Author's Notes:
This chapter was one i've dreaded for quite a while now. Specifically the famous story adaptation i chose to follow.
The regiment size joint task force that consisted of forty-five hundred was to be called Unit 58 for the time being until the S-Program was declassified. As much as the commanders of the respective armies were disgruntled with the idea of commander other peoples' men and few of their own. Ajay had made it clear to the that it wasn't in their power to protest or complain. He'd received written documents from their top commanders that these men were now in his possession.
So their situation was like entering their first day in boot camp. Nobody knew who was the other guy next to him until they went through grime and swear with each other for months. The officers and NCOs kept their ranks as did the warrior leaders. Presently the Unit was divided into five battalions, each led by a commander from one of the armies.
Tiger, Leopard, Badger, Bear, Eagle. Simple names that none of them would mix up. Leading Tiger was the field commander Amita sent. Leopard was led by a Major in Yuma's Snow Guard. Badger was commanded by Loken of the 13th scouting group that defected to their side. Bear was led by a Major favoured by Arjun's faction. Eagle was to be led by Yang Er Hu, the Hunic Chieftain.
For a week, they would put their units into the same training regime as their respective armies to get them aquainted with how they wanted things to be run. And already, problems started to arise.
The Royal Guard commander put them through a harsh physical regime with the intention of breaking their egos down and working with it. The Tiger Field Commander made them perform logistical work with heavy scrutiny. Commander Loken made them trek for days without anything else. The Royal Army commander made them dig trenches non-stop. And Er Hu was the most relaxed of all, they lounged about not doing anything.
Letter after letter of complaint was piling into Ajay's office as he read them and they had a similar theme. The Commanders were too stuck in their army ways they weren't flexible at all. The men hated them already.
"We need a universal training system." Maya suggested. And Ajay was incline to agree.
The Commanders weren't all tactful that they weren't just commanding their own men. They wanted to teach them their own way first.
"How about we make them do a mock battle? Red vs Blue." Samson suggested.
"With five battalion strengths?" Ajay reminded him. "If this fails from the command level then the whole organisation would be redundant."
The annoying flaw was that they still held allegiance to their former parties. This became a game of who's army was better than who's. "Let me handle this, my way."
The next day, Ajay gathered the five hundred leading personnel for a meeting.
"You've all been discharged from your respective armies. From this moment onwards you bear no flags. If we fail this experiment, you'll return back to your families instead." He announced void of emotion.
The armies were shocked as Ajay presented them with documents of their discharge from their serving armies. And it all beared the signatures from their commander-in-chiefs. Er Hu laughed at them.
"Don't be too happy, Chief Yang. I'll be deducting two hundred thousand from your salary if this keeps up."
"Tsk! You little bastard, how dare you blackmail this old one!" He yelled angrily.
Ajay realized what he should have done from the beginning. They all had their units to return to if this experiment failed so there was nothing too serious. So Ajay burnt their escape paths leaving this as the only road to traverse forward.
"Right, I admit the first week was my fault. I expected too much from all of you, I thought you could work with foreign entities by it was my mistake. It seems I misjudged the actual capabilities of some of you." Ajay intentionally antagonized them and got them worked up, though they failed to show it their hearts were ablazed.
"I wonder if I should take away your ranks too." Immediately, a cold wave passed over them. To take away their appointments as leaders of men was cruel, it took them years to reach this level and Ajay was stepping on it with a mere suggestion.
He needed the five hundred to think as one. So the commanders would need to go through retraining.
"All of you will undergo a paratrooper training course by former 1st Captain Samson De Costa and former lieutenant Ricardo Allegretto."
They all needed to sing in one tune. And the condotierri were gonna help do this for him.
The next day they were assembled at the base of the Northern Mountain. Samson and the condotierri were sitting on a large boulder over looking the five hundred officers.
"For the next month, you will not bear the ranks you have. You will be the lowest lifeform on the planet until you complete this course! Slowly working your way towards becoming proper human beings. In the mean time, I will address you as Scum! If you are at any time unsatisfied with the way I conduct myself with you, you have permission to leave and go home. You will address me as Sir! Am I clear?"
