Week 9 Story: The Game Continues

The City of Lights

Note: This is a continuation from Week 7: The Game of Dice

 I had been in Las Vegas for about a week now and I still couldn't shake off the experience I had witnessed at the Crystal Palace. Where did the King and Mr. D go? What happened to Mr. Pandava and his wife Padi? I yearned to find out, but I didn't want to be caught up in any of their business.

I was walking down the street with the neon lights reflecting off of my shoes and glasses. I looked around at the scene: people drinking, gambling, going to shows. Everything seemed normal, except..not. Perhaps it was just me, but I felt a tension in the air. It was as if all of Las Vegas had seen the duel between Mr. Pandava and Mr. D and was holding their breath. 

I continued walking when I noticed I was being followed. A man in a black suit with black sunglasses kept about six feet back from me, but he turned every time I turned, stopped any time I stopped, and kept his eyes on me. I began to look around and I realized it was not just this one man. There were many of these men, all dressed the same, and all staring at me. 

I began to panic. What had I possibly done? I was just a traveler passing by. I rushed to the closest building, which just so happened to be The Crystal Palace itself. I sat down at a table and tried to catch my breath and create a plan on how to leave this city.

"About time you got here," a deep voice said to me.

"What?" 

"My name is Mr. D. I saw you here last week when I was playing dice with Mr. Pandava."

My heart quickened. One of the most powerful men in Las Vegas is talking to me. What have I gotten myself into? "Yes, I was here. It was quite a game. I thought Mr. Pandava was going to lose everything."

"He would have if my father had not interfered with my business. You see, as a person in my position, I have to be...how do I explain this. I have to be clean and leave no trails. Do you understand?"

"Um...I can imagine so, but what does this have to do with me? I was just a bystander like everyone else in the casino."

Mr. D laughed. "While you may have been just a bystander, you are going to play an important role in my plan. You see, Mr. Pandava may seem like a great man, but he has taken more from me than you will ever know. Do you know what I do with men like that?"

I shuddered. "I can imagine..."

Mr. D looked at me with the most intense stare I have ever seen. "Don't. Just follow the instructions I give you and you will leave this city untouched and with more money than you can imagine. If you fail, well, let us hope you do not. Do you understand?"

I knew I had only one answer to give, "What do you need?"

"You are going to go over to Mr. Pandava's casino. It is called The House of Illusion. When you get there, you will observe everything you see. The men there, their weapons, and how many there. After that,  you will go to the attendant that guards the elevator to Mr. Pandava's personal suite. You will give him this seal and tell him the King has sent a gift to apologize for his son's behavior."

Mr. D handed me a seal that had a strange symbol on it. It looked like a letter K that had a crown on it.

"When the attendant sees the seal, he will not dare deny the gift."

Mr. D then handed me a beautiful bottle of the most expensive wine: A 1945 bottle of Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, the finest red burgundy wine.

"Don't drink this. It has a poison that will take out anyone who drinks it. No man could survive its potency. Complete this job and I will ensure your protection as well as one million dollars. How does that sound?"

Knowing I had no choice on this job, I accepted the bottle and the job that came along with it. With a strange feeling in my stomach, I started off towards The House of Illusion. Somehow my visit to the United States' City of Lights turned into me being the man stuck between two enemies.

Author's Note

This story is a continuation from Week 7. The story itself is based off of The Mahabharata. The king in The Mahabharata sends out people to go spy on the Pandavas to learn if they had any weapons and supporters. Later on, the Pandavas, except Yudhishthira, go out and drink from a lake that causes them to die. In this story, Mr. D is having the bystander be the spy as well as giving them a drink that will cause them to die. I felt that I should continue the story from Week 7, as I really enjoyed the challenge of adding in dialogue and making unique characters.

Bibliography: Narayan, R K. The Mahabharata. The University of Chicago Press, 1978.