My retreat with Andrea ended, and I returned to the camp alone just in time for supper, for she had left my company, saying she had to be somewhere. The birds took flight, and the queen of the night bloomed with the arrival of stars, setting the perfect stage for storytelling.

When the tribe invites people, such as Mihai and me, they grant us the privilege of requesting a story, and when we do, they gladly oblige. From the early days of childhood, I have shared a passion for stories, as I have for music. Maybe it's the shared trait of escapism that entranced me, or perhaps it is their piercing nature that drowns out the rafters of reality, taking me to a world of dreams and wonder, flooding my mind with tales of yore that instill great patience to endure the harrowing tyrannies of life.

I took a bowl of stew and with all the others gathered in front of a makeshift stage. It was helmed by an aged man with wise eyes who walked with the gait of a haughty youngster.

"I want the younglings to be quiet. I don't want you little pissachas to ruin our tribe's reputation. Now, I will tell you three stories today, So, what would you brats like to hear ?"

The children like wild hungry pups loudly proclaimed the requests all at once.

"Tell me the story of Madhavan and bull demon,"

"I want to know how Svayambhu came to be."

"No, I wanna know 'bout Tarangini, the serpent rider, and, oh, oh, the ride of Napumsakas!"

"I want know about the fall of yavanas!"

The babble died down when the old man clapped his hands. "Instead of three, how about I tell it as one, yes I will tell you about our tribe, the birth of our gods and of Tarangini the serpent rider."

****

First, before stars twinkled in a plane of tar, before trees sighed in autumn days, before the world was shrouded in emerald and sapphire, before there was anything, there was emptiness.

Then came a golden egg from the end of all yugas - all ages, to kick start a beginning. When that egg hatched, the cold blackness tasted the warmth of creation, and it burned—oh, almighty, it burned, for the universe, at its inception, had no consciousness or will to act on its own until a song from a realm that was beyond the blackness we live gave it the primal desire to procreate.

And thus came Svayambhu, the first of the divines, not a man or woman, born with command over the jiva - the essence of creation.

Upon their birth, they sensed an entity within: a malevolent force with an intent to corrupt and ruin— a contrarian with wanton desire to bury the other half and bring discord to the symphony.

Fearing its nature Svayambhu banished it to a prison beyond our perception and and soon after, took the role of an architect and created their own realm.

Then came a long silence—an emptiness, a stillness restrained by Svayambhau's tolerance for intolerable loneliness. The silence only ceased eons later, when every moment ached, and the hollowness within begged time to loosen its grip and not shield the vision of those of a distant future, dim, for they are yet to be born; warm, for they anticipate their birth and the chance to be worshipped.

In the sands of Jivanasamudratira, time eased its grip, as tears of svayambhu begat innumerable offspring who would shower their maker with love and devotion. Thus, there, came an end to the hollowness and a millennium had passed.

Once more, the maker grew tired, of the humdrum of hymns sung in their praise. They asked their children to tread on a path unexplored and they did as they were told, spending centuries upon centuries finding a way to please their parent.

One of them, called Vishwakarma, created a lotus flower and gifted it to their maker. Upon receiving it, the maker remembered a portion of the song sung at the birth of creation. Tears were shed and the lilies bloomed.

Why couldn't he remember, you may wonder. You see, Svayambhu might be our maker, but he too knelt before a figure much more powerful, who clearly had the power to send only certain instructions. Who this person is, only the end of this yuga can reveal.

Anyhow, back to the story. Svayambhu plucked three petals of gifted lotus to create three realms: Prithvi, Svarga, and Dyau. They populated Prithvi with seas and trees to hold a race born with immortality and limited wisdom. These beings were called Napumsakas, and upon their birth, the maker was delighted and praised Manu, one of his children, for creating them.

Svayambhu plucked lilies grown from their tears, and with the silky strands of their silver hair, they knitted a garland to festoon the coat of ink, forever claiming the hearts of poets and singers for ages to come. They created Savitar, the sun deity, to reign over the stars and give light to the earth, which would be looked after by the nature gods.

