“Where am I? Am I dead?” I asked.
“Do you want to be dead?” he asked.
“Of course not.” I replied.
He looked at me steadily for a couple of seconds before saying, “Then, no, you are not. Not yet”.
The wind was a gentle breeze that sent his hair flying and it was then that I saw he was wearing earrings. They were bright and glittering in the light. I could not look at it for a long time. I also saw that he was wearing an armour underneath his shirt, which too was glittering brightly. It was slowly dawning on me on who this tall, godlike warrior was. My eyes were as big as saucers. I thought back to the casual way in which I had addressed him and almost had a heart attack. For standing in front of me was none other than the Son of Surya, the sun-god.
Standing in front of me was the greatest archer ever to grace the earth. A demi-god who earned eternal glory and fame—the Daana Veera Shoora.
It was Karna.
I took a step back and felt a little unsteady. For the first time I was speechless. Words utterly failed me.
I stammered “I’m s-s-sorry. Are you? … Are you …” I left the question hanging.
He gave a smile and said, “Call me Radheya”.
I knew that Karna was called Radheya because he was the son of Radha, the one who raised Karna. A lot of questions popped into my mind. Karna was dead, he had been dead for a long time. He was also wearing his armour. Karna had the supernatural earrings and armour when he was born, and as long as he wore the armour he was invincible. But he had given it away on the eve of the battle.
“Am I dead or are you a spirit, Radheya Sir?” I asked. I made sure to do so with a lot of respect. Karna was a student of Parashurama. He had enough power to defy gods. Stories say that once he squeezed a fistful of the earth so hard that he hurt bhoomidevi, the earth-goddess. Still he was not intimidating, he was dazzling. The earrings lent him a cool and dangerous air.
“Here, in this place, I think it is I who am real and it is you who are the spirit.”
“What is this place?”
He looked around speculatively and said “Another time, maybe another universe, who knows, but it suits my purposes”.
“What’s that?” I asked reflexively and regretted it. But Karna answered me as he checked the tip of an arrow, “Practice.”
“Why am I here?” And then a thought occurred to me. When Devakratha had given me the drug, he had said that an overdose would mean that I would be stuck in my hallucination forever. Was that happening? Was I going to be stuck in the land of dreams tripping forever? If so, then this wasn’t that bad.
Karna was taking aim again “You know why?” and shot the arrow. The loud crack was annoying.
“The Gandiva? Why would you be interested in that?” I asked
“I think I know more about the Gandiva than you, Guardian.” He said gently. Then it occurred to me that the Gandiva was the bow that Arjuna used to kill Karna. I instantly cursed myself for my stupidity.
“The bow must not fall into the wrong hands,” he continued.
The thought of talking back to Karna was daunting. But I took a deep breath and said “I’m sorry for asking. But isn’t it after your time. What interest could the Gandiva be for you now?”
“My brother’s bow is a weapon of our time, not yours. It would cause irreversible damage in this yuga. Since my brother is … elsewhere, I have taken a short time away from my rest to assist. I cannot and will not interfere directly in your time. This is your war. You must fight it.”
“I agree. But right now I believe I am right now lying in a puddle of my own blood hallucinating this.”
“Then maybe you need to unbelieve.” He said. I was trying to figure out what he meant by that when he spoke again. “The world has changed so much. I hardly recognize any of it. But I recognize the people, emotions remain the same throughout the ages. In that way, we are still similar. But your world in on the decline, it is a world with more wonders and beauty than mine, yet the people in it are addicted to mediocrity. They fail to see the magic that is right before them and instead live life without any life. They choose to ignore the remarkable things that have been accomplished and focus only on the mundane.” His voice was not judging, it was like a conversation that two friends were having over coffee.
“Yeah, we are still sorta working on that.” I said sheepishly.
“The followers of Dharma will always be rewarded. Why, just a few days ago, I came across a little village that had been praying to be saved from the hundreds of rakshasas that were raiding them. A hero answered their call and they were saved.”
