Author's Notes:
Ajay goes Ooga-chaka, ooga-ooga Ooga-chaka, ooga-ooga...
The winter winds were on the verge of dying down. But no one knew the exact day or hour it was cease for the the last time, it was always like that. Even weather instruments and satellite imagery couldn't tell you that because of the violent wind flow through the Himalayas that matched throughout the entire region.
The whole of Kyrat was on the edge of their seats, waiting for the light to penetrate the grey sky. Signalling the commencement of the first ever Full frontal assault of the Golden Path on the Kyrat Monarchy. In that, a grand total of twenty thousand fighters would disperse from Banapur, Tirtha, and many of the villages on the mountains that weren't usually mentioned on the charts. Their destination was King's Bridge, the only safest entrance to the North and where they could hit Pagan the hardest. While this was happening, a fraction of their force would occupy the major towns in Pacchim valley and set in the flag of the Golden Path on its foundations. Amita's Tigers were of another concern, Baghadur stood like a nuisance in the eyes of the Golden Path for months since she took over it controlled the North west and it also over looked the airport and the large Hubris town. In future, they were to provide Mohan's Golden Path with new recruits and requisition more supplies and weapons from overseas with the airport under their control.
As if they'd let them get their way.
It was thanks to the storms and steadfast patrols on the three battalions part that the Golden Path had mde no apparent contact with the Northern parts during the two months of storm. Naturally, they knew not of the preparation that the Royal Army had done. This included the existence of Lanka.
Now 45% complete but ready to take on any attack thrown at it, there was no allowance in entry across King's Bridge without getting pass the super fortress, and that was the whole idea. In a modern army, it was all about mobility and so stationery defences were obsolete if all that was required with to keep the defenders occupied while the main force went for the prize, while was the Capital. But in Kyrat's context, the mobility of an aggressor was severely deprived due to the natural barrier of the Himalayas, unless they spent billions airdropping supplies he wouldn't get anything done.
But also, the Golden path weren't a modern army in any indication but an insurrection of rebels. Small-arms and technical mounted weapons were the basis of their inventory. They lacked the most important aspects that allowed them to supposedly challenge the walls of the fortress which were heavy artillery, armored vehicles with direct fire support capability or even air cover. Most of these they initially had but were destroyed or confiscated by the Royal Army at the failed airport retake. But it wouldn't stop them from trying, to ascertain the strength and weakness of the fortress designed by Saraswati.
Standing strong facing the rest of the valley stood the three bastions of Lanka, each the rough size of an existing stronghold. Possessing their own, barracks, communication hub, courtyard, armory and helipad. The walls were made such that not only were they more difficult to assail than the bastions themselves but they allowed troops from all corridors to support places under heavy attack quicker. In future, there would be a second layer of the same type of defense in the interior but that would have to wait.
Barbwire and landmines were placed at the borders of the walls to make life difficult for the Golden Path when they came. Three infantry regiments took garrison in Lanka, including the Amita and the Tigers in the bastion closest to Hubris and the airport.
But the defense of Lanka was not the issue he worried about, it was everything else. Like spoilt brats that couldn't get their way, they'd bully everything around them. Going for the rest of Pacchim Valley, Meh Teh Airport and Baghadur were the major installations that they coveted greatly as it assisted their strengthening of forces. Three battalions were as High Command confirmed not sufficient. But he couldn't leave the fortress during the attack himself, he had to be there to assert that the fortress was every bit effective as they foresaw. He had to react to every instance they tried to breach and quickly eliminate them.
So Ajay had the difficult choice of sending Unit 58 to defend the forward base with the three battalions and the rest of the Tigers at Baghadur. It was the last thing he wanted to do, sending an unfinished brigade out to do battle. This inconveinicence would have to be their trial by fire it seemed. There would be heavy casualties that was certain, he was quite sure it didn't take all of the Devas to storm Lanka. The Devas were strong in physical strength as they were in tactics, they were Royal Guard officers once. Mohan himself was a Captain.
He had to let the only person he could trust to keep the brigade alive as long as possible to handle things, Maya. He left Hurk to watch her back from afar in vantage points overlooking the battlefield. She was also given priority to the Field Gun Battery set up over in Ratu Gadhi, capable of barraging anything within a 30 kilometer radius. Loobing shells over the mountain, those 180mm shells did some serious damage, creating craters at least the size of a local estate.