For thousands of years, Svayambhu and their children watched as the Napumsakas progressed. Observing them loving each other in an intangible way led them to the conclusion that it had indeed fostered inadequacy.

Savitr, the sun deity, deeply saddened by the decline of the Napumsakas, sang a song from a distant memory. Manu interpreted the song and dissected aspects of the Napumsakas, creating human males—smart, capable, volatile poets of chaos, stripped of immortality. Their songs lacked harmony, and their actions dictated moments that demanded words.

Accompanying human creation, celestial beings known as kinnaras were made with the purpose of imparting education. However, the kinnaras could not tolerate the volatile nature of humanity, so they journeyed far away to the mountains.

Displeased by mankind, Svayambhu decided to rectify the errors through genocide until a word of advice from Savitr changed their mind. Svayambhu traced back to the beginnings of human creation and adviced manu to repeat the process but this time adding the aspects of rationality and sensitivity. That was how women were born. Fair as the stars in night, patient as the wind, yet not without folly, for their songs had capacity to deviate much like men themselves.

For this giftl gods asked men to give up a privilege to women who, in exchange, would bring sense, sensibility, and love that is both tangible and intangible into their lives. Men gave up colors, jewels, and the magic to create themselves from clay and their maker was satisfied. Soon, other races of mankind, who came in many colors and sizes, were brought into existence, and gods, too, split themselves into two halves to be exemplary to mortals.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Soon, mankind changed; singers became few, poets even fewer, becoming deaf to pearls of wisdom. The divines were angered and wanted to end such an imperfect and destructive species, but Svayambhu wanted mankind to be free enough to make their mistakes and learn from them, so Svayambhu quelled their children's anger

With the passage of time and the descent of mankind into evil, the realm of hell had to be used. Those who redeemed themselves in the fires of hell were chosen as narakasevakh, the servants of lord yama. Similarly those who lived a good life in mortal world were be sent to heaven to be ascended as apsaras and gandarvas in lord Devaraj's court.

These two and several others gods who all guided the mankind were governed by Devadhipa, the king of gods appointed by Svayambhu to create a rigid hierarchy among the gods that reflect the societal order of men.

Now, men weren't the only mortals; Bairava, the destroyer, made Vanaras, while Manu, the maker, created Beastmen, and Vaishnavi, the preserver, created Nagas who worshipped her son, Ananta. The nagas were powerful and superior beings compared to the human beings and had despised them.

What caused such dreadful enmity was lost in time. Some claim an act of mariticide—a human male killing his Nagin bride—to gain the mythical nagamani stone that would bring fortune and fame. Alternatively, it is also said that a serpent male took the form of a man to bed a human woman, prompting her to protect her dignity by killing him.

Regardless of the reason, one could surely claim that the conflict and bloodshed reached immoderate proportions and needed to be stopped.

The three main divines Bhairava, Manu, Vaishnavi poured their potential into the sands of life and used clarified butter to mold it into a miraculous baby girl. That girl was the first avatar who has to answer the cries of wavering tranquility that held on, even as conflict sought to pry it open, to squeeze its heart and imbue it with pandemonium.

The baby girl was born in a tribe of travelling merchants, who named her tarangini. She grew up well-versed in arts of music and poems and by the age of fifteen became a talented young woman both blessed and cursed with tongue soused in charm that consequently gotten her in trouble and occasionally in the service of the rich and powerful.

While she was indeed a celebrated beauty, with her skin washed in marble and her head crowned with long, slender curls reminiscent of a spider lily, she wasn't known for being a likable person to grumpy adults. For she had reputation of being frowsy and rakish, often finding herself in boudoirs which greatly angered fathers and husbands who, to stay clear of shame, kept their mouths shut and licked their bloodied pride.

For a woman so divinely bestowed, she surely elicited frowns from the pious and sanctified, which meant that no one, not even she, could suspect her destiny as the child of gods.

However a youngster can only indulge in casual pursuits for a finite period of time before the juncture arrives where they must shoulder responsibility. And it came to her, like all the avatars that come after her, in tragedy.

