We were watching the slaughter unfold below, right from the safety of our room through the French window. Witnessing the offensive and defensive formations, made me remember the stream of a popular game I had once watched, where you control characters with special abilities, and have a view of the field from above. When you got no system to play on, you gotta satisfy yourself by watching others play.
Among the demonic beasts, there were five prominent figures, two of them burning brightly with yellow, two with green and one with a sky blue Kundalini. At a glance they looked like humans but by now I've learnt that looks can be deceiving. The masses of Kundalini were arranged in a pentagram, standing at the tips of the five headed star. If you looked at it in a different way, you could also imagine a circle connecting all five of them. Their flames flared up as five streaks of colored meteorites corresponding to their energies cut through the sky, speeding towards the castle.
"Duck!!!!" Someone among us shouted as we braced ourselves lying flat across the floor. One of the Kundalini Missiles hit nearby, vibrating our room as if hit by a Richter scale 9 earthquake, causing the right wall along with the bathroom to blow up and scatter into our room. Bricks and gravel showered over us as Dweep put himself in between, hands protecting his nape, his body covered with a red Kundalini just like me, the symbol of humility and self awareness. Dweep made sure to block all the bigger pieces of the wall, protecting us from fatal dangers, with the body strengthening skill that comes with a Surakshak's status provided by Kalpa.
Kalpa was really stingy, giving us only the basic Recovery skill or Battery skill as a Vaidya, Shielding and Aggro skills for Surakshak, Pierce and Melee Astra proficiency as a Yoddha and finally Kundalini missiles and Ranged Astra proficiency for the Dhanurdhars as starters. The rest we have to learn ourselves according to our preferences from our Gurus or develop them through inspirations and level ups. I was very lucky to have Panna by my side, who gave me better skills and also hints to develop my own skills. I felt a little lonely as I sensed emptyness from the other side of our mental communication channel that we shared. Only in this silence did I realise how much I depended on her. My thoughts were interrupted as I saw what was once supposed to be our washroom, had turned into a cliff overlooking a chasm twenty meters wide, bodies and dismembered parts scattered across the debris. We went to the edge of what was once the right wall and looked down to find people stuck between the granite and bricks that had collapsed from above. There were people on the opposite side of the chasm, safe just like us, but with despairing faces, while kneeling down in mental anguish in the wake of these events. Our surroundings again reflected bright lights warning us of another bombardment. This time one of the missiles brought down our lower floors, tilting the ground we were standing upon in return. The beds and wardrobe slid along the slope of the floor and slammed against the French window sending cracks along its surface. We were now tilted at about 60 degrees.
"Let's jump through the gap in the right wall, try to land on floor just below towards the corridor." Saiyan suggested and jumped without waiting for our responses.
The four rooms to our right along the corridor outside had collapsed, but the corridor itself was standing, being accessible through our blown up right wall. I averted my eyes from all the victims lying broken far below and jumped down as Saiyan caught my hands and pulled me in. We repeated the setup for Anik and finally Dweep who required all three of us to pull himself up, missing the landing by a dozen of centimetres. I felt like my shoulder was getting dislocated trying to pull his healthy body up. The shattered glass strewn about on the floor reflected light from green meteorites again, as we ran away from the corridor, towards the opposite side of our room and the bombardment. Other Asuras of the Mahal were also fleeing in that direction. We came across a huge dining hall on the right, where the steaming hot food were littered on the tables and floors, possibly from the earthquake like tremors that shook the whole building. People were struggling to get up inside, slipping and staining themselves in the wine and curries that had spilled everywhere. Glasses and porcelain dishes worth so many Kubers were destroyed just like that. I shivered, remembering how my mother had scolded me once for carelessly shattering one of her prized porcelain dishes with blue flower patterns. I had made sure to take extra care when handling brittle things after that incident. Things like these often have a sentimental value that can't compare to the amount they were bought with.
"Bring out anything you can." I notified my teammates as we invaded the kitchen and dining. From juicy kebabs to pieces of chicken and mutton, I didn't care if they were on the table or on plates. I had eaten half cooked smelly wolf meat yesterday, this is totally heaven compared to that.
We packed up everything we could in containers that looked like tupperwares. Good job to whoever brought the technology here from Marta. It can also be the other way around, who knew?
