Rohan's Calling Online

by A. J. Chaudhury

  “Try it!” Lovebird said, fierce determination in her voice.

  “But what would you actually make them dream?” Grimguy asked.

  “Something that would scare the shit out of them so that they open the door of the cell and even bring us our bags.”

  I selected the spell.

  “Activate Bad Dreams,” I said.

  Whom would you like to use the spell on?

  The soldiers outside.

  Targets selected. Please note that the extent to which this spell works is entirely up to you and how well you are able to think horrific thoughts that can scare the targeted people. The effect of the spell would last depending on the extent to which the targets are scared. Your mind will exist in two parts for the duration over which you use the spell. One part will be inside you and the other part of your mind will travel to your targets’ minds.

  So basically I need to think really bad things and that would do the job, right?

  Bad Dreams spell has been activated!

  Immediately a strange sensation came over my mind. While I could still feel that I was in the cell, sitting against the corner, with Grimguy and Lovebird near me but at the same time the other part of my mind existed in an entirely different plane. That particular part felt completely detached from me and I could feel that part of my mind slowly float over to the two soldiers who were sleeping outside the cell. And then, I entered their minds. I could literally see what they were dreaming.

  The first soldier was dreaming about being in the real world. He was in the beach. Of course everything about his dream was quite vague. When I looked up at the sun in his dream world, I could barely make any shape out of it. It was just an irregular mass of light high above. As for the sand, there was nothing grainy about it at all. The soldier seemed to be just walking about the shore, playing with the sea water. The sea didn’t even extent for a great distance, and the other people present in the shore didn’t have distinct faces. They didn’t have distinct arms and legs. They were liked very blurred figures in the background in a movie.

  I considered what I should do to turn the relatively calm dream into a nightmare. I looked at the people. Could I turn them into monsters of sorts? What about the sea? Could I drown the soldier in the sea? Sure, that would freak out the soldier, but how should I make him open the lock and let us out?

  The second soldier was dreaming about being in a hotel. He was eating delicious food. It was hard to make out what he was exactly eating since it was so blurry. The other people in the hotel were blurry.

  Hmm… could the make the second soldier choke? Something worse? I considered the hotel. Say you are having a fine meal, savouring delicious food and suddenly the entire hotel collapses? That would surely give you a heart attack, wouldn’t it?

  “Are you scaring them?” Lovebird asked me, in a very non-disturbing manner.

  “I am thinking,” I said, “I think I know how I will do it.”

  I attacked the dreams of both the soldiers simultaneously. In the dream of the first soldier, I made a very attractive lady approach the soldier. The soldier was of course elated. Then I made the lady speak gibberish—but extremely polite and nice-to-hear gibberish—to the soldier. The soldier was confused. Next, I replaced the head of the attractive lady with a giant lock. A very disturbing one that had razor sharp teeth. Clouds covered the sun of the dream.

  The soldier began to run towards the sea, the half-lady and half-lock monster in pursuit of him. The monster leapt and pinned the soldier down onto the sand. At that very moment, a giant wave came, taking both the soldier and the lady to the sea. The soldier tried to swim away, but the monster lady had here arms wrapped around his chest and wouldn’t let go at any cost.

  Both of them began to sink. The soldier struggled to breathe, swinging his arms in an effort to return to the surface, but the lady pulled him down, all the time whispering in the most eerie voice imaginable “Open me! Open me! I won’t let you go unless you promise to open me!”

  For a while the soldier struggled, but eventually he gave up. He agreed to open the lock. But still the monster wouldn’t let go of him, saying once it was actually done would she free him. I decided to let the soldier be in this stage of semi-sleep until he had actually carried out the task.

  In the dream of the second soldier, I made a gigantic lock fall on the hotel, completely crushing it, but somehow letting the soldier escape with his life.

  Next, I made Grimguy, Lovebird and myself appear in his dream. We pulled him out of the wreck that the hotel had become. All the other people had been crushed, and blood was everywhere on the ground. The three of us however didn’t look normal. We had the faces of demons, with darker eyes and possessing fangs like that of a vampire.

