Author's Notes:
Lot of bloodshed and spinning of moral compass from me recently. I'm doing God of Cookery to get out of it and take a break.
*Do you understand the gravity of the situation, soldier? At this moment, we cannot send any heli evac at this time to extract you once you're done.*
"Yes, sir. We do."
*As brave as the four of you are for doing what you're about to do. You must understand that this must not be traced back to us. Am I clear?*
"We hear you, sir." The marine looked to his squadmates who gave him a look that they were accepting the consequence of this mission.
*I'm sorry to say that this cannot be on the record as well, your families will never know of what happened to you. But we will do the best we can to set them for life.*
"Thank you, sir."
*No, marine. Thank you. It's this kind of initiative that won't be forgotten. Your country owes you greatly. If we could buy your way into heaven, we'd throw the whole budget at Saint Pete.*
"That's a nice thought, sir. But we know what we're about to do will never be forgiven." The Marine Corporal, Grilles's subordinates had escaped with one of the nukes on a makeshift wooden sled. They went to the camp site which was supposed to be their rendezvous point with the Army Rangers, only to find the camp burnt to the ground and some heads on stakes. They dug through the unrecovered possessions looking to acquire a long-range communication system from the camp and to their luck they found one in working order. Their first call was to none other than the Pentagon to speak to the highest authorities on what be the next course of action.
Who would answer but the secretary of defense himself, who informed them of the situation that transpired. The expedition sent to support them had been annihilated by the Kyrati Army and some other monstrosity that appeared on satellite imagery. From the photos and thermal scans presented a serious threat they had not met before. Because twelve thousand soldiers were butchered under fifty minutes of first contact as the remaining expeditionary force reported before being killed.
*…..*
"Yunno, sir. I'm beginning to feel kinda relieved we built these things." The corporal tapped the nuclear bomb with his free hand.
*(Sigh) And I never believed the President and I would actually authorize this… It's been nearly seventy years since President Truman made that decision which shaped our world today.*
"With all due respect, sir. I may just be a grunt, but even I know that sacrifices have to be made." His comrades placed a hand each on his shoulder to show they were with him on this suicide mission.
*Fair enough. Take this down, it'll be your nuclear verification.* The corporal tapped his buddy for a pen and scrap paper to write with.
*Now, assuming the verification code on the bomb is right-.*
"It is, sir. We're looking right at it."
"Ok… Romeo-Oscar-Zulu-Charlie-Tango-Tango-Lima-November. The authentication codes, 560020 Foxtrot-Echo." The corporal wrote it down with his fellow marine to check it and double confirm.
*Set the for a two-hour delay, that should give you enough time to get out of dangerous dosage radius by foot. You do cardio?*
"If I wasn't a Marine, I'd be in the triathalon, sir."
*Marines… Good luck and Godspeed.*
"Semper Fi, sir." He said before the radio went dark, like the conversation never happened at all.
The corporal turned to his fellow Marines who gave an emotional look, he remained quiet for a moment. As if to pray for the unfortunate souls that lived in this region. Only months ago, he had been part of a platoon sent to extract a rogue agent. Now he was ordered by the Commander-in-chief to vapourise this part of the earth and these monsters along with it. If he lived to see tomorrow, he would have recurring nightmares of today and rightly so. He was going to live in torment for what he was going to do, they all were.
"Let's go to work." He said picking up his rifle and squatting beside the Permissive Action Link interface that winded to life after a plunger was cocked to turn on a manual battery which turned on the priming system. The system had been recovered from the stash as an interface for programming and setting the fuse of the bomb if needed.
"… Zulu-Charlie-…. Tango-Tango-…." He murmured as he pressed the keys on the keyboard and stopped when he heard something in the distance.
The sound of something beating the wind.
"That's a helo!" His Marines went into alert and looked for a vantage point. Climbing over the ledge of a cliff.
(Bop-bop-bop-bop) A full-sized helicopter appeared out from under them. And filled the air with a deafening chopping of blades in the air.
(Brrrrrrrrr) Paul depressed the trigger to the minigun, chopping down one of the Marines that didn't react quickly enough.
"Wyatt! We've got company!" The other marine fired to suppress the helicopter manned by Kamran.
Pagan never thought this day would come, a day when the people would approach him with both respect and gratitude, a genuine to a forced expression of thanks. This was the abilities of a person who had the qualities of a King, yet left it to him.
He found his coffers always filled with money while the people and the lands were continuing to grow and develop. The army was changing with Arjun, the intrastructure was developing as Ajay pumped money into it, the hygiene and standards of living were sky rocketing thanks to Amita and Noore's implementations into health and agriculture. The main source of revenue was no longer just solely on the Northern Mines but also through a build up in commerce in the Dukedom of Lakshman.
Pagan chuckled to think that the once barren land became a small city in under a year. It was even funnier to think he was being portrayed as the one responsible for all of these changes, Ajay took no credit for this. And so, Pagan the tyrant became Pagan the benevolent in the eyes of Kyrat. There was word going around that he had been put under a categorization along with the other lords of the land as the "Trimurte" (Three forms) of the Kyrat, much like the trinity of supreme Hindu deities. He represented the "creator", the founder of the Min Dynasty. Yuma fell under the lines of the "preserver", for her efforts that cemented the founding of their kingdom under their rule. And Ajay, there was no need to say who he stood as. The "destroyer" of idle and domestic squalor. But also, the renewal of growth and prosperity from his culling. This namesake rumor was spread apparently by the historians' guild in Lakshman, Ajay had rebuilt their library for them and they seemed grateful enough to make a biography of him.
