Author's notes:

Lots to say, first of all. Concerning the review brought up by GrayscaleReader. I've already sent a PM to explain but I'll tell everyone else right now. This was all part of the plan and not something added on the go. If you read carefully through the chapters i had actually left hints to indicate the length of the story such as the mysterious background of Maya and Darshan. The inclusion of the Yalung Relic upon Hajura Amako Hatama and of course the most important item that defined this story, Kalachakra. The medallion responsible for sending Ajay back to that approximate time in the past.

Anyways, just as side note. In this story, Mohan died canonically like the game. I intend to keep as many canon elements as possible for my convenience and your reading pleasure. I hope you enjoy the story and give it some time to explain the bombshell plots as you have done since July when this story began. Havok out!


….

….

Ajay stood in the Ghale Homestead once more, he had the feeling he had been here before for some reason but the thought couldn't emerge in his head.

"I'll KILL YOU!"

"Kyah! (Bang)"

Ajay heard a commotion outside of the house and went out. (Plop) A body fell back against the ground motionless. Near him was a woman on the floor huffing as she had just gun him down with the handgun in her possession.

"Waaaahhhh!" (Crying) Ajay could see a child next to her who was crying, obviously traumatic for a child to be in such a violent situation. But that wasn't all that was around.

The woman reached out and cradled another one bundled in blood soaked cloth. She cried out in heartbreak as she embraced her dead child.

"Mom?" Ajay began to recognize her, he recognized the year-old baby that was under an extremely stressful circumstance. It was him.

-Then the one mom's carrying is-…-

Ajay walked forward closer to take a look. The baby girl had her eyes closed as if in an eternal sleep.

"I'm so sorry, my darling baby girl….(Sob) I've brought you into an uncaring world!..."

Ajay could see that the small arm of Lakshmana had her wrist slit probably by a knife. He turned to look at Mohan who was lying face up on the ground wearing a face of disbelief. He felt his blood boil, though she had only half his blood, she was still his mother's child, his sister.

"How could you do this?... Mom was at fault not her!" He shouted while clenching his teeth at the motionless corpse of his father.

He walked back to where Ishwari wept and reached out to pull her up.

"Come on, we've got to- huh?" He hands passed right through her as if he was a specter. He looked at his hands, they were semi-translucent. He was here only as a spectator then.

After some time, Ishwari got up and carried her dead child towards the willow tree that shaded the stream by the house and dug. When she had finished, she lowered Lakshamana gently into the hole and covered it handful by handful with the dirt. She placed a plank with words painted on it "Lakshamana, in a better place than here." She spent a while more grieving, Ajay could only watch helplessly as he could not intervene, he could not say a few words of comfort to her where from this point on she was truly alone till her death.

She got up and picked up the young Ajay whom had quieten down all on his own, although it was himself just younger, he was proud of the little man for not stressing out their mother in a difficult time for her as well. Again, he couldn't pat him on the back as well. But then he realized his silence wasn't out of respect but a byproduct of shock. She wrote a letter addressed to Pagan and placed it upon the first one she was intending to sent to him before her departure. That was until Mohan came. It would likely tell him the grave news of their child's death. She had no time to enact the proper burial rites, she hoped Pagan would do it for her which he did. The look on her face said she had enough of Kyrat and its civil unrest, she didn't want to spend another second in it.

Ishwari never looked back again after she had done all she could. Ajay started to admire her for her fortitude, but that was that. He was somehow reviewing memories that even he couldn't fully remember despite being there when it happened. Perhaps it was subconsciously forgotten to remove his trauma, little Ajay did strangely stop crying suddenly while Ishwari was burying Lakshmana. So he had forgotten everything during his short time in Kyrat, Pagan, Lakshmana, his father.

"Is that all? I should wake up soon." He said consciously, but waiting for a period there was no change. Just the empty Ghale homestead with Mohan's body lying on the ground.

"Now that I think about it, when did the Golden Path discover Mohan was dead?"

Just then, he heard movement up ahead, but not from the entrance but rather from the steps towards the Cliffside he remembered with Yoggie and Reggie camped after he shooed them out and they still clung like pigeons.

A hooded figure walked down the steps, body line indicated it was a woman from the dark garb she wore. There was a strangely eerie aura emanating from her, something deadly. She walked towards her intended target, his father's corpse and knelt beside it. There were several thoughts going through Ajay's mind at the time. What was her affiliation with Mohan, his secret lover perhaps? But then, he wouldn't get so flustered after Ishwari's betrayal of their marriage vows so that wasn't so.

