Die Twice- Shadow's Call Page 2

  3 The Awakening

  Startled, she came to, jumping nearly out of her body. Billowing sand pelted her face as she sat up from lying on the ground. Holding a hand to shield the plummeting gravel that pierced her brow, she faintly made out a cloaked figure on the horizon.

  After gaining her strength, she mustered herself to her feet, standing and observing her wrists. Nothing was there. She looked at the rest of her body, everything was intact and exactly how she remembered it. Her body was perfect.

  With her hand shielding her face, she lowered her gaze and made her way to the cloaked figure on the horizon. The trek felt long as the wind made the walk tougher than it should have been. Confused by where she was yet was grateful that she left her other life behind. She had the gnawing feeling that she should have done something like this sooner rather than be subjected to the years of torment she allowed Aram to put her through. She became angry with herself.

  As she approached the figure she saw when she awoke, he turned to face her. “Greetings Asha.”

  Puzzled, and with her hand still shielding her eyes, she lifted her gaze to make eye contact with the male figure who stood before her. “Greetings,” she replied.

  The stoic figure continued, “I’m sure you’re confused as to where you are.”

  Appreciative that the figure related to the way she felt, she answered, “Yes, where am I?”

  “We are on the outskirts of Kazeveh. You already know this place.”

  The name not ringing a bell for Asha, she pried, “Kazeveh? I don’t know it.”

  “You sure do. You know it from the Ascendancy of Unity that you’ve watched day after day. You didn’t actually play the game, but you have seen more of the game play than anyone who has passed her so far,” explained the figure. He spoke from under his purple hood, tied with a headband that secured it to his head. His black short beard lined his jaw and his long tunic covered almost all of his body.

  “Oh, right,” nodded Asha as she made the connection. “So this is Kazeveh?” Asha squinted her eyes to take in the picturesque brown desert landscape of rolling hills of sand. At the distance there was a large wall.

  The man, who stood at least two feet taller than Asha further explained, “Yes. Beyond the wall over there is Bakahisar, the capital of Kazeveh and the location of Palace where the King of Kazeveh lives. I know you already know the story.”

  “I’m familiar with it,” answered Asha. “The game is played from the point of view from a member of the Clan of Bahram,” recollected Asha, still confused as to why she was here. Strange place for an afterlife.

  “Just as I suspected, you have a great and vast knowledge of the Ascendancy of Unity,” responded the cloaked man. He moved closer to Asha, taking two steps toward her. “Come my child. I will explain what you are doing here, but I will need to escort you into Bakahisar.” The cloaked man put his arm around her, the sleeve of his tunic shielding her back as he moved his forearm over her forehead, so his sleeve blocked the sand that penetrated her forehead. “Come, I will protect you.” The two walked in the midst of the sandstorm toward the gates of Bakahisar.

  The figure, who appeared to be both ethereal and human unbolted the gate, the entrance into the wall that enclosed Bakahisar. “Go ahead,” he directed, guiding his hand through the opening in the gate. The iron the gate appeared to be worn and aged from centuries of elemental exposure. Asha walked through, and the male figure closed the gate behind him, locking it with the handle of the bolt.

  “Welcome to Bakahisar. This is my world,” the figure announced, his hands moving from his sides to emphasize the grandeur of his world.

  “Your world?” Asha asked.

  “That’s correct. You see, I am a god, charged with creating a world where the inhabitants can explore and enter a place with magic and intrigue. There are demons, dungeons, and despair around every corner, but there is also enchantment, enjoyment, and at the end, enlightenment. I created this world so that the inhabitants could leave this world and enter to paradise, heaven if you will,” explained the deity.

  Asha was taken aback from the entire explanation, not knowing where to begin and was weighing her options, if she had any. “So what am I doing here?” Asha asked.