"""Yes, sir!"""
It was like boot camp all over again, but headed by these famous mercenaries led by the Demon. Ajay was entrusting a very important mission to them. To get the officers from the five armies to work like a unit. He'd seen the impossible when they turned Hurk into the most dangerous marksman in Kyrat when all he asked for was to bring him to Royal Guard level. They were ex-special forces, so they had some sort of secret ingredient that differed them from regular troops or elite soldiers. Unit 58's goal was to achieve something of that category either way.
"Now you see the packs prepared in front of you and the groups you've been assembled in. Climb that mountain until you see the red flag on it! The hell are you standing there for MOVE!" Samson started getting regimental with them and pushed them to climb the mountain.
"What? Didn't god give you two hands and legs to climb? GO!" The Condotierri forced them to climb like they were drill instructors. Shouting remarks at them to motivate them to move with efficiency.
Ajay spectated from a short distance to supervise their training. Beside him was Jeevan whom he called for just a week ago to begin training him.
The young man was eager to start as he waited for a while to get mentored by the Northern Demon.
"Climb the mountain like they're climbing."
"W-What?"
"Leaders do three times the work of grunts. In this case, you do three times their effort alone."
Jeevan was internally surprised but didn't question and climbed further. He wasn't given climbing equipment like the rest, only gloves. He took his time to climb the mountain along with Ajay who watched over him. Before long, the group trained by Samson noticed the young man being instructed personally by Ajay and wondered who that was.
"You spent all that time in a box, I thought this would stretch some of those loose muscles for your benefit." Ajay replied haphazardly as he climbed ahead of Jeevan with little effort. This made him struggle to prove to Ajay he wasn't a slack off and diligently increased his climbing speed.
"Don't over do it. It'll be terrible if you got a cramp while climbing." Ajay cautioned him. He told him where he should apply strength to and how to climb with minimal effort all together. While Jeevan had been exercising non-stop before meeting Ajay to meet whatever obstacle the latter provided him, mountain climbing was out of his expectations.
But soon, Ajay and Jeevan were ahead of everyone else by a hundred metres. They were astounished by this feat. They had climbing ropes, harnesses and each other to assist in climbing while that kid had nothing, Ajay was no exception but he as a deviant to begin with.
Who was that kid? And why were they losing him? It ignited a sense of dissatisfaction to the sight and they worked with one another to climb higher. Samson smiled wryly, it was Ajay's intention all along. To make them work for a united purpose that they would all achieve the same goal in the end.
"Hold on for a while, Jeevan. We'll take a rest." He said as the flag was already in sight, but Jeevan didn't know it. Ajay passed him a bottle of warm liquor to warm his freezing body.
Seeing their opportunity, the group of five hundred climbed and encouraged one another to climb to the very top with their fastest and safest speed. When the last warrior climbed the mountaintop and reached the flat with the flag planted in it they gave off a cheer that echoed the mountaintops.
The Condotierri laughed, it was only the beginning but they were off to a good start.
"What was that?" Jeevan asked curious.
"Must've been mountaineers or something." Ajay smiled.
They reached the mountaintop where the flag was. Jeevan was surprised to see so many people on the mountain with them.
"Is there some sort of event or something?"
"Probably." Ajay feinted ignorance as he led Jeevan toward the next set of cliffs. The commanders of the group were inwardly shocked at what they were attempting.
"Just who was this young man with Badala?"
"Another monster?"
When they asked Samson, he replied with..
"That's Hamal's second son."
"Hamal had a second son?"
"Think I heard of it, he made a ruckus at the Crystal Falls celebration and nearly got kicked out."
"How did old Raghu get Badala to teach him?"
They had many questions from this one encounter, Samson wanted to see what other expression they would pose if he unvealed another bomb.
"He'll be your future Commander of Unit 58."