While the nagas and human kingdoms waged war against each other, Bhumi a naga tired of bloodshed and enmity assumed a persona of a mortal woman and lived an unassuming life as a huntress in deep inside the pranavanam forest.

On one of her hunts, she encountered a young woman who had survived a bandit attack. Despite their polar opposite personalities and appearances, they fell in love and embarked on a journey together, traveling from place to place. As the wind gently caressed their hair, it painted a picture of twirling embers and smoke.

Despite their desire to escape the war, it reached every corner to torch every bit of mirth on fire. One night, as they slept, a villain slipped a knife into Bhumi's heart. The villain cried in anguish as vengeful Tarangini scarred its eye and revealed a pitiful man, who recognized the villain in bhumi who took his mother's life.

The tragedy triggered a malefic melody that quickly enveloped her, casting a shadow over her every thought. However, amidst the darkness, she found solace in the parting words from her lover. These words set her on a path to seek wisdom from immortal sages, who were savants of knowledge and warfare.

Since her birth, they awaited her arrival eagerly. When she finally came, they cultivated her body and mind into a maven of their creed, and sent her forth to end all conflict. With her help the mankind had an even ground. With her skills, she invented the way of water, a dance that laid the foundation to the arts of a mantravid.

In the river of visramah, where the venomous currents had not only ensnared the lives of mortals but also the unsuspecting souls of innocent beasts, the last battle was fought.

"Nagaagnirajan, you stand there defiling the waters that feed the lives of every being in creation. Did you think there would be no consequences for your actions? You have devastated the balance of this world, and now you shall pay the price."

Tarangini jumped into the river, and the great king ensnared her in his coil, but it was a minor victory, for she had used her power to turn water into a weapon. She battered the king with mighty water blows, and once freed from his grip, climbed on top of him and danced. The water followed the rhythm and delivered swift blows to the mighty serpent, eventually defeating him. The serpent started vomiting blood and was about to die until the avatar remembered the parting words of her lover.

'The very night prior, I was visited by a dream wherein you, my love, emerged as the child of trinity, the savior of our world. When you undertake this task, I beg you to spare my father, for there yet resides goodness within his soul.'

Hearing what his daughter went through the king broke down and surrendered, promising to end the war, and begged the avatar to accept him as her humble servant. From that moment on, Tarangi was known as the Serpent Rider. And till her death, she taught the way of water to all the races, so they could use it to defend the defenseless.

****

We showered the old man with applause and he took a graceful bow expressing his gratitude.

“She's exactly like me. Except for the part where she became a hero. That's too boring for me, ” Mihai said.

I ignored and him and got up. The crowd scattered, and I turned to find myself confronted by my displeased master.

Her expression, more piercing than thorns, struck a chord of discomfort within me. She gestured me to follow her and I did, leaving mihai to flirt with a woman much older than him.

"We were supposed to leave before nightfall!" I cringed at the sharpness of her voice and meekly replied, "I got carried away....its just I never had such freedom"

She softened at that and turned her head from one side to the other to ensure that we were alone. "What if I tell you that this life could be permanent?"

I stared at her with disbelief. It took me a moment to process what she said, "How can it be possible?" I asked.

"I have my means. If you agree to my offer, you will leave your family forever, but with the winnings you've acquired, they can live carefree."

I was at loss of words as she went on. "You will work for an organization called order of the nine."

"Order of the Nine?"

"I can't tell much about them except for this: if anyone's going to help people like you, it's them. "

I let my mind wander to the moment we met. "Did you train me for this? To recruit me?"

"I trained you because you are talented, because you needed someone to guide you."

She cupped her hands around my face. "I did not mean to deceive you. If you don't want to take my offer, I wouldn't mind. But if you do, I will teach you everything I know, and you can be everything you ever wanted. Imagine how wonderful would that be,"

I blushed a deeper red and averted her eyes. The offer was tempting and I did not have to think much, but that realization deeply saddens me, for how easily I was willing to abandon my family.

I took a deep breath and said. "If it means I can have my dream then I accept your offer."

"You do?"

"Yes, but I need an answer to a question."

"Sure."

"Isemene and her brother, they are part of this too, aren't they?"