"Take no heed of good looks, but rather of callused hand. Old Maori saying: Choose a husband for his work, not his appearance."
― Toni Polancy, Hawaii in Love
Twenty second Yuga, Yaksa calendar (1623 C.E. Earth Date). Unknown planet around Vasishtha (Mizar) system.
The murmurs of those attending the ceremony soon gave way to a sepulchral silence that filled the central chamber of the palace. The silence was broken when another Yaksa warrior named Gathok' exclaimed:
- "What in the name of Paya are these Raksasas doing here?"
- "Raksasas? Do you dare to insult us here during a sacred ceremony?" Ujesh' roared after hearing the word. It was considered an insult to call someone a Raksasa, a killer.
- "So sacred that it should not be stained with the presence of these honor-less murderers," replied Gathok', addressing the Elder, who remained unflappable. Ujesh' roared once more, he and his companions drew their weapons, Gathok' unsheathed his disc weapon and prepared to decapitate the Raksasa.
-"That's enough!" Elder Vaharaya rose from his throne and called to order. The two mastiffs growled and showed their teeth, ready to attack but Elder Vaharaya put his hands over their heads and offering them a piece of meat, calming them. The mastiffs swallowed the piece of meat and stopped growling, but the quills on their backs were still erect and they didn't take their eyes off the newcomers.
Gathok' dropped his weapon immediately. Ujesh' and his company of Raksasas hesitated, but after a few seconds of quiet defiance they complied. Rava'an, watching the scene from afar relaxed, he had drawn his spear and blades as well. Once everyone had calmed down, Elder Vaharaya explained.
-"There must be order in this room, we've gathered here for a ceremony as ancient as the hunt and any warrior can participate..." he paused, and then continued, addressing Ujesh', "...as long as they follow the rules."
Ujesh' signaled to the elderly Raksasa who brought him a cylindrical container. Ujesh' opened it and showed everyone the largest Krmih tentacle Rava'an had ever seen. The creature it belonged to was surely twice the size of the one he had killed. The older Yaksa there exclaimed in amazement and Ujesh' laughed complacently, almost bragging.
-"I killed that Krmih using only the blades and my skill, that monster couldn't touch me even once…"
-"Sometimes, making yourself vulnerable is a way to show your true strength*," said Vaharaya unimpressed, and addressed the rest of the contestants, "Bring forth your payment."
Skan'dha, Rava'an and Ghatok' presented their tributes. Ghatok' wasn't as tall as Skan'dha but he was more muscular. He had greenish-yellow skin and his weapon of choice was the Chakra, an ornamental disc weapon with serrated edges. His more prominent feature was short dreadlocks, giving him the appearance of being almost bald.
When Rava'an presented his trophy, Ujesh' mocked the appendix's size:
-"And you call ME a Raksasa? This kid here killed a baby Krmih. Can someone tell him killing younglings is forbidden...?" he teased, making his companions laugh. Vaharaya had to intervene once more before the situation got out of control.
-"I have allowed you to participate as a means to end this senseless feud between our clans. In honor of your involvement in the Great War so long ago, you are being given the opportunity to regain some honor and return to the alliance. If you're incapable of restraining yourselves, I'll have no choice but to expel you from this sacred chamber."
Ujesh' became silent and bowed his head, but Rava'an noted the fury contained in his yellow eyes. Elder Vaharaya continued.
-"Now we can start this sacred ceremony." He turned to his daughter, who had remained silent all this time. Anu'sha rose from her throne and spoke, everyone kept their silence.
-"I'm Anu'sha, Daughter of great Elder Vaharaya. I have reached the age of producing a first heir for the one who manages to pass the task I'm going to entrust to you." She started.
It was the fourth time Anu'sha did this. Her father was becoming impatient as the most beautiful of his daughters presented almost impossible tests to complete some valuable Yaksa had even died. Anu'sha suspected that the old leader wanted so badly to see children born from the vivid image of his first wife, whom only the old leader had chose to mate with.
What Elder Vaharaya didn't know was that Anu'sha didn't want to mate yet. At least, not with such boorish and repressive males that always showed up for the ceremony to claim their right to mate. Females were generally stronger and better hunters than males, but for some reason they were confined to having children and pleasing warriors. Females that hunted were rare and were usually those who had not mated nor did not belong to any clan. It was only her respect and devotion for her elderly father that kept her from leaving the clan and become a rogue huntress herself.
Anu'sha examined the four candidates: Gathok' was the eldest of the four, he bore the name of an ancient Yaksa warrior who fought in the Great war, and some said he was a direct descendant of, but his temperament was volatile. Proof of this was having called Ujesh' a Raksasa openly even though it was true, he showed that he could rarely contain himself.
