The Wish Game

The Tale of The World

Two days passed since Paras left the mansion with his parents, leaving me alone. But my schedule didn’t leave any time to feel lonely at all. Only five days remained till I was supposed to leave the country for group battles.

“Huh…I have to say all this in front of the public and the mayor!!!” I shrieked as Mineva gave me the script of my speech that I was supposed to speak in an event at sunset that day. It spanned more than three pages and contained a lot of things that even I didn’t understand well.

“Just learn them all right. You can understand them later.” Mineva said and I sighed, “Okay, but seriously I have to do all this stuff.” “Well, you don’t seem to have a choice in that matter,” Mineva said and I turned the pages she handed me over.

“It’s too long. Mind if I make some changes.” I asked and she looked at the text before replying in affirmative, “Okay.” I took the pen from the desk in front of me and began cutting down portions of the speech.

“This is perfect.” I handed her the edited version of the speech and she shrieked, “Are you kidding?” I nodded in the negative, “Nope, I think this much should be enough.” “Enough? There isn’t anything left.” She shrieked and read what I left in the script.

“Hi Everyone, I am here to speak as the champion of the nation. People who are present and those who are watching this, this is a promise that I’ll win the Wish Games and bring prosperity to the people of our nation. What is it?” She yelled at me.

I grabbed the script and looked at it, “I don’t know where I wrote that ‘What is it?’ if I spoke that in the event, it would lead to some serious setbacks.” She gave an irritated look and said, “I said that and stop diverting the topic. You’re the champion now, be a little responsible.”

I sighed and tried to get my point across Mineva, “Listen Mineva, no doubt I am the champion. But what I excel at is fighting. I can win only by fighting, not by public speeches. I don’t think honing my skills in a field that isn’t that useful in the long term would help.”

Mineva gave a more irritated look but smiled, “That’s true. But look at you; I never thought that you’ll counter suggest me.” I pouted, “That’s not it. I gave you suggestions before as well. Like when I convinced you for training after the first exam.” She giggled, “That was more of a tantrum.”

Mineva added a few lines in the script and asked me to go through it. “It’ll be fine, though on the longer side.” I smiled as Mineva threw a glare, “You have till sunset. Make sure you go through this. I’ll select a dress for you to wear.”

I got up from the table and as Mineva left the room, went into the bath. “It relieves all the stress,” I said stretching as I emerged from the bath about fifteen minutes later. By lunchtime though, I had remembered all of the words in the script by heart.

After lunch, Mineva came into my room with two other ladies. “Aadhya, this is Miss Reema and this is Miss Tina and they’ll help you to get ready for the event.” I greeted the two ladies, “Hello, it’s nice to meet you.”

The two ladies smiled, “Hi, it’s nice to meet you too, let’s get started.” I nodded and the two brought in their preparation material. “Whoa…” I was surprised as two trolleys of dresses came in along with cases of accessories. “Please sit there.” They said pointing to a stool in front of a mirror.

For the first time in my life, my dress-up took entire two hours. The end result left Mineva, Mira, and Rita in awe. “It doesn’t look so bad.” I wondered looking into the mirror but was unable to figure out what made me look so special.

“Um…Mineva, why are you so much awe-struck?” I asked. The question must’ve struck the two ladies like lightning which was quite evident by their expressions. Mineva immediately took the damage control, “Sorry, Miss Reema and Miss Tina. Her dressing sense is not that great. Please don’t mind that.”

The two ladies nodded but didn’t seem that happy. “We know that her dressing sense is quite tomboyish. The warden told us in advance about her unladylike attitudes. So don’t fret about that…” They took their leave and Mineva turned towards me, “Don’t you have any common sense? And your dressing sense is so…”

I looked down and said feeling embarrassed, “I come from a not very rich family, and even after coming here, I never indulged in such extravagance of dressing up for events or things like that. The only time I’ve indulged in this was when you dressed me up. So, I don’t know anything about that.”

The trio laughed and Mira said, “I’ll train you later in all the lady-like activities and stuff.” I looked into the mirror and at my image wearing the white shirt and cream-colored knee-length skirt with a woolen overcoat. My hair was mostly straight to the back except for a few frills and curled bangs.

“Now let’s get going. You don’t want to be late for the event.” Mineva said as she patted my shoulder. I grabbed my new script and walked along. At the event venue, the mayor greeted me with a token of thanks, in form of a bouquet.

There was a huge audience turnout, perhaps to hear their fierce champion. It was my first true public event by a long shot. “Don’t be nervous. They know you as a confident and strong person, don’t let them down.” The mayor whispered to me as he noticed that I felt nervous.

