ooooooooooooooooooooooo

The ride on Bhairava's dog was an unpleasant experience. For the first time, I came across one of my phobias— one I never knew I had.

Break-neck speed.

The sinking sensation in my stomach, the air rushing across my face—stinging my eyes and rustling my hair, and the pressure building around my chest sent waves of discomfort, forcing me to grab onto the rough fur of Bhairava's mount.

Breathe... In and out, in and out... Distract yourself and calm down. The nostalgic smell from the dog reminded me of a ferocious Terrier my cousins used to care for. Having not-so-good memories of being often chased by it was not helping either.

Closing my eyes, I could see flashes of a memory I had tried my hardest to bury away into the unreachable corners of my consciousness—Our traumatizing rollercoaster free-falling journey through the skies of Sutala after being launched by Vritra's Nagavega tail swipe attack.

I trembled subconsciously.

"We're almost there." Bhairava consoled me after noticing my tense expression.

"It has already been nine minutes since we talked. Pratyusha is all alone, holding off numerous monsters. She urgently wanted me to come within eight." I couldn't tell Bhairava the real reason behind why I was not feeling well.

"Let's hope we weren't too..." Bhairava audibly held his breath as soon as a dancing orange light streaked in through the gaps between the trees of the mountain forest we were traversing.

From a cliff that appeared right after the forest ended, I witnessed the burning village we were supposed to protect. Orange and black billowing plumes of smoke ascended into the atmosphere above, lighting up the night sky with its ominous infernal shades.

The step terraces on the once habitable mountain were teeming with monsters, thousands visible and countless still imperceptible. The way they crawled about, leaving a trail of destruction through the ravaged village, forced adrenaline and wrath to surge through my veins.

"Central plaza. Fast!!" I could only mutter, pointing at our destination and gritting my teeth, hoping that the worst had not yet come to pass.

"All those Yeti seem to have converged there. I don't think your friend is still..." Bhairava stopped himself midway through his sentence.

The world blurred out for a few seconds. With each jump of Bhairava's mount, the scenery shifted like a game running on two frames per second. It changed from an eagle-eye view of the valley between the two adjacent mountains, then to the sky, and finally, the village.

Right after seven hops, the massive dog was already grappling with the biggest Yeti trying to climb a wall of... Flesh?

A horrifying amalgamation of crooked bodies, fifty feet high, stood amidst the central plaza like a stadium.

Bhairava grabbed the collar of my white robe and jumped over the meat wall using the dog's back as a launchpad.

His green Kundalini surrounded us mid-air, cushioning our landing and spreading out simultaneously to create a barrier, pushing away both visible and invisible Lakeh with a sonic boom.

It was amusing to watch them fly away in janky postures like ragdolls.

I inspected the wall closely. Made from mangled bodies of monsters meshed together—it stood as a testament to Pratyusha's determination.

The pressure from both sides must have been so intense, the walls were now as smooth as marble but crimson in color. Limbs, eyeballs, bones, organs, tendons— everything had become 2D in a sense, overlapped upon one another.

It was a piece of chaotic art.

While numerous Yeti were still trying to break down the wall of flesh separating them and the villagers, the Lakeh had already invaded the safe area protected by Pratyusha's circular masterpiece. They were jumping over the Yeti's shoulders and using their claws to climb up the wall. Thin and agile bodies—primary characteristics of the Lakeh seemed too perfect for the operation.

In the background of the burning village, they appeared like damned souls trying to escape the purifying embers of a funeral pyre.

Where is Pratyusha?

My eyes swept over the defensive battle being fought by the villagers, only to find myself gasping at the otherworldly sight.

The partly dilapidated chief's house was being protected by the halo of an orange-golden translucent hooded cobra, thirty feet in height, with thousands of heads looming over us like a protective umbrella.

The snake aura stayed coiled around the house, keeping it safe from the Lakeh, trying its hardest to breach and slaughter the innocent villagers inside.

The ethereal snake partly reflected the fiery shades around it, camouflaging itself into an incarnation of serpentine flame.

Bhairava instantly brought out his trident, covered it with a purple cosmic Kundalini, and started slaughtering the Lakeh from behind.

Their exposed backs being easy targets for him.

A desperate, monstrous cry erupted behind the wall, followed by the familiar barks of the dog I was riding on a few seconds ago. Bhairava's mount had bitten through the right half of the Yeti it was fighting and had launched it into the air.

