The man had his hands tied behind him with a thick rope in a sound clasp. His bare-chested body had welt marks that were generously crimson. From some other small pierced wounds, the remains of profuse bleedings were vivid. His legs which were covered from his waist down in filth and his torn at places silver dhoti were also secured together by another thick rope with multiple loops around. A final rope was tied as a noose around his neck while he was pulled by the long end of it. He was dragged around on the hard concrete towards the center of the specially constructed place. The center had an elevated stage supported by stairs on all its four sides giving it the structure of a low square table. The stage was infamous as the Mahadand-Manch which had all sorts of cruel weapons like axes, daggers, large and extremely strong swords. There was he to be punished. People from the capital city and its suburbs had been enforced into coming to witness the death penalty. There were common men all around the place with horror, grief, sympathy and surrender written on their faces. Their eyes were moist and filled with sorrow. They knew they should stop this death but there was no courage to even raise a mumble in any of them. The reason for their fear was seated on another stage opposite to the execution spot of the Mahadand-Manch. There were some men on it.

Four sword-holding soldiers stood vertically on the eastern end of the stage and other four such soldiers on the western end. On a large and wide chair with dark red cover on it, sat a man. His huge arms covered in silk sleeves of his robe rested on the gold-plated armrests of the chair. His left foot rested on an intricately crafted wooden stool while the other kept the Earth in place. His lower body was concealed in black silk thick layers of cloth tied on his waist into a knot. That piece of clothing had stars drawn on its borders in metallic gold. His head was adorned with a large golden mukut that was shaped like the face of a lion. It too resonated with wealth and had layers of diamonds around. The man had large, darkest black eyes with even darker eyebrows that were curved in a frown. His face was covered with his beard and moustaches—both of which were very thick. He roared aloud, ‘The Bhuswami says tie his arms high up on the pillars and rain harsh blows from wooden sticks and whip on his both sides till he can last. Then cut off each of his wrists from the arms one by one. I want to hear him suffer, cry, wail and beg for death. Next cut off his legs, his ears and pull out his eyes. I will then give him mercy and little time of painful long wait for death.’ With the last word he clenched his teeth and a grin shaped his face.

The executioners started as commanded. As he was tied and beaten up, he let out nothing but small grunts and heavy breaths at every stroke. Sometimes he coughed and blood oozed out of mouth. There was silence in the crowd. Everyone was amazed at how not even a wail could escape the man’s mouth despite several rounds of blows and whips. The punishers were also tired and confused. The Bhuswami had a look of despair and hatred in his eyes. He fisted on the right armrest and the golden crest broke. Rising up he screamed, ‘Cut off his hands, right away’. As two executioners grabbed axes and while the first was ready to blow with a yell, the bounded man looked into the open sky and closed his eyes. In no time from somewhere above came an arrow and shot through his neck, piercing it and giving him an instant death. The executioners were bewildered and backed off the tied dead man. They got nervous and ran down the stage. The entire crowd had their eyes on the dead man and the silver shining arrow. Bhuswami kicked off the foot stand and grunted loudly. He too walked down the stairs, halfway through he turned and briefly looked at the dead man, Swapan Hari, with fury in his eyes and a look of regret for not being able to give him the desired punishment. ‘Throw the man in the woods for the wild’, he said and walked away, escorted by a troop.

A few miles away from the execution spot; by the side of a pond was a woman in half-torn clothes. She was pregnant and on the verge of having a delivery. There was none around her; she was all alone and in deep pain. She sweated profusely and took heavy, long and deep breaths. She screamed aloud and wailed as she pushed the baby out her womb. The baby was only a little way down, there was the shortening and opening of her cervix and she was almost passing out with pain and fatigue. Her eyes were closing, her breaths were shallow but then she instinctively recalled moments of the past. She remembered her husband. She was pregnant and almost ready to deliver in a few days when she was on the bed sitting and sobbing. Her hands were held by her husband and he had consoled her, ‘Listen, what I have done for the good of the society and people will not end with my end nor will I be away from you if I am executed. Our son who is on his way, would be my part, our part, a part of our love. He would be our living symbol of love. So whatsoever happens promise me that you will raise him to be a hero. Remember he is not an ordinary baby. He is special. Divine. He is born to cause change and uplift people from their woes. But never let his conscience corrupt. Promise me!’ He stressed with urgency in the last two words. He clutched her hands with a stronger grip and looked into her eyes. Her moist, red eyes met his ever calm eyes and she nodded and whispered, ‘Promise’.

As she remembered those moments she came back into her senses and gathered all her strength to continue pushing out the baby. She held onto two sturdy stems for support and with a new vigor labored out the baby. The baby’s head emerged and she had a smile of contentment. Gently and warmly she forced the will and gave few more pushes but again she was drained out completely. Her eyes once again started shutting; her vision turned blurry. The pain in her body had stretched up to the point where she could feel her entire muscles going numb. She had a blank mind and barren face. She rested her back on the rock behind her and sat so with thin breaths and felt that her body had given up. She stayed so for a while when out of nowhere a deep breath resurfaced from her lungs and she let out a long moan in air. She was dizzy but putting her hands down on the mud, gathered a little strength to lie down and she screamed as she made the last effort to push out her baby. She was wailing and crying, the nerves of her neck became prominently visible over her skin. She finally along with her pushes closed her eyes and prayed to Lord Vishnu, incessantly murmuring the words, ‘Om Vishnuei Namah!’

Her thorough concentration was on one hand at the push to bring the baby into the world while on the other hand in her mind she was acutely occupied with pleads to Lord Vishnu. As long and never ending such moments passed by she could feel the head of the baby crowning out of her. As she wearily opened her eyes, she was bewildered. She could see a cow having the baby’s tiny head in its mouth pulling out the baby. The sight stunned her. She was nervous and too scared and looked at the baby, being concerned of any damage or hurt upon him. However, the cow very timidly and gently assisted the baby in coming out. Finally the baby came out crying. She smiled the broadest in days and her tears leaked down flowing relentlessly. She held the baby boy in her arms and the umbilical cord that connected the baby to the mother got separated on its own. She then realized that the child was truly divine and so was her husband. She cried aloud and tore a part of her sari and covered the baby with it and kissed his forehead. As she looked up to see the cow, she could see it lazily moving away. Some distance away the cow disappeared behind bushes and then from there flew a large bird with a lightning speed that went higher and higher till it was beyond the distinction of eyes. She knew it was divine as the bird looked like Garuda. She folded her hands and looked above and cried as she thanked God for that miraculous birth and raised the child to touch her forehead and did a naman to the heavens. For some time she rested there with the baby; caressing and feeling his every tender part. She planted innumerable kisses on him as she knew she could only give birth to the boy but not raise him. She had no resources as well as she felt strongly that her death was inevitable, soon.

After sometime she stood with the baby and with slow and trembling strides reached the nearest house that was about a mile away. The house was locked and there was no one nearby. She laid down the baby on the gate of the house and walked away fighting the urge to look back at the baby. She was sure that the baby was a divine mortal and confident that he would be raised right and would justify his birth and accomplish the things that his father said he would. A few steps later she fell down under a tree side. She knew she was dying and her breaths were almost lost. As she waited for her approaching death, she remembered the face of her husband. She had a smile again on her face. The last thoughts that came into her mind was she and her husband mating. She cried,’ O Vishnu ‘and recalled those scenes. She was carried in his strong arms towards the bed. Dressed in a long light blue skirt and red colored blouse without any sleeves, she looked nothing less than a perfectly crafted piece of sculpture; without flaws, without blemishes, just as perfect as can be. She was giggling and holding his neck tightly. Her wrists and ankles had flower strings woven around them. She had a garland of white small flowers and a red dot marked on her forehead. She was laid down on the bed by him and their eyes met for what seemed like a long time. He rubbed his nose with hers and she laughed sweetly feeling ticklish. Swapan Hari kissed her forehead and his lips glided over to her eyes, nose, both cheeks and then on her lips. Their lips met passionately as they made love. Immersed in love, they were lost in each other’s bodies’ warmth and passion. They mated. He made her his as he entered her and tears of joy and expectations of a beautiful future of togetherness occupied her mind and heart. He kept on diving inside her slowly, with gentle strokes and on her insistence, he raised his pace and she let out louder moans of love with every thrust. She had embraced his back tight and her nails were digging into his strong flesh till they finally, together, at the very same moment attained bliss in the arms of each other. Breathing heavily, sweat beads adorning their bodies they opened their eyes and smiled looking at each other. The moment of love lingered between them till long after that. That night when she was in his arms he told her that she would bear a baby boy who would be a phenomenal child. He would have a long journey where he would realize what he had been born for and then strive and not stop until he restores righteousness and prowess together, on the entire land. He would be an immortal legend and till time subsists he would be remembered and revered by people all across the seven lands. She asked him how he knew the detailed future of the unborn child to which he looked into her eyes, smiled and said, ‘You adored me. You loved me. You had given your soul to me and so I became yours. I came to you for this child… and remember some dreams have some deep and acute meaning’. She looked a bit confused and nervous but she thought nothing beyond and just whispered, ‘I am glad to have you swami’. With those words and moments that replayed as fresh memories, she breathed her last under a tree and died with a smile of gratitude looking into the skies.

The lord of the Earth was Bhuswami. He was the despot of the seven lands that together shaped the Earth and the landmass of which he was the titular emperor spread across a mammoth area. The largest continent of all, it was the Adi Samrajya which started from almost the center of the world and went high towards the north and low towards the south. Towards the mid-south of that land was a subcontinent that was large and extended much towards the south-eastern region. In that part was the world’s most fertile land, abundant resources and plenty of waters. The people of that region under Bhuswami had earlier worked together to extract and use all the available resources to build a strong economic region. Agriculture too boomed there. Later on, it was made the capital empire of Bhuswami having been named Samridhdesh. Samridhpur was his residing capital city of the world. A large mountain guarded the empire from the north to the north east. The icy gigantic mountain was like a sentinel for the people and they revered it. It was called the Him Parvat. Where a big ocean ended the land boundary at the southern end of Adi Samrajya there was another colder and enormous island continent; the Samrajya called the Mahadweep.

