Twenty seconds gone in a snap of the fingers. A single moment stretched across a thousand lives. Nine hundred rebirths and deaths passed like ripples across time.
And in that timeless loop of rebirth and oblivion, Vajranga and Agni clashed again and again. Blow for blow, flame against fury, until even Agni seemed little more than a heap of burnt-out ash.
"You think soma gives you strength?" Vajranga mocked, his voice low and disdainful. "You think I've never trained, never been defeated, never bled? Fool. You've been drinking too much."
The divine horse beneath him snorted, iron hooves clinking against the void as it turned slowly, ears pricked. Vajranga raised his colossal mace, pointing it at the god of fire, who now knelt in the empty heavens. His laughter was cruel. "Get up, Agni. Burn a little brighter before you fade out."
But Agni did not reply. The fire god's body, half-crouched, battered, began to rise.
BOOM.
A thousand radiant lights burst from his back in that moment. His form surged upward, swelling in size until he towered across the battlefield. Three heads. Four arms. His skin shone with blazing crimson light, and thick, black smoke billowed from his body, rising like a battle standard in the stars.
Vajranga's smile faded. He tightened his grip on the mace, eyes narrowing with caution.
Agni now burned with a light that was not wild, but ancient. Resolute. Heavy with memory.
His gaze swept across the battlefield, across the ruins of worlds and the shattered fragments of heaven. His voice rang out, low and solemn:
"I do not understand..."
"Why must the Asuras relentlessly seek to seize Svarga as though the fall of the Devas is predestined, carved into the very fabric of fate?"
"Since the dawn of the Satya Yuga, we have cast down Asura kings, one after another, reclaiming Svarga time and again. The Tri-Loka resounded with joy. Life flourished. The bhūtas and ātmanas danced in celestial harmony. That memory still burns brightly within me."
"And yet now, in the span of a single millennium... must every soul who ascends the throne of Svarga face inevitable ruin?"
His words hung in the void like funeral bells. There was sorrow in them. The weight of a deva who remembered better times.
Then, Agni's arms tensed, muscle and bone coiling like serpents. The staff in his grasp glowed bright, then brighter still, until it could no longer bear the light.
CRACK.
The staff shattered. In its place came a searing red light, coalescing into a wave of black smoke so thick it seemed to fall like a veil across the cosmos.
BOOM!
The smoke spread in all directions, blanketing the stars, drowning the battlefield in shadows.
Up. Down. Past. Present. All were swallowed in the dark.
And from within that smoke.
Whoosh!
Agni leapt downward, landing atop his golden goat in one swift motion. He spun around, roaring into the chaos:
"Withdraw!" The goat galloped with divine speed, vanishing into the horizon like a comet.
"So fast...!" Surya muttered, astonished.
From his burning chariot, still hovering on the edge of the battlefield, the sun god had been watching. He saw Agni vanish into the smoke like a candle being snuffed out.
"Aruna!" he barked to his charioteer.
Aruna nodded before the order was finished, flicking the reins. The seven divine horses reared and pivoted, hooves thundering against the emptiness.
Tap tap tap!
"So fast!" Surya repeated. "He didn't say anything about retreating before!"
"Drive! Hurry! We must reach Svarga as soon as possible!"
…
The devas cried out in alarm, their composure shattered. Without hesitation, they turned and fled.
BOOM!
A thunderous shockwave erupted, and Vajranga burst forth from the black smoke like a tsunami of wrath, riding atop the divine steed Uchchaihshravas. His eyes burned with fury, and in his hand, the colossal mace danced like a living tempest.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The mace twisted in the air, multiplying mid-swing, thousands of maces materialized from the void, blotting out the sky like a meteor storm.
The skies themselves seemed to tremble. Gandharvas fell like leaves in a cyclone, scattered across the battlefield.
Amid the chaos, Varuna rode his mount Makara, weaving through the downpour of divine maces with serpentine grace.
Feng Shenfa spun, bow in hand, losing a shining arrow to intercept an incoming mace. It exploded mid-air, sending ripples of light across the field as he deflected another from behind.
Soma, the god of the moon, had already leapt aboard the solar chariot, fleeing with Surya through the torn sky.