And where was the maker of all this change? Away again, fighting he had no doubt. The pretext was a military exercise in the West with the Indian and Russian forces, but when did an exercise have live ammunition being cycled to the airbases to be delivered there. Judging from the scale of the troops being sent and the ordnance gary made him sign the approval of dispatching to those units, he had to make a guess that Ajay and perhaps Arjun were secretly fighting to exterminate some force that had been responsible for much of the strife that occurred in Kyrat before and just recently. Mohan's masters as Ajay described it.
But from his own experience, Mohan was never the sort to be commanded by another, let alone bow his head. He didn't bow his head any lower than was needed to the late-Devi king either. It wasn't that Ajay never told him of what that threat was, it was more like he was afraid to ask. There, he said it, so sue him!
A mastermind that brought the dead back to life, made the Golden Path survive this long through unusual techniques that made the fighters invulnerable to small arms. Ajay was literally the only defence against this threat that the other three states didn't seem to be entirely aware of. At least that was what he thought.
"Looks like this old man still has some brain cells left after all." (tap) (tap)
Surendra made a checkmate onto Pagan's "general" with his "cannon", after gobbling up one of his protective pieces to his general. Chinese Chess was one of the few games most people knew around here through the Chinese scholars of old that travelled through Yinke.
Pagan looked thoughtfully at the playing board and smiled with glee.
"And here I was worried you wouldn't even make that move." (tap) (tap)
He moved his "cavalry" piece to kill off his "cannon" an in doing so also trapped Surendra's "general".
"Checkmate."
"Hmph! Looks like you still have it in you too!" The elderly king stroked his beard as he let out a hearty laugh.
"I'm really sorry about this, Surrie." But the old king waved his hand as it was a trivial matter to him.
"It'll give me the excuse to enjoy a few days off duty plus give the young one a chance to run the country for a bit." He replied to Pagan's apparent amusement, he was admitting to skipping out on his duties as a King, on that he could empathize.
"Although, that's not what I meant. You were here for the boy, right?" Surendra put down his cup of tea after taking a sip.
"I mean there has to be a reason why you want to talk to him personally as opposed to a letter."
"…"
Surendra's expression was unreadable.
"Something the matter?"
"It appears that this story has never been told to you." Surendra couldn't blame him, he was not part of the Devi bloodline so he wouldn't have known. He got up and rested against the railings of the balcony. Pagan followed him to the palace lounge balcony.
"This is a tale passed down from one monarch to the next, to some it is merely a long tale. But I'll let you be the judge of that." Pagan was amused, it was a story time.
"There was once an almighty Deva who remains unknown even by the earliest of scribes. This deity built the mountain and valleys we call home, and he built it as a means to resolve a Karma dispute between himself and the Rakshasa. All enmity was gone after he gave them back a home after their former one was destroyed. Some say, that place was none other than Lanka. But again, it was cryptic."
Pagan took a swig from his whisky flask.
"It has been said, that the new lords of this land also had the only material passage into Shangri-La, the lands of enlightenment paradise. And that is how we mortals came into this land, our numbers were so great we formed our own kingdoms. Soon, other races arrived in number in the hopes of attaining enlightenment through the gates of Shangri-la."
Pagan could tell that when there were migrants coming into the country declaring their own sovereignties in his land he would go berserk and order their eviction by force.
"As you can imagine, there were wars because of this. The Rakshasa fought with the races on equal grounds, but us… we were but simple mortals. We did however have one thing that allowed us to remain a force to be reckoned with. We knew them as spiritual exorcists, the Rakshasa, Yaksha and Vanara knew them as Demon Banishers."
"Demon hunters?" Pagan could relate as there used to be Taoist mediums that profited from people's superstition. His father, Gang Min was one such person. Praying to the God of War, Guang Yu for magnanimous rule even though he was the farest from it. Just as self-important prick. When a place was "haunted", the mediums were sent there too.
"So did they send them on their way to hell or something?" Pagan chuckled.
"As a matter a fact, they did."
"Where did they come from?"
"No one knows, but it was rumoured they were apostles of Yama himself. Either way, the other demi-god entities feared them especially the Yaksha. You see, unlike us who are miles away from comprehending our nature and attaining Nirvanic Rebirth into a higher plane. The other entities were all half a step from the moment they were born. This was the disparity of birthright. But being closer to possible ascension also seperates the spirit from the body, this was what made them vulnerable to the Demon Banishers' powers especially."
Pagan took the time to absorb it, it was a fairly interesting story thus far.
"So where are they now?"
"Gone. Disappearing from the annals as well as from knowledge, except through the word of mouth."
"And your father passed this down from his father and so on. How many generations has it been then?" Surendra just smiled.
"Many."
"Quite the story, Surrie. I'm not sure what to think of it though."
"I believe your son is a successor to the Demon Banishers." Surendra stated what he thought about Ajay and partly explained why he was here.
"That's some claim, Surrie. I know that he was christened the name demon for asthetics sake but if you're trying to mesh it without concrete evidence then it wouldn't matter."
"Then what would matter if he was one?" Surendra posed this question to Pagan as he seemed a little defensive of Ajay.
"…. Good point." He gave in. Surendra smiled curiously.
"You've changed, Pagan."