The mid region of the Earth had two large landmasses. One was near the upper central part of the Earth and its boundary extended towards Adi Samrajya’s western most end where they were naturally at bay because of another large water body. That was the MadhyaBhu Samrajya. The other landmass on the middle of the Earth was below the MadhyaBhu Samrajya. It was also separated by a deep long water body. It was called the Mahamarubhu Samrajya as it had a large tract of desert in the southern end and then one another water body, huge and dark. Towards the western world which was separated from the rest by the deepest and longest water body vertically, was another landmass. It was resource abundant and rich and named the Paschimi Samrajya. Below them separated by a small water body was the samrajya of Parvatak Mahadesh as it had rocky, large mountain ranges and terrains. Behind the Paschimi Samrajya was also the last landmass called the Sheetsundar Samrajya. Its name came from the icy glaciers in the water bodies of that landmass and snowfall at the border areas which caused an eternal cold air current to blow. The north pole of the Earth also had an icy land. It was however untrodden but there was a secret about that place; everyone believed or at least thought so. Those seven landmasses created as seven prospering samrajyas had the autocratic sovereign rule of the seven survivors of the Satyayuga, as the respective Samrajya’s Samrajyapatis. And among them were the ruler of Adi Samrajya who was invincible and the untold leader of the world BHUSWAMI! He yielded power across the seven landmasses from the throne of his capital, Samridhpur.

Bhuswami resided in an extravagant palace on the top of the eastern banks of the region’s largest and deepest river called the Dipnadi. The river was parallel downhill, behind where the fortification of his vast palace land ended. It had a natural river island on it. The island was so enormous that it covered more than two-third of the river’s total surface. Hence it got the name-Dipnadi. His palace premise and compound was a strategic architecture to behold. It was marvelous and very smartly defended from all the sides. The ruler was protected from any probable attack with the mind blowing defense of the entire area. First the area on which the palace stood spread across large acres of land. Further across its entire circular perimeter a mile and half broad length of land was kept in orb as a no-entry zone. On the noentry land there were soldiers guarding as the first security sentinel of the palace estate. They were also accommodated to stay there with quarters constructed. Anyone who had or needed to enter the palace, the reason for their visit would first reach those guards on the first tier security level and they would then forward it from there. The other arc of the no-entry zone housed the arsenal store with thousands of sentinels and it opened further to the waters below. The entrance to the palace area, beyond the noentry zone inwards was the boundary fenced strongly by heavy brick walls and iron palings right behind them again in orbit fashion. The design raced across the complete circular perimeter of the area. To facilitate the entrance and the exit was a large iron door; it needed the strength of at least a dozen muscular powerhouse men to be pulled and pushed back in order to get it opened and closed. The top of the door had a large lion face crafted in pure gold. In sunshine it shone brighter than thousand torch flames. Inside that gate the tract had gardens everywhere. They had varied fruits and multiple species of flowers. It was aromatic. Guards were present everywhere camouflaged with the garden hues and stood with spears in their hands. Straight path through the garden tract reached another gate where one of the best troops of the army stood on either side of the path. That path reached the PrathamBhu Mahal where the senapati, sena-nayaks and the head of infantry along with his department, the head of weapons and ammunitions as well the head of Mahalrakshaki Sena stayed along with their families in their respective quarters. Every quarter was large enough and had a complete luxurious stay and servants at service. Beneath the Pratham Mahal was a large tract of land which was dedicated to sports exclusively. There was horse riding, sword fighting, mace combat, wrestling and archery practiced on it. The sons and the kins of the royal family and the ministers used that entire tract. The end of it led to another gate made of silver. The estate inside was guarded with various arm guards and archers on tree tops. Its security was retained exclusively for Daitya soldiers as that place housed the expensive bungalows of the ministers of the capital. The rear boundary of the portion was fenced with a long metallic wall which also held a door. In the successive plot the ‘Viswa-shresth Rajmahal’ was housed. It was majestic. In the mid of the immense area there was a pillar as tall that could touch the skies . On its top large edges there were bunkers for two hundred and fifty arches.

The pillar was constructed out of pure gold. It was very wide towards the bottom because it had the Mukhya Raj Durbar, the World Court inside. In that court seated Bhuswami and his council of ministers for the royal conferences and meetings. The Mukhya Raj Durbar was built in a truly hypnotic design. It was a marvel, a gem of architecture. It was a structure so grand that there can never be another like it. The feeling of being inside it was so majestic that; it was the once in a lifetime creation of the best man in that field. The pillar that resided the court was actually so built that on its top, the center was left open and only the huge flanks were used by the soldiers to remain stationed. From that opening; sunlight fell on the Mukhya Raj Durbar. The opening gate to the durbar was a large solid iron gate with ply glued over it. Either sides of the gate had the face of a lion. The lion face protruded and rested outside the frame of the gate. The entire lion was constructed out of gold and covered with small but many diamonds. Inside the gate, across a plain tract of finest cut grasses was the durbar. The entire tract was full of multiple small contingents of soldiers with each contingent having expertise in different weapons. The durbar was a symbol of extreme richness and extravaganza. It even seemed prodigal. As the durbar hall started it had two drums both unusually huge in size. They both were over fifteen feet tall and it was spherical and the diameters of those were a few feet. The royal drummers had to stand on wooden stools and hammer the drums to formally indicate the presiding of the court.

Three loud blows from both the drums together meant that the proceedings of the durbar could be underway and at its end there were one loud blow from both the drums simultaneously. The entire floor of the hall was cemented with superior quality wood and on top of it laid layers of expensive carpets brought from around the world’s best makers. They had very skillfully designed horses, elephants, cavalry, chariots, and war formations on them. It seemed to truly boost the prowess of the one heading the durbar. The mid hall had a fountain which was watered every necessary time and the fountain was made of brilliantly carved opulent stones. Those stones had several designs on them. There were seven vertical layers one on top of the other that made the fountain. On the sides of the hall, just afar the center was the Durbar Rakshaks. They hoisted in small groups of ten men with spears and shields with them. The aisle of the court had large polished exotic tiles in myriad colors— black, white and brown with boundaries draped on the floor. On the aisle were the chairs of the council men and straight ahead of the aisle sat the large throne. The council men sat on chairs that were average in height so that they could easily rest their feet on the floor. The chairs were however wider and had pillows aside the armrests. The legs were not too long and the line on the perimeter of the chairs was intended of silver with beautiful pearls and metals decked on them. The king’s throne was seated above a small stage. He had to be above his council, literally and metaphorically and hence he was seated on that stage. The wall behind that stage was the one that completed the geography of the durbar. The wall behind the king’s throne was again adorned with richness.

It was covered entirely by a marvelous sun shaped stone. It was then given a comprehensive coating of gold to make it shine. The throne of the Bhuswami had two golden steps on which it stood. It was very relaxing and comfortable to sit on as the seat of the throne was made of wood and had ultra-soft cushion fitted on it for a well sit. The hand rests were large and wide. They had their edges embossed with diamond pieces. The side of the throne on which the king’s back fell had bright violet colored cushion with a peacock emblazoned on it. The overhead of the hall was full of hanging flamed torches inside cages of silver. It was ensured that the flames were always lit when the durbar was in session. The roof of the durbar was of a rare found glass that allowed the required amount of sunshine to penetrate inside. That was the entirely unexpected, unusual as well as unseen and un- imaginable form of architecture of the durbar. Apart from the pillar housing the durbar; there were various individual multi-storied buildings in the compound. The council men along with their own guards, chariots and horses resided inside. There was in the center of all those buildings, the tallest and largest one; which was the residing palace of Bhuswami and the entire royalty. It had specially trained guards all around it and each room inside that building was as enormous as a house. The whole plot was kept ever-fresh and lively with fountains, tanks and flowers. The campus site was thoughtfully chosen on the top of a solid highland. Being on a cliff highland the site was parallel to the island river Dipnadi

Thus, the whole site of the campus was designed as a circle-inside-circle formation. The outermost layer was the no-entry zone and the residing plot of the overlord was the innermost secured layer. The residence of Bhuswami was like the exemplification of concentration of wealth and power in one center and distributed only among a handful. But at the beginning of the world; such was not the case. Years into the age of Treta when greed, quest for power, desire of lavishness and the will to be above others had shaped up; things swayed in the wrong way. The prime turn of event among all was the seven survivors of the Satya Yuga turning into a sect asserted as Daitya; translating into ‘eternal glory’. When the aftermath of the holocaust caused in the end of the Satya Yuga subsided; the seven survivors had descended back on the Earth. Each of them after the extinction of Satya Yuga had pleased one or the other important deity in the Swargalok. But Bhuswami, who was born as Prathamjiv, was successful in pleasing every God. When they came back to the Earth they had a vital task to accomplish. Lord Brahma had whirled a large volume of gaseous clouds upon the Earth that entirely submerged the Earth for some days. Concealed inside the vapors were innumerable protons, neutrons and electrons with different chemical properties. Those particles created fusion, bursts and emissions of different kinds. The result was the creation of elements which mated and configured with everything present in any of the three states of matter; on the dead Earth.

The cosmic vapor cap over the Earth that emitted constant radiations helped the different elements come together and work in a coordinated and correlated manner. The dynamic laboring of elements germinated matters in the void. Underneath Earth across unalike places roots forged that sprouted out through the soil and emerged into trunks, branches, twigs and leaves. Grasses, flowers, fruits, buds, seedlings and saplings everything covered the Earth in the shade of green hue. Minerals amalgamated to craft rocks of varied shapes and sizes and several large rocks glued forming hills and mountains. The Earth trembled; creating rifts in lands of sizes minuscular to mammoth. Pits, trenches, long channels and massive dumps filled with acute water emerged after the period of global Earth quake. After those creations emerged, smoky shapes melted out from the cosmic vapor. Those smoky figures immersed in them multiple elements of atoms and molecules which then shaped into creatures of infinite forms. Every individual smoky fog figure which held together in them various elements, infused the energy which created cells. The lives of each of those creatures drew the indispensable energy from those shapeless fog-like souls. With Brahma’s will, the souls which were nothing but a fraction of divine energies made mankind and other creatures survive. In a long process the lives created, learnt about the various human emotions. They discovered mutual similarities and passionate connections. Initially many could not decrypt their most basic need— hunger. They felt hunger but did not realize what was it? Several lives perished but eventually they discovered food. Their quests and discoveries then went stagnant for long and that was where the seven survivors from the Satya Yuga played their role to perfection. On each landmass the people inhabiting were guided by one of the seven men. First and foremost, the people were educated about the process of life and death. Then they were told about the various customs of marriage, child birth and last rites of the dead. They were made aware of the existence of Gods who gave them lives to progress the world. Those seven great mortals embedded in everyone’s mind and heart three actions to learn from their creators, the Gods. Paying homage to Lord Brahma they learnt their need to create the world into a bountiful and beautiful place. Their devotion to Lord Narayan made them learn their duty of preserving the world around them and all those who need protection. They also pleased Lord Shiva and Maa Parvati and they in the form of Ardhanarisava blessed them with all the knowledge of leading a life together with men and women and progress as individual households first. Gradually mankind then went on the spree of making inventions and discoveries. From fire to wheels, from construction of houses and roads to weaving and designing of clothes to the techniques of mining and agriculture—everything developed.