The second one was what she was doing all this time, watching Mohan get killed? Or was he mistaken that she had no prior relation to Mohan.

"How pitiful..." She said in a solemn ethereal voice.

"How far you've fallen from greatness into nothing but filth beneath the feet of others. All because of your blind faith in others...blind faith in a deceitful woman… blind faith in yourself... You had everything and you squandered it over nothing." Then the woman laughed at his existence while at the same time fed a dead man poisonous words.

"But... this might not be the end of the line for the scion of Kalinag, the great Mohan Ghale need not die in the ditch. Every salvation has a price." She whispered a dark promise into his ear, for some reason Ajay could hear it.

She placed her silk embroidery hand upon the cold face of the corpse. A strange light appeared from it and melded into the body.

"The question is..."

That weird emerald light grew till it began to blind Ajay who was spectating this weird sight. Then his vision went dark.

"Are you willing to pay that price?"

...

...

...

"What of you then….. Brother?"


...

...

"Gah!" Ajay woke violently from the dream he had.

"What the hell was that?"

He could remember the dream as if it just happened. It was like the dream he had when he survived Shanath Arena. Would these strange dreams keep appearing every time he went berserk? From what it looked like, they were dreams of another timeline.

-No that's not right…-

The first one was a glimpse at the possibility of Saras and her predicament after the war. But the second was a dream- no… nightmare was about a past where he wasn't even present. Was it just his head churning out weird fantasies?

Ajay inspected his body condition after recalling he had just emerged from a fight with the Golden Path and that foreigner whose name he still didn't know. He could remember everything from when he ran ahead of the armored column on a sixth-sense the convoy escort was in trouble. Coming in at the time he saw him almost kill Maya and quickly struck back. But that guy was different from before, it wasn't playful strokes like the last time, or rather it was but it had resolve in those attacks to kill him. He also wore a strange expression, like a sadistic killer and spoke in a Hispanic accent a few times. Was he mentally unstable? Was that even the same guy?

He had too many questions he needed answered but he decided to shelve them for current matters. Like how did Arjun and High Commands' operation go. What were the casualties and the number of civilians being successfully brought out from the South?

"I'm glad you're awake." A gentle voice called out from the door, Ajay instinctively turned to face the person who had been nursing his injuries.

"Noore."

"This might be the second time I've attended to your serious injuries and for the second time all I see are mere bruises after a day."

"How's everyone?" He thought to ask about the others first.

"They're fine, Maya has returned to Durgesh to update Yuma on the failure of the operation to take Willis. The Condotierri went back to the Arsenal. Captain Goh and the Marines are in the Royal Fortress debriefing their accounts since their arrival."

-So I was out after a day.-

"Where am I?" Ajay looked around, it definitely wasn't his house. Neither was it the Arsenal cabin room. There was a clinic atmosphere around it, medical apparatus and he was lying in a stretcher mattress that was found in hospitals.

"You're in the Polyclinic's infirmary. Maya insisted I watch over you for any changes in your behavior should you wake. She told me about what happened….. again."

Ajay rubbed his face and sighed.

"Did I-…"

"No one on our side was hurt, thanks to you. Although…. The entire mountainside is painted in your handy work."

"Jesus…."

"I took a vial of your blood sample if you don't mind, I was curious as to what was causing these symptoms."

"No I'm fine with it. I did promise you a while back but I was too busy to do that." Noore nodded and went to the table to check the dispensary.

"Did you find anything in it?" Ajay asked.

"No. I didn't, the protein and plasma levels are consistent with no change. On the genetic scale, there's not much difference. What's making it more difficult to understand is….. How did you survive the Arena, how were you moving around with a three inch wide horn in you? How could you lift and throw a man five metres high? How?"

"I don't know….."

"Do you want to tell me something I should know?"

"Would you believe it if I told you?" Ajay laughed, the chances were low.

"Using your inhuman strength as a gauge I just might." She said insistent.

"Then I'll test you then."

"Ok?" She sat down at the chair next to the bed listening attentively to him.

"Yetis exist."

"…." Her expression showed she was not amused.

-Figures!- Ajay sighed.

"Come on, give me a real one. Something plausible!"

Ajay smiled and shook his head. It was better that she remained ignorant to it, these were things that would challenge their understanding of the world they lived in.

"Hey! Don't leave your doctor hanging! I'm gonna send you a hefty fee for consultation."

"I'm not, it's alright."

"Then at least tell me what causes it."

"This coming from a Doctor, asking a patient what's wrong with him when they should be finding out for themselves."