"Let's go, go, go!!!" Anik shouted as went came out of the hall, ignoring surprised and confused stares, our mouths stuffed full like squirrels carrying nuts, with stacks of containers in our arms. It will take a while to digest, by then hopefully I'll gain 8 to 9 points.
"I'm having a bad feeling to be honest." Saiyan said suddenly. "We can go out and fight with the incoming invaders, or find the dimensional crack creation facilities. I've been thinking about what the Mahabali's daughter said. Her father is only allowed to return in Sutala for a single day every year in our Marta Lokas timeline. Many people celebrate Onam on that day. You can guess how many years it will take here, until a year passes in our Loka."
It was incredibly sad. But hearing those things made the gears in my brain turn. Most of the problems in a country arise from the absence of a King. Ambitious people will often set up plans to overthrow kingdoms like those.
"I think we should stay inside. Attacks like these often have inspiration and roots from within. This is technically a base for humans and Devatas right in the middle of Patala, the territory of Asuras. There must be many who are jealous of the wealth here, knowing that it was derived from the Devatas, and many who are angry at Mahabali for siding with the Gods from their perspective. The only way to take control of this capital is killing the heir, in absence of the King. These are classic political tactics. I've seen enough of them in movies." I explained.
"Yeah, that's must be why I was so unsettled. Things are making sense. A huge wall like that can only be brought down only if you keep at it for days on end." Saiyan upvoted.
"Did you guys forget? We don't have our weapons with us. Dhruva, you can sense where they are through your Tethers right?" Anik asked me as I nodded in return, concentrating to sense the end points of my Tethers.
"Shit!! They are already inside the heir's room!!" I shouted in urgency as we followed the way back to the first room we had entered in this Mahal.
"Do they want to kill the heir with our weapons and pit Mahabali against the Ashrama??" Anik asked, clearly distressed at the thought that the heir was in danger. Considering his reaction that time, he might already be crushing on her. Should I remind him that she's hundreds of years old?
Just as we reached the snake handled door, Anik didn't think about checking whether it was locked or not. Last time we went in without knocking, this time we broke in directly.
"Don't worry Princess!! We've come to save you from the traitors!!!" he announced making a power rangers like entrance.
But the scene inside dropped our jaws to the floor.
The heir was still alive and fine, holding one of the arrows that we made this morning, right over her chest, preparing to pierce herself with it. The worried faces of three guards and two priests as they stood ready with medicinal herbs and healing auras activated, warped right in front of us into surprised expressions, as they saw us standing at the entrance.
"Their presence has been recorded in this room, Princess. Proceed with what needs to be done." one of the priest shouted urgently.
"Yes!!!" The heir said as she slowly pierced her chest with the arrow, not deep enough to reach her ribcage, but just enough to leave a wound. Her three layered Kundalini protection unfortunately broke the Tether between me and the drill Earthworm in the arrow, causing it to go wild as it made its way into her body, towards the nearest beating organ, her heart.
Only four of us knew what was going to follow, leaving us pale and sweating where we stood.
Anik just killed his first crush with his own arrow or precisely, his crush committed suicide?
I couldn't suppress a snort at the turn of events.
"Keep laughing!!! You people from the Ashrama are fucked now!!! Now I just need to let my father know that you hurt me and he will sever all his bonds with the Upper Lokas!! He will finally have a reason to be an Asura King again, not the dog of Devatas! Finally he will return ho-." she stopped midway clutching her chest, kneeling down in pain.
"Heir!!" the priests started chanting healing mantras but she kept writhing on the ground in pain. By now her heart must be a mess full of holes, with no chance at staying alive.
"She's going to die!!" Anik shouted, "Bring the ingredients to activate Sanjeevani Mantra!!"
We might have managed calming down Mahabali if his daughter was only wounded. But as things stood now, there will be full blown war.
"Shut up puny Manav. Don't tell us Asuras what to do!" two of the guards shouted and rushed towards us. "We will just execute you right here and make things up later."
"There's no chance of reconciliation then, right?" I said, activating two arrows among the bunch that the third guard held. Two earthworms drilled themselves through his hands and travelled up like the parasitic worms in horror movies. He flayed his arms wildly for two seconds, and then started scratching off his skin and muscles trying to get hold of the worm that had invaded his body. Meanwhile Saiyan and Dweep intercepted the other two guards barehanded, one gracefully dodging and engaging, while the other slamming his shoulders directly into the Armor of the enemy.