"You think you can escape?" Vajranga roared.
The giant mace vanished from his hand, replaced in a flash by a radiant divine bow. He drew the bowstring taut like a full moon, and in the blink of an eye, four flaming arrows blazed into existence.
WHOOSH!
The first arrow screamed across space, colliding head-on with Vayu's arrow. The air shattered with a crimson flash, and then, with a sudden burst of acceleration, the fire arrow pierced forward, striking Vāyu in the chest.
The wind god, brave and defiant to the end, fell from the sky.
The second flaming arrow surged toward Varuna.
The god of the seas turned sharply, scanning the chaos, then brought his hands together in a solemn mudra. A surge of divine power burst forth, forming a sphere of blue light that collided with the arrow.
BOOM!
A cloud of white mist exploded across the battlefield.
But even before Varuna could exhale in relief, more red light surged from the mist. A net of living flame expanded midair, then snapped closed, wrapping around both Varuna and Makara, shrinking, tightening, trapping them in a sphere of burning light.
Meanwhile, Agni had finally reached Surya's chariot atop his swift golden goat. His eyes burned once more, not with sorrow, but with renewed resolve.
"Do not fear!" he shouted. "I'll cover the rear!"
Confidence restored, Agni raised his staff high and swung with divine precision.
BOOM! BOOM!
Two fire arrows shattered to nothingness beneath his blows.
Vajranga narrowed his eyes, then let out a cold snort.
Uchchaihshravas, the king of horses, neighed violently, tossing its head and lashing its gleaming white tail. With a crack of the void, its hooves launched forward, chasing after the fleeing solar chariot.
"Keep moving!" Surya called. "He won't catch us. We must reach the Kṣīra Sāgara! Only Lord Vishnu can save the others now!"
Relief softened his stern features. His mount had been forged through lifetimes of divine discipline. No being alive could match its speed.
Not even Vajranga.
Tap tap tap!
The thunder of hooves echoed across the heavens, shaking constellations from their courses.
Behind them, Vajranga gave chase. Ahead, the sun god fled with the moon.
But no matter how Uchchaihshravas accelerated, the divine chariot ahead only seemed to widen the gap.
Vajranga gritted his teeth.
"It's faster than Uchchaihshravas...?" he muttered in disbelief.
That shouldn't have been possible. His mount was born from the Kshira Sagara itself, peerless, unmatched, the sovereign of all steeds.
And yet, Surya's chariot flew faster still.
"Impossible…" Vajranga growled, eyes narrowing.
"Haha! So what if your horse was churned in Samandura Manthan itself? You still can't catch us!" Agni turned on the chariot, laughing with reckless bravado. If I can't beat you, I can at least outrun you!
Vajranga hadn't even opened his mouth to respond, but Uchchaihshravas beneath him had heard enough.
The stallion's wide, gleaming eyes flashed with fury. With a sudden jerk of its neck, its snow-white mane whipped like lightning across the sky. Foam sprayed from its open mouth as it let out a violent, guttural snort, tongue lolling madly, ivory teeth bared.
The sound was no ordinary neigh. It was the cry of the Horse King, the stallion of stallions. A roar that split the atmosphere, echoed through the heavens, and tore through the layers of Patala below. It was not just a sound; it was a proclamation of dominion.
The seven divine horses pulling Surya's chariot shivered like newborn foals. Terror overtook them.
Their ears flattened. Their necks pulled back. Their front hooves locked mid-gallop, hind legs tucked up in a trembling clench, tails drooping straight down and then clamping tightly between their legs. Even their divine fire seemed to flicker.
The sacred chariot lurched to a halt.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The impact of their sudden stop thundered through the skies.
Inside the golden frame, three devas, Agni, Surya, and Soma, clung to the edge of the carriage like they'd just been caught in a celestial earthquake.
Their jaws slackened.
Their eyes twitched.
Their divine composure collapsed.
"Why did you stop?!"
"RUN!"
"WHY AREN'T YOU RUNNING?!"
None of them moved. Not one dared breathe. The silence stretched.
Agni, whose bravado had frozen solid, turned around very slowly, like a guilty child caught red-handed, his fiery aura dimming with shame.
"…I may have taunted him too soon."
...
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