Listening to the guy all of us agreed and sat down together. After sitting, the guy with an slightly average face, brown hair and brown eyes said with enthusiasm" Why don't we introduce ourselves now that we are together ? I will do it first. My name is Crish....Crish he–" Crish was about to say more but stopped mid way and looked at all of us with hesitation before continuing, " It's Crish...you may call me that."
Listening to Crish and seeing the hesitation on his face when he was about to say his full name but refrained from doing so, we all understood his concern. We all were going to do the same as we still couldn't fully trust anyone even if we decided to form the team.
"Hello guys, It's nice to meet you." Crish continued, trying to bring the same enthusiasm as earlier. After Crish it was the the gorgeous girl that spoke,
"My name is Lily. Hope we co-operate well with each other."
"My name is Leo. Let's go out together." Said the guy that spoke first and that had black hair and brown eyes.
The cute girl then spoke with a bit of fear still apparent in her voice," My name is....Amy. It's nice to meet you all. I hope we stay....together."
The guy with brown hair and black eyes with an average face was a bit angry because of the reaction Lily and Leo gave when he gave the suggestion but seeing them calm down after a while and talk and also seeing the innocent and excited smile on the face of Amy, he too calmed down and said, "My name is Max. I hope we have trust on each other to a extent that we could work together."
After all of them spoke they turned to the guy that hadn't spoken till now; from the time all of them stepped in the room. They all looked at the guy, the guy had black hair and brown eyes and a slightly above average face. He was wearing a blue suit.
Seeing that everyone was looking at me, waiting for me to speak, I said with a smile, " My name is Bittu. Let's hope we make it."
After that just as we were about to talk further, the gate opened and a girl walked in. She had black hair and black eyes and was dressed into a captivating blue dress. She had a beautiful face. The moment she entered all of us looked at her. The room instantly descended into silence because of her arrival as everyone in the room had already formed a group but she being absent just now because she went to the party made it so that, all of us were uncertain as to what to do with her. Since, she could be like all of us trapped or she could be a native. Leo immediately took the lead and was about to ask the girl a question but the girl spoke first,
"The next musician please head to the hall, the hall is the one with the character 'ह' on the door. You may find it straight down the path on the right." Her voice was low and full of uncertainty and the look on her face was hollow with a hint of anticipation and hope in it.
Listening to her speak, we all remembered that we were in a party and we need to do well in it to increase our chances of survival in the dungeon because the house of gold was a powerhouse and in the current situation they may shield us from problems that may threaten us. Just as the thought clicked on our mind, lily stood up and walked out the gate with her voice lingering in the air, " it's my turn next."
After seeing her leave, we returned our gaze to the new girl. Seeing that Lily has left, Leo stood up and asked the girl the same question he asked us," Can you not go out.?"
Listening the question the girl instantly had eyes full of emotions. She being too uncertain and and fearful of the condition she and we were in said while nodding her back and forth without thinking that Max said "out" not "log out" but her condition took the best of her and made her think that he said what she wanted to hear and that is the word "log out".
"Yes, can you not log out too." All of us were shocked at the use of the word "log out" as we were all being cautious and were avoiding this word because we can't be sure that everyone here is from outside may be a native is among us that may cause us some problem if he finds out we are not from here. So we hurriedly looked at each other to check for anyone that seemed to have a different reaction to the word but seeing all of us from the group have the same reaction to the use of the word we were relieved. We had this intence reaction because if we are really trapped here and this turned out to be real then we will definitely not be welcomed here warmly as outsiders.
Even though everyone was freaked out at the word, all of us were relieved that no native was amongst us. At the same time it helped us lessen the paranoid thinking we had of each other and confirm our thoughts that we all here were players. Unknowingly, it also made our trust a little strong knowing that we were all on the same boat while facing the same dilemma.
Crish who was relieved, looked at the girl with frustration and said with a slightly angry voice," Are you dumb or something ? Don't you think you spoke more than you should? if we are really trapped here and this turned out to be real then we will definitely not be welcomed here warmly as outsiders our survival will be even more unlikely afterwards."
Listening to the angry voice of Crish, the girl instantly understood her mistake and said," sorry....I am sorry. I got too excited at the thought that I was not the only one trapped here." Hearing what she said no one could bring forth any words to berate her carelessness as that's an obvious reaction one would have in times like this.
" Okay, fine. We can confirm that you are just like us; from outside now that you used that word. Why don't you introduce yourself first then we can talk further."
" Ahh, yes....Hello guys, I am Laila. It's so nice and relieving to meet you guys."
"Ok, Laila. You should have guessed that we are trapped here in the time that we have stayed in this place." Spoke Max while looking at Laila and seeing her agree spoke again," We have formed a group that will stick together till we can return home. We help each other to survive this place got it."
**********
Just like this place, in all of the other rooms that the players were given, conversation about this topic was going on. All of them were expressing joy at the thought that they were not the only one locked or trapped in a game like an animal in a zoo. Not everyone thought of making a group though, some chose to stay indifferent and go solo as they were already a loner or couldn't bring themselves to trust others once more.
***********
In the '९' room, After Max gestured for Laila to sit in the place Lily sat, spoke while looking at everyone," Guys we can't be sure about the dangers of this place so we need to be cautious and not do anything that can be deemed wrong by the natives of this place."
Listening to Max, Leo expressed his concern," How are we gonna know what this place is like or what the laws here are ?" Listening to the question, all of us began to think as to what the solution could be. After thinking for a while the cute girl Amy, had an idea and wanted to speak but couldn't muster the courage to do so and kept looking at everyone. After a while, she walked towards me which suprised me a lot as I didn't think that she would come near me seeing me silent, all by myself and in the current situation. She comming near me suprised everyone too, as they looked at her.
