Author's Note:
As of now, I've read Tiger's Dream... The ending messed me up, and as such will influence later chapters to a degree. Unfortunately for you Kishan/anam*ka fans, my stance hasnt changed on them. oops. Anyways, leave a review, they always help!
annbe11: Thank you so much for the comment! I hope you can forgive me for the cliché matchmaker move, I'm a sucker for clichés. Yikes. Anyways, I hope you stay tuned for later chapters because there will be many more Kishan related adventures in a way... Sorry.. Cant give you spoilers yet ;)
Hidden deep within the jungles of India stood a dazzling mansion of white. Inside the rooms were full of beauty, and more recently, several artifacts with great significance to several mythological beings. Nilima Kadam, the CEO, of Rajaram Industries, sat at a table in the mansion's peacock library studying what appeared to be a mixture of blueprints, applications for the private project Nilima was funding, as well as a scramble of sanskrit words.
Outside the luxurious sanctuary, a storm was brewing. The wind blew strong enough to whine in the night. Nilima glanced at the open window which had become more of a nuisance than a nice form of air conditioning. As she stood up, some of the papers blew away. Nilima frowned as the window finally shut and she had the chance to collect the papers, but not before they blew over and covered the most recent artifact that had been recovered: an obsidian tiger with two glittering ruby eyes.
Nilima frowned at the artifact, and returned to the couch. A clap of thunder erupted in the sky, shaking the mighty house down to its roots. The lights flickered on and off for several seconds before they plunged the peacock room into complete darkness. Red light, however, illuminated the room.
Red light. Red light from my eyes.
Had the peacock library been lit by electric lights and not the glittering red eyes of a beast like me, the room would've been like a miniature paradise. All around were decorations of false gold and gems, as well as books, and even a golden resting on the wall not far from Nilima's makeshift desk.
All at once the obsidian encasing me cracked into a feathery impersonation of my once magnificent fur coat. I wasn't alive, only stone and jewels. The floor was foreign to my paws as I stepped down from the pedestal I'd sat on. Nilima remained completely still as she began to study me.
"There is nothing for you here," She said confidently. "What you seek has yet to be found."
What was it that I sought? Nothing in my head had been truly what I felt for centuries, I'd been trapped in stone for so long. Nilima made a compelling argument, it was enough to convince me that I didn't need to devour her for an evening meal. I sat down facing her, the room still only lit by my luminescent ruby eyes.
My action visibly allowed her to relax. Nilima sighed, "I cannot say your name, it carries too much danger. What will happen if I say it is a mystery, I can't risk destruction for your freedom. Bu just know," She held out a hand to me, but I continued staring at her instead. "We will free you, once and for all."
Free me? Free me from what? I liked being this way, powerful and cold. Nothing could hurt me now. Nilima's words no longer motivated me to continue to starve while she sat there talking, I crouched down against the lush carpet, preparing to pounce on her. Her eyes widened, and I shot off towards her with outstretched claws as she opened her mouth to do something, anything to save herself.
I could almost feel the satisfying crunch of human bones in my mouth, but I was met only by getting my head trapped in the couch Nilima had been sitting on seconds ago. In my rush to attack, she'd rolled away from me. With my head stuck in the couch, I couldn't see anything she was up to. Furiously, I shook my head until I was no longer trapped in the couch. Nilima had turned the lights on, and the golden spear was missing.
The slight clicking my stone fur made as I shifted distracted me from listening for Nilima, who had no doubt either ran away, or was hiding in an attempt to attack me with the golden spear. My theory was soon answered when nilima burst from behind the bookshelf, shouting an incantation. I growled, and prepared to meet her. I managed to claw the skin on her exposed neck and shoulders but the wound was unfortunately not fatal... But the wound she'd given me would have been enough to stop a living tiger.
The spear had gone through the front of my chest, but what was a mortal wound to a beast like me? I growled again, prepared to end Nilima before she could try to be a hero again. She let go of the spear and walked away, unafraid of me.
Now faint blue light was flooding the room from the spear. The floor beneath my feet felt as if it had all but vanished, but when I looked down, it was my feet that had vanished. The rest of me was slowly disappearing as well. I roared in frustration. I hated losing.
"I'm working as fast as I can," Nilima insisted as I began to feel less and less of the world around me. "It will all be worth it in the end."
The peacock room vanished from sight, leaving me in an empty void filled with nothing but solid darkness.
There were only a few things I hated more than losing. One of those things was Lord Shiva, the Destroyer and one of the most powerful gods, and another thing is being utterly alone. I'd spent so long with no one that the prospect of solitude frightened me more than any threat Lord Shiva could ever make against me.