"Who do you think made that possible? Don't tell me I've fallen to a spell of his." Pagan joked.
"I fear, Pagan. He might have the same destiny aligned to him as the ill-fated Demon Banishers." Pagan was no longer smiling at those words.
"That is why I'm here, friend. I have something that will help him fight against it." Surendra rolled down his sleeve revealing a tattoo of an elephant with vedic runes surrounding the circumference of it.
"Are you-…"
"No. Heavens no! And I'm glad I'm not."
"So….."
"From what my grandfather told me when I was but a child, a man by the respectful title of Patriarch Wise Head came in need of help and our humble ancestor came to his rescue. He and nine others had sealed away Yalung." There was a pretty iconic effect from the word Yalung used on the populace, including himself.
"Yalung as in-."
"Yes, Pagan. That Yalung. He told our ancestor of the message and legacy he wished to pass down to a particular person. Whom he described as the one that would unify the mortal kingdoms into one. Does that sound familiar to you?" Pagan knew how this story would likely correlate with Ajay's actions resulting in the unifying of the scattered states' interests.
"And you're willing to give up your kingdom to him?" Pagan said it as a joke but Surendra's answer surprised him.
"If it will free my bloodline from this curse, then I'll happily give it." He rubbed the tattoo on his hand.
Pagan sighed and shook his head.
"That boy's been shouldering that kind of weight this entire time, it sometimes makes me feel foolish to be the sovereign."
"Nonsense."
"No. Its true, Surrie. I'm sitting here enjoying a vacation with you while he's out there fighting some mystical enemy with what?- His barehands and willpower? I'm depriving him of his own peace for my own sake." Surendra smiled, it wasn't every day you got to see the "King of vanity" talk about taking action.
"So what will you do then?" Pagan paced about thinking about what he intended to do.
What could he do to make life easier for Ajay? If there were anything he excelled in, it was negotiating and politics. But there had already been the workings of an alliance put in place what more could be done.
What would be better than an alliance and coalition economically and politically?
"… We must unify." He turned to the King of Kumsa.
"Aren't we already unified?"
"No. You misunderstand, old boy. No longer an alliance." He raised his index finger to signify one.
"One country." Was what he meant.
"I'm sure, Dhir and Tenzin will be pleased." Surendra said sarcastically. Pagan was talking of assimilating all four states into a single country, then who would take the reigns?
"It still is possible for you and them to retain your positions as heads of your states. But we will unilaterally be under one flag, same laws, same currency, equal civil rights and benefits. Four Kings but One Ruler."
"You'd better tell them you have an idea of who will be the candidate first, or they'll tell you to forget it. Papir's bureaucracy has deeply penetrated the workings of politics, and lets not even mention Yinke who is just recovering from that War, barely."
"I did some calculations out of boredom one time, a comparison of joint fundings to individual fundings. Yinke would recover faster if we sew our wallets together, Papir bureaucracy wouldn't lose out either." He took out a calculator from the drawer to redo the calculations and wrote them on a piece of paper for Surendra to see, not that Surendra had a similar understanding of economics like Pagan did.
As Pagan spoke more about a unified Himavana, Surendra felt quite excited though he hid his emotions. He would never have thought he would live during the time it came to pass the legacy down to the one his ancestor spoke of, he had never dreamed of the day the Himavanas would become whole once more. This was the genuine wish of thousands of ancestors of old. Five generations of the Kumsa Principality-then Kingdom had tried to do so by marching into Papir and Kyrat were met with defeat. The other states had done so before but never achieved this feat.
And now here they were, at a point where they were in good enough relations to consider such a bold venture as to reunite the mountains.
"A federation of Kingdoms."
"But will Tenzin and Dhir accept?" It was the most outstanding problem if they were to adopt this new system of governance. Dhir was a democratic leader as Tenzin was socialist, while not power hungry like their predecessors. The interests of the Himavanas might not be equal to the interest of their individual states, because they faced very different obstacles. Papir was facing high unemployment, Yinke was suffering food shortage and depended heavily on Kumsan granary exports.
"If we don't try, we'll never know."
"Good. Good! We shouldn't let old age detriment our abilities." Surendra nodded happily in approval.
"Old age? I'm still as fit as a fiddle!" Pagan responded with a smile.
"Sure you are, I'm sure lady Lau can attest to that." Surendra and Pagan shared a laugh or two.
It was undeniable they felt young again, the rush of excitement channeling blood into their old bones giving it new energy.
"…."
"Something wrong?" Pagan sensed Surendra pondering on something.
"It's nothing, just-…. (Sigh) I hope my son does not take this the wrong way." He could only be referring to Crown Prince Manendra, his heir. "You could see his genuine excitement of suceeding the throne."
"Only if you hide it from him. Come on, old boy. Let's discuss with them further at your place."
"Mine?"
"We can't have those two see Kyrat as dictating every move in this new alliance, can we? You can return to carefully explain to your son as well. I'll leave a message for my boy to meet us at your place." Pagan was already setting his mind on something.
"Gary!"
"Your highness?" Gary came as quickly as he called.
"I'm accompanying His Majesty Kumsa back to his domain, let's say…. Tomorrow?" Surendra nodded.
"Tomorrow it is. Tell Ajay to meet us in Kumsa, and tell him not to let two kings wait on him." He said before taking the Kumsan King out with him for a walk outside.
Gary bowed as they left and sighed. Keeping the King ignorant of Ajay's actions that were shaking the world. That seemed pretty nostalgic.