“Yeah, I am trying. But you know, this is my first time addressing the public. So…” I replied keeping a gentle smile frozen on my face. The mayor went to the podium and gave the introductory speech to mark the beginning of the event.

I rose to the podium on my turn and looked at the crowd that had gathered there. I took some deep breaths as told by Mineva to combat my fears and began,

“I am really honored by the gentle reception I got here. Mr. Mayor, the people present here and the people who are listening to me from home, I am dedicating all my previous victories to you along with all that’ll happen in the future.

I am the champion of you all and as the champion; I am giving you my word that this time only these hands shall be laid on Caelum. I shall be the victor and everyone else would fall in front of me. There’ll be no mercy at all.”

My short speech had got quite criticisms from Mineva, Mira, and Rita but now, as I finished speaking; what I got was completely unexpected. The mayor and the esteemed organizers stood up to give a standing ovation, while the audience cheered.

‘I wasn’t expecting this even a bit.’ I thought as the mayor replaced me on the podium and said, “Excellent, that was the best. Extremely concise and to the point, Miss Aadhya. Thanks for that. Now if the committee organizers want to add something.”

The committee members gave a vote of thanks and their best wishes one by one. Finally, about one and half hours later the event ended and everyone was invited to a public feast. Everything almost went uneventful with almost all people giving me best wishes personally.

The next day by noon, my room was filled with items that people from all over the country sent me. After it got too difficult in the room, Mineva and I went to the city library. Mineva was helping me learn about the world and other countries.

“Listen, the next stage for you would be the group battles,” Mineva said, breaking my chain of thoughts about the nationals and the invisible seals, which have been bothering me for quite some time. “What are those and what are groups?” I asked and she smiled, “Glad to have your attention back.”

She brought out a book that contained a lot of pictures and said, “This book has the entire world’s map, detailed and sketchy.” She unfolded a map and began pointing to different areas. “These are countries outside our own and groups are basically collaborations of some nations who…”

She apparently ran into a loss of words and sighed, “Jeez, this political stuff is really hard to grasp. To take it simply, participants in the exams made groups to take you down. Groups are collections of countries that come together for a common goal of winning the Wish Games.”

I nodded in affirmative as she continued, “Every group sends three to four competitors into the final Wish Games, depending on the circumstances. To select those, group battles are organized. Now, group battle rules differ a lot according to the country who’s organizing the group battles but because they have to send three competitors, they’re perhaps more survivable than the battles here.”

I asked, “This survivability is the least of my concerns, my enemies will just die. And wouldn’t it be better if every country came together for this and used the magic behind it to help everyone?” Mineva thought for a while and sighed, “I don’t know about that. Listen, I am not an expert in politics and all that, so it’s better you keep those philosophical questions out.”

I sighed in disappointment and nodded. She continued, “There are seven groups that send their contestants in Wish Games. They are North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Indo-Pacific. Since they send three to four contestants, you could be facing anywhere between twenty to twenty-seven enemies.”

I asked, “Do you know which group I belong to?”

“Yes, you’ll participate in Indo-Pacific group battles.”

“When?”

“Probably in two to three months, depends on all other nations and how they choose their champions.”

I gave a sour look and sighed. The lesson continued till sunset and finally, we made it back. “These lessons are more boring than your combat lessons.” I yawned and she smiled, “Yeah, and taking into account your ability to learn these theoretical things, I doubt you would learn anything fast.”

I puffed my cheeks and grumbled, “Hey, that’s not true. I learned all that magic within weeks and mastered them.” She smiled and teased, “And what about basic reading and writing. You haven’t mastered them till now and all those magic lessons were given one on one through words rather than texts.”

“That’s not true, I learned enough reading to use magic books that were provided to me.” I countered her and she asked, “Oh, but if I recall correctly then you still receive picture guides for magic and combat lessons rather than textbooks. Or maybe your room could tell us more about that.”

I didn’t argue further and soon we reached the mansion. “I hope they…” I muttered as we opened the door of my room. Inside the room, we saw a giant pile of gift-wrapped items. We looked around for Mira and Rita and finally found them asleep among the gifts.

“They must’ve been exhausted by the work, so let’s not disturb them.” We whispered in unison and quietly went out of the room, leaving the two guards asleep getting their well-deserved rest. That night, I and Mineva stayed in her room which even though I saw for the first time, there wasn’t anything of extraordinary interest.

The next day went almost in packing for the travel. I took a look at the numerous utility items that were received as gifts and took a few of them for later use while Mineva took all the books that I might need. The rest of everything was managed by Mira and Rita.