  And then I made the three of us turn into giant keys. But I wasn’t done yet. He tried to run, much as the first soldier had, but it was to no avail. I made player bags rain from the sky, quite a few of which fell atop him, such that he was completely covered in a heap of countless player bags.

  All the while, I could feel the soldier’s heart hammering in his chest. My plans were working. Using an omniscient voice I forced the second soldier to promise that he would return our bags and help us escape from the vile dungeon, and only then will I remove the thousands of bags that he was covered in.

  There was a sound outside the cell at that moment. The cell door opened. It was the first soldier. The light from the nearest torch that was perched on the corridor falling on his face, made him look like he had seen the most horrific thing in his life. A very visible shudder had taken over him. The three of us went out and the soldier made no attempts to stop us. I had not yet allowed him to come to the surface of the sea in his dream. Only when we were completely out of harm’s way would I free him from the spell. There was no sign of the second soldier however.

  But I was well aware that he had gone to fetch our bags. No matter what obstacles he faced, he would bring our bags. And it was after a minute that he came running, quite out of breath, his eyes unfocussed. There were three bags in his hands, which he handed to us.

  “Show us the way out,” I said to the two of them. “And don’t let anyone else know.”

  Both of them nodded, being under my complete control, scared that I wouldn’t free them from their own dreams.

  Along the corridor they led us. This time, they didn’t lead us through the way that eventually emerged into the throne room. But they took another way. After some time we reached a door. One of the soldiers opened it.

  It was the whole wide world outside. It felt good to be outside in the fresh air. The three of us were about to run away from the spot, when suddenly one of the soldiers grabbed my arm. His lips were quivering and he seemed like someone begging for mercy.

  “Please,” he said, “free us.”

  “Close the door and return to the dungeon where you were supposed to guard us. Get inside the cell and then fall asleep and forget all that you have done in the past few minutes. Only then will you be free.”

  The soldiers’ faces fell at these words of mine. Yes, they might have helped us, but I wasn’t going to take any risks. What if they informed everyone about our escape right after I ended the spell on them?

  The soldiers however nodded. They went inside and closed the door. I needn’t worry about them from this point. I received a message just then. It was Wiseazz. My heart hammered in anticipation as I opened the message.

  “Hey, the puzzle has been solved,” Wiseazz said, so that I felt like a great weight had been removed from my shoulders. “Can you believe it? It was Reptilio who did it! Damn, I should have taken him to the place where the statue was when you first called me. Too bad, I wanted him to be safe and so I left him in the hideout, otherwise we could have fixed everything a long while ago. But anyway, let’s look at the brighter side. Now I am going to go to Dinoland and fix everything. You all wait. I hope the gang members haven’t been too harsh on you.”

  “We have successfully es
caped,” I messaged back, “maybe let’s meet up and go to Dinoland together? Other gang members might have gone to the statue and if you go alone it won’t be easy for you to show the solved puzzle to Ravana’s statue and awaken him.”

  “That’s not a bad thought,” Wiseazz replied, “I am glad you have succeeded in escaping. Where should we meet though?”

  I thought quickly. We just needed a proper location. We couldn’t go back to Ravana’s inn, since Nanda would be there and though he was a good person he was too scared and ultimately we couldn’t trust him. I ran the places through my mind and finally decided that we should meet near the main gate of Kapilpura.

  The three of us moved fast. We kept to the shadows. Occasionally we would see people moving around. They moved fearlessly and we suspected were probably members of the Kartoshi gang. It took us a long while owing to our slow pace, but we finally reached the gate.

  But there was no sign of Wiseazz or his loyal pet Reptilio. I looked about the spot, for the large size of Wiseazz shouldn’t be hard to miss even in the dark.

  “Where are they?” Lovebird asked.

  “Ask him where he has reached,” Grimguy said.

