The ground shook. Buildings collapsed one by one, folding into themselves like paper set to flame. Dust and smoke rose in thick pillars. Bodies lay everywhere. Warriors, soldiers, innocent people who had nowhere to run. The smell of blood was so thick you could taste it.
The few who still stood watched the crater. Watched the two figures at its center.
Veda and the Heavenly Lord ran at each other.
Their fists connected.
The air blasted outward. A shockwave of pure force leveled what remained of the nearby structures. Where their knuckles met, tiny portals cracked open. Fissures in reality itself. Glimpses of void and nothingness. Each punch tore at the fabric of existence.
They traded blows. Punch. Kick. Fly back. Launch forward again. Veda's fist sank into the Heavenly Lord's stomach. The creature laughed, coughed blood, then slammed his forehead into Veda's face. Veda's knees buckled. Blood streamed down his forehead, into his eyes.
The Heavenly Lord stepped back. He was regenerating as fast as Veda could hurt him. His smile was wide, mad.
"I remember the first time I killed your mother," he said, his voice almost dreamy. "She was kneeling on the ground. Crying. Begging me to stop. Not for her own life. For yours."
Veda's hands trembled.
"Her cry was like a heavenly melody to me. Her scared face. It was the moon. Empty. Shining only in the dark. I became addicted to that feeling. The feeling of making someone like that."
He touched his chest.
"I cut off her head. I broke her bones. I cursed her to death. And in another life, I made her a beggar. She starved on the streets just to feed your weak belly. She died on cold concrete. Empty stomach. People walked over her body. No one even looked."
He laughed. The sound bent the air around him.
"Power is the only thing I love. And I can ruin your life again and again. Ahhh... so much fun."
Veda's eyes boiled with rage. His teeth bit down so hard his gums bled. His body began to grow, not in size, but in presence. The cracks on his skin deepened. Light poured out like lava.
"YOU BASTARD!" His voice tore the sky. "I WILL KILL YOU!"
"COME THEN!" The Heavenly Lord spread his arms. "LET'S DANCE!"
Veda charged like an animal. Not a fighter anymore. Something primal. Something that had forgotten how to be human. He punched. Slammed. Bit. Tore.
He ripped the Heavenly Lord's arm off and beat him with it. He dug his fingers into the creature's chest and pulled out ribs. Organs flew. Bones cracked like twigs. It was not a fight. It was a slaughter. One side. Veda's side.
The watching warriors covered their mouths. Some fainted. Some stood frozen, faces pale as ghosts. They were not watching a man fight. They were watching death itself put on a performance.
Veda gasped for air. His body, his mouth, his hair, everything was soaked in blood. At his feet lay the Heavenly Lord's remains. Pieces. Small cuts of meat. Unrecognizable.
Silence.
"Is it over?" someone whispered.
People took deep breaths.
Then the pieces moved.
They flew upward. Not toward each other. Toward Veda. Into his mouth. Down his throat.
Veda grabbed his own neck. His eyes shot wide. He could not breathe. His face turned purple. He clawed at his throat, trying to pull the pieces out. But his hands were bound by invisible force. Chains made of his own despair.
The Heavenly Lord's voice came from inside him. From everywhere. "The Heavenly Lord said to Veda, 'All this running and jumping like a bug has made you hungry; let me feed your belly"
Veda fell to the ground. Rolling. Choking. Warriors rushed to help. They tried to pull the pieces out, cut them out. The Heavenly Lord's energy lashed out. They died in seconds. Bodies dropped. Blood sprayed.
Veda pushed his own legs against his stomach. He screamed. Pushed harder. A wet, tearing sound. He ripped the creature out with his own limbs, but his arms tore off at the shoulders. Blood geysered.
The Heavenly Lord stood. Regenerated. Holding Veda's severed arms like trophies. Playing with them.
Veda lay on the ground. Armless. Bleeding out. His body was breaking apart.
He got up.
He ran at the Heavenly Lord with nothing but his legs, his head, his teeth. The Heavenly Lord dodged. Kicked him down. Veda stood again. Ran again. The Heavenly Lord moved aside. Veda fell face first into the dirt.
He sat up. Crawled.
The Heavenly Lord crouched beside him. Put his mouth close to Veda's ear.
"I want to see you suffer more."
Veda's eyes opened wide. Tears mixed with blood.
"No... no... stop. I am begging you. Please stop."
The Heavenly Lord's eyes lit up. He stood. Looked to his right. A direction. A place.