Accustoming many changes and welcoming indefinite ideas the pages of history flipped. The seven landmasses were named and the people accepted the seven survivors as their undisputed and unambiguous mentor. Each one of the seven men was the swami of their respective landmass. The people were into more and more occupations. People who had interest or liking for a certain profession took it as their abilities permitted. There were thus workers, barbers, vendors, cobblers, traders and miners. Influenced and inspired by the system of administration as in the Swargalok the seven men further divided each of the seven landmasses into kingdoms. To rule the kingdoms in a just and methodical way there were kings to be proclaimed. From every kingdom interested candidates came forward for it. However, the process of being declared a king was a true test of determination. A king had to be ready to endure responsibilities and show extreme grit to do so. Hence there was a holy pyre lit up where the candidates had to enter into and sit on. The fire would continue to burn them till they are taught about all the responsibilities, duties and administration processes. On each pyre would seat the immortal progenitor of the former Yuga, Guru Trigyani; along with a candidate. The Guru vocally taught them the duties, responsibilities and limitations of a King. The men who bore the heat of the pyre and learnt every dharma of a king emerged out as legitimate rulers. In this ambitious attempt numerous succumbed to the heat of the pyre and only some immersed out. Each king got one kingdom which was a sovereign territory with its own rules and regulations and a flag of their own. However, every king could not go beyond their power precincts as they were constantly checked by their supreme leader, the seven swamis. Each of the seven men was the supreme advisor of their landmass which was called the Samrajya. There were also strong and eager men who learnt the art of warfare for protection of the kingdom and not to initiate ever a conflict. Also, there were men and women who learnt about Gods and other spiritual elements from Guru Trigyani. Thus, the society in general was made up of the warrior class called the Kshatriyas, the intellectual class-the Brahmins, the traders called Vaishyas and the wage workers called Shudras. There was however no distinction of any sort among them. They co-habited amiable in the society. Every kingdom produced commodities in surplus based on their available resources and the surplus were bartered for other scare commodities. The houses of every family were built in the same fashion and manner and people wore the same kind of clothes. There was no materialistic competition among the mankind. For a number of years a peaceful and non-volatile world order was set forth under the guidance of those seven men. The only volatile threats the Earth faced were from natural disasters like Earth quakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions. To protect the Earth and mankind from any unforeseen threat or grave natural epidemic catastrophe, the seven men asked for powerful divine weapons from the Gods.

The one named Viratesh had pleased Lord Varuna and he was granted a Varunastra mantra that could produce the power, force and velocity of all the waters on the Earth. One other, Kalan, had contented Lord Vayu and he got the Vayu Dhanush which could make arrows travel with the pace and energy of immense wind and create havoc of hurricanes and tornados. Another, Daman, had satisfied Lord Suryanarayan and he was blessed with Suryashakti Vhan that could cause huge blasts drawing energy from sun with its command. Vikranta, who had served Lord Indra with utmost devotion was gifted Rajgada which was a brutal mace that could even push away a giant wall just with the vibrations that it created while being whirled in the air. It borrowed energy by creating thunders. Somnath from Lord Agni Dev earned a spear, Agni Bhala that could burn down any target on its way and return to him like a boomerang. Dakshil from Maa Shakti earned the weapon- Maha Trishul whose blows were lethal even with a small cut. Among them however it was Prathamjiv who had pleased all of these Gods and on their recommendation got five weapons of mass destruction that could each be used only once to cause a mass annihilation. Those weapons were however preserved and kept unused.

As long periods of time flew by; things turned into a debauched direction. It was the path that was not to be taken by mankind but it did. Until then mankind’s virtues were ethical and pure. But with time those virtues faded away slowly and in a very phased out manner. The human traits of greed, lust, desire for power and dishonesty had surfaced in their minds. It started when men forgot their commitment towards their fellows and only focused on their own selves. The fraternity that did the administrative duties in a kingdom became slowly a closed ended community. They started believing that the jobs that they did were apparently more important as in one way or other they enacted or implemented the laws of lands. The fraternity resided the ministers, the advisors to the royal court, and the leaders of the different army units. They were shown great respect by the masses and hence they slowly started feeling superior and finally the classes of the Kshatriyas and Brahmins became castes. With time the barter system faded away largely due to its own set of problems and came in the use of money and coins that were produced and circulated amongst everyone. As the coins came into use there developed a system that every earner had to pay a large sum of their earnings to the royal treasury. That money from the treasury would be then used for the welfare of the masses. But with time the traders and big merchants became convinced that since they paid the larger share to the royal treasury hence they united as another fraternity of the Vaishyas and they started developing a distance from the other common masses. These common masses included the small vendors, the artisans, the peasants, workers and other petty service providers.

Even those seven men gradually started accepting the feelings of superiority over all others and preferred to enjoy their enormous powers in a limitless way. Prathamjiv had a distant relative from the side of his in-laws who was a metal extractor. He had noticed that people were tempted into a metal of shine and polish in its raw form. They were extremely bewildered by the appeal of the metal and wanted it profoundly to make jewelries, furniture and even to embellish a lot of paraphernalia. There was an unprecedented demand for that new item. It was a specific kind of rare rhodium metal which had physical properties suitable for decoration, jewelry and many other luxury stuffs. The phenomenal demand for it and the rich willing to pay huge sums in exchange of it made that man sure that he had discovered something really precious. He wanted to be rewarded. For this he went to meet Prathamjiv and discussed another way of economic system.

‘Swami ji, we need such changes. People are never equal with proficiencies. While some people are only good at providing petty services to others there are some who have the heart to explore, invent, discover and build new possibilities. A mason or a potter does not do occupations that are either too challenging or need more investments or skills. While there are traders, merchants and explorers like me who use a lot of energy and brain to make commodities that are scarce and very much in demand. In addition to that we are the ones who pay the larger chunk of the taxes for the upliftment of the kingdom and I think we should get rewarded accordingly. So, I don’t see how every one of us in the society can live as equals’ the man tried to reason with Prathamjiv. Prathamjiv listened to his logics and thought for a while. He rose from his seat and walked down the aisle of the royal court which was now bare except for the two. He came close to the man and very slowly folded his arms. ‘But, Timbak the way the society has evolved and is persisting now with the various norms and economic system of the present makes the society and the kingdom and in fact the entire world perfect, or we can say near perfect. There’s no greed to compete and beat others, there is no complaint from the masses and most importantly everyone is united with a bond of fraternity among them. But with your theory, if it becomes a practice it will lead to the upliftment of some and many others would be dissatisfied and dejected. It would create divisions in the society and today’s one mankind one fraternity would get diluted in no time and there would be more and more of discriminations. People from one class would not have the same feeling of brotherhood for the other. And trust me it would cause doomsday. There might be revolts and even break down of very strong age old norms’. Prathamjiv very wisely had predicted the future with such an economic system change’. Timbak folded his hands and continued to plead, ‘But Swami ji, things have started changing. One day or the other this economic system will be challenged as I am here on behalf of my trader and merchant friends. They too feel the same. It is very simple. You are rewarded for your efforts. The greater the efforts; the larger would be the rewards’.

Prathamjiv listened to his words and sighed. He looked thoughtful as he took a pause for some time before he turned his head and nodded in a manner of negation. ‘I know change is a truth for humans. People have to change and so will today’s customs, traditions, norms and systems. But and I stress on this ‘but’, the time for a change now would be catastrophic in the near future’. Prathamjiv seemed to be adamant with his thoughts. He moved towards his seat once again and sat on it. Timbak was at a loss of words. He had presumed that his proposal would be accepted by the king right away after few logical statements but that was not happening. He thought for some time and then he spoke once again this time as a final attempt to convince the king. ‘Swami ji, this is not the near perfect society. Pardon me that I am contradicting your opinion. But you have told the mankind about Swargalok. You have been there. The Gods too follow a system where there is more power, luxury and comfort for the more important Gods. They themselves live in a system of pyramid hierarchy where more important and potent a God is the more he gets. Even the Earth that you are the lord of; you along with your six other lords have shaped the Earth as it stands today. It is thus vivid that you are superior to all of us. You are superior to the kings and the gurus. On your mentorship and guidance today mankind has reached this stage of progress. So, how are you equal to us? And since you are the most powerful, wise and the best man on the land you deserve to command respect and along with it you must enjoy a life better and superior to all of us. Similarly, those who provide better services and do the important tasks should also live superior to the masses. A system that is followed in the Swargalok cannot be flawed and we must try to impersonate that’. Those words from Timbak made Prathamjiv question his own opinion. He had got a strong reason to ponder over the proposed new economic system. He once again rose up from his seat and strolled down the aisle with Timbak following him. He sighed and turned to stare at Timbak and had a new smile on his face. ‘I would discuss and implement the new economic system after a meeting with the other six’. Timbak’s eyes lightened up, he knew that Prathamjiv was lured by the fancy life that he could enjoy with the new system. With a smile of success Timbak took his leave.

Prathamjiv standing alone in the company of darkness of the night glanced all around the court. The walls, the seats and even his own throne, nothing reflected any sort of extravaganza or luxury. His mind then automatically compared it to the durbars of the Gods in the Swargalok. There was a vivid contrast between the lifestyle of the Gods in heaven and the lord of the lands. The following night as he lay on his bed in his private chamber, he looked at his toddler son. He had realized that change was necessary. He could profess to himself that such an economic system would make the life of his son and other children to come very easy going and full of all the comforts. He hopped off the bed and went near the large open balcony of his chamber and looked at the moon. He held his head high and said to him, ‘A new sunrise would see a new and better system for us’.

The very next morning he sent letters to the other six heads of the other Samrajyas inviting them for an imperative council meet few days later in his court. In that council meet every one seconded the new economic system that was proposed by Prathamjiv. And in a matter of next few months the entire world order took a completely new turn. There were several vital changes that took shape at a fast pace. A little pre-teen boy cried hysterically. He punched tiny blows on the back of the soldier who was pulling him carelessly. His blows were useless upon him but he was going to be an asset some years later for the ones enslaving him. His mother too was sobbing helplessly and was held by her husband and their little girls. They knew all they could do was cry and nothing more. The soldiers carrying the ordinary couple’s only boy was permitted by the reign for it. Each kingdom in every landmass had to offer a few lakhs of boy children to their overlord’s army. The overlords were the seven first born who dwelled in their powerful and wealthy capital state. Distinction between different classes of people turned more aggressive.

