Opera

Chandra was approaching the main halls of Indra, his brother, the Suryan Emperor, the rooms slowly became larger, he doors heavier coated in gold and precious stones all embroidered with imagery regarding the feats of the Manu Dynasty including those of Indra. Even for a Deva walking down that path made anyone feel smaller, automatic locks opened at his path greeting him by name each turn.

Indra was sitting on a rug drinking a masala of tea, sweetmeats besides the pile of scrolls and crystals he had to go through. Chandra came in, Indra offered him a seat, but he did not take it instead he just handed a couple of scrolls.

Indra sighed already expecting the bad news, though what he saw in the new scroll was surprising, earth, a small poorly guarded colony still stood. He had to read it again just to be certain. It was true, the Deva at earth had managed to hold the Ashura forces for longer than expected, they were not even asking for reinforcements but for permission to begin an invasion on the nearing world of Diyu, a world that had belonged to the Ashura for long.

Earth did not even have a true Deva there, just servants who were sent as bait, the Deva expected the Ashura to pour everything into that small planet, then try to invade to meet an ambush.

Ashura though were stopping their attacks on Earth, the small planet had proven too hard to conquer. Prahlada found no use in attacking a well-guarded planet, Indra was visibly angry at the idea, Chandra nodded at his brother’s disbelief. He handed the scroll back “Order them to attack, hopefully they will decimate their own forces”

Chandra sighed and returned, he knew this would happen, Indra’s plan was never very good to begin with. After all the servants who were sent to earth were servants because they were born in that caste, engineered creatures made to serve the whims of the gods, the ones who were  sent to earth were rebellious in nature, earth was a punishment for those servants who had thought of themselves greater than their masters. Indra had made a mistake by sending them to war, they had such inflated egos because of their own skill.

Indra was well aware of what the oracles told him, but it wouldn’t be the first time he did not follow a prophecy, the wood people, the fairies were supposed to be the next race to rule the worlds, then the corn people, the second batch of servants they created, though they only brought war onto the Deva which they managed to fend off. Now the prophecies had changed, maybe if it was someone else they wouldn’t be capable of changing fate the same way he did, now the prophecies spoke of a new world, one ruled not by wood people or corn people, but of them both. Wood people thought themselves as gods, corn people were fanatics, together they could bring an equilibrium, finally be the race that inherits the universe once this Kalpa ends.

He remembered his own personal servant, his odd customs, his spells and curses, he now called himself king of the fairies and claimed his child was an avatar much comparable to him. Indra paid too little attention to this, even if the child was powerful, fairies were not that powerful to begin with. Even if the oracles told him to beware the fairies. This meant trickery, it had to mean trickery, to avoid this issue he would have to fight them head on, kill the fairy fated to kill him with his own hands. They were hard to kill but iron was their bane, poisonous to them and iron burns did not heal.

For this specifically he developed a spell, using his glow to turn the oxygen into iron, that would be more than enough to destroy any fairy, he would had been right, though he thought of himself as untouchable, after all he was an avatar of Vishnu, he was unbeatable an avatar of Shiva, if his old servant was right, would not be match for him, though he couldn’t be more wrong.

Lady Brighid soon began to gain more fame and influence, to the point where he saw his own court fall into hedonism and depend on her and her gifts. Indra tried to buy them back but her gifts held them with an iron grasp. Then came his fortune, fairies introduced a substance called sugar into the market, it stopped hunger, it tasted good, it made you energetic. Indra could not find proof it was them but their signature was in its craft. Then came the Kshir Sagar massacre of which only fairies and tengu survived, and now tengu were siding with fairies who in battle found a way to spare them.

The howling did not let him sleep one bit that night, so he decided to leave for Krishna’s planet, the Lotus flower, a place where even servants lived lavish lives but he didn’t care, he just wanted to rest.

There Lady Brighid was waiting for him, Krishna had invited her so peace could be reached, the war of the Ashura had been won, but now the fairies were at war with the Deva. Indra glared at Krishna, another avatar of Vishnu like himself, but now he understood this man was also a traitor and proceeded to kill him with his sword. Krishna did not even flinch, he accepted death as an old friend, though Brighid wouldn’t be so easy, she had promised to dip her blade in his blood.

Indra begun with his iron attack, he saw how Brighid’s skin began to fall off her body, trying to regenerate but failing given the continuous flow of it. She though didn’t let the pain slow her down, she held her sword, made with Indra’s own glow and proceeded to counter. Her strength was easy to overcome, though she had tricks, tricks that allowed her to disappear in thin air and attack from the shadows, tricks that allowed her to divide herself in many, tricks that made her glow like the Indra, a protective glow she could use against him.

The battle was vicious and it lasted for weeks, at the end of the seventh week, Indra was already spent, though he imagined Brighid was about the same, after all she had been withstanding his continuous attacks for days.

Brighid though waited for him to sit and rest, she got up, and cleaned herself. With an uncharacteristically fast move she darted towards Indra, he felt the pain before he noticed what had happened, he was beginning to take a nap just a few seconds, then he felt it, or rather didn’t, he hadn’t let go of his sword, so the fight was not over yet, he could not let go or else it would mean he yielded.

Brighid waited for him to pick his sword with his left arm then proceeded to continue, this time with more strength than what they had begun with, now Indra could see what had happened, Brighid was going easy on him, playing like a cat does with the mouse, until the mouse feels tired then the cat will really try to eat it. Indra thought she was holding him back, but in fact she was just stalling, waiting for this very moment in which he had fallen too tired then truly begin.

Indra tried to use his own glow again but Brighid laughed as her skin finally peeled off, he finally saw what was it, after all she had raised Amaterasu, she had been around her for very long thus she had adapted, Indra actually forgot this aspect of fairies, they were made to adapt, to evolve to their environment and this one had adapted to the environment he made. Brighid never recovered from the injury her skin sustained, this feat gave her the name Xipe Totec by some fairy tribes the skinned lady. Deva began to pay her respects by giving up the skin of people who willingly hoisted themselves at the idea of sacrifice. Indra, the tyrant, the Emperor of the stars appointed by birthright had been killed by the smallest of the destroyers, the one who could had never hoped to kill the Indra with her sheer strength but did it with patience.

Though the great curse, the curse Krishna had placed upon Brighid was still there, lingering, she thought of it as the lack of skin, though ignored this would had happened either way, the curse would hurt her more than the Indra ever could.