Chapter 1: Shoot The Messenger
A beautiful morning in Kyrat, the Sun is shining and all the parts of the nature are glistening, honey badgers are fearless, rhinos are being aggressive, and everything is as it should be. And what am I doing? I'm heading to Shanath to fulfil the will of Sabal…or was it Amita? I can't even remember who gave me the order to get rid of Noore. It seems that I am following their orders blindly. I clearly remember from one of them that she has to be gone, either way it's gonna be prosperous for the Golden Path and for Kyrat itself, they said. Me?...I was not sure about their decision at all, I even protested a little, mentioning the fact that Noore did all those things because of her family was being held captive by Paul. As I drove in that pitiful truck on the dirty Kyrati roads to Shanath, all I could think about was how am I gonna assess this situation…the fact was, that I didn't want to assassinate the woman at all. When I heard her part of the story, how she has always hoped that by doing all those cruel things to all the people in the arena she would free her family, I immediately felt sorry for her and wanted to help her. She had such a different spirit, something just told me from the start, that she was somewhat special in her own way and that she wasn't just some senseless killer that worked for Pagan. I decided not to kill her and to try to confront her and possibly try to solve this mess that creeped like a plague in this country.
When I arrived at Shanath, everything seemed pretty much usual. The crowd was getting ready for the next pair of rounds at the arena, the narrator was starting to get crazy as usual, and the topless painted girls greeted me with their challenging quotes about being strong enough to be the best in the arena. I got the Intel from Sabal and Amita that Noore is gonna be present in the arena today as usual and coordinate the rounds herself. I knew where's she's gonna stand, and with this information I looked for an access into the arena, to be exact to access the top floors. I had this strange gut wrenching feeling that this day is going to change my life probably forever. I didn't know why, I did many not so nice things for Sabal and Amita before, why did I feel different this time? Did feel something towards the woman? Of course I felt some form of sympathy, but that was it, nothing more. I hoped that this is gonna end up well, and that she's not gonna do something stupid. Knowing the fact that her family is gone, I felt even more connected to her. I myself didn't know my father at all, and my mother had died few months back so my situation was similar to hers. I was alone. I didn't think that Sabal or Amita could ever become more to me than some kind of weird unexpected acquaintances/friends. Hell I have always felt connected more with Bhadra or Longinus. Or even with Hurk, and that is something to be said, considering that the guy is a smelly, stinking, Texan style weirdo with strange fetish for monkey and elephant statues. And I'm not even thinking about his strange somewhat/sometimes homosexual behaviour. On the other hand there was Pagan, who was always unpredictable in his own way, and I still didn't know what to expect from him. Paul, or if you wish De Pleur – that was a chapter on his own. I believed he was a caring dad and probably a relatively normal guy when he was around his daughter in the US, but here…here he changed into a sadistic psychopath who enjoyed torturing people. Yuma – she still remained mysterious to me, but I knew not to expect something good from a pinkish Chinese looking woman, who ran Pagan's elite troops. And then there was Noore…she didn't fit into the whole puzzle…I knew she was fierce and independent, but something inside me was telling me, that from the way she looked, talked and presented herself, there was something broken inside her, and that she was just devastated how her life has turned out, and that she wasn't naturally bad or cruel in any means, and that she needed some comfort, someone to talk to, someone to understand her, and the most obvious for me was that she wanted to get away from all this as quickly as she would be able to. The way she talked about her family, the desperation in her voice, the firm look that her eyes held, that was something that intrigued me from the first moment that I met her. And now, now I was on my way to confront her with literally everything possible…her screaming at me and throwing me into the arena, her ordering her guards to kill me, I can't even imagine what her reaction will be, but I somehow hope, that it's all gonna turn out well for her and me.
