Chapter 5 Infiltration

Part 1

Six months had passed, and everyone seemed to have made some progress, and there was an air of confidence around everyone. For the final month, they had done team-building exercises, which had helped them achieve a decent level of teamwork as well.

Then it was finally time for the final meeting with the king, three days before they left.

"So now that you have all submitted your progress reports, now I'd like to come up with a strategy on how you are going to infiltrate the city of Ghorkhadhanda," the king said.

"How about just walking in? The security seems lax enough. I mean, it is the city of sloth we're talking about, right?" Akish said.

"I don't really think it would be that lax, Akish," Ripudaman said. "Try to think about things more before blurting them out."

Akish muttered something about quitting acting like a mom before he quieted down. "How about me disguising myself as some far-off noble and bringing you along as my servants?" Mihika said.

"While that is a good enough strategy to get into the city, it may end up backfiring on us," Vaghat said.

"I quite agree," Abhijat said. "There's also the ability nullification stones to worry about. Using any ability to enter is out of the question for getting into any country."

Athika recalled a part of the lecture that she had been taught while she was attaining an education.

Ability nullification stones, to Athika's knowledge, were essentially stones that could suppress, nullify, or even completely erase a person's ability, depending on how it was given to them. These stones, when turned into dust and mixed with the appropriate materials, could be turned into an ability nullification potion, depending on the circumstances. These stones were found in areas where the ability users were the most in number.

To understand how ability nullification stones came into existence, it was imperative to understand how abilities themselves came in the first place.

It began with these large stones (Read: Meteors) falling from the sky. There were a bunch of them; they fell all over the continent and began contaminating it. That is, they began a sort of mutation with the beings around them. The effect varied from stone to stone, but one tendency was common. It led to people developing abilities. The abilities themselves were foreign to the world itself, so it adapted, it tried to curb and cut its effects down… as much as it could, and the result were the anti-ability stones.

That said, Athika had an idea; "What if we use one of the country's many disadvantages against it?"

"From what I know, there are a few things the country lacks, and health centers or places of healing come first in these. This is because the country of Ghorkhadhanda has an immense labyrinth stretching under it that was built by the previous ruler of the country before the king of sloth took his place. The king has slowly been expanding this expansive labyrinth, while it doesn't exactly scream sloth, but he does it solely out of desperation. He's a coward, and the labyrinth is where he's the master of the game of running away," Abhijat explained.

"So he uses his men to dig these tunnels deeper while not caring what happens to them in the process?" Anila asked, slightly distraught.

"That's horrible," Athika said.

"Well, it's not like we can do anything about it," Akish chimed in with an uncaring tone.

"The place is bound to have ghosts unable to move on, so that will probably help me and, conversely, us navigate the labyrinth a bit better," he continued.

"By setting up a healing center, we'll be able to slowly but surely garner the support of the people, enabling us to overthrow the country," Anila said.

"I feel that won't be enough," Vaghat said. "If that were all it required, then it would have been overthrown long ago."

"We'll have to make the people of the country lose faith in the way the country is run, although I am pretty sure a huge majority of people will already be dissatisfied," Mihika said.

"We'll have to push them to the breaking point by setting up a chain of events that ruins the king's already tarnished reputation, at least in the case of sloth," Ripudaman said.

Everyone seemed to agree with the conclusion, with seemingly no objections.

"My-my, it's frightening how you guys came up with a basic plan already," the king said, seeming a bit shocked.

"There is a lot more we have to plan; this is nothing much really," Abhijat said.

With that, the discussions continued...

Part-2

Athika had been assigned a major role in their current plan; she didn't exactly like it, but she supposed she couldn't really do anything about it. She stood a few kilometers away from the capital city of the country of Ghorkhadhanda. Her role was to approach the city gate at the given signal and play the part of a wanderer who happened to be an excellent emergency doctor and happened to be currently jobless and looking for employment. While Athika felt there were too many loopholes within it, the plan itself seemed to be the most efficient. Behind Athika stood Anila, Vaghat, and Akish, who were acting as her sort of assistants and apprentices.

Roughly west from the capital city was a forest that held wild animals, and that's where their second group of Mihika, Ripudaman, and Abhijat would enter, with Mihika and Ripudaman posing as guards to the noble who is Abhijat. Using a watered-down version of Mihika's ability, she would make Abhijat and herself look gravely wounded while Ripudaman would beg them for help. They would then use this tactic to get into the city for the sake of treatment, after which Athika would make her entrance, stating that she was a doctor.