It reminded him of Mohan.
Memories flowed through his mind, stolen memories of a soldier loyal to his country. One had smiling faces of a woman and three children. One was in College, one in middle school and the last in kindergarten. Pure wonderful memories, these images were what gave Arnold Patterson, an Colonel of the 75th Rangers the strength to do what he needed to do to ensure their safety from threats foreign.
Ajay shoved those memories into the back of his synapses to review more critical data. Army deployments and procedures, classified intel on the expedition to Kyrat, not forgetting the mission of the expeditionary force. Secure the nuclear weapons and fabricate evidence of category L "demon" and Pagan Min for the smuggling of stolen nuclear weapons. Where no WMDs were found in Iraq, the same could not be said this time in Kyrat. It was a political decision made by their Commander-in-Chief, the President ordered it so. He couldn't deny that the United States were being sidelined in their eyes to the Rakshasa threat that was ever present. But that didn't mean he could let them continue to hinder his progress here whilst dealing with the more powerful enemy. To do that, he had to make them realise that their treading here has caused a major upset in the balance and any further actions will result in political backlash. He had all the evidence he needed to crush the current administration in United states, or blackmail them if he pleased.
He did however prefer the former as much as he desired the latter to make them fear him. With the actions of the administration caught red-handed and blamed, they could renew relations with the rest of the world and end that ridiculous farce. That being said, those nukes will never exist in their archives ever again, while India would have one and he would have three to use against anyone that tried to endanger the sovereignty of Kyrat. So this was the feeling of holding onto weapons capable of bringing countries to heel, it inevitably inflated one's ego.
When the odds are against you and still end with a win, it is considered a crushing victory. But when the chances of survival are almost nil and make it through alive and well, this could be counted as a miracle.
Ajay had gambled the lives of over twenty thousand men in a direct confrontation with the immortal enemies of Kyrat and won. The outcome of this battle was the death of the twelve thousand-strong US expeditionary force and the routing of the Rakshasa.
But Ajay made one fatal mistake. What was a win to him wasn't necessarily a lost to them. If anything, he had just accelerated their plans to the next phase. They were one step ahead of him and he thought that he could outsmart them. His overconfidence had cost him dearly, even when he knew they were veteran warriors who fought more battles and wars than the entire length of Kyrats founding.
At this rate, they would achieve everything they hoped for and Kyrat and its people will die in the crucible of this scheme. Millions would perish, not just Kyrat and its neighbours. He'd seen the extent of their hatred towards the rest of humanity and the extent of their powers, Purushartha and Narmada were proof of this as well as Darshan's story of his timeline. This ritual was meant to release Yalung's bindings to awaken her brother's soul hidden within. And knowing the story about Yalung's rampage, he could only imagine who was the one that would massacre everyone in its way indiscriminately. The worst part was yet to come in that awakening of the demon god, it wasn't called the god of slaughter and blood for nothing. The world would meet together to destroy him without realizing that they never had the ability to kill it. Infuriating Yalung into crossing the oceans to exterminate all human life. There wasn't a Demon Banisher alive now that could seal him like the ten Patriarchs did.
Ajay turned to look at his men and the armies up on the ridgeline. Celebrating like a war had just ended, embracing and patting one another despite their foreign relation and difference in standing army. This battle had forged a bond between them they simply could not forget unto the end of time. Ajays eyes met with Er Hu who was standing on a mountain of charred corpses. The Hunic warrior let out a wry smile and raised his sabre into the air.
"Badala!... Badala!... Badala!..." Er Hu cheered out in tempo to have the army join in. They didn't take long to understand and the Royal Army of Kyrat cheered out his name at the top of their voices.
""""BADALA! BADALA! BADALA! BADALA!""" Soon, the other armies gave in to the cheering and joined in. The cheering echoed throughout the valley they were in and the earth trembled.
Ajay was left to feel this unfamiliar feeling of receving gratitude in such a strange way that it made a smile creep up on his face. These mountains were truly where he belonged and these people were none other than his people that deserved all the love and protection that he could give as a warrior of Kyrat and the mountains. He could see only one option in ensuring that foreign third parties no longer interfere with the war between the inhabitants of the mountains.
He would have to commit the most atrocious act against humanity. He had to slaughter millions to show the world that there was a monster that roamed the mountains and make them understand that no weapon of war could destroy it. Only in this way could he save the lives of millions within the mountain and valley as well as billions outside from the monsters that lurked within.
Ajay looked down at his blood-soaked hands, his vision began to overlap with a past memory through the eyes of the demon god himself. Through Kalinag's eyes, the memory of his as he slaughtered the people he vowed to protect over an undying vendetta.
He understood what he had to do. Ajay thrusted his fist into the air, to respond to the armies who gave a cheer at his acknowledgement, oblivious to his actual thoughts from afar.
"I must become the demon."
*Aquila. This is Chariot. We-(bababababaam) (Brrrrrrrr) Found the last one. Engaged with the last of the marines, they're arming it! I repeat! They're arming it.*
His entire body stiffened at Michelle's voice telling him that his worst fears had become a reality. But would he just sit still as they were doing their best to stop them from doing so?
"Hang tight, I'm coming! Have Kamran call for Rohan for a fulton extraction at your coordinates. In case we can't stop it, we can at least bring it out of the region. Tell'em to get a crazy pilot."
*Alright. Please hurry!*
Ajay did not wait around nor explain to the armies why he commandeered a quadbike and drove off into the woods.
