Chapter 8

Ven groaned as he woke up, he had a splitting headache, and his vision was blurry. Reflexively he tried to rub his eyes to clear his vision, only to realize his hands were tied behind his back. Panicking he started to twist his neck to get a better view of his surroundings.

“Easy their fella, or you’ll just end up falling over and hurting yourself,” said a man with a deep voice.

“Who are you? Where are the people I was with?” shouted Ven as he tried to force his eyes to focus in the dimly lit room, but all he could make out were silhouettes in front of him.

“Your associates are fine, if you’re up that means that the drug should be wearing off soon enough. Now, seeing as you are one of us, I am going to make you an offer before your friends wake up,” said the deep voice.

“How can I be one of you, when I don’t even know you!” shouted Ven.

A shadow of a doubt came into his mind, were this group part of the rebels? Is that what this man was hinting at? If so, why hadn’t he been informed about this beforehand.

“This man isn’t one of us, there is no record of him in our database,” said Vikram in Ven’s earpiece.

Ven froze, they had overlooked his earpiece. Could he use his connection with Vikram? He racked his brain trying to come up with ideas, but his head was still muddled because of the drug they had given him.

“You don’t know us personally, but we are the same people after all, we are both Nari. So, here is my offer to you, kill these two for us and I promise you a new identity and a new life,” said the heavy voice.

“Sinha is a Nari too, why aren’t you offering him the same deal?” asked Ven slowly.

“He was given this offer before, he rejected it and has chosen his fate. You brother still have a choice,” said the man with the deep voice.

“You clearly have me at a disadvantage, I couldn’t stop you from killing any of us. Why don’t you pull the trigger yourself?” asked Ven.

“A valid question, one I will answer if you choose to join us,” answered the deep voice.

“I am guessing if I disagree, you’ll kill me?” asked Ven although he knew it couldn’t be otherwise.

“Correct,” said the deep voice.

“With options like those, I don’t have much of a choice but to say yes,” said Ven.

“Excellent! Lights,” said the deep voice.

Ven recoiled as the bright light partially blinded him. Refocusing his eyes, he surveyed the room. There were four inhabitants with covered faces, he guessed the man in the front was the one he had been speaking to.

“My friends were certain you would reject our proposal and choose to die with your friends. I disagreed, when facing certain death, a man will betray anyone, even family, and these two are merely acquaintances of yours. Don’t look surprised, we did our research on you,” said the man with a deep voice.

“Well, since you know so much about me, isn’t it time you told me a little about yourselves. It’s only fair, brother,” said Ven with a mocking tone.

“If you must have a name, call me Samundar.”

“The Ocean? Couldn’t have picked something less fancy?” asked Ven.

“If I am going to have an alias, it has to be something impressive, after all who would pick something mundane,” said Samundar.

“Good point, so are you going to untie me now?” asked Ven.

“Of course,” said Samundra as he signaled one of his men to cut Ven’s bonds.

“So, why can’t you kill them yourself?” asked Ven as he rubbed his wrists, the rope had chaffed his skin badly.

“First, I think you need to know who it is you’ve been accompanying. This Sinha of yours is one of the diplomats from Bangara. He’s carrying the actual Peace Treaty, duly signed by King Ravendra and his counterpart from Bangara. Can you guess what this Peace Treaty says?” asked Samundar.

“Rumor has it they are going to divide Bangara into three parts,” said Ven as he looked around for a weapon.

“That was in fact the actual agreement all three countries had come to. This Treaty however states that Bangara willingly assimilates itself into the Nagiri Kingdom and Shor gets nothing! It’s a betrayal! The diplomats and The Peace Treaty negotiations happening right now are nothing more than a facade, the real Treaty has been signed and negotiated days prior to this mockery!” shouted Samundar.

“You have the Treaty in your hands now, problem solved,” said Ven.

“Yes, we have the physical copy, but the digital copy has already been sent to Bangara,” said Samundar.

“If the people of Bangara want to join Nagiri, isn’t that their choice?” shrugged Ven.

“They don’t know what they are getting themselves into! Ravendra was once a mighty warrior! He fought for the Nari! Freed us from decades of oppression! But his fall from grace started from the day he wanted us to live in peace with the Gaards! They cannot be forgiven for what they did! They haven’t repented for their sins! And gifted Bangarans might be treated as equals but if giftless Bangarans think they will be treated as equals in Nagiri, they are in for a surprise!” said Samundar through gritted teeth.

“Listen, everyone knows the Gaards did some horrible things back then. But they happened ages ago, we didn’t directly get affected by them in any way and things are good now. Have you ever seen Genesis?” asked Ven.

“You are giftless, you cannot tell me that you have not felt the class divide which permeates throughout Nagiri!” shouted Samundar passionately.

