Prisoners of VR

"Was the forest department slacking on its duty?" Rahu glared in anger as he pointed at the trees around them that were emitting electromagnetic radiation to erect a dome that blocked all forms of signals, "This has been going on for a long enough time."

"I apologise," That was all Chandan Kumar could say in response. They weren't even aware the premises they had been guarding all along had been broken into, repeatedly at that. Anything else he might say at this moment would only end up being an excuse.

"Leave it," Rahu followed up on Ashok to ask about the status of their signal strength.

"There's heavy interference." Ashok said as the blinking of his uVR Earth intensified, "Only when I overclock my brain am I able to send some pings to the outside world. At most a couple of bytes in terms of data space."

Ashok then tried to send a message to Rahu, frowning in response, "It's even worse here. There's too much jamming to do anything. We won't be able to control our drones too."

"Look here," Chandan Kumar stopped next to a tree and pointed at a drone lying there. It was one among the many sent into the forest by the forest department. He picked it up, observing it crackle with electric sparks. "Some form of blunt object had smashed it..."

He then flipped it up, stunned to see dozens of claw marks covering the drone's underside, having clobbered up all the wires within. He turned around, intending to relay the news to Rahu, only to see the world around him darkening unnaturally.

'Aren't I using my night vision goggles though?' The equipped night vision goggles weren't electronic in nature. They were using an old chemical model. So, the quality wasn't the best. Despite that, it shouldn't be faulty.

Despite everything, his surroundings were turning darker and darker. "Sir, Rahu!"

He shouted, failing to find anyone else around him. Even though he was a trained veteran, the situation still got to him, causing fear to sprout in his mind.

Faint chirps of birds resounded in his ears, the cries akin to their morning chirps. But in the darkness of the night, it sounded terrifying.

Thump! Thump!

He could feel his heart thumping louder and louder as Chandan Kumar looked around, unable to find his way. There was no GPS to rely upon, he wasn't equipped with any electronic equipment, and his uVR Earth's signals were cut off, hence no communication. To make matters worse, all he saw was darkness.

"Is...is anyone here?" He was terrified.

"Aargh!" Suddenly, a hand grabbed his shoulder and yanked him back forcefully. Chandan Kumar shrieked in response and pointed his gun at the target, his index finger about to press the trigger.

Bang! Bang!

"Relax! It's me!" Rahu shouted as he lowered the gun to point it at the ground, watching two bullet marks on it.

"...Rahu?" It took a couple of seconds for Chandan Kumar to come to his senses. He looked around, noticing that he could see once again. He was out of the forest now, yanked out by Rahu. His soldiers lay nearby, all groaning as they stared at the sky, seeing the stars in a daze.

"What happened?" Chandan Kumar was flabbergasted, "I couldn't see anything inside."

"Induced Reality," Rahu stated with a foul expression.

"Induced Reality?" Chandan Kumar was perplexed, "Wait, how is that possible? I thought Induced Reality only amounted to special animals the DOVA Agents use that target the nerves. What the heck is this then?"

"It's not limited, not in any way whatsoever." Rahu said and extended his hand, causing a spoon to appear on it, "A spoon."

He flicked his hand, causing a pile of soil to form on it, "Soil."

The soil vanished as water began to drip from his palm, "Water."

He then flashed the palm towards Chandan Kumar, causing a bright beam of light to flash onto him, "Light."

"All this is Induced Reality?" Chandan Kumar stared at the beam of light in absolute shock.

"We induce our will upon reality. That's the core of Induced Reality." Rahu then motioned him to stare at the beam of light from the side.

"Wait, why isn't it illuminating anything? Isn't it light?" Chandan Kumar frowned. As Rahu focused the beam of light on a tree, the trunk of the tree was supposed to light up in response, just as how it would if a torch light's beam had been directed at it.

But, it was dark.

"That's because this light is only in your mind. It's not real. Moreover," Rahu stared at the tree, "The light I created isn't perfect, because the data of it is incomplete. Reflection, refraction, absorption, etc. when all the variables of light are calculated perfectly for this scenario, the vision in your eyes is corrected."

He spoke calmly, "Through Induced Reality, I'm feeding the necessary information to your brain, allowing it to process the light I'm showing to correct the actual image being relayed to it by your eyes. It would then recreate the image to show a bright spot on the trunk."