The administrators, merchants, traders and nobilities were entitled to have better living standards. They were provided with servants, permitted to build big houses and soon they were aloof from the masses. The provinces under each Samrajya that was ruled by the kings saw alterations. The internal matters rested on the king’s autonomy but foreign trade, inter-province trade and defense were subjected to the scrutiny of the head of the Samrajya and they proclaimed themselves as the Samrajyapati. The classes of the traders, merchants, royal priests, soldiers and nobility were happy with the new way of functioning. However, the peasants, small traders, gurus and trivial craftsmen and artisans were unapproved of the changing scenario. In several provinces the masses verbally communicated their displeasure to their kings. While some of the kings had become greedy and favored the change of system as they saw their benefits in it but there were others who supported the cause of the masses and even had discussions with the Samrajyapatis to do away with the new world order. However, such discussions were futile and yielded no results. With time several kings with their allegiance to their respective Samrajyapatis turned autocratic and only concentrated on their own welfare. There were however some kings who continued to disapprove the undesired changes and even revolted. But the Samrajyapatis suppressed those revolts and brutally killed the rebels. They wanted to set an example of the consequences of being a rebel and thus such kings or leaders were publicly executed. Things turned far more drastically worse. The kings and the Samrajyapatis started the practice of multiple marriages that established polygamy across the lands. Girls and women who were appealing were taken through coercion for marriage by the powerful and the rich. Men even started having physical intimacies with any women they felt desirable and the malevolent practice of forcing helpless females into the flesh trade also surfaced. The entire world had changed and there were oppressions, injustice and greed among people.

The lifestyles of the prominent classes were full of prodigies. The masses had started to accept the new system as their fate and the world was no longer a pious land. Within the newfangled but corrupt structural change in the world there was one king in Adi Samrajya who had prepared to challenge Prathamjiv in a battle. There were kings who did not agree with the situations but dared not to challenge Prathamjiv’s might. But belonging to a clan of the first warriors who had the tutelage of guru Trigyani in the state of warfare; Raja Digvijay was fearless. He demanded his kingdom wished to stay afloat the misdeeds of the new world order hence he declared complete freedom. He being the ruler of a large province in the western part of Adi samrajya called Dhanpur, dared to call out on Prathamjiv. The province was vast and densely populated as well. He had a very able army of near about one lakh soldiers divided into infantry, horsemen, archers and elephant riding warriors. Heralding the army were three prominent Senapatis who were valiant and ready to preserve the integrity of their land. The pillars of the army strength were however two Maharathi warriors who personally trained and taught thousand Atirathi soldiers. The two were Raja Digvijay’s reason of pride. With articulate battle schemes and long standing preparations, his forces met the accumulated massive army of Prathamjiv. But aided by several kings, Prathamjiv’s force outnumbered its rivals. The two parties had gathered on the either side of a large plain ground which was entirely open except for grassland enclosing on one of its four sides. As the trumpets blew the battle began. Raja Digvijay and his ministers along with the three valiant and ever responsible senapatis had considered the fact that the numbers would be greatly in favor of Prathamjiv. So, there was a very shrewd strategy devised by the king and his confidantes. They had positioned a horizontal troop of archers at the front lane. The archers were led by the three senapatis and behind them stood the ministers of the kingdom surrounding the king. They were all equipped with innumerable arrows and specific bows that could launch multiple arrows at a single strike. But the vital part of their war strategy was their elephant cluster. There were about a hundred elephants lined up standing tall horizontally; just behind the line of the archers. On each elephant, a heavily armored castle-like howdah was strapped carrying two soldiers who strongly held large sized specialized rare mirrors draped with clothes. Additionally, one another warrior as javelin hurler accompanied the two others. As a stunning move the mirrors were disrobed and when sunlight touched the mirrors, the luster was reflected strongly towards the opposite camp. That prevented the archers of Prathamjiv’s army to launch any sort of attack as they were blinded by the sudden reflections.

The vast army of Prathamjiv was grouped into several categories. The fore-runners were the archers who were encircled by swordsmen- both in infantry and cavalry. Behind them was Prathamjiv on his mammoth rath (carriage) surrounded on all sides by small clusters of armed soldiers on horses and elephants. However, they had not anticipated that their opposition would use those mirror reflections to cause blockage of the archers. That strategy had taken them by surprise and right at the start of the battle the archers led by the warriors of Raja Digvijay started raining arrows without a stop. In a matter of half a day the front runner of Prathamjiv’s army was slayed down and that caused panic in the army while the opposition sensed an opening for a decisive victory. However, recognizing the alarming situation Prathamjiv and his distinguished warriors decided to counter with a new plot. They had better and more potent bows and arrows in their reserves. Using stronger and sharper arrows upon bows that had larger ranges, they went a few feet backwards to a spot where the reflections from the mirrors did not reach. From that point they used their arrows to strike straight on the mirrors. The mirrors cracked and broke in little time. Cashing in that opportunity, the archers of Prathamjiv’s army countered back and killed several soldiers of the opposition. It was then exchange of arrows from either party. First Prathamjiv commanded all of his archers to line up upfront. They took aim, pulled the bow strings and released over half a million arrows. The arrows blotted the brightness of the sun as they soared into the unrestrained sky and fiercely dived down. Dhanpur’s soldiers used their shields to guard themselves. Many survived from the arrow hits but several perished down too. In quick retaliation, the archers of Dhanpur also fired back arrows. Some successive rounds of arrow fight ensued. With more archers, Prathamjiv’s army proved to inflict more damages on their nemesis.

That caused the tables to turn. For almost half a day the army which had the upper hand and seemed to ride on the path of victory was suddenly near chaos. The number of archers with Prathamjiv was relatively bigger. Riding on elephants and chariots the archers launched a direct offence and tried to penetrate in the opposition army. It became imperative for Raja Digvijay to derail that advancement as otherwise the battle was soon to be over. But their preparation for the war was with fine acumen. They had carried exclusively built spears which were longer, lighter in weight and had three feet long razor-sharp blade heads. Soldiers and even selected men from the land of Dhanpur who were kept in the camps were handed those javelins. Gripping the javelins, they rushed ahead roaring. From a safer distance of the incoming elephant and chariot archers, they propelled the spears at the soldiers. The move was efficient and without causing any casualty on their own side, the common men and simple soldiers of Dhanpur made a wonderful mess of blood and corpse. Prathamjiv was disgruntled with the failure. He became restless to end the battle quickly and ordered three lakhs of his swordsmen on feet to clash with the opposition.

They raced and fought in combat with the gravely outnumbered army. It was a muddle for Raja Digvijay and his soldiers. They were losing their ground and getting reduced in numbers. A newer call for action was devised soon by the stalwarts of Dhanpur. The three senapatis stayed back with the main army and combatted the sword-wielding soldiers. The king himself with his two ministers and the force of thousand Atirathis broke out and galloped on horses to attack the left flank of their antagonists. The contingent was provided cover by archers on the remaining elephants that marched parallel with the Atirathis. Half of the Atirathis wore single chain mail armor providing protection that enabled them to be agile and energetic. They engineered longer and thinner javelins from both fighting arms. They launched javelins that transfixed more than one opponent soldier.

The strategy was discovered by men in Prathamjiv’s forces. As most of their soldiers were engaged at the center of the battle field; their king was left vulnerable. Determined to halt the Atirathis, the Maharathis guarding Prathamjiv used their divine arrows at them. Powerful and destructive arrows were hammered but without yielding the desired consequence. Raja Digvijay despite having only the two Maharathis in his kingdom had taken a bold step. Instead of using them at the mainframe of the battle, they both were kept in the cover of the grasslands on the side of the battle-field. As the divine arrows from Prathamjiv raced to consume the Atirathis, counter arrows released by the two Dhanpur Maharathis nullified them. The move seemed a masterstroke as the Atirathis hurled javelins to disarray the left flank. Once it was left vulnerable, King Digvijay led troop was successful in breaking into the left flank and they started a massacre of the adversaries. Inspired from the ideals of freedom, justice and patriotism every warrior fought audaciously with rage and hope. They wounded some but killed many. . With two swords in each one’s either hand, they went on a merciless and unshackled barbaric assault. They were close to victory but yet afar from it. With the Dhanpur mercenaries nearing Prathamjiv, suddenly tens of thousands of horse riders galloped down the grassland. On their way they had assassinated the two Maharathis from behind. Amid the neighing and thumping of the horses they rode, they clashed at the position of King Digvijay. Those riders were kept as reserves just near the battlefield but veiled to the fighting armies. The surprise element of Prathamjiv became decisive in the battle. The riders began to encircle the handful of warriors of Raja Digvijay. The warriors knew it was a do or die situation for them. They either had to valiantly fight all of them or else they had to die. Surrender was not even an option in their minds. They screamed, ‘Hail our motherland’ and fought valiantly. They were even successful in defending themselves and killing a number of the rival soldiers by the end of the afternoon. But they were tired, wounded and had no source of inspiration as they saw their soldiers were more than half dead and others lay injured gravely. Gradually, the day was nearing its fall and the soldiers of Raja Digvijay too kept on falling in heaps. In the center of the battlefield, Digvijay’s forces were decimated.

None including the three senapatis survived. The survivors from the other side also allied to dust the Atirathis. Finally, Prathamjiv asked his sarthi to move forward towards King Digvijay. As the rath neared the king and his men, Prathamjiv took a huge leap to land. It was a giant leap in the air as he crossed over the rath and the two horses dragging it. He landed firmly on his feet and raised his right hand in the air opening his palms. One of his soldiers handed him a gigantic mace made of gold and iron. It was way too heavy but he held it with ease as if he was holding an arrow. With small and unhurried steps he reached Raja Digvijay. He was only left with none but his three senapatis and the chief minister of the kingdom.

