The Gamer: Battle Of The Ten Kings

Chapter 2.1

King Ravi's Log, Day 2 After Awakening Power.

8 January, 2015
MV, California
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I was pacing up and down my bedroom. It was 5 a.m. in the morning. There were many thoughts swirling in my mind. Among those, the following were the top five thoughts running through my head after the dream I saw.

1. Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!
2. I have awakened my power! I have a superpower?
3. There's no way I am a King. I don't feel 'Royal''. Was the dream real? It felt VERY real!
4. If my life is like a game, can I FINALLY get a girlfriend in real life? Coz NPC chicks dig me.
5. Should I talk to someone about this? Mom? Dan? Or should I update my facebook status? No. That would be Didiotic.

[Didiotic:  Adjective. To perform an action that Dan would do. Usage - Taking a selfie when your cat is on fire is Didiotic.]

Clearly I didn't want to talk to my father. But that aside, how do I figure this out? I was definitely not hallucinating when I saw those Holos. And clearly that dream was important. Aditya said a battle was starting. Am I in danger? I needed to protect myself. Brock! He was a bodyguard right? But hiring Brock would mean paying him money; money which I didn't have. Dad! I was apprehensive about approaching him. And even if I did talk to Dad, I had no way of contacting Brock. I had forgotten what company he worked for. I didn't want to hire anyone else. You see, when it comes to bodyguards, people always want a familiar face guarding them.

Why did I make that wish? Oh, I know! Grandma! I needed to meet her. But she was back in India. I would have to go to India anyway, to meet Aditya. Homeland calling, Rav! Homeland calling! I was very agitated for the next few hours. I didn't talk to anyone. I was just doing my best to make a plan of action, to decide my next step.

I decided to test out my power or the rest of the day and do nothing else. I had figured out that Holos didn't just appear randomly. Think like you're playing a game. If this was anything like a game, then I could interact with the Holos. I could make them appear and disappear whenever I wanted. I even had a choice about what the Holo would contain. Last time, the Holo in front of me displayed my 'Player Profile'. I just wanted to know my weight and it had appeared with just a thought. The Holos above Dan and Brock had appeared when I was balling my hands into a fist. The Holos disappeared when I said 'Ok' or 'Thanks'.

There had to be rules about Holos. Could I touch them if I wanted to? Let's Try. I once again thought about my weight and my Profile Holo appeared. There was a small picture of my face right beside my name. I brought my hand up and touched my floating picture. The Holo shimmered at my touch and it morphed into a full length photograph of me. It was my all-time favorite picture of myself. It was my first time wearing a tuxedo. My mom had clicked the picture when I was leaving for a party Dan had thrown when we graduated. I had neatly parted short black hair and the light just perfectly complemented my brown eyes.

There was a sign below my pic that said 'Change/Remove Picture'. I didn't want to. I just let my hand drop and it swished through the Holo. The holo disappeared. Wow. Cool. But I brought the Profile Holo back up. There was something interesting on it that I hadn't paid much attention to before. The last line in the Holo said "Status: Offline". Now, What the hell does that mean? I thought about it, then thought some more. I thought for a while, you get the point. Then the light bulb in my brain just went on. Settings Menu.

Oh, I am a Genius! Games always have settings menu. My real-life-game must also have one. I could just think about it or say it out loud and it would appear. I knew it in my heart. For the first time since my wish coming true I was excited. Truly happy. That moment when you learn something for the first time, discover it on your own, have the capability to make your heart race. Mine was doing flips and cartwheels. The feeling was quite similar to when you are playing a game and you figure out how to clear a really difficult level.

The Settings Menu Holo appeared:

QUICK SETTINGS

Status: [Offline]
Night Vision: [Off]
Close Buy Menu After Purchase: [Off]
Always Show Inventory: [Off]
Always Show Map: [Off]
Auto Pick Up Dropped Items: [on]

[Advanced Settings]
[Save]
[Restore Defaults]
[Cancel]

I touched Advanced Settings. Another Holo appeared before the Settings Holo that said "Level Up to open Advanced Settings". That's okay, I have Night Vision. Fffffuuuuuuuuuuuuu--. Needless to say, I immediately turned Night Vision [On]. Now to turn Status to [Online] and [Save]. Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.

The Holo disappeared and I smiled. That smile wasn't going to last long because another Holo had appeared. It read:

EVENT IN PROGRESS: BATTLE OF THE TEN KINGS
PARTICIPATION: MANDATORY, AUTOMATIC.

Uh-oh.

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Author's note: This was probably the longest chapter of the story, till now. Let me know in the comments how you feel about the direction in which the story is going. As always, thanks for reading. :) - Phenil