Abhijat had predicted that at this time of day, the healing center of the city would be oversaturated with wounded, making it the perfect time for her entrance. To be perfectly honest, Athika felt uncomfortable being put in the spotlight like that, but it couldn't be helped. She had to play her role because if she didn't, she would be useless, a no-good piece of garbage that couldn't save anyone or anything. She had to push herself; otherwise, someone might get hurt, and it would be her fault all over again.

Part-3

This was Dhruv's second month on the job. Dhruv, a citizen of Ghorkhadhanda, had enlisted and undergone training as a soldier. He was on his second month of duty, assigned as a checkpoint guard. He wasn't born with an ability but had found himself well-versed in combat. He wanted to become a general one day, but right now, his goal was to guard a checkpoint. The two soldiers next to him were his juniors and were to obey his orders.

It seemed to be roughly midday right now. In a while, Dhruv would be able to go on his first break, which he very much needed because it was hard to stand in one place with the sun's heat beating down on him. His armor did not help him much. That's when he saw them.

He saw a man carrying two injured people; one seemed to be a guard, and the other a noble. The man carrying them seemed to bear the markings of a warrior as well.

"Help us!" The man exclaimed as he ran forward. Dhruv leveled his spear against the man's chest, making him stop in his tracks. While Dhruv did not like it, he had to do what he did. The nobleman looked quite pale, and he saw that he had a large gash across his chest. The guard woman who was unconscious also seemed to have suffered a head wound and was bleeding profusely.

"State your business here!" Dhruv said, mustering a hardened tone.

"What does it look like to you?" the man screamed, panic evident in his face. "My lord and my comrade in arms were injured when we were traveling through the forest."

"Lord?" Dhruv thought. So he was a nobleman, like he'd guessed. He looked quite young as well.

"What the hell were you thinking traveling through the forest in the first place?!" Dhruv screamed back at him.

"It was the young lord's idea; he said it would be faster," he replied.

Dhruv was about to respond when the lord seemed to have awoken.

The first thing he did was look at Dhruv; his eyes were glassy, and they seemed to form a fresh batch of tears now. "Pl-Please I-I, help me. I don't wanna die. I don't wanna die. I don't wanna die," he cried as he coughed up more blood, which stained his uniform.

Dhruv's tough front finally cracked, and he allowed them inside the city. He had let them in without any ability nullification test because they looked genuine. He could only hope that they get there in time; even if they did, there wouldn't be a bed available at this time of day, since this was the time the number of patients was at its peak at the healing center of the city.

Dhruv felt a bit nauseous from looking at the wounds and blood that he'd seen. He told himself he would have to bear with it since he had signed up for this; it was his choice, and he would see it through. Surely he would. It wasn't someone else directing him; it was his choice alone.

He was now about to get off his shift when another group approached him, a group of four people, two women and two men. One of the women was dressed in a highly modest fashion with a single gold chain around her neck. She seemed a bit nervous, and her clothes looked a bit ruffled.

The rest seemed to be commoners for the most part, her followers perhaps? They approached Dhruv who stood there. The commoner woman had silky black hair and red eyes, her face hidden from Dhruv's eyes as she had held it down. Next up was one of the men; he seemed to have a carefree, distracted, and playful gaze. Even right now, he was looking in a certain direction while walking in another, constantly bumping into the person in front of him who was shooting annoyed glances at him. The person shooting annoyed glances had bags underneath his eyes; his movements seemed really jittery, as if he was itching to do something. Dhruv guessed it was to punch the person behind him, but it could be anything else for all he knew.

"Greetings," said the woman leading the group.

Dhruv nodded in response.

"We were looking for entry into Ghorkhadhanda. Unfortunately, we do not have permits or any sort of proof since we lost them on the way when we were attacked by bandits. Is there perhaps an arrangement we can work out?"

Dhruv thought that this kind of story seemed too perfect. While bandit attacks weren't scarce, there were a fair amount of them. Then there was the other group that had appeared not too long ago with wounded people as well. The story seemed to check out. He thought perhaps...

"Sure, we can. Just tell me where you are from, and we'll send a letter to the place you are from to have them re-issued," Dhruv stated.

"That's great," the woman said. "Although where will we be staying for the time being? We lost our camping equipment to the bandit attack," the woman drawled gloomily.