‘So, this was all your valiance, your prowess and your strength, huh?’ Prathamjiv mocked the king manifesting his gigantic mace towards the king’s face. He smirked at him and laughed out aloud. His laughter echoed the entire battle ground. Prathamjiv’s facial manifestation altered and turned malicious. His eyes were still; with motionless eyeballs that stared sinisterly at the Raja’s face. He let his mace touch the ground and pointed a finger of the other hand at him as he spoke in an abhorrent tone, ‘You are nowhere close to me, Digvijay, just nowhere. I can crush you under my feet but I won’t do so. Rather I would drag your worthless structure and kill you in your province, in your capital’. Each word that was said seemed to mean and every word was spoken with no hurry and with stress. Those words were provoking enough for the men of the Raja. They screamed and lifted their swords and raced to strike Prathamjiv. That exploit only made him enraged manifold and he growled like a lion pouncing on its prey and whirled his mace with all his might. The attack of the two swords almost simultaneously landed on the mace and with a howl audible beyond the battlefield Prathamjiv pushed the three men away and they fell on the soil on their backs. Prathamjiv gripped his mace with a stern hold and from an elevation smashed one on his face. His face turned into a bloody muddle, completely disfigured. With another mightier blow on his chest the man coughed out painfully abundant blood and his breaths shortened. With a final prolonged shallow breath, he laid motionless. Next the other one was smashed with an equal velocity on his temple. The blow was so gruesome that his head buried a few inches in the ground and he had an instant death. He died sooner and even easier. Prathamjiv then turned with a rage-filled crimson face towards Raja Digvijay. He rested the mace on the ground with its handle slanting against his left thigh. He gawked at him and nothing but silence filled the air. Only the shrieks of vultures and crows were audible as they fed on the motionless bodies all around the ground. The glare of Prathamjiv turned even more despicable as he saw no look of terror on Raja Digvijya’s face. His eyes were yet composed and his head was still high. The grip on his sword was still strong and there was no hint of submission in his eyes.

‘Every man of yours is dead. They were not even a match. They were not even warriors that could stand me or my might. Now it is your turn. One lethal blow and you would be laying here as a corpse to be eaten by scavengers. But that would be an easy death for you and trust me that is a mercy. Drop that sword and kneel in front of me and I will kill you with one blow’ with those words Prathamjiv once again took a grip on the handle of the mace and a nefarious grin spread on his face. In reply Raja Digvijay had a quick glance on his sword that had tasted blood of several nemeses. He then looked into Prathamjiv’s eyes with pride and spoke, ‘I belong to the first clan of the warriors on Earth. My ancestors had perfected their war skills and I know no surrender. I don’t even have that word in my vocabulary. He clenched his teeth with the last sentence and clasped his free fist as he continued, ‘You were just lucky. Very, very lucky. You had more men and so you won I give that to you…but I don’t give a damn to your threats. Kill me here or kill me anywhere, any way you want I fear no death. However painful it is I promise I will not beg for mercy. But if you are a man and you know that you too have the same valor or dignity as I have as a Kshatriya warrior pick up your mace and have a duel with me. My sword and your mace!’ With those words he fearlessly hung the sword on Prathamjiv’s neck. Prathamjiv was silent and then he smiled a mocking evil smile. ‘You might have the blood of the first warrior clan but I am the bloody first man on Earth. You do not challenge me but you did. Now save your body, mind and soul because I am not only going to break each of your bone but also I will hurt you mentally and kill you a zillion times before you finally die’.

He then picked up his mace and the Raja positioned his feet as he raised his sword. The first blow was of Prathamjiv that struck the king’s sword. He was thus pushed back several steps and his legs curved in a very uncomfortable position. He would have fallen but somehow he used all his energy to push himself erect steadily. He gripped the fists of Prathamjiv and then started pushing him hard. Prathamjiv was stunned with the king’s abnormal strength that could match his. The Raja then landed a harsh kick on the armored chest of Prathamjiv which made him desperate for air momentarily and his legs wobbled. That little time of struggle accommodated the little momentum that the king required. The king without wasting any bit of time forced a strike with his elbow on his back, just beneath the neck. Prathamjiv landed on the ground on his left knee. The king retreated a step backward and hurled a kick with his knee on Prathamjiv’s face. That wounded his nose and small trails of blood oozed out. The sight of the blood spilling out his nose gave him a sense of adrenaline rush as he abruptly gathered himself to stand and rushed at the king spearing his shoulder first on his gut. The king fell down and before he could even feel the damage he was kicked on his face with a running knee. The king’s nose was broken and his jaw was agonizingly impacted. Before he could even recollect the pain and scream out, he was dragged by his hair by Prathamjiv. He was trailing on the uneven, rough and acuminate ground with his body getting cuts all over.

The tormentor dropped him on his face after the short drag. Raja Digvijay toiled to somehow lift his head or at least his temple to look above. And right then he received an excruciating hammer blow on his skull. The mace had broken the skull and it dug an inch inside the crack. The brain’s interiors were open and it was a real sickening sight as bloody mess and some solid flesh exuded out of the broken head. As he pulled out his mace his face looked satisfied and animated at the sight of the broken skull and the flow of blood streaming out.

‘Take his corpse to his capital and pull out every person out of their houses. Make them watch as you chop off their king’s body into bits. And along with each piece of his flesh there will be a letter sent to every province on this landmass and they would either own allegiance to me as their Lord or fight me’, Prathamjiv screamed out aloud with his command and raised his mace in the air and panted. ‘And they know what a fight with me would take’ he once again screamed. ‘I would be the Bhuswami, the overlord of the entire landmass’ he proclaimed and gritted his jaw and spread away his arms. His one arm holding the gory mace and his other arm tightened and his fingers hurled into a raging fist. The chorus hailing ‘Bhuswami’ echoed all across the air reaching far and wide. Even a heavy sudden downpour accompanied with thunder roars could not suppress the noise of the chants. When the letter of ‘Allegiance to Bhuswami’ reached each ruler on the landmass along with a human flesh they were petrified. They had also heard the chaos of Raja Digvijay’s army and his skull. With fear almost every ruler accepted the treaty of allegiance. In some places where the masses or any king revolted, every rebel was left to rot in open fields as scavengers preyed upon their almost lifeless bodies. He along with the other Samrajyapatis together fabricated a fraternity with vows of oneness in a holy pyre administered by a Brahmin Mahaguru. They called it Daityas. They also decided to increase their population at a faster rate and hence they married and had many sons and daughters. They also had harems and had sex with the harem concubines and the boys that they bore were trained to be warriors while the girls were married off to such warriors. The Daityas in a matter of two centuries had created a large population and all of them were warriors. They as a syndicate ruled the Earth on their wish and command while Bhuswami overlooked all. The king of Swargalok Indra Deva knew it was time that Bhuswami and the Daityas had to be notified that their actions were utterly immoral and they must cease their activities. He could not wait any longer for the evil to spread in every man’s mind and people turning malicious and their annihilation only remaining as a resort. On his advice Lord Agni was asked to manifest before Bhuswami and ask him to mend his ways.

A yagya was scheduled in Bhuswami’s residence. He had held it for pleasing and earning blessings from Lord Agni Dev for his welfare. The yagya was held in a large room that had all its windows open and curtains pulled away so that the room was lambent. The room had its walls painted in deep white with murals of Gods and Goddesses on it. Bhuswami was seated near the sanctified puja area and he had his spine absolutely erect and his palms folded perfectly. His eyes were closed in intense devotion as the Rajguru murmured prayers to please Agni Deva. Things were going very customary until abruptly, out of nowhere the fire burning in the usual way bdakaned. A large cloud of fire with a hollow but quick sound escaped from within the pyre and another two similar clouds followed in no time. The Rajguru, taken aback, with a muffle fell with his back on the floor while Bhuswami backed off a step or two and saw the dismayed scene with large intriguing eyes and clenched fingers. A faint sound of surprise also noised out of his mouth through the lungs. He had his hands on the floor and his jaw opened. From the holy pyre a flamed flickering blaze shaped into five fingers emerged out. As the fingers were vividly seen; in the same blaze the shape of a hand surfaced and soon from that burning fire bit by bit the shape of a shoulder, a neck and a face with a head came out lively. Bhuswami’s eyes saw its face from proximity. The face had two much less then what could be called eyes. Two eyeballs with the iris, cornea and pupil in a complete white hue glared at him. There were no eyebrows or eyelashes. That appearance also had polished maroon colored lips. Bhuswami was down with fear. He was in a state of mental turmoil trying to think what that could be but his mind gathered no thoughts. His eyes were unblinking and wide opened as his lips shivered with his jaw.

‘I am Agni. You were devoting to please me and seek my blessings and now you are afraid of me?’ the lips moved with each word as Bhuswami had his eyes fixed at the moving lips as if he was lip reading the words. The words were resonating but stammering and slow although very audible. Each word sent a vibration all around the empty room and the vibrations hit and echoed back on Bhuswami’s ears. He could hear every word as a loud noise. ‘Are you afraid of me?’ the lips again moved. ‘You had proclaimed that you are an epitome of fearless and unmatched Lord, then why do you fear?’ The lips rested for a moment as Bhuswami collected the words and regained consciousness of the surrounding. He quickly gathered his thoughts and acted. He knelt, widened his chest with a deep inhalation and joined his palms. He bowed his head closed his eyes and spoke in a soft tone but bold utterance, ‘I hail the Lord of this holy pyre. The God of fire, I am blessed to see your manifestation. I offer my servitude to you’.

‘Your devotion was surreal. You had nothing but only the wish to please me as my devotee both in your mind and heart. You were unaware of your surroundings. I am a God and I don’t deceive so I say I was pleased with your piety’ the lips of the appearance again moved. Hearing those words Bhuswami’s face was a look of utter joy. He smiled and his eyes had some sort of a glow. However, his face turned tensed and the smile faded as he heard the next words, ‘So you see…you too are scared, you too fear for your life, you may proclaim to the world that you are a symbol of invincibleness but your heart does not accept it. You cannot be God. You know you have diverted the world from the virtues that men were born with as the wish of the creator. So get back things to the path of righteousness or else you will be not spared’. Bhuswami continued looking down with his bowed head but he spoke in a fearless and interrogative way,’ I just impersonated the system of heaven here. Even the Gods and devas have a hierarchical supremacy. They too have the utmost comfort and the services of devotees. Even Gods had several wives and they were too driven by lust then why not men?’ He paused and then continued again, ‘Agni Dev I may do things that were not the scheme of God but my devotion towards Gods as you agreed is entirely uncorrupt. I seek your blessing God and nothing more. I know you can kill me here at once and I would be happy to have my death in the hands of a God but no man shall kill me ever. And if my new realm that places people under different classes is wrong the Gods may kill me but only when they first destroy their own prevalent system in Swargalok’ he ended with his last phrase spoken with passion.

‘I am a God and I cannot override any virtue. As the truth is I am pleased with your devotion so I will bless you. I bless you that no God will slay you nor any mortal shall punish you. You will be only killed if a human in flesh and blood would rise to the rank of a God’. With those final words the entire pyre with a gushing noise fainted in a fraction of moment and only a small fire kept lighting in the conical vessel. The incident haunted Bhuswami for several nights. He could not believe how could any mortal become so ever powerful that he would turn to a God and kill him? Whatsoever, he assured himself that he would not die. He had the weapons of mass destruction which no man ever had. He desired to train the entire Daitya community into perfect warriors to prevent any challenge to himself and the clan. To make that happen he and the six other Samrajyapatis decided to create someone who could master the entire science of warfare, weapon designs and war tactics.

