I walk down into the bar and then outside into the dark night. The clouds overcast the sky. The Moon is invisible. There is a chance of cyclonic rainfall. These are gloomy times. These are desperate times!
I make my way to the Hastinapura dungeons. The roads are dark and filled with people loitering about. Every time one of them sees me, Adi or Dharmendra-a spark of hatred lights up in their gloomy eyes. Most of them are drunk in the night and spit on us and insult us at every chance they got. Dharmendra snaps at a point and summons his Gadha. Fortunately, Rahaas, restrains Dharmendra through his shadow and his Gadha falls down on the ground causing the people to look our way in anger and hatred. One of the people screamed, "YES! COME ON! Kill more of us you bloody "players". You should be ashamed of yourselves for preying on the weak!"
I put my hand on Dharmendra's forearm and tell, "They're not worth it. Besides, they have the higher moral ground here. Not us. Let's just move on."
Dharmendra looks at me and asks me, "So we're just gonna let them insult us, regardless of what they do? It may be true that most players were in the wrong. But they shouldn't take out their anger on any player that they see! Besides, I have undergone penance for my crimes!"
I tell Dharmendra, "One, thousands if not millions were murdered by the players on that day. This is only the second day after that! You cannot expect them to forget so quickly! Did the USA forgive Germany two days after WWII? No. They did not. For a few months to a few years, players worldwide shall receive hatred no matter what they do! Two, you went to prison and came out within two days. To them, you are a murderer who murdered their loved ones the day before yesterday, literally. I know that we have been receiving the brunt of their hatred for the entire day. Honestly, it's not much. Immigrants in any country face much more hatred than you do. Jews during World War two faced more hatred in Germany than what we are undergoing right now. Bear it! It will be gone within an year or two."
Dharmendra groans in anger as we walk ahead. I feel bad for all the insults being thrown at me in every corner in every road. Pisses me off. But what I told Dharmendra holds good for me as well. There are people who face more hatred than I do. Anyone with a dark toned skin still faces hatred in parts of the world. I just need to keep walking with my head down.
We reach the Hastinapura palace in about half an hour. The palace stands tall in all it's beauty and grandeur. It seems that much more beautiful at night with all its lights shining like a hundred stars. It almost seems like a palace made out of hard gold when you see it at night at this time. The palace was always ginormous. But in this world, it's size increased by eight times. When the Gods reshaped this world, they doubled the radius of the Earth, increasing the surface area of everything by four times and its volume by eight times. If the Hastinapura palace was big then, it was gigantic now. But what is truly bewildering is the size of the Hastinapura barracks and dungeons. Hastinapura almost always has a standing army of four million elite soldiers who are twenty levels higher than the average soldier of their rank normally and a hundred levels higher than the ordinary players during the Mahabharatha event.[I came up with that number by combining the total number of soldiers who fought in the Mahabharatha. In India, units were placed in Pattis- One Patti consists of five foot soldiers, three cavalrymen, one chariot and one elephant. That makes 10 soldiers plus one charioteer and one elephant tamer. Three Pattis makea Sena Mukha. Three Sena Mukhas form a Gulma. 3 Gulmas form a Vahini, 3 Vahinis fom a Pruthana, 3 Pruthanas form a Chamu, 3 Chamus form a Anikini and ten Anikini forms an Akshauhini. Thus by calculation, an Akhauhini has 109350 Infantrymen, 65610 Cavalrymen, 21870 chariots and 21870 Elephants and a total of 218700 units. The Kaurava army had 11 Akshauhinis and the Pandava army had 7 Akshauhinis. Considering that right now, they are at peace, it is safe to assume that they would join forces under Bhishma.] Right now, that means there are around four million level 300 soldiers in this city! The average level of a soldier is equal to the average level of a player. Right now the average level of players is 200 so in Hastinapura, during the Mahabharatha, i.e, now, the average is level 300. The dungeons can hold thrice as many people as there are soldiers in the city. So currently twelve million players in the dungeons, with an average level of 200. They can't take down the Hastinapur army even if it were regular season where the level of Hastinapur soldiers would be 220, these guys would not be able to take them down, as being 20 levels above, the soldiers would have a significant advantage. Also, the soldiers have the likes of Bhishma and Drona to support them while the players have no one. I walk up to the dungeons where Bhima is going on a walk or on patrol. He seems to be in casual clothes but he is nigh invincible with his immense strength. The man is out of his armor. He is wearing a white dhoti with a white cotton kurta. He calls us, "You finally came back. Been waiting for you. You wanted all the other players freed don't you? They are currently at a camp site outside the city. We don't want them harming the civilians. I hope you understand."
"Do you have a mage who can teleport us?" Comes my feeble and glum voice upon hearing that I have to walk again. Bhima sighs and says, "I don't have a mage with me right now. We don't have that many mages here. I can instead provide you with a helicopter if you wish." I had totally forgotten that helicopters exist in this world. I guess that the royal family would have access to them if anyone did.
We walk down to a helipad and Bhima sees us off. We tell the pilot to take us to the player camp outside the city.
All the players are camped in the east of the city. I wouldn't be wrong to claim that the camp itself was a city. We land right outside the city to meet Bhishma, Karna and Arjuna. The three of them must be here to make sure that the other players don't go out of hand. We go and meet them. Adi says, "We would like to make an announcement to all the players here. I would like you to help me get their attention."
Arjuna and Karna give a knowing smile while Bihshma chuckles to himself. Adi, Arjuna, Karna and Bhishma all raise their bows into the air and start shooting harmless flare arrows. The arrows light up the air like fireworks. They also write messages up in the air asking the players to pay attention to the centre and the hologram that was about to rise from their position. Adi used the hologram system to project himself. The damn thing costs a lot. He starts, "Players, today is a day of reckoning for all of player-kind. We are being forced to choose between Gods and Demons. To many of you, if not all of you, the choice is obvious- reconfirm your allegiance with your current faction. MAny of you have already chosen your path. To all of you- I have a message. To both the Gods and Demons, we humans are but pawns in some grand scheme. The gods shall manipulate us and the demons shall use us. We chose this game for the sake of independence and freedom that we don't get in the real world. So that we could be true to ourselves in here. But if we choose either faction, then we are under the risk of losing our freedom. I say to those who are still undecided- choose the third path. It may promise you endless suffering, but I tell you that is not the case. If you wish to be able to go back to your loved ones at home, then I suggest that you align yourselves with neither Gods nor Demons. You be your own boss. Be your own person!"
Not many agreed with this. Someone shouted, "He is trying to get us killed as usual. This time, they are just trying to pose as our well wishers! Get them!"