Time was of the essence, the third party which had been sideline had seen the devastating power of the Rakshasa and were now responding in the worst possible approach. By showing the strongest hand possible in neutralizing the threat. A hydraulic press to crack a nut, if that analogy didn't explain the situation enough that it was overkill then there was nothing equal in explaining what was really at stake.
It was at this moment that a thought that wasn't his own had spoke its piece within his mind, and yet he couldn't deny what it said even if he wanted to. He knew that at this moment, that self-declaration was beginning to take root.
-Human Mortals….. So fragile and meek, it is these instances where one ponders…. there is no empathy for them. To fight over scraps and call themselves Kings over filth. Only sympathy for their poor and lowly birthright.-
The group didn't just rappel down the helicopter, they didn't wait for Kamran to even stabilize the chopper for a smooth touch down. There was too much riding on just four of them. The marines fought with a fierceness like their entire life energy was thrown into one moment, sparing none even for a narrow opportunity to run from the blast radius.
Kamran remained airborne to provide oversight and fire support from the .50 minigun on his door. But his IR warning picked up a lock, they managed to find a Stinger left behind by the Rangers, so he loitered at heights and distances where the portable missile launcher couldn't get a reliable ping.
"I'm flanking!" Ricardo ran out of cover to displace as they put out a suppressive fire. But the Marines weren't amateurs, almost every standing army had nearly the same combat doctrine and tactics as one another, so they could almost see what he and the rest were planning and counter appropriately.
"Hurry up!" Another marine fell to explosives used to flush him out of heavy cover. The group took that opportunity to advance on the defilade the nuclear device was seen in being calibrated by one of the marines. They were gonna use it.
Michelle told Ajay over the encrypted comms channel who was rushing his way towards here to reinforcement. "Stay down!" She told Irina-One, the only one with them that had the expertise in disarming the nuclear device.
Mounting the ridge into the defilade Paul took the first step over the slope. (Bababaaam) "Argghh!" And got shot in the shoulder.
"Paul!" He rolled down the slope on their side injured but not dead, although he was out of the game.
(Ping) "Damn assholes." He released the pin and safety lever of a grenade, holding it for a while before throwing it in the general direction of where the Marine that had shot him was.
(plop)(BOOM) There was no time delay for the marine to kick it away, so he was vapourised by the incendiary bomb. When the smoke cleared, the last remaining Marine saw the burnt corpse of his last friend alive.
"Do you even realise what you're doing?" He shouted over the slope where the Corporal was.
"Do you know how many people you'll kill? They had no beef with you and yet you're gonna blast them out of existence!"
"I have my orders!"
"Fuck your orders, jarhead! You're no hero! You're a fucking mass murderer! Your country is full of criminals!" Even when injured he kept the Corporal talking so that the rest could regroup and attack while he was distracted.
"Shut up! What do you know? Did your boss ever tell you about the monsters that lurk here?! Did he tell you how they singlehandedly wiped out a division?"
Paul was not the one to talk, but he did hear about them engaging in battle with an enemy callsigned "Rakshasa". He guessed was Golden Path, but to think that same militant group could destroy the mighty United States Army, perhaps in a better scenario it might've been possible. Unless, the Rakshasa weren't Golden Path, he did say monsters after all.
"Haven't the slightest clue what you're saying."
"Hmph! Of course not, you're just a merc. It doesn't matter, it's been done." Hearing that from him, the group decided it was now or never. They stormed from different sides of the defilade so that he would not be able to engage all at the same time.
He turned Ricardo's way and fired as they all did. His shot grazed him whilst they peppered him with 5.56mm FMJ, the corporal fell in a bloody heap against the hardcase of the nuclear device. He knew his time had come as he had foreseen not getting out of this place even if the was out of blast radius. He was a mass murderer as they'd said, whatever remained of Kyrat would definitely chase him all the way to hell if they had to.
He raised a hand holding a grenade with the pin out which made the rest grind to a halt. They knew that if they let him, it might damage the console to work on the bomb. Then, they'd have no way to secure it.
"This is- (spit) it…" He said with a bloodied smile.
"Oh man….. hahahahaha!... What a trip! Whoo! (cough) (cough). I like the way you look, it sorta redeems all that shit this fucking country put us through."
"So you're gonna punish them this way, is it?!" Michelle shouted.
"No. I'm just following my orders like a good soldier, these consequences aren't solely mine to bear."
"Let's just agree to disagree. Alright, you have the trigger to the bomb as well. So, what do you want?"
"What do I want?" The corporal looked at Saras like she was joking and laughed.
"Why else aren't you destroying yourself and instead engaging with us in conversation?"
"Huh….. good point. Perhaps I just need some gratification before I see you all in hell." In these final moments, he couldn't feel anymore fearless than he did now, the pain from gunshots had gone numb and he knew he was just seconds away from death from bleeding out.
(Pip) (Pip) (Pip) They could hear a timer tick and to their horror, they saw that the bomb had already been activated. What's more, the digital clock was set to what appeared to be thirty minutes, not the three hours they'd agreed on with Pentagon.
"Is this what you truly want to be remembered by?" Saras pointed out to the corporal.
"Mmm, yep! Me and the boys have made our peace with ourselves. Everything else is secondary, it doesn't matter that we kill millions or not, its what happens at the end of the day. If the US is the victor than that'll be all, if it costs every single soul on this damn country so be it! We are the greatest country in the world, everything else is trivial!" He went on a final rant that even Saras couldn't reason with, he was beyond bargaining now.