That night, I was summoned by the warden in his chamber. Mineva told me about the summon and caused me to complain, “What does he want now?” Mineva however, didn’t seem in a very good mood and after a minute of bickering, she dragged me out of the room.

“Hey, stop. Stop. Stop. I’ll go on foot.” I struggled as she pulled me towards the warden’s chamber. She paused for a moment and I got on my feet and walked the remaining distance mumbling, “What’s gone into you, Mineva?”

I knocked on the door thrice and entered before receiving any confirmation. Mineva followed me after giving a sigh and we were greeted by an unfriendly warden who sighed, “I didn’t allow you to come in, didn’t I?”

“Then perhaps, you should keep the door shut or have someone guard outside,” I said as we walked towards him and he gestured us to have a seat. Both of us sat on a chair and I asked, “Why’d you have to call me here?”

He bent over the table making a headrest with his hands and asked, “I listened to your declaration of victory and the promise you made to the general populace. I want to ask you personally, do you intend to keep it or not?”

I gritted my teeth as I recalled all the trouble I had to face to get here on his urgent summons. “You called me here just to ask this?” I gritted my teeth and looked at Mineva by the corner of my eye and asked almost telepathically, “Seriously, for this?” She perhaps understood my message and nodded.

The warden smiled, “This is an important matter and after all, you are responsible for your own words at least.” I shot back gritting my teeth, “Are you picking a fight?” He laughed, “Why would I? I am asking that part seriously, knowing your streak of irresponsibility…”

His statement was cut short when I created small daggers from magic and threw them at him. He sat upright and totally attentive as the daggers stabbed his chair, millimeters away from his neck on both sides. Silence prevailed in the room for quite some time.

I broke the silence and sighed, “You know what I learned earlier in all these trials. There is just one rule in the Wish Games: kill or be killed. You can wait and watch my resolve or I can give you a trailer right now, by killing you.” This time Mineva gave a reaction and looked at me with suspicion.

The warden, however, smiled. He snapped his fingers and the daggers disintegrated. The smile on his face was genuine and I saw that one for the first time there. He opened a drawer of his desk and brought out an envelope. He waved it in the air and said, “This is for you. It’s up to you to accept or decline, no one will question your decision.”

He slid the envelope towards me and I swirled it between fingers and said, “Okay, it’s a yes from me.” Both Mineva and the warden looked at me surprisingly, “You should at least open it and read the letter.” They said in unison.

I sighed, “It’s an invitation for a private dinner. It’s happening tomorrow night in the magic assembly.” Mineva asked, “So, the organizer is magic association?” I replied with an unknowing gesture, “Can’t be sure? The host is someone called Abhijeet Mishra.”

The warden smiled, “I’ll inform the higher-ups of the development. But how’d you know about that without even opening the envelope?” We got up and prepared to leave. The warden smiled sarcastically, “I shouldn’t have expected an answer.” I said opening the door, “It’s True Investigation Magic – Forced Confession.”

As we walked back, I asked Mineva, “What happened? You weren’t in a great mood today.” She looked forward, “Well, I wasn’t feeling too good. Maybe I’ll go see the healer.” She smiled and walked faster leaving me behind wondering, “She never looked so tense. Maybe she is feeling down…” I controlled my urge to follow her and went to my room.

The next evening, I and Mineva went to magic parliament for the dinner. Mineva looked at me as I was quite nervous, “Chill out, if you’re so tense then why you would agree to this?” I looked at her; we wore similar-looking three-piece dresses.

While I had a white shirt, sea blue colored skirt that went a little beyond my knees, and the same colored overcoat; Mineva had the same color schemed dress but instead of a skirt, she wore a trouser.

We went inside together and the vibrant interior décor had us forget all about the conversation we were having. “Whoa…” I marveled at the well-decorated interior and a person walked over to us asking, “May I help you, ladies?”

Mineva gave him the invitation card and he guided us through hallways to the chamber where the party was being hosted. As we went to the place, I marveled, “This is such a big place. I wonder what this place is used for.”

The man smiled, “You are the champion right.” I nodded in agreement, “Yes, why?” He added, “Well, it’s not the first time that the champion is unaware of bureaucracy and administration. This is the place where all laws are made in the nation. The magic association holds meetings here.”

I asked the man, “Wait, did previous champions also not know about this?” “Yeah, like you; they also came from distant and not mainstream places. So they were pretty ignorant about this. And no one blames them or you for that, this part of life is always left out of your curriculum and is thought best to not drag you into petty politics.”

