It didn't leave her wondering for long because as soon as the smoke dissipated completely, another player found her and instantly rushed to attack.
As the smoke dissipated, Chima saw with shock blood splashed and staining the white walls and floors.
It was like one of those battles from the time of the Gods and Hercules.
This was a bloody battle.
There were burn marks, ice marks, acid marks, claw marks and every other evidences of war between bloodthirsty savages.
Bruno just had one person to kill before he'd go to the next level.
'Ha! After a couple of levels, I'm gonna kill that bastard! She dared to betray me!'
If he'd known that player was Kiran, he'd have backed off immediately.
"Aaaaah! You! My ticket to victory! Hahahahaha!"
Chima heard behind those words behind her and a strange war cry before she felt on her shoulder the stab of a sword.
The sword only tore the top of her shoulder because she ducked in time and then without much thought turned and plunged the dagger deep into belle of the attacker.
Both of them gaped at the blood that flowed from the injury like water.
Chima especially. As Bruno fell backwards, Chima caught him but she was unsteady from shock and they both fell to the floor.
"Oh my God! Oh my.....! I just killed someone."
[This was someone whom had killed several players in the rainbow smoke bomb]
Chima looked around in panic for anything to help the poor player.
Yes she had the thought of stabbing the dagger into someone, she hadn't really meant it!
Oh what was she going to do now?!
Bruno stared angrily at the injury on his stomach.
If help was not found quickly, he would die and of course be restarted.
He grunted angrily and turned to the transgressor and was stunned when he met the cold face of Kiran in a fit of panic.
And he was instantly mesmerised.
It was his Goddess, right next to him.
In flesh too! He couldn't really wrap his head around how, why or what she was doing here in level one but was elated.
Of a truth, he'd always admired Kiran.
It wasn't the admiration or love of a crusher but the one of a loyal subordinate.
Chima looked around her and realised that no player was in the area anymore as they had all fled that zone due to the smoke.
She turned to the player on the floor whom looked like he was in a reverie.
However she took it as the expression of one whom had seen his maker.
"Stay with me, alright? Stay with me, okay, what we're gonna do is pull out the dagger....Yeah we're gonna pull out the dagger, alright?"
Bruno still stuck in fantasy land wasn't hearing any of the things she was telling him and only came to himself when she wrapped her palms round the hilt of the dagger that was deep in his stomach.
"Alright, we're gonna do this together on one...two..."
Bruno was startled when dohe realised what Kiran was about to do.
"No no no! Wait!!" He said trying to stop her.
"Three!' It was too late.
As soon as Chima tightened her grip on the hilt an ice spear shot through Bruno's stomach from the inside and most likely from the dagger.
"What!!?!"
Chima tried to pull it out but the dagger seemed stuck and soon Bruno's whole body went blue and solid as ice spikes pierced his body from the inside at random places.
Chima seemed horrified while Bruno seemed relaxed and assured that his death would come when it came. He sighed exasperatingly
He had only seen the power of this dagger once, that was enough to show him that once one of the daggers went into you, it wouldn't come out until it freezes you to death.
That kind of weapon was scary.
Even the beast used in making it didn't exist anymore as they had all went extinct some months back.
Before life could live his body, he forced all the remaining warmness in his body to his eyes and looked at Chima, "I look forward to fighting side by side with you in the future."
He said as the the last breath of life was extinguished from his body.
Chima stared at him willing tears to come out of her eyes but to no avail.
Although she felt sorry for the player, she quickly reminded herself that this was a game, every human for themselves.
Plus they didn't get to die for real.
And then her mind was shifted to the very thing it wanted to be shifted to.
The dagger. It looked much like a very ordinary dagger.
The black blade was shaped into a tall prism and had some chips removed here and there while the hilt had some old cloth tied tightly around it.
But one peculiar attribute to it was the icy chilliness it exuded.
"Player 6212 passed to level 2."
The system's voice boom from the invisible speakers.
And Chima looked around her pleasantly surprised. She'd passed?! Onto the next level?!
Chima felt like she could scream her heart out.
She had passed, she had actually passed.
Chima felt giddy with happiness and excitement. On her very first try! If she could do this, was there anything else she could not do?
She really felt like a conqueror. Like Hercules when he'd attain victory in the war.
A transparent tube from above came down and covered her.
The glass on the tube was a screen.
"Congratulations player 6212, you have passed to level 2....."
As the voice talked, the screen showed four columns, obviously layer 1 to 4.
Chima picked layer 2.
And then came numerous grids on the screen and Chima knew it was the themes she had to choose from next.
Kiran had always chosen the theme ' large scale survival' as it had a load truck of hidden gears and treasures to find and the beasts there were high quality.
But this was Chima not Kiran plus Chima had gone back 5 levels instead of 2.
So instead of the usual 'large scale survival', she chose a small scale version for a start.
The voice was still talking.
"Trophies recovered from level 1: A Conscious Ice dagger,"
So that was what it was called? Huh.
"A thinned Armed Rainbow Armadillo."
Chima raised her eyebrows in confusion, 'The little beast bomb? I thought I didn't get 'im and what's about the 'thin' in it?'
She figured she'd get more time to find answers after the day had ended.
A day in the Arena consisted of 16 hours, a night 2 hours.
Three levels of games could be played. Each game had a specific time limit, how fast or slow the time would pass in each game depended on the players.
Each game lasted for 5.3 hours each.
If the game was to last longer, the time would go slower to accommodate the players.
If less, the time would pass faster.
This was a technique the Creators used called drawing effect.
It could make a minute feel like a thousand years.
M.R.