The Wish Game

A Civilized Talk

There was a week of rest provided to me for recovery after all formalities were done. It was March 1, 1999, and on 7th March, I would proceed for the group battles while Paras would leave the city to go home.

I had to make frequent visits to the healer, who would examine both my physical recovery and my magic levels. The unstable state of my magic though now contained by the seals; has sparked a debate whether or not I still remain a viable candidate.

“Your seals are holding that power well. But you should try not to use magic absorption, try to use whatever you have inside.” The healer said, bringing me back to reality. I nodded and asked, “So, I can’t use magic absorption at all. It always helped and allowed me to use such magic intensive spells and attacks.”

The healer looked at my seals and said, “Well, it’s not like you can’t use magic absorption. Try not to…Right now, your body is not too great of a container. But if you have any alternate way of using the absorbed magic, then you can go ahead.”

She stepped back and said, “Show me a blank.” I nodded and began charging my magic into my right arm’s index finger. After a few seconds of charging, I flicked the finger to release the harmless blast of air. As the commotion of the blast subsided, the healer noted, “Okay. Your control here is still admirable. But it can improve a lot.”

After removing the protective cast, she let me go. For the first time in about two months, my arm was feeling light and easy to move. “It’s quite free,” I mumbled as I came out swinging my arms around. I walked into a park enjoying the early March’s great weather.

I sat on a bench wondering about the healer’s advice. ‘I must find a way to use the absorbed magic but that goes against my philosophy of storing the magic and releasing it in a jiffy. Perhaps, I couldn’t use that for…’ My thought was interrupted by a voice, “Mind if I take a seat.”

By then, I had become quite familiar with the owner of the voice, “You’re so annoying, you do know that. Right?” I gave a little smile and he simply sat down on my side. “Well, you know you look better when smiling rather than your all angry and killing persona, Aadhya!!!”

I didn’t look at him and said, “Is there anything you want to talk about, Paras?” He stopped for a moment and began, “Actually, I wanted to know more about you; before I leave for home.” “That’s a strange request, you know.” I tried to act uninterested.

“Yeah, but I feel the first thing my folk is going to ask is about you.” He said as I finally faced him. “Okay. I am listening.” “Aadhya, what were all those marks yesterday? They weren’t any cultural marks or any injury marks, so what were all those?” He asked leaving me stupefied and searching for an answer.

“Well, maybe telling you won’t do any harm. They were magic seals, sealing off the majority of my magic. Now it’s my turn.” I replied and he nodded, “All right. I’ll answer.” I began, “Why was I hated in the class?” The question left him surprised and he asked, “Huh…What?”

“Listen, I don’t want to repeat myself, again and again, it’s embarrassing. Tell me, why I was hated in the class.” I began and he thought for a while before saying, “It’ll take some time.” I immediately retorted, “We have a lot of time to kill.” He began,

“Well, actually no one knew about you in the start. Your performance was sub-par; you never showed any interest or potential. So you were pretty much ignored in the beginning.

But after the escape stint, we were told that you’ve managed to escape and even our security was increased and freedom limited. First signs of dissent came from there, some of them began saying that though you managed to escape, you made life hell for us.

Perhaps that was true, during those few days, we were very much in hell. Everyone was kept indoors after the classes, guards were alert 24/7 keeping notes of who went out and who came in. The curfew was increased from 7 instead of 9.

But when news came that you’ve been captured and was coming back, many of the dissenters wanted a public punishment and an apology as well. But it didn’t come; the warden instead grounded you till the exams. The dissent began to quell, many sought revenge against a weak Aadhya in the exams.

About a month later, after you were supposedly allowed to move freely, we saw your guards carry you back from outside, unconscious. We usually thought that you were trying another escape and the guards just caught you.

But after it began to happen regularly, perhaps on a daily basis many of us began to question the teachers and warden. We thought that you were so determined to escape, that you decided to do that till death. Many sought that they let you go, just because of the admiration of your determination.

But our requests were as you might’ve guessed, rejected. They gave a single statement every day that you were training and were injured or exhausted because of it. But no one bought that and soon enough, we began to realize that your portion of dinner every day remained unutilized.