"It's a two-way communication, you help me to help yourself."

"Alright, fine. Let's see…."

Ajay thought about it for a while.

"Anger."

"At what?"

"Betrayal, loss, unfairness. At any one time I felt these things, a warm welling appeared inside of my heart. Everything started to turn red in eyesight, then there was that infectious feeling- no… that craving for blood. The more I took, the more I wanted. The less I had the hungrier I got. Then at some point, I can't remember anything during the period in enter that state."

"HmmMmm!" Noore began writing it down on a notebook.

"There was one more thing….."

"Oh?"

"….. Dreams…" Noore's pen stopped upon hearing that.

"Yes. Every time a different one, the first was an alternate reality in which I joined the Golden Path. The second was me receiving judgement from Saras."

"MmmHmm!" She happily jotted all she heard down.

"The third…" The memories rushed back into his head. The memories he had forgotten and yet distorted with delusion.

"I thought was a hidden memory regarding my childhood but it turned out to be a weird one akin to a nightmare."

"What happened?" The death of his father and of Lakshmana, the sorrow of his mother, and then….

"….."

"Ajay, say something."

"A devil appeared and made a deal with Mohan's corpse."

Noore was having chilling feeling imagining those images from his perspective. She put down her pen and took of her reading glasses to rub the bridge of her nose. "As your doctor, I'd advise you to rest and eat well everyday with regular exercise."

Ajay sniggered at her doctoral response.

"As your friend, come talk to me about it. Don't keep it to yourself, or it'll affect your thoughts at inconvenient times." She said with a harmless smile.

"…. Thank you."

"No worries, I assume you'll be leaving immediately then." She went over the dispensary and fiddled with the small cupboards.

"I need an update report from Samar and Longinus on the Arsenal as well as attend to the meeting with the Hunic tribe that came three days ago, I've delayed them long enough."

"Mmm…I see- Oh! Also, Maya asked me to tell you to find Hurk." Maya had told her about Hurk's affiliation with that man.

"Why? Shouldn't he be in the Arsenal with the Samson?"

"No, it's not about where he is. It's about that boy you've been fighting against on few occasions, apparently Hurk confessed to having a prior encounter with Jason Brody in Rook Island."

"So that's his name." Ajay had never found out about that foreigner although he should have. But he was missing the most important detail until now.

"From Hurk's account, they were pretty close. Something he calls a… Tat…bro? I'm not sure what that even means. Go see him and find out, in the meantime take care of those wounds, they've only just sealed up." She reminded him again.

-Come to think of it, Hurk did say something about making me his Tatbro II. He also said some names of the other two whom I can't recall what they were. That means Jason Brody was one of them.- Ajay rubbed his head. Ajay took a moment to think about his intentions regarding Jason Brody.

-What'll Hurk think if I say I wanna kill him?-

Hurk was one of the few good and honest friends out there whom he had a good relation to and wanted it to stay that way. Now that him and Jason Brody were likely to clash, was it forcing Hurk to choose between which friend to side?

"Here!" She tossed a medicine container over the him and Ajay caught it.

"Aspirin. In case you move more than the regular amount today." She winked at him as Ajay had finished putting on his attire and nodded before leaving.

Noore packed her things and went over the pick up the last item in the infirmary on the way to the laboratory on Ajay's desk.

A vial containing the second dose of blood from Ajay. Swirling it around she thought to herself why there weren't any visible indications that related itself to Ajay's strange and inhuman abilities, it was almost like for a period he became superhuman in strength, reaction time and endurance, albeit an ever blood thirsty beast with yellow primordial eyes.

She browsed through the notes she jotted down from her interview on his experience with that trance state.

"Ajay only said he felt a welling feeling when he got angry. It was in the hearts so therefore, it had something to do with the blood circulatory system."

-Angry…. Like the hulk!- Noore giggled softly upon seeing a similarity in their symptoms. And then, suddenly it hit her like lightning.

"That's it! I'll just simulate his condition of anger! Now where did they put that adrenaline?" Noore was hopeful her new theory would help shed light on the mystery concerning Ajay's power.

For both his sake and for the people around him.


Ajay walked out of the Polyclinic onto the streets of the valley, he typed a quick message to Hurk to meet him at the Arsenal later in the afternoon.

"Now for the dignitaries." He had received a message from the Council office regarding the appointment at the Arsenal's office as well. There, he was to meet Chief Er Hu and five other members from his community whom accompanied him.

