Rohan's Calling Online Read online

  Very soon Serena brought me a small glass container (like the ones you would find in a laboratory). It was filled with a greenish liquid that didn’t look appetizing at all. Perhaps I didn’t look particularly enthusiastic about drinking the liquid, so Serena let out a laugh and said,

  “Yes, it doesn’t look great, or taste great, but without this you won’t be able to play. You can drink this now but it would start working in only about forty minutes. Until then, I’ll find you a proper capsule that you can enter. You’ll have to wait for a while before you can create a character and start playing though.”

  She handed me the glass container. I exhaled, observing the dark green, gooey liquid.

  “Drink it fast,” Serena said.

  I took a breath, opened my mouth wide and poured all the liquid inside. It was the worst thing I had tasted in my entire life, and I couldn’t help but stick out my tongue after I had gulped down the liquid.

  “Eh, can I have some water?” I asked Serena.

  She however shook her head, indicating she couldn’t help me in this one.

  “Water would mess its effect. So, unfortunately, you’d have to bear it. Sorry.”

  I nodded. The foul taste in my mouth made me want to vomit, but I told myself that it was necessary.

  “Come with me,” Serena said.

  “How many people are playing here?” I asked Serena. “Hundreds?”

  “Two hundred and eighty nine,” Serena said. “There are only two hundred and ninety capsules in total. You are lucky.”

  I sure was, I thought. I wondered what would have happened if I had come tomorrow instead of today. I might have totally missed the opportunity to play Prithvi Online.

  She led me to a capsule at the end of the line. As she opened it, I asked,

  “So, what do I have to give in return? How do you guys profit by letting us play the game for free?”

  A small frown of irritation came over Serena’s forehead and I wondered if I had asked the wrong question. She replied to my question only after she had fully opened the capsule, which was marked 290.

  “There will be times in the game when you’ll be asked to donate your loot and other things, the most important of which are karma points. We ask nothing more than that. We will also never ask you to do such a thing when you are at a low level or in a perilous situation in the game, but only when you have an excess. With the loot and the karma points, we can make actual real world money. That’s how we profit.”

  “I see,” I said. So that was the price. But come to think of it, it was only fair. As far as I had heard, the game capsule cost more than a hundred thousand Gibs. That had however not stopped thousands of players from buying the capsules anyway. It was the first VRMMORPG of its kind after all, providing a fully immersive experience. What more, when the game had first launched it was possible to go perma in the game, which meant that you could abandon your body and live in the game for all eternity. It had been all over the news as mostly ill people had begun to go perma even though it cost a lot.

  And then the world’s governments had stopped people from going perma in the game by simply paying huge amounts of cash. Now, one required to earn money in the game itself if they wanted to go perma, and there were other complications involved too. The governments had pressurized the game creators to do this apparently because they feared that turning people into digit codes and storing them in a computer meant that the game creators had unseen powers over the perma players.

  Serena asked me to lie down inside the capsule. I did so, and found that the capsule was actually quite comfortable. Then she made me wear a helmet which had a lot of wires.

  “In a few minutes, you might start feeling odd,” Serena said, “do not worry. It’s the potion. Not soon after you’ll find yourself in the character creation room.”

  I nodded. Dizziness was slowly coming over me. And perhaps because of this I began to have some… naughty imaginations of Serena. She really was quite a bombshell, wasn’t she?

  Serena smiled at me and then closed the capsule, so that everything suddenly became dark.

  For a moment I felt claustrophobic. I had always feared small spaces. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. But the dizziness helped and very soon I was relaxing. A tingling sensation started in my guts and spread to the rest of my body. My consciousness began to slip…

  Chapter 2

  After a period of time I suddenly regained consciousness. I was in a dark room that didn’t seem to have walls.

  A glowing message popped up in front of me.

  Welcome Rohan, it’s time to create your character.

  Would you like to play as a male or a female character?

  Should I play as a lady? It would sure be a unique experience. But I feared that after some time in the game world being in a lady’s body might start fleeing weird. Going with my own gender would be best.

  “Male,” I said.

  Which race would you like to choose?

  Four humanoid models appeared in front of me. The first one was a man; the next one an elf with pointed ears, the third one was a strange kind of human with a hairy tail and a face like a monkey’s. It was also almost twice the height of the man. The last one was a demon. The names of the races appeared above the humanoid forms.

  Human. Elf. Monkey Man. Rakshasha

  I seriously considered going with the Rakshasha or the monkey man. I would have liked to have a tail; it could always come to good use in some scenario. The Rakshasha… well, who doesn’t want to be a frightening demon occasionally? The Rakshasha had large canines, red skin and bushy brows.

  But then I decided that it was best to go with what I already was. I selected the human therefore.

  The other models disappeared and only the human remained. A message popped up.

  Thanks for choosing Human. You’ll have lower strength than the other races, but you will have higher intelligence. Now you can decide the appearance of your character. Just pull any part of the model to get it to proportions of your wish.

  I decided to go with a more muscular body than what I possessed in real life, though not way too muscular either. I pulled at different parts of the model until they were of a sized that pleased me. I also decided to go with a good crop of hair (since I was balding in real life) and I went with an average height. The looks of the character were unlikely to influence the game play by a great measure.