"Take your weapons back, Anik!!" I commanded as he jumped into action.
I focused on the two healers who were engaged in trying to save their princess.
Do we try to solve this peacefully? Or just silence anybody who could be a threat to our current balance between the Ashrama and Mahabali?
The princess was already pale, blood dripping from the small hole on her chest, creating a pool of yellow liquid underneath.
"Can you guys revive her?" I asked trying to weigh my possibilities. "What do you require for the Sanjeevani Mantra?"
"We can save her in just a few minutes. We won't require the assistance of those disciples of Shukracharya." they said, adamant and confident of their abilities.
That means only the disciples of Shukracharya, the greatest guru of the Asuras, can revive people using the Sanjeevani Mantra. And the greatest Guru won't take a lot of disciples. They must be quite rare.
"That information's good enough." I said finishing my calculations, they didn't think a second time while trying to frame us. Why should we? Their actions will lead to so many of my seniors and batchmates losing lives again.
"The closest priests and guards of the heir, wanting to take over the capital for themselves during a time of chaos, were stopped by the courageous heroes of the Ashrama, but unfortunately failed to save her in time. What a sad story." I said standing behind the priests. "Bold of you to assume I don't have any attack skills just because I'm a Vaidya."
Just as they were turning around hearing those words, my hands turned into sharp wooden cones and pierced their heads, splattering yellow blood everywhere. Whatever color that was returning to the heir's face drained away, sealing her fate.
Watching the three dead bodies lying down in front of me, snapped me back to my senses, making me realise what a heinous thing I had done.
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Notifications started appearing in front of my vision in green letters. It was Panna's status. I wonder what she would say going through my memories. Was it a hasty decision? Will she start abhorring me because of what I have done? If we left any witnesses alive, they would surely make things up and incite Mahabali. Our seniors were already inexperienced. Finding themselves locked in another war with someone who had been a part of the Ashrama will be dangerous. Mahabali already knows everything about us... I kept finding excuses to fortify my decisions. I felt another Tether wanting to break away, as Anik had picked up his bow and arrows from the dead guard shooting the one engaged with Dweep. It had pierced right though the gap between the body Armor and helmet from behind. The earthworm made its way inside, completing its job.
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[Level Up]
Another Tether broke, soon after I heard the release of Anik's arrow, distracting the final guard as he struggled to pull out the worm that was still half sticking out of neck. But just long enough for Saiyan to pickup the sword of a fallen guard and decapitate him.
I activated Recovery coming close to Saiyan and Dweep healing their long wounds. Saiyan was bleeding from multiple points, while Dweep was missing two fingers from his left hand. It seemed they too had levelled up quite a bit after fighting one on one with the wolves. The people here were clearly underestimating us, leading them to their graves. Under normal circumstances it would have been impossible for us to kill even one of them. The confusion from the sudden death of their heir, the invisible earthworm attacks and their hasty movements to complete framing us as a side project and move on to the main responsibility of defending their capital led them to their downfall. Lord Vishnu's feet dust clearly worked.
But something was amiss. They clearly wanted us in the room when the heir was injured. Is there some kind of recording device in here?
We all stood there thinking about the consequences of our actions. Looking silently at each other's faces, we accepted the fact that we were certified murderers now. I kept thinking about more excuses, comparing Asuras to mindless beasts that are hell bent on destroying the humans of Marta Loka. But deep down I knew, they were living sentient beings, looking just like us, who happened to live in a different dimension. Who had their own goals and motivations for the sake of their own kind, with their actions clashing against ours, resulting in these dead bodies in front of us. What's done is done. Let's try to keep our future secure for now. We are done for if Mahabali ever comes to know what transpired here today.
"Pick up the two sections of the broken door and block this scene somehow." I told Saiyan and Dweep as they got to work without any questions.
"Dhruva, bring all the bodies in the same place. Let me do what I do best." Anik said, borrowing the sword of another guard. I started inspecting the room after doing what was asked for me, looking for any magical devices that can put us in danger. First I retrieved Saiyan's and Dweep's equipments from a room on the side. It was probably the resting quarters of the heir whose name we didn't even know, now that I thought about it.
