Apocalypse- VIII Hastinapura

Charles's POV,

We are now going to Hastinapura- The capital of the Kuru Vansh or the Kuru dynasty. The seat of the Pandavas after the great war. It is a great city. As we are entering into Hastinapura, the mighty gates open up letting us into the gigantic population. During this event, Hastinapura had loads of tourists. Both the creators of the game and the NPCs make tons of money during this event. The place is completely lively. I'd expected it to be filled with players but the only players I see here are those behind me and along with me. The lively NPC's faces contort into one of anger and hatred. They all start booing us and some even throw stones at us. The stones do not reach us because of the safety precautions of or chariots.

We move on ahead surprised and afraid of what's to come. As we reach the palace of Hastinapura, we are faced with all the great kings and warriors of the Mahabharata lined up in front of the palace and at the center are Bhishma and Drona, looking grim and solemn.

[Bhishma is the older brother of Vichitravirya, who was the father of Pandu and Dhritharasthra. Vichitravirya died an early death and left the throne to his children. Bhishma had vowed to never take the throne so the throne later went to Pandu the younger son because Dhritharasthra was born blind. Drona was the teacher of both the Pandavas and Kauravas and taught them everything he knew.]

Bhishma is said to have fought for 23 days in the Kurukshetra battlefield against Parashrurama-the sixth avatar of Vishnu and Bhishma's teacher, and neither was able to overpower the other and they stopped the battle because any further battle might end the world. Drona was said to be almost as powerful as Bhishma. All the warriors were in golden or silver battle armor. They were all equipped with their weapons.

I gulped as I got down from my chariot. Adi was maintaining a firm posture and an emotionless face. I reign in my fear of those in front of me as I walk behind Adi to reach all the warriors. Bhishma steps forward and asks, "Traditionally I would have congratulated you on a well fought battle. But this is not a traditional case. So I shall ask you this. What are your intentions?"

"What do you mean, Sir?" answers Adi.

"Don't pretend to not know, boy. Your people, you call yourselves 'players', they caused many riots over the past two days and murdered so many people. They are now trying in prison." His expression turns more serious, "So I'll ask this one last time. WHAT. ARE. YOUR. INTENTIONS?!!"

The temperature around the place dropped as Bhishma let his Killing Intent out. I now understand why I am recieving so much hate from the people.

I step ahead and say, "Dear Sir, we mean no harm. Those 'players' who murdered the citizens of Hastinapura shall be punished but they too are going through a lot of pain and people tend to take out their pain on others. Humans make mistakes. But not every mistake is intentional. I plead to you that you let the players you have go. We'll make sure that they undergo punishment." I then kneel down and all the players follow suit. Adi continues, "Please O sir, forgive the people who committed the crimes in the past two days. We'll make sure that they never commit another crime like that." All the players bow their heads in front of Bhishma and the other warriors.

"Why should I trust you? These riots have taken place throughout the country. Fortunately they have all been stopped. But they have all killed so many humans. How can I forgive so much loss of life" comes Bhishma's voice.

Adi removes his quiver and places it down and follows up with his armor and bow. I take out my swords from their sheaths and stab them into the ground. I remove my armor. All the players are stunned by this but they do it nevertheless. Fear makes people do anything. The players all give to their armor so that they would get a chance to live if Adi's idea worked. Adi says, "I, Aditya, fire archer of Indraprastha present to you my bow, my quiver, my armor and my undying allegiance. If you don't believe me, execute me right now!"

I say, "I, Karthik, lightning swordsman of Magadha hereby present to you my swords, armor and undying allegiance. If you do not trust me, you can execute me."

I don't like this. But, I don't think there is anything else that can be done to make Bhishma trust us.

A person steps ahead from behind the line. He has a blueish skin texture. He is not wearing any armor but is wearing kingly clothes. This is Krishna. He smiles and says, "I trust them. They stopped the riots in the Pandava camp for peace. I doubt that they have any evil intentions."

Bhishma sighs in defeat. He says, "If you say so, Milord." He turns to all of us, "I accept your apology and allegiance. I am sure that the other Pandavas do as well. Rise O brilliant warriors. Wear your armor and equip your weapons. Such a posture does not suit Kshatriyas. Rise to glory!" I was about to piss in my pants fearing that Bhishma may in fact execute us.

We rise and equip our armor as we are greeted by the Pandavas, Karna and Duryodhan. Arjuna pats Adi in the back and says, "Good job, kid. You did well. I knew the war this year would end earlier but in two days, that's a record to beat."

Duryodhan says, "While I hate to admit it, Arjuna is right. My army has fallen low."

Yudishthira says, "Come on, we have a great feast ready."

There is merriment again. I smile at this. People laughing together and having fun. We eat the feast in joy but that is short lived. After the feast, I say, "Sir, take me and Aditya to the dungeons where the other players are being held."

As we enter the dungeons with Bhishma, one sound is heard. It comes from a single highly protected cell. The cell holds Dharmendra, the chief of the 'New Legends' guild. Before the start of the war, he was just a level under me. A fire warrior who wielded maces[A mace in India is similar to maces worldwide, except in India, the top is spherical]. He claps and says, "Here come the kings of disgrace. You two don't deserve to be out there any more than I do!"

[Mythology titbits: Today's topic is the beginning of the Mahabharata which took place in Hastinapura. The story starts with king Shanthanu of the Kuru dynasty. He had a son named Devavratha. But Shanthanu once met a fisherman's daughter, Satyavati and fell in love with her but her father was unwilling to marry her to a king and wanted his grandson to take the throne if she was to be married to Shanthanu. Shanthanu who dearly loved Devavratha could not do this. So he did not follow Satyavati anymore. But Devavratha could not see his father in grief and asked the girl's father to let her marry his father. When the father expressed his condition, Devavratha took a vow to never take the throne. Then when asked if his children would wish for the throne, Devavratha vowed to never marry and to never have kids. The Gods were very pleased by this and blessed him that he would only die when he wanted to. He then got the name Bhishma. Satyavati and Shanthanu had a son named Vichitravirya. Bhishma went to a Swayamwara in Kashi, a competition for princesses where the winner could marry the princess, to get wives for his brother. There were three girls- Amba, Ambika and Ambalika. But Amba was already in love with one of the Kings so she was not happy, whereas the other girls were fine with Bhishma winning them for his brother. Amba went to Parashurama to seek refuge, and Parashurama told Bhishma to marry her as it was now his Dharma. They then went to battle for 23 days. Upon ending it, Parashurama told Amba to see regret in Bhishma but she went and meditated to Shiva so that in her next life, she could kill Bhishma. Ambika and Ambalika were married to Vichitravirya but he died before they had children so sage Veda Vyasa, who would later go on to write the story as he recalled, was called so that they could have children by praying to the gods. Ambika upon seeing the sage closed her eyes as she felt he was ugly, so Dhritharasthra, her son was cursed by the sage to be born blind. Then years later Dhritharasthra was denied the throne and Pandu got it. But Pandu killed a deer which was in heat with it's partner but that deer was a sage in disguise who cursed Pandu that if he were to get physical with his wives, he would also die. So, he went to the forest and exiled himself. Then they had kids and the story after that is already briefly explained in chapter 1. Meet you later readers!]