Nayok tried to talk but couldn’t. There wasn’t enough air in his chest to form words with. It was only after hyperventilating for a bit that he remembered again that he probably didn’t need to breathe anymore. Finally, he was able to speak if a little more hoarsely than before. He pressed his hands together and bowed “Namaskar, Lord Seshnag. Respectful greetings to you.”

The titan chuckled “You’re very respectful suddenly, little one. However, I am not one to stand on ceremony, so you need not guard your tongue. I have heard your name and now you know mine. We have a while to wait yet and I imagine you have questions.”

“Thank you, Lord Seshnag. I pretty sure I am, but can you tell me if I am dead?”

Seshnag sighed, “Yes and no.”

“What does that mean? And what is this place?” asked Nayok, then added, “Lord Seshnag sir.”

“I mean what I say – that your body has died, and your soul has left it. And yet the connection between the two is not yet completely severed. To answer your second question: this is my realm which I made from the remains of a reality I had consumed eons ago as I ended it. I used some of the crumbs left over to create this place, a bit of a quiet spot for my own use. The laws of other worlds, temporal, physical or any other do not apply here. Nothing matters but my own will. Which is why you are not all the way dead yet, by the definition of your world. The connection between your body and soul is temporarily held together by my will.”

“So…so…you can put me back? I want to go home to my mother”

“Well yes, I can. But…you need to do something for me as well.”

He was supposed to do something for this God? To his young mind, there was nothing that could be asked of him could compare in value to returning to the safety of his parents. “Anything, Lord Seshnag. Anything.”

“Don’t just agree without hearing me out.” If a thousand headed snake bigger than a world could look mortified, Seshnag did at this moment, “You have no idea what a being like me could do with an unconditional agreement like that. Though I suppose you really don’t have any better choices right now. Damn you Rudra! Why did you have to make it a youngling? An adult would have been bad enough, I really hate taking advantage of a child like this!”

“It’s all right Lord Seshnag, you’re a nice person. I know you won’t harm me. I mean I know I am young, but even I can tell you wouldn’t need to ask me if you wanted to hurt me”

“Hmph, I do appreciate the vote of trust. All right then, look down first”

Nayok looked down, and almost immediately tried to throw up from the vertigo. He seemed to be standing over a clear aperture in a floor of dark clouds, an aperture which looked directly onto the forest clearing where the ritual was taking place. He could tell, because he could also see Sisupal standing next to Nayok’s own corpse, hand holding the giant dagger which was sunk into Nayok’s chest. As he looked more closely at the scene, he quickly realized that Sisupal was just standing there, holding on to the knife. In fact, he wasn’t moving a muscle. Neither was Malini, the only other person in the clearing. Not a blade of grass was stirring nor a leaf moving in the wind. The clearing itself seemed to have been isolated from the rest of the world. All that could be seen at the edges were dark clouds, same as whatever he was standing on. The only one moving in this entire scene was, surprisingly, the vagabond who had been tied up earlier. He was muttering, apparently to himself while moving around the ritual circle. Suddenly he looked up, straight at Nayok.

“Hey kid, everything all right up there?”

Nayok was too flabbergasted to respond. A giant snake god was bad enough, now people were frozen in place and the man he had thought was a beggar was somehow in on whatever was going on. His brain just stopped trying to make sense of it all and he responded automatically “I am doing well. Much better than I thought when I was down there. Hope you weren’t hurt from earlier.”

“Nothing worth mentioning. Actually, seeing as how this isn’t really a flesh and blood body there isn’t much these twerps could do to hurt me.”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“OK, not a real body, sure. Umm, why is everything apart from you frozen?”

“That is courtesy of the big snake up there in the sky with you. You should probably ask him.”

Nayok looked up at Seshnag and wondered aloud “You can stop time or something? That is amazing!”

“Not everywhere. The ritual circle connected that place with this realm, enough for my power to be effective in that circle as well. My power in your world translates into the bending of time or space, which is actually the same thing.” the Snake God replied. Then he noticed Nayok’s desperate attempt to act like he understood “I might as well be speaking in Sanskrit right now, isn’t it? All in good time, I suppose.”

“Why can he move then?” Nayok asked, pointing down at Rudra.