For that the seven Daityas found a bride. She had been blessed by Mahadev to have a son that would be the greatest warrior of all time. The seven Daityas forced her to be brought to them. She was then penetrated and seeded by each of the seven men. After that she was under vigilance and care of the palace till she gave birth to a son. As soon as he was born the Raj guru had professed that he was a boon of Mahadev. When the child turned a teen he went all alone and climbed the impossible Mount Kailash and sat on penance for years. He was blessed by Lord Shiva to have the knowledge of warfare like no one would ever be able to have. Thereafter the teen returned back to Bhuswami as a man and became Shastraraj who started mentoring the Daityas.

In the time that followed only a few non-Daitya men remained as kings, as in many kingdoms Daityas were made the rulers. The Daityas over the years had a sizeable population that kept on rapidly expanding. They were inducted in the armies by the Daitya kings and were even present in the administrative level. There were a handful kings who did not owe allegiance to the Samrajyapatis as they were large provinces and ruled by dynasties of powerful kings. The Daityas could have gone on war against those rulers but that would cause causalities on their part also in a heavy amount. Moreover, all those rulers where ancestrally blessed by some God or the other. However they too paid an annual tax of ‘No Invading’ Treaty with Bhuswami where by in exchange of the tax no Daitya king or he himself would ever invade them. But like every viscous antagonist faces an equally potent protagonist; a character stood resilient in front of Bhuswami. He was Mahat Raja. He was strongly unsupportive, rebellious and verbal against the deeds of the Daityas. Moreover he was completely in favor of scrapping of the ‘No Invade’ Treaty tax for his kingdom. He had tried to form an alliance with other such rulers paying that tax but none agreed to form a united front and collectively challenge the Daityas. He hence waited for an opportunity. Being a very pious devotee of Maa Shakti, King Mahat had ensured that all the women in his kingdom lived with every dignity they must be entitled to. With the merit of that deed he had been on a penance to earn the wish for thousand warriors who would know no fear, pain, sympathy and would be sheer killing machines.

“Where is it?” inquired Navya, murmuring to her. The three with Shastraraj were standing in the middle of a wasted land. It had nothing. Surrounded by age-old rocks that were pale white and long and stiff tress with growing out branches, devoid of any leaves the three were led by the old warrior to that particular area. It was there where he had kept all his innovative weapons and armories safe and intact. But from they stood there was nowhere that anything could be seen. “No any guess where my war station is?” Shastraraj asked with a chuckle. Navya and Ashok looked all around again, witnessing the void and looked at each other while Tejas had his gaze fixated at something. Navya looked towards his gaze attentively. Two gigantic, pyramid structured hills of rubbles and broken boulders seemed to lean on each other. The tops kissed each other and there was an opening between the two hills. Inside nothing was visible but dimness. “It’s there Gurudeva”, asserted Tejas with certainty in his tone. His Guru was pleased.

“IF YOU SEEK TO DO THE UNDOABLE, ITS FUNDAMENTAL THAT YOU START BY SEEING BEYOND WHAT YOUR BARE EYES CAN CONTEMPLATE”.

His words were the first lesson. They then walked behind Shastraraj into that narrow tunnel of the hills. Once inside they kept on walking through the blackness without a noise. Some walks later they came out of the tunneled pathway and stood in the open again. That space was wide and long and ended where in distance Glacier Mountains stood. Looking around there were several objects in different shapes in sizes but covered with some strong coat of clothing made of harsh animal fur. The three stood still and the master started stripping the objects to view. The first sight was of those blasting fire balls, black in color. The other objects were alien to all three and sensing that; the master himself highlighted. “This equipment works on the basic principle of a boomerang. The four stands are stiff made of cutting out hard rocks. And this thick cord is of rubber and is elastic, knotted sound with the stiff stands. As you see, the cord has several holes in it and these are wide enough to hold the fire balls. The fire balls are to be kept stuck in these holes and the cord must be stretched back and left. Next its simple, the balls with force are thrown flying ahead “. And they had witnessed its result the night before. The next weapon was some discs that were kept upon each other. He pulled out one. The disc had tiny shrapnel all over. He threw it high in the air, it flew afar and was seen held on a rock.

Suddenly that tiny object blew up and the rocks and trees nearby were uprooted. The three were astonished and looked at the master’s face with awe and admiration. The master explained. “This looks like any nominal disc that would penetrate into the muscles of the enemies and ooze them to death. But there’s this small surprise element. Inside these discs, there is a rare metal found only here. That metal can absorb solar energy very quick and in abundance. During its flight, the disc conjures the solar energy and when the disc comes to a standstill, the elements inside the metal stop moving and concentrates together as a single mass of an atom. This atom when stiffens, causes a blast”. Shastraraj then walked slowly to pick up his best invention. He took a long tube made of glass that contained some sort of liquid in it. “This tube needs to insert inside a special thick arrow with detachable arrow head. Like any other arrow, anyone can aim it anywhere. As the arrow soars this liquid is heavily disturbed. Till the time it hits the target, the liquid revolts enough to cause the tube to break. The tube breaks and the liquid component flow out. Every single drop of this liquid is violent enough to melt anything that comes in contact. They can even melt away the soil. A shower of such liquid arrows together in huge numbers can swallow up the land on which the adversaries stand. Well not to forget this is my personal favorite ammo”.

“And these tall structures look like simple ladders Gurudev; but I am certain there is more to it than the eyes meet”, Ashok told. The master smiled. “Well these are nothing but only ladders but we need innumerable such ladders. Look at its pinnacle. Standing on all four legs, the pinnacle is a deck that holds four average sized soldiers. They would be standing at over 20 feet height and with their arrows can dismantle any marching attack at bay”. The old warrior had spent all his years of exile in making inventions and turning discoveries, away and silent from the world. In all the bygone years he had laid the foundation that could help an army of the good-men and brave-hearts stand a match against the endless hoards of Bhuswami. “This place is the arena for both of you to train. BLEED AND SWEAT IN THE DRILLS, SO THAT YOU CRACK AND CRASH OPPONENTS IN THE WAR”. The two warriors with a newfound vigor and vibe nodded. “By the way, the lady should be here as a helping hand for me”, he threw a requesting glance at her. She too affirmed. “That would be my privilege”.

Navya stood aside and the two pupils stood next to each other. Their master looked at them, his arms crossed. He started, “Before you start learning anything, you ought to know your own selves. Your own strengths, limits and most elementary what you’re now”. “So, the last time I saw the two of you, you chased almost to the top of Mount Kailash but ended but falling from a height that’s critical enough to cause your death or at least leave you paralyzed for the rest of your lives. However, you both survived the fall. How?” Neither could provide an answer. The master stood motionless too, prompting Ashok to speak. “I guess, we were born different from the rest”.

“Nobody is born different. The almighty creates every human with the same traits, power and mind. But every mind works differently and different minds create different bodies. Can you both recall when was the first time that you remember doing something that was out of league?” Such moments don’t get erased off with the memories collected over time. The first realization of one’s own surreal propensity stays in one’s heart forever. Ashok first recited, “As a child I remember I could walk, run, climb and leap faster and higher than others. It seemed natural to me. Once along with friends, I climbed up to a waterfall only to but slip and fall miles below, thrust into water. I knew no swimming. In the depth of the waters I lost my breath, my lungs were chockfull and the vision was blurring out. I felt I would die but thought I would die only for my friends to be left in terror, guilt and blame. I then tried. I had seen people swimming. I could fortunately ponder and enact the body movements to rise up. I decided I won’t die and so I strived to float. Like a miracle I swam to the shore”. Retelling the first episode of his capacity, he let out a sigh. For him that moment was still fresh, the goose bumps validated. Shastraraj merely nodded and then looked at Tejas. “Gurudev, I was born into a family of Manoranjankars. I was naturally agile and flexible. But what was surprising for me was my sheer strength; the strength that I possessed to launch a fiery kick to a mad elephant causing massacre in the streets and push it some feet back”. He recounted his episode of selfrealization. “Contrary to what you think as feats of fortunes and miracles, those were incidents of power that your bodies depicted because you forced your bodies to do so. Everyone on this earth is born with immense supremacy and strength, both physical and psychological. Most of us never strive to try beyond the normal conceptions of things. You both but did. Your mind and heart was clear. You saw threats that could adversely impact not only you but many others around. People in such situation panic and paralyze. But your mind sent signals to your body to work in the required way”. What both the prodigal warriors considered as being special was actually revealed to have a solid science behind.

“You are not born special. Nobody is. What is special is the ability to open your own deeper strengths. EVEN GRANTED BOONS OF THE GODS NEED SHOULDERS STRONG ENOUGH TO WEATHER ITS MASS”. So, you know how strong you have become in all these long years through your own works. Yet, you don’t stand a chance with Bhuswami. The reason is fair and simple. What he has attained is an accumulation of thousands of years of penance, practice, and training. He had unlocked his complete potential and so he can move a mountain with the strength of his finger”. That was the explanation of Bhuswami’s immense might.

“So, to decimate him we need to unlock more of our inner power”, Tejas said to himself but audible enough for all to hear.

“Exactly. You still need to strive a lot more. Dear lady, I know you can fly. How do you do that?” Shastraraj looked at Navya standing away. She took some steps closer and replied, “There’s a spell. Its words are complex and must be pronounced in the exact prescribed form and the tone and clarity of the spell is also pre-determined. Those words then release sound waves which activate the power to fly”.

“And how happens this process of activation?” he asked and waited long for the answer. Navya looked down and shook her head in negation. “Okay. This entire universe is composed of zillions of matters and elements. Elements that we do not know exist. But in spaces all over the universe the Gods had created every imaginable and unconceivable matter. The particular sound waves were discovered to activate huge push of air like element hidden somewhere in the corners of universe. The sound frequencies come in contact with those elements and the elements reach you in light speed, helping you fly. Also our bodies are made up of tissues and cells that can help it heal and recover. Letting your mind control your every cell helps in the cells acting as you desire. They can fast recover and regenerate providing swift relief from pain and injuries. So now first and foremost you both will have to expand your mind and heart, reach to your soul through self-introspection and take control over your body in entirely”.