There was one bright side to all this and that was the availability of air support. Helicopters could now transport men to the field or retrieve them for medivac, they could also be used for ground attack with their unguided rocket pods and 30mm chain guns.
Ajay had once suggested whether it was feesible to launch an attack on the Golden Path whilst they were organising. But High Command was reluctant to send out regiments that could potentially lose their lives in not to the Golden Path but the harsh winter storms. Mother nature was not to be underestimated, if the Golden Path thought the same then it was reasonable to assume it shouldn't be attempted.
Once the defense against the Golden Path attack was finished, he planned to be inserted behind enemy lines where the Sleeping Saints Statues were to find and kidnap Solomon.
With that done, he had only one problem.
How was he to combat the Devas?
He was having strong suspicions that they weren't always that way, but someone had changed their nature. Inhuman strength and the ability to shrug off seven .45 slugs to the body and still seem fine was rather questionable. This was supported by the fact that a dead Mohan miraculously came back like the messiah even when the people that saw his dead corpse were sure it was that. From his own experiences, the Kalachakra Wheel, the Valley of Yetis and his demonic bloodlust were all of a similar mysticism. If he denied it at this point he was an ignorant fool.
So the million dollar question was, how do you fight with the unnatural?
Most straightforward answer was the unnatural. In other words, the only person that had seemingly unnatural correlation to the Devas was Darshan. But not even Yuma declared where he was, she probably didn't know either and didn't want to look incapable of answering such a simple question that could cost her the respect of her authority. How does a superior not know where her subordinate is? So he still had no luck, the last time he was reported to appear was apprehending the escaping Devas. Where he beat Jason almost half to death and played with the Devas.
He couldn't depend on such a wildcard to suddenly show like that time. He had to rely on what he had available.
The Devas were cunning, they'd definitely try to fight inside the fortress where heavy weapons couldn't bear on them. If he brought the Gepard Lynx rifle loaded with armored-piercing incendiary that could kill even the near-invulnerable Yetis then things might play well. As if they'd let him.
There was one last option for him, the one alternative he dreaded more.
If he let the anger pour into his attacks, he might have comparable strength. But there was a flaw, he couldn't control it, a berserk rage that could jeopardize everyones' lives instead. Then, when he was spent, he would black out for days after he expended his strength. It was essentially a last stand option that couldn't be used. He couldn't do much with just him alone to fight the Golden Path.
But what if he wasn't.
His main concern with the Golden Path was that they were becoming to acquainted with his appearances and practices of terror inducing tactics. Over time, even man stops fearing the beasts that lurk the forests and take up arms to change their fate.
So he had to introduce something new into the equation. Some thing that took the entire idea of the Northern Demon and made it look benevolent in comparison. Thankfully, the local Kyratis and fighters were highly superstitious, if not they wouldn't have been fearful of Badala. But now they had the savior of Kyrat, Mohan Ghale at their side. The hero would eventually slay the demon, that was how stories always went. Even if the Heroes were actually bastards in reality, they were favoured over the monsters just because of similiarities in features. But they could be monsters on the inside for all they knew and no one batted an eye.
Ajay held the mask in his hand, staring at it to gain some sort of enlightenment.
Yalung.
The mask he attained from the infamous Goat. The mad killer who dedicated his kills to Yalung. He was so feared despite his actual weak strength because nobody knew who he was or when he would appear. That man killed in the name of Yalung, bestowing the blood before the bloodthirsty demon god as a ritual sacrifice. A true disciple of Yalung… Disciple.
Within the Lost Valley of the Yetis. A regiment gone rogue declared themselves the Awakened ones or alternately The disciples of Yalung too. Led by Master Sandesh who was then a Colonel tasked by Yuma to retrieve the 'elixir'. But in this timeline, he never advanced to that rank nor did he go to the lost valley. Because Yuma had not sent her years looking through ancient artifacts, she was instead nurturing Maya from child to adult. Maya singlehandedly changed the fate of her adoptive mother and the people under her. He never saw where many people he met here in the previous timeline. Bipin, Saras, Elina, Samar, Darshan, the Devas, Mohan, Jason Brody, the hunters, the Marines and the CNS operatives.
