Rudra and gang got the arena no. 13. Felix wished them luck, then the robot which assisted them until here also brought them from the hall to a new section of the stadium. It contained hundreds of doors lined up in a row. The robot took them towards the door on which it was written No. 13. The robot gestured them to go inside. Vivek took the lead and opened the gates to arena no. 13.

In a rainforest Rudra and gang were walking up a hill. The kind of environment that Rudra and gang were assigned to, was a rainforest. The vegetation was huge, clustered, and spooky. The dark vibe that this forest gave would prevent any sane human from going inside. Still at this moment on a hill present inside this forest, 6 people were climbing up the elevation. It was Smita’s idea to go up the hill so that they could first take a look at the geographical vantage points from the high ground. Everybody agreed as it was the most logical thing to do. All of them began to ascend very cautiously. Their eyes wandered around rapidly from place to place. As even a light twitch in a bush, scared the hell out of them. Before they could even go a bit far, they heard a bone chilling roar from afar. A lot of birds and monkeys were screeching in panic, making them aware of the coming doom. Vivek, Nisha, Smita, and Rohit were visibly scared.

Rohit: Guys please tell me it was one of you farting.

No body laughed or made any comment about it. Rohit gulped a mouthful of saliva.

Rohit: Guys…

Before he could say anything Smita quickly kept her hand on his lips and gestured him to shut up.

Maya thought, “By listening to the roar I can guess that it’s a Monster and a very powerful one at that, but I don’t think the organisers would put such a powerful monster in this competition.”

Smita: Guys what do you think should we continue to go up or should we stop here. After hearing that roar, I am a bit apprehensive about going up. Yes, we can see everything from there, but everything can see us at the top too, especially a monster or demon of high level.”

Rudra was unperturbed by the roar. He was irritated because of something else. “I think I know this place. I have seen this place somewhere, these plants, these plants are not of current time. These are plants from the time period before the occurring of Armageddon. What is this place? What is this familiarity that I feel?”, Rudra thought. Maya saw Rudra looking quite disturbed. She thought is he perhaps scared. Maya thought, “No matter how powerful one might be, no matter how strong one may become the fear of the unknown will always haunt you. Rudra may be powerful, but he may not have ever fought a rogue monster or demon in the wild. Maybe he told me to fight instead of him before because he is actually scared. Yes, that must be it. I must help him to overcome his fears. He needs to grow.”

Maya: Rudra are you alright?

Rudra: …Umm… Yes… Uh yes, miss Maya I am perfectly all right. (Rudra brought his cold and indifferent look back and got himself together.)

When Smita, Vivek and Nisha heard this they felt a bit better. They were all thinking the same thing, “So mister perfect can also be scared. Well at least that confirms that he is not entirely perfect or rather in an oddly satisfying sense he is human too.” Smita said in a calm tone, “Rudra don’t be scared we are all here with you. If anything comes, we all will face it together. You are not alone.” Rohit although still had that aloof face but he was shocked to see Rudra a bit disturbed. “What was that roar that even made him disturbed. No, something is wrong, definitely wrong”, Rohit thought. Rudra did not respond. He was still pondering on something and then said, “Let’s get divided into two groups and search for this monster.”

Everyone was shocked beyond belief. “Are you fucking out of your mind. Did that roar made you lose your sanity? Do you know what you are saying?”, Rohit lashed out.

Vivek: Rudra what you said would be committing suicide. We all should stick together and seek cover first.

Rudra who was looking around in an unassuming way after hearing the various comments turned his head and looked at the group with a cold look that was a bit up the notch. Although Rudra was always cold but now it was different. There was anger in his eyes.

Rudra: I was not asking you; I am telling you. Rohit, we do not have time follow me quickly.

After uttering those words Rudra with an inhuman speed dashed out in the direction from where the roar came. The surprise came when Rohit, the class clown, dashed out in the same direction with the same speed.

Nisha: Does Rudra have a gift related to speed.

Vivek: Well Lucifer is a demon so he must have intelligence even at lower level. So, it is not surprising that he gave Rudra a gift. But what is up with Rohit, that clown. How…

Smita: It’s all right if they want to go. We can’t stop them so let’s go find cover first, besides, they do have the badge if they face problem.

Vivek: Yeah you are probably right. Hey, where is Maya?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

In a well-lit room in the stadium.

A man sitting in front of multiple holographic screens frowned. He called someone with his com “Sir we have an issue please come soon.”

After a few minutes.

Felix went inside a room filled with people working on a bunch of holographic screens, respectively. They were pretty busy and there was a big central screen with multiple video feed being relayed back from the arena. But there were a few screens ,4 to be precise that were blank on it.

Felix: Yes, what’s the issue boy?

Employee1: Sir we can’t access the video of the arena no. 13.

Felix: (With a frown) what do you mean?

Employee1: Sir this arena’s every camera is down. No matter what we try we can’t get the video feed.

Felix: May be the cameras are destroyed?

Employee1: No sir the cameras are perfectly fine. It’s as if something is interfering with the signals. The cameras were perfectly fine just before a moment. But then there was a roar from the monster there and after that the arena fell silent and we lost the video feed.

Felix: Is the monster…

Employee: No sir we have taken that into consideration but, No, the monster there, is no. A34 and it doesn’t have any such powers. Its govt. registered name is Green Boa.

Felix: Then what is the issue instantly send some flying drones to monitor the area. Also tell the Central AI to access our satellite, to concentrate on the arena no. 13.

Employee2: Sir maybe I have something that will help.

Felix: What? Tell what you have.

Employee2: Sir the original arena no. 13 was actually destroyed as somehow its monster got berserk and destroyed the forest. It also threatened the participants. It happened three days back. So, we couldn’t repair it. Hence, we used a replacement arena from the reserved storage.Felix eyes went wide.

Felix: Which arena did you choose to replace the previous no. 13 arena. Sir we choose the arena OR23 from the reserved pile.

Felix: (Lost his cool) What! you choose an arena with OR in its base name? Do you know what a OR arena is? Why was not I consulted?

Employee1: Sir you were busy with various other jobs so we thought that maybe we shouldn’t disturb you. Besides such event have occurred before and we have always done the same thing to replace the arena with another. So, we simply followed the protocols.

Felix: You fools. What have you done? Yes, we have replaced arena before but never have we ever, replaced them with an arena with base no. containing OR.

Felix: (Pointed at an armed guard beside him) Go quickly and call the general from the VIP chamber. Tel its urgent and from me.

Guard: Yes sir.

Felix in his thought, “Hey Bhagwan (Bhagwan=god in India), Please protect those children.”