  Done, I thought.

  Another message popped up.

  Which class would you choose?

  Suddenly, the character I had created was replicated four times; each dressed in a different attire.

  Multi-tasker. Warrior. Wizard. Healer.

  I thought for a moment. The advertisements for Prithvi Online had highlighted the “Multi-tasker” option. I reckoned I would be able to have different kinds of skills.

  “Multi-tasker,” I said.

  Thanks for choosing Multi-tasker. If you put in a little hard work, you will be able to master any skill, be it spells, combat, healing etc.

  Another message popped up, asking to name my character. Most people I knew went with weird names. Dev had told me he went by the name of “Okranos” in the MMORPG Life Online. I decided to go with my original name.

  Rohan.

  Now all the details of the character were displayed beside the model, together with the name.

  Rohan.

  Class: Multi-tasker

  Race: Human

  Sex: Male

  Level: 0

  Strength: 100

  Health: 100/100

  Mana: 100

  Intelligence: 50

  Karma: 0

  Karma? What was that? But then I recalled Serena had mentioned karma, and I also remembered seeing the word pop up in some of the commercials I had seen in TV.

  Okay, I thought. Let’s play.

  Everything disappeared, and I lost consciousness. The next time I opened my eyes, I felt bright sunlight on my face. The sun light was coming through ba
rs and I felt an uncomfortable sensation in my wrists and legs, and realised that I was in very uncomfortable place.

  I was in a cage.

  There were other cages nearby, which also contained humans. Far away I could see Rakshashas preparing a fire. Not so far away there was a lone Rakshasha child playing with a knife. What a cool place to start a game! I thought sarcastically.

  A message appeared in my vision.

  You have been caught by the Rakshashas, a race of monsters commonly called as the Raks. The Raks were born from the breath of a sleeping god, but they started to eat the god himself, and were hence banished from Heaven forever.

  The Raks plan to eat you. You must escape by calling the child Rak. You must also save Chandra and the other humans with you, or be eaten by the Raks.

  Only now did I focus at the NPC in the cage nearest to me. He was a man in his mid twenties who had a moustache. His details appeared in my vision.

  Chandra

  Race: Human

  Sex: Male

  Strength: 25

  Health: 100/500

  Intelligence: 15

  Karma: 59

  “Hey,” I called him. Despite my crammed position, I was enjoying the game. Only now did I see why so many players were ready to pay the insane price of the capsule to experience this world. I could feel the sunlight on my skin and I could even touch the iron bars and they were no different from real iron bars. In which other game could you have the same level of immersion?

  Chandra looked towards me, a forlorn look on his face.

  New quest available:

  Escape from the village and take Chandra to his home

  Reward: Hidden

  I accepted the quest.

  “What?” Chandra said, “We are doomed.”

  “No, we aren’t, my friend,” I said with a smile. I was totally enjoying interacting with an NPC. “Watch this.”

  “Hey!” I called the Rak child. The child didn’t look towards me. I grimaced. Perhaps I had thought the game to be too easy? I tried again. The other Raks were far away but if I shouted too loud they would hear and it wouldn’t be good. I didn’t even know what would happen if they killed and ate me. Would I respawn in the cage itself?

  After several more tries, the child finally paid heed to me. He was the ugliest child I had seen. I was glad now I hadn’t chosen to be a Rak. The child came towards me, falling on the grass a couple of times. But in a matter of seconds he had reached my cage. The knife was in his hand. I just had to ask him, right?

  “Hey, little one,” I told the child, “give me the knife please!”

  My hands were tied together, but I was able to push a few fingers out through the gap between the cage bars. The child looked at me in a confused way. He came closer to the cage. I thought he would give me the knife.

  “Yes, that’s right. Give it to me!”

  The evil child opened his mouth wide and bit my finger. I jerked my hands back, the pain stinging.

  You have been attacked!

  And my health dropped by 25.

  Lovely, I thought.

  I glared at the child for a moment. He looked at me curiously and then threw the knife to me through the bars.

  “Good child,” I said as I picked up the knife. First I cut the ropes that bind my legs together and then I cut the ropes tying my hands. All the while the child Rak kept looking at me, sucking his finger, without realising he was depriving the village from a meal.

  Once done, I used the knife to break the lock of the cage. It came off easier than my expectations. I passed over the knife to Chandra telling him to use it carefully and then to pass it over to the other humans. A look of hope came over his face and I was happy for him. Chandra might be a mere NPC, but hope was good.

  I came out of my cage and so did Chandra. The other humans too cut their ropes and began coming out of their cages. Now, we needed to get out of this place.

  “So, where do humans live?” I asked Chandra.

  “You do not know?” he said.

  “I don’t,” I said.

  “They must have fed you the mind cleaning potion,” Chandra said. “Anyway, the nearest human settlement is to the west. I live there. It’s about three kilometres from here and we would have to cross the Blood River to get there.”

  “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go. Lead me and the others.”