He was reluctant to go back up the mountains to draw the elixir to use as a hallucinatory bio-weapon, there were too many variables he could mess up.
But the persona of the disciples, he could use.
He could remember as clear as day the accounts of his stay in the valley. Day after day of attacks on his hideout by the vicious and frightening Disciples. Savagely dressed, painted faces, and glowing yellow eyes. It was something that even he was a little afraid of.
-Could I form the nightmare of the Disciples of Yalung here?-
Ajay went to the stores to retrieve some war paint and went to the bathroom. He stripped of his upper body clothing and dipped into the white ash paint, smearing it over his face. With a face of ash it looked like a corpse had been dug from a grave. He used the crimson dye and painted exactly the same pattern as the Disciples had done. He rubbed the rest of the ash grey over his body and followed the red dye markings of the face to match on his body.
What he got, was a fearsome disciple of Yalung. He looked toward the armor he wore as Badala sitting on the chair and the mask by the basin stand. He picked it up and looked at it again.
"Not this time." He tossed the mask onto the armor.
He walked towards his private armory in the villa of his in Lanka. The weapons he brought with him into battle, those loud and intimidating weapons. He would not need them either. He went out into the wilderness with nothing on him save for his trusty kukri. With the only article of clothing on him being his pants and shoes. His top was bare save for a shirt, but those days in the Himalayas escaping Durgesh had make him so harden in made no affect to his body. If he controlled his breathing properly he could stay warm with just his own body heat.
He left everything that was remotely Badala's, the title and responsibility of the Duke of Lakshman, the development of the defences in Lanka. They were now no longer his concern while the snow still fell on Kyrat. The winds were still strong and the storm still at its highest. Only a little more than a week till the snow disappeared.
And only a week to perform his little experiment.
He spent the next day travelling through the snow towards the Golden path territory, he used his knife to craft himself a wooden bow and some arrows. Some coated with poison, some with petroleum glazing its cloth wrapped-end, some that used semtex grenades fashioned into explosive tips. Ajay hunted for his meal in the wilderness, and he went for the biggest game of all. The Bear, though hibernating, it was the best time to strike while it slept.
He found a cave and prepared some traps outside and with him. When he was ready he entered the cave. He crepted through the sizable amount of bones in the corners and found it unnatural. Then he realised….
"I'm in the cave of one of them freaks…"
(Sniff) (Heavy panting)
Those were not his but owned by the inhabitant of the cave. A white streak zipped by the corner of Ajay's eye as he readied the armor piercing tipped arrow in that direction. The white streak sped pass his eyes through the cavern quicker than the eye could see. And it was large
The tapping of two pairs of claws against the hard-rocky surface of the cave told him of its weight characteristics. It matched only one description.
The Ghost Bear.
Another one of the freaks of nature in this deadly paradise. A pale white giant brown bear, first though to be albino. But it wasn't, it was age. The bear outlived its natural age without any sign of deteriotating but instead becoming increasingly dangerous and ferocious. He never hunted it. Ajay wasn't so luck to find every single animal that warranted a hunt. Even Mumu was fine with a few of those freaks' pelts. But he heard dangerous rumours surrounding the bear. With age came not only strength but also wisdom. Be it lone hunters or a group, the moment it could sniff you, you were already within its grasps.
It couldn't detect him early because Ajay had the scent of nature about him. And stumbled upon him during its hibernative cycle. Ajay himself wasn't expecting the legendary Ghost Bear here of all caves. But that didn't mean he was gonna back out of it now.
He slowly reared with the bow raised, to get to the traps at the outside of the cave. The bear was not in his sights, neither was it making any sound. It was so cunning it knew about these traits that gave it away. Ajay had no choice but to back away and await it.
But he didn't need to wait long as a flash of claws came from the darkness, he jumped back in the nick of time and sent a salvo in the general direction. The bear howled to confirm his successful hit, Ajay took the opportunity to run out of the cave as he had thoroughly enraged the bear and would ignore all caution. And as he expected the bear ran out of the cave with bloodshot eyes, three arrows lodged in its front furcoat. The bear's mistake cost it as it triggered the ground trap and was lassled by the feet and several counterweights drew it off the ground.