The appointed time was just ten minutes away and he didn't have the time to change. Still in his black combat fatigues that were full of holes and tears. What was more important? Being on time or attire? Ajay opted for the former because he had already wasted three days of their time. The Yalung Mask hung from his harness full of scratches and dents from the firefight he had been in before. He would need Samar to graft up some replacements, to be honest this mask had been with him since he first made it at the Royal Armory. Ajay placed the mask on to test its worthiness, whether there were any discomforts from the distorted metal areas to mend it later or was it still better to make new ones. This reminded him of the goat he had long killed, the crazed killer crafted masks to honor the demon god with his murders. As if trying to sate the demon's thirst for blood, Ajay was starting to feel nostalgia between his rampaging tendencies and the mask's original patent holder.

He had not been looking on the road ahead as he walked and bumped into a group of young adults he had not seen in the town before, or perhaps he wasn't in town much to see them. "Ow!" "Owf!"

"Oh! Sorry, I wasn't looking up in front, my bad!" He reached out to give that girl a hand. The girl looked up and saw the him. She looked hard at the mask and had some internal thoughts as he lifted her off the ground.

Her other hand slipped behind her back, which Ajay thought was to rub her butt from the fall because of him. He begun to think about how he would apologize for it when his sixth-sense kicked in from an imminent danger somewhere close by. As soon as he let go of her hand as she got up, the other hand darted out with a short knife towards his eye slit of the mask.

Ajay reached out and grabbed the arm just as the blade reached a centimeter from his eye sockets.

"Princess!- What are you doing?!" The rest of her group had finally comprehended what had happened and another girl called out to her.

That "princess" didn't answer her friend, instead she kicked Ajay away to release her hand from his. She reached to her back and drew out five more blades which she threw one after another.

It was quick, but not so quick Ajay couldn't see. For a "princess", this girl had a lot of throwing knives. Ajay stood on the spot because if he moved, the blades will miss and hurt someone in the background. He released the grapple to about one and a half metres and twirled it in front of him to deflect the knives just as they came, much to the girl's astonishment. He moved forward to disable her and get her to start talking but-

"Protect the princess!" One shouted and the four of them filled the gap between him and their princess. They were all brats just a year shy of being eighteen so Ajay restrained himself and sheathed his kukri and kept the slayer holstered.

The people begun to noticed the commotion and watched in silence as their lord was brawling with some weird kids.

"There's someone attempting to attack Lord Badala! Quick! Someone get the Constable Arvat!" One of the merchants on the roadside yelled out and his assistant ran towards the police box.

Those brats drew their short swords making it clear they weren't from these parts. Ajay stopped in his tracks and asked his first question.

"Are you by chance the Hun Dignitaries?"

"So what if we are!" one of the guys replied with hostility in his tone, he readied his weapon at him as if he was already his enemy.

-Uh-oh!-

"Then I think we might have had a misunderstanding here, I'm-."

"We know who you are! Damn Lord of Kyrat! Yu Bao, Pang De! Surround him!"

"But princess! This is the lord of the val-." The girl next to her wanted to say something but was cut off by that girl.

"I know who it is! If you won't help me then I'll do it myself!"

Her friends or bodyguards reached out but failed to pull her back as she darted in front with her own short sword and performed a crisp sweep at Ajay with a beautiful form. Ajay raised his armored gauntlet and pushed the blade aside from the flat end of it. Frowning at the counter he did to her strike she spun on the spot and did a quick thrust at him that even he couldn't block in time.

-Holy shit!-

Ajay could see that this girl wasn't a slouch at all, her fighting style was meant to kill. He couldn't deflect it nor dodge it in time so he had only the option, which was to receive it.

"Tsk!"

The sword plunged through his palm all the way to the hilt. The girl appeared shocked at his resolve to let her pierce him. So, taking this window of opportunity while his stabbed palm held the sword in place, he grabbed her by the collar and flung her onto the ground. "Ahh!" She groaned as Ajay slammed her hard to disable her.

"Leng Yue!"

"Damn it!" The rest came to apprehend him. One jumped forward with his blade raised, Ajay roundhouse kicked him in the gut while he was in the air to completely disable him. He slammed into some wares from a stall, knocked out.

Using the grapple line to lasso around one another and tugged him in with the motor. Coming flying towards him he punched him in the chest as he fell to the ground groaning in pain.

"Princess please stop, all of you stop!" The other girl called out to the boys whom seem to have another thought entirely.

