Gods of the Mountain

Ajay was not sure how to feel as the helicopter crossed the high snowy mountains of Kyrat. He was sitting next to a man wearing a pink suit who only a few hours ago stabbed one of his own soldiers in the throat with a pen. The screams that came from Mr. De Pleur's mansion did not help ease his tensions. Pagan Min however was a very nice host even if he stabbed Dorpan. He seemed terrifying but oddly friendly at the same time.

The helicopter passed over a large palace and Pagan Min spoke "Ajay my boy this is my home, I hope you were impressed by Mr. De Pleur's place but this is truly the crown of Kyrat, it was not my design of course this palace has been here for hundreds of years, one of the few things I wish to keep from the past. Anyway I believe we have a great woman's last wish to fulfill." The helicopter landed and Pagan spoke again "Part of me is surprised she wanted you to bring her ashes all the way here, not her home village not at your family's estate which is yours by the way I will have some men go there with you and clear out any "degenerates" or such that are there."

Pagan slid the door open and he waited outside for Ajay with his hands folded at his belly with anticipation "You want me to come with you?"

Ajay nervously looked around and saw a shrine and turned to Pagan who had a sad smile on his face "Jesus Christ yes boy ashes don't spread themselves." Ajay jumped out of the helicopter and Pagan stopped Ajay "Did your mother ever tell you about your Father Mohan?"

"No never." Ajay never felt any real connection with Kyrat and realized that his whole life he pronounced his own name wrong. "Mohan Ghale the Great Protector and Creator of the Golden sent your mother to spy on me. But we fell in love, we had a child. That was when he showed his true colors. He drove you and your mother away. And killed your baby sister Lakshimana."

Ajay looked down at the urn and read "Take me to Lakshimana." He thought it was a place but in reality it was his sister. "Yes Mohan the great warrior was a killer of children, and yet I am the monster the Golden Path tell their children about like I am some yeti from Hong Kong. But that is not the point Lakishmana should not be alone."

Ajay stepped inside the shrine and saw a picture of his baby sister and her urn. He placed the urn down and spoke softly "I got you here mom you were right being here told me the truth."

He stepped out of the shrine a different man. He had a determined look in his eye and asked Pagan Min "You said my Father founded the Golden Path?"

"That is right my boy those terrorist who are fucking up this country. They think that keeping this country in the stone age is what is best for Kyrat but we both know better do we not?"

"I want to kill them." Pagan was pleasantly surprised and put out his arm as he led him to the helicopter "Then it is time to shoot some fucking guns." They sat down and Pagan Min grabbed his cell phone and dialed a number up "Yuma I think we found our ace in the hole against the terrorist. Tell Noore to get the arena ready for a big event and Paul with his "city of pain" to get a celebration ready. And send your forces out against any suspected Golden Path in the North we need to crack down hard on them before they can react to this."

After Pagan hung up he turned to Ajay with a gleam about him "If you are serious about helping the Royal Army against the terrorist you need to prove yourself at Shanath Arena it is the best way to send the message about you coming without you being put directly in the Golden Path's line of fire for now."

Ajay asked "What is so important about this arena?" Pagan tapped his legs in excitement "Since I banned television form outside this country and for some reason the world refused to allow us to send athletes to the FIFA world cup and the Olympics the Arena is our entertainment. It is led by one of my lieutenants Noore and it pits prisoners, aspiring soldiers and warriors, and all manner of animals against each other. It is quite fun I have a lot of them taped. There was one time a rhino instead of running forward turned around and made hell for Noore and instead of sending soldiers she sent three tigers against it."

Ajay became concerned but Pagan put his hand on his surrogate son's shoulder "You did the right thing joining us. Lord knows if you actually walked around instead of waiting patiently you could have joined the corrupt organization your father created a made a new Taliban or cartel state or something else equally as horrible for the people of Kyrat. It may not seem like it but because of your mother I want to reform Kyrat and make it better. Now that will include a lot of dead bodies and I mean a lot. But we will make your homeland great. The kings before me wanted to be isolationist and backwards but together we will bring Kyrat into the future."

The helicopter landed in front of a giant building formed from the rocks of the mountains and hundreds of screaming citizens. "They are excited to see you, they heard the son of one of the greatest warriors who had very important ancestors, no spoilers, has come to give them blood in the arena. Be fierce Ajay as my former tailor always said."