"Found it."
Veda screamed. "NO! DON'T!"
The Heavenly Lord raised his hand. "COME TO ME."
A force shot from his palm. It traveled kilometers in a heartbeat. It tore through the earth, through buildings, through everything in its path. The area where Veda's home once stood, where his parents had died, was now a trench of dust. The force kept going.
And then it returned. Carrying something.
A woman. Flying through the air. Screaming.
The Heavenly Lord caught her by the throat.
"Finally," he said. "The love birds meet again. Look how generous I am. A god who thinks of his followers."
Veda's mind shattered. He saw her. Gita. Crying. Trying to break free from the Heavenly Lord's grip. Her face was twisted with fear. Her eyes searched for something, anything, to hold onto.
"Please," Veda sobbed. He crawled with his bleeding stumps. "Please let her go. Do anything to me. Kill me. Break me. I will not fight. I will not do anything. She did nothing to you. Why are you doing this? I am begging you."
The Heavenly Lord stopped laughing.
His face went blank. Emotionless. For the first time, he looked almost thoughtful.
He let Gita go. She fell. She scrambled to run.
Veda gasped. "Thank you. Thank you."
The Heavenly Lord did not look at Veda. He watched Gita's back as she ran.
"So," he said quietly, "this creature is what has been stopping you from growing."
Veda's eyes went wide. "No... no, please..."
The Heavenly Lord raised his hand again.
"Let us remove that obstacle."
Veda screamed. "STOP!"
Gita was running. Then her body exploded from the inside out. Pieces flew in every direction. Her head arced through the air and landed beside Veda, rolling to a stop, her empty eyes staring at nothing.
Veda stared at her face. Her blood soaked his skin.
"Gita... Gita..."
He lowered his head. Touched his forehead to hers. He cried. Not the cry of a warrior. The cry of a child who had lost everything for the third time.
The Heavenly Lord crushed her head under his boot. Bone cracked. Blood sprayed across Veda's face.
"Gita... Gi... ta..."
Veda's body began to break. Light poured from every crack. He screamed at the sky. Tears and blood mixed and fell like rain.
The Heavenly Lord sat beside him. Laughed softly.
"Did you see that? Her head popped like a balloon. Hahaha."
Veda cried. His body dissolved. Light consumed him. It grew into a giant ball, expanding, swallowing everything. The warriors ran. Flew. The ball grew larger. The state of Odisha began to disappear into it.
Then it blasted.
The earth cracked. The blast consumed everything. When the light faded, there was nothing but a void. A white empty nothing.
A child ran through the white emptiness. Crying. Alone.
"Mother! Where are you?"
He ran and ran. His small feet left no prints.
"Veda."
He turned. A woman stood behind him. Her face was hidden in shadow.
"Mother! I was searching for you everywhere. Why did you leave me? I was so alone. Sad. Scared."
She laughed. Soft. Warm.
"Look what I have here, beta."
She held out a small statue. Lord Jagannath. Carved from dark wood. The eyes were big and white. The crown was simple. It fit perfectly in the child's small hands.
"It is beautiful."
She knelt. Her hand touched his head.
"Mother will not always be with you, beta. So when you feel scared, ask your friend for help. He is always with you."
"Really?"
"Yes. He helps everyone who needs him."
"Okay, Maa."
She patted his head. Then she smiled. And vanished. Like smoke. Like morning dew. Like a dream that could not hold itself together.
The child stood alone again. He held the statue to his chest. His small fingers trembled.
"Help me," he whispered. "I am scared."
Behind him, a wheel appeared.
Give me your strength!
The Ratha Chakra. The divine wheel of Jagannath's chariot. It spun slowly, glowing with ancient light. It was not behind his mother. It was behind him. The child. Veda.
The wheel turned. And a voice spoke. Not a human voice. The voice of the earth. The voice of time itself.
"Jagannathanka ratha chaka au thare pacha ku pheriba... eha pratyeka ghhereni sathe binasha gheni asiba. Dharitri matara garbhara janma... gote yugara anta heba, au au eka nua yugara aarambha heba."
"Jagannath's chariot wheels will turn back once more. It will bring destruction with every turn it takes. Born of the womb of mother earth... one yuga will end, and another will arise again."
The wheels spun faster. The child's eyes began to glow. The white void around him cracked.
Then darkness.
Then a single grey eye opened.
Young Veda floated in the air. His ancient face calm. His voice soft.
"Welcome back, child."
The eye focused.
Veda was awake.