I tried running forwards, but with nothing to gain traction on, I only remained in the same place. I tried to swim, but there was no success in moving. The void I was trapped in was cold. Absolutely nothing was there save for the black void surrounding me. Was I truly dead? Had a powerless human defeated me where so many all-powerful gods and goddesses could not?
A tiny light in the darkness far from me appeared. The unpleasant sound of something being sucked into a drain filled the void, which at first seemed as if it had done nothing but cause me pain. In frustration, I swished my obsidian tail, accidentally sending myself spiraling to the right. Righting myself took several tries, but in what felt like minutes, I'd become a professional at twirling. Professional enough to give Russian figure skaters a run for their money.
Timindly, I attempted a swimming motion once again, and found that the small motion still sent me far closer to the small little light than where I'd been before. I continued swimming through the void until the light was close enough that I could see that it wasn't just any light, this light belonged to a four armed man... With blue skin.
And horrible parachute pants.
"Old friend," Vishnu boomed through the void, I could have recognized that voice anywhere.
'Everyone has forgotten me,' I mumbled deep within the crevices of my mind. I still couldn't speak like a normal man in my stone body. 'Why am I here? It would be better for me to fade into nothingness.'
Vishnu began to approach me. All about him, the void flickered, he nodded at me, "And allow Miss Nilima to face such disappointment after working so hard to find out about what happened to you? Am I not your friend? I have missed your presence in Kailasa, it has become nothing more than a circus up there."
He knew how much of a sore subject Kailasa was to me, 'I don't want any part of any city led by my fellow Devas. They are only names, they do nothing.'
"They do everything, those who care, that is."
'And you care?'
"I care very much, and that is why I've come with a boon to offer. But first, I'm sincerely sorry that Nilima had to stab you with Vel the spear to get you into my presence. I have trouble being in two places at once," Vishnu explained.
Ah, that explained it. Weapons with names always had special properties. Vel was a divine spear granted to Ahsoka Sundari, one of Durga's daughters... With Shiva, nothing less. The spear had the ability to temporarily force a being into a state of nothing and everything, a state between existing and not existing. It was one of the only places where one could speak to another without anything being found out.
'Don't be sorry, I was going to make that girl my dinner, which would have likely ruined something in the process,' I dipped my head in respect, my stone fur once again clicking against each other.
"I promise to make up for it," Vishnu cracked a teasing smile. "Our time is diminishing, and as I said before, I have a boon for you. There is something special about you tiger. The Devas we know have other names, powerless names as everyone knows what those names are. But oh tiger, not you. You have two names. One of which I know, and the other you have hidden against all odds. Where the love of your life has withered away, you have not as you hid your true name. I will tell you you the name I know in exchange for one of the many things I wish for in the secret heart of my heart.
"Years ago, you weren't the only one to fall out of favor. I don't expect you to remember her, but I could never forget her. Of all the devas, male or female, Lakshmi was the kindest. She brought fortune to those who asked in many different forms and listened to all who simply needed someone to listen, she spoke of the future to those in dark places. These gentle actions led me to adopt many of her habits to fill just a part of the goodness she brought to Kailasa. Her kindness became her downfall, we spoke of things we should have discussed in secret, and she was cast aside by her fellow Devas to wander earth labelled as a madwoman. Should I visit her, Shiva has sworn that she will face far worse punishment. No god should speak to the disgraced. I come asking you to find Lakshmi, and tell her how much I love her. Tell her I promise Kailasa will become clean from corruption again. Do you accept?"
'You risk speaking to me, a disgrace, but not to Lakshmi,' I did remember her. She was odd, even as an immortal. '... I accept your boon, Preserver.'
All around me the void began to shimmer similar to the way the air wavered during a mirage. I began to hear muffled noises, one such quiet noise was the deep thudding of some kind of drum. The glimmer of orange little lights caught my attention. A cement sidewalk came racing towards Vishnu and I. There was no jarring impact as my stone feet clattered against the ground. I was in a place unlike any I was truly familiar. The air was unbearable dry and hot, the night sky was dull thanks to surrounding city lights. A large club stood several feet away flanked by many elegant homes. Where was I?
"There is someone else I must speak to now, several others. For if you hope to be reunited with the man you once were, you must first discover your true name. Old friend, I bestow upon you your name, take this gift and rise above your inner desires," Vishnu said. He was disappearing slowly. "Damon Anirbana. Have patience. Be kind. You will sacrifice much."
'Preserver! Vishnu! Wait' I cried out, my paws slipping on the concrete as I tried to lurch forwards. I fell forwards, pebbles became embedded in my palms. My secret wish was granted... I was human again.
"I'm lost! Who am I? What was I?" I cried out, the sound of my own voice shocking me. My old friend was nowhere in sight. He'd left me alone in a place I didn't know with but one gift: my name.