"But….. if you ask me if I'd do it even if Pentagon didn't authorize it, then yeah I would."
"Va te faire foutre!" Michelle threw a swear at him that they weren't familiar with.
"I couldn't agree more." He turned to the voice that directed it and saw the mastermind of their woes standing before him as his final moments. His right hand holding the grenade loosened to release the catch but a hand of steel grabbed hold of it to weld it shut. Another hand grabbed the corporal's chin and pushed up exposing his neck to the demon of his worst nightmares.
"Ajay…" Saras called out.
"Uh!-…" He never would have expected his final moments to feel terror all over again, but it had been made a reality as Ajay had sealed the only way for him to die as painlessly as possible.
"You want to die blowing up, do you? Let me help." (crack) He bent his arm till it cracked and gave way causing the Corporal to scream.
"But first, I'd like to know how to turn this off." Ajay opened his mouth and bit down upon his exposed neck to draw blood from him that was already dangerously low.
This act caused the group to be partly shocked and partly frightened by his actions that he claimed he was doing. Drawing blood just like a vampire of the story books. This was the forbidden act of Blood Draw, an ability shared with much of the demonic races and minorities such as himself.
Behind the excruciating pain he felt, the corporal could sense his memories being stolen as it flipped through his eyes at that very moment. Even so, he forced a madden smiled as he laughed maniacally after Ajay had finished.
"Did you find what you were looking for?...AHahahahahahahahaha!-(smash) GURRGHH!" He looked down at his body to see that his own hand had been forcefully smashed into his chest. His eyes widened as Ajay held onto the safety catch of the grenade he held which meant-.
Ajay grabbed his ragged body and threw him out of the defilade. (BOOM)
Since they were standing in the protection of the defilade, they sustained no casualities.
Ajay stared long and hard at the bomb and its ticking timer. "Ajay-." Saras called out again.
"Irina, get to work!" He called for the Russian to come over to defuse the bomb while he still had the chance to.
"Michelle, contact Arjun and tell him to enact immediate evacuation of everyone to the Mines and Sagarmartha bomb shelter!"
"Uh- yes!"
"It doesn't need to be everybody, just get as may as possible." Ajay said as he stared wearily at the bomb which he knew from the memories of the corporal was undefuseable in this armed status. After the codes pentagon had given him had gone through double confirmations before keying in.
Saras came over to embrace him, she could see that worry in his eyes telling her that he knew no way of stopping it. Ajay sat down against the slope next to her, holding her hand tightly. His eyes, tracked Irina-One who was working on the bomb like his life depended on it.
The rest took a seat just like Ajay, there was literally nothing they could do now.
The timer was now at fifteen minutes.
"Still not done?" He asked Irina-One who looked white as a sheet as he fiddled with the console wires.
"Michelle, that transport!"
"No reply from them! Even if we account for the sortie time, it won't be en-."
"Don't say that!"
"Then what do you want me to say?!" She shouted with tears flowing from her eyes, she knew what the outcome was for them. No matter how tempered she was before, the sensation that you were going to die in a massive fireball was a real-world shaker.
Irina-One continued to fiddle with the bomb but from the look of it, it seemed he had no idea himself.
"Ohooiet! Ohooiet!" He cursed to himself presenting to everyone he had finally given up.
Ajay exhaled and walked back to Saras who tried to put a brave face on with a smile. Ajay slumped next to her and looked at the nuclear bomb still ticking off.
No words were being said, she only held out a hand in which he held. Ricardo had an intimate moment with his wife, Michelle approached Paul to tend to his wounds.
"Huh… special treatment, eh?" He said with a great big grin.
"(sigh)…. Hopeless oaf." Michelle responded with a genuine smile before applying a paste onto his gunshot wound. But Paul held her hand instead.
"It wouldn't matter anyway… What I'd like instead is someone to hold. Take it as a dying man's last request?" Michelle wanted to laugh, but at this moment, what was one hug. So she gave it to him.
"I'm sorry, Mon Cheri. I just hope your daughter is alive and well." Paul said with earnesty. Michelle felt a welling in her emotions.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?..." She said in a half-laugh and half-teary state.
Ajay was there to bear witness to all of this, but he had nothing to say to Saras and she could accept that. This was the end of the line for all of them, plain and simple.
Although, not all of them at least.
"Ajay?" Saras asked as he stood up and let go of her hand.
"Kamran." He tapped the comms to life.
*Yes, Ajay.*
"Is it possible for you to fly out of the blast radius in time?"
*You mean by myself?*
"You know what I mean."
*Even if I dumped all the ammo and non-essentials and revved her to the max, I couldn't carry all of you to avoid the heat wave as you described to me. Plus, there's that EMP pulse that'll send me crashing down as well.*
Ajay pressed his comms once again.
"… It doesn't need to be all of us. Just Three."
"What-…. Ajay?" Saras got up with a look filled with anxiety.
"You don't need to fly all the way out, Kamran. You just need to fly back to the mountain where we found-."
"Ajay."
"Those nukes in, the granite and iron ore mountain walls should provide sufficient cover from both the blastwave and fallout."
"No-…"
"Can it be done?"
"Ajay!"
"Kamran!" Ajay continued to ignore Saras as he called upon his friend to do for him one last favour.