  “It appears as though there has been an issue with the Ascendancy of Unity. They once were a cohesive group who assisted each other despite their differences in religious beliefs, but with the King taking over Kazeveh, the land is in a tailspin as none of the clans are getting along. They have lost their way. With the High Priest in power, not all believe in Druheqir, but they respect the oldest religion in the land to at least live in harmony. Not everyone is required to believe in Druheqir to attain enlightenment in this world, but the infighting, sabotaging, and plotting against one another only breeds destruction and despair, resulting in the souls of this world going to the underworld.”

  “Underworld, like Hell?”

  “Exactly. I suppose you would be familiar with the name as it is referenced in the Qur’an, Jahannam.” The cloaked man paused for a moment, and then confided, “The same place you were headed to…”

  “Me?” Asha, shocked at the words he uttered. Almost alarmed that her very soul was headed to Al-nar.

  “We’ll get to that in a second. Let me finish about my issue,” insisted the cloaked mysterious man.

  “To help everyone in Kazeveh attain enlightenment, order must be restored. Once the clans are cooperating with each other, they are able to work toward the common good of Kazeveh and help one another to eternal enlightenment in paradise. Essentially, your mission is to enter the Clan of Bahram as an assassin and help them with their mission of restoring the High Priest to power. Once that is done, the infighting among the clans will cease and order will reign over Kazeveh. This world will enter a period of a Golden Age, if you will and the souls of Kazeveh will once again earn their place in paradise.”

  Asha became puzzled once again. “Does that mean that I could get eternal enlightenment?”

  “Absolutely,” the figure responded with emphasis. “So that brings up the notion that you too were headed to Jahannam.”

  “Yeah, about that?” Asha countered, confused by all of the rules of the afterlife.

  “Your soul was indeed headed to the underworld. I intercepted your descent since I figured you could help me. This gives your soul a chance at enlightenment and my world can be saved. Frankly, I’m getting tired of always having the worlds that seem to tank when everything seems to be going right. I can’t seem to figure out how to make everyone live in harmony. Everyone else seems like they have the perfect world, but me. I digress—”

  “So, you intercepted my descent into the Hell fire?”

  “I did.”

  “But, why was I headed there? I feel like my soul was good. I mean, I did the best I could with what I was given,” argued Asha.

  “Well, you were good, but your acts were not,” answered the figure. The figure paused, and then continued, “You sold your body, sold drugs, and finally committed suicide. You think you deserve paradise?” the deity asked in a rhetorical manner.

  “But I was forced to do those things.”

  “Right, but you still did them. You had a choice. You could have left, but you never did. Your situation, as destructive as it was filled something in you.”

  Realizing that this figure knew more about her life than she did, she relented and asked, “So what am I supposed to do?” Asha muttered, still reeling from the revelation that she was headed to Hell before this deity intervened.

  “Let me explain. This world is essentially the same game as The Ascendancy of Unity. The very game that you watched at least a thousand hours of game play,” the deity explained. Asha paid attention to his every word so she would understand what she was to do.

  The deity spoke using his arms, emphasizing certain points. “Here, Let me show you how this all works.” The deity waved his right arm, swiping it across Asha’s face. The motion waving the particles
of the atmosphere toward her. After he completed the motion, before Asha appeared several stats similar to the gaming mechanics in the game, she watched Aram play, The Ascendancy of Unity. He’d often bitch that his stats were not that good. That was at least what Asha took from his lamenting.

  In Asha’s field of vision, she could read her stats:

  Asha Ayari

  Attributes:

  Art of Contraption: 12 (1)

  Art of Conspiracy: 11 (0)

  Art of Combat: 17 (3)

  Art of Covertness: 8 (-1)

  Art of Craftiness: 10 (0)

  Art of Conjuration: 11 (0)

  Art of Control: 12 (1)

  Abilities:

  Accuracy- 13 (1)

  Intelligence- 12 (1)

  Strength- 14 (+2)

  Agility- 20 (+5)

  Evasion- 10 (0)

  Defense- 7 (-2)

  Stamina- 10 (0)

  Attack- 10 (0)

  *The Attributes are an average of the abilities listed below and rounded down:

  Art of Contraption: Accuracy + Intelligence

  Art of Conspiracy: Accuracy + Evasion

  Art of Combat: Strength + Agility

  Art of Covertness: Evasion + Defense

  Art of Craftiness: Stamina + Attack

  Art of Conjuration: Intelligence + Evasion

  Art of Control: Stamina + Strength

  “Let me explain this,” said the deity,” Asha nodded her eyes fixated on the words that stood before her.

