Return of the Asuras |Lesbian Story| (The Sequel)

Chapter 18

When I raised my face to the stars, I thought I saw hanging in the river of constellations a great web. Its glinting threads wove from my past and present actions. Amarisa, Kesar, and I were caught in the midst of it.

The others were thrown in there, too. My mother, my friends, they all got trapped like flies on the web of destiny. My puny struggles would only entangle us more.

For the longest time, I sat riveted on the ground. The weight of my despair left me drained and defeated. I thought of their hassle at the camp, no one would notice my absence. But as the cruel night continued to carry every sound of lamentation to me, I also heard the voices of my friends through the dark forest.

Though I didn't answer them, the avatars soon found me sitting ashen in hue and mask-like face. The searing pain had put me in a daze.

They stood around me, staring in silence, not knowing what to do.

Then, at last, Tepi knelt down beside me. Her brow was drawn deep with alarms.

"Nikita?" she said softly as if to wake me up from a trance. When I lifted my eyes to her, she was shocked to see the look in them, bleak and filled with grief and rage.

"He took her away," I spoke, my teeth bared in an effort to speak. "Ravana killed my friend and took my wife away."

The others hung their heads as though my pain also inflected them.

With my hands balled into fists, I rose to my feet again. The heat of my body rose like a roaring fire. My palms ached with vengeance.

"I'm going to find him and kill him with my own hands!"

They tried to stop me as I tried to tear myself from their grasps.

"Nikita, no!" Tepi said. "He has gone out of sight now. Listen to me, Nikita, you can't risk your life going after him mindlessly. You can get yourself killed!"

"But he has Amarisa! She needs me!" I cried. "She must be so terrified!"

Vorac came forward and consoled me with her hands on my shoulders.

"We will bring the princess back, I swear it," she said. "But now you're weakened from the battle and sadness. You can't fight the demon in this state, or you might find yourself in a trap. You must first rest to regain your strength."

Despite my mounting anger and pain, her words did the trick of calming my heart, and I had to agree that she was right. This was not the time to fight.

I wiped the tears off my cheeks again.

Then without a word, I turned and walked back in the direction of the camp. Everyone was surprised by my sudden change, but they soon followed me. Later, I shut myself in the tent and wouldn't speak a word to anyone.

It wasn't until the King and Queen came to find what had happened that they finally learned about their daughter. Then they came to seek the truth from me in person. Trying not to be overcome by grief and guilt, I told them everything from start to finish. I told them that Amarisa had sneaked out of the city to follow me.

Out of pity and selfishness, I decided to let her stay with me. Now as if an iron-thorn had plunged itself deep in my chest, she was ripped from my arms by the hateful Ravana himself.

As I narrated the event, I could feel own my heart crumbling with remorse.

After hearing it, the Queen fell down in a swoon so deep that all the maids had to seek help from twin avatars.

The Queen had never shown her vulnerability, but a mother's heart could not take the grief of losing her only child.

When she was brought back to consciousness by the two brothers again, she began to weep in her husband's consoling arms. They spoke something to me, but I hardly heard what they were saying. Yet in a faltering voice, I promised them that I would bring their daughter back.

"I swear it on my own life," I said. "Amarisa will be restored to you, and shall I fail the task, may I perish in a fire or be torn asunder by the enemy's blades."

Thunder struck in the distance.

My oath alarmed everyone and even the two monarchs. No one spoke again.

When they were all gone, I continued to sob to myself in silence, imagining how I would slay the demon king over and over in my mind.

It was all that kept me breathing.

~*~

The next day, the earth rumbled with distant roars of thunders. Over the mountains, lightning flashed and sparkled in the sky. Everywhere was soaked from a rainstorm, and the winds sounded like the sorrowful cries of my princess to me.

I had curled up on my bed and wept quietly to myself all night. It pained my heart to even think of those lustful hands touching her skin.

When the Guru came to see me, I was holding Amarisa's silk scarf in my hands. He stood in the doorway, looking at me. Despite the heavy storm, there was not a single drop of water on his clothes.

"Do you mind sparing me a few moments?" he asked.

I nodded, and he sat down on the mat opposite me. His elephant eyes gleamed against the lamplight.

"I understand that your heart is plagued with despair," he began, "but before you face the demon lord in battle, there's a story you should hear first."

"What story?" I asked.

The Guru didn't answer my question and just proceeded to narrate it.

"Long ago when the time was immemorial, there was a heavenly gatekeeper named Jaya," he said in a resonating tone. "One day as he was guarding the seventh gate of Vishnu's abode 'Vaikutha', a place of eternal bliss, four sages arrived and asked to be permitted inside. Those four sages were the sons of Lord Brahma — born chiefly from his mind.

"Jaya refused entry to them saying that their presence was not sanctioned by the Lord. This enraged the sages. They cursed the gatekeeper to be born as demons for their next hundred births. But later when the sages finally met Lord Vishnu, they asked him to revoke their curse as they thought the punishment was a little too harsh. But Vishnu declined, saying that it was not possible for him to revoke the curse entirely. However, he could reduce it from a hundred lifetimes to just three. This means that Jaya would be born as demons for their next three births upon the earth. During all the next three lives, he would be killed and liberated from the curse by Vishnu through his avatars."

I stared at the Guru after he finished. In the silence inside the tent, I could hear his breaths, labored with the exertion of speaking for so long.

"Why are you telling me all this?" I said.

"This is the story of Ravana's past life. He is the incarnation of Vishnu's guardian that was cursed," the Guru said. "As you know, the misfortune had found him a victim. Ravana was actually no evil soul in his earlier life."

"But he is now," I said in a low voice back. "And I will kill him for the deed he has done me."

"I know," the Guru replied. "You have come into this world for a reason just as Rama and Krishna. You will liberate Ravana from this birth as you have done before. Like all things that exist in the cosmos, you are the aspect of the Lord."

'You are the instrument, I am the player.'

"And one more thing to ease your troubled mind," the Guru added. "It's known that once upon a time the lustful Ravana had seized a nymph from Indra's heaven by force. Her name was Punjikashthala. When he committed that evil offense, Lord Brahma spoke with rage and said that Ravana's head would be rent asunder if ever again he attempted to act in such perverted manner towards another female— both in heaven or upon earth."

I was surprised to hear that. It did immensely relieve my heart. I felt lighter as if some invisible weight had rolled off my shoulders.

The Guru stood up again. "You can rest assured that your beloved one is safe for now."

I looked back at him. A bright flash of lightning broke through the canvas and lit up the whole tent. I thought I had seen the face of a blue-skin man with a peacock tail in his hair.

Perhaps the tears must have blinded me, and I wiped my eyes, but when I looked at the Guru again, he had already disappeared.