Samsaara : Devadoot

Sink or Swim

I remember putting Arshad to death on the beach by the mangrove. With my own hands I did that. I never expected to see that face again. And still.

"Yes boy, it is I, fate has once again crossed your path onto mine", Arshad announced and laughed.

"What?", I asked.

"Fate has once again crossed your path onto mine", Arshad repeated.

"Whaaat?", I asked yet again.

"I said, fate has once again crossed your path onto mine", he said yet again, clearly frustrated this time.

"Oh, yes, that. Missed me?", I teased him. I really should learn when to shut my mouth.

He must have lost his marbles at that. His face contorted into a furious expression and he pulled himself out of the ground. Plumes of smoke began to emerge from his hands and within seconds he held a sickle in his hand with a chain attached to the handle. The other end of the chain was tied on his wrist.

As I reached closer he began to spin the sickle by the chain. He launched the sickle in the air towards me. Perhaps, it was the lack of sufficient gravity allowed the chain to move fast. It flew just inches away from my shoulders.

As I was about to laugh, I saw Arshad smile, and I realized my mistake. He grabbed onto the chain tightly and tugged on it aggressively. The chain began to retract towards him and the sickle started coming towards me. Fortunately, I was not alone.

"Cherry!", I spoke.

Just before the sickle hooked onto my neck and lopped it off, cherry pulled me downwards.

"Evasive maneuver complete", she announced.

I took cherry to the other side of the tree so as to avoid any more chances of getting hooked by a sickle. Once I was close enough to the island I felt the warm comforting grasp of gravity, albeit not as strong as back home.

Once I was firmly footed on the ground, I began to wonder how to stop this fight. All four of them came out from the ground just like the other assailant had a while back. So I assumed they all had the same superhuman strength of the other one did. I clearly didn't have the strength to fight these 4 alone. When we four had so much struggle while fighting one of them, there was no way I could defeat all four.

My only chance was to buy time until Krodhaksh gets to compile some strength. What better way to stall someone than to talk, I thought. By then Arshad had already bunny hopped around from the other side of the tree.

"Hey, Arshad! Let's not get into a fight. We can let bygones be bygones", I said.

"Do you think this is funny?", Arshad asked.

"Oh no, not at all. By the way, how have you been? You seem hale and hearty", I said.

"You know what bothers me about you, the way you keep yapping. Like a little dog. Everything is so casual to you. You have not seen true suffering. People like us, we rarely get second chances. So when we do, we have to make it count", he said.