So, about two weeks after this began, all of us stormed into the warden’s office and demanded an explanation. The warden called our guards to have us ferried away. The resentment began to grow and after a few days, the teachers finally agreed to show us your so-called escape attempts.

They led us to the forest-like area where you were being trained and we watched from a distance. We saw you struggle against three of your assigned guards and your mentor, who’d pound you until you were unconscious and they were unable to get you back to consciousness.

At that moment, our teacher said, ‘So today also, she’ll miss her dinner.’ We later realized that it was the term of your training that if you failed, you won’t be getting your dinner. This event sparked sympathy among us.

But that lasted only till one of the initial dissenters, saw your mentor. He exclaimed, ‘It's Miss Mineva…The head of the training regime. She’s training her personally.’ We were told many stories about her, how she was famous as the Tiger of Choire.

The dissent began to grow as we discovered that Mineva herself chose you as her mentee and had to quit as the head of the training regime. Many of us idolized her, so it was natural that the dissent began to swell.

Then came the first exam. We were eager to show you how superior we were. Everyone there had a priority target set on you. But then something unexpected happened, everyone thought that because of our unified strategy and training, we’d overwhelm you easily.

But you not only came out successfully, your last stand against the entire class left not only us but the teachers surprised as well. But your performance evolved our resentment into full-fledged hatred.

The people you killed and maimed had many friends, allies and some were even closer than friends. They looked at each other like family, felt closer than relatives. And when the news came that they died or had to leave due to their injuries, the hatred against you became unstoppable.

Then, we were told about your decision that you rejected the offer of rejoining the class and would continue under Mineva’s tutelage. After that everything went in a downward spiral.”

I listened to his part of the story carefully and sighed, “So, it was perhaps my desire to be alone and secluded that caused all this.” He smiled, “No, it wasn’t like that. Many of us, mostly the ones lucky enough to survive an encounter, acknowledge your skills and strength.”

I smirked, “I don’t think it would be you.” He gave a comedic look and asked, “Why?” I giggled, “Why? You said in front of the whole nation that I am scrawny.” He pouted, “Well, that’s true. You are scrawny, but I am referring to your mental strength rather than physical.”

“Hey!!! I am not scrawny…” I shouted at him and he gave a broad grin. “Everyone will agree on that. You missed dinner every day for what, a month?” I blushed as I corrected him, “Ten months to be precise.” “See, you’re accepting that you’re scrawny.” He teased me.

“That’s not it…” I stood up and he teased me further, “Then I have an idea, why don’t we conduct an opinion poll here and find out who is right you or me?” I stomped on the ground and yelled, “Deal!!! If I win, then you’ll give me a written apology.”

“What if I win?” He asked standing up. I huffed, “That won’t come to it. But for the sake of fairness, tell me what do you want?” “Well, if I win then why don’t you drop me tomorrow to my cart to home?” He smiled and I gave thumbs up.

Till sunset, the two of us ran from one person to another asking if I looked scrawny and weak. Most people gave us a strange look but answered the question relatively honestly. I kept the record of the answers in my favor and Paras kept the record of answers in his favor.

We decided to tally our answers at the dinner table. There were five people at the table: me, Paras, Mineva, Rita and Mira. After the lavish dinner, I sighed, “Whoa…I feel so awfully full today.” Mineva giggled, “The first full dinner in ten months. How do you think it is?”

Rita and Mira had too much wine, and said sheepishly, “It was so difficult to have her eat even during treatment.” “Yeah, yeah…She refused to eat more than a bite.” The two of them were already in another world. The three of us giggled as we watched them bump heads during their mumbling.

However, despite having wine herself, Mineva was sober. I asked, “What happened? You aren’t that much affected by that. You sure that’s wine…” Mineva gave a creepy smile, “Yeah, but I am more interested in the result of your squabble.”

“Yeah, we have to tally the result…Wait how’d you know?” We said in unison and Mineva continued her smile, “Two champions squabbling over a petty issue like children. What do you think? It’ll spread like fire.” Our well-lit faces fell into darkness in a moment, “Yeah, we’re supposed to maintain a social image of tough guys and girls.”