Skan'dha on the other hand, was quite calm and analyzed each situation carefully before acting. He was brave and imposing but he came from a highly conservative family and Anu'sha doubted that once mated, he or her Sire would let her participate in the hunt.
Anu'sha then fixed his gaze on Ujesh'.The Raksasa was imposing, he surpassed Skan'dha in height by more than two heads. The skin that was not covered by armor was littered with old scars, the warrior had fought too much and survived. The armor he wore was not the typical Yaksa's six-piece metal armor, but instead it had an organic appearance, almost like a chitinous shell and was attached to his body so that it was indistinguishable where one piece ended and the other began. To Anu'sha, it seemed strange but vaguely familiar until she realized it was a Kavach, the ceremonial armor of the Devas.
"That damn killer had a Deva's armor, impervious to almost all of our weapons. There's no way he'd lose in combat against the others." Anu'sha thought. "The only things that can pierce that are the claws and jaws of a Dawon or the tainted blood of a scorpion man."
She decided not to let Ujesh' would have to face something really dangerous, even if that meant the death of the other warriors. He shouldn't win for any reason.
Finally, she examined the young Yaksa who wanted her. Anu'sha's father had told her he was the son of Chief Adhi'nata. In fact, he looked a lot like the honorable warrior. He had shoulder-length black dreadlocks and ocher-yellow skin with black spots and stripes. He had a diamond-shaped spot pattern on his skull like hers, but of a different hue and his eyes were bright yellow and not amber like his father. He had very few quills over his eyes since he was still young, but what caught her attention the most were the two irregular and parallel scars that crossed his face diagonally.
She barely remembered him from the time when he underwent his first ritual hunt. She did not remember seeing him with those scars; he had probably earned them recently. The young hunter did not have ornate armor and his ceremonial mask, which was currently hanging from his belt, had only the word Ksatriya क्षत्रबन्धु engraved on it.
It was odd the young Yaksa hadn't marked his mask with the story about the scar on his face. "Maybe it wasn't something honorable or worthy" Anu'sha thought.
-"How did you get those wounds?" She asked Rava'an, who was surprised by the question. Elder Vaharaya raised his eyebrows in a curious gesture; everyone was waiting for the young hunter's response.
-"They were made with these," he said presenting her the blades he'd made with the claws of the young Dawon. "The beast surprised me while I was tracking the Krmih."
Anu'sha observed the blades carefully. They were made of a metallic material but they did not seem to be forged. Her father's complacent murmur made her understand what they were: The front claws of a young Dawon.
-"You killed a sacred lion?" Anu'sha asked him.
-"Just an immature one, but it was him or me." Rava'an tilted his head down out of respect. He was a bit nervous to speak to her directly. Her question had taken him by surprise. "Nothing to be proud of… just survival," Rava'an responded. A rush of excitement ran through Anu'sha's body. Although the beast was a youngling, the young Ksathriya had faced the Dawon alone, without armor and with subpar weapons.
Ujesh' stared angrily at Rava'an. He could almost guess Anu'sha was taking an interest in the boy, but he calmed down knowing that he would most likely die during the test. After all, accidents happened frequently, especially when Ujesh' was around.
-"A humble attitude will always create the best output**." Elder Vaharaya intervened. "You should etch that on your mark, young one."
-"I could take these," Rava'an said, pointing to his blades. "I used them to kill the Krmih and obtain his ze'pha. They will be more than enough."
Anu'sha, Elder Vaharaya and the rest of the attendants gathered there did something that Rava'an did not imagine, they struck three their chest plates three times with their fists, a symbol of respect… everyone except the Raksasas, albeit the older one put his hand over his the chest plate surreptitiously.
-"The test you are about to carry out will determine if you are worthy. Some may die trying. It will take place in one of the many temples dedicated to hunting that exist spread across different worlds," Anu'sha announced. "There. You will face a mythical creature and the one who kills it will be the one I'll choose."
"Which mythical creature is she referring to? I don't think it's the holy lion." Rava'an thought. Whispers filled the room; the others were wondering the same thing. Anu'sha and her father got up, left the room, and headed for the hangar of the old ship, the others followed.
- o –
Welcome back. Finally this chapter is finished. I want to thanks AO3 user iterations for her beta reading and editing, also eap404 for his gamma read. Hope you are all well and please Stay Home.
Ga'thok: a reference to Mahabarata hero Ghatotkacha, whose name derived from Ghatam "a percussion instrument shaped like a pot", and utkaca, meaning "bald". The hunter was bald, hence his name.
Kavach: Armor, basically the biomechanical armor of the Engineers.
*Quote from Criss Jami: "To share your weakness is to make yourself vulnerable; to make yourself vulnerable is to show your strength."
**Quote from Jeremy Aldana: "A humble man will always receive the best that others have to offer"