We were greeted by a lot of people in the chamber. Everyone congratulated me as the victor of the nationals and I repeated my promise, “Soon, I’ll be the victor of the Wish Games.” After a few pleasant exchanges, a man came towards us extending a hand towards me. “It’s nice to meet you.”

I shook hands and said, “It’s nice to meet you too.” I nervously released my hand and whispered in Mineva’s ear. “Who’s he?” She whispered back with a smile, “He’s the president of the nation’s magic association. He sent you the invitation.”

I suppressed the emotion of surprise on my face and tried my best to keep an innocent smile there. Mr. Abhijeet smiled, “Well, it’s a surprise that you agreed to this on such short notice. Your warden said that he was pretty sure that you’ll refuse the invitation, given that you’re supposed to leave tomorrow for your next battle.”

I scratched my head in embarrassment, “I am really trying to get rid of that image. But that is something that continues to linger on.” Everyone gave a laugh and a lady began, “I think we need to talk privately for a bit. Right, President.”

Mr. Abhijeet nodded in agreement and said, “Please continue gentlemen, we’ll be back in a moment.” He smiled and led us through the chamber in another room. The room had a round table and he offered us to take a seat. The four of us sat on four chairs and the conversation began.

It was the lady who began the conversation, “My name is Purvi Sharma and I am the deputy president of the magic association.” Mr. Abhijeet began, “Actually, I want to know about your decision to change your public image. What’s wrong with an introverted, strong, and mysterious warrior without any emotions? After all, that’s what you’ve been known in the last year.”

I sighed, “Yes, that’s true. But all those who knew me are mostly dead, so I don’t think rebuilding my image would take anything complex.” Ms. Purvi smiled at my gullibility, “That’s not easy as you think. But I am more interested in your motivation. I have been following you and your progress since your escape attempt but something seems off since the nationals.”

I began, “If you really know that much about me, then you should know that right now, I have just a fraction of my former power because my magic has gone berserk. So, this is kind of necessary to avoid unwanted enemies. But why are you asking this?”

Mr. Abhijeet and Ms. Purvi thought for some time and answered, “You are probably the first champion in history who is supported by the magic association unanimously. We got reports of your fights directly from the warden and by the progress we saw, the support grew eventually from a handful to unanimous.”

I asked, “I am really grateful for the support. Can I ask you something?” The duo nodded and I continued, “You’re supposed to be the most powerful people in the nation. Then can’t you heal my condition?” Ms. Purvi waved her hand and a book came flying to her hand.

“After all three matches, we had a detailed analysis done of all remaining competitors. This book contains your details. See it for yourself.” She passed it towards me and I opened it to find it full of texts. I gave a momentary sour look and closed it.

“What happened?” She asked and Mineva responded, “Texts are not her strong point. I think it’ll be better if you explain it to her vocally.” The trio gave a laugh causing me to blush. Ms. Purvi began her explanation, “Before I begin, do you know why you’re able to use magic?”

“Well, no. I can only use magic.” I replied and she sighed before continuing, “Well, magic is basically energy that covers all of us. Our body has conduits that take in the energy, process and refine it and finally store it for future use.”

Mr. Abhijeet continued from where she left, “You began to use Magic Absorption and forced the conduits to take in refined magical energy, which in itself should not be a problem until in the finals when you used the risky bounce.”

Mineva added, “The sudden release of all of the stored energy, overrode all of the natural failsafe mechanisms and the conduits almost got destroyed in it. So, there was…no, there is nothing in your body that regulates the amount of magic energy coming in, stored, and going out.”

“Can it be healed?” I asked and the trio looked at each other before Ms. Purvi answered, “We don’t know. Theoretically like any other body part, the conduits will heal naturally but we don’t know how much time it’d take. It could take longer than our lifespan.”

“Now, for the main part on why we needed to talk. In the next part of the Wish Games, the group battles would be organized by Australia. Your trip to Australia will be something like this. You’ll travel by ship. The city’s port has a ship ready which will go through Rudra River into Gulf of Tiger and from there you’ll sail to Lunamaria, the capital of Australia.” Mr. Abhijeet said.

I nodded in agreement and looked towards Mineva who had a startled look on her face. “Hey Mineva, are you all right?” I asked and she calmed down nodding in affirmative. “Is something wrong?” I asked, gaining the other two’s attention. “No, as your mentor it’s my duty to guide you to victory, be it anywhere in the world and I will fulfill my role,” Mineva said with a hint of pride, but there was something that gave a very restless and uneasy feeling about it.

We left the room and joined the celebrations. The next day near sunrise, we both were seen off at the port where the ship was set to sail. For the last time, I looked at the city and waved goodbye with tears in my eyes.