Mineva stood up and patted our shoulders, “Wait, who told you that? It’s not at all necessary to maintain such a public image. You may be contestants or champions, but the fact doesn’t change that you’re still children and deserve to enjoy such little moments. There is a world outside fighting…”

“She’s down the count.” I said and Mineva gave an aggravated response, “What do you mean?” I smiled, “Look at your reaction, you’re really down. You should take a seat or else you’ll trip over.” I finally managed to push her back into the chair and turned towards Paras.

“So, shall we begin?” I asked but he added another question, “Before we start how do you know that she’s high?” I smiled, “This isn’t the first time we’re sharing a drink, just so you know. So, I know what she does after getting all high.”

We pulled out the pieces of paper that had the poll result. I began, “We asked one hundred sixty-seven people.” He added, “Out of that I have eighty on my side.” I flipped my paper with him, “I also have eighty on my side while seven just ignored us.”

“That’s a draw.” We sighed together. “Still, I am not scrawny.” I huffed and he teased me, “How’d you know? You ate dinner for the first time and look at you; I am positive that you won’t be able to move at all for quite some time.”

I got up from my chair and walked towards him, “Oh, I’ll show you.” I clenched my fist threw a punch at him which I don’t know how missed by a mile. We began a wrestling brawl there, butting head against each other when Mineva stepped in.

“You could find a better…solution.” She said separating our head-butt and suggested, “Why don’t you guys have an arm-wrestling match?” We thought for a while and shouted in unison, “Let’s do it.”

The dinner table transformed into the wrestling ground and both of us began the fight. No one budged for quite some time, with Mineva, Rita, and Mira cheering for us; though neither I nor Paras understood who they were cheering for.

After another five minutes of stalemate, the match came to an unexpected close with no clear winner. Both of us lay on the ground withering in pain, at the same time. We were taken to the healer by Mineva.

The healer was already half-mad at the late-night call and after listening to what happened, she went full mad. Mineva flew off after telling her the story to drop Rita and Mira at the guards’ post. Meanwhile, the healer examined the two of us as we were lying in two side-by-side beds.

Apparently, Paras still had some fractured ribs and in all that commotion, the fracture grew. “Young man, you have barely healed from the shattered breast bone. Have some mercy on your bones.” I laughed and said, “So, you bit more than you could chew.”

The healer turned around and threw a nasty glare towards me, “I don’t even know if anything goes beyond that thick skull of yours. Your limb bones have only recently healed but the fibers around them are still weak. You have damaged a lot of them.”

“Now who bit and chewed.” This time Paras jeered, as the healer finished binding his protective cast and turned towards me. She lifted my arm and applied a thick bandage. “I’ll have you two under observation tonight. By the way, why were you fighting now? It’s been two months since the nationals ended.”

I grumbled as she had me drink a strange concoction, “He said in the nationals that I am scrawny.” As Paras had his one, he complained, “What wrong I said? She missed one time’s meal for over ten months, who wouldn’t say that she’s scrawny.”

The concoction made me drowsy and before I realized I fell asleep. I woke up in the morning and found the healer missing from the room. I put the blanket aside and wore my T-shirt, which lay beside me.

I still had the bandage that she placed yesterday but being alone felt kind of strange. I went to the guard post and asked about Rita and Mira. The head guard told me that they were still dozing off. I thanked him and went outside.

“Oh hi!!!” Paras greeted me out of the blue when I came back to the healer’s room. I smiled and greeted him back, “Good to see you. So, you’re leaving today?” He gave a weak smile, “Yes, I am. Yesterday was fun, you know.”

“Yeah, that debate could continue forever.” I smiled as we walked towards the city streets. “You do know that you look a lot prettier when you’re not all that mad about everything and just smile genuinely.” He said as we continued down the path.

I gave a little laugh and joked, “Maybe but then, no one will take me seriously.” We laughed together and I finally said, “Thanks Paras.” He stopped abruptly and asked, “What?” I didn’t turn back and added, “I told you a lot of times, don’t make me repeat myself.”