The last guy swung his short sword which Ajay grabbed with his only good hand and twisted his hand. The kid had some strength compared to the rest and used two hands to push down at him, the sword came grazing pass his mask sending sparks flying from the contact. Ajay kneed his side breaking his strength, after throwing a punch to his face which put him down, Ajay threw the sword away.

Now he was staring down at the last two both women, one was that precious "princess" of theirs and the other who was initially more reasonable than the rest stood blocking his way to that girl.

"Are you gonna play as well?" Ajay inquired.

They stumbled back slightly. Ajay wondered what was he ever going to do with them, they were still envoys so they couldn't be harmed. Although he had already done some hurt to the boys.

Then, as if the movement just now adding to the recent damage to the mask. The mask fell from his face and plopped to the ground.

"Shit. I guess it that was it for it then." He reached down to pick up the long serving mask, it was now time to decommission it. He looked up to attend start seeing if he could convince the Hun brats to stop fighting with him because he was starting to feel like his stitches were getting undone.

Those girls started to stare at him in a rather strange way, like in disbelief. Although it was a little too late for that.

"LENG YUE!" A mighty voice thundered through the crowd that had gathered to watch this little side show where the lord kicked around some trouble makers, that was the thought that everyone had.

The crowd divided for the large burly but not plump man, next to him was Elder Aadinath and the Union representative who was also part of the town council.

"…..f-father…" The Princess girl said softly.

"I don't need to shout at you over what you've done! Go back to your cabins, all of you!"

"Hang on a minute." Ajay held his hand out. The five youngsters looked at him with remorse.

"Go to the Polyclinic, get yourself patched. Ask for Dr Najjar and say Badala sent you." After attending to the youngsters, he turned around and walked up to the Hunic Chief.

"Badala, Vice-Lord of the valley. Please forgive me for not attending to your arrival immediately." Ajay raised his hand towards the Chief.

"Um…." The chief raised an eyebrow at his hand, as did the rest of the councilors accompanying Er Hu.

"What?... Oh!" Ajay realized the short sword was still impaled in his palm, with a tug he pulled it out and took out a bandage to wrap it like he had done it before a hundred times.

"I'll restrain from shaking your hand, you have my admiration and you have my apology for my reckless daughter's behavior. Chief Yang Er Hu of the Hun tribe in the Eastern fringes."

"It's fine, just kids playing around that's all!" Ajay laughed. "Ptff! Hahaha! Kids playing around?! Hilarious, all too hilarious!" Er Hu couldn't help but follow along, he patted Ajay hardly on the back to commend him.

"I did happen to see part of your brawl with the young ones. I'll be the first to admit I'm impress! Not only did you fight all five of them but you also avoided hurting them to seriously."

"I'm sorry about that."

"Nonsense! I'm grateful for what you've done! You've finally taught those snobbish brats a thing or two on my behalf. Those damn brats think they're invincible and nothing can break or beat them, I was hoping someone other than myself would help me break their worthless pride to pieces. See that's the reason I brought them in the first place, to have a look at the outside world, not be satisfied with climbing cliffs or chasing hares. We're a warrior tribe for god sake!" Ajay learnt that the chief Yang was rather blunt in his speeches.

"What say we talk further over a cup of tea, shall we?" Ajay suggested.

"Of course! Lead the way. Say, have we met before?" Er Hu followed Ajay and the councilors followed close behind. The Constable who was called to the scene was left alone on the street without a statement from anybody.

Leng Yue watched Ajay and her father walk in the direction that led to the Arsenal. Her expression unchanged since she saw his face.

"Yu Bao… tell me I was seeing things- perhaps I was having delusions!" Her childhood friend shook her head.

"No princess, I still remember as well as you do. You definitely didn't see wrong." Yu Bao replied.

Yu Bao was having the same thoughts as Leng Yue. Something that shouldn't be possible was right there in front of them. Because Ajay held a face like someone they both had known for almost their entire lives. A face, though changed with time, was still fresh in their memory.

"….. Why does he look exactly like Darshan?"


Ajay had a meaningful conversation with Tribal Chief Yang Er Hu of the Huns in the Eastern Mountains.

He had learnt much from Er Hu concerning the tribe. Their heritage as members of the early Hunic ancestors who scouted the Himalayas. They could speak three different languages, Chinese, their local dialect and English quite fluently, writing was in Chinese and English respectively. How they learnt to speak fluent English was beyond him, but Mandarin was picked up during their wars against the Chinese Empire and the Chinese were the ones to develop words and characters first. So, they assimilated it into their culture, this explained their Chinese names and writing characters.

