THE CITY OF PANDORA

Chapter 5: The sword of the gods

Just like I had expected ,we gathered together in a parade. Like we were waiting to be addressed. But by who exactly? I also couldn't tell. We stood there foolishly. I spotted one PC,unlike the rest his face looked a little cheerful. I walked right up to him.

"Hae,call me Chaka,"i said holding my hand out for a handshake. He shook it joyfully with a smile.

"Call me Zawadi," he replied.

We had a conversation from which I concluded he talked too much. No one came for hours. We grew tired, the wise ones figured out this was a competition and no one would possibly tell us what to do. Am glad to admit I was one of the wise ones, I left Zawadi waiting. I decided to look around the village. This way I would get a hint of what would be my first task.

I strolled around lazily, looking through windows, gazing at shops. I stopped at a man selling newspapers.I was curious to know exactly what would someone possibly write about.This place didn't seem to have any news. Just a few gloomy looking NPCs.Totally unfriendly I should say. I picked one of the newspapers. The headline read, Bring me the sword of the gods at the village square before sunset. Find it in Mulungu forest.

I Clicked on my screen,the firstpage had my stats nothing was different. This is what the second page had:

New Task added:find the sword of the gods

Map updated

follow the marked trees.

I walked wondering if there was any other PC that had this instruction.The forest was wide and dangerous. It was so dark, trees packed together. It was so quiet and lonely, a place to torment one's soul. My stomach was churning. A vague fear had seized me. Fear had become a tangible beast that threatened my whole existence. With little courage,i walked on following the marked trees. Looking behind me from time to time just to reassure myself that what I was thinking was not real.

The sound of the dry leaves crackling scared me. Their sound made my heart pump abnormally. I had no weapon.I totally depended on my fighting skills. Since I was in the palladin class I expected I would have extraordinary strength.

I remembered I was to look out for green and red lights to refresh my strength. From there, I stepped on them whenever I saw them and went looking up for any treasure boxes. I had walked for almost an hour,before unearthing a treasure box lying under a fallen tree trunk. I opened it hurriedly, I found a small blade,two doughnuts and a bottle of water. This was the least I expected. I needed something like a sword but they gave me a blade. Nevertheless I put all the things in my bag pack, I had it since day one,all of us did. The snacks and water was refreshing.I fastened my pace as I realized it was almost sunset.After two more hours of a long walk,i arrived to my destination. I knew this because there were no more marked tree and my map also had an arrow showing that this was the place. I hid behind a tree just incase someone was there.Who would live here anyway. With all the scarecrow's human,skeletons and frightening outfits hanged outside the house I wouldn't be sure. I took out my digital computerized eye glasses to detect whether was any living thing around. I didn't see anything outside, and since the glasses could zoom even through walls I saw a someone. I calculated and I decided to do something that would lure the whoever it was out. As planned, my little idea of throwing several stones on the roof did the trick.

What I had seen was not a person. It was a troll. This is probably the ugliest and scariest creature I had ever seen. I stared for a while then reminded myself it was almost sunset. I took a tree trunk nearby, and prepared to attack.I slowly went behind her while she was sniffing around .I hit her with it, lucky enough for me my plan worked, because she lied down unconscious. I entered the house without hesitation.A pungent smell welcomed me.Things thrown all over, books, pots, dung.Just like it was in the legends. I couldn't stand to be in here any longer.After a short search I noticed there was only one sword in the house. It was of made of bronze, small sized, not heavy and had some words engraved in a language I didn't understand on the handle.Nothing special for a god.If this was what I was asked to bring, I sincerely think the name was overrated. I put it in my bag and hurriedly walked out of the place with no resistance.At level one it was obvious,things wouldn't be so hard,at least I hoped. I walked for a while,both hungry and thirsty.I still had one more thing to do,deliver the sword.Within no time I was at the village square. By now it was dark, I didn't see anyone at first.After a while I noticed a man. I didn't see his face, he was looking ,I just saw his back. Hastily i approached him.