A huge roar interrupted us. A few people were rushing out of the mountains to the bridge and they were wearing armours. They looked monstrous, with animalistic faces and howling like wolves. I could also see a grotesque looking creature take flight towards us. And they all looked unmistakably pissed off.
Karna shrugged. “Well, they’re not saved yet. But I’m fairly confident.” He was cool and calm while I was freaking out. There were fifty, no a hundred, no, more than that … they kept pouring out of the mountain like ants out of an anthill.
Karna turned calmly and took aim. He let go of an arrow. They were still a fair distance from us and yet the arrow went through four rakshasas, armours, bones and all and embedded itself deeply in the chest of the fourth rakshasa. It wasn’t enough. There were hundreds of them howling at us. There was an awkward silence as the rakshasas were crossing the bridge and we were standing there looking at them. Then Karna said, “Run”.
“What?” I replied dully. I was still processing the situation.
“Run,” he replied and set off. He ran like the wind, and fairly flew over the terrain surefooted like a jungle cat.
I set off after him comparatively slow. Running across a jungle is foolish, there are pitfalls everywhere. There’s moss to slip over, roots to trip over and fallen tree trunks everywhere. Visibility was low as there were leaves and plants always in my face. But I could hear Karna urging me on, his voice sounded cheerful. And so we ran as the rakshasas hunted us through the jungle.
I’m in pretty good shape. I exercise a lot and can really move and cover large distances quickly when I want. But after running through the forest, my chest was burning and knees felt like they were made of lead after some time. It was a gruelling obstacle course designed by the army. I had to jump, bend and leap all over while keeping track of Karna’s voice.
After some time I couldn’t run anymore. I leaned over a trunk holding my sides in pain. I looked up and saw something flash by me. I turned around and saw an arrow sticking out of the head of a rakshasa. He keeled over slowly. The rakshasa’s freaking teeth were as long as my fingers. And dirty. I turned back and saw Karna through some trees grinning at me. I could hear more howling coming in the background and I set off again ignoring the pain.
I don’t know how long I ran but just as my legs were about to give up, I saw a huge hill. Karna was leaning on a boulder, causally. He wasn’t even out of breath. “Glad to see you could make it,” he said. He looked to be in good humor and looked at the forest expectantly like a guy looking at the theater screen waiting for a movie to start.
He jumped up on the huge boulder effortlessly and prepared his bow. “A war is coming, Guardian. Unlike any other in your age. For some reason, you and I are to take part in this. My rest has been cut short, and I rise once again to protect Dharma.” He announced.
“The struggle for the Gandiva is part of a larger battle. The Gandiva will play a role. You will not allow it to be taken by the half-asura.”
“But how?” I was desperate for him to give me an answer.
“I leave that to you. On top of this hill is a temple. Enter that temple, you are to be sent back. I know that you have a lot of questions now. Be patient, win the Gandiva and at the right time, I will answer all. Now go. ” And he stood facing the forest.
“But the rakshasas, there are too many. If we fight together, ma
ybe we can break free and head for cover.” I said.
He turned back and raised an eyebrow. There was a hint of challenge in those eyes and I knew I was nowhere near strong enough to face that. So I quietly turned away with many doubts and headed up the hill. The hill was filled with boulders and I made my way up slowly to the small temple. I could see it now. The temple was completely dark. Karna said that it was my way out. But I couldn’t leave him to face all those evil demons on his own. I went over the highest point in the hill and looked down.
And I never saw anything more awe-inspiring in my life. Although Karna held the high ground, the numbers were against him. He fired a single arrow straight up in the air for no apparent reason. The arrow’s tip was burning red and it disappeared into the clouds.