Ajay shot a few more shots at its head with his bow until the bear stopped moving but heaved desperately for air. Ajay finished it by sliting its throat, the blood stained its ghost white fur.
He had caught his first meal in a day of travelling. Ajay proceeded to skin the bear into clothing and the flesh into steaks for his lunch and dinner. Sizzling one under a rock stove for his immediate fill of the stomach and smoked the other meats into jerky for the continuous travel by foot. By jeep, it could take as little as an hour to reach Banapur, but the weather made travelling prolonged. He was travelling by foot, which didn't shorten the trip anyway. But this was his choice.
To adapt to a new type of experience, on that didn't require the logistic support of the army or the comforts of a community. He was undertaking the tribunal of a lone huntsman. While he knew the forest by familiarity of map he did not fully understand its nature, where the wind blew, the animals that roamed it and grazed upon the grounds. The unfamiliar presence to the forests.
For some time, he wondered what was the life of an army hunter. The mysterious paramilitant who relied on nothing but stealth and a bow. Yet it had made the most impact on the Golden Path as a whole than any other establishment. How they could detect a foreign presence without seeing him, that strange whistling that enchanted the nearby wildlife to their side, their ability to blend into the environment and were capable of losing their presence.
Whilst he was thinking of all of this, the sound of collective growling neared him. The scent of flesh meat in this quantity had attracted the local scavengers. Wolves.
A pack of them to be precise, but what was a group of wolves to him? Although, it was a surprise to see amongst their formation that closed in to assert their right to the game that Ajay had painstakingly hunted, killed and carved was a rather nostalgic appearance among them. Acting as their pack alpha was the black pelted wolf, known widely but the cursing livestock farmers on the days prior to the storm setting in as the Mad Devil.
Mad devil in appearance and in function. On bite of its rabid saliva could cause you to go into a instant fever and prove fatal as poison if not treated. The alpha wasn't just known for its bite, while Yaks weren't easy to kill even for packs, it was this fellow that took the initiative in performing a lighting quick attack to the throat and disabling the Yaks instantaneously. This was hypothesized by the carcasses of the Yaks found munched up by hunters.
Ajay took up a chuck of fresh meat and threw it to the wolves. "That's all you get."
The wolves looked a little surprised for a second, the alpha helped straighten them out by continuing its pace towards Ajay and the rest of the meat.
-Greedy little runt.- He thought.
But the Mad Devil had skills to back up its daringness. While they were aware that for something to kill the local overlord of the forests around here was not ordinary. It didn't stop it from investigating, testing if Ajay's strength was what truly took down the forest master.
Ajay placed down his kebab of bear tenderloins and walked calmly towards the alpha which was tailed by its less than eager pack members. For these wolves, he was confident he didn't need to get physical. While he didn't know the way to domesticate wild animals he did know a trick how to subdue dogs. Or in this case, a member of the canine breed. Something he used on strays back in Brooklyn who went around his neighbourhood a lot.
(Whistle) Ajay blew a high-pitch sound to a lower note.
And all of the wolves including the alpha sat down with their ears flopped downwards making whining noises. Much to his satisfaction, Wolves were indeed from the same family as man's best friend. Then an idea popped in his head. He proceeded to walk up to the alpha, Mad Devil that wanted to get up and growl the moment he neared. But Ajay violently snatched its head and pressed it down on the ground subjugatively. He stared at the wolf with his intimidating demon's aura to aid in making the wolf submit. Until the fire in the alpha's eyes disappeared and was replaced with fear. It became as obedient as a newborn puppy.
When he held out his hand the wolves instantly lay low in a dog bowing manner, a withdrawing hand action allowed them to stand easy, a trick to keep them suppressed. Ajay went towards his plentiful meat stash and handed out freebies to his newest canine partners.
Before he realised it, not taking this matter as seriously as he thought.
Ajay had become a pack master.
