"Your faith in us is boundless," Ashwin Nasatya said humbly. The horseman glittered, sitting on his ornate chair in the council room. The silver of his hair matched the silver of his chair. He had a smooth round face, with kind eyes, unlike his brother, whose eyes were full of mischief. The twins had the glow of heroes who had brought rains during droughts, rescued maidens from the earth's scorching fissure, and saved innocent men abandoned at sea.
"Boundless, perhaps, but it is not senseless. After all, the people of OneRealm have given you the title of Eternal Saviors. Now, it is time to prove yourselves worthy of this trust," Sage Parasu appealed with a hint of challenge.
Darsa, the other twin, chuckled. He then spat out the seed of the date he had just eaten and turned to Parasu. "Unlike my noble brother, I merely have a taste of adventure, Sage Parasu. So, I follow him to the furthest ends of this realm." He paused for a moment and chewed at the left corner of his lower lip. "I assume King Digvi had more urgent matters to attend to, more urgent than an impending doom for the realm."
Ashwin Darsa was always the skeptical one, asking too many questions.
"He is not convinced of my vision. He does not believe it is a prophecy," Sage Parasu frankly replied, his brows furrowed over the memory of the exchange in King Digvi's court. He stole a glance at Bali, the only other person from his camp present in the council room. The young asura prince had a still and hard look on his face, staring at the low table in front of them.
Darsa picked up a few more dates from the plate and threw them in his mouth. "Well," he said around his mouthful of dates, "I am always open to fun-filled quests. I trust High Minister Maitreyi fully with the tedious state matters."
Lady Maitreyi was seated to his right. She belonged to the monkey race, Vanaras, who lived mainly in Kishkindha, one of the southern kingdoms. It was rare to see a Vanara in the Horsemen territory.
Nasatya gave his brother a long, hard look. "What Darsa means is it would be an honor for us to assist you in this noble purpose, Sage Parasu."
Sage Parasu nodded. "Then, there is little sense in wasting precious time. It is true Lord Shesha has not been seen in hundreds of thousands of years, but there was no reason for him to break his solitude until now. This threat to the OneRealm must draw him out of his eternal slumber." Parasu's words were guarded but hopeful.
"Perhaps," Nasatya remarked and then found his high minister. "What is your opinion, Aunt Maitreyi?"
The vanara woman sighed as a worried councilor would. "I have little knowledge on the natter, but if you seek my opinion, it is never wise to tempt fate."
"This is why kingdoms are not built by women," Darsa declared, haughtily.
"Darsa!" snapped Nasatya. For a moment, he seemed far older than his twin brother. Darsa did not so much as glance at his brother, spitting out the seeds of the dates into the bowl beside him. Nasatya's rueful, amber eyes found the vanara woman. "We value both your knowledge and opinion, Aunt Maitreyi."
She jerked her head, unconcerned, and continued. "In the Dwapara Yuga, Lord Shesha was known to inhabit the Underlands. Now that it is overrun by the afflicted, he may have found a new abode, a place that can fit someone as enormous as him."
Lord Shesha was an ancient being, a thousand-headed serpent, the only creature to survive the last apocalypse. Legend says he was half-god, half-human, the child of Sage Kashyap and Serpent Goddess Kadru, eldest of a thousand serpent brothers and sisters. That was from the last Cycle of Yugas, before the first apocalypse.
Unlike his siblings, Lord Shesha was noble and kind-hearted and a follower of Great Lord Brahma. When his brothers inflicted cruelty on innocent beings, Shesha left his home in remorse to atone for their sin. He suffered severe penances, and on the tallest peaks of the highest mountains, he prayed to his beloved god, Brahma, years after years, refusing any comfort to his body, only living on air.
Lord Shesha's gigantic serpent figure turned into a mass of skin and bones, but he did not give up. At last, Lord Brahma appeared to him and asked for his wish. All Shesha wanted was a glimpse of the Lord Brahma and the mystery behind the world's creation. The great lord happily shared his knowledge that no other mortal or immortal had. But that was not all.