"We have a temporary guest house for situations like these, so feel free to stay there," Dhruv said in a neutral tone. "Hope that the place all of you hail from also conveniently doesn't exist, I daresay," Dhruv said in a slight threatening tone.

The woman seemed stunned for a moment before she chuckled and responded, "I wouldn't dream of lying to a guard as perceptive as you," she smiled at him sweetly. She was really b- no focus!

Dhruv then asked a question that deviated from the protocol. "Did you perhaps run into any other group like a group of farmers perhaps, since there was a group of 13 laborers which was made up of a combination of 3 families? They also claimed to have run into bandits," this was a lie. Dhruv was testing these people. If they had not been attacked by bandits, they would immediately buy into the story to make themselves look more credible.

"They also mentioned a doctor who helped them treat their wounds afterward," he added.

The woman thought for a moment before answering. "Hm, no, I don't think so, sir. We did not run into any such group, perhaps you're mistaken?"

She paused for a moment before continuing. "We did run into a nobleman and two of his guards; they helped us fend off the attack. But one of the guards and the nobleman himself got injured."

The story seemed to check out to Dhruv, who was still suspicious and began to search for more clues.

"I see. I now have to ask a few preliminary questions to cross-verify once we send the letter, if you don't mind."

The woman agreed to it, and Dhruv began asking away, starting with her name, age, and where she was from. She answered all the questions in a straightforward manner. While he was questioning her, his fellow soldiers were patting down the woman's followers.

"What's your job description and why are you traveling here?"

"I am a healer, well versed in treating illnesses and operating on the field in general, and I am traveling here because I am looking for a job," she said it as if she had memorized the lines, as if on cue.

He asked a few more questions before he asked her a final question.

"How do you still have your jewelry on if you were attacked by bandits?"

He hadn't noticed it before, but as he stared at her during the questioning, he had noticed with a start that she still had a chain of gold around her neck, which he found really odd. Bandits would loot and pillage indiscriminately; why would they leave a golden chain behind? The fate of women encountered by bandits is a fate he'd rather not think about, yet here she was.

"A-are you saying you don't believe me, sir?"

"Cut the bullshit and tell me who you really are," Dhruv said, grabbing her by the neck and pulling her tied hair from the back, making her look at him dead in the eye. To which the woman responded with a frightened and pained yelp.

The two guards next to him responded in kind by drawing out their weapons.

Now the situation looked a bit like this: The man with the baggy eyes was exactly behind the woman he held by the neck. The man with the carefree look was on Dhruv's right, roughly 10 feet away, and the other woman who had kept her head down the whole time on his left, again with the same distance apart from where he stood. The man behind the woman he was holding had his hands up. The man and woman on his right and left each had a guard in front of them. As Dhruv was about to command the order to arrest them, a series of events too quick for Dhruv to follow occurred.

The man with the carefree look had apparently stored an incredibly thin and small blade in his mouth, and through his mouth, he spat the blade out with such speed that it impaled the neck of the guard. Within the next moment, he had wrenched the sword off the now dying soldier's hands and prepared to throw it at him.

Making a split-second decision, he shoved the woman he held forward and propelled himself backward to avoid the blade that just whizzed past him. He heard a cry of pain and realized that the sword he had dodged had hit the soldier on his left instead. The woman in front of the newly stabbed soldier was already taking the blade out from his impaled side and was preparing to end his life.

Dhruv, who was now sitting on the ground, was quick to get on his feet and began to run toward the city entrance, which had a shed for resting troops right next to it. If he could get there, he could get someone to engage them. He realized that the heavy armor he wore and the sword on his scabbard were useless, so he shed them while running. Once the last piece of armor was shed, he broke into a sprint, not daring to look back.

Dhruv's sprint was successful, but when he saw the shed on fire, his hopes were shattered. The area was under mass panic, people running around not knowing what was happening. People with a red cloth covering their face engaging what remained of the guards and swiftly cutting their numbers down. These masked men were rebels who wanted to overthrow the current king. They frequently did attacks on various garrisons and barracks, but an attack at the entrance? Why now? Why? Unless it is to use the panic to let the people who were currently outside to enter without anyone being there to identify them.

The area at the entrance wasn't exactly well fortified. He had made multiple appeals to nearby nobles to improve the situation, but they never listened. The soldiers who were posted at the entrance now paid for the incompetence of the nobility with their lives.