Before moving forward with that process Shastraraj revealed to the three about his life story. Shastraraj recalled back his memories of long gone years and shared them. After being given birth by the seven despots’ sperm into his mother’s womb, he had grown into an unparalleled warrior blessed by Lord Shiva. For some years quite, Shastraraj served Bhuswami and his fellow Samrajyapatis in the way they had desired. He taught the royal princes. The training was harsh, challenging, tedious and demanding. As a master Shastraraj was stern. He desired the finest concentration, stone-moving determination and surreal audacity from his pupils. Things went well for a long time. But one incident changed the course of his life.

The eldest son of Bhuswami had screamed back at him during a personal training session. The disrespect rendered made Shastraraj lose his mind. In the heat of the moment, Shastraraj slapped the prince resoundingly. The prince was hurt and his jaw was nearly fractured. The chapter ended with Shastraraj being sentenced to be imprisoned or twenty years. On hearing the sentence, he thought on his purpose of life. He remembered his birth and felt sick thinking how his mother was used and impregnated by the seven men against her wishes. But he also remembered that he was a blessed candidate of Lord Shiva. He decided to change his direction of life. Deciding to do so, he escaped the prison and evaded from sight for days. Finally he settled in Kailasha, making a hideout at a very elevated and concealed plot. He sat in penance of Lord Shiva near the Mount Kailash. After a dedicated long worship, Lord Shiva appeared communicated to him. The communication gave Shastraraj a new duty for his lifetime. He was to create arms, ammunitions and train the one who would be the slayer of adharma. His story was an inspiration for the training of the two warriors. They were prepared to reach down their own complete capabilities and strengths. In the first stage the two sat on meditating. They were asked to feel their own heartbeats and listen. They had to identify and differentiate the various noises that reached their ears. Their imaginations were let to flow. They were asked to see in their minds everything that their eyes had witnessed in all the years. They were in a process to surrender them to the supreme power. They had to convince themselves that why they needed endless power and they were ready to do anything it takes to conjure the powers. They had to feel air, fire, water, empty spaces, compassion and everything that they had seen or ever known. It was a process of days and days.

The court session was in motion, overwhelmed in an ambience unlike any other day. The large durbar had always been an insignia of consummate control, total influence, prodigal display of endless wealth and remorseless authority. The eerie voices that echoed in that durbar silenced every other noise in any part of the world. Despite wielding such immense potency, the durbar was mundane and gripped in strain for the session. The ministers of the realm were seated on their designated seats with fretfulness vivid on their nervy faces. Standing in the middle of the court was Shahdutt. He stood like an old, weak man who waited in fear of the impending death. He was certain of being disciplined through rigorous measures by his overlord.

The drums wailed, the trumpets blew and amidst the unison of chants and cheers of his name Bhuswami stormed into the court. With heavy and rough steps he walked past everyone, who stood and bowed in reverence of their God. His eyes did not look anywhere but at his throne and he took a moment to turn and look at his pride- his durbar; with a sigh he sat on his kingship. As the chants and cheers silenced gradually, Shahdutt ran to his master’s feet. He fell on his feet as he spoke, “Mercy O Great One, I beg your pardon for displeasing you”. His plea was advocated by the eldest son of Bhuswami himself. The father listened but with rage in eyes. Resting his chin on his left hand knuckles he looked at his son. “Yes Samrajyapati! What we all witnessed there was beyond anything we know. Those two inbred traitors would have perished with that little useless lady but it was again our own lineage that stood in the way. We could not do anything. That old unruly mongrel bombarded our innumerable Daityas with such ammunitions that we never heard of”. With an almost inaudible ‘hmmm’ Bhuswami let out a moan of despair. He looked below at his minister still holding his feet.

“Three dogs and a bitch cause so much damage to my million men led by the one whom I believed to be a born leader. Moreover, the damage was inflicted on the troop that was in custody of none but the heir to my throne”, Bhuswami looked straight into his son’s timid eyes that looked down in embarrassment. With a huge roar that unsettled the court he stood kicking away Shahdutt. He walked down the aisle and spreading his arms shouted, “Your failure to capture three petty creatures has tainted the fearfulness in my name. Damn you both. Shahdutt… you spend the rest of your life in prison. And son, in two days you get me that man who can replace this incompetent swine”. He rested a hand on his son’s shoulder as his son nodded and straightaway moved to fulfill the task.

“Hail Samrajyapatidev! Messenger to the Great One stands before you to deliver a message from the other corner of the globe”, Bhuswami’s messenger bowed before him. Bhuswami raising an eyebrow looked at him, “Who?” he blatantly asked.

“She calls herself a messenger from the God of Mountains. She is here with a tiny convoy but with a big pack of howling wolves. I told her she cannot make an entry with the wolves but she does not understand”, the messenger replied. Bhuswami thought. The woman was there to deliver message of a God. He should meet her. He walked out of the durbar and found her standing outside the main door of the palace. Bhedini knelt to her one knee and rose to speak. “Samrajyapati I stand here as a messenger of Lord Himavat”. Bhuswami did not answer and looked behind her at the wolves. They were silent but continued moving in slow circular trails. Incessant drools escaped their huge mouths. Their gigantic sizes were also contrasting from wolves generally seen.

“Where do you come from? Nobody knows a thing about Lord Himavat. He has been mentioned in certain age-old texts to reside in the snows and glaciers of the world. But nobody has ever affirmed him to exist”. Bhuswami’s words were insolent.

“Apologies for what you hear now but your failure to see something does not mean that it does not exist”, Bhedini was as fearless as ever. But for Bhuswami and his men it was an insult. He looked at her, his eyes motionless and stood folding his arms. His men however rushed at her with long spears in hands but halted when their master raised his arm.

“Tell me more”, he said calmly.

“We dwell in a place far away from here that shivers in cold. We are bestowed with the guidance and knowledge of Lord Himavat himself. He is no man neither myth, he is a God….”, before could she end her words, Bhuswami retorted, “Lady, this is the worst hour to test my patience. Be specific. What do you seek?”

“The Lord has professed there is an impending war upon you. That war would annihilate your entire clan and end your legacy in the silent and lost pages of history. But the lord is generous. He has offered to aid you, provide you with his powers and energy and all that he seeks in exchange is that masses know him, learn about his generosity and shower gratitude upon him. He is a good and powerful Deva and people now need to know it”, Bhedini ended her terms in a breath.

Bhuswami listened to her, cautiously. He thought of having a God in his favor. A God standing by him ensures his power to grow manifold. He was further proud of the fact that a God had offered him a proposal of power balance. It was not he who went with a begging bowl to the God, rather the God had come to him. He deliberated it would be foolish to sway away the offer; yet he wished to be sure.

“How could he possibly help me? I do not doubt but cannot withhold my curiosity”.

Bhedini smiled and put one of her hand into her pockets, taking out a small shining piece of gem, blue in hue. She threw it up in the sky; the gem took a high flight and disappeared in the strong rays of sun. Moments later, a huge bang was heard overhead and smoke like fog covered everything that could be seen. As with some time the smokes subsided and the skies cleared Bhuswami saw all of his men around him senseless. “Do not worry. In some time, they would regain their conscience. I did not use the power for you else you too would have been somewhat impacted even if not knocked unconscious”. Bhuswami found the biggest alliance he would require and a pleasing smile surfaced on his face.

It was several days and nights, Tejas and Ashok had submerged them exclusively in self-introspection. They had activated the complete power of every sense. They could see, hear and feel everything that was in offer and yet they could at the same time simply concentrate on a sole entity. They knew it was many days and several nights before they had even opened their eyes but neither felt it to be a long wait. They were still riveted in their contemplation when from far away hundreds of arrows were hurled at them. The arrows soared through the open air above and deflected down almost reaching them; there was no time left. But in an uncanny attempt, like a flash both the warriors raising their hands caught hold of the arrows that were spot on them. They took hold of some arrows in their hands and threw them away and only moments later opened their eyes simultaneously. They saw their master standing tall in front, with a feeble smile illustrating his pleasure on their rapid learning. The next stage of their training was distinctive for both. Ashok who already could invoke and wield divine weapons from his Garuda did not need to learn like Tejas the spells and specifications to invoke divine weapons. Ashok was rather asked to wear and tear his body and muscles. He ran without halts with weight attached to his frame. He climbed hills without support but with a huge sack filled with median rocks to the brink. The moment he descended, he then spent long time topless in the freezing chill of the streams. Those extreme conditions made his body harsher and his mind resilient. And meanwhile Tejas with utter courtesy and commitment learnt the spells. However, merely learning the spells were inadequate, the strength to employ it was more important and to ensure that Shastraraj had a simple two-fold strategy. He made Tejas stand in the middle of the large open tract. From the other end he threw large logs at him, one after another in huge rapid succession. With Shastraraj’s force the logs reached Tejas in extreme pace and he had to hold them one after another. He started with failures many-a-times but his perseverance was second to none. Following the second plan, Shastraraj burdened Tejas with incessant arrows and at the same time he was asked to invoke the divine weapons on a bow. There too he started with failures but he was undeterred.

At one end two warriors were prepping up to lead the world in a revolutionary war against tyranny and prejudice and in the other end Bhuswami and his clan had decided not to devastate the region of Kailasha in respect for Lord Shiva but were ever vigilant and ready for any sort of war.

It was after many months that Tejas and Navya were spending some lone time in each other’s company. They had their moments of embraces in love, resting head on each other’s laps and some kisses of passion in the gone by days.

“So how do I tell them? I mean what should I say and most importantly, how do I start?” Tejas was perturbed on Navya’s suggestion to confess in front of Ashok and their Guru about them being together in love. Tejas had no reservation in making the confession but he failed to construct how he would start the conversation.

“It won’t be difficult. Just let us reach them when they are together and we will make it just like an announcement seeking their blessings upon our love”, she replied with a smile. Her smile for him was the assurance of things being always good ahead. The sun was setting above. Its charm reached the two love birds. The moment was sweet and cheerful. Lost in each other’s eyes in the comfort of lovers’ arms, they saw another way in which nature unveiled its magic in that region. They were occupied in swooning over each other. In their lives where they had no space for love all these years; gradually both had learnt to enjoy the essence of being in love. As much as they knew they had to act to bring a new world order; they also found it important to spend time in each other’s solace. The naive love birds had understood love in its truest form. WHEN IT IS LOVE, IT DOES NOT WEAKEN ONE NOR DOES IT SET RESERVATIONS. IT EMANCIPATES ONE FROM SELF-DOUBT AND TRIVIAL ISSUES THAT HOLDS ONE BACK. ONE’S STRENGTH IS INDUCED INTO THE OTHER, DELIMITTING THE WEAKNESS.

“So, early morning tomorrow, when you three meet I too would accompany you. Let us share our happiness with them then”, Navya made the conclusion with a little peck on his lips.