  “As you can see, you have seven attributes and eight abilities that feed into those attributes.” Asha counted as the deity explained what was happening.

  “I took the liberty of designing your character for you. I feel I gave you the best shot at being a decent assassin. Let me explain. Your accuracy is fairly average, and you will be able to hit large targets. You want to increase that as soon as you can.”

  Asha looked at the number 13 next to the accuracy attribute. She followed along that accuracy that into both the Art of Contraption in the Art of Conspiracy, which were both slightly above average.

  The deity continued, “Your intelligence score is slightly above average you know a bit more than is necessary and you are fairly logical. You’ll be able to solve simple logic puzzles and math problems. That should help you along the way.”

  Asha’s eyes followed what the deity had explained, noticing that the intelligence ability fed into the Art of Conjugation Attribute and the Art of Contraption attribute. Both were slightly above average.

  The deity explained the next ability, “Your strength is fairly average as well you can handle your own weight and that’s about it. You are visibly toned and can throw small objects long distances. If I skimped on anything that would’ve been your strength, but you can increase that overtime.”

  Asha looked at the strength ability that fed into the Art of Combat and the Art of Control Attributes. Art of Combat was her highest Attribute. Art of Control was slightly better than average. Asha lowered her gaze to her arms and saw that she had bulging biceps, something that she never had before.

  “The next ability is agility, and that’s where I put my focus in for you. You will be able to gracefully flow from one action to the other easily. That ability along with the Strength Attribute in the Art of Combat, you will be a formidable opponent when you go into a battle with your abilities to fight,” the deity explained.

  Asha had already noted the Art of Combat Attribute as it was her highest. The deity continued the explanation of the stats, “The next three Abilities are Evasion, Defense, Stamina, and Attack. They are average, except for Defense. That one is severely low. This is an issue of concern, and you’ll want to either increase your Armor Class quickly or increase your Defense as soon as you can.”

  Asha asked, “What is my Armor Class?”

  “Well, at the moment, you have no equipment, no weapons. Nothing. You will get those when the Clan of Bahram recruits you. Don’t worry.”

  Asha noted the stats that the deity mentioned as they fed into the Art of Conspiracy, the Art of Covertness, the Art of Craftiness, and the Art of Conjuration. All were average but the Art of Covertness. How would she be an assassin if she could not hide?

  “What about my Art of Covertness? That is exceptionally low especially for being an assassin,” Asha asked realizing that the gameplay she watched the player character always was able to hide quite easily.

  “I knew there was a reason why I recruited you to help me save this world,” answered the deity. “The Clan will teach you how to improve that Art, don’t worry. For right now, you do not have any training.”

  The deity paused and then said, “I will need you to put on a few things,” started the deity. He pulled out from under his tunic a purple hijab and a brown pouch. The deity handed Asha a brown pouch that she could strap around her body. “Here, put this on. It’s empty, but I’m sure you can find stuff to put in it.”

  Asha strapped the pouch around her shoulders. “Your mentor will recognize you by the color of this hijab. His name is Bijan. He is a Councilor in the Clan of Bahram. He is looking for his new recruit, and all he knows is that she will be wearing a purple hijab.”

  “Is it rare to have females in the clans?” Asha asked, recollecting from her own experience with the game, the Ascendance of Unity, realizing she never saw a female in the game.

  “Rare but not that rare. There have been a few. And you must remember the Qurinas are only female. The deadly only female assassins of the King.”

  “Oh right,” recollected Asha.

