(A/N):
Drop a here that you find funny. Or reflects your mood.
Guys I hope you put more comnts and power stones... Which will encourage ...
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God Indra remained seated upon his throne long after Brihaspati had finished speaking.
The king of the gods stared silently into space.
"...."
The celestial attendants nearby wisely chose not to disturb him.
They had served Indra for centuries.
They knew this expression.
This was not the face of a king planning a battle.
This was the face of a man regretting his past decisions.
Many.
Many past decisions.
Unfortunately for Indra, one particular mory kept resurfacing.
Again. And again. And again.
Mahendragiri.
The sacred mountain.
Guru Parashurama’s domain.
The day he had arrived there.
The day he had demanded the Pinakodhanda bow.
The day he had acted exactly like the king of the gods often acted.
Without thinking.
Without patience.
Without considering consequences.
At the ti it had seed reasonable.
Now...
Now he wanted to travel back through ti and personally strike his past self.
Several tis.
Very hard.
Indra groaned. Actually groaned.
Thinking how ssed up the situation is.
Deva Guru Brihaspati raised an eyebrow.
The sight was unusual.
God Indra rarely admitted mistakes.
The king rubbed his forehead.
"Guruji1."
"Hmm?"
"I was an idiot."
The guru remained silent.
"...."
The fact that Deva Guru Brihaspati didn’t imdiately deny it only made Indra feel worse.
The king leaned back heavily.
"If I had simply remained quiet..."
Silence.
"If I had simply behaved properly..."
More silence.
"If I had simply made a good impression..."
The silence sohow beca even more painful.
Indra looked toward the heavens.
"Of all the people I could have offended..."
The king pointed upward.
"Why did it have to be him?"
Deva Guru Brihaspati folded his hands calmly.
"You possess a rare talent."
Indra blinked.
"A talent?"
"Yes."
The guru nodded his head.
-Nod!
"You sohow find the worst possible person to offend."
The attendants imdiately lowered their heads.
Several nearly laughed.
Indra looked personally attacked.
Which he was.
The king sighed deeply.
Because Brihaspati wasn’t wrong.
First sages.
Then ascetics.
Then divine beings.
And now...
Now the mortal connected to Pushpasura’s downfall happened to be Devaratha.
The very sa Devaratha.
The son of the Trimurti.
The man whose mothers included Goddess Ganga and Goddess Bhudevi.
The man who already possessed enough divine support to make Indra nervous.
The king buried his face in his hands.
"If we need his help..."
His voice sounded miserable.
"...this is going to be awkward."
Deva Guru Brihaspati actually smiled.
"That is one word for it."
Before Indra could complain further...
The great bells of Amaravati began ringing.
The Deva Sabha was assembling.
One by one divine beings began arriving.
The celestial assembly hall slowly filled.
The atmosphere beca increasingly grand.
Golden pillars stretched toward impossible heights.
Divine lamps illuminated the hall.
Celestial clouds drifted through the air.
Then ca the gods.
First arrived Lord Surya.
Radiance accompanied him.
The hall brightened slightly the mont he entered.
Not long after ca Chandra.
Then Lord Vayu.
Then Lord Agni.
Then Lord Varuna.
The seats of the guardians slowly filled.
Soon the goddesses began arriving as well.
Goddess Ganga entered with the grace of a flowing river.
Her presence imdiately drew respectful greetings from many deities.
Not long after ca Goddess Yamuna.
Then Goddess Sandhya.
Then Goddess Chaya.
Then Goddess Bhudevi herself.
The earth goddess entered calmly.
Yet her arrival imdiately caught Indra’s attention.
The king suddenly rembered another uncomfortable detail.
Devaratha wasn’t rely connected to Bhudevi.
She considered him her son.
That realization did not improve his mood.
At all.
Then ca Shani Dev.
The mont Shani entered, several gods instinctively beca more careful about their words.
Old habits died hard.
One by one more divine beings arrived.
The hall slowly filled with heavenly power.
Yet sothing strange happened.
The mont each god entered...
The sa reaction followed.
They looked at God Indra.
Then looked around the assembly.
Then looked back at Indra.
And imdiately beca suspicious.
Because everyone could see it.
Sothing was wrong. Very wrong.
Indra looked nervous.
Which was already alarming.
The atmosphere felt tense.
Which was even more alarming.
And most importantly...
A full ergency assembly had been called.
Which was usually disastrous.
Several gods exchanged glances.
The sa thought slowly appeared throughout the hall.
A thought so common that it practically beca a collective conclusion.