The place had turned into a yellow bloody mess from Anik's psychopathic butchering, forcing me to keep looking away, concentrating on other things as I eventually removed the curtains covering a huge window behind the work desk. We were at one of the highest floors of the Mahal, the sight of Destruction spread out in all its glory below us. The pentagram was still there, their Kundalini cloaks were now like massive pillars reaching the sky. Will it work? I thought as I destroyed the window glass using the third guard's sword.
"Anik, don't leave clean cut marks in their bodies. Make it look like they exploded." I turned back from the window and asked him to try.
"I'll then have to tear them away with my hands. Don't make me do any more than this..." Anik pleaded making me look like the actual villain here.
"I'll try doing it." Saiyan sat down beside Anik and got to work.
I got some biscuits from the resting room and munched on them. Baked things went through a lot of preprocessing, eventually degrading the Prana of its source materials. I also ate the packed up food, which was left near the door as we got into the confrontation. I was surprised at the amount I was eating these days considering I was a picky eater. If my mother saw me right now, she would be proud that his scrawny son is finally getting some nutrition.
Finally my Prana reached 13 Points, but a nauseating feeling from having the food till my throat permeated my whole body.
"We're done. How much Prana have you regained?" Saiyan asked. "We used Dweep's shield to mash them up and scattered them around the room, making sure to put some of it inside their Armor too. Looting their things might make things difficult if someone recognises their items in the future."
"The steps were oddly specific." I said approving his attention to detail. "It's time for Anik to shine."
"Guess I'll have to attract the attention of the pentagram with Kundalini missiles... right?" he said in return. I wondered how he felt chopping up the bodies of our enemies. Should I even call them enemies? Shaking my head to get rid of the intrusive thoughts, I inspected him carefully.
"You okay?" I asked him trying to read his expression. His face was dark, and his eyes empty.
"I'll be okay after a while. Gotta lock these what-if excuses running wild in my head inside a mental prison. I keep wondering if there was no other...Let's leave it." he shook his head, wishing he had short term memory loss.
'Field of Protection.' I thought, activating the skill.
Anik tensed his bow, an arrow of Kundalini manifesting between his two hands. Carefully taking aim, he let go, one after another, like a barrage of missiles streaking across the sky. The meteorites looked huge, just enough to make this room a threat for the invaders. But in actuality, the Kundalini wasn't dense at all. It was just stretched like a balloon to maximise its volume.
The barrage of 12 to 14 low level inflated missiles crashed against whatever Kavach spell the humanoid Asuras were utilising. I felt incredible pressure as they turned their attention towards us, as if we were insignificant cockroaches, just here to annoying them.
We could see them aiming their bows towards us as their Kundalini pillars got thicker and denser. With the 'twang' sound of their bows, dozens of Kundalini missiles came hurtling towards us.
"Go!Go!Go!Go!" Saiyan shouted as we retreated from the heir's room. We ran as far away as we could, knowing the amount of missiles coming right now would destroy a huge area of the Mahal.
A tremendous force swept us off our feet, lifting us off the ground and throwing us against the opposite walls as the projectiles struck. Our eardrums burst as ringing sounds paralysed our brain. Turning around to see the aftermath of the impact, we were dumbfounded to find the blue skies through the dust and debris, instead of the lavishly decorated ceiling. The whole upper front part of the Mahal was utterly decimated.
"Who the hell are those guys? How are they soo powerful!!!!" Anik desperately complained.
Common Asuras didn't have divine Astras that are often blessed by the Gods. If their raw Kundalini was this powerful, why would they even need Astras? With this, there shouldn't be any evidences left that could incriminate us in future.
"All according to plan!" I wanted to strike a pose but restrained myself. Whatever guilty feeling I was having had already vanished, making me surprised at my own inner hidden ruthlessness. There was no going back once it's done. I coped hard.
Next on our agenda is deciding how we can return back to our Marta Loka.
"Let's move out for now. Let's try asking people how they activate dimensional jump from here." Saiyan asked as he came face to face with a regiment of golden armoured soldiers who stopped as soon as they saw us.