"You are late,"he said. Still not looking at me. "Put the sword down and leave." I obeyed him,took out the sword, placed it down and left.

I updated my map, I had to find my house since my assistant Zeddy had said I would have one.

Follow the marked trees.

This was becoming an obvious instruction to find new location. More of a normality now.

I followed the marked trees obediently without skipping one of them.

I noticed the settlement for PCs were strategically placed.They were similar in structure They were apart.I guessed maybe to intensify the competition. If the homes provided a lot of room for interaction then it was not a competition anymore.

No one seemed to be out the little houses. My map continued to give me direction.I was so confused when I realized I was at the end of the village but still on my map I had to cover a few more meters.The map couldn't lie,i convinced myself. I followed the marked trees they led me into the forest. Mulungu village was was surrounded by water in the north and a forest in the south. Finally I got to my house. Surprisingly it was the only one there. I recognized it was mine as it had my name at the door. But why would they put me away from the others? What was so special about me that they had to seclude me. Was I dangerous in the game?

"Questions, questions boy no one t I'll answer. It's a waste of time,"I told myself.

Without any more hesitation, I welcomed myself into my new home. Nothing special was inside.

It was one big wooden house. Very warm. Their was a dining room and a bathroom on the ground floor. A big fire place.Then a ladder that I was supposed to climb up to my bed.

Day one completed successfully I had to rest. Lying on the bed my eyes grew dimmer and dimmer till they were completely shut. I slept well that night. When i woke up in the morning the sun was already shining. I didn't really have a nice view of the new home the previous day but today i saw the mountains on one side of his house. I stood there and enjoyed the sun rise. This was my reality now. I had to find tasks to increase my points or I would be removed from the game.I walked through the visible paths, with no specific direction in mind.I walked to get to the only place I was familiar with now, Mulungu village. My mind was still disturbed with the memories of yesterday's task. Oh God I had been stupid I didn't even check my points.

I pressed the bracelet, scrolled down the screen and yes, just like I had expected I had xp +50 coins and 10 extra points.

And on top of that I was on level two now. This game had one task per level,though the tasks were all not easy, as the levels increased so did the danger and risk intensify.

An old woman drew my attention, she had so many bags and she was struggling to carry them. I scanned the old woman with my computerized eye glasses to detect who she was.This was exactly what we had been taught. I still remember the words of the short bald headed lecturer. "Never trust anyone in the game,the game is like a war. Survival for the fittest.Scanning never really told you if the person was your enemy it just told you who the person was and their abilities. The rest it is your mind to help you know. One limitation is it only worked on PCs.

I realized she had no name,no stats so probably she was just an NPC.

After doing much of talking myself into helping her ,I finally got the courage to approach her.

"Where are you going miss," I enquired.

"I want to go to my house up the hill.

"I will help you if you don't mind. "

"Please do I will really appreciate. "

"How long have you been here."

"Here, we don't know much about time, so I can't really tell but my age shows I have been here for a while. "

"If it was at my home I would say you are about seventy years-old,"I suggested.

She didn't really understand what I meant so I asked the next question.

"So what's good about this place," I asked.

" Nothing is good here, infact you should escape before you die. "she commented with so much confidence in her voice.

A little surprised I asked, "why, what is going to happen ?"

"Son please don't mind me,am just an old woman,i don't even know why I said that,"she replied with a fake smile.But that smile wasn't strong enough to hold back the fear I could see in her eyes.

"No,you were saying something about something bad happening,"I insisted.

"I meant the weather will change son don't mind me."she said.

"Home sweet home,"she said as she pointed at her house up the hill. Holding her waist to show she was tired.

"Okay I think I will leave you here, "I replied as I put the heavy bags down.

"Thank you son. "she said as I left.

I just walked around, wanting to know the place.I walked around,lazily,and went back to my new house that again. Still no task.

Something still disturbed my mind. That old woman had lied about what she had meant. I still remembered the expression on her face when I had asked the question again. How could I possibly find out. What if she was connected to my next task.