Amy came near me and looked at me for a while. I, too, smiled at her. she was quite small and with her cute and innocent face one would have the feeling of squeezing her cheeks and protecting her. Looking at her I had a thought," It would be quite nice to have a sister like her." She was just so loveable.
Amy after looking at me for a while stood beside me and whispered in my ear," Brother, I have an idea." I looked at her and replied," Really" she with a face full of pride nodded and once again whispered in my ear," when I was on my way to this palace, I noticed a library. Maybe we could read a couple of books to know about this place."
I looked at Amy in suprise at her answer. She gave a perfect solution to the problem we were currently facing. Amy was looking at me with anticipation. I understand what she wants and complimented her," That's a great idea Amy." Seeing me praise, she was delighted.
I looked at Amy who was overjoyed at her answer and didn't wanna spoil it for her. I was gonna tell her to say it to everyone but I guess I should say it myself remembering her choise to choose me to talk too.
"Guys, Amy gave a solution to our problem. We can get the information we need from the library. We can also be safe there while collecting information about the his place and the laws of this place." I said to everyone that was looking at me with questioning eyes and then looked at Amy with suprise. Amy seeing them looking at her was instantly shy and came behind me to hide.
Seeing Amy hide behind Bittu, Max said," Bittu, is Amy someone you know ?" Seeing me shake my head, Crish said with a smile," She seems to trust and believe you more than us."
" Okay then, that's what we are gonna do. We will enter the library and learn whatever we could about this place." said Max.
"Guys, In the library there will be many information that could be helpful for us. Why don't we all pick an area we will gather information about and let the others know the key points." Leo said after hearing Max, Max continued," In this way we can be quick in collecting information and it will keep us from gathering the information on the same area. That's indeed a feasible idea. We could do that."
Hearing Max and Leo, Crish questioned," What else do we need other than knowing about this place. Knowing this palace should satisfy our need." Crish said as he already had a bored face, maybe that was because they were about to study. Looking at Crish face, Laila said in a teasing voice," If it weren't for our current problem, it seems that you would never enter the library." Hearing what Laila said Crish was a little embarrassed but hurriedly said," No, it's nothing like that, I enter the library when I was in school."
Looking at the somewhat normal atmosphere in the current situation everyone felt a little relaxed. Amy seeing, Crish hurriedly denying Laila, laughed and giggled. After that, I said, "Maybe we should wait for this party to end and when we are all here; all seven of us, that is when we should continue our talk. In this way it would be better, furthermore we shouldn't talk about these thing in the palace of some authoritative figure as they could have some technology to spy on us." Near the end I said in a low voice while looking around the room.
Hearing me all of them had a solemn expression as they all nodded and confirmed that they understood. After that we all chated about some of the thing that we used to do and more so about how we came to learn and love music. The atmosphere was now harmonious and good. Just as we talked for a while, Lily returned to the room and said for the next musician to go to the hall. Crish stood up and left saying," I guess my time to shine has come." Hearing Crish all of us laughed. Seeing all this Lily was a bit suprised as to how all of us were a lot more closer that before she left.
Seeing the confusion on Lily's face, Leo gestured her to take a sit and Max said while Lily sat. Max said all that could be said to Lily in not so direct way but in a way that Lily could understand Max. Leo then joined the conversation saying," we have found a clue to further strengthen our chances of survival in this place."
Lily listening that was instantly more intrested that before she looked at Leo with a bit of excitement," The library" that was all Leo said as he knew Lily was intelligent and would get what he ment and just like he thought Lily understood what he ment. Max continued," It was Amy's idea." Hearing that Lily was a bit surprised as she glanced my way as she saw me and Amy playing near the piano.
Lily seeing the closeness between me and Amy, looked at Max and Leo with questioning eyes so, Leo said," Amy seems to like Bittu, more than all of us."
"....Ohhh" was all Lily replied while looking my way. She then looked my way, I gave her a smile and continued playing with Amy. After that Lily talked with Laila as they were both girls and they became more close just like Max and Leo. Just like that Crish returned and it was Leo's turn to go the party.
After that, Leo returned and it was Amy's turn. Till this time we talked some of the common things and got to know eachother more, I joined in the conversation with others after Amy went away to play in the party.
"Bittu, why did you learn music ? " Asked Crish.
"I loved music and music helped me a lot so, I learned it a hobby." I replied with nostalgia apparent in my voice as I thought of some old memories. Seeing my look, all of them understood that I was thinking something about the past so, they didn't disturbe me further. I got over it quickly and said," It was fun listening to music, so I learned it actually."
"That's good", said Max and continued," I learned it because I was said so, even though I enjoyed it as a kid but later, I didn't due to some reasons."
Laila asked Lily why she learned it and she said," It was my dream to be a star singer, performing on stage so I learned it. I was just about to release my first music video the next day after completion but this happened." She said with sadness and anger apparent in her voice. Hearing her we were all once again full of resentment but more of sadness as we couldn't return home. I too was affected by the gloomy atmosphere but got over it quickly and said with some teasing in my voice," I guess this says about the aura you have around you, of a star performer that is." Hearing me Lily was surprised and all the others laughed which helped lighten the mood.
After sometime Amy returned but this time, she returned with a plate of sweets on her palm. She seemed to be enjoying it. While eating she looked at all of us and said," Brother and sisters, did you eat ? I just saw a room full of foods after I left the hall and was comming back. I am hungry, let's go eat, okay ?"
Seeing Amy with a plate that had sweets on it, we all realised that we haven't eaten anything since we all arrived here. So, we all agreed to go and eat. All of us stood up and asked Amy to lead us to the room." Before we all left the room I asked Amy,"....."