Hunting with the wolves at his side was an undescribably joyful feeling, therapeutic if he was allowed to say it. The ghost bear's fur over his shoulders made his trip a little more comfortable and his silhouette a bit harder to make out in the white powder snow because of the matching colour and the harsh winds blinding visibility. The wolves had natural talent at working together that was certain, so when he tested them out on a rhino that trundled through the snow with great difficulty he had less precaution as when he engaged it usually with high-caliber weapons like the .50 cal rifles. The wolves surrounded and taunted the rhino while Ajay stood from afar and loobed heavy pound arrows into its side. Hunting a rhino with a bow was the very last thing he would have done in the past but it was different this time. The rhino succumbed to its injuries as the wolves bit at its tough hide with little damage unlike the heavy pound arrows. Ajay slit its artery, he was rather familiar to a rhino's anatomy thanks to a certain arena incident. The rhino bellowed its last, the wolves obediently waited for Ajay to cut through the hide and reward them with the rhino's inner goodness. Ajay skilfully diced parts of the rhino into cubes that he threw to the wolves whilst he cut out a portion for dinner.
This life seemed rather nice, although it might end in a week's time because of the winter. Perhaps he could take retreats into the Himalayas away from a certain mountain and its inhabitance. But now he was sought of stuck in a routine, almost forgetting he initial reason for venturing out unnoticed. It was to see the reaction of the Golden Path towards something new and unseen. He checked through his mental map and recalled a nearby fortified outpost belonging to the Golden path near the Tirtha main camp. He made his way towards a cave close to the outpost to wait out for a better time in lowlight.
Meanwhile, he and the almost domesticated wolves slept and eat in the cave by the warmth of embers of the charcoal Ajay picked from a ruined house in the snow. They became addicted to his decent petting of their fur as an alternative to food in rewards, becoming akin to actual dogs. He rested easy as the night was when he would spread terror anew.
Midnight had come over Kyrat, while the moon could not be seen the wolves of the valley howled as part of their nature.
Ramal grumbled at being made to stand sentry duty out in the cold whilst the rest were warm by the stoves indoors. Him and a few others outside felt the same way and complained to one another.
It was the same, strong winds blew restricting visibility to a mere ten yards in front, a cold that threatened to turn them into icles on the spot.
The Royal Army was in just as terrible situation as them, Ramal knew it. Already a hundred had succumb to a winter burial, through either freezing, getting lost and eaten by wolves or simply died of hunger.
Ramal was one of the few that made the long trip from Uttar region all the way to Banapur to join the legendary Mohan Ghale. His uncles had always talked about revolution but then again they excused themselves for not taking part due to age.
Ramal didn't care, he himself wanted to lay eyes upon Mohan Ghale. This was all possible because the fabled demon, Badala allowed it to happen. Ramal still didn't understand how that person thought. In some ways he did have a code of honor too. He didn't restrain them from taking up arms against them.
When he passed through with his young and eager friends he was surprised to see rationed food and clothing distributed to them. Although the Elite guards were not the slightest bit happy about giving their supplies to traitors in their eyes they gave it nonetheless on their Lord's orders. He had complicated feelings at King's Bridge about whether he really wanted to join just for the sake of thrill and righteousness. But he let his friends persuade him otherwise and followed. At the foot of the hill, waiting to welcome them was none other than the Great Mohan Ghale. Shaking everyone of their hands personally for the persistence in coming all the way. It lighten their hearts to know the trip wasn't in vain.
While their leader was hospitable, the same could not be said for the senior fighters who only saw spies or traitors amongst the ten thousand of them. A field commander ordered their effects given by the Royal Army to be confiscated and redistributed amongst the frontline fighters. Under pretext that they needed it more and it was all for the cause. It made sense, even if it was a bit mean of them to do so.
Like all of them, they were shipped to the Golden Path Recruitment Camp just outside Vyatha or what was known to many as the City of Pain. The main ruler of that place, De Pleur had been taken captive by Badala and the Tigers. There was no hope of his return either way once in Badala or Yuma's hands, his daughter had also mysteriously vanished from his estate near the former stronghold of Varshakot. Taking his place was a rather special person called Jason Brody. To the whole Golden Paths astounishment, he had been bestowed the title of Deva to fill in the gap of fallen Devas that died in the North to their wounds and intense labor. His promotion was more celebrated than the other two, one a cloaked young woman who gave the sense she was very beautiful under the hood and not so celebrated was Sabal. He'd heard a lot of Sabal's exploits and failures over the radio, although there was something not right about him. He even heard him having a rather distinct scar which was obviously not present. Perhaps the media overblew it or something.