He tugged and teased them. He shot dozens of arrows in a span of seconds in one direction blocking them and leaving another way free. I could see him herd the small band this way and that. I saw an arrow go right through a rakshasa without harming him, but instead strike their leader who was directly behind him. He rained arrows from his never-ending quiver on them. I saw him fire at that flying thing right through the middle, then he caught the thing as it was falling with another arrow changing its direction right into the path of few advancing rakshasas. His bowstring made a loud boom every time he released an arrow. The arrows themselves were raging shafts of light that went through trees and rakshasas without stopping. Even the boulders were reduced to pieces after meeting one of his arrows. I saw the difference between us. I was a soldier fighting hand-to-hand, one enemy at a time, whereas Karna was an architect, fighting the whole battle single-handedly.
He was positioning the little army, but for what, there were too many even for him to shoot within the short time it would take for them to reach him and cut him to pieces. They were now only a short distance away from him, but with no leaders as Karna had shot them all first, they were like a headless snake rushing at him in chaos. The small army had become a mob. Yet, I could see Karna still shooting arrows with a faint smile on his lips. The mob was now in the shape of a triangle pointing towards Karna. Then in a sudden rush of thunder, the arrow he had shot up for no reason came down right in the middle of the ragtag mob and exploded. The explosion left my ear drums ringing. After the dust settled I could only see Karna standing majestically on the boulder with thin streams of dust around his sandals. The genius of it was staggering, he had destroyed all of them in one stroke. Karna had been invincible in life, and he had become unconquerable after his death.
He looked up at me, and there we were—one of the greatest warriors of his age looking at a beaten, unknown hopeless warrior of this age. I remembered his words that we would meet again. I turned and entered the completely dark temple.
Chapter 14: Bite the Bullet
I opened my eyes and all the pain my body and mind descended on me. The sheer confusion alone in my mind was enough to render me a pathetic mewling animal. I would have lost it if it weren’t for a half-remembered dream. Was it a dream or a real experience? Whatever it was, I borrowed strength from that memory. It took a little while for my eyes to focus, but I could see Devakratha behind his desk examining the piece of armour.
Even if I did manage to get up and get past the four thugs and little Johnny, how was I going to defeat Devakratha who had defeated me even when I was at my best? I slowly tried to move and pain flooded through my body. It was still hopeless. Then I saw a guy enter. “We might have a problem. There is some sort of flying helicopter hovering over the gate. We tried to shoot it down but it is too high and the noise the gunshots made were too loud,” he said.
Alagaraja. I knew it, it was him and his little drone. Devakratha looked up from his desk and looked at me. I was motionless, and in any case I was unable to move even if I tried. He got up and went out with little Johnny leaving the armour piece, a small flicker of hope came over me. But he immediately came back and took it out with him. That was my cue to get the hell out of here. Devakratha would kill and dump me for sure.
It seemed that Devakratha did not exercise perfect control over his goons after all. A couple of them took the vial of LSD and injected themselves. They collapsed into a chair with blissful expressions. This was the only chance I was going to get. I collected the meagre strength I was left with and thought of Karna and his advice. I unbelieved. I refused to believe that it was over. I refused to believe that my body was damaged. And an amazing thing happened, I was able to push myself up off the ground on one hand. I slowly managed to stand up.
The remaining thugs hadn’t noticed me yet, I was still wobbling on my feet when they turned and saw me. Their eyes went wide and they leapt on me. I fought with everything I had left. I used every dirty trick in the book. I kicked them below the belt, I bit, scratched, gouged their eyeballs, fish hooked and slashed my way through. I found some hard object in my hand which I used to bash their heads with.
Before leaving the room I took some paper on the desk and jammed it in my pocket. I managed to move out of the room and slowly started hobbling towards the nearest fence. I jumped it and found myself in a back gully of a very shady area. I ran, I walked. I had no sense of what I was doing, I was just trying to put distance between me and them. They chased me, were on my tail, hounding me. It took a long time of walking dark streets and unending alleys when I found that I reached the end of my strength and collapsed against a wall.
