Rudra told Maya to deliver the message at the school because he knew what would happen there. Meanwhile he was in an underground chamber in his mansion sitting on a comfy sofa in the dark. This chamber had nothing spectacular to it. It was filled with many ancient books and artifacts. This large chamber was almost 3/4th of a football field. The lights were mostly off, except a few. The main source of light was a bright red crystal which was Infront of Rudra. The environment of the chamber was extremely eerie and suffocating. There was a man standing behind Rudra with deep respect and veneration in his eyes. This was the same man from before that was present in Rudra’s room. He was still clad in pure black outfit with only his eyes visible from behind his face shield. On careful observation one may find the outfit to be a kind of bionic suit.

The man: Master why is this orb so important? We had to spend such a huge amount of wealth and we even lost 15 Yodhas at supreme level and two at emperor level to acquire this from those demons.

Rudra looked at him with a slight smile on his face and said, “You are quite curious, aren’t you?”. He didn’t mind anyone asking him questions but usually everyone is just so afraid of him that they don’t. This subordinate of his was an exception to this. Rudra stood up from his sofa and held the orb in his hand.

Rudra: Garuda help me.

A red hue appeared behind Rudra. It slowly started taking form of a giant and beautiful Bird, but it never materialized completely. It just stayed like that in a semi-transparent form. The bird like apparition then unfolded its giant wing and brought them over to wrap them around Rudra. Rudra then started chanting something in-audible to human ear. After some time, Rudra chanting stopped completely. A few moments passed and the red orb started to levitate above the ground and burn with an even brighter red light. The red orb started to liquify and then it took the form of two eyes that slowly started overlapping Rudra’s eyes. Rudra closed his eyes immediately. After a few hours Rudra opened his eyes. His eyes were not red anymore. They were a bright shade of golden now. With his Black hair, fair skin and now golden eyes, Rudra’s charm was beyond humanly description. Slowly the bright golden light from Rudra’s eyes faded but they still stayed a little golden.

Rudra turned back and looked at the man.

Rudra: Genesis start recording the room.

The all-around Artificial intelligence of the mansion responded in a surprisingly human female voice, “Yes Master. Starting Virtual recording.”. Rudra looked at the man with a smile, but the smile gave the man a shiver down his spine. Suddenly Rudra’s new golden eyes blinked with a golden light for a moment.

Rudra: Dance like a chicken.

The man, who did not know why but he had an irresistible desire for dancing like a chicken and no matter what he tried, he ended up dancing like a chicken in a funny way. He bended his hands to form a chicken like wings and started hoping around the room while making sounds as such…puk..pukpukpuk..puk.puk.pukk…puk.. He stopped only after Rudra commanded him to stop. After this the man kneeled and started hyperventilating as he was mentally tired of fighting the power that called onto him to do Rudra’s bidding . He looked at the smiling Rudra with a look of being wronged in his eyes.

Rudra: What? Why are you looking at me like that? You are the one who wanted to know about the orb.

The man: But sir what is it and how can it control me someone with an emperor level contract.

Rudra heard his question but did not reply. He went for his chair and sat down then turn on the fireplace in the chamber. He looked at the man and gestured him to sit down on the chair in front of him. The man did as ordered.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

Ruder: Since you are a foreigner, I must ask you, do you know about “Mahabharat”?

Mahabharat was the epic war fought between Pandavas and Kauravas. It is one of the most popular mythologies of India. In this war Lord Krishna, incarnation of one of the three most important supreme gods of India lord Vishnu, led the Pandavas to victory. He did not participate in this war directly as he was way too powerful and instead became an advisor to the pandavas. He was the driver of Arjun’s chariot, who was one of the most powerful entities in this epic.

The man: Yes, I know all about it but what has that got to do with this red orb.

Rudra: One of the most important Battle of Mahabharat was the Battle of Virata. Arjun alone went to fight the entire Kaurava battle unit of 100,000. He won the war but without any casualties in that battle. Do you know how?

The man: No

Rudra: It is said that he had a Maha-astra (super weapon) known as “Sanmohanastra” or otherwise known as “The weapon of mind control”. It is said that Krishna sent him to the Nagas before the war started and trained him under the Naga king. The Naga’s king accepted Arjun as a disciple and gave him his most powerful weapon “Naga Astra”. But this is not true, very few people know that he gave him two weapons. The second one was “Sanmohanastra”. With this weapon he controlled the entire army of 100, 000 men. Not only he made them submit to him but also led them to fight the Kauravas, the very masters who sent them to kill Arjun. But Arjun did not felt that it was a true victory for him as he won by hypnotising and everyone who was controlled by this weapon lost their minds after the war if they did not die. So, he vowed to never use this weapon again. After the war He gave this weapon to Chitrangada, one of his wives. She was the princes of Manipur (a state in India it was also present during ancient times). After the war she took the weapon with her to Manipur and hid it somewhere in the deep mountainous and heavily forested valleys of Manipur for centuries to guard it from mankind. And it would have remained so until….

The man: Until the Armageddon happened, and our myths came to life. Master, do you think that these myths and our ancestors as described in Mahabharat and other myths like Norse, Greek myths etc were all true.

Rudra: We are living in a different world, with different natural laws. There is only one law that has not changed. The strong prey upon the weak. We do not need to think if the myths of the past are true or not. The only thing that matters is can they make us strong.

The man: (Seem to contemplate something then said...) Master but if what you said is true isn’t this weapon a little too powerful.

Rudra: Everything has a limit. This weapon included. This weapon can be used only 5 times by a human being and after each use it needs a cooldown time of 1 week. What this weapon truly will be used for are duels. This Astra is a beast equip weapon. This will be used by my monster “Garuda”. This will grant him the power to control his enemy. But the level and duration of control depends on the level of the enemy also it has a cooldown period of 1 day.

The man: But would not the opponent monster or demon go berserk after this effect is wore down. Wouldn’t it be dangerous?

Rudra: The effect is too powerful for human beings, so they go mad after this is used. Monsters and demons, they are a different game all together. It will not affect them much.

The man: Sir are there other such weapons?

Rudra: Yes there are, Alex Roland from Europe has the “hammer of thor-Mjölnir”, Yamato Takahasi from japan has “torch of Amaterasu”, Xiao ping from China has “ Staff of the monkey king”  and there are many more Yodhas with god knows what secret weapons.

The man: Can these weapons be stolen from the owner.

Rudra: Depends, some can be, and some cannot be. 

The man thought for a few moments and then stood and bowed to Rudra to Take his leave. But then, he noticed, something was amiss. If what Rudra told was true, then the Astra of mind control was used on him too but then why is he still sane. Why hasn’t he gone mad? He felt a chill in his spine and turned to ask Rudra what was going on. When he turned back, he did not see Rudra what he saw was a golden-red bird, a kind of phoenix like creature with a golden holy flame around it. The man knew this creature all too well. He knew at this instant that he has been dead… since long.