords. Running towards the dome, Natalie swung her swords, aiming to slice open the dome, but it was useless. Her swords made a clunking sound on the dome and recoiled back. She turned and faced Josh.
“I don’t want to fight you during our first meeting. I’m sure if you give me a moment to explain- you’ll understand,” Josh said, but Natalie didn’t wait for him to finish his sentence.
She concentrated on her fists till it burned, lighting both her swords with flames. She ran and then jumped, aiming her swords at his neck, but right in that instant. Natalie fell on her feet, maintained her balance, and swung her swords again, but Josh dodged her again.
“What are you doing? Hand the key over to him! We don’t need no keys for us!” her uncle shouted from his dome.
“Listen to your uncle, Natalie. He seems to be a sensible man,” Josh said, but Natalie had already made her decision.
A new notification popped up in her vision.
________
Initiate Round 1?
Accept. Yes? No?
Round will be lost when health reaches 60%.
Natalie White is yet to Accept.
Josh Bones is yet to Accept.
________
Natalie clicked on Yes. The notification screen changed.
________
Round 1.
Accepted. Waiting for Josh Bones.
Round will be lost when health reaches 60%.
Natalie White has accepted.
Josh Bones is yet to Accept.
________
“Natalie, please,” Josh said. “There is an easy way to do this that doesn’t involve combat,” Josh said, dodging another kick and then swiftly dodging her swords again. He held the black box up again.
“Accept this, Natalie,” Josh said. “With your hand in mine, nothing can stop us.”
“Do what he says, kiddo! Give him what he wants and run away from here!” her uncle shouted, banging on his dome.
“No!” Natalie shouted. “Never! I’ll kill you right now!”
Josh lowered his head
. “Very well. You will regret this.”
The notification popped up on her screen again.
________
Round 1.
Accepted.
Round will be lost when health reaches 60%.
Natalie White has accepted.
Josh Bones has accepted.
________
Natalie swiped the notification away, but right then, within seconds, she saw Josh in front of her. Natalie swung her sword, but Josh effortlessly evaded her again.
Natalie hadn’t seen anyone that fast. She brought down her stats, maximised her speed and strength, and went for the attack again. Like the last time, Josh successfully evaded every single thing she threw at him. But she noticed a strange thing happening every time she attacked him. His eyes flickered wildly, pupils rolling up and shifting sideways within seconds, as if he was accessing his screen every time she attacked him. Natalie, finally tired and shocked at his agility, stood and adjusted her stats and equalled them again.
“Surprised, right?” Josh said. “I realized soon enough that the agility stat helps me dodge attacks pretty efficiently, but sadly that seemed to be its only purpose. You can adjust your stats all you want, but you won’t be able to attack me,” he said, then smiled, saying, “Unless I want you to.”
“How are you doing this?” Natalie asked.
“I want to tell you how, and I will. Trust me, Natalie, there’s no better thing than finding someone who has been through the same world that I had been, so yes. I will teach you everything I know, but you have to marry me first. I’m sure that once you do, you’ll understand all this,” he said.
“No. I will defeat you,” Natalie said.
“I knew you’d say this. This is almost too predictable,” Josh said, looked at the domes again and then looked back at her. Then his eyes shot out two white lasers that Natalie tried blocking with her sword. But he moved so swiftly that within a moment, he was above Natalie. The lasers burned her skin and her health bar went down. Natalie kicked him off, tried to pick up her sword, but she was blasted away with the lasers again.
Her health went down to 55%, and a message popped up on her screen.
____
Round 1 lost.
____
Chapter 15
Josh stared at Natalie, who was struggling to get up from the ground.
A notification popped up on his screen.
___________
Winner of Round 1 : Josh Bones
You may now choose who to sacrifice among the domes of Round 1.
Point your finger and select your desired dome. That person will die a painless death.
___________
Josh knew what to do. It was all part of his plan, and everything was working out perfectly. Most people don’t think. They don’t think about what things mean, what words mean, or even observe their own thoughts. Not him. He thinks a lot, and he had a lot of time to think this through. If they wanted him to kill Ian, They wouldn’t have given him the choice. They would’ve just decided to kill Ian after Natalie lost Round 1. But they didn’t.
He had a choice. But he knew an important thing that most people cannot comprehend.
Some choices are burdens in disguise.
“You know what this means, right?” Josh said, staring at Natalie. Natalie had gulped down a health potion, trying to do it in disguise while she was on the floor, but Josh noticed it. From his calculations, he estimated that she should have 2 health potions left.
“This doesn’t mean anything! I won’t let you harm them!” Natalie shouted and ran towards Josh, but she was stopped by an invisible barrier. She fell backwards, got up and tried walking past it, when she realized that it was useless.
Josh saw her scrolling through her screen, looking for answers as to what it was.
“That is there to prevent you from attacking me while I’m making this difficult decision. Seems like it’s doing a pretty good job,” Josh said. “It’s there on your Final Quest description log. Check it instead of-”
Natalie tried swinging her sword to break through the screen, but like the domes, the barrier was impenetrable.
“Doing that,” Josh said, finishing his thought.