Some field commanders weren't exactly happy about this decision and confronted him. That's when they met with an unsuspected surprise as Sabal actually overpowered them, sending quite a few to the wards for a long period in the snow. He heard from some seniors that his character was selfish and self-indulging, it became worse with this change in power with him. Making him more akin to what the folks here called him Rakshasa affectionately for his evil personality. Why Mohan tolerated him at all was beyond anyones expections. If he decided to execute him one day, no one would blame him.
Ramal gazed into the distance, having no apparent thoughts or motives. It was then that his heart quickened after spotting a shadow in the distance closing in towards him.
"Who goes there?" He called out as a part of his instructed line.
The shadow stayed for a while and he went over to his colleague.
"Hey! There's someone out there." Bring him over to see, but by then the shadow was absent.
"You sure it wasn't a wolf or something, they appear from time to time. Don't stress yourself out over nothing, rookie! The Royal Army and even the demon aren't stupid enough to challenge nature. So relax." He patted him on his back before rolling out to his next route destination.
"Guess it was just nothing." He turned back to his post and stared at the blizzard uncomfortably, he wanted more than anything to return to a warm fire.
An hour passed, Ramal found it strange his friend didn't past the checkpoint where he was for so long. If he couldn't go then someone else would have gone instead. An eerie feeling plagued him as he readied his rifle to investigate what had happened.
For some reason the lights in the cabin were off as well. Did they actually sleep? His first priority was to find his friend, but as he passed the other checkpoints none of the other guards were present either.
His heart palpitated as he rushed towards the main cabin. When fifteen roaming guards disappear this was a matter for the Command to be notified of an incursion happening on the outpost.
"Hey guys! Th- Huh?" As he entered the dark cabin, there was almost no sound, save for the wind battering the shielded window. He pointed his weapon in front of him.
"Show yourself!"
No one responded. Ramal moved closer towards the switch to the overhead lights. Little did he know of the horror that would appear before him.
(Click)
He wished he never turned in on.
The color that dominated the widen cabin space was red, the colour of thick blood scattered all over the place. Bloodstain of hands scratching against the walls, and the bodies themselves were chucks of meat laying about.
Losing the energy in his legs he fell on his back without making any sound from his mouth. His body froze solid, not even wanting to shiver for fear he would be discovered by whatever did this. He slowly crawled toward the door by his back and when he reached the entrance he ran out with the quickest speed that he could.
Then, he met with part two.
Hanging off by the ends of their legs tied to the lamps above were the guards and his friends that went missing. He looked all around him. Bodies that weren't there were everywhere. Blood stained the walls and inscribed on one was a painting of antlers he was unfamiliar with. But that wasn't his prior thought.
"Join us….."
He trailed his gun toward the direction of the voice to find nothing.
"Walk the path of eternity…" Coming from another direction. Sounded like a voice amongst the wind, giving the intense dread that a mysterious power had done all of this.
Wolves howled despite the absence of the moon, the sound was very close to where he was. It added to the terror that ran through Ramal's mind.
He had long heard of stories about a killer that roamed the lands, an excommunicated priest turned homicidal maniac. But the man was vanquished by the demon. So that definitely wasn't the case.
"Awaken and walk beside us….." He turned around once more and saw a figure covered in ash white gazing at him with yellow irises. And that was when he heart sank.
"AAAHHHHHH!"
Ramal screamed and ran in the general direction of Banapur. He didn't care whether it was dangerous or not, out there was better than here in this nightmare. Running at maximum speed towards the safety of homebase, if they punished him that was fine. He didn't dare to stop and turn around thinking it was ok. He didn't want to see that horrifying face ever again.
He should never have left home.
Ajay stood in the snow with the alpha next to him, watching the messenger for their terror bring news to Banapur in the most terror instilling fashion possible. Having only seen and not comprehend what Ajay was, he would go back to bladder all he needed for them to make no sense of his words. But the bodies they would find at the end of the week would be real.
Ajay scratched the fur under the Mad Devil's neck that the wolf liked very much.
While that survivor hadn't witness Ajay kill off his comrades at his own pace, Ajay had dispatched the guards with relative ease that even with the Maya and the Hunters wasn't as quick. The Mad Devil darted around and leaped for the opponent's throat and gorged into it instantly killing the man or woman. Like a black lighning bolt, it was a rather special animal he had never had the experience of taming. Ajay almost regretted not trying the same with Gulo or the Sky Tiger cub Bishal as he didn't see their real importance in anything he couldn't control then. But it was never about controlling them, it was about mutual trust. Something he imparted into the black alpha wolf, and the wolf became something he could trust his back with…. A friend.