  I messaged Wiseazz asking his location. He didn’t reply. But after a tense minute, I saw him waving from the corner of an alley. He beckoned us to go to him. I didn’t understand this. After all, we needed to get out of Kapilpura to get to the Rak village where the portal was located which was the only way we could get to the statue of Ravana.

  “Why don’t you come along?” I asked him by messaging him.

  “Death13 is nearby.” Barely did I read the message, that at a spot about a hundred metres away there was a bright flash of light, followed by the neighing of a horse as though it was in great pain. It took me a moment to realise, even as Lovebird let out a horror-stricken gasp, that it was Death13 sucking Karma from a poor horse. Within seconds the poor animal was relieved from its pain as it was completely deleted from the game world.

  We were in direct line of sight of Death13, though I wasn’t sure if he had seen us yet because of the darkness. From the alley Wiseazz beckoned at us again. We heeded him, and very cautiously we covered the distance to him, all the time casting glances towards Death13 who seemed to have his back turned to us thankfully.

  “Come, come,” Wiseazz said as we reached him and Reptilio, and he led us deeper into the alley, “if that monster sees us we would be in real trouble. I guess he knows that you have escaped?”

  “Thankfully not,” I said, “but I cannot guarantee how long he would not know that.”

  “So what exactly happened?” Grimguy asked, and there was a very innocent kind of excitement in his voice that was completely detached from the danger that we were in. “I mean the puzzle, how did Reptilio solve it?”

  Reptilio grinned for the first time ever. The grin was clear even on his scaly face.

  “He has a quick eye,” Wiseazz said, and he seemed to take joy in the fact that his pet was capable of such a great task.

  “He must have,” Grimguy said, “I spent days trying to solve the blasted thing before giving up and deciding that it was simply not worth the effort.”

  “But it was good that you solved at least a part of the puzzle,” Reptilio said and it was the very first time that I was hearing his voice. His voice was like that of a young man. “I was able to figure out the rest of the puzzle using it in a single glance.”

  Wiseazz suddenly took a step backwards, frowning at us.

  “Hey, wasn’t there was a third guy with you?” he asked, “Mastermind wasn’t his name was?”

  “He logged out,” I replied.

  “But it’s not possible for players to log out even if they are not perma,” Wiseazz said, “how did he do it?”

  “He’s a member of the Kartoshi gang, in fact he was the guy who made Death13,” I said, Wiseazz’s eyes widened so I quickly added, “but he now fights for good. He had to log out as they found out who he is in the real world. He might be able to log back in if he survives the gang in the real world.”

  “Okay,” Lovebird chimed in, and there was hurry in her tone, “so what’s our next course of action?”

  “Go to the statue and show it the fixed puzzle of course,” Wiseazz replied.

  “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s get moving,” I said.

  We went back to the opening of the alley. I took a peep in the direction where Death13 had deleted the poor horse. But there was no one there in sight, just the destroyed houses.

  “He’s isn’t there,” I said to the others, “I think he’s gone back to the fort after his meal of Karma.”

  I had spoken too soon. Way too soon.

  Chapter 31

  Grimguy let out a cry.

  “He’s right behind us!”

  I whirled around. Why Death13 was right there, at the very end of the alley! And he was looking directly at us. He raised a hand.

  “Run!” I cried.

  But the bolt of lightning from Death13’s hand was fast. It struck me, right in the chest. I was the one who had the most Karma after receiving the transfer from Wiseazz earlier. I watched in horror as my Karma began to fall rapidly from 500,000.

  “I should have dealt with you before,” Death13 said. “How you managed to sneak out, I have no idea.”

  At that moment, Lovebird took out her sword and hurled it at Death13. Her aim was perfect. It sailed through the air and struck Death13 right in the chest. In the moment of distraction, the lightning bolt, through which Death13 was sucking my Karma, faded. I fell to the ground, feeling a sense of great exhaustion come over me. But Lovebird grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the alley into the road outside. Wiseazz, Grimguy and Reptilio also fled out with us.