He stammered, “I just couldn’t believe my ears.” I sighed and repeated, “I said, Thank you Paras, for everything.” He came in front of me, smiling, and asked innocently, “For what?” For a moment I forgot every sense of gratitude and anger swell in me.

I giggled and gave a soft punch in the gut. “Jeez…You are so dumb.” I laughed and added, “Well, thanks for the fail-safe attacks you did in the first and second exams.” He gave a broad grin and said, “Nah, don’t show so much gratitude.”

He moved on as I followed him, “You know, you were the reason I remained motivated. There was something I didn’t tell you yesterday and that’s why I was always so eager to you out first. It wasn’t out of any competitive spirit, but…”

He paused and I asked calmly, “But what?” His face flushed completely white, “I shouldn’t have told you that…” I took two steps back as I sighed, “You know I have really short temper. So, don’t make lose it and spill it out.”

It was a bluff, but part of my public image as a short-tempered and out-spoken personality. There was no way; he’d know what I am inside. But he began, “I wanted to take you out early because I didn’t want to see you in pain.”

I couldn’t control it and burst into short laughter before realizing that he was being honest. “Uh…Sorry about that, I didn’t mean to be disrespectful.” I paused for a while and continued, “You know if you’d said this before the nationals, I would’ve considered it another attempt of getting an upper hand on me. But now, I think I’ll make up with an explanation.”

He looked surprised and continued, “When we went to snoop on your training procedure, there was a difference between what others saw and what I saw. I told you what others saw…” “And what did you see?” I asked him in order not to have him repeat the instance.

“I saw the suffering you had to endure. The isolation, every day’s torment during the training, and the emotional suffering from the regrets you have. So, even at the nationals, I deliberately tried to minimize your suffering by killing you with a single decapitation strike.” He said and offered me a seat on the side bench.

“Don’t you have any regrets?” I asked and he smiled, replying “Well I did. But now I don’t.” intrigued by the answer, I asked, “So what was that?” “Till today, I regretted not being able to talk to you in a straightforward manner. But now…”

I again interrupted, “Jeez, you’re such a fanboy-type person. Don’t you have anything other than that…” Paras thought for a while and replied, “No. I volunteered for the selection procedure and did everything here of my own free will, without any outside pressure or interference.”

“Wait, you volunteered…” I asked shocked. Paras gave a smile indicating ‘What’s there to be surprised about?' and said, “Yes. Actually, now that I think about it, if I didn’t volunteer; then perhaps, you’d have a girl sitting beside you right now and she could’ve been your friend as well.”

I wondered, “Do you have a sister?” “Yes, and actually, it was her who was chosen by the authorities but I volunteered instead. Because I volunteered, they had to leave her alone.” He replied, his voice filled with a certain level of pride.

I sulked and gave a satirical laugh, “I am perhaps the polar opposite. My brother and I were chosen together, so my parents had a choice to have anyone of us and…” He added, “They chose him. So, you escaped not to get out of this place but rather…” I gave a weak smile, “To get answers. I met Mineva there; she was in charge of my capture.”

We talked for about two hours before the cart meant to carry him back arrived with his parents. I went to drop him at the cart where his luggage was already present and greeted his parents, “Hello, it’s nice to meet you.” We shook hands and I introduced myself, “I am Aadhya…” They stopped me in between, saying “We know you; Paras told us everything about you.”

I scratched my head, totally unable to figure out what to say next. Most of my conversations ended right at my name. “I am at a loss of words…” They smiled and said, “We know that your social skills aren't as excellent as your fighting skills.”

I turned towards Paras and gave him a killer glare, “What else did you tell them?” At that moment, a girl about my age popped out of the cart and replied to my question as he just looked here and there.

“He said that how you were very beautiful when fighting and ferocious like a tigress. He also told us how you fought against the odds in the exams.” The little girl muttered at a rapid speed, with Paras and his parents showing signs of annoyance.

But something else caught my attention and knowing that she might be the best bet to get answers, I turned towards her, “Do you know how he got that information?” The girl stood to my shoulder, perhaps due to my intensive training and self-enhancement magic usage I was taller than usual but compared to Paras I felt quite normal.