"But as I don't have that data, I'm unable to recreate it," He addressed the groaning soldiers, "Meaning, if I had the necessary data, I too can recreate what you had experienced in the forest just now."

'Well, my Dark Room is a hundred times more terrifying, if anything.' He remained silent about that, unwilling to rile up the soldiers to the extent they give up on the mission.

"What do we do then?" Chandan Kumar asked in worry, "None of us can guard against Induced Reality. It's blocking our sight, not to mention having rendered all our communication useless within."

"Order some optic fibre." Rahu said after some thought, "If wireless communication isn't possible, wired is our only option. Through it, I'll be sharing my senses with you. We can proceed through the darkness after that."

"Got it," Chandan Kumar made an order immediately. Two hours later, they had the necessary equipment set up.

Cables of optic fibre properly shielded came in large rolls. Rahu connected them to the helmets of each, causing their ends to coil around their uVR Earths. The other end of each was connected to him, totalling nine connections.

Each optic fibre cable extended up to five metres, attached to a spring-loaded mechanism that maintains proper tension within the cable. This way, even while they were on the move and the distance between each varied with every step, the optic fibre wires would be maintained taut, as a result providing stable, high-speed connection to each other.

Chandan Kumar then opened a large case, out of which an android in the shape of a dog walked out. It was equipped with electromagnetic shielding, free from any form of jamming. It also had the latest military-grade AI, allowing it to be a great companion during battles.

But to avoid the enemy intercepting commands given to it or even gaining control of it, the only way to communicate with it was through cable. As a result, another optic fibre cable was connected to him.

At present, Rahu was like a prisoner, anchored to ten optic fibre cables.

The last of their preparation was to lodge ten large nails into the ground and tie ropes to it. The other end of the rope was coiled around the hips of the soldiers.

Rahu held the rope and said, "Based on what I sensed about the forest's Induced Reality, it only affects our eyes. Therefore, if in the case communication is lost with me, pull the rope and return here. Once you leave the forest's perimeter, you'll automatically break free of the Induced Reality's effects."

"Keep watch over things here." Chandan Kumar addressed another forest officer that stood guard at the lodged nails to oversee the rope. If the situation went awry, they could pull everyone back using the ropes.

"Yes, Sir." The forest officer saluted in response.

With that, their preparations were done as Rahu lead the team into the forest. There was a drum affixed next to the nails through which the excess rope was coiled. As the soldiers moved into the forest, the drum rotated slowly, providing more rope to be pulled into the forest.

Five minutes later, the forest officer relaxed and stared at the drums. He calmly whistled as he crouched before the drum that contained the rope connected to Rahu.

The forest officer's eyes glazed over as he pulled out a knife and began to cut the rope.

"Sir, what are you doing?" One of the soldiers noticed his actions and shouted in a fluster, but the forest officer didn't seem to hear him.

There were four soldiers in total at the place, excluding the forest officer. The shout of one of them alerted the rest as they raised their guns in alarm, "Freeze! What are you doing?"

"Heh," The forest officer snorted in disdain as a trail of blood leaked out of his nose. His uVR Earth's glow suddenly shifted from black to jade as a man calmly appeared next to him, visible to all four soldiers.

At the sight of the man, the faces of the soldiers turned pale, "No...Induced Reality?"

Induced Reality-Manav Sastry!

"Fire! Kill the source!" One of the soldiers reacted quickly as he opened fire at the forest officer. He was a tad late as the bullets he aimed for the head only pierced the forest officer's thighs.

The forest officer had leapt behind a drum by now, gasping for air as he growled in pain. Two of the assault rifle bullets hit his thigh bone, cracking it. The shrapnel had stabbed into his leg muscles, causing unbearable pain.

"Wow, that's vicious." Manav Sastry whistled at the decisive nature exhibited by the soldier. He suddenly crouched low like a feline and rushed at the soldiers.

As he wasn't real, the bullets couldn't harm him. The grounds beyond the forest were illuminated by the muzzle flashes as Manav swung between the soldiers, a blade in hand as he slit their necks accurately.

There wasn't even a bleeding physically, but their brains hallucinated as such, resulting in their deaths. Taking less than a dozen seconds to dispatch four soldiers to the afterlife, Manav stared at the forest officer that was bleeding from all his orifices by now and growled, "What are you waiting for?"

"Cut all the ropes before you die."