Prisoners of VR

"Be careful!" Rahu warned the group as they proceeded deeper into the Nanmangalam Reserve Forest.

Walking at the forefront was Sonic, the android dog equipped with a sonar. Through the sonar, it captured a seismic map of its surroundings, relaying it to Rahu through their optic fibre connection.

Any wireless communication was jammed thanks to the dense network of electromagnetic radiation that covered the forest.

All communications were through their wired connection, for a third party might hear their shouts. When Rahu warned the group, his command passed through the various optic fibre cables and reached the uVR Earths of the other nine members.

Their uVR Earths processed the data and relayed it as an auditory prompt in their Augmented Reality. This was the safest means of communication possible in their environment.

But of course, it was restrictive, as they couldn't go beyond the length of their optic fibre cables. They were forced to move forward as a collective unit.

"I can't see anything." One of the soldiers commented, "Everything is pitch black."

This was the soldier with the weakest mind and hence was the first to fall under the effects of Induced Reality pervading the forest. Once he fell under its effects, his brain failed to process the visual information captured by his eyes through the night vision goggles.

In a matter of seconds, all the soldiers were under the effects of Induced Reality.

Rahu kept note of the timing whenever one of the team members announced they couldn't see in the forest anymore, 'Chandan Kumar took 138 seconds, Ashok took 181 seconds, and finally, Deepika took 276 seconds.'

Deepika had the strongest mind in the group, the reason why she was the head of his security and also doubled down as his secretary.

Approximately fifteen minutes later, Rahu frowned, stating in all seriousness, "I too can't see anything anymore."

'That's fast!' He was stunned. His mind was one of the strongest in the country. An average DOVA Agent would require more than an hour to influence him through Induced Reality.

But this forest environment could induce the effects in him in a mere fifteen minutes. 'It'll be life-threatening for a weak DOVA Agent to enter this forest.'

'I need to figure out the cause as quickly as possible and investigate whether similar cases are happening in other areas in the country.' He thought and switched his vision to the 3D seismic map captured in real-time by Sonic.

He relayed the same to everyone, allowing the group to tread forward. Their vision was full of grains, but it displayed the terrain, tree trunks, etc.

The image wasn't precise, but it gave them enough information to work around the situation.

...

"Are there any hidden locations in the forest?" Rahu asked Chandan Kumar in the planning room.

"There's one." Chandan Kumar pointed at the monolith, "This area is the home to many birds. So, we take care to never venture close to that location. After all, if a third party were to touch the eggs of these birds, they would unhesitantly destroy their own eggs."

"Birds are plenty troublesome." Rahu commented as he downloaded a digital map of the forest and loaded it on his Augmented Reality, "We'll approach the monolith and scale its peak. Using the vantage point, we'll scout the place through sonar."

...

Through his Augmented Reality interface, Rahu superimposed the map to the sonar seismic map, synchronising the two to get an accurate picture of reality. Once this was transmitted to the rest, everyone could move as if they were able to see once again.

'Amazing. A DOVA Agent is on a whole other level.' Ashok thought in amazement. Synchronising two such maps in real-time while sharing his senses with nine other people was a feat impossible to replicate for any of them.

The group wasn't just relying upon the image displays to move around. They experienced a drastic increase in their olfactory and acoustic senses.

Induced Reality-True Lifeform Liger!

Rahu swapped his senses with that of the Liger's, allowing his muscles in the nose and ear to act in a way akin to the Liger's. This placed a strain on his body but allowed his senses to be on par with a feline.

And by sharing this with the others, the entire team could steadily tread through the forest, aware of their surroundings.

Rahu was multitasking on various fronts, winning the admiration of everyone in the team. Nothing unusual happened for the first twenty minutes as the group had travelled fairly deep into the forest.

Suddenly, one of the soldiers felt a lack of tension in the rope around his hip. The rope still trailed over the ground and moved around various obstacles like a snake, generating a lot of friction as a result.

Therefore, the soldier had to apply enough force to pull himself forward. Part of the tension was due to the rope pulling the drum outside the forest. But suddenly, part of the tension disappeared.

"Please wait!" The soldier announced in their Augmented Reality interface and tugged his rope. He began to pull it, causing the rope to coil near his feet. And the more he pulled, the lower the resistance he faced, causing his thumping heart rate to spike further.

"Oh no..." His heart lurched as the resistance in the rope reduced to a minimum before soon, he was clutching at its end, "The rope has been cut off!"

'I feared as such.' All Rahu could do in this situation was to exhale slowly, 'Brother, you're behind this, right?'

The moment when Mahesh, a civilian with a Civilian uVR Earth could temporarily turn its hue from blue to jade, representing a DOVA uVR Earth and manifest Manav Sastry through Induced Reality, it meant things weren't absolute like before.

uVR Earths functioned with an absolute guarantee of safety and security. That was Pomegranate Corporation's motto. Manav Sastry's existence questioned that motto.

The day he saw his dead elder brother, Rahu understood that he had to throw his accumulated logic out the door. Even a civilian could at any time become a threat to him, a DOVA Agent. Moreover, the enemy hardly left behind any traces.

Turning an entire reserve forest into a terrain emanating the effects of Induced Reality was something beyond the realm of possibility he deemed realistic. When Rahu came to know what was happening at the reserve forest, he braced for impact.

'There were soldiers standing guard at the rope anchors.' He frowned in thought, 'Either all of them are obeying Manav or the one following him had killed the rest. If he's able to bring out Manav through Induced Reality, then everyone there would be helpless.'

The only way to counter Induced Reality was through Induced Reality. It was an omnipotent power. If Mahesh's case repeated here, then all the soldiers would be sitting ducks.

Rahu felt around the end of the soldier's rope, muttering after some analysis, "This was cut by a knife. Only one person was involved in this. And judging by the sloppy cut marks, he wasn't strong enough to make a clean cut."

'Any soldier has more than enough strength to make clean cuts even on such a thick rope. Either the perpetrator was a weak civilian or an injured soldier with not much strength to spare.' Rahu thought, 'The fact that Mahesh's head exploded after he used Induced Reality makes me lean towards the second possibility.'

'There was only one soldier and he was using Induced Reality while cutting the rope. That explains these weak cuts.' Rahu prompted two more soldiers to pull their respective ropes and inspected their cut ends, 'I was right. It was done by one person. He was probably shot and further weakened every second through Induced Reality. That proves his waning strength in the cuts.'

By that, Rahu was able to get an accurate picture of the scene that had transpired, prompting everyone, "Something has happened outside. We need to investigate it first. If we continue treading despite the risks, our lives will be in danger."

"Let's return." He commanded and made the group turn around. Rahu motioned everyone to remove the ropes, "They have no other use. We'll use them for our return."

Since they almost travelled in a straight line, as long as they followed the trail made by the ropes, they would return to their starting position. The initiative still lay with them.

But just as the group turned around, Rahu felt his skin crawl. His uVR Earth shone yellow, entering the Creator Mode as he observed the electromagnetic radiation around him spike in response. "Something's coming."

Right as he said so, his ears picked up a mass flutter of the wings of birds, throwing off his senses. The sonar captured a sea of dots moving around in all sizes.

"Birds?" Rahu was stunned, observing the birds move around in a pattern, forming rivers in the air as they flowed towards them.

Through the Liger's senses, he picked a dense stream of killing intent, collectively unleashed by the horde of birds, "Impossible!"

It was as if the birds had met with a mortal enemy that had to be taken down, no matter the cost. Without any signs of self-preservation, the birds flew towards the group, causing Rahu to shrill in a fluster, "Raise your guns! Shoot! SHOOT! SHOOOT!"