It created a beautiful bloody parabola in the orange sky before being hidden again by the fleshy encirclement.

The Lakeh inside the stadium had already sensed Bhairava's presence by then. They separated into two groups, one facing the golden snake and the other—rushing at us like a horde of zombies.

I brought out a Kundalini javelin, connected it to my gem, and transformed one of my six fogs into a spherical barrier around me. I mentally started my active skill count down from forty-five minutes.

"You have Kalpa's vessels, right?" Bhairava's strained voice floated over from the mound of convulsing Lakeh bodies gradually stacking beside him. A couple of Lakeh were struggling to free themselves from the prongs of his trident that went through their chest and shoulders.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Bhairava twisted his weapon with a slight rotation of his wrists, tearing apart their bodies and sending forth pieces of bloody flesh in different directions, showering himself with green fluid.

"Since you didn't like anything I had in my abode, consider this my reward to you."

I obliged, converting my five fogs to long and thin aerodynamic javelins.

"Let me join the fight alongside you." I declared and stepped out of Bhairava's green swirly barrier.

All five javelins floating beside my shoulders whistled through the air like arrows released from a war bow. Penetrating through a series of half-dead bodies, they left behind see-through holes with the diameter of an adult's fist.

I was wasting extra Kundalini in giving them this acceleration. When I awaken my heart chakra, this process will be made much easier with the help of Air-based Kundalini. Some kind of air-jet contraptions can be augmented into the weapon itself, reducing my Kundalini consumption during manipulation.

Scratches appeared in my personal barrier, created from one of my fogs activating my defensive reflex. With a single thrust, my hand-held javelin powered by my 24-point Gem pierced through three lanky bodies, releasing a crunching sound of stone grinding against bones.

I pulled back and charged through the crowd of Lakeh, gripping my weapon tightly with both hands, making sure to expect some hard feedback on collision with enemies.

Retrieve.

Launch.

Retrieve.

Launch.

I kept repeating the process with my floating javelins made from Kundalini fogs.

Stab. Pull back. Stab. Pull back. Check barrier conditions. Feed it more Kundalini for repairing.

Notifications kept rising in my periphery, distracting me a bit, but I kept it activated, hoping Pratyusha would respond to my messages.

I jumped up the mound of writhing bodies, stood back to back with Bhairava, and brought out my Makara staff.

'Water Canon.' I mentally activated the weapon's perk and pointed it at the bodies underneath.

More notifications.

Considering the trend my seniors from the inter-Gurukul league followed, I needed to reach level 40 by the end of my fifth standard. And 60 by the start of the seventh standard.

Only after fulfilling these conditions for a particular standard will I be able to start meditating to tackle my next virtue and chakra awakening.

"This is taking too much time. Ananta's aspect is getting restless, unable to hold on any longer." Bhairava glanced around the battlefield, swarming with maneaters.

A chant soon followed his complaint, but in a tone that erupted right out of his diaphragm. It was both beautiful and frightening as if the universe itself was groaning.

I was reminded once more that this Being I've been traveling with, indeed commanded powers beyond Manava comprehension.

Three purple eye-shaped fissures appeared in three cardinal directions, leaving out the chief's stone and wood house. They started sucking up matter like a miniature black hole, creating a whirlwind of purple energy at their mouth, grinding both organic and inorganic matter into tiny particles of energy.

I didn't waste any time standing around. Continuously stabbing Lakeh, renewing my shield that kept cracking from their counterattacks, and manipulating my weapon fogs to pierce through as many enemies as possible took away all my concentration and stamina.

With the Lakeh being pulled away from the house we were supposed to reach by the purple vortices, a path soon appeared, showing us the way to the golden snake.

It was glitching in and out of existence by now, threatening to switch off any second.

While making our way to our destination, I asked Bhairava the fundamentals of his skill.

"Cosmic energy gives you the authority to control the fundamental forces of nature. I'm just weakening the strong nuclear forces that hold together atomic particles."

I blinked at his explanation.

"Hard to visualize, I know. Once you awaken your crown chakra, come meet me again." He said, touching the golden snake's scales.

"You're spoiling me like a grandfather. Is there a catch?" I turned around and saw the gradually retreating waves of Lakeh being ground to dust by the purple fissures.

