Music for the Chapter: Play With Fire by Sam Tinnesz
The thing that Virat always did was picking me at the wrong time. That’s why he got hit hard every time.
This time he sent Aakram.
Yeah, you can imagine that Aakram wasn’t going to go easy at me. He was going hit with all he had. I stole from him what he obsessively kept within his safe.
“Hi, Aakram. How are you doing?” I greeted him with a namaskar.
“You, little pest, have been given too much freedom.”
“Not any more or less than what you have been given, Aakram. Come on. My father didn’t give either of us any more or less freedom than everyone else.” I shrugged my shoulders.
“You took what was mine. You had no right to take her away from me.”
I laughed, “Come on, Aakram. You took her from her mother and I took her from you. How is one side right and other wrong?”
“I gave her father the power and place. What did I get?”
“Oh, I don’t know about you but Payal definitely got her Krishna.”
“Yeah, didn’t 16008 women make him satisfied?”
“Don’t ask me this. Ask Payal this. If she loves him, what can he do? He is quite humble with people who love him."
Aakram decided to answer that with violence. He punched me so hard that it cracked my jaw.
I winced and exclaimed in pain. Creepers emerged right out the earth and grabbed his throat, suddenly growing thorns hard as steel nails.
I threw a back flip kick at his head while he was struggling with the thorns.
In addition to the thorns, Maya grabbed his head and pushed pressure through the skull.
"Stay in your limits, Aakram. You're mistaken if you think I'm a little child you can bully."
Using Maya I hung him upside down by one foot. He struggled.
"Alaknanda." Akshay stopped me. Omkara and Harsh went to keep the stone we got in safekeeping at Gurukul.
I let Aakram go and he laughed. "Oh, so now you're the dog that barks at the orders of the Prince of Swarga?" Aakram taunted.
"You should be thankful that someone is saving you but seems like I have to teach you the lesson in manners that you forgot."
Maya swirled around him and illusioned his mind to show his scariest dream as a reality.
The twelve arms held chakra, shankha, kaumodaki, nandaka, sharanga, Dharma bana, khadga, kapala, yamapaasha, trishula, vajra, and parashu. Surya, Chandra, Agni netratraya. One side simha and the other Garuda. Dark skinned. You couldn't figure out whether the form was male or female.
That form I had never seen before. Narayana Durga. They both were largely similar looking at that point. Katyayani with dark skin and yellow clothing. Narayana with dark skin and yellow clothing. They both had glorious silky and slightly wavy long hair. Both of them wore flower garlands. Makara kundala. The same anklets and waistband.
Why did such a form make Aakram's scariest nightmare?
The combined form is divided into Narayana and Katyayani respectively. The battle cry of each of them was enough to set him running in the opposite direction.
The giant simha on which Devi is seated begins running towards him. A bat appears out of a sudden and Aakram gets up on the bat. The lion leaps in the air to get a hand on the bat but in mid air, it turns into Garuda. Shanka, Chakra, Gada, Khadga, Kodanda, and Bana in her arms.
She looked exactly like my father in a female form ready to tear him apart. Vishnu who became Vaishnavi.
From behind he proceeded ahead. The Garuda changed into Simha. The eight armed Vishnu turned into 18 armed Chandika.
When the goddess stood over Garuda, she resembled Rama pointing his arrows at Dashagriva.
He resembled Rana Chandi ready to eat away all the rakshasas.
At the click of my fingers, the Maya disappeared. Sure, it was just an illusion. But that was enough to shake Aakram completely. When Aakram saw the image disappear, he realized I was the one who created it. This time he shook from anger. He threw his spear at me. I blocked it with the spear that Yamadeva had given me.
I had grown up since the last time I met him. I have learnt a lot since then. I was not going to be beaten by him.
"Little illusionist, fight like a man if you have your father's blood in you. Come. Quit your little tricks and fight like a man." He challenged.
I rolled my eyes. "I'm pretty confident being a woman, Aakram. I do not wish to be a man. I am happier this way. About being the blood of my father, let me see if you are capable of taking it."
I clenched my fist and punched him. It cracked his jaw. I kicked him right in the stomach.
He recovered from it quickly and attacked me. He caught me in an armhold, choking me. No amount of elbowing his stomach worked.
"Say goodbye to your loved ones, little trickster."
I closed my eyes.
"Stand up. Fight." I heard the roaring battle call from Chandika. "Hand me the head of this demon." She commanded me.
The ground below us rose, taking us up. It suddenly moved away from beneath us and we began to fall. I jumped over his head during the fall and when we hit the ground, I fell on top of him.
He groaned in pain. I picked up the spear and signalled him to get his weapon. “You, Aakram, have surely missed all your chances.”
My Guru has taught me well. But the first thing I learnt from him was to use the powers I have at hand. Asuras never fight fair in a battle. Rules should be followed, yes, but if they do not follow the rules and use unfair means, do not stay under the illusion of still following your path. Not everyone who begs and grovels at your feet leaves defeated never to show their face to you again. Some of them act that way to save their lives, come back and stab you in the back for letting them go free. You compassion can cost you. So, make an accurate judgement about that person when you make the decision of forgiving their mistakes.