I forced myself to step forwards, but once again I found that I'd changed back into a stone statue. Each transformation was unstable. One moment I was a man sweating in the desert air, and the next I was a stone figure struggling to get a grip on the sidewalk. The process was draining. Eventually I gave up, and forced myself to remain a tiger. Every solid muscle in my stone body clenched while my body heaved in an attempt to vomit due to the searing pressure bearing down on me.
To add to the pressure, my eyes began to sting, and the stinging pain continued to grow until I was certain that my gemstone eyes were melting out of their sockets. No matter how hard I tried to scratch out the fiery gems, they remained there until I couldn't see anything at all. Then my sight returned bit by bit. I'd only ever heard of what happened when one was told their name after it was taken, but nobody ever knew what truly occured. It seemed that I'd received a new pair of eyes thanks to Vishnu giving back my name.
As I sat on the sidewalk more aware than before, I began to ponder about the process of taking a name. A name had to be given, and when it was given, whoever had been given the name held that person in their power... And could use that to their advantage. In my case, whomever had had my name before had forbidden me from remembering it. Damon.
My name was Damon, I'd escaped from Naraka, a hell which nobody could leave. I couldn't remember who or what I was before I became Durga's mount. Perhaps those memories would come in time once I learned my own name.
A car turned on, succeeding in distracting me from my thoughts. The vehicle began to drive away, and as it passed me, I stared at the car driver unashamedly. A woman with strange makeup glanced back for a second while I gazed back. And then she was gone.
'I've got to do something about this,' I thought to myself after I'd sat in silence for several long moments. When I stepped forwards, I once again forcefully became a man. There was no way of knowing how long I'd be able to stay that way. I doubted many people could speak and understand tiger. 'Find out where you are first.'
I began to slowly walk in the direction from where the woman had driven from. Not far from where she'd parked, a large building sporting cheap decorations stood tall. Red lights streamed from the windows. I recognized the heavy drum beat that had been present in the black void, the sound was coming from the building. People were slowly staggering from the doors, one even threw up into a copse of small trees. The behavior became more and more embarrassing the closer I got to the building.
I approached the large building, passing many more strange yard ornaments, and even more young adults passed out in the grass. Several had tiny sleek boxes in their pockets. A chord stuck inside me, and a vague memory of somebody using those small boxes to communicate crossed my mind. I crouched by the nearest unconscious young man, and took the black box from his pocket.
Nothing happened when I picked up the box. I tried pushing any button I could find. Two of them caused the front of the box to lighten up, but none of them gave me access to anything I could communicate with. I wasn't sure who I'd try to contact if I even got the device to work. That reasoning influenced me to stop trying.
"That's stealing, y'know," said somebody unfamiliar. The voice belonged to a muscular young blonde man sipping at a bottle of water. "Just ask somebody for help."
I coughed, "I don't need help."
"You sure? 'Cause it looked like you needed help opening up that phone," the man said, arching an eyebrow at me.
"I don't need anybody's help," I insisted, standing up. "Good evening to you sir."
Deep in my heart, something twinged. Had I seen this person before? Probably not. Maybe that was my body telling me that I was about to turn into stone. Either way, I knew that approaching the large house had been a huge mistake. I turned away from the young man and began to walk away from him.
"Hey! You-" The man began...
But as I turned to face him, my stone paws hit the ground again. The young man's eyes widened. He cursed loudly, and began ushering me away from the house.
"Listen, I don't know who you are, but I've dealt with beings like you, and most of the time they're smart enough to stay away from populated areas," the man hissed at me as he tried his best to push me back down the pathway. He seemed to have a better grasp at what was going on than I did. "First, I've got a friend claiming she saw Lord Vishnu tell her some crap, and now I've got a man changing into a statue. Let's. Go."
Vishnu? This man had a very good grasp on what was happening. As he shoved me forwards, I began to walk on my own. He tripped when he discovered that he no longer needed to push me. Casually, he recovered from the stumble, and hurried down the steps. Under his breath he complained about always having to clean up the messes gods made.
The large house passed out of sight as the man hurried to his vehicle. It was only when we were out of the house's view and near his truck that he began to speak to me again. "I don't know who or what you are, but I promise we're gonna figure that out so long as you don't eat me, and trust me, I can handle a flesh eating demon. Get in the back of the truck and lay low. If you try any funny business, I want you to know that I've got ties, kitty cat."
The man waited until I'd jumped into the back of his car before he started his truck and began to drive away from the large house. He'd been smart to keep his name to himself, otherwise I would've tried to have used it against him. The night wind whistled past my stiff fur. I wondered what it would have felt like on my human skin.
It wouldn't be long until I was freed from this obsidian state.
It wouldn't be long until I discovered what my true name was.