Ajay was hardpressed, switching from the site for project Bastion and back to supervise the training of the commanders and of Jeevan who was taken under the wing of Hurk to learn weapon maintanence, crafting of fieldcraft and rifle marksmanship. He was then passed to Ricardo and Stella to learn maneuvers and troop movements. Anish taught him close combat fighting style of the Royal Guards during his resting period with a large sum of money or 'tutoring fees' as he pictured it. He left these areas to the experts, the only thing he could train Jeevan in for fair say was state of mind. It didn't seem like much but it actually determined whether one would fight with his all and win or hesistate and lose. Ajay taught him to picture scenarios and respond to them appropriately.
The kid gave his 120% in everything he was given and absorbed knowledge like a sponge. Ajay felt that he stumbled onto a godsend, it was a potential ally with strength that could rival his own. Or so he would like to believe, he knew what drove Jeevan. But what worried him most was that Jeevan would fall down the same path as him, they had similar lives after all. The loss of a mother due to their folly, discrimination to their circumstance and many other aspects. But Jeevan had his sister with him which was better. He would take the route that would mold him into a complete person.
His sister came often to check on him every opportunity she could, such a loving sibling. Ajay was a little envious of their relation. If Lakshmana were still alive would his relation be something similar?
When Jeevan asked once how he fought like he did Ajay replied.
"I forgot how to be human for a split second."
A chilling message for the young aspiring soldier of Kyrat to what he could potentially become if he loosened a few links to his conviction and conscience.
It was one thing for men to fear stronger men, but they were universally afraid of monsters. Men run from monsters because all they see in man is to be devoured. Ajay constantly reminded the Golden Path through vicious attack making them herald him as a spawn of Yalung, the blood thirsty demon god. In a way, it saved many lives in the process on both sides. Fear weighed them down and stayed their treacherous hands. Too afraid to confront him, they would surrender or retreat and sustain low casualties, the same went for the Royal Army and Tigers who dare not misbehave in his presence. Ajay's Northern Demon Badala was the most effective deterent against Mohan's Golden Path. But men would only stay frightened for so long.
When the façade falls, which it would in due time, the Royal army would be in a terrible situation. While the Golden path would be strong as ever thanks to Mohan. That was why Jeevan was the start of something new. He was a potential hero of Kyrat that might lead men to victory. All he needed with to learn from the best. There were a lot of potential rising stars of Hope among the earnest Kyratis that Ajay saw but they lacked the motivation and courage to do so. Maya, Amita and Saras were some of those extraordinary people he's meet so far with unmatched talent. Arjun though old was a genuine patriot. Kamala would have been a figure to rally behind had it not been for her passing, instead she was the Tigers' martyr. Then there was Darshan, Yuma's secret weapon against the Devas. He fought and forced five of the main fighters into submission on his own. That was something unheard of and why Yuma precisely censored it from the public.
Somehow it felt like he couldn't read that fella at all. But he had a feeling that Darshan's interest wasn't always with Yuma only that they had aligning interests. But when she was deviating from their parallel paths he would leave her from his own interests. Some times he gave off the feeling that he wasn't watching Maya because Yuma ordered it.
Ajay was back in the warmth of his Homestead. Sitting by the fireplace with Bhadra who was reading up her work.
"What 'chu reading?" He asked out of curiosity.
"Just a folklore book as a part of my project, I plan to read it to the children in the childcare one day when I graduate." Her course was already going into practical assessments and she was doing her assignment readings.
"Why don't you read it to me, I'll grade you."
"Mmmm…" She replied unsure.
"What?"
"I just wondered how many mythology stories have you heard."
"None. But then, neither have the kids so you'd better read it well to them."
"…"
He did make a good point, she was supposed to introduce the story to them anyway.
"Alright, here it goes….. (clears throat)… The Epic of Ramayana."
"Rama-what?" Ajay asked ignorantly.
"You really haven't heard of Ramayana? You even call yourself a Kyrati? Almost everyone here has heard of it when they were children."
Wind passed by Ajay as clueless as he was, a cricket to sound out the moment was direly needed.
"The states haven't actually been forthcoming to imports for years. If you asked me what children's stories I heard of while I was young it'll be Walt Disney stories."
Now it was Bhadra's turn to be baffled.
"Walt Dis-ney?"