He waved his hand first at the dome containing Ian and then at the opposite side towards the dome containing Lewis. Then he waved his hand at Ian’s dome again. The ROUND 1 glowing letters glowed brighter each time he waved his hands at each dome.
“Don’t do it!” Natalie shouted. “Please! Don’t!”
“I won’t. You will,” Josh said.
“What?” Natalie said, her voice cracking mid way.
“Let’s look at Lewis, shall we? Lewis lost his father when he was fourteen. His mother was an alcoholic. Still, he pushed himself and got a scholarship to an Ivy League college. He got a job, but the company later laid him off because he found a major flaw in their business factories employing underage children and reported it anonymously. I found him at an online forum and found his blog on philosophy later. It’s a blog with no readership. Search engines don’t bring in traffic, but he kept on sharing summaries and analyses of different texts despite the lack of an audience. Is that right, Lewis?”
“Yeah. The blog was called Philosophic Lewis,” Lewis said, shaking his head and smiling.
“Yes. I got in touch with him. Explained my plan and got him onboard. I paid him enough to take care of him and his mother. My point is, Lewis is a good man, even if he is not on your side. Knowing his unfortunate circumstances, situations that would’ve turned men sour, he didn’t go ahead and rob a bank or do anything immoral. So, he is a good man. Do you agree?” Josh asked, staring at Natalie.
“What has that got to do with anything? He is killing people for you now,” Natalie asked.
“To this day, he has just killed one person, and that was when that person tried to murder me. The point is, situations don’t always turn men bad. Only people who are gullible end up following rabbit holes without their own Judgement. I’m sure you know who I’m talking about,” Josh said looking at Ian. Ian looked at the ground avoiding eye contact.
“So, the choice is yours, Natalie. As my future wife, you will get to make important choices, and this is the beginning of that life. Tell me who to kill because one of them must die. Their fate was sealed when you chose combat. Will it be Ian or Lewis?”
“I’ll never be your wife!” Natalie shouted. She opened her mouth to say something else when Ian called out to her.
“Natalie. I’ll understand if you choose to kill me,” Ian said. “I saw what I did to you in that city, and to everyone else during my time there. I don’t know what caused me to lose my memories, but I shouldn’t have trusted Moloch and Tenebrae. They brainwashed me, but I know the fault is mine. No one’s to blame. It is me. I’m sorry.”
“How do you know what happened to you there? Do you remember your time in Tholos?” Natalie shouted.
“He made me and Travis watch everything. We watched everything, and I saw what I did,” Ian said, tearing up. “If whatever he showed was true, I guess I did some pathetic things at the end.”
“Shut up, Ian. You didn’t know any better. I choose Lewis to die,” Natalie said.
Josh looked at Lewis. Lewis nodded at him as if he was accepting his fate. His heart sank thinking about what he had to do, but he knew that it had to be done. Perhaps that was the trouble with friendships and attachments. You never know how deep they run, but they usually end up dragging you back from the most important things in life. That was how Josh felt, and he knew that it was for this reason that he had to cut all ties. The only way to do that permanently was death.
“What are you waiting for? I said it’s Lewis,” Natalie shouted.
Josh stared at her and tried to hide his anger as he did.
“One day, Natalie, you’ll understand that what you did today was not the right decision. I hope I’ll make you see the light one day,” Josh said, his voice almost breaking down. He pointed a finger at Lew
is’ dome. The ROUND 1 letters above it glowed brightly again.
A notification popped up on his screen.
____________
This will kill the person in the dome. Are you sure you want to proceed?
Yes. No.
____________
Josh clicked on Yes, and simultaneously, Lewis’ body burst apart inside the dome. Splatters of blood rolled down the inside walls of his dome while the ground absorbed his floating insides.
Josh maintained his composure. That was not the time to break down. The dome above Ian disappeared, and he ran towards Natalie.
Josh stepped in front of him, his eyes glowing with rage. “Run away before I kill you. Run!” he shouted.
Ian changed directions and ran away from the corner of the arena.
“I didn’t think you’d do it. You killed one of your own men! If you can kill someone you care for, I can’t imagine what someone so evil like you can do. But I won’t let you do anything like that!” Natalie shouted. Her swords were glowing again.
“Evil? That is your problem, Natalie. You may be capable and strong, but you’re naive. No such thing as evil exists,” Josh shouted. Then he closed his eyes and calmed himself down. “There is no evil. Pessimists believe that evil is everywhere, that the good would eventually lose. Optimists believe that the good would eventually win. Both sides are wrong.”
“Which side are you on? Killing people, building an army of pawns to do your bidding, kidnapping people? Are you on the good side?”
“Yes, and so are you. So is everybody. It’s always good versus good, anywhere and everywhere. Everyone believes they are the good person in their story. No one wakes up in the morning intending to be evil. When Tenebrae showed Travis what progress his world would have if only he was the God, Travis knew he was fighting for the good side. When you trusted Aurora, you knew you wanted to save the people. You trusted the good side. All humans are like that. We are inherently good in all our own stories, and because we are, the net result is good. Look around you. Skyscrapers, Virtual Reality, AR phones and self driving cars, all because we are all good. I’m good, because when I’ll rule over the world- I’ll make it a better place, a place that this good world needs. And you’re going to help me do it, by my side.”