For a long time, I lay there slumped against the wall. I had no idea where I was, it was the darkest night. Dimly I saw movement, two small lumps were moving on the ground underneath a blanket. Then a small grimy face poked out from underneath the blanket and then another. Children, living on the streets. Curious, they came close to me and I could see a little girl no more than ten and an even smaller boy. The little girl was peering at me while the boy poked at me. I asked them for water but only a small noise came out of my throat. My voice was gone from the constant screaming. The girl said “What” and the boy was looking around him nervously. Maybe he sensed that people were after me. People living on the streets could smell danger from miles away. He said “Didi, Let’s leave, let’s go. I don’t like him,” but she said, “wait, he’s trying to say something”.
I tried again and made a feeble sound asking for water again. The little girl caught my words this time. “I think he is asking for water,” she said. The boy was trying to drag her away from me saying, “No, no. I don’t like him. Please didi, I want to go”. But she shook him and went near the blanket and carried it to me and covered me. I must have looked a mess indeed for a homeless little girl to give me her threadbare blanket. She had a small bottle and she poured water down my throat, she carefully bent down next to me to make sure I didn’t waste a single drop. She said to me, “Mummy used to say that we must give water to anyone who asks or we will be reborn as a lizard. My mommy was such a nice lady. She died”. her face showed sadness. Her head was close to mine, her short roughly cut hair were on my shoulder.
I closed my eyes and drank a long sip, the water had a funny taste but it was heavenly. After a satisfying drink, I opened my eyes. The first thing my eyes focused on was the barrel of a gun. It was pointed at me from a few yards away. With more dread I saw that it was shaking wildly. I wanted him not to miss. I wanted to be shot because an inch to the right and he would hit the girl. I tried to throw my body over her but my body was not responding. I heard the loud gunshot and turned toward the little girl and saw the bullet cleanly pass through her temple and out the other. She collapsed on me.
I looked up in horror at the shooter. It was one of the thugs who had taken a dose of the LSD. Even in his drug-induced hallucinating state, he realized what he had done. He started shivering, and chucking the gun, he ran away into the dark. The chilling silence pierced me more than all the pain I had endured. I checked her pulse, she was gone. The little boy was in shock. He started shaking her unresponsive sister. He kept asking her to wake up. I tried to soothe the boy, but he got free an
d stepped back in shock. His outrage was justified. I had just been the cause of his sister’s death.
He looked at me with hate. “She was all I had. Now who will take care of me? I’m all alone.” I tried to call him to my side but he stood rooted to the spot “You should also be alone forever like me. No one should love you also. I curse you. I curse you.” He screamed and took off. My whole body froze. He had cursed me and I could hear it ringing deep within my heart. I could feel the very threads of my destiny unravel and weave themselves differently. I was now a wizard, cursed.
I called out to him but he didn’t come back. I picked up the lifeless body of the little girl and tried to follow him. I do not remember much about what happened next. I recall walking the dark empty streets calling out to the boy when finally my legs gave way and I fell down. I heard a sound like that of a motor running and saw Alagaraja’s helicopter drone hovering just above me. I turned to see the little girl lying beside me. I didn’t even know her name. She looked like she was sleeping.
Chapter 15: Destroyed
I was lying on a very soft bed when I woke up. I had several tubes going in and out of me. I had no idea where I was. My head was throbbing but I managed to sit up and croaked out “Hello?” and Alagaraja came in the room. He looked completely serious as he said “How are you feeling?”
“Not bad” I said while checking to see if there was any permanent damage.
“Good. Now tell me just what the hell you’ve been doing? I’ve just had to arrange for the disposal of the body of a young girl shot in the head.” He was very angry.
So I recounted everything. The throbbing in my head was turning into a pounding headache. I had caused the death of an innocent. It would have been better if Devakratha had killed and cut me up into little pieces. I felt used up. The events of last night had completely left me derailed. The beatings, the LSD, the little girl and the curse.
I looked up, “What happened to the little boy? Did you find him?”
The Weapon of the Devas Page 11