Prisoners of VR

Nanmangalam Reserve Forest!

During the height of noon when the temperature was the most unbearable, coupled with the humid weather, it wasn't a time of the day anyone wished to be out and about. As a result, security was lax.

Right during lunch hours when the people in charge of security were having their meals, a group of six people, camouflaged with clothes resembling the forest patch sneaked into the reserve forest.

"Keep the conversations to a minimum. No radioing until we're out of the premises." The boss of the group, Rubesh motioned for them to maintain silence as they cut through the barbed wire forming the reserve forest's boundary.

Once they entered, he rejoined the cut portion to make it seem as if it hadn't been breached. Considering his expertise, it was apparent that this wasn't his first time breaching the premises.

The group sauntered through the forest, hearing high-pitched chirps of birds resounding all around them. Nanmangalam Reserve Forest was home to about 85 species of birds, a good number of which fell under the endangered species category.

Hence, they fetched a large sum in the black market. With the continued boom in population and economy, the size of human lands continued to expand, not to mention their appetite for luxury. As a result, products made from exotic bird species went for a premium.

Not just the consumer market, but even research institutions wanted these birds, for they carried unknown viruses that could be cultivated in labs for a variety of purposes: medicine, bio-war, etc.

As the areas frequented by these birds were protected by the government, a demand for poachers was created in the market. And as they say, where money flows, so do the flies courting it.

"Release the gas," Rubesh said once the group arrived underneath the crevice formed by a massive monolith. This was his usual hiding place in the reserve forest. Not only was it out of sight for the officers from the forest department but there also existed a wind flow here that reached most parts of the forest.

At his command, one of the poachers took out a large cylinder from his backpack and twisted its valve, releasing sleeping gas into the air. They all wore gas masks to protect themselves against the sleeping gas and hence weren't worried. They came prepared.

Two of the poachers in the back held submachine guns, just in case the forest officials noticed their presence and sent in a punitive force. The remaining two carried large cages to place the captured birds.

As the birds would be unconscious thanks to the sleeping gas, they'll be able to sneak out without alerting anyone.

After the sleeping gas was released, the poachers waited for ten minutes until they were assured the effects kicked in. It was a slow-acting sleeping agent. Had it been stronger, the birds would have been alarmed. They would fly out immediately and disrupt all plans.

Using a pair of binoculars, Rubesh observed a Crested Honey Buzzard perched on a branch far away. Its eyes drooped before soon, it was fast asleep. With that, he gave the signal, "Go, capture them."

The poachers made a move and began to use large capture nets propped to long sticks to capture the birds. Within an hour, they captured more than a couple dozen birds.

Their inventory was almost full as Rubesh observed the birds, "Great, all are from endangered species. They'll fetch a premium..."

He paused speaking, noticing an Emu staring at him from close up. It spanned a height of 190 centimetres, a head taller than Rubesh. It had craned its neck downward until its beak was right before his right eye.

With a slightly tilted head, its eye was eerily staring at him. Its murky breaths ruffled his face, causing the skin underneath to crawl.

Rubesh was startled. Emus weren't the silent of birds. They were flightless and made noise while moving around, but most of all, they were massive, reaching the size of adult males. How did he miss something so massive until it was right before his face?

"Boss, watch out!" One of the poachers in the back shouted in shock and opened fire, causing bullets to spew around.

"Idiot! Don't fire..." Rubesh's warning came a tad late as the sounds of the gunshots resounded in the forest, causing the birds not affected by the sleeping gas to take flight immediately.

The forest officials were alerted and they immediately sent in a punitive team, worrying poachers had infiltrated the forest.

"Impossible!" The poacher that was shooting muttered in a daze as the Emu dodged the bullets. No, it was following the direction the nozzle of his gun pointed towards and was evading in advance. Moreover, it expressed enough cunningness to always be positioned behind one of the poachers, preventing him from getting in a direct shot at it.

"This Emu is strange. Don't shoot. You'll hit us all." Rubesh shouted as he unsheathed a long knife and lunged at the bird. The rest of the poachers pulled out their blades, intending to hack the annoying bird.

"Die!" Rubesh thrust his knife at its chest. His vision turned dizzy as he lost balance in his legs and tumbled to the ground.