"From today onwards, your spoils are mine and mine are yours. Your name will be Vajra and you will be my friend."
The alpha, now named Vajra panted happily like a dog did as Ajay proceeded to pet it.
Ajay looked in the direction of the other nearby outposts to Vyatha, far from the main camps in Tirtha and Banapur.
Now all he needed was to try this a few more times.
….
….
Ten Vedic Talismans
Ten Sacred Guardians
Seal the wrathful asura, beneath the everwinter mountain
Four perish, one renounces divinity
To walk beside the awakened as his Dharmic Guardian
Five Talismans shatter
Unfolding fate of the burning heavens
Such is the will of the Indomitable one
…
…
Vasu attended a meeting with the vanguard field commanders who would spearhead the charge into the North when a dispatch came to whisper into one of the staff's ears.
"What is it?" He asked but the field commander was also not sure what he heard correctly.
"Some outposts near Vyatha have been completely wiped clean, no survivors or traces of the attackers."
"So why was this not settled earlier?"
The field commander didn't say anything but his body language said "Can I talk with you for a moment, brother?"
"Meeting dismissed, come brother. Let's hear it." The other commanders left as Vasu accompanied that field commander towards the residential areas allocated to the fighters.
"The investigation teams recovered rather nasty images of the sites." He handed Vasu the pictures in his pocket. It could only be described in one word.
Massecre.
But the level of brutality was on par with animals. The body parts torn and discarded, no a single whole body was recovered from the sites.
"How many?"
"Seven outposts, all of them along the fringes of out territory facing the Royal Army."
"Have the outpost been garrisoned?"
"The men-…. No, brother. No exactly."
"What do you mean not exactly?"
"As in, they secured the outposts but they refuse to camp inside and rather stay out in their tents." These attacks were clearly of psychological warfare in mind. Somehow Badala came to mind, after reviewing much of his exploits these seven months from the fighters. But was he this savage?
Vasu stared long at the pictures until he came across a rather perculiar picture. In it, was a wall painted in victims' blood an emblem.
"What do you think this is?" Vasu guessed it was the affliation of whom ever attacked.
"Dunno, never seen initial before. Deer antlers, right?" The field commander said. It did look like antlers, but Vasu had a feeling it was something else.
"So where are we headed then?"
"While I did say there were no survivors, there was one. It was to protect him in case someone wanted to silence him."
"You suspect a member is involved?"
"I don't know, but when you've operated in the Golden Path in the time like mine. You often question who is the real tyrant. In truth all of them are just as bad, why couldn't life be like it used to be?" The field commander sighed. If he had said that to any other Deva, the man might've imprisoned him, but Vasu begun to have serious doubts about his affiliation to the Golden Path and Mohan in particular. Words that Darshan said took root in him, was his side the righteous ones any longer?
"But it's not just that, I didn't want to affect morale." The Commander added. Vasu found it serious.
The field commander took him to a house where a man sat in the corner with a blanket over him, a look of pure terror on his face as he stared intensely at the door. The Field Commander gave Vasu a glancing look to show the situation to him was not false.
"Ramal, I have someone who would like to hear your story." The commander tapped him.
"…Ok. B-But! First close the door!" He pointed to the open door where the wind blew in. Vasu closed it immediately for his sake.
"Greetings brother, I'm Vasu. What's yours?"
"…. R-…R-Ramal."
"Ramal, what happened over there?"
He stared at Ramal with seriousness, when he saw this he burst into tears crying to himself. Vasu could see he was mentally traumatised to the point he almost lost sanity.
"… I ran…I Ran and ran and ran! It-…. I could still hear it speak in my head!"
"What did he-…. it say?"
"Join us….. walk the path of eternity ….. awaken an-…. And walk besides us!" He said in a shivering mess.
"How did this person look like?"
When Vasu asked Ramal was reminded of how terrifying the look was.
"A corpse!... A walking painted corpse!"
Vasu's eyebrows twitched and him and the commander exchanged looks to one another.
