"Go ahead," a female voice drifted in from behind Puru, "touch him. He has not spoken to an agni asura since Yaman."
Puru held out his hand blindly, and a cold, damp sheath touched his fingers. He felt the creature breathe underneath those scales; he even felt its muscles move as if leaning in to his touch. Goddess Dimuka picked up the torch and brought it closer. Now, Puru could see the glistening jet black scales of the serpent against his hand. He raised his eyes and measured how enormous the beast was. Its tubular body stretched from the ground to the ceiling and undulated every now and then. The smell of the earth was the strongest here.
"How large is he?" Puru had only seen the thousand heads of the serpent.
"The entire land of Asaya would not be enough for him to uncoil. So, he lives in netherworld. He comes to me when I need him."
Goddess Dimuka took Puru's other hand and placed it on the creature. Puru glanced at her, eyes full of questions, when a deep voice from nowhere spoke to him.
"My regards to you, mighty Asura Puru."
Puru snapped his head towards the creature in front of him, hands still touching its skin.
"How may this humble being assist you?"
"Show yourself to me." Puru found himself saying.
Suddenly, the ground began to shudder, just as it had before. The ceiling parted, and a dark emptiness descended on the cellar. The next moment Puru found himself in an open land, brightened under the glitter of a million gemstones that studded every surface of it.
"Welcome to the nether land, my lord."
Puru spun his head left and right and saw the beast in its full form, with all its thousand heads and its great, scaled serpentine body. Puru slowly turned around, his wide eyes absorbing the glory of this enchanted land. Instead of soil, the ground was covered with sparkling dust of green and blue and red and yellow. They fell from crystalline plants that stuck out of the earth, lighting the paths of the nether land.
"What a magical place this is!" Puru exclaimed. He could feel the powers surging through him, making him restless.
"This is your home, Lord Puru." The serpent offered.
Puru observed the creature once again. The gleam of the millions of jewels made it glow even brighter, a glow that only suited the GREAT King of the Naagas. Puru walked up to the divine being and kowtowed.
In the light of the gemstones, Puru spied many smaller creatures, too, surrounding the great serpent, huddled together like bundles of ropes. They must be none other than the Naagas or cobras that roamed the earth, slithering on the ground, and burrowing their way into the Nether Land, from time to time, to pay respects to their king.
Puru surmised the gemstones littered on the surface of this land must be the Naagmanis, crown stones that every king or queen of the cobras owned. The occasional hisses filled the air, but there was no cunning to them. Instead Puru heard a note of salutation in them. He bowed to all the naagas that encircled him and Lord Shesha. In turn, the naagas raised their hoods as one as if to welcome home the only living descendant of Agni Asura Yaman.
"Why is a master bowing to his servant?" The deep voice from nowhere sounded again.
Puru sat back on his heels and looked as far up as his neck would let him with his hands joined in reverence. "Lord Shesha, no matter what you say, you are the blessed one. We are all servants to the only ancient being to ever survive the cosmic cataclysm."
"To live an endless life without a meaning is no blessing, Lord Puru."
The serpent slowly lowered one of its heads until it found Puru. He saw himself reflected in its glistening eyes, dark as molten lava. The serpent's forked red tongue flicked out for a moment. As frightening as his form was, Lord Shesha was the most benevolent and moral being time had ever known. Puru remembered from the scriptures that Lord Shesha was the child of sage Kashyap and god child Kadru. The eldest of a thousand serpent brothers and sisters, Lord Shesha was a follower Brahma since a young age, and unlike his siblings, he grew to be noble and kind.
Disheartened by the actions of his merciless brothers, Lord Shesha left his home and wandered the world to find a way to atone for their sins. At the end, he scaled mountains to meditate and suffer severe penances. He prayed to his god, Brahma, years after years, in the tallest peaks of the highest mountains, refusing any comfort to his body, only consuming air.
Lord Shesha's gigantic serpent figure shriveled into a frail mass of skin and bones, but he did not give up. Eventually, Lord Brahma descended from the fourth realm of the heaven and asked his disciple what he wished for. At first, Lord Shesha wanted nothing but Lord Brahma's darshan and mystery of the world's creation. Lord Brahma freely shared all the knowledge he had but still felt Lord Shesha's penance deserved a greater reward. After repeated offering, Lord Shesha asked for the power to control his own Mana, his heart, so he could continue meditating and praying to Lord Brahma.
Lord Brahma granted his request and, seeing Shesha's enormous physical and mental endurance, tasked him with the most benevolent purpose in the entire world. He ordered the serpent, Shesha, to venture into the Nether Land, the land that resides beneath the earth and stabilize the earth from underneath. Lord Shesha paid the great creator his regards and made his way into the nether land. There, for centuries, he resided and steadied the earth with his hood. Back then, he was still a one-headed serpent. It was only after he met Agni Asura Yaman, that he became the thousand headed serpent that all fear and revere now.
"You have lived a life larger than your being, from Satya to Kali to Nara Yuga. Your life has more meaning than time itself, Lord Shesha." Puru rose to his feet and then advanced two steps towards the primal being. "When I touched you, you heard the doubt I have in my heart. May I seek some wisdom from you to dispel them?"
Lord Shesha studied Puru for the longest time before blinking at last. "You may, Lord Puru. And to answer your question, you and I have the same noble purpose now, in life, to bring honor and justice to the fallen name of Lord Yaman."
------XXX------XXX-------XXX-------