DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. All the characters belong to their respective creators(apart from those created by me).
Now this is my first story. So don't go apeshit on me if its not upto the mark.
I am back …. Mostly ….. Anyway . Enjoy this new chapter.
Chapter 7: The Zero Goddess …(final)
Do you know what happens when you dump a pot of water in a pot of hydrochloric acid …. Guess … that's right you get burned ….. with a capital B.
And that is what was happening to me right now. The visions filled my head…whispering sweet promises of violence and power, to attack, maim kill and dismember. Not the god… no me. To die a horrible death all in the name of War.
I could see myself slowly roasted in an open fire, strangled by twisting vines of living fire, maimed by peacocks of all things , stabbed by a million blades, de-skinned and ripped apart or Cursed into hideous monsters … my limbs twisting, burning, and melting all at once as they gave away to a new shape.
All I wanted was to escape this agony ….. and the only way I could think of was death, to surrender and give my life to his feet….. anything to end this, this … nightmare. I could fell a distinct wetness sliding down my cheeks and a tremendous arousal between my legs.
!-! . Wait what … I was dying just by being in the presence of a god and yet I was getting aroused …. Fuck! I knew I was twisted …. But this was at a whole new level. Talk about being fucked up.
Suddenly the pain stopped, the visions ceased and the pain, terror gave way to numbness. The horrible smell of blood vanished and the agonizing cries became replaced with melodious sounds.
A powerful presence filled the whole landscape taking away with it all my fears, all my doubts and my weakness. My body felt rejuvenated once again … filled with the strength of a thousand men.
A pair of very strong arms embraced me, pulling up from sitting position (when did I sit down any way?) into a muscular chest.
A beautiful scent filled my nostrils, one that was filled with protection, purity, forests, earth and strangely axe ….. not an iron axe …. but the deo that we generally use to entice women( the ads said so at least ), all of it tempered with a subtle tinge of blood and steel. It was absolutely enchanting.
I was lifted off my feet, bridal style if I may add. I could feel us moving rather at a high speed if the winds buffeting my face were an indication. Taking a bunch of deep breaths I decided to open my eyes …. and immediately regretted it.
Don't get me wrong ….. I love adventure just as much as the next over-imaginative boy… add to it the gamer powers and you have a whole new perspective for the term adventure. But flying a thousand miles above the ground at jet speed on a peacock of all things …. was not, I repeat was not written in the gamer manual.
The ride ended as suddenly it has started and soon I was placed on solid grounds once again. Absolutely sure there was something solid below my feet I blindly searched around for something to hold on to, you know to calm down nerves….. still not trusting enough to open my eyes.
I groped around blindly until I found something firm to hold on ….. as I steadied myself, feeling up the pillar with my hands I realized …"hang on this isn't a pillar" I thought….." it almost feels like…. "
My eyes snapped open on their own accord and the first thing I saw were my hands groping the god on his …. Ahem, unmentionables …. Curse you my freaking hands, how could you betray me like this …..
Obviously sure that he was going to curse me I did the only thing I could … I ran around like a headless chicken ….(which I would totally deny in the future).
"Are you done panicking and groping around unsuspecting gods ", a deep warm voice asked" I'm not going to curse you, you know. I only want to speak with you".
I stopped as his voice registered in my mind. Turning towards him I bowed down, "I really did not mean to, I was a bit unbalanced ….. please forgive me my lord", I squeaked out somehow, still not trusting to him not to curse me anyway.
Hang on why was I getting panicked or even feeling fear for that matter … shouldn't the gamers mind stop it somehow ….. as a matter of fact what happened to my gamers powers any way. I mean they were given by CHAOS himself , no way could some war god stop them no matter how powerful.
"Look up", he commanded firmly "I will never harm a child nor curse you, unlike some I can hold my temper well enough. You will find many others no where near as much patient or accommodating as me….. especially my mother. Beware godling, insult her and I'll gut you alive, child of prophesy or not".
Well there goes my encouragement. Still I looked up anyway.
Gone were the godly garbs and ornaments. In their place stood a handsome boy of 15-16, clad in a pair of simple jeans, a very stylish v-neck and a blue leather jacket. With His eyes hidden behind a pair of sunglasses, spiked black hair highlighted with blood orange streaks, biked shoes and a diamond studded earring on his left ear, he looked almost liked a normal teenager.
"Yo Percy, I am Kartikeya( I know the voice in head had already introduced you ….. you know when you're trying to drive me mad) but call me Krish anyway" and then he winked at me.
Realllllllllly . ! #$%. WTF. Wasn't he killing me a few moments earlier and now he's winking at me. Talk about being bipolar. Now what about my game….
"Thinking about your gamer powers", he asked "While they were given by lord CHAOS , you are no longer in his realm of power. You are in Kailash …. the abode of Shiva and Shakti…. specifically in my mother's temple. You can call me the high priest here".
Well he certainly didn't look like a priest. More like one of those respectable bikers and what happened to the peacock we were flying on…..
"I suppose you're right. I do look like a punkstar in these clothes. But don't tell my mom alright and yes I can read your mind."
"Now since you're in my mother's domain, for your powers to work again you need her blessings. So if you would just walk up these stairs ….. cue a bunch of marble steps jutted out of the earth … you would reach her temple", here he smiled nastily "you've only one hour to reach her temples before the natural energy here turns you into a statue … permanently."
"Oh and the stairs will sap your strength with every step you take. Some lemon drop loving old coot had built them to test dumb teenagers and increase his own strength."
Saying that the "jerk" (cue I heard that) disappeared, in a vortex of peacock feathers (way too dramatic I tell you) and I was left to climb up the steps all alone. Can you believe his audacity … hphmm.