‘Are we really that tall?’ I thought as the girl took a good look at me before answering, “He told me not to tell anyone.” I bent to a knee and comforted the girl’s cheek before asking, “Are you scared of me?”

She looked at her parents and brother, who were watching the interaction very keenly, and nodded in a negative. “You look more good when you’re hair is not like that.” She said and I raised my arm to feel that my hair was tied as a bun. I smiled and tried to be friendly, “Would you like to mend them the way you want?”

At that moment, her parents tried to intervene but I smiled and asked them almost telepathically to let it go on. I turned around and she pulled out something from my hair, causing it to fall down. “You really do have so long hair, like in the champion conference.” She exclaimed and I asked, “Wait, you didn’t believe that I had long hair?”

I turned around and gave the gentlest smile I could. “No, I thought you used magic to do so.” The girl replied and I added, “Oh, now you can tell me what he asked you to not tell anyone.” The girl this time said mechanically, “He followed you in the first and second exam till he decided to fight you.”

I turned to see an alarmed Paras who gritted his teeth, “She promised me that she won’t tell this to anyone.” I sighed, “You are such a creep and stalker.” I went closer to him, clenching my fist, and said, “Maybe I should give you two or three more visits to the healer to help you fight this condition.”

I snapped my fingers and broke my spell on the girl. She looked here and there completely unaware that she spilled the beans. I smiled at a startled Paras who asked, “What did you do to her?” “Oh, just a magic spell,” I replied and turned away from him.

“Hey kid, you alright?” I asked and the girl pouted, “Yes, but my name isn’t kid. My name is Priti.” I later realized that the parents left us to have our gossip and went to have a talk with the warden. Paras asked, “What did you use on her? I never thought she’d break her promise.”

Priti was shocked at the revelation, I saw that coming. “Sorry Priti, I used True Investigation Magic on you. The spell’s name is Forced Confession and you won’t remember what you told me under that spell unless someone tells you.” She gave a strange look at me and asked, “When did you cast it?”

“When you were mending my hair. Well, looks like your parents would take some time, so see ya.” I took my leave when Priti asked, “I have been here only for a few days, and so can you show me around.” I was surprised, “Me? Why not him?” She pouted and replied, “He knows nothing around and only showed pretty boring stuff.”

I smiled uncomfortably, “Sorry, but I am pretty much in his boat in the best case scenario…” I paused and saw Rita and Mira around. “I’ll be back,” I said as I flew towards the duo and after a little chat got them back.

“Okay Priti, they’ll take you to the carnival that’s happening in the city right now. You’ll enjoy it.” I said while introducing Rita and Mira. “Why aren’t both of you coming? It’ll be fun.” She asked when told that neither I nor Paras would be accompanying her. Mira said, “They are a bit injured now, so you should let them rest.”

She pointed to my arm and legs covered in bandages. I added, “Besides, there’ll be a huge uproar if we popped up there all of a sudden. But don’t worry, we’ll keep an eye on you and see all the fun that you have.” We gave them a nod and let them have fun.

About sunset, the trio returned and was greeted by me, Paras, and his parents. “So, you had fun didn’t you?” Paras asked Priti who nodded joyfully. “So, it’s time for goodbye, I guess,” I said as I forwarded my arm for a handshake.

“Yeah, it is.” Paras said as we shook our hands smiling. “I’ll pray to the God of Magic that you lead a peaceful life ahead.” I gave a broad grin and turned to leave. I walked a few steps away when he called me, “Hey Aadhya!!!” I stopped and turned as he continued, “I heard that you honor words over everything else.”

“Yes, I do.” I said and he continued, “Give me a promise. You won’t stop smiling at least in public. Do away with that crappy public image of yours. Replace that grim fighting machine image with a lively and humane one.”

I laughed, “That’s a strange request, you know. But…” I paused for a while and nodded in agreement with a smile, “Consider it done. I’ll try to rebuild my public image. Anything else?” He blushed and asked, “Will we meet again?” I replied as I turned back, “Maybe after the Games. Till then Goodbye.”