"Krook...Grook..." The Emu made low guttural sounds as it leaped back. It had kicked Rubesh in his jaw, knocking him out. As a blade arched towards its neck, the Emu unfurled its wings and took flight, stunning the poachers.

"What nonsense is this? Emus cannot fly!" The poachers screamed in confusion. But more than that, the Emu's wings were...massive.

Spanning a wingspan upwards of five metres, it covered the sky when it took flight. Each of its flaps seemed strangely silent, like a butterfly's. The most startling detail was its wing design. They resembled a peacock, but were a pristine white, as if made from spider silk.

Strange triangular designs covered the wings, with the third, shorter side making an arch. The arches bent slowly, like the tugging of a bow before soon, the eyes of the poachers widened at the absurdity of everything.

Followed by the sounds of a hundred snaps, feathers flew out of the Emu's wings and bombarded them, piercing their bodies. The poachers screamed in pain as they lost their sight when the feathers pierced their eyes accurately.

With grace, the Emu landed on the ground and gracefully walked towards Rubesh, the only one among the group that was able to see.

"You...what are you?" Rubesh grunted, unable to have a clear image of the Emu as his vision still spun. He observed a blurry entity, seemingly the Emu's face approached closer until its beak was before his right eye.

Followed by a plop, it punctured his right eye. As Rubesh screamed, his left eye followed suit.

By this point, the forest department sent a team of five people, armed to the teeth with modern weaponry. One of them brought out a drone and sent it scouting first.

His uVR Earth's black glow intensified as he controlled the drone expertly. Soon, he had a visual on the poachers, frowning at the sight, "There are six poachers. Two are armed with submachine guns. But they're compromised, Captain."

The Captain of the team motioned for them to stop moving as he analysed the visual sent to his Augmented Reality interface, "They're clutching their eyes. Some sort of chemical substance should have been used. But, there are no signs of abrasion, melting, or anything of the sort."

The drone relayed a high-definition scene of the poachers thrashing about. The Captain inspected their figures, "Their actions make no sense. It might be a trap. Exercise caution. We're moving in..."

His footsteps paused upon noticing an Emu head peak over his shoulder and stare at his gun. He turned around and noticed part of the Emu's body phasing through the soldier standing right behind him. His face paled, "Induced Reality..."

"Everyone! Run!" He bellowed as everyone promptly scattered. They had been trained to survive against Induced Reality. Since there was a limit to the number of people it could be unleashed upon at a given time, the limit being three or four for the best, scattering allowed at least one or two from their team to survive and report it to their superiors.

With that, they'll be able to summon their DOVA Agent to take care of things here. The Captain ran for his life as he relayed a distress signal to the forest department. "Come in! We're being attacked by a DOVA Agent! Reply something..."

For some reason, his distress signals weren't being sent to the forest department. The Captain's head turned around in despair as the world seemed to have slowed down.

The Emu suddenly sprouted a pair of massive wings that spanned five metres and took flight, hovering in the air like a deific being as the triangle patterns in its feathers convulsed. Soon, a sea of feathers homed towards him, "My God...!"

The sea of feathers drowned him, causing his body to fall to the forest floor, unconscious, as was the rest of the soldiers he brought.

A couple of minutes later, two robed figures walked towards the Captain, coughing out blood from time to time. Their uVR Earths flickered jade but seemed to be getting increasingly unstable.

"Strip them bare." One of them muttered and proceeded to remove their weapons, clothes, etc. only leaving them in their underwear.

"Unscrew their Nerve Gear." The second hooded figure muttered and began to unscrew the uVR Earths of the soldiers. Only their Neural Connector was surgically implanted in their heads. The uVR Earths were just screwed into the socket at the top of the Neural Connector.

With that removed, the soldiers became normal people, no longer able to use the powers of AR and VR.

The hooded duo then dragged the soldiers and tied them around a large-trunked tree alongside the poachers. They then took out strange devices resembling uVR Earths and corked them into the Neural Connectors of the eleven people.

"We only need ten."

"We can have the extra serve as a backup."

Once the new uVR Earths were screwed in, they shone with a jade hue. The flickers were unstable, but the light represented DOVA uVR Earths. Every few seconds, they flickered erratically. A couple of minutes later, the flickering of all eleven people synchronised.

"It's done." One of the hooded figures wiped the blood leaking out of his nose and smiled, "We greet a new era of excellence!"

Dozens of Emus popped up into existence around them.