Dhruv then picked up a sword from the ground and was going to try to hold the people from outside back. When he turned around, he found himself moving backward due to some force. A fraction of a second later he realized that he'd been stabbed with a dagger in his arm that was thrown from a distance. Waves of pain flew through his nervous system. Crying out in pain staggering back he focused his eyes on his attacker. He had black eyes with golden streaks in it his face also covered with the red cloth. But he recognized those eyes; he was the man who had stabbed one of the soldiers in the neck. 

He then felt pain rip through his stomach as he realizes he had been stabbed with the sword through the stomach. He was so focused on the man far away he did not notice the red eyed woman next to him. Her face also covered with red cloth. She then rips the sword out of his stomach having blood now gushing out of his stomach in full force

"I am sorry" she whispered.

Then she stabbed him repeatedly until he lost strength.

Dhruv by this point had lost the strength to scream and just fell limp to the ground blood pouring out of his belly. He knew this would be his end. 'What a pathetic end' he thought to himself. It was laughable given the life he'd lead so far, only just had he gained freedom, the moment he did the curtain of his life fell. He wanted to hit the ground with his hands in frustration of the unfairness of it all, his body would not obey it would simply lay there till its firewood ran out.

The man with bags in his eyes was staring right at Dhruv, his expression was a mix of annoyance and fear a rather odd combination. His vision was also turning hazy he looked up at the sky. It was cloudy and it seemed that it was about to rain as if the skies itself were mourning for him at least if no one else would. 

The group moved on and now he lay there alone on the ground bleeding to death. The violence around him subsided it seemed the rebels had retreated with their mission perfectly accomplished. The rain began to fall, at the very least his tears would be washed away, maybe they'll write the incident down saying he died a warrior's death. 'That would be nice' he thought. Another moment passed and he took another step towards death when a shadow fell over him. At first he thought it was the clouds, perhaps it was death here to take him away but it in fact was a man. The man clad in a maroon robe looked down at him with piercing eyes. In his hand which extended out from his robe sleeves he held a chakra, a circular, metallic, thin, disc like object that a singular curved spoke running across its diameter, the edges were deadly sharp capable of piercing through armor easily. 

"Do you want to live" the man asked.

Dhruv wondered if he was hearing things maybe his mind was playing tricks on him and maybe he was just hallucinating this.

"This isn't a hallucination or anything!" the man snapped angrily. "Now tell me do you want to live for revenge or die a dog's death"

Dhruv did not want to die, more than anything he wanted to live, wanted to kill those who had harmed him just now, taking away his life. Who were they to do so? What gave them the right? He would live and exact revenge on those who wronged him. Rage coursed through his veins 

"Yes" Dhruv croaked with his eyes seething in anger and a fresh batch of tears before he lost consciousness.

Part-4

Dhruv was the third child in one of the branch families of a well-known noble family that was known to spawn great generals and warriors. He didn't have much talent with a sword but worked hard enough to be better than most. His two elder brothers, who were 2 and 4 years older than him, had talent and rose above their peers earlier than he did. Despite the age gap, they were an equal match. Dhruv, on the other hand, was not even close to them. Sure, he was better than kids his age, but it wasn't enough for his family. He allowed himself to be trained mercilessly by his parents due to a mixture of feelings of inadequacy and self-hate.

But hard work could only take you so far without talent.

Dhruv fell behind at a rapid pace and soon came to be known as the Silver-spooned failure. Having everything yet not being able to achieve anything hurt him to his core.

That's when he met the masked man who claimed to be from an organization called Chakra. They used circular weapons to slash or throw at enemies. Dhruv found himself to be a natural at using them, so much so that he was able to defeat various leaders and captains of the group at a very quick pace. By the time he was 16, he was at the level of a squad captain.

Somehow, someway, his family found out, dragged him away kicking and screaming, and shipped him off to the shithole he found himself dying in now. Here he was, abandoned by his family and with no way to reconnect with the organization called Chakra. He found himself doing various odd jobs, and during these, he tried to get jobs as a mercenary to leave the city, but to no avail. They had branded the wrist of his right hand with a mark. This mark indicated that this person was under city arrest, meaning he would not be allowed to leave the city, and if he did, he would be executed immediately.

Dhruv then decided that at least, if not anything else, he would be a guard; it would be his act of rebellion. An act of rebellion against those who had wished to crush his soul and turn him into a puppet that simply obeyed orders. Then, finally, just a month on the job, the incident happened, and he almost lost his life.