"Rest easy, you''ve been through a lot, brother." Vasu patted him on the shoulder. But-
"No! NO! It's not, it remembers me! They'll find me and make me one of THEM!" Ramal screamed pertified. The sight was disturbing towards the other two.
"I have but one more question, brother. Then I'll leave you in peace."
Vasu took out the picture of the bloodly antlers to show Ramal. At first he didn't turn to gaze at it but when he did-
"WaaAAAAHHHHHH!" He wailed uncontrollably and lost all control over his body as he spasmed about, like he had experienced a haunting and was possessed. Now he understood why the field commander chose to leave it out of public knowledge. It was more horrifying than Badala attacking them. It was an attack of the unknown.
"ANTLERS?! NOT ANTLERS!" The man screamed like he possessed a vision, and fainted following the stress. The field commadner went to check he was still breathing.
"That was scary." The field commander said patting his chest.
"It was a good call, not presenting this to the council, you did well. I'll personally look into it from now on." Vasu said.
"Mmm.. I'll get back to my work then. Try not to think to much about it." The Field Commander departed after putting the sobbing mess back in his cot. Vasu gazed upon the tearing Ramal, he had seen a horror that could potentially threaten the very inner ranks of the Golden Path. Something that was new and horrifying, something they had little knowledge about. And that scared him, despite his near invulnerable body and the blessing of the mistress. He felt that it had the power to cut through him like his body were a paper sheet.
Vasu returned to the villa which Mohan and the mistress were.
"Something wrong, brother?" Mohan called out to him.
"Brother, it's nothing to concern yourself with."
"On the contrary, if it burdens even you it must be something important."
Vasu sighed and explained this new unforessen threat, to which Mohan frowned.
"He was right to keep it behind closed doors, who knows what type of damage this could potentially do to the high morale now. Still….."
IT was as Vasu had predicted, this threat was as dangerous as the Royal Army. Was it one person or was it a group, he didn't know even that.
"Do you have a picture of the entity?" It was disturbing for Mohan to refer to it as an entity and not a person. Showing how serious he was preparing it to be. Because in a world like theres, these things existed.
Mohan flipped through the photo cards and saw the bloodly works, then his eyes landed on the picture of the antler painting. He stared at it for a long while.
"Brother?" Vasu noticed something wrong when Mohan's eyes widened.
He held out the picture to Vasu.
"Vasu…. What do you see in this photo?" Mohan asked in a grave tone.
"I-…. I'm not sure, Officer Depa thinked it was deer antlers."
"They're not deer antlers." Mohan replied instantly, his response confirmed that he knew something about it to Vasu.
"What is it and… who are they?"
"This mark….." Mohan pointed to the photo.
"Is the sigil of the awakened." A tremor ran through his mind
"…. A cult?" Mohan nodded.
"You're close on that one. They worship a particular entity, one that the mistress has been dying to find for a long time, since the confounded Demon Banisher Clan sealed it away and erased the path to its existence. Now it lies in out texts as merely a myth or I dare say, tradition."
"It?"
"Yalung." Lighning stuck from outside the window and inside of Vasu.
While he was never the superstitious sort, ne never would have imagined that the dreaded Demon God Yalung actually existed and was sealed somewhere.
"There's another name for them, on highly appropriate to their motives and agenda."
"And what's that?"
"What the priests always do to quench Yalung's thirst, except with man instead of goat." Mohan said with a smile.
"We call them-."
"The Disciples of Yalung." The enchanting voice of Mohan's benefactor answered his query from her dais. Vasu turned to face her as she had the intention to enlighten him.
"A wrathful asura, sealed away upon the everwinter mountain for eternity. Binded by ten Dharmic Exorcists who casted a talisman, resembling their own sacred motif." She spoke in her usual mystical quirk holding no true answer, or rather they had no idea what it was at the moment.
"What do they want here in Kyrat?"
"What they've always wanted."
Vasu didn't like the sound of that.
"More sacrifices, more… blood….. to exalt the demon god."
Author's Notes:
Some complaints about Ajay not having an animal friend. (Solved)
The Sky Tiger in Maya's possession, Bishal. Is more important than you could imagine.
Last but not least...
I have not personally played FC primal so i wouldn't know if it resembles it in any way if Ajay seems tribal right now.
