The Last Rudra

Almost a ghadi ago …

Vasta lay in ruins after the devastating battle. Thick smoke pillars could be seen from miles. 

The earth was littered with charred corpses of commoners.  A thick acrid smell of burning flesh stuffed the air. 

A hooded figure was jabbing the smouldering pyres, as though looking for something in the ashes. His eyes were two tiny stars in the dark that had fallen on Glassia, all of a sudden. 

The inferno fire had devoured everything; not even stone houses were left. 

The black figure continued scouring, throwing away charred boulders in all directions. Suddenly, he halted, placing a hand on his chest. He swiftly rummaged in his cloak and took out a medallion, faintly glowing with green light. The glow in the eyes brightened up to show the shock of the hooded man. 

"How is it possible?" he muttered as he flew off to the heart of the ruined city, dropping his search in the middle. 

The figure landed on the wracked dais of the shattered statue. His glowing eyes scanned the charred area and lingered on the broken piece of the giant shield. 

With his hand, he ordered the charred shield to fly away. And the inanimate shield obeyed; it flew off and jumped from the dais, revealing a boy soaked in blood. His chest had caved in, and in the cavity set a medallion just like the hooded man had in his hand. 

  The eyes carved on both medallions glowing brightly as he walked over to the seemingly dead boy. 

He was so engrossed in his new finding that he didn't seem to hear the menacing laugh that was echoing in all directions, nor did he pay any attention to the agitated wind around him. 

He leaned over the young man and picked up the emblem. 

All of a sudden, the eyes on both emblems snapped open, letting out the blinding light. And before the hooded figure could make out anything, the medallion in his hand disappeared, while the emblem in the boy's neck returned to its original state. 

The incident left the figure momentarily dazed. 

Suddenly, he sensed something and leapt into the air. A blood-dripping khadga slashed the air where his neck was a moment ago. 

The evil cackles resounded the ruined city. 

A woman appeared in front of shocked Udolf, the scion of Hyde the great. His heart skipped a beat as his eyes fell on the baneful figure. The fluttering long hair of the half-naked woman was the black flames of the Nagini abyss. 

Just a single glance, Udlof knew who the sapphire blue woman was. And the knowledge didn't stop the chill running through his spine. Udolf had faced countless dangers, visited the forbidden territories, witnessed the soul-shuddering sights, and fought with the death itself.

  However, nothing had made him cower, for he knew in his heart they were all conquerable. 

But the woman before him was something even Evil Lord Mora didn't want to face, let alone him. 

Udolf had read about the woman in the ancient annals. The mysterious female energy hidden in every being, when invoked could destroy the entire world unless someone with a pure heart died at her hands, and thus made her grieved. 

Udolf doubted if such a person existed in Mazia now. Even If it did, who had time to look for him? 

He didn't blame Glassians to invoke such a calamity, for even if they hadn't, Moriyans wouldn't have left anything in Glassia, anyway.

Now he only hoped King Nirvana knew how to soothe his goddess.  Udolf took out an owl from his spatial pouch and muttered something to him, and threw it off in the sky. 

As he stared at the woman, who was dancing, laughing like a maniac. He took a deep breath as he summoned his staff. The wizard prayed to the formless spirit for delaying his death until the Glassian King got there. 

The goddess of war let out a loud laugh, as she wielded her Khadga. 

"Visthapito!" Udolf uttered the spirit tongue as he thrust his wooden staff, the magic stone embedded on its top glowed up brightly. The spirit obeyed. The space twisted around him, and he disappeared from his spot. The khadga again cut through the empty air. 

"Stambhito!!"  Udolf didn't wait for the blue woman to come for him again. He knew he was not a match for the woman. Moreover, his attacks were ineffective against the goddess. 

So he didn't attack her, instead, he used his spell on himself and the surrounding. 

The spirit froze him on the spot and turned him into a statue. 

The goddess halted her khadga in the air as she watched the seemingly dead human, dropping into the charred corpses.

She laughed and turned to fly off. It was then Udolf snapped open his eyes again.

"Where are you going? I'm not dead yet," he shouted as he flew off into the air. 

Hearing his voice, the blue woman froze in the air. She looked back; an enchanting smile bloomed on her blood dripping lips. 

She laughed, her pristine teeth flashed in the dark like the life pearls of the Living Sea.

The woman rushed after Udolf, leaving no ripple in her wake. Her motion was so smooth as if she were the wind herself. 

It took only three single leaps from her to catch up to the wizard. She swung her evil weapon to reap fleeing Udolf 's head. 

The wizard tried to dodge, but couldn't because the air around him got frozen, fixing him on the spot. The Khadga slashed through his neck. His head flew in the air, spilling the blood all around. 

The woman laughed, raising her chin high. 

"Why are you so happy? " A voice interrupted her manic laugh. 

Udolf, who had fought countless battles in his 60o years long life, was standing on the pedestal of the statue. 

Of course, he was not fine. His face was pale. Blood was dripping from his mouth. 

If a behrupia(impressionist ) of Varta were here, he would prostrate himself before the feet of the wizard. Because what he just used was the ultimate level of their art.

The art of swapping appearance or identities.  A master behrupia could swap his appearance with anyone, provided that he or she consented to it. 

Udolf, one of the wisest wizards of his time, had taken the art to the next level. He had fused the two paths ---the path of a puppeteer and the path of behrupia. 

As soon as Udolf hit the ground, he enchanted the half-burnt corpse using a puppeteer path and swapped his identity with it. 

So what the goddess had slain was not him but the corpse. However, as his consciousness was linked to it, the impact of the attack had affected him too. 

Seeing him alive again, the goddess seemed more excited than the wizard himself.  Her laughs grew louder. 

Udolf realized he had outdone. The goddess was impressed by him. He looked in the distance. There was no sign of Nirvana. He should have already been here by now. 

Udolf's face turned grim. Now only a miracle could save him.

The goddess didn't come for him at once. She started to dance.  Her supple legs moved gracefully; her four arms swung like dancing snakes. The rhythmic sound of her dazzling anklets throbbed the wizard's heart, his blood boiled. His link with the spirit weakened.

  Appalled, Udolf hurriedly cast a spell and his body fused with a stone boulder lying nearby. 

The only way he could save himself from bursting apart. Hiding in the boulder which once was the foot of the giant statue. Udolf watched eyes widened, 

The stormy wind howled, all the ten directions began to tremble. Lighting as a thick tree trunk came crashing down on the charred earth. 

The goddess came for him, swinging her thin waist.  The boulder he was hiding in pushed him out. 

A dazzling bolt of lightning struck him. Udolf didn't defend himself because it would quicken his death. 

He needed the time. He looked in the north and saw nothing but enraged lightning. Nirvana was not coming. Was this the end of humanity?

Udolf steadied his palpitated heart. His mind was buzzing. 

The divine lightning rampaged in his body, causing him great agony. 

The goddess was just a few feet away still dancing, and laughing. 

She landed on the dais, beside the dead boy who had his medallion. 

Udolf had never feared death, for him death was not the end but another beginning. 

So, he watched the dancing woman. Her loud cackles echoed in all directions. She raised her soft feet with a red sole and placed it on the dead boy's already caved chest. 

Suddenly, 

The sapphire blue woman let out a  frightening scream. It split apart the dark sky and hushed the howling wind. 

Blood oozed out from Udolf's ears. Appalled, he saw the woman had frozen in her step.

Her eyes widened as if she had seen something more terrifying than herself. No, they were not expressions of fear. Bewildered, Udolf noticed, It was the blush, one of the sixteen adornments of a beauty. 

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