In the early days, they were stumbled across by the Kyrat Kingdom and the King sent his grand Royal Guards to raze the village. But had not anticipated the cruel savagery of the Northern mountain warriors. They were specifically adept to night raids, and used light weapons with little sound or noise. Ajay imagined them as Ninjas or at least night raid specialists. But these weren't the only traits they had, being so high up upon the mountains they developed an endurance to the low air supply and to the rocky steep terrain. They were as they claimed to be, vanguard scouts from the original long dead tribe that everyone knew from the history books, getting lost in the mountains they settled in the hidden valley that would be known later as Kyrat. Initially they ventured down the valley and encountered the early Kyratis who took their presence as an invasion. What really happened would be left up to debate.

There had been several battles between them and the Royal Guard battalions over the centuries. The closest one was in the fifties when the previous monarchy tried to display his power by riding the Huns from Kyrat where his predecessors failed. The fact that they could contend with the numerically superior Royal Guard said something on its own.

"Have you been enjoying yourself so far, Chief Yang?" Asked after much time had passed over beverages with the councilors.

"Oh- I've been thoroughly enjoying myself alright! It really was a shame I didn't come down sooner."

"Ha! Er Hu, if you came down sooner all you be greeted by would be the wind blowing over the barren slopes!" Aadinath chuckled.

"Quite so! Truly impressive, a strategist, a competent fighter, and a amazing governor!"

"You flatter me, Chief Yang. But this town was built with the swear and earnesty of all its residence. I've barely been around most of the time even during the beginning, so Captain Kadayat gets most of the credit for her enterprising spirit."

"Ha! Modest as well, although this intrigues me. I was under the impression women in Kyrat weren't permitted to undertake a man's job." Er Hu said in his ever-honest opinion.

"It used to be that way, just ask Elder Aadinath." Swear trickled down Aadinath's back when Ajay brought up his shameful past.

"Relax, elder. I'm just pulling your leg. If I held on to even the smallest of grudges would you still meet me on regular occasions?"

"As your lordship says, please allow me to beg your forgiveness once more for my poor manners back then!" He bent down genuinely sorry.

"Please, have your seat, elder. I didn't mean to make an old man stand and question your dignity. Forgive me as well."

"Yes. My lord." Aadinath took his seat in the conference room they had all taken.

"My lord, the papers have arrived." Elina came in with the legal documents.

"Thanks, Elina. I'll take it from here." Ajay received the dossier that held the legal papers from the court justice residing near the Royal Palace.

"Now because it is an appointment which grants you an office within Town Council there are some rules and regulation which you need to abide by. Most importantly, no unlawful killing or taking justice into your own hands within the boundaries of the valley, no consumption or sale of narcotics in the territory as well." Er Hu nodded his head as it all seemed rather reasonable for the time being.

"You're expected to deliver a report on settlement developments and important events that transpire every fortnight to the council for update on current affairs. Meanwhile, you'll be given a salary for holding office."

"How much?" He asked out of curiosity.

"Three hundred thousand rupees a month, or would you prefer it in precious stones?"

Er Hu's mouth dropped. The amount used to maintain the settlements upkeep and purchase of necessities from the passing Sherpa who charge exorbitantly high prices was around two-fifty thousand a year. Yet he was receiving around the same every month, he made a quick glance towards the other councilors to see if they were having the same. Most of them smiled or nodded their heads to him. Ajay continued to read from the legal documents.

"You are entitled to two weeks of leave on any day of the calendar year and medical leave should the circumstance deem it necessary, you'll need a general practitioner's note though. A budget of twenty million will be allocated to the development and maintenance of the territory under your charge."

Er Hu's head spun, just as he was planning to use his newly acquired wealth to support the settlement, there was an even more insane amount been put aside for the growth of his tribe.

"The term of your office will be four years, at the end of your term you may be required by previous agreement to nominate a successor during the council seat openings. There are ten seats in total, qualification for one requires four councilors votes."

"…." Er Hu took a while to proceed the information as well as to get a bearing of himself.

"What else will be expected of me, Vice-Lord?" So far he had only heard the benefits of joining the town alliance but not the duties.

"Simple, all five towns are required to grant male and female residence within their communities between 18 to 30 the allowance to join the PDF. A militia organization that trains and equips people with weapons and training, there are basic arithmetic and writing lessons which are provided for them. Allowance and meals are also given. As you've seen from your stay, there isn't any military presence within the borders of the Valley. That's because I've discussed with Army High Command regarding the autonomy in all the villages in this area, and they called for a militia as the basic defensive strategy for the North Eastern Region."