  “There is no way we can flee him,” Wiseazz said.

  “But you did flee him once,” I said, as I felt the strength returning to my limbs and was able to move faster. I recalled the time when Death13 had attacked Wiseazz and he had survived because of his high Karma levels.

  “I did,” Wiseazz said, even as our group ran as fast as we could towards the gate, “but then there were many other players near me which served as distraction. Here we have no distraction. We are game out in the open. No matter how much we run he will catch up and that will be the end of us.”

  Right then, Death13 appeared at the mouth of the alley where we had left him. He raised his hand.

  “No!” I cried, and I pulled Lovebird near me for I feared that the angered Death13 would want to claim her since she was the one who had hit him with the sword. The bolt of lightning tore through the air.

  It didn’t hit me or Lovebird.

  “No!” Grimguy let out a cry.

  His eyes going in horror as the lightning bolt sucked his Karma, of which he barely had any. “Please save me—”

  And those were the last words of Grimguy.

  I froze and stopped running, too high on emotions. Grimguy was the person who had been with me through all good and bad occasions in the game world of Prithvi. I found it hard to digest the fact that he had been deleted right in front of my eyes.

  But both Wiseazz and Lovebird grabbed my arms and pulled me along, even as tears streamed down my face, my eyes fixed on the spot where he had last existed. I felt like I had swallowed a bucket load of ice. This wasn’t happening, no…

  Bu it was. For there was Death13, and he was approaching us fast.

  Just then I realised that Wiseazz was saying something to me, even as he and Lovebird and Reptilio pulled me out of the gate of Kapilpura. Heck, he was shouting in my ears to get my attention, but I was so lost in my sorrow over Grimguy that I could barely hear him. I looked vacantly at him, devoid of hope.

  “Transfer me your Karma!” he demanded.

  So he wanted protection from Death13? That was it? If the Karma was with me then I would be somewhat protected. But at this point, I really didn’t care what happened. I didn’t care whether I had a million Karma or zero.

 
“Transfer your Karma to me!” Wiseazz said again. I didn’t think much and immediately sent him all the Karma that I had. Once done, Wiseazz slowed down.

  He handed me the solved puzzle that he had been carrying all along.

  “Go and show it to Ravana and awaken him, all right?” he said.

  “Aren’t you coming too?” I asked, though I wondered if we would even be able to reach the bank of the river of blood before Death13 deleted us from this world. Wiseazz shook his head.

  “No,” Wiseazz said. “You and Lovebird know much more about this quest than me or Reptilio. Now go!”

  Then, he and Reptilio turned their backs to us and ran back inside the town of Kapilpura.

  “Is he crazy?” I said aloud to Lovebird, attempting to run after him, but she held my arm, not letting me go.

  “No, he isn’t,” Lovebird said. “Can’t you see the quest is more important?”

  It was at that moment I realised what Wiseazz had really done. I had thought he had asked me to transfer the Karma back to him because he was selfish. How wrong I had been! I felt bad that I had thought so earlier, even as the flashes of light reached my eyes that were unmistakably the lightning bolts of Death13. Wiseazz had given the ultimate sacrifice—To create a distraction so that Lovebird and I could escape, he had gone after Death13. Despite the Karma I was sure that Wiseazz would never survive Death13.

  “Now come on, Rohan,” Lovebird said, tugging at my arm. “We need to get to the portal.” I looked into her eyes and nodded, even as tears wormed down my cheeks.

  “Let’s do this,” I said to her.

  I reached the river bank with the faces of Grimguy and Wiseazz repeating themselves in my mind’s eye, refusing to go. Only now did I feel the true seriousness of the situation. Yes, I had seen people being deleted, and the fact that Lovebird couldn’t log out and return to her brother was a big problem. Still, I had viewed everything as some kind of a quest. An important one, but a quest nonetheless. But now, this felt like a quest no longer. Grimguy had been forever deleted and the same fate awaited Wiseazz and Reptilio.