Ajay stepped out of the helicopter and the crowd cheered for him shouting his name. Pagan whispered to him "They have heard of you from my propaganda in the weeks before your arrival. The American Embassy in India has someone I know so they all heard slightly embellished stories about you. Your time in Afghanistan as a soldier and in Africa as a part of a mercenary in that African country I forget the name of , but the stories really impressed them."

"How did you know about all of that?" Pagan stepped forward and opened the door to the arena "You really think I was not interested in my step son's life. Before your mother and you left we had plans of being married when her at the time current husband lost the war. Of course he cheated and attacked a target more close to home." They entered the mountain and a woman dressed in red cloth and wearing gold saw them and began to walk forward but Pagan gave her no heed, "But did I attack his home and family, certainly not and I knew exactly where they were everyone you were related to even your third cousin I knew but I did nothing." Ajay saw he was breathing heavily and ringing his hands, "sorry, sorry I lost control I hate it when I lose control. Anyway Noore this is Ajay Ghale."

The woman shook his hand and Ajay sensed a hint of hostility about her "Are you ready for the fight of your life?"

"Doubt it I fought in Afghanistan."

"Against tigers? We shall see good luck Kyrati."

Pagan seemed flustered by her statement but said nothing and handed him an AK-47 and nodded his approval "There is a thirty second wait between every round and there are five rounds each becoming more difficult, this is not a brave thing to say but wait until the enemies on two legs either kill the ones with foru or run out of bullets and then kill them. The arena remembers the victors not how they became so. Good luck Ajay."

Pagan walked away and followed Noore and left Ajay alone in front of a set of red doors. Several minutes later Noore spoke on a loudspeaker "Citizens of Kyrat you are graced by the light of King Min as we anxiously await this coming battle with an even more surprising individual. Ajay Ghale the son of Mohan and Ishwara has come home to give you blood, his blood animal blood, the blood of criminals who cares let the first round begin."

The gates opened and Ajay stepped out into the light and saw hundreds of spectators chanting and stomping their feet in unison. Ajay came from the main entrance and looked for different areas of cover and vantage places. There were few since the other gates had not yet opened and he stayed behind one of the pillars.

The first round began with boars and seven fighters most with AK's but two had knives and molotovs. Ajay kept his AK close and leaned out and fired at one of the boars cutting into its chest and it fell over bleeding and one of the men with knives cut its throat. The fighters were charged by other boars and two of the men were gored. The other boars were taken down and they turned not realizing Ajay moved from his pillar and was behind them. He squeezed his trigger and cut down three of them while the last two ran, one had Molotov's and the other a AK. They ran behind a barricade as Ajay picked up a Molotov and lit it and threw it against the barricade. It began to burn and caught the one with knives on fire and Ajay shot the other in his head.

The crowd cheered and Noore spoke again "The young warrior has already impressed us but can he handle something bigger than pigs? Begin the next round." Ajay hid behind a barricade waiting for the opponents. Two doors opened on the other side but he turned and saw the doors right behind him opened and three wolves came running out.

Ajay shot a burst that sent three bullets into one of the wolves' skull and he leapt over the ledge in desperation and fear. He turned and saw two men with knives running at him but Ajay heard the wolves and ducked down and the two wolves attacked the men and began to feast on them. The other men must have been friends because they cried out in anger and unloaded their magazines into the wolves.

They did not have time to reload as Ajay shot them all down and picked up a pistol which he quickly loaded as the next round began. Pagan watched with a mix of anxiety and pride but noticed Noore seemed off.

"Where is my family Pagan?" She glared at him and Pagan tried to put her at ease "They are safe and fine with De Pleur." His name did not ease the situation and Noore suddenly smiled as though she had a brilliant thought "Ajay is like family to you correct?"

"Like the son I never truly had."

"Good." She grabbed her walkie talkie and called another "Let out every animal we have set for this match and every fighter."

"Ma'am are you…"

"Just fucking do it." She turned it off and Pagan had the look of a demon "What the fuck are you doing Noore?"

"If he survives he will have greater acclaim and if he dies you will understand what it is like to have family taken away."

Pagan stood up and screamed at her "I ALREADY KNOW WHAT THAT IS LIKE! Stop this Noore." She shook her head "I will if you call Paul right now and have him bring my family to me."

Pagan was at an stalemate with her and gave in "Very well let the beast come Ajay can handle it." Noore grinned "Glad you see it my way. Citizens of Kyrat instead of the usually five rounds we will have one battle royal with all of the blood you can handle."

Noore was right Ajay thought. He was not prepared for the three tigers that came out of one of the gates.

I thought it was logical for Ajay to have military experience and I kind of made a reference to Far Cry 2