The response came from the man below “Well, I am an End as well, so my abilities are of a similar nature as our esteemed serpentine friend. Only I am an End of this Universe so my abilities while more pronounced in this reality are also much more easily detected when they are employed. Hence why I am asking for external assistance. With me so far?”

“Sorry sir, but not at all. All I understood is that you are another God. Another nice one, I think.”

Then Seshnag interjected in the voice thunder from before, “Rudra you idiot, this is no time for small talk! If my focus lapses for a second there’ll be a giant black hole in your world. You can then enjoy explaining to Narayana and the rest why you invited an End from Outside into your universe.”

Rudra, who did not look like as much of a beggar anymore, smiled and asked, “Is it done, he agreed?”

“He is a child making an agreement with a being older than the universe he was born in. Yes, he agreed. By the way, I swear to you Rudra if this all goes south for the kid, I am going to find out just how indestructible you and your blue hide are.”

“All right then,” Rudra’s smile grew “time for you to come back Nayok and bring your esteemed friend with you. Join with him, Adi, and hand his soul over to me. I will bind his soul with his body again.”

“What’s going to happen?” Nayok asked, a little hope and a little trepidation growing in his heart.

Seshnag replied, “You’re going to go home, like I said you would. But this next bit is probably going to feel more than a little uncomfortable. Prepare yourself.” Nayok swallowed and thought of taking a deep breath, then remembered that he didn’t need to breathe. A giant snake head then came down and touched him lightly on his forehead.

The next instant, he felt pain. At first, he was sure he was going to pass out. Something was within him, something that burned and froze at the same time. He wanted to scream in agony but couldn’t draw the breath to do it at first. Even as he started to gibber in shock, he felt the agony localizing into seven spots on his body. First, it started at the base of his spine of his spine. Then his groin lit up in fire, then his navel, his heart, his throat, his forehead, and the crown of his head. As it was concentrated in place the intensity of the pain increased as well. The seven spots emitted what felt like waves of fire coursing through every bit of tissue in his body. It seemed to go on for an eternity. Just as Nayok felt that he must surely to succumb to whatever was wrong with him, the agony ended. A wave of cool relief moved through his body, moving outwards from the seven spots where the pain had centered before. Gradually, his vision started to return, and he realized that he must have passed out at some point. Even as he thought of standing up, he was wrapped up in a loose grip by something and lifted up into the air.

“Nayok, all right there, kid? I know that was pretty harsh. But it is part of the condition for going home.” He was being held loosely in a coil of the Snake God’s body. He wondered idly how that enormous body could coil around him, then gave up the thought. Seshnag sounded quite apologetic and said in a soft whisper “Hang in there, young warrior. This next part is going to be slightly less unpleasant. If it is any consolation, it is going to be very quick, and I’ll be sharing this next bit with you.”

Suddenly, he was being squeezed from all sides. An enormous pressure was being exerted on his skin, seemingly from all directions. He felt like his body was being squeezed into a too tight jar and even as he thought about screaming, it was all over. He opened his eyes, and he was back in the forest clearing.

He was lying on the altar again, but there was no dagger sticking out of his chest. The giant Sisupal was slumped next to the altar with the dagger lying next to him, still stained with blood. Nayok started to sit up, and before he realized what was happening the pressure from his hands had shattered the stone altar beneath him. He flailed wildly trying to balance himself as he fell, then stopped as he didn’t. He realized that he was, in fact, floating in the air.

“Huh, haven’t seen that in a long time. Flap your arms like a like a particularly stupid chicken again, that was quite funny.”

The voice cause Nayok to spin around in a flash, somehow perfectly while in midair. Behind him he saw what he assumed was Rudra, the vagabond. But he didn’t look like a beggar anymore, in fact he looked like the archetype of a warrior god. The body which had seemed decrepit was now flush with muscles and the dreadlocks and beard which were filthy earlier now glowed with health. The animal skins were now clean and in one hand, he bore a trident. As he slowly walked forward, he pulled deeply on the joint he held in his other hand. Also, from head to toe, his skin was a quite vivid shade of blue.

“Hello there Nayok. My apologies for much of the suffering you have endured today. I am Rudra.”