Seeing Shesha's enormous physical and mental endurance, Lord Brahma tasked him with the most benevolent purpose in the entire world. He commanded the serpent to journey to the Underlands, the land beneath the earth, and support the entire earth on his back. Lord Shesha could not be happier at the virtuous task Lord Brahma had set him to accomplish. He traveled to the Underlands, and lived there for eons, steadying the earth with his single, yet, powerful hood. He was still a one-headed serpent then.
In the second Cycle of Yugas, Agni Asura Yaman, Bali's ancestor, offered sanctuary to Lord Shesha and a place in his faction. Since then, the thousand-headed serpent had remained loyal to the agni asuras. And yet, the day after the OneRealm was created by Agni Asura Puru, the sacred being disappeared without a word.
"May I ask why you seek Lord Shesha?" Maitreyi sounded curious.
Parasu hesitated for a moment. "My vision is no secret to you, Lady Maitreyi. It may be a fool's wish, but I hope the divine creature knows the secret to survive the apocalypse. The Great Dissolution of the Universe is prophesied. Sooner or later, it would be here, and if we do not find the book to stop it, the lord's knowledge may be our only way to remain alive."
Darsa lazily stretched himself, and then, raising himself slowly to his feet, he walked over to the other side of the bright room where the long table was set with a wine pitcher and dishes of fruits and nuts. "Isn't death a certainty?" he said blithely, "If these are our last days, should we not spend it dancing and drinking and eating and adventuring?"
"If Lord Shesha has left the Underlands, there is only one place he could be," Nasatya proposed, ignoring his brother's impertinence. "The Great Oceans."
"Then, we must travel to the eastern or the western ghats."
Nasatya nodded to Parasu's words. There were two Great Oceans, the Great Ocean of Milk, in the East, and the Great Ocean of Sky, in the West.
"The Western Ghats would be more suitable," Nasatya decided after a moment of pondering. He ran his fingers down the silver strands of his hair. "Our cousin is a high knight. The king would be willing to let us pass through his land, without any dispute, even lend us a hand perhaps."
Both the coasts, the Eastern and the Western Ghats were in the southern Sun region. The eastern coast lined the Trisurajya kingdom, ruled by the Adityas, and was bathed by the Great Ocean of Milk. The Malaya was the kingdom to the west, touching the Great Ocean of Sky with its western ghats, and in between was the monkey kingdom, Kishkindha.
"I am relieved, dear brother, that you think King Saudipta would welcome us with open arms after our last visit," Darsa mocked, with a certain sparkle in his eyes. He was keenly watching his brother, who averted his gaze. "And, how do you plan to lure a giant serpent out of the ocean?"
Darsa was a brash and insolent man if there ever was one, but he had raised a clever point.
"You can assist." Nasatya was looking at Bali. For a second, the young prince seemed puzzled. "Shesha was devoted to your ancestors, Yaman and Puru. You are their descendant. He would answer your calling."
Bali immediately shook his head. "I have pledged to offer all my assistance to Lord Parasu until we find the book. It is a dangerous mission, and I must remain by his side. I can spare some of my men if you need."
"That won't be necessary."
"There must be another way, I am sure." Bali glanced around the room. "What of his serpent stone? It is something no serpent can resist."
Maitreyi rejected the idea. "There has never been a mention of one in all the books I have searched. If Lord Shesha possessed one, it was likely destroyed in the last dissolution."
Nasatya let out a quiet sigh. "Then, we must do what the lord himself did, severe penance and pray. He must hear…."
Suddenly, the door to the council room burst open, and a boy stumbled in. It was Sachi, Parasu's pupil. Parasu jumped to his feet and dashed across the room. Sachi lurched forward for a few steps, eyes full of horror, hands around his throat as if the air was getting choked out of him. Before Parasu could reach him, Sachi slumped to the ground in a heap.