"It's fine, culture difference that's all. Now, weren't you gonna tell me the story?"
"Oh- alright. Now where do I begin? The story begins in-…."
The story of Ramayana.
The feats of Rama, the Ayodhya Prince were spread throughout the lands far and wide. However a twist of fate exiled the legendary prince who was incarnate of Vishnu in the seventh iteration. He, his wife Sita and his ever-loyal brother Lakshmana accepted their fate and roamed the sacred forests.
Years pass by as they live out the terms of Rama's exile. Until one day, they chanced upon a Rakshasa woman, beautiful in appearance and in features. Taken by his handsome features the women attempted to seduce Rama who refuses her due to his faithfulness in his marriage to Sita. She tries again instead with Lakshmana but he too denies her. Humiliated and hurt that she was inferior in their eyes to a lowly human she attacked Sita but was quickly thwarted by Lakshmana who disfigured her in the process of defending his sister-in-law. She left, furious and deeply humiliated.
But what the Prince and his family did not know was of her status. A princess among the Rakshasa of mighty Lanka. But also, the demon king's sister.
A Rakshasa general who was also her sibling had confronted Rama and his brother on this insult but were easily defeated. Because Rama was no ordinary prince, but an avatar of the powerful Deva Vishnu. How could lowly rakshasa compare though they were more powerful that most of the beings on the earth and immortal.
In revenge for the wrong Rama's family had done on his sister, the Lord of Lanka, Ravana kidnapped his wife Sita whilst they were away on a hunt. It was then that Rama and Lakshmana's quest to retrieve his wife begun.
Seeking the aid of various beings such as vanara, the sentient apes. And encounters his dedicated Devotee, Hanuman of the vanara tribe. Who assists them greatly in their campaign to free Rama's wife and subdue the Demon King Ravana.
Fierce fighting at the gates of Lanka rattled the very stone foundations from the marching of the Grand armies of Lanka and the coalition armies aligned with Rama. Fighting into a long stalemate with terrible losses on both ends. The war takes a turn when Ravana's brother betrays him to side with the righteous Rama and is eventually slain. Sita, Rama's wife eventually returns to him. With Lanka's rights to the throne given to that Rakshasa who aided Rama, they returned to Ayodhya where Rama became the rightful ruler to the throne to lead his people.
The story take a turn for the worst as Sita is accused of losing her purity to Ravana. She'd been behind that wall of Lanka for years so anything could have happened the entire time. But Rama had faith in his wife, however his people did not. Upon banishing her to live in solitude of the forests alone. At some point, they reunite but Sita "returns to her mother earth".
So ends the Epic of Ramayana.
…
…
History is decided by the victors.
Where the wicked become the magnanimous and the pious become the corrupt.
Words pass from father to son, ensuring fiction as annals in the history of man.
But the weak will always be weak, the wicked shall never be good and the just are never blind.
I need you now more than ever, one final push to ascertain justice as is our right upon man.
So is the will of Karma. Sown by none other than the Devas.
Threads that can never be broken, as is the one that binds you and me.
Most beloved, most foolish Brother.
…..
…..
"Ajay….Ajay! Oi!"
"Uh-… yeah, I'm up."
"Muuhh! If you're gone sleep while I read to you the story then I shouldn't have even read it!" Bhadra pouted.
"Um-…. Sorry, it was just pleasant listening to your voice. Kinda of like a lullaby, you sure that wasn't your intention?" Ajay smirked.
Bhadra became flustered.
"I'm not gonna fall for it so easily, repent!"
"Ok! Ok! I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me. Maybe it's cause I haven't slept in a while."
Reminding her that Ajay had been working non-stop, she found it hard to accuse him of being disrespectful to her effort.
"Alright, I'll forgive you just this once."
"You're an angel."
"Only when it suits you."
"All the time."
"Humph!" She snorted unconvinced.