Climbing up the stairs was exhausting …. I mean I lost count after the first 300 steps …. Who build them anyway? Hope he is chocking on a lemon drop. I WOULD CASTRATE HIM WITH A RUSTY SPOON.
(In an alternate universe suddenly a senile manipulative old coot sneezed and messed up the memory charm he was in the process of casting on a dumb, over trusting, moronic protagonist and blew his head off, While choking on a lemon drop)
Finally I reached what looked like a landing. It had a small pond and an assortment of berry shrubs. At the centre was a pedestal with a book lying on it.
The pedestal was a piece of art. Made entirely of marble it had many a scenes carved into it. The most striking was the image of a huge serpent surrounding a mountain like a chain with many humanoid figures holding on to the serpent from both sides.
The figure holding the tail portion looked incredibly beautiful while those holding the head portion of the snake looked more demonic in origin. The entire mountain was floating on the back of what appeared to be a turtle in an ocean. It was both awe inspiring and humbling.
"The churning of the ocean", a voice supplied to me.
And that's when I realized where I was. I was probably in the capital of one of the most dangerous and arguably one of the strongest godly pantheon's of the world. The Hindu gods.
How? Well after getting my gamer powers I had looked up the internet for all possible godly pantheons. Among them the Hindu pantheon looked the least divided.
With this knowledge I looked up the book. It looked simple enough at a first glance.
I was going to open the book when suddenly a familiar sound chimed
Ping
Welcome gamer to this new world of power, dangers and gods. Here having strength and cunning does not mean you are at the top of the food chain. Respect and hard work determines your position in the hierarchy. Have fun and what ever you do do not ever underestimate anyone. You never know how a single entity can change your entire world.
Now choose your path for once chosen there is no going back. Be careful what you choose for the entire game play will revolve around your choice from now on.
In front of me stood a screen with 10 different icons/picture on them. The page was captioned the "Daso Mahavidyas" or the 10 great knowledge's of the world.
Well no pressure at all. I have read about them you know. The 10 forms of the goddess Parvati ranging from the darkest black to the brightest light, each capable of either total salvation or total unstoppable annihilation. These ladies were not to be trifled with.
Each of the icons showed one of the pictures of the respective goddesses in the following order ….
Kali – The "Devourer of Time" .
Tara – The Goddess as Guide and Protector, or Who Saves, Who offers the ultimate knowledge which gives salvation (also known as Neel Saraswati).
Tripura Sundari (Shodashi) – The Goddess Who is "Beautiful in the Three Worlds" .
Bhuvaneshvari – The Goddess as World Mother, or Whose Body is the Cosmos.
Bhairavi – The Fierce Goddess.
Chhinnamasta – The self-decapitated Goddess. \
Dhumavati – The Widow Goddess, or the Goddess of death.
Bagalamukhi – The Goddess Who Paralyzes Enemies with her sound.
Matangi – the Prime Minister of Lalita or the royal goddess.
Kamala – The Lotus Goddess; the "Tantric Lakshmi". Goddess of fortune and wealth.
Each had their own benefits and downsides and I had to decide on which path I wanted to follow. Yup no pressure at all.
I knew what I wanted. I wanted power, not to destroy but to both protect myself and those I would want to in the future. For that I needed to be strong. I needed to be unstoppable.
So I chose. No sooner had I clicked the icon a nerve wracking change happened in the environment. The sun dimmed, the colours and sounds muted in intensity, as an unholy howling filled the air. The ground shook as the pedestal slowly immersed into the earth and a gigantic cave became visible. The entire pond surrounding the pedestal had also changed completely. Where there was clean water now bubbled blood. The smell of iron was unmistakable.
Seeing no other alternative, I stepped into the cave. With every step elaborate torches burning with ghostly blue flame lit up the path way. They looked like those wilo-wisps shown in pokemon tv.
Walking a few steps the tunnel suddenly opened up into a chamber. At the far opposite end of the entrance stoop a giant statue, elaborately curved from the surrounding rock walls. The statue stood on a elevated marble platform with 7 steps leading up to it, each step entirely made up of a different precious stone.
The statue was magnificent. Made of an unknown rock/material it seemed to a give off light on its own….. which strangely enough was somehow black. It showed the figure of a female with ten hands, with eight hand holding different weapons and the remaining two holding a bleeding decapacitated head and a bowl beneath it.
She was adorned not with garland of flowers but a garland of demonic heads. She wore sparse ornaments but they only made here even more striking. As for clothes, she wore a dress of freshly cut humanoid hands strung in a garland of bones around her waist.
Standing atop a mountain of dead bodies (carved in stone of course) with one leg on the chest of a yogi and other on a bloodied skull, she looked like the empress of the night. The mother of chaos. She had three eyes, one her forehead two on her face.
But for all her fierceness, her face looked calm, full of kindness with her tongue coming out of her mouth as though she had committed a great sin.
She was Kali, the devourer of time, mother goddess. One who give ultimate protection to her devotees and destroys all their enemies. Death, destruction and night-mare given form. The ultimate protector and the ultimate destroyer.
When she slays her enemies and dances through their burning graves, no one can stop her, all that stray in her path gets devoured without exception. Even her husband Shiva does not dare come in front of her in this form.
As I stood entranced looking at her a voice spoke "All hail the great destroyer, the ultimate protector, the devourer of time, mother of war and wisdom, the great goddess, the dark one, the mother of magic, the fierce one, the drinker of blood, slayer of raktbeeja, the ultimate goddess. All hail the ZERO goddess."
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Sorry guys I'm having my exams and interviews soon. So I can't update too much. Sorry for the length of the chapter as well.
Don't forget to review… oh and if you guys want to see the pics just type das mahavidyas and you will it.