"Where were you guys?" One of the soldiers asked, his armour carved with the intricate details resembling a lion. "We went to retrieve you guys but you... Nooooo!!!!"
He finally noticed the room that we were supposed to be brought to, by these soldiers themselves, obliterated to oblivion.
"Where is the Princess??" he asked, panicking.
"One of the priests came to retrieve us, saying we were needed urgently to help them with something." I started acting, portraying myself as distressed and despairing. "The area in front of us exploded and the priest fell with the rubble below...." I started wiping my eyes vigorously, turning them red. "Are we going to die just like everybody??"
My comrades better act the part, I kept worrying, trying not to meet eyes with Dweep the oaf. One stupid look from him will destroy this persona I have been creating in a fit of laughter and snorting.
The lion armoured soldier looked down once from the edge and understood there was no hope for anybody below.
"Shit!! I knew we shouldn't have come up with the stupid plan." The soldier grumbled.
"What plan are you talking about?" Saiyan asked, his voice breaking.
Don't laugh now. They are also trying...
"It's nothing. There's no use thinking about it right now. Oh Shukra, what am I gonna tell Lord Mahabali?" he whispered, with his eyes tainted with guilt and sorrow. "I'll just protect this city until my last breath. Young cubs, go to the shelter in the basement. I can only hope there are still people who are willing to protect you. Let's go, the city can be rebuilt, but the lives lost won't return that easily. If you feel you can't save someone right now, cut off a piece of their flesh and carve their name on it." He instructed the soldiers. The last bit of information increased my heart beat. I remembered how the sage at Rakshak Vrata had cut off my finger. So it was the medium for our resurrection, respawning us back at the Ashrama. Then why did Saiyan come back to life right at the spot where he was killed? Was Kalpa casting the Sanjeevani Mantra for the seven instead of the sages, expending lives from the nearest Rakshak? Isn't this too unfair?
What if they gather every piece of flesh in the vicinity and cast the mantra in name of the heir?
"No use thinking about it anymore. I thought their Sanjeevani works differently considering they don't use Amrita as a base. It was my ignorance that led to this." Saiyan apologized for nothing.
"Don't apologize. Just don't. Nothing can be done now. What does this world expect us to do, who neither have power nor skills? We got no choice but to resort to dirty tricks to survive in this crazy place. So let's just think about how we can go back." I told him in an angry tone. I had no idea who I was angry at. The fate, this world or the circumstances. Why the hell did the Asuras attack today? Right when we entered the city? Does someone know all about our locations? And the condition we are in?
"No...It's not possible..." I heard the despairing cry of one of the soldiers from the lion regiment. "We're now truly done for... Forgive us Lord Mahabali, if only we were stronger."
We looked back at the direction where there were once luxurious rooms, now a gaping chasm overlooking the invaders. The five pillars have actually reached the sky creating a circle, its boundary glowing with bloody ancient Aksharas, the ones probably used by Asuras. The inside of the circle in the sky was like a gateway to the bottom of the ocean, undulating dark waves lapping against its circumference. Something was slithering inside, trying to come out, but blocked by the circle which was probably smaller relative to its diameter. If that huge circle is small for it, I can't even imagine...
The blood red Akshara boundary shattered to pieces, the letters floating away as a massive Cobra shaped snake head forced its way into this dimension from some god forsaken corner of this universe.
Shaking and wiggling its head frantically, it finally slipped down through the gap between the dimensions in all its glory, its body still falling down like a black waterfall. It kept descending and gathering, coiling itself up as if a snake in a charmer's basket. The ones who summoned it were nowhere to be seen, crushed under its massive body. The scales on its body glistened like metal, tempered in the depths of some underwater volcano, horns adorning its jet black head, with a huge diamond between its eyes.
Its hood was huge beyond my comprehension, giving me the impression that it could even fly by flapping them.
Incredible pressure descended over the area, turning the world in a hue of monochrome that only reflected black and white. The soldiers followed us, kneeling on the ground like we were.
"Lord Vritra, please spare us. Oh great Asura. Please..." the soldiers murmured.