  And then the worst thing happened. The Rak child began to laugh. A blunt laugh that didn’t please the ears at all. What happened next was that the adult Raks saw us, and came running with their weapons drawn.

  I had no weapon with me, and there was no way I could fight so many of the mobs. Suddenly I remembered the knife and a plan came to my mind.

  “Give me the knife!” I said to the NPC who had been the last to get out of the cage. He threw me the knife, but it was too late. The Raks had already reached us. The humans scattered in different directions. Only Chandra remained with me, and he was so scared his fear made my own heart gallop.

  A Rak came towards me, his mace raised. I pushed Chandra away, crying, “Flee west!” and then I faced my opponent. He was level 4 and had greater health than me. I ducked as he tried to hit me with the mace. By sheer fluke I was able to hit his chest with my knife. His health dropped by 50, but just a few attacks with his mace would be enough to end my life. I just focussed on evading his attacks, but I was tiring and I was sure that sooner or later he would hit me and that would be my end. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Chandra and the other humans fleeing east, Raks on their tails.

  The mob gave a yell suddenly and threw himself upon me. He pinned me to the ground. My health dropped by fifty. I accepted the worst, but at the same time I kept attacking his face with my knife. I injured his eyes and he let out a cry. His health dropped by 150 and I was able to wriggle out of his hold. I saw the Rak child a few feet away from me, looking at everything that was going on with a wild fascination.

  More Raks were coming towards me. I jumped towards the child and picked him up, my knife held against his neck. He tried to bite me and gave his best into throwing kicks and punches at me, but I was able to keep him under control somehow.

  The other Raks came closer to me. I was afraid but maintained my calm, telling myself that this was only a game.

  “Don’t come any closer,” I barked at the mobs. “I’ll kill him, you hear me?”

  I really meant it, even though killing the child would mean that the Raks would kill me, but I had to take my chances.

  “No, don’t do that,” one of the Raks said. His voice was like that of a mule.

  “I just want to get away from here, you understand?” I told him.

  “He’s just a child. Let him go. Fight like a man.”

  “That’s bullshit. How can you expect me to fight all of you alone? Let me go. Only then will I let him go. And tell the other Raks pursuing my friends to come back.”

  A moment of intense silence passed, as the Raks seemed to decide what to do. The blasted child tried his best to escape my hold, but I didn’t let him bite or harm me in any way. I whispered in his ears that I would kill him if he kept struggling too much and that quietened him to a great degree. At this point even a few bites from the child was probably enough to end my life. But I reckoned that the mob couldn’t see my health or other stats and I was thankful for that.

  “Okay,” one of the Raks finally said. “We’ll let you go. Don’t harm the child.”

  “The child will be taken by me for about a kilometre from here. Nobody should follow me. I’ll let the child go free once I am at a safe distance from your village. Do you accept that?”

  “You must let the child go right now,” one of the Raks said. I let out a laugh.

  “And what? Become your meal? The child will be taken by me. Worry not. If you don’t follow me, I won’t harm him. You are the monsters after all, eating humans. Humans don’t eat you.”

  Perhaps they saw the logic behind this, or perhaps they were just afraid that
I would harm the child. But they finally agreed. I told the child Rak that if he came with me he can have the knife later on, and he accompanied me rather happily, waving at the other Raks like he was going on a picnic trip. Chandra and the other humans were waiting for me at a particular spot. I joined them. We kept glancing back at the Raks repeatedly to make sure that they were not following us. After we were about a kilometre from the Rak village, I told the child that he could go.

  “Knife,” he said with an expectant look on his ugly face.

  “Yeah, whatever. Take this and don’t show yourself again.”

  I gave the knife to him. He grabbed it and ran away at full speed. No, not towards the village, but to the north.

  I exchanged glances with Chandra.

  “He’ll get to his home, right?” I asked.

  “You are concerned about a Rak child getting home safely?” Chandra said. There was humorous sarcasm in his voice, and I was glad that he and the other humans were free and happy. Everyone suddenly burst out laughing. We kept laughing for a while as the child just kept going north, until we couldn’t see him anymore.

  We made our way to the Blood River. It was a medium-sized river and was relatively calm.

  “Why is it called the Blood River?” I asked Chandra.

  “A long time ago the river was the sight of a great battle between the humans and the Raks. It is said that so much blood was spilled into the river that all the waters had turned red and had stayed so for a year.”

  “So how did you get kidnapped by the demons?”

  “It was late night. I was taking a stroll outside our inn. Alone. A pterodactyl scooped down from the sky with a Rak atop its back.”

  “A pterodactyl?” I asked, just to make sure I had heard the right word. “Like the prehistoric flying reptile?”

  Chandra nodded.

  “They are mostly found in the north as you probably know. But some of them are controlled by the Raks. Do you remember nothing at all how you were taken from your home?”

  I shook my head, though inwardly I found it funny how serious Chandra looked.

  “Not a thing,” I said.

  We went to the bank of the Blood River. There were a few boats there. The ferrymen were grim looking individuals who wore pointed hats. They seemed to possess traits that belonged to both the Raks and humans. Their skin was red, but they weren’t as ugly as the Raks and their canines were much smaller.