  “Here, let me put this on you.” The figure held up the purple hijab. The deity tucked the end into the wrapped fabric around her jawline. Asha wore one when she attended service at the mosque, but that had become an infrequent occurrence in her adult life, she would put her covering on her head, but it became messy and loose after a few minutes.

  Asha nodded after the deity secured the hijab around her head. “What do I do then?” With the hijab secured around her head, parts from her previous life came back to her. She remembered staying with an Islamic family who were devout Muslims and they forced her to wear the hijab any time she went out in public. At first Asha enjoyed wearing it because she felt connected to her heritage, but after some time, she grew tired as the piece of cloth became her identity. She did not stay long with that family and was shoveled to another family who took her in. They were not as strict with their Islamic beliefs and did not require this of her. When Asha accessed these memories, she was surprised that she did not feel anger or sorrow about her upbringing. She accepted it as that was the path of her life. In the transition to the afterlife, she had made peace with her past. Startling.

  The voice of the deity brought her mind back to where she was. She jumped as he spoke, since she had seemed like she had been entranced. “The rest you will find out. Oh, by the way, my name is Ibrahim, and I’ll be checking in on you during the journey. Remember, if you are successful, your soul will be allowed into the pearly gates of paradise.”

  “And if I fail?”

  “Let’s not worry about that,” Ibrahim answered, putting his hands on her shoulders as he faced her. “In order to succeed, failure must not be an option.”

  Asha nodded, a notion she was not accustomed. For her, failure was always the option and, in most cases, the only one.

  “But it is important make you aware, that in the rare case that you do fail, you, along with all the souls in this world will head toward eternal damnation.”

  Asha gasped at that notion. She briefly noted in her mind the contradiction of letting her know the cost of her failure, yet not to worry about it. All her life, people around her told her she was nothing but a failure. She was the lower rung in the Islamic community, always wishing she would be more. With her foster families constantly passing her along from family to family, she never had a sense of belonging.

  Not until Aram charmed her and brought her into his world, that she felt lov
ed for the first time. Aram did teach Asha a big lesson, but unfortunately for Asha, she was not ready to learn it.

  Ibrahim spun Asha around so her back was to him. “Now, go to the souk over there and buy three oranges. The rest will happen naturally.”

  Ibrahim reached into the pouch that was around his shoulders, under scarves that he wore around his neck. “Hold out your hand,” commanded Ibrahim.

  Asha raised her left palm, and Ibrahim placed five gold coins into her palm. Asha clutched the coins together, stacking them one on top of the other.

  Ibrahim gave Asha a slight push in the direction of the souk. As Asha took a few steps toward the market, she turned her head to get one last look at Ibrahim. She looked where they had been standing, but all that was in her vision was the gate that they both had entered and the imprint in the sand of where she had been standing.

  Her stomach dropped as she saw that he was no longer there, behind her. Intrigued and mystified by her journey thus far, she gathered her courage and entered the market with the crowd of people.

  The open-air market held thousands of traveling merchants each set up in booths and carts one on top of the other. Some vendors had awnings or tents of blankets that covered their shop. The market of Bakahisar had a strategic location in the heart of Kazeveh that meant that was where the traders came in each day. Sitting on the important trade route between the different cities, people passed through from the north south east and west. The souk had a strategic ancient network of routes from each of the surrounding areas. Merchants often made the trip by traveling by camel or donkey and usually traveled in a caravann in early in the morning coming from the various surrounding cities that were smaller than Bakahisar.

  Khora was the Holy Land of the Church of the Sinless who protected the land. Zamer held many handicrafts from the ancient land as they did not move with technology as the other cities had, as if they were stuck in time. Nirim was known for its stone working since they had access to the surrounding mountains. Çiriş had exotic spices and access to trade routes from the seas. Abastan was known for its carpets and rugs that were woven from the finest threads. Finally, Adar was known for their ceramic and porcelain statues from their resident artisans. The vast number of traders visiting Bakahisar was a major reason that the capital city had so many gates. Access to all the major areas surrounding Bakahisar. These cities surrounded Bakahisar, which was located in the center.