’What did Indra do this ti?’
Lord Surya sat down.
Then quietly leaned toward Varuna.
"Any idea?"
Varuna shook his head.
"No."
A pause.
Then he added,
"But judging by his face..."
Surya nodded seriously.
"It must be bad."
Nearby, Vayu whispered,
"Did he offend another sage?"
Agni folded his arms.
"That would be the optimistic possibility."
Several gods imdiately agreed.
anwhile Goddess Yamuna quietly sat beside Ganga.
Both observed the room.
Yamuna lowered her voice.
"Why do I feel everyone thinks this is Indra’s fault?"
Ganga looked toward the king.
Then toward the worried expressions around the hall.
Then back toward Indra.
Finally she answered.
"History repeats itself."
Goddess Yamuna could not argue with that.
Even Bhudevi looked thoughtful.
The earth goddess observed Indra carefully.
The king looked genuinely troubled.
That alone suggested the situation was serious.
Very serious.
At the center of the hall, Indra slowly stood.
The conversations gradually died down.
One by one. Silence spread.
Every deity looked toward the throne.
Waiting.
Expecting answers.
Expecting explanations.
Perhaps expecting another disaster caused by Indra.
The king Indra looked around the assembly.
Then imdiately noticed the suspicious expressions.
His eye twitched.
"I know what you’re all thinking."
Nobody spoke.
Which confird everything.
Indra sighed.
"It wasn’t this ti."
Several gods visibly relaxed.
A few even smiled.
That statent alone was sohow reassuring.
Unfortunately...
Indra’s next words erased that comfort imdiately.
"It is Pushpasura."
Silence. Absolute silence.
The hall froze hearing his words.
Smiles vanished.
Expressions hardened.
Even so of the older gods went pale.
The na carried weight.
Ancient weight.
The weight of old wars.
Old defeats.
Old nightmares.
At one corner of the assembly, a younger celestial quietly asked,
"Who is Pushpasura?"
The older gods imdiately looked at him with horror.
The young celestial suddenly wished he had remained silent.
anwhile, Ganga and Bhudevi exchanged glances.
"...."
"...."
Both noticed sothing imdiately.
The timing.
The prophecy.
The sudden assembly.
And the faint threads of destiny moving beneath everything.
Far away...
In a flower-filled village.
Their son was unknowingly standing near the center of it all.
And sohow...
Neither goddess found that surprising anymore.
The na Pushpasura continued to hang over the assembly hall like a dark cloud.
The earlier suspicion that Indra had sohow offended another sage had completely vanished.
Now the mood was far more serious.
Many of the younger celestial beings looked confused.
The older gods looked troubled.
And the few who had actually witnessed the ancient war against Pushpasura had beco unusually silent.
Among them sat Goddess Yamuna.
She glanced around the hall.
The reactions alone told her everything she needed to know.
Whatever Pushpasura was...
He was not an ordinary asura.
Yet she had never heard his na before.
Which made sense.
The war had happened long before her birth.
Yamuna slowly leaned toward her mother.
Unlike the younger celestials who openly asked questions, she lowered her voice.
Not wanting to interrupt the assembly.
"Mother..."
Sandhya turned toward her daughter.
Yamuna spoke softly.
"Who exactly was Pushpasura?"
The question was simple.
Yet Sandhya’s expression imdiately beca serious.
For several monts she remained silent.
As though deciding where to begin.
Then she quietly answered.
"Imagine Ravana."
Yamuna nodded.
"Now imagine soone even the gods couldn’t defeat."
The river goddess blinked.
Her eyes widened slightly.
Sandhya continued.
"Pushpasura wasn’t the strongest being to ever exist."
"But he was among the most troubleso."
Nearby, Chaya overheard the conversation and joined in.
"His greatest weapon wasn’t rely strength."
"It was the boon."
Yamuna frowned.
"The boon?"
Sandhya nodded.
"Lord Brahma granted him protection from every divine race."
"No god."
"No celestial."
"No deva."
"No gandharva."
"No yaksha."
"No naga."
"Could end his life."
Yamuna’s eyes widened further.
"That sounds impossible."
"It almost was."
The answer ca from Chaya.
The shadow goddess folded her arms.
"The more dangerous part ca afterward."
Yamuna listened carefully.
"The only one capable of killing him had to be a mortal."
The river goddess imdiately frowned.
That sounded strange.
Then Sandhya added the second condition.
"The mortal would need to fight him continuously for one hundred days."
Yamuna blinked.
Then blinked again.
Surely she had misheard.
"A hundred days?"