"I see."

"But for the Hunic Settlements case I thought of something else."

"So we won't be committing to this PDF concept then?"

"Not quite, instead it will be assembling an indefinite force of a hundred Hun warriors to merge with the Royal Army as a para-military unit."

Er Hu was genuinely surprised with Ajay's request. He was asking them to loan them with military power.

"Why is this so?"

"Why so? I thought I should use the power of the unbeatable Huns to our favor. I've always held the Huns in high regard, wasn't your primary occupation war before domestic affairs?" Ajay challenge.

"Oh? Now you've insulted our dignity, of course we're warriors to the core!" Er Hu beat his chest with a single hand but he wasn't angry only a little unsure.

"If you're concerned by the arrangement, it's been done before. Presently, there's a group in Pacchim Valley that operates in a similar fashion with the Royal Army. The Mukti Tigers, led by Amita."

"A women?" Was the first thing that caught his attention.

"She used to be a power house within the Golden Path movement till here direct opponent enacted a coup while she was away on a mission. With no place to go she took one of our fortresses and formed her own fraternity. She's currently the Golden Path's number one enemy."

"I should really make a visit down south to see this Amita woman, just imagining her appearance is getting me worked up!" Er Hu said impressed with the story.

"Maybe you could lead this para-military group yourself."

"Mmmm… that does sound enticing. Then again, if I don't do it. Everyone is gonna think the Huns are all talk and no action! I accept!" Er Hu made his resolve to agree.

Ajay handed the document over for Er Hu to sign, Er Hu took a minute to read through the various clauses. Ajay assisted in the interpretation of certain articles. When Er Hu was certain, he signed the document, receiving a round of applause from the occupants bearing witness to the first true collaboration between Kyrati and Huns for over a thousand years. They had come out of a neutral status to form an alliance with the Vice-Lord of Kyrat, this was breaking history.

Having the Huns with them was a great asset. He had seen it for himself just this morning, although they were young, those kids were challenging even for him to deal with. Imagine what fully grown adult warriors were like, what Er Hu himself to lead them was capable of.

To Ajay, this was a clear win. Not only did his negotiations provide cover for their rear where the mountains were, from attacks like the Marines' night raid. But now, he had acquired the most cunning and lethal of tribal forces in all of Kyrat.


The night stalked over Kyrat, the lanterns had long been lit in Banapur to light the way for the people who travelled from their homes to pay homage to their returned hero and leader.

Upon revealing his identity and having several elders and old guard commander verify it was truly him. Mohan instantly received the mantle of leadership once more. Although, the biggest question everyone had was how? How did he survive when they had received news of his body found outside the Ghale Homestead?

Mohan smiled and explained that his death had been faked while he was taken away by some group under Pagan's command. He had been incarcerated in a pit where no one knew to rot and despair at his movement crumbling to the ground on itself. He had been kept under guard and feed, there he bided his time to find and opportunity to escape which he did. He commended them on their persistence and endurance all these twenty-six years to which they felt honored. Despite imprisonment in less than ideal places, his complexion was as unchanged as he was twenty years ago. It was like looking at a portrait of him.

Currently, he and the high level commanders were discussing the current status of the Golden Path and how well could it hold, what forces could they muster if they passed the news of his miraculous return.

Sabal stood obediently by Mohan's side. In a way, his praise had saved Sabal from certain death and he was dead set on returning the favor to his benefactor and role model. He pledged his allegiance to him and his undying loyalty, so Mohan took him under his wing. Though, this didn't stop the rest of the Golden Path members from looking at him with all the hatred in the world they could muster. Sabal held a look of disdain as he felt they were simply jealous that he made an impression on the Great Mohan Ghale.

"Finally, where is my son? Where is Ajay?" Mohan asked after he had heard all he needed to hear on the Golden Path's exploits for the past twenty-six years. At this moment, all heads were turned to Sabal. Being the commander of the expeditionary force that attempted to kill Pagan and rescue Ajay Ghale from an armored convoy.

"Taken prisoner by Pagan, we weren't able to respond quick enough to Darpan's message and the place was too heavily fortified. We did try to kill Pagan on transit but-….." Sabal unconsciously placed his hand to his burn scars that had long healed but with the mark still left.

"Understood, you've done all you can. No one blames you." Mohan encouraged him, to which his whole-self brightened up. Some of the field commanders where thinking, otherwise.

-Done all you can? What about all those fighters you caused to die for nothing?-

But they failed to show their distaste in front of their great leader.