*Yes-… yes it can. I'm descending now.* And just as he said, Kamran loomed overhead trying to descend as quickly as possible.
Ajay turned to the men who knew whom he had arranged for to leave. And said their goodbyes to their women. They gave him a curt nodded before he looked to the nail-biting Irina-One.
"You join them on that chopper out." He said to Irina-One's elation as he gave a crisp salute and eagerly awaited Kamran to lower the ramp.
Now, he turned to the hardest part of this task. Embracing him from behind with such a strength that could not be easily plied off.
"Saras."
"Don't say another word. Don't-… I beg you-."
He moved around to give her an embrace from the front.
"I think I've found a way to solve all of our problems, but-…. I'm not sure if it'll work."
"Then let me stay at least!" But Ajay shook his head.
"What I'm about to do, I don't want you to see it." He held onto her hands and his fingers played with the ring on hers.
By now, everyone that should've boarded had done so already, Ajay wasn't sure how easy it was for Ricardo to break from Stella but he managed. There were no words from Michelle, only tears. She wouldn't deny Paul his dignity as a man or dead man to come.
"You're lying!"
"Saras, look at me! Look here." He held her head to face him. Hers was dripping wet, lines of tears falling to the ground without end.
"…. I will make it out of this, I promise! If you believe in me then I will return!" There was no answer as Saraswati wept in his arms even though she was reluctant to believe it. But her hands were no longer locked around him tightly, so he took this opportunity to carry her to the helicopter as dragging her was time consuming.
Michelle made space on the passenger compartment for her to have a seat next to Saras as Ajay placed her there.
"Being with you every second has been a blessing. If we do make it out alive, I want nothing but to send the rest of my days with you." Now it was just a hand latching on to his that was all that held Saras physically to him. She wouldn't let go even though her strength had weakened greatly.
"Trust me, Swati." He said to her in a new affectionate name with a convincing smile on his face.
"Trust in me." More tears fell as he slipped out of her fingers one by one.
"Trust in me, this once."
"Ajay…."
"Kamran! Good luck! Now get out of here!" Ajay said as he jumped out from his low-level hover.
"AJAAY!" She shouted over the loud beat of the heli blades. Ajay could hear her just fine as he watched the chopper fly off at maximum speed.
"And if I fail, I hope to find you again….. In the next life." He twirled the ring on his finger.
When the chopper was out of sight he felt hands rest on his shoulder, belonging to the two men that were left with him. No words of thanks would better describe the expressions they gave to him for giving their sweethearts a chance to survive.
"I guess I can die happy now." Paul voiced out.
"We're not dying here just yet, Mr Ferenc." Ajay said with an assuring grin.
"What?" Both of them didn't actually think he was being serious here.
"Is this some sort of joke? Haha!-.. don't tell us you're superman and you'll carry the nuke to outer space!" Paul said jokingly as it no longer mattered.
But Ajay's eyes showed a hope that wasn't- shouldn't be there. Was he really telling the truth? Ajay didn't answer while they followed him to what appeared to be a long-range comms unit used by the Marines.
Ajay begun to dial the encrypted codes to gain secure line access to a certain facility in a far away region.
*This is the President, here. Is there anything else we can do for you, soldier?* The receiver thought he was going to talk to the few brave marines that carried out his orders to the death. He received a call from Pentagon that he should pick it up to at least thank them since they were calling again.
"I don't believe we've been formally introduced, Mr President. You know me by the CIA codename "Demon" while the folks here call me-." Ajay turned the comms on loud speak so the rest could hear and talk with him.
*B-Badala.*
"Heh! I'm surprised that you remembered. I'm just calling to let you know that war has officially been declared."
*What garbage are you on about?!*
"I know you authorized the arming of the B83 nuke in their possession. You handed them the codes after all, and systems don't lie. It's ticking away as we speak."
*Is it? Hmph! Then I'd like to say, go fuck yourself!* The man on the other side said conceitly.
"You seem to know a lot about that yourself, so I'm gonna help you with that."
*Cut the bullshit. I know why you called, you want to know how to disarm it, right?*
"It can't be disarmed. That's the beauty of it." Ajay knew from the memories of the corporal and Colonel Patterson that this was true. The other side kept mum, embarrassed that he knew and he couldn't get a few whimpers or tears from him.
"I'm calling because I want you to remember my voice, that when I make a claim I mean it. Just like that letter I sent a week ago. Now tell me, Mr President. Did everything I say in that letter come true?"
He could hear the other side cringing even though he was surrounded by his cabinet in the oval office. A week ago, a letter from a certain someone challenged him to the race for the nuclear weapons lost during a classified stealth project known as Aurora, the urban myth of the Blackbird's successor which happened to be a nuclear delivery system as well to provide first strike capability. He said that whatever troops he sent he would not hear from again, the nuclear weapons he would use when given the chance and he would be helpless to stop it.
Now all of those were true, the only thing that wasn't accounted for was them actually arming one to blast Kyrat off the map. This was the strategic advise from his general staff in concerning the relatively unknown entities that wiped out twelve thousand soldiers in an instant.
*So what do you want? An apology?*
"No, Mr President. Just so you know, my army has already beaten back the Rakshasa that your forces couldn't contain. Just letting your general staff know how incompetent your soldiers are in the face of such a foe." He mocked them, to which the lads with him chuckled away. They got to see one last good show. Which was someone mocking the worlds' most powerful individuals over a phone call.
"Say hi, guys." He told the two with him.