"We can't waste the chance that Rahu created for us. Distracting the immortals and the Devatas until we can clear out all the traitorous bastards living within us... I will gift this city, a symbol of the scheming Devatas, as a sacrifice in the name of the only Asura who managed to drink the elixir of eternal life. Rahu!! Accept my offerings. Make sure to give Indra my best wishes." the metallic snake Vritra hissed inside our heads, threatening to implode it right within our skulls.
"We are in deep shit. I don't think we can do anything from here on." Saiyan said gritting his teeth. We weren't even able to stand up or talk, how were we supposed to flee from here?
If only we were teleported to somewhere away from this capital when we arrived in Sutala. Why did we even come here? To get framed and then get helplessly killed by an Omnipotent being? I had no idea what we even needed to kill this atrocious monster. Even after training a thousand years I don't think I'll ever be able to overcome it.
We heard a tremendous vibrating sound, as if a thousand vipers were rattling their tails.
"Naga Vega!!" the voice in our heads hissed again.
"Kamsya Kavach!!!" Dweep stood in front of us slamming his Kundalini shield on the floor, as bronze colored beginner hexagonal shields overlapped, creating a protective sphere around us.
"Field of Protection!!" I also shouted, providing Kundalini to Dweep so that he could maintain the Kavach.
I was going to say something when my feet left the ground, as if gravity had itself abandoned this world.
Saiyan grabbed me and Anik, as I too held on to Dweep, making sure the Kundalini transfer channel doesn't break away.
The last thing I saw was the snake moving its tail, as it turned invisible for a second, slashing at the city horizontally.
Now we were floating inside the protective sphere, the clearing infront of us widening up, alternatively showing the sky and the ground, as pieces of the Mahal broke away and disappeared somewhere to the left. I felt nauseous and closed my eyes, but the feeling of riding a roller coaster kept assaulting my senses. I was feeling incredible pressure trying to flatten me up from the right side, reminding me of the feeling described by astronauts in an interview when they were asked about how it felt during take-off.
The pressure fell at different part of my body, as I started spinning uncontrollably within the sphere, while Saiyan and Anik were both knocked out cold.
Despite all this, Dweep was still holding on, anchoring the sphere to the floor. How long can the floor even stay intact??
This guy... Why did you have to lose a life...? If I could transfer one, at this moment, I would've done so without any questions.
I wrapped my arms around his waist from behind, stabilizing myself, and kept providing him with Kundalini as he created a new wall of hexagons over the earlier one which was cracking away.
Pieces of the building were now slamming against the shield as Dweep held on to his Kundalini shield, keeping it buried in the floor.
Suddenly there was jerk, and we went right through the gaps of the pillars, finding ourselves in the middle of the sky. We were thrown outside the Mahal like a pinball...
"Shitt!!! I need an anchor!! For this Kavach to work. Fucking basic skills...I'm gonna lose another life now..." Dweep cried out in frustration.
I didn't waste time, covering my stomach with three layers of wood flesh. My Prana was now nearing its end, with only 3 usable points left. I need to keep it for recovery, and the Kavach...Will I make it to see the end of this???
Dweep, getting a look of the black dead skin on my stomach and understood what needed to be done. Without wasting time he slammed the shield right into my body, as the dying sphere came back to life. But I realised the fatal flaw of this skill. The sphere's base was at the anchor point. Technically, my whole back was now exposed to the elements, outside the sphere.
Looking at Dweep it seemed like he didn't know how the skill worked below the ground, after he had pierced it with his shield. Turning my head sideways as much as I could, I saw the ground approaching at the speed of sound.
"I'm gonna die." I somehow managed to say suppressing the rising dread within my chest.
Dweep with a glance understood at once what it meant.
"I'm deactivating the shield, save your Kundalini and make sure to heal me." He said with a stern look.
But I knew, none of us were going to live through this, no matter what trick we employed.
If Saiyan died along with us, and take a life from us, me and Anik would have a single life left, and Dweep... he would be gone.
In a moment of desperation, only one person came to my mind. Panna.
'Help...please...' I thought, as the connection which was like a dark tunnel till now, lit up at the end, like a ray of hope.
"I'm finally here. Right at the correct time!! Don't worry Dhruva, I'll make sure to save you and your friends. So come visit me right now." a text popped up right in front of my vision, prompting my auxiliary chakra to flare up in a burning sensation, as I felt the same nausea from the two dimensional jumps I had made earlier.