Forty Years Ago, The Trading Island of Lanka, Indian Ocean
“On the count of three.” whispered Ragheshwar Shekharam, the prince of Samudraveera, the island nation in the confideracy.
“One”
“Two”.
“THREE!”
yelled the young prince at the top of his voice.
Following their leader’s command, thousands of sea warriors or samudrayodhyas, jumped out of their ships onto to the Lankan port and begun what is till date the bloodiest massacre in the history of the ocean.
Slicing anything that come on their way, all the traders, port workers, crew members and even innocent passengers were stabbed to death, by the samudrayodhyas.
The Lankan port security force, consisting of five hundred well built men, armed with lathis and the Lankan flags, were sufficient enough to control the one thousand strong island population and tackle minor tussles between the traders.
However, they stood no chance against the fierce samudrayodhyas, who had had extensive military training and were trained not to defend or control the crowd, but to kill.
Setting the entire port on fire, the mob led by the Samudraveera prince tore through the city households, repeating the same procedure with utmost precision.
Soon they reached the city council headquarters, where the Master Trader, Shoorbhkata was leasuring with his daughter and grandson, completely unaware of the recent turn of events.
It was a matter of minutes for the barbarians to bring the ruling clan of Lanka on their knees, before their commander, the prince of Samudraveera.
“Why do you do this? “, the old man had cried,”Don’t you know who my son in law is?”
Infuriated by his captives’ latest comment, the muscles of this dark skinned man flexed, with lines of anger begun forming on his spotless round face.
“My husband shall seek revenge, you moron!”, the daughter had shrieked.
Even in her late twenties, the athletic woman portrayed courage and strength like a seasoned warriors and her voice reflected her strong belief and trust on her husband.
“HOW DARE YOU SAY THIS?”, the prince bellowed, ” YOUR HUSBAND SHALL MEET THE SAME FATE AS YOU, YOUR SICK FATHER AND UGLY DAUGHTER!”
Wasting no time, the prince took off his blade from his first diamond studded sccabard and flung it toward the three surviving Lankans, beheading all three of them.
Victorious and elated, the Samudraveera prince boarded his ship, as the trading island of Lanka burnt in fumes.
“Congratulations for your marriage, Prince”, he said to himself, “Oh..sorry… Emperor . Emperor Ragheshvar Shekharam.!”
The prince was not only glad, but also extremely proud of the recent turns of events. And after all why wouldn’t he be?
He had burnt the arch enemy of the Confederacy, the trading island of Lanka to flames, and thus not only brought valour and glory to his name but had also fullfiled the condition set in princess Nandini’s swayanwara and thus was soon going to be the Emperor of the entire oceanic universe.
Pouring himself a glass of alcohol, especially imported from the Dhyaneshwar capital Vijaygarh, the prince, strolled to the wheel of the ship, and yelled,
“Another ninety minutes to glory!!”
“Aaaaaah!!”
The captain had been shot by an arrow straight into his forehead.
Before, the drunk prince could turn around, multiple of his sea warriors, his samudrayodhyas, had fallen to the ground with an infinite number of arrows being shot from the horizon.
As some of his remaining bodyguards begun forming a protective ring around him, the prince who was considering himself undefeatable some minutes back, saw something that scared the living daylights out of him.
A warship equipped with cannons at all places where one could gaze upon, a sea monster that had a capacity of almost hundred thousand foot soldiers, if not elephants and horses, a vessel,that was fifty times bigger than that of Samudraveera, stood before the prince.
Above it’s masthead, was hoisted the pennant;a pair of interlocked blades along with the traditional Suryavanshi Sun distributing it’s rays in all directions, the ensign announced the arrival of Ajayindra, the crown prince of Vijaygarh.
Wearing his trademark grey armour, hair tied neatly in a bun beneath his headgear, a muscular man, almost six feet tall walked towards the edge of the deck.
“STOP”, he raised his right hand, that was red with blood. The crown prince had been punishing himself for something he thought he was responsible for.
To the Samudraveera prince’s greater relief, the highly trained archers, halted the rain of arrows, as mechanically as they had begun.
Suddenly a rope, as long as seven feet, fell down form the crow’s nest and as if it were choreographed, the one hundred kilogram beast, not only caught hold of it, but flung to it to land on the Samudraveera deck in a wink of a eye. time.
Rather deliberately stepping on the carcass of one of the slain sea warrior, the Vijaygarh crown prince said, rather in a heavy voice,
“Why?”
There was a pin drop silence.
The Samudraveera prince trembled as he foresaw the storm approaching in succession.
“WHY DID YOU KILL MY WIFE AND DAUGHTER?”
The warrior roared,
“SLAY THEM! BEHEAD EACH OF THESE SCOUNDRELS!”
In a split of a second, a sea of Dhyaneshwar soldiers flooded the Samudraveera ship to overwhelm the puny sea warriors.
With swords already, drawn, the Dhyaneshwar warriors performed the task assigned to them with utmost perfection.
Outnumbering the sea warriors with three to two, the Samudraveera warriors were subjected to the most brutal yet quick death in the history of oceanic battles.
Chopping off anything to everything that came their way, the Dhyaneshwar soldiers acted no less than barbarians.
Beheading the Samudraveerans was not something that could satisfy these blood thirsty cannibals, as they even after slaying their enemy, did a little bit extra. They mutilated multiple body parts of the fallen soldiers, no matter whether alive or dead.
If at any moment they encounter a half dead Samudraveeran, they inflicted him with the most horrific torture that his screams did reach as far as the royal palace in the North. Not even a single soldier was spared.
But the pain suffered by the soldiers, was nothing, absolutely nothing as compared to that the prince faced.
Fighting like a man possessed, Ajayindra’s entire body was covered with blood.
Portraying a sense of extreme agression, that was in sharp contrast to the Dhyaneshwar etiquettes, and at the same time being equally concious about the skills of battle ,Ajayindra roared as if it were the great MahaKala, the God of Destruction who had himself descended on planted Earth.
From head to toe, the crown prince appeared as if he had bath in blood, when he caught hold of the man who had murdered his family.
“Oo gg- rrrest Dhyaneshwar”, the prince stuttured, “Llleeeeve mme.”
The prince had already lost the grip of his weapon and now lay postrate on the wooden floor, begging for mercy from the blood soaked warrior.
“Viajypaksha!”, he commanded ,” I want this bastard to be dragged all the way to his goddamned island, where we have some unfinished business to complete.”
“But, crown prince”, Viajypaksha wisphered, even he could not gather the courage to oppose his crown prince, who was giving the killer of his family a way too easy death.
“And Viajypaksha”, the crown prince added, “Don’t forget to pop his eyes out and undress him before throwing him into the sea. You know the sharks don’t digest fabric.”
“As the crown prince orders”, smiled Viajypaksha.
“Mercyyyyy!!!! Crown Prince Mercy!!!!”
These were the last words uttered by Ragheshwar Shekharam, the prince of Samudraveera, who had dared to dream of becoming the the emperor of Aryavrata.
The Shooting Stars 