Part Two Begins Here

It was odd, but the night Kiara was taken, I was quite vacant of emotions.

Initially there was some anger and sadness. But my calculating mind quickly discarded them. They were unnecessary baggage. I needed a clear mind if I should get Kiara back.

My soldiers informed me of the sudden attack. A number of the monsters in my palace had been killed. With a cold calmness I told them about Kiara’s abduction, and asked that I be left alone for sometime.

How had the players come to the palace in the first place?

The charm over the palace prevented players from finding it. Had a resident of the palace shown them the way? A double agent?

I had full faith in my monsters. They would rather slit their throats than commit such treachery.

How then had the players discovered the palace?

It was a mystery. And for the time being I decided not to invest my mental powers into solving it. The main priority of the moment was rescuing Kiara.

How should I proceed? Was attacking the town an option? My monsters were in the thousands, but the players and the elves far outnumbered them.

If only I had other clans of monsters on my side… I had leveled up significantly, but I had yet to win kingship over other clans. Then there was the oddity, Pook. Could I use him somehow? But his expertise was creating quests, and Kiara was the one supervising him.

My thoughts led me to my last option: The sage.

The sage boasted he could talk to the game world. And the game world… was everything wasn’t it?

Perhaps, all hope was not yet lost. The game world could tell me the exact location where Kiara had been taken. I couldn’t invade the town, but I could orchestrate a surgical strike.

But was I being too optimistic?

I lay in my bed, absentmindedly sucking my thumb like a six month old, staring fixedly at a random spot on the wall. I could feel my brain warming up. It was making countless permutations and combinations at an incredible rate, all aimed at the rescue of my beloved. Occasionally Kiara’s image came before my eyes, and a vivid recollection of the last moments with her would sweep my mind, making me feel as if she was still in the room. But I was quick to revert to my scientific line of thought. No time for grief.

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And then the solution hit me.

It was a sure fire way to save Kiara… but it came at a cost, just the thought of which made me tremble.

***

The next day, I journeyed alone to the sage’s hill.

When the crack appeared, I quickly jumped in. I fell down on my knees, my eyes struggling to adjust to the darkness.

Pesky doubts attacked me.

Did I really love Kiara so much? At this point last year, I hadn’t even known she existed. And now I was going to make the ultimate sacrifice for such a short term love. Was I being an idiot?

And then I recalled all that she had done for me. I reminisced about our nights of intimacy, and I thought of the wonderful person she was.

Yes, the sacrifice was necessary. I would never be able to look at myself in the mirror if I didn’t make it. The tide of doubts ebbed. I got back up to my feet with more determination, and I strode to the meditating sage.

“I want to talk with you,” I said. Normally, the sage parted his cerulean eyelids at his own leisure, but today the urgency in my tone made him look up at once.

“Ah, it’s you,” he said in his ever serene attitude.

“I want you to ask the game world to give me something,” I said to the sage. “And in return I am willing to pay the price.”

The sage considered my words, furrowing his brows.

“What do you want?” he asked.

“I want to become the king of all the eviluns that exist in all of Dharti,” I stated. “At once. I want supreme authority over the smallest and the biggest monster. They must serve me as I ask them to, without breathing a word of complaint.”

“That is a big thing to want,” the sage said, “And doesn’t the game world want you to be the same anyway, but in due course, and by earning it?”

“Yes,” I replied, “but I want it now, at once, not in due course of time. I am not asking for alms. I am ready to pay the price.”

The sage observed me with an intense, unblinking stare.

“Dharti is intrigued by your words,” he said, “and it tells me it already knows everything you have in mind. But it wants you to say it with your own mouth, in order to seal the deal. Speak, and set the matter in stone!”

I inhaled deeply.

“Make me the master of all eviluns that roam the game world,” I said, “The price I pay is this: I shall forever stay in this game world. There is no need for Dharti to help me return to the real world with a healed body.”

The sage nodded.

“The game world will do as you want,” he said, “However Dharti still likes you, for you are good at heart. Besides what you ask, the game world will give you something more.”

The sage made a motion with his hand. A hologram of Kiara appeared. She was stashed in a dark room. Her arms and legs were fastened to a chair. She was gagged, and her eyes were red from sobbing. She had bruises all over. My heart throbbed with despair and anger. The sage clicked his fingers, and the next moment I somehow knew the exact location where Kiara was in the big town of players, as though it was a place I had frequented all my life.

“Thank you,” I muttered.

“Dharti wishes you the best of luck,” the sage said. “And now, let’s make you the master of all eviluns.”

The sage clapped his hands together and began a series of complex gestures. The space in front of me twisted every time he moved his arms. Bright lights appeared. I felt dizzy. I forgot if I was sitting or standing. All thoughts of Kiara left me too, and my mind went absolutely blank as knowledge of space and time abandoned me.

The sage struck his hands together one final time. The blackness that followed was all consuming.