The Black Peacock

The Wrath of the Gods

2096. The world had become a horrid place. Countries had fallen, continents even, to powerful tyrants. The world was now split up into 11 kingdoms. Kingdoms with horrible, cruel kings. These rulers were locked forever in wars. Driven for a greed for more land, more power. The humans now left virtually no land untouched. Virtually all the land on Earth was inhabited by humans. Even Antarctica, now the Ice Kingdom. So much ruin the humans were bringing upon the world. But they did not care. They tried to destroy even more. Tried to destroy each other. Each kingdom attacking the others. Destroying each other's land. The gods watched from Janmakhaya, the land of the gods, appalled by the destruction the humans were causing to the beautiful world they had long ago created.  

There was just one place safe from the humans. An island in the southern Indian Ocean called Shasila. Untouched by the humans. No one had ever set foot upon this pristine island. On this island lay a beautiful green forest, teeming with life. A paradise, away from the horrors of the rest of the world. The Khashima Forest, this was called, the goddess of this forest being Khashima herself. The beautiful black peacock of Khashima lived in the middle of this forest. Khashima's prized peacock. The bright sunlight danced upon the peacocks beautiful silver and black feathers as it strutted around the forest, showing off its shimmering, glistening feathers. The animals on the island lived happily, undisturbed, for many years. Until one day. Some men from Indonesia were sailing on this ocean. Exploring. And they stumbled upon this island. This untouched island, never before found by man. They got off their ship, and soon found the forest. These humans, they contaminated the forest, insensitive to the surrounding wildlife, storming through the beautiful paradise. They walked through the forest, and entered a circular clearing. In the middle of this clearing was a black bird, sleeping peacefully under a very large tree. It looked beautiful. The men saw that this was a peacock. A peacock with stunning feathers that could surely be sold for a high price. And so, with their selfish motives in mind, these men captured the peacock and boarded their ship for Singapore so they could sell this peacock's feathers and become rich.  

Now, Goddess Khashima saw this from the heavens, and became extremely angry. They were stealing her magnificent black peacock. They could not do that. She would not let them.  

"Foolish men! They! Stealing from me, the Goddess of the Divine Forest! Stealing my peacock! They shall pay. They shall pay dearly. With their lives, and more. Much more."  

When Khashima's anger is brought forth, the world pays. And the world did indeed pay. Khashima caused havoc around the world. Floods, earthquakes, fires, she did whatever she could to cause as much destruction as possible. More so than the destruction the humans had already caused. The life on earth was helpless to defend against her wrath. No one, nothing, was safe. Except on Shasila. Khashima's island. She would protect Shasila, while destroying the rest of the earth. The other gods and goddesses did not bother to try stopping her. All of the gods and goddesses were fed up with the humans' ways. The humans needed to learn a lesson. Their greedy ways always caused their own demise. And they needed to learn this once and for all. Urrya, the creator, spoke to Khashima.  

"Do not slay all of the humans. Leave a few. Leave the few who will be able to rebuild civilization. A civilization with greater virtues than the last. But for the rest, kill them mercilessly. They must learn their lesson so they never forget it."  

Urrya picked out the few humans who were intelligent enough, courageous enough, and good-natured enough, to remain on Earth, to be protected until Khashima finished her annihilation of nearly all the life on Earth.  

Khashima and Nahashana, her brother, the God of the Oceans, with their might and anger, cruelly sank the Kingdom of Australia. Qha, the God of Fire, destroyed and melted the Kingdom of Southern Africa. And Bhrusthvya, the Goddess of the Earth, opened up the Earth under the Kingdom of America, swallowing the continent, not leaving a single trace.  

And the devastation was complete, as the gods watched the mayhem of the world, contently, smugly. Content because they were the ones to cause this havoc.  

The remaining humans on Earth felt helpless, hopeless. This would not do. These humans had to reconstruct the world. A world of grateful, courageous, good-natured humans. How could they do this if they were hiding in fear? Something had to be done. Bhrusthvya went down to Earth, disguised as an old woman named Vakhaya. She went to the humans, and spoke to them of their new responsibilities. She motivated them. She inspired them. And from the earth, she gave them materials with which to build. And she went back to the heavens. The humans started building shelters. They made plans to rebuild the world. They worked, feverishly, as the gods sat in the heavens, watching them with satisfaction.  

Slowly, civilization was being rebuilt. And Bhrusthvya created a continent from the earth, from the sunken, destroyed southern Kingdoms. Shasila was no longer an island. No, it had become a part of this large continent. Sharafa.