Ajay went out for some fresh cold air to clear his fuzzy head. The story was quite interesting, told from Bhadra's edition. Although it felt rather bias in his opinion. After all it was written from man's point of view. And the character Rama represented the greatest of them, so it obviously favoured him. But for some reason, Ajay questioned the character of this Rama and Lakshmana. There was a lot of plot holes which could be because Bhadra was telling him a children's version but he couldn't help but sympathize for that rakshasa woman that they disfigured and for Rama's wife. It was unnecessary to go for such extremes from how formidable Rama and Lakshmana already were against horde of Rakshasa, Lakshmana was guilty of excessive force. It could have been avoided and they need not face the entire saga against the Lanka Demon King. Rama could have returned to Ayodhya to be king with Sita at his side without charges of inpurity on Ravana's part. Instead she was banished by her husband in his peoples' favour. There was no justice in Sita's life being with Rama.
Somehow it reminded him of Mohan, the people's messiah and of his mother, the Tarun Matara. And it angered him, he simply couldn't see Rama as the true hero of the story but a villain. With arrogance that caused so much death and destruction in the process because of his pride. But it wasn't the character's fault, it was just Ajay's mind wandering off into fantasy. The poem had messed with his head, it had such an effect on his mind that he almost believed his own assumptions.
And it was recited in the voice of that woman.
The one from his Ghale Homestead nightmare.
He would have to go to Noore to seek medical advice, though the latter would tell him time and time again that a medical practitioner wasn't also a psychiatrist. It was a completely different field. Yet they called themselves doctors too but couldn't treat sick patients, the irony.
Ajay had a sudden itch to take out the item he had the most unanswered questions towards and removed it from his neck and looked at it in his palm. The Kalachakra Wheel, such a small item had such frightening potential of bending time to its will. Found at the foot of an ancient underground temple of a forgotten deity, he didn't know why he picked up such a superstitious item to begin with. It was just reflex that his body reached out to claim it as his own. Ajay couldn't help but shudder that some unseen forces had some dealings with his return.
But he had no proof nor indication of such forces, only an assumption based on wild thoughts.
He had other things to worry about, Unit 58 was one and the super fortress Lanka was another.
Again, a coincidence in names he'd heard from that book Bhadra read to him. Lakshmana, Lanka and Devas. He wasn't at all familiar with the local mythology here in Kyrat although it was similar to India as Bipin told him.
He was expected to have a meeting with High Command and check on the S-program site to make sure they weren't slacking off. Time was of the essence, he'd heard rumors from the communications office at the Royal Fortress of attacks by Golden Path on some forward outposts. Futile attempts to test the guard of the Dragoons and Hussars stationed near Baghadur. He would have to pay a visit to Baghadur to see how they were doing with his own eyes soon.
He knew his father wouldn't make it easy for them, he didn't take twenty years just to come back now when Golden Path was at its weakest. He was obviously preparing something, which was what bothered Ajay the most about Mohan.
The Royal Army and Pagan knew almost nothing about him. He was assumed dead at Ghale Homestead yet here he was.
Ajay suddenly felt that there was something coming for them.
And they were hopeless to stop it.
Mohan returned from his trip around the town. It was a wonderful surprise at the beginning of the storm to receive so many willing applicants to the cause. Apparently Badala had allowed them to exit the North and reunite with them. He often wondered about the Demon's sense of honour, from his compatriot's description he was a personification of the demon god murdering his way through the ranks of golden Path. Even his old companions that survived and were affectionately given the name old guard were terrified of him. His latest broadcast was to slander his name and counter his speech. Mohan smiled at the feat, in another time he would have become a worthy rival. The Golden path were of course shaken by his words but it would only work if he himself was flustered by it. The old members knew him for what he was and so these accusations were meaningless on them.
But that was slowly changing. The Devas Bhishman, Sanjeev, and Vasu were retraining the Golden path fighters to their old guard counterparts competence and teaching them the forgotten ways of the Royal Guard inner conclave. Although it was forbidden to release it to non-members of the guard, the Royal Guards now weren't true Guards of Kyrat. A select group would be indulged in the ways.
But there had been no news of Ved or Swara anywhere. What became of them he did not know, even with a mighty being such as the mistress he had no clue. Did she know and feint ignorance intentionally? He would not know, she had always been that sort of secretive.