He attack me and I blocked it with the spear, using it as a pole to support my weight. I jumped up and kicked him straight on his chest. He fell away, crashing against the Garuda stambha.
Aakram growled and stood up, anger bursting through him. He angrily kicked the stambha hoping that his strength could destroy the stambha but it didn’t even bring a crack to the pillar. Aakram, surprised turned around to see how it was still standing.
“Garuda stambha is not that easy to break.” I pointed and dashed towards him. I punched him with all the strength I could gather and cracked the ribs. Grabbing his head and crashing it against the same pillar he tried to break. Then pulling him in a headlock and choking him.
He grabbed me and threw me away from him. My back hitting the pillar. He crashed my head against the pillar. He grabbed my ankle and dragged me away. Throwing me away like I was a rag doll. I crashed against the wall ruins.
“Oh, so sad. The little bird cannot fight when it is fair fight? She cannot win without her little illusions? Seems like your father did not really pass on his skills to you. Sadly.” He taunted me.
Reeling from that pain was seriously painful. I almost couldn’t stand up.
“What did I tell you, Vishnusuta? Bring me his head. I am waiting.”
The order came through once again.
I stood up again, pain was surging through me terribly. It is extremely painful to be crashed away on stones. I could tell that a few shards of stone pierced through my skin.
Rudraksh growled violently at Aakram. His eyes turned red, anger coursing through him.
“Easy, boy, easy. I’ll handle him. He is my hunt.” I commented. Aakram laughed at me.
“Oh, no, little bird. You are not some hunter. You are my niece’s playmate. So, how about you stick to that? All this heroism isn’t your cup of tea. You’re not hero. You didn’t sign up for any of this, remember?” He taunted me.
I closed my eyes, that pain within my chest coursing through once again. The more I try to ignore, the more something reminds me of it. The pain in my body dulled in comparison to what pain it caused in my heart. To be betrayed so much.
Why can’t I let it go easily? People do it all the time.
“Alaknanda…” I heard my father calling to me. “He doesn’t decide whether you are a hero or not. You and I do. What I do and what you do will make that decision. You can be a hero. I will make you one. If you have had faith in me when you gave your attachment away to me, then stand up. The one who drowns themselves in pain and suffering stubbornly will never succeed in their goal. They are only going to end up in darkness. Nothing weighs equally to Dharma. The one who will sacrifice dharma for something else is someone to be abandoned, Alaknanda. Personal revenge doesn’t matter in the face of Dharma. You are not the doer. I am.”
I inhaled and exhaled for a few moments.
I ran towards my spear and grabbed it up. “Let us see, Aakram.”
He attacked me with a sword and I blocked it. Turning the spear, I hit him with the other end. Then turning the spear and stabbing him with the sharp end.
“Little bird seems to have grown some strength. Did my niece not tell you that I am the most powerful one here?”
Why did I suffer for what I did not do? Why did I mourn for someone who never even cared to listen? Why did I care so much for someone who didn’t care for themselves? How could someone who couldn’t remain loyal to their own Guru be loyal to me? How could it have worked when we didn’t even have a common ground in the first place?
“No, Aakram. Here, it is Krishna who is the most powerful one. What are you and I before him?”
“Tch. Someone who died in the first place can’t be powerful.”
“The one who is born out of the mother’s womb has to leave behind their bodies, Aakram. The soul is immortal. Your and mine both. It is a futile attempt to keep yourself away from death.”
“How about you welcome your own death, bird.”
He dropped his sword and dashed at me bare hands. I rested my spear too. I twisted his wrist and kneed him in the stomach. Twisted his arm behind and grabbed his throat. He stabbed me with a dagger and threw above his head.
My lighter weight was his strength. So, I am going to make it my strength.
I landed myself on my feet. I pulled out the dagger I received from Yama Deva with the spear and stabbed his arm. He howled in pain and let me free. He tied a cloth around the stab wound and looked at me angrily.
He tried to grab me but I dodged and stabbed him in the thigh. He moved back a bit. I jumped up on his thigh and then punched him in the face. The force cracked his jaw.
“Down already, Aakram?” I asked.
Aakram got up and grabbed me in a headlock. I elbowed him hard and dug my nails over his wound on the thigh. I jumped over his head and grabbed him. He pushed himself behind and fell over me. I didn’t free my grip on him. He elbowed right where he stabbed earlier. The rolled to the side and threw me off him. I fell near the spear.
He grabbed his sword and I picked up the spear. Blocking the sword’s attack, I twirled it around and pushed him back. I tried to stab him and he pushed it away. He bend down to break the spear when I kicked him away. He fell away and I picked up the spear again. Twirling the sword to point it at him.
Blocking the sword, I pushed it to side and tried to stab him but he jumped back. I kept the aggressive attack up.
Jumping left and right, I caught his wrist in a twist. He fell down and I jumped up in the air and pushed the spear right through Aakram. It passed right through him and hit the ground.
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