"It cannot be helped." Mohan went back to the situation at hand, the crisis of the Golden Path's dissolution.

"Where are my generals?"

The assemble members in the war council held glum expressions. When Mohan referred his generals, he meant the "eight devas". Eight legendary field commanders whom fought against Pagan himself when he was in the field and Yuma. Some had extraordinary strategic skills others had a combat prowess that was unheard of. Most, if not all were former commanders from the Nationalist movement and colleagues from the Royal Guard loyalists to the former Devi dynasty. One Commander stood up and explained to him.

"After the news of your apparent death, the "Eight Devas" split, doing their own thing. Six of them had they made an expedition to the North alone. Two were reported to have perished when going against Yuma and the Royal Guard. The other four were incarcerated in Rajgad Gulag after their families paid Pagan a hefty sum to keep alive and way from Durgesh. We've heard no news from any of them since. The last two have been missing ever since you were reported dead at Ghale Homestead."

Mohan sighed and accepted the changes.

"We'll prioritize their rescue, for now Pagan and the Royal army are unaware of my return so we'll use that to our advantage. Then, I will announce my return. The last two will naturally come out of hiding to find me in Banapur."

"Forgive me for asking, Great Leader."

"Yes? Please share." Mohan allowed the eager Field commander to speak.

"Thank you, great leader. But I am baffled on how we will be able to get pass the mountains to reach the Uttar Region, let alone reach the stronghold-like Rajgad Gulag and storm it when we have several examples of failures against similar strongholds by certain planners." The field commander emphasized to indicate and remind everyone of Sabal's failure at Baghadur. Sabal could only bite his lips in endurance of open humiliation because he deserved it.

"Furthermore, the American spies Marines had made an incursion through the Himalayas to raid the Vice-Lords home and also failed. Their incursion caused the Royal Army to fortify the mountain regions with heavy Snow guard patrols.

"That won't be a problem, for you see there are more than one way into the North available by foot. I happen to know a few, make ready to commence a raid upon the gulag by next week."

"""Yes, Great leader!""" The commanders and elders saluted him and left promptly.

Leaving only him and a dazzling eyed Sabal who could only admire him for his planning despite adversity, it was just as he had always heard on Mohan Ghale's character.

"Sabal."

"Y-Yes?"

"I have a few questions I need you to enlighten me on."

"Anything for the great Mohan Ghale!" Sabal was now his instant fanboy.

"When that brother mentioned American spy was he by chance referring to a CIA agent by the name of Willis Huntley?"

"Yes, Great Leader! Willis had arrived months ago to supply us with high tech weapons and equipment. But after a while he brought in those Marines when I had strictly enforced him from bringing personnel into the picture as you had done years ago!"

"I see, so he came back to finish what he and Lynch started together."

"My lord?"

"Nothing. I have one last query before I'd like some time alone. Who is this Badala I keep hearing the war councilors mention over and over like some sort of scourge?" Sabal frowned but opened his mouth.

"He has been the cause of our present suffering, ever since he appeared on the battlefield four months ago! This scar was his gift to me. He's killed over two thousand on his own as well as counter attacked on two of our largest assaults to regain control of Pacchim Valley and break into the Uttar region North. The men have taken to calling him the Northern Demon aptly. Pagan had supposedly brought him from the Americas to fight us, he currently resides in the Valley of Death as the new and only current Vice-Lord of Kyrat."

Mohan analyzed his story and had some suspicions to the tale.

"Thank you, brother. That is all I needed to hear, would you please leave me some time to organize my thoughts for the next actions I intend for our movement to take?"

"Uh- Yes! But of course! Please rest well, m-my lord." He made his way to the door.

"Sabal."

"Y-Yes?"

"I'm your leader but you should call me brother like the rest. Just as I call you."

Sabal's eyebrows perked up in pure joy, he smiled wryly. "Yes, I mean- have a good rest, brother!"

"Same to you, brother." Sabal nodded and closed the door behind him.

(Sigh)

"Such a naïve brat." Mohan let his façade drop once he had heard the footsteps go off into the distance.

A figure appeared before him from the darkness of the room.

"The preparations are on the way. Then we will begin our assault upon the Royal Palace and seize it once more." He walked up toward the hooded figure.

"And when the Royal Palace is ours, and I can finally walk over Pagan's cold dead corpse. I will dedicate all of my resources to uncovering the secrets to Shangri-La for you….."

Mohan knelt before the hooded figure bowing his head. The hooded figure held out her delicate porcerlain hands for him to kiss, which he happily did.

"…. My Master."