Jason Brody took command of the renegade forces once belonging to Paul Harmon, Willis's contact. There he watched at the young man extended his iron grip upon them and showed them who was their new boss. It made him wonder who exactly was that spirit in his life.
But other than the three Devas present and Jason Brody he was short four that made up the original eight. The number that everyone revered and the Royal Army dreaded.
He would have to christen new ones.
Jason was more than qualifying himself to be the fourth in line of the remaining three. While he was a foreigner, he had helped the cause on numerous occasions and received the approval of several elders and commanders in the war council. He was convinced that somehow the two that left were still alive somewhere. That left two more openings for the title of Deva.
But so far, the fighters in this era left much to be desired in quality. It was frustrating, thankfully his had Vasu around to manage this.
Mohan stood before his mistresses chambers in the villa granted to him by the Village head graciously. She sat in lotus position deep in a meditative cycle.
"Your trouble could be sensed from leagues away, child of Kalinag."
"You read me like a script mistress." She laughed at his being.
"So eager to depend on the strength of others. Isn't that what had begotten you into that predicament so long ago?" She teased.
Mohan nodded but silently cringed, he hated that subject being brought up even by her. The betrayal of his love.
"You seek two more to fill this childish rank of Devas. Oh child, you have no idea of the celestial might of the true Devas. To bear their name is a genuine insult to their existence and one that awards them a thousand deaths. But….. this is humanity for you. You undertake words only to suit your convenience. Words bear more power than you could possibly imagine, words bind Karma."
Again she spoke with mysticism. Were all ancient beings as such? It was the beauty of a forgotten civilisation Mohan yearned for in Kyrat.
"Your comrades take three places, the missing two will appear in due time. I can see their threads of Karma still linked to you."
Mohan found it assuring that they were alive and a divinitation from his mistress confirmed their arrival soon.
"One for the demented soul that inhabits the crude vessel." She was refering to Jason, Mohan gathered.
"One more shall go to Vel."
Mohan frowned at that name. The girl who his mistress had forcefully brought back to life and kept at her side. At the mention of her name and wanting of her presence a similarly cloaked individual emerged from the shadow.
"My mistress, I must protest. Her presence-."
"Disturbs you?" She laughed disdainfully at Mohan. "But of course she would, she transends beyond what you are capable of. Because she bears no will of her own."
The perfect tool of his mistress. A face though beautiful, was equally lethal. Because Vel possessed abilities that even Mohan lacked. Only because of her hearts purity that she was able to learn tomes and scriptures that were not supposed to be accessible to man. Vel was a bonified Witch that could ensnared the hearts of the weak to her will. Like puppets in suspension.
"And of the last place? Has any divinitation befallen the final one to undertake the duty?"
"You needn't look far, he has appeared before you and has his fate binded to you from the moment you revealed yourself to the world."
"He is the person who has returned to the land of the living to exact terrible vengeance on the cursed Demon that struck him down." Replied a full facially restored Sabal with a satisfying grin on his face as he crunched his knuckles feeling the unnatural sensation of endless power flowing through him as it did in Vasu.
Mohan shook his head internally, so it was this fool in the end he thought. What could the mistress possibly see out of this disastrous child, probably something he couldn't. But in the end all she saw was another tool to further her agendas.
From where she sat, though they didn't speak it. She could hear their ill and distasteful thoughts as if they spoke it loudly to her.
Reaching up to caress the unblemished skin on her face as if there had been devastating scars of disfigurement there previously.
-Oh humanity…. How wretched your very existence is to my presence.-
Author's Notes:
I worked on this part for a very long time. Even now, i don't know if i got the mixture right. Please share your thoughts so i may edit if it is unsatisfactory.
I've watched the 80s movie adaptation by Bollywood and it was pretty nice. Read some of the books on it. It comes in so many parts being complied its like a Harry Potter series of books. Research nightmare, cause of the many iterations portrayed of this story. If that wasn't enough, other neighbouring countries to India have the same story told in a different way. that was how influential Ramayana was to East and West Asia.
I was forced to chose one. And adapt from it.