Getting to the ventilation shaft that was the only way to access to upper part of the arena was easy with my climbing gear. As I climbed through the shaft I heard the voices of at least two soldiers… 'Shit', I thought to myself. 'I'm gonna have to make it quietly'. I put out my Kukri (blade) and threw a rock down to the right side of the corridor, behind a pile of boxes. The guard went to check out the sound, that's when I sprinted from my hiding spot and performed a takedown, slicing his throat and killing him instantly. The other guard had no chance to react as I quickly did almost the same process on him, with the difference of hearing the sound of the blade thrusting out from his stomach. I approached the control room and killed the only guard that was controlling the panel that opened the heavy metal doors that allowed the animals to rampage on the poor souls that were in the arena. I pressed few of the buttons and just after seconds I witnessed a honey badger slaughtering a soldier, a rhino charging to a bear and a leopard that was on fire, and was running around the arena, trying to find something to release his rage on. The crowd seemed to enjoy the show, but someone other didn't seem to be amused by the fact that the show was not controlled so well anymore... Noore's angered fierce voice could be heard through the com speaker. "Stop that idiot that is doing all this…he is in the control room. Turn off that damn gates, and kill that fucking bastard who tried to destroy my arena!" I immediately sprinted from the room, to be confronted with at least 8 soldiers who started firing bullets all over the place that were directed at me. However most of them didn't have a chance to hit me, the guards reminded me of Stormtroopers from the Star Wars movies that I've seen a few times back in the US. After quickly dealing with them using my STG – 90, I patched myself with a healing syringe and finally headed out to confront Noore.
I ran as fast as I could through the arena to try to find her. She usually resided on the stone protrusion, from where she could oversee the bloodbath bellow her. I turned around the corner, to find myself hearing the voice of the crowd stronger and stronger and the end of the corridor, I finally spotted the one who I had to consider as my target…Noore.
She stood firmly on the edge, looking at the crowds and probably waiting for a response from the guards that were sent to investigate the control room. Her jet black hair fell down freely on her back her posture firm as always looking like a commanding goddess. As I approached her from behind the same weird feeling, has resurfaced in my stomach, signalling that whatever is gonna happen in the next few moments is not going to left me untouched. Slowly I cut the short path to Noore and put my hand on her shoulder. She immediately turned around and faced me with those dark brown orbs of hers. But what I saw in her eyes was not something that I had expected. It wasn't a look that you would expect from a woman that is publicly hated in Golden Path and described as a mad killer with thirst for blood. No, I saw fear and I saw hope. Mix of fear and hope glistened in her eyes. "Ajay, is my family okay?"…I knew this question would come. But hearing her voice, just so broken and full of fear, my heart almost broke after hearing that...and again is the gut wrenching feeling present, and now in my heart. I continued to hold her shoulder firmly to steady her and stop her doing something stupid. "I'm sorry Noore, they were executed years ago." After hearing that I could see that she broke down and started crying openly in front of me. I had to hold her on her shoulder, but despite that she fell down completely. "I'm really sorry…" And I honestly was sorry for her in that moment. It was painful to see her hearing news like this. After a few of her sobs she looked at me and said angrily "I don't want your pity! I wanted my family back! I don't have anything to live for anymore….all these people I have killed…I feel sick…everything I did, I did it because I held a glimmer of hope that my family is still alive, but with them gone, I am nothing…I want to die now" "No, don't say that Noore. You are finally free from this burden, you don't need to run this arena anymore, and you also don't need to do the other horrible stuff" "Ajay, you don't understand," she cut me off loudly "the hope that my family is still alive, was the only thing that kept me alive, and also the source of my excuse for doing all this. What am I free from? From all the people I have killed over the years? All the families and lives that I've destroyed?" I listened to her, and couldn't believe what she said…what is she indenting to do? "Noore, there are still things in life…wait, what are you doing?" I noticed that she tried to grab my blade and pull it out from its sheath, but I quickly just in time, stopped her by holding her strongly with my other hand on her wrist. "LET GO! Why are you doing this?! You should have just killed me!" She yelled at me. I looked at her with my eyes fully concentrated on her. "I wasn't planning on killing you from the start. I know that you are somewhat different, and that you didn't do all these things on purpose. I know the pain, when you lose your loved ones, your family." Her breathing calmed down and she was looking at me with her dark orbs and a wide – open expression on her face. I felt victorious, and a new, unknown feeling, filled deep inside me, when I realized that I had convinced her to not do anything stupid to herself. "Come with me". I dragged her back off of the stone protrusion with my hand still on her wrist trough the corridor.