Sensing danger, the Lakeh stayed put, standing atop the walls and not coming down out of fear of meeting the same fate as their obliviated brethren.

With a click of his fingers, a green barrier surrounded me over the one I already had.

"I can't summon one of those fissures behind the house without destroying it. Clear up the ones there while I complete my task here." Bhairava ordered, wondering whether to say more, "Ananta had to form a connection with this world in haste to protect your friend's vessel and the villagers after she died. To ensure she's able to complete this Pilgrimage you're on..."

I gave him a questioning look. Surely he wasn't joking. Did she really die?

Sensing my anxiousness, he sighed and glanced at the three uncles holding the entrance to the house beyond the golden snake barrier.

Their eyes were full of guilt, regret, and remorse.

"I could have cleared out this place first, but Ananta's connection to Satya is getting weaker." Bhairava started explaining the situation, "He is currently binding your friend's soul to the vessel you've been traveling with so that she can be revived right here instead of at the Ashrama. He wants me to use the Mrita Sanjeevani Mantra to resurrect her before his aspect fades away, breaking both his link to this dimension and her Atman chains. Buy me some time until I complete the ritual."

He might have been telepathically communicating with Ananta this whole time.

"Can I see her once?"

"Who am I to stop? Be quick."

I entered the house in a hurry and found all the villagers sitting around Pratyusha's body.

"Why were you so late?" One of the aunties sitting closest to Pratyusha's thin and pale body looked up at me. Her eyes dripped with helplessness and accusation.

A single minute can change the course of someone's life and can disrupt a pre-planned series of events to produce unforeseeable outcomes.

I've seen it time and time again.

And we were late by whole three minutes.

"She did great." I whispered, ignoring the lady's question, glancing at Pratyusha's sunken cheekbones, dry lips, and empty eyes. The hair she often cared for had also become white and frail, losing its deep brown luster. Her translucent skin reminded me of those Pishachas we had fought against in the swamps of Sutala.

As if the muscles between her bones and skin had dissolved entirely.

"She asked me to let you know she is more of a hero than you ever will be."

"I agree." A regretful smile crept up my face, "I lost my chance to become one long ago."

The aunty was taken aback by my answer. Her eyes shifted for a split second, giving the impression that she now regretted saying those words to me.

A crashing sound erupted outside, breaking the awkward spell inside the creaking house. There were probably more than a hundred people inside who started to tremble, hearing the battle cries of the fearsome monsters.

Defeaning roars of Yeti and barks of Bhairava's mount followed, a little too close to home. Pratyusha's wall had been breached.

"She had asked us to stay inside and only protect the door. Let us know if you need our help." One of the three uncles from the entrance asked me and Bhairava who had entered the building by now. They probably didn't know that a God was now standing amongst them.

"It's okay. Ananta wishes to convey his gratitude for keeping the body of his blessed safe." Bhairava answered with gentle eyes, "And don't worry about the monsters outside. Dhruva will take care of it with my Blessing. Those fissures, your barrier, and the resurrection ritual will leave me with only one and a half minutes of energy to feed your Vikashita Avara. Will that be enough?"

"Way more than I'll ever need." I said, thinking back on how Kalpa had shared her own energy through Vihaan's vessels in the fight against the Makara Dungeon Boss.

"I wanted to teach you an efficient way of using Aksharas in the form of runes that can embody the essence of your multipurpose creations. You've been using it wrong all this while. Let's keep it for later, shall we?" Bhairava sat in front of Pratyusha and started chanting.

Golden Divine energy burst out of his body and enveloped both me and Pratyusha in it.

The familiar feeling from a few hours earlier raced through my veins. Pumping my body with power.

One and a half minutes.

I walked out and faced the innumerable Yeti and Lakeh rushing in like a tide from the gap in the collapsed wall.

Many swerved to the sides, pulled in by the purple fissures, while the bigger ones kept fighting against it and slowly inched closer to the house.

The golden snake above us trembled and dissipated, only to be replaced by Bhairava's green air dome.

Bhairava and his brethren have been known throughout the myths as the destroyers of obstacles, negative energies, and evils from one's life. And as the protectors of sacred sites of power.

Their destruction has always been succeeded by creation, and the cycle keeps repeating. Destruction is not inherently wrong. It paves the way for better things to grow over the remnants of both good and evil.

An essential force that purifies this Universe—and they were the heralds of it.