Sandhya nodded.
Without a trace of humor.
"A hundred days."
"And with each day Pushpasura survived..."
Chaya finished the explanation.
"...his strength doubled."
For several monts Yamuna simply stared.
Certain she had misunderstood.
Then slowly the implications sank in.
Day one.
Double.
Day two.
Double again.
Day ten.
Day twenty.
Day fifty.
The numbers beca absurd.
By the hundredth day...
Yamuna didn’t even want to imagine it.
Her expression gradually turned pale.
"No wonder everyone looks terrified."
Sandhya nodded.
"You understand now."
The younger goddess slowly looked around the hall.
The older deities weren’t rely worried.
Many genuinely looked uncomfortable.
That alone told her how dangerous Pushpasura had once been.
At the center of the hall, Indra remained standing.
His gaze swept across the assembly.
One thing imdiately beca clear.
Nobody liked the situation.
Unfortunately, that didn’t solve anything.
The king finally spoke.
"You have all heard the situation."
His voice echoed through the hall.
"The possibility of Pushpasura awakening is no longer theoretical."
The assembly remained silent.
"The stars indicate movent."
"The seals are weakening."
"The danger is real."
Indra folded his arms.
Then looked toward the gathered gods.
"I want suggestions."
The king’s gaze moved across the hall.
"Every suggestion."
"We discuss everything."
For now...
He carefully avoided ntioning Devaratha.
That conversation could wait.
First he wanted to hear their opinions.
Only afterward would he reveal the part that would undoubtedly create an entirely different discussion.
The first to stand was Agni.
The god of fire looked thoughtful.
"Destroy the prison."
Several gods imdiately looked toward him.
Agni continued.
"If the seal is weakening, reinforce it."
"If necessary, destroy the surrounding region."
The proposal caused murmurs.
Varuna imdiately shook his head.
"Impossible."
Agni frowned.
"Why?"
"The prison exists beneath the mortal realm."
Varuna answered calmly.
"Destroying the region may damage the seal itself."
Several gods nodded.
That risk was too great.
The next to speak was Vayu.
"Then evacuate the region."
"Remove every mortal nearby."
This suggestion received more support.
Yet Brihaspati shook his head.
"The stars indicate the awakening is tied to destiny."
"Removing people may not prevent the event."
Vayu sat down with a frustrated expression.
Then Surya rose.
The hall imdiately grew brighter.
"We should prepare the heavens."
The sun god spoke seriously.
"If Pushpasura awakens, we assu conflict is inevitable."
"Mobilize celestial armies."
"Prepare divine weapons."
"Strengthen defenses."
Several war gods imdiately voiced support.
At least it was a practical suggestion.
Then Goddess Ganga spoke.
Unlike the others, her voice remained calm.
"What if awakening is not the true problem?"
The hall beca quiet.
Ganga continued.
"The stars speak of awakening."
"They do not necessarily speak of imdiate destruction."
Many gods looked thoughtful.
That was a fair point.
Bhudevi then added her own observation.
"What concerns is timing."
The earth goddess slowly stood.
"Ancient seals do not weaken randomly."
Several heads turned toward her.
"The weakening itself may be the result of soone’s actions."
The hall grew quieter.
That possibility had not escaped Brihaspati either.
Soone.
Or sothing.
Could be interfering.
Then ca Shani.
The hall imdiately paid attention.
When Shani spoke, wise beings listened.
The dark deity slowly opened his eyes.
His voice remained calm.
"The first question is wrong."
The hall frowned.
Shani continued.
"We keep asking how to stop Pushpasura."
Silence followed.
Then he added.
"We should first determine who is trying to awaken him."
The hall beca completely silent.
Even Indra’s eyes widened slightly.
"...."
Because Shani had identified the exact issue everyone had overlooked.
Pushpasura was sleeping.
Sothing was causing that situation to change.
Finding that cause might prove more important than preparing for the result.
Brihaspati slowly nodded.
"An excellent observation."
Several gods imdiately agreed.
Indra rubbed his chin.
The discussion was finally becoming productive.
Yet throughout the entire assembly...
One thing remained hidden.
One detail.
One na.
A na Indra still had not revealed.
Because he already knew what would happen once he said it.
The mont the gods learned who the stars had connected to Pushpasura’s downfall...
Half the assembly would beco hopeful.
The other half would beco nervous.
And a few would probably start laughing at Indra’s terrible luck.
Unfortunately...
That conversation was rapidly approaching.
And Indra was not looking forward to it at all.
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(Author note:)
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Teacher
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