The next bright morning as they had thought they reached Ashok and Shastraraj. It was Navya who started the topic and Tejas caught hold too. With a bit of awkwardness Tejas did tell that he had grown to love her and wish to be with her for life and beyond as partners for eternity.

Shastraraj was particularly happy with the revelation. He knew they two bound together in the holy alliance of matrimony would not only help each other but also make them accomplish more effectually in the war. He knew that it would be an added incentive for both to win the war for the world so that in the new world order they could live together in peace and harmony. Ashok too was happy for his younger brother-like- friend but his own demons of the not-so-long-ago past resurfaced. He missed his dead lover more and the fact that he could not even have a single significant memory of their times together broke him further. Nevertheless he was above trivial emotional issues. He smiled true from his heart and blessed them together to be a force to reckon with. It seemed as if the better and brighter chronicles were shaping for the world but not utterly unless there was a comprehensive end to Bhuswami and the deeds he advocated. However, that dream still was too far from realization.

The pact of Bhuswami with Lord Himavat swung into action. There were decrees propelled to the subjects of every realm on earth that Brahmins would no longer preach and sing praises in name of other Gods but Himavat. The reason for that was it was only Lord Himavat who had a connection with the mortal ones on earth by being a part of the same world. Lord Himavat did not require the prestige of residing in Swargalok and he therefore was the only people’s God in true sense. People were left puzzled mostly at the decree, the Brahmans vehemently disagreed to demean other Gods and only worship and preach Lord Himavat. Many revolted and denied to follow the decree. The fear of the whips and nooses of Bhuswami could not rise above the reverence people had for their Gods. But that was not the end as on the overlord’s order the soldiers resorted to use of violence. They had imprisoned any Brahmin who denied complying by the decree. All of them were brought to one place and taken to a large hill top in the middle region of the subcontinent to be executed for the world to see. As such infectious situation developed in the outer world, Tejas and Ashok by then had amplified their potential manifold.

They were both ready for the concluding stage of their training but before that, they had to contest against each other in a trial. The two stood opposite to each other many feet apart. Navya was there as a spectator. Shastraraj was the referee. He announced, “You can use any weapon that you can muster up. There is no restraint. Make use of all your knowledge. One of you will win this test and one will have to retreat”. The word retreat left others dumbfounded. Shastraraj sensed it and explained. “Now is the time. Bhuswami has started accumulating his forces and allies. It’s urgent that one of you now leave this place to ensure another important deed. We must meet the pious and powerful Mahat Raja and with his assistance convince the coming together of ten rulers in our favor to raise our own army.

I have already selected the nine states that would have interest in being on our side. So one of you must embark on the new journey and one must gain advanced tutorials. Therefore, I have decided one stays here and the other leaves”. His words had a strong reason. They both understood the rationale and were ready for the test.

Ashok was in his heart determined to stay and learn the advanced program while Tejas desired to implement all of his learning in the test. But both wished to please their master. The test was set to begin as both took out their bows and arrows. It was Ashok who first launched a series of arrows in quick fire. Tejas retorted by firing his own. The arrows collided and meet the soil. Next it was the mystic arrows. Showers of arrows concurrently came down at Tejas who built a vertical wall of innumerable arrows that took the blows. Ashok shot Agneyastra and Parvatastra as well. The fire blazes were countered and sent back towards Ashok with the force of wind conjured by Vayuastra and the blocks of rocks that reached Tejas were refuted with a thousands of arrows that in no time rammed to break the rocks into tiny fragments. Tejas simply ducked from the pieces falling on him. The battle had intensified. Both held their grounds strong and it was Tejas next who volleyed an arrow in the sky to bring down a force of lighting at Ashok. Ashok who had his Vajragada nearby hurled it furiously at the incoming attack. The mace was powerful enough to stop the lighting in the midway and sparks of cosmic energy scattered across places. The mace was a destructively potent weapon framed with the energy of Devaraj Indra. Ashok after his resurrection at Kailasha had gained the weapon as a blessing of the God. Suddenly Ashok realized he had to end the contest. He found it silly to continue an indecisive test. He wanted to end it and thought of the mother of all weapons- the Brahmastra. But at the same time he knew it might kill Tejas and surely it would destroy the entire tract. He recalled Shastraraj’s words that allowed them to use any weapon without restriction and deciphered that any big loss to occur would be somehow prevented by Shastraraj. He looked straight into the eyes of the master and stared intensely. Seeing no reaction from the master he moved his lips in a deliberate manner reflecting the words BRAHMASTRA. He took an arrow on his bow and started congregating the weapon.

Tejas waited and looked at his brother attentively. The movement of his lips was the invoking spells for Brahmastra. The realization left him shell-shocked. He looked at his Guru who still stood calm and then at Navya who probably was tensed as him on what Ashok was doing. Tejas was in a dilemma. Only a Brahmastra or the few weapons beyond it could counter a Brahmastra. But that encounter would mean devastation of the region and much more. He breathed heavily and felt at loss. What should he do? What could he do? Should he accept the loss and bow down before the weapon of mass destruction was shot?

But that would mean lying to his Guru and the knowledge he had gained. He convinced himself of another way and took an arrow. He looked at Ashok who was merely a rare few fractions of time away from ushering the weapon. He took an accurate aim and shot an arrow that in the blink of eye reached Ashok’s feet. The arrow penetrated deep into the soil where Ashok stood and the ground trembled. The trembling was sufficient to shake off Ashok and the Brahmastra was failed to be invoked. That was an opening where Tejas shot another arrow which hit Ashok’s Garuda and the bow feel from his hands. Tejas had won the test. Ashok looked at Tejas in bewilderment. His strategy was simple yet the best one. It pleased Ashok, Navya and Shastraraj as well. The bottom-line was clear: Ashok had to gather an army while Tejas had to spend more time working out.

Ashok left the next day from Kailasha through a route that none knew existed but Shastraraj. He was explained about the allies he had to make and the leverages he could use for the same. Bidding goodbye the two friends hugged promising to meet soon. As Ashok made his way out, Shastraraj introduced Tejas to his advanced programs. The advanced programs included consistent practice of several war situations. He had to wade off tons of arrows incoming from every direction with a certain weapon of choice: be it a sword, an axe or a spear. He also had to run and dodge unending arrows and discs tossed at him. His concentration was tested sharply when he walked on a single rope tied to two trees and had to counter arrows flying at him from short distances. The last stage was certainly prone to wounds and many botches. It was difficult and needed ample time but the result that would engender was worth it. Preparations however were not only carried out by one side. First Bhuswami gained the support of Lord Himavat and he also had sent words to the empires across the various landmasses and the entire Daitya army with their vassals made their troops ready for war. His eldest son also had found a very able person among the nobles of Samridhpur. The name was- Viswavira, a learned Pandit who served as the counsel-general to the seven states of Daboka Federation. In other words, that region was controlled and governed by him. It was a gift that was conferred on him by Bhuswami, twenty years ago.

(MANY YEARS BEFORE)The entire world was directly or indirectly under the aegis of the Daityas. But there was one region that had escaped the capture of control. It was the seven states of Daboka Federation. The Federation came into existence when seven neighboring states came together to become a one strong entity. Rising above petty differences like linguistic alterations, community variations and religious sections they merged to become one geographical power. They were also geologically blessed as there were three great rivers that generated in the region with countless tributaries. Further, the only connectivity of the region with the rest of the world was a tiny narrow corridor that provided an entry to the region of Daboka. That narrow alley like pathway was sealed with rocks and logs and on elevated structures many archers stood firm to prevent any sort of intrusion. Being an acutely narrow strip of land, huge number of forces could never together storm inside. The seven states also only had trade and commerce associations among themselves. It ensured their liberty from Daitya-raj and made them self-sufficient.

The inability to annex Daboka under its realm infuriated Bhuswami aggressively. He sent many mutually beneficial proposals to the region but there was no reverting answer. He threatened them with consequences of total annihilation but still the region did not fudge. There were arbitrary attempts that sent assembled Daitya soldiers with all possible weapons to wipe out the entire region but no troop could penetrate inside. The sentinels guarding the region and the narrow corridor basked the invaders in torched flames. With time passing by the seizure of the kingdom was a forgotten matter for Bhuswami as he found tremendous success everywhere else. But there was one single man who saw an opportunity to seize the kingdom and gain a position of power and prestige in the court of Bhuswami. He was a shrewd Pandit who served as a head-priest in a temple of Samridhpur. Born into a family of priests he was well-versed with the knowledge of religious scriptures as well as in the subjects of logic and aptitude. His mind was cunning and he had the knack of finding solutions in the most direful circumstances. With all the gen that he had, his aspirations augmented and he desired to become a power house. With such intense desire and abiding appetite he dared to do the unthinkable. He waited unwearyingly long enough to have a sanctioned appointment to meet the overlord. It took him two years to have a moment’s time with Bhuswami. But all he needed was only that couple of moments. He told that he could win the entire region of Daboka for Bhuswami.

The claim caught Bhuswami’s interest for everyone far and wide knew it well if someone fails Bhuswami the only chastisement meted out is brutal, gruesome death. Bhuswami granted him a single opportunity and he cashed in it. He was given a troop of twenty thousand soldiers consisting both men and Daityas along with fifty-five large ships. The army travelled in the ships through the waters and reached the end borders of Pub Bangopdesh, the nearest neighbor of Daboka. From there, if they had to enter inside Daboka the only way still reaching through the narrow corridor. But the Pandit ordered the army to be on the ships and just keep sailing in the waters. The news of the approaching army reached the monarch of Daboka, Gadraj. He immediately increased vigilance in the corridor pathway to block any sort of invasion. However, that was exactly what Viswavira sought. As every attention was fixed at the waters on which the ships anchored, Viswavira sent quick words to his younger brother.

The younger brother diverted a huge fleet of ships through the smaller countries of Rangoon, Bupma and Saransh that also traded with Daboka and were under its protection. Through the waters of those tiny countries, the naval fleet commanded by the younger brother could touch the waters of the rivers that flowed through Daboka. Those large hundred ships actually were filled with very less manpower but with drums of a chemical which was venomous and soluble in liquid. Tons of the chemical was then thrown in the waters. The chemical contaminated the waters that spread across entire Daboka region. The consequence was epidemically catastrophic. The entire waters of Daboka were polluted. The region was left to thirst as the fleet returned. Taking advantage of the crisis and chaos, Viswavira with his army broke through the defenses of the narrow corridor. The Federation was not in a state of fighting back and they had to surrender so that they could get waters from Bhuswami controlled territories. The victory of Bhuswami was ensured finally by Viswavira and a pleased master granted him the status of Counsel-General of Daboka.