“You’ve already made up your mind about this, I doubt anything I say will do any good, but ok, so Bangara joins Nagiri, why is it a problem?” asked Ven.

“If everyone from Bangara joins Nagiri, they get all of their gifted! Shor is barely managing to keep competing with Nagiri as it is. This influx of gifted completely upsets the power balance! Ravendra will be able to get away with anything he wants! Which is why we need a citizen of Nagiri to kill Sinha. We need the people of Bangara to feel its unsafe for them to join Nagiri,” said Samundar.

“Isn’t that a bit of a stretch? I doubt one man’s death would have such consequences,” said Ven.

“They will if Ravendra doesn’t bring the murderer to justice. Which won’t be possible for him as you `the murderer´ won’t be in Nagiri anymore, you’ll leave this country with us. Incensed at Ravendra’s refusal to hand you over, The Peace Treaty will be annulled and Bangara will join Shor out of pure spite,” said Samundar with a smile.

“And giftless people are treated as equals in Shor?” asked Ven.

“I swear upon my Nari ancestors that I speak the truth,” said Samundar solemnly.

“Lies. The class divide between gifted and giftless is as bad in Shor as it is in Nagiri,” whispered Vikram.

“What kind of life are you promising me in Shor?” asked Ven.

“A life of comforts, you will never have to worry about the next day,” said Samundar.

“It’s not like I have any choice but to trust your words,” said Ven with a mocking smile.

“No, you don’t. Come along and I’ll show you how you’ll be killing them off, and of course if you try any funny business, my colleagues won’t hesitate to kill you on the spot. Your assistance is helpful to us, but we made back-up plans in case you refused to aid us,” said Samundar.

Leading Ven out of the room, the group emerged into an empty parking lot. It was night, which meant he had been out cold for most of the day, there were some streetlights, but they were spaced too far from one another to provide enough light. In the middle of the empty parking lot were two cars, this troubled Ven immediately as he still hadn’t seen any sign of Peter or Sinha.

“I don’t see Peter or Sinha,” commented Ven.

“Have you ever used a gun before?” asked Samundar.

“No,” lied Ven.

“Figures. Ok, so both of them are tied up in the trunk of the car on the left. Use this gun, shoot them in the head and do it while resting the tip of the gun on their heads, that way you won’t have to worry about missing. The safety is off, so all you have to do is pull the trigger,” said Samundar as he pulled out a gun from inside his jacket and handed it to Ven.

“You’re giving me a weapon?” asked a shocked Ven.

“It’s only got two bullets. But let’s say hypothetically that you, a person who has never used a gun before, manages to actually to put one of us down, I’ll be generous, you manage to put two of us down, what do you do next? There will still be two of us and you’ll be out of bullets. So, please put such foolish notions out of your head. Oh, and I forgot to mention, don’t even think of running, I’ll be on the roof of this building with you in my crosshair the entire time. So please, do what we have discussed, and I will hold up my end of the deal,” said Samundar with a smile which didn’t quite reach his eyes.

Ven kicked a pebble in front of him as he turned around and slowly started making his way towards the cars. He felt powerless and feeble, if he was the same person as he was in the simulation these four masked goons wouldn’t have stood a chance against him. Was there nothing he could do? Once again, he thought about how alone he was in this world, the simulation wasn’t real, but he had friends and family in it, people he would die for and people that would die for him. Here and now, it was just him against the world.

Slowly he opened the trunk. Both Peter and Sinha lay in the trunk with their arms and legs tied together and a rag stuffed into their mouths. They twisted in shock as the trunk opened, trying to see who their captor was, their eyes showing the shock quite vividly as they recognized Ven. Peter shouted some muffled words as he thrashed and tried to work against the bonds on his wrists and ankles.

Ven paused as a thought formed in his head after seeing the sight of the two men twisting and turning in the trunk. He could use this gun on himself, that way he wouldn’t have to kill these two and not have to deal with all this madness he had been thrust into. He didn’t owe anything to anybody, this wasn’t his life, and this wasn’t his body. Slowly he pulled up the gun, Peter and Sinha thrashed harder as they caught sight of it, but instead of pointing it at them, he slowly raised it to his temple.

“Get down!” shouted Vikram in Ven’s earpiece.

Unnerved by the sudden voice in his ear, Ven pulled the trigger. A loud flash and bang followed as he staggered to the ground. He felt blood running down his forehead, he tried to focus but failed. If this was what dying was like, it wasn’t too bad, he thought to himself as he stopped moving and accepted the darkness which was starting to form on the edges of his vision.

A sudden turn of events! What will happen to Ven? Find out in next week's issue of 'A Hero's Tale"!

Now a question for our readers, was it too obvious that things were going to turn out like this or was it a surprise for you? Looking forward to hearing your opinions.

As always, stay safe out there.

Anderoth