"Kiss my ass, Mr president! From Israel with love, muthafucka!" Was Paul's answer, not a very grown-up way of saying screw you.
"Vaffanculo! It means go fuck yourself! Figlio di puttana!" Ricardos was short and nice.
*I've heard all you've needed to say, but in the end I'm just listening to a dead man's rant.*
"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure, Mr President. Its at times when the least expected things happen that they happen to you. Like in this case, you think you'll wipe out all your problems in five minutes. But what if by some reverse fortune, instead of us being annihilated….. It became you." Ajay said in a dreadfully intimidating aura that ignored the logic of radio waves.
*….. Nonsense.*
"I'm gonna make you a promise, Mr President. Like the one previously, and you can be sure its genuine. It will happen. Are you ready to hear what it is?"
The other side was quiet, but it didn't mean they weren't listening.
"You reap what you sow. You used nuclear force on my country and my people, so I'll use it on yours. In fact, I'll be using the very nuke you ordered primed on your people." He was not there to see the insane grin on Ajay's face that Paul and Ricardo saw. The more he acted in this way the more they suddenly felt hope in their hearts he really did have a way of saving them.
*Absurd! I'd like to see you try!*
"Wow, look at you go! And I thought you said you were speaking to dead men." Ajay laughed at him again. He could just imagine him boiling behind the seat of his.
"When you finally understand the weight of your crime against humanity and your own people before mine, you will despair to the end of days. And I'll be there to watch you scream into the void. When I'm finished with my war against the Rakshasa, I'll be coming for you and the states next."
Ajay ended by turning off the comms. The three of them remained quiet once again as the only sound that could be heard was the timer now at three minutes.
Ajay inhaled and breathed out to calm himself as he got up and walked to the top out of the defilade. While he did tell Saras he had a plan, he wasn't even fifty percent sure that it would work. Because it wasn't he who would be dealing with this mess. He was outsourcing this, his only hope of saving the Himavanas from a reign of terror from the nuclear blast and subsequent fallout…..
Was the very enemy he was fighting against.
"I know you're watching!" He shouted into the sky, hoping for that someone to appear.
"You knew that this would happen, but you just wanted me to ask you!" there was still no sign of response, but Ajay didn't give up hope so easily.
"You want me to owe you a favour and that's exactly what I'm willing to do!... WITCH!" He voice echoed throughout the valley and yet no reply came. Ajay bit down onto his lip till it bled.
"WIIIIIITCH!"
"WIIIIIIITTCHH!"
He continued to shout at the top of his lungs, the other two were suddenly feeling like he'd lost it but didn't stop him.
Ajay laughed in a self-defeatist way as his plea was not met.
"You didn't send me those fragmented memories so I could sympathize with your current state. You hoped that I would remember something important."
"Something that I know can never be forgotten through the ages….. like your brother promised. Well, I do remember it. From the moment I saw you in my dreams, I don't know how but I knew it like I'd lived with you my whole life anew."
His spiritual sense picked up nothing arriving, but he knew that this person was listening.
"And if you don't come out now, then I will never call it out in this life or the next!"
Ajay gathered all the energy in his body, the prana to amplify his voice a hundredfold. So that it would resound throughout the mountains and reach the tallest ice peak of the Himavanas.
"COME OUT! I NEED YOU-… ESHAAAAAAA!"
(BANG) No sooner did he call out that name, did a black hole burst out of non-existence in front of him.
Stepping out of this black hole was that individual that had followed his every footstep. Watched him grow, watched his every move. She had sent fragments of their memories, but never whole nor ever mentioning her name.
But even so, in his heart, he knew it from the moment he was born. Because he was incarnate of her brother, the memories were wiped clear when returning to the cycle of reincarnation. Not all of it though, there was one fragment that hung on stubbornly through the end of time and against the strings of fate.
She came in her white satin-like gown with a hood over her head, but not hiding the strands of silvery white hair. The black hole disappeared behind her as she walked towards him. Paul and Ricardo were just too stunned to talk and scared that they backed off.
But they were astounded nonetheless, for they saw her hands were so fair and smooth that it almost appeared like a work of art as they reached up to pull back the hood and reveal the unnatural beauty that was her complexion to those two mortals that hadn't known better.
It was an appearance that could be fairly given the title of fairest of them all, and the most beautiful being in existence. Their hearts pounded always like reciprocation hammers, and they tried with all their will power to look away to save themselves from the spell of bedazzlement.
Saraswati, even Maya hardly came close to her. It was terrifyingly so that their inner conscience was telling them to look away which they did as they huffed to regain composure.
And yet, when Ajay looked at her he felt the strongest feeling of nostalgia than he'd ever felt before. As Darshan had pointed out, his and her Karma thread were bounded stronger than any other relation he'd had.
It was so strange, to know and yet not know this person.
The witch he knew as Esha looked at him with an unfamiliar warmth that triggered streams of memories she'd not imparted into him, but were locked away in the deepest recesses of his mind. He blocked them out with his willpower as there were a time and place for that, now was not such a time.
Now was the time he bargained with Rakshasa Princess Esha.
Author's Notes:
Wanna know how powerful is a nuke and what are the aftereffects of it on the lands and inhabitants?
There's this site that does just that, I'm not saying the name for security reasons (PM me). And I am obligated to remind you not to visit the site in populated places of interest or in an airport. If you use their wifi, be ready to get arrested cause they'll know the instant you serve that site.
