The Dark Lord

by Nihar Sharma

  HIS HIGHNESS

  There was a massive fire in hell. This wasn’t normal.

  Both, the soldiers and the gatekeepers were now angry with one another. The reason was simple – it was because of the cave that runs through the secret door, which if opened will enable the gods to walk freely and kill them all. They were worried about the Dark Lord who had gone into a deep slumber.

  They had to protect their own lord.

  Demosus, a big pig faced giant who was the protector of the gate of the cave, and the right hand and most trusted creature of the dark lord. It was the time to fear for deaths that are already dead; existence will not prevail in both worlds...

  This alarming atmosphere has engulfed every corner of the netherworld. Rats that used to live in both the worlds have started running out of them. They had sensed death but who was it that was coming to kill them?

  The only god who wanted to kill these creatures and souls was the son of the king of gods. He felt a sense fun in suppressing all those rats down there and in capturing all the three worlds. He wanted to prove himself to his father and to the council that he was worthy of being a newly crowned king after his father’s reign.

  But his single step toward the world of the dark lord could ruin his very existence. Most of the time, the lord of all gods; the king himself worried about his son. He was a god but in the netherworld he would possess the same power and skills as a normal human being.

  His highness never listened to anyone, which meant creating problems for both him and the gods. For his protection the king had deployed several heaven guards. There was no doubt that he was a brave warrior, but before the dark lord he would be a child. This was also well known to him but he wanted to go there and play his luck. He used to be extremely clever in theories of war.

  The King had underestimated his capabilities as he always treated him like a small child but now the child god had all grown up.

  He already deployed a rat there for the purpose of spying; the rats could run into the other world, as they were the saviors to the natives of the netherworld. Rats were the only medium for communication with the human world; gathering information and news from that world. The Dark lord allowed rats to commute seamlessly. Sometimes, he too traveled to the human world on rats.

  There was a small path, a connection between both worlds, and it was being used by the Dark lord on most occasions. This small path was a nothing but rat hole beneath the oldest banyan tree, where people worship in the hope that their wishes would come true. For the same purpose they also used to tie sacred threads around the tree.

  His highness used to notice these things.

  The banyan tree was considered to be a half-god on earth but was never treated well by the fellow gods. So the prince went there one day with a thread to tie around its trunk, the tree sensed his highness.

  “My lord, you need not have come here; you could have ordered me to appear in front of you” spoke the tree.

  His highness laughed “my dear friend, if I commanded you to appear before me then how I could request you.”

  “Yes, my lord, command as you deem fit, this slave is at your feet,” said the tree.

  His highness had nothing to do at this time other than to smile. He responded by placing a flower on the big root on the periphery of the outer side of the banyan tree. “I need the key to unlock the secret door to netherworld, I give you tonight to think and reply” and he left.

  The banyan tree was obliged; after all, the god himself offered him a flower. It was the happiest moment of his life.

  The banyan tree got a tad upset with the condition in the request made by the son of the king of gods. It was the dark lord who used to fulfill the wishes of needy people who come here and tie knots and the dark lord never asked for anything in exchange.

  The banyan tree knew the dark lord to be non-indulgent in politics, he only enjoyed being here in this human world for a few hours before vanishing into the rat hole, but he loved to fulfill the wishes of all who come here with hopes.

  The tree was silent for a day and in the interim his highness employed diplomatic schemes to dig out the secret door so he could lead his army through it and destroy their whole world.

  The time came and the secret of the door was unearthed. It lied beneath the banyan tree and if it is to be reached, the tree had to be destroyed. His highness gave him enough time to think but the banyan tree had refused and showed its loyalty toward the dark lord.

  The spy rat appeared with the news that the dark lord was going for a long sleep and during that period the one in charge was Torriyan, the dust ghost. The most powerful ghost in the netherworld, His highness now could take this chance to lead his army to that world when the mighty Lord of the Netherworld is asleep.

  The plan was quite impressive and his highness had coaxed his father into providing him thousands of heaven soldiers to lead a foray. The council denied permissions but his highness commanded his general to prepare his own regiment of thousand soldiers with thousand horses.

  An unnecessary war knocked on their door.

  The king wished to be the witness to the consequences; the old rivalry with the dark lord stood rekindled again. The king himself wanted to destroy his opponent’s mighty world that he couldn’t trespass into due to the truce. But his son could since he wasn’t bound by any pact.

  The dark lord himself knew about the secret door which is why he always liked to fulfill the wishes of those who used to come to the banyan tree, because of these people consider the tree to be holy and the gods wouldn’t notice it. It also meant that the secret of the secret door was kept safe.

  Except the dark lord only two beings were aware of these facts, Torriyan, the shadow made of dust and Demosus, the giant. Torriyan was invincible in the fire of hell and in the mighty blue fire of gods too.

  But the god’s prince did not know this. The King wanted Torriyan destroyed first, but who would dare stand before him when he is a mere shadow made of dust.

  The dark Lord might sometimes show mercy but Torriyan, never.

  The heaven soldiers under the leadership of his highness started marching toward the netherworld, the king lightened the sky and then torched the banyan tree, and the rat hole connected the cave of the netherworld with heaven’s gate so that the army could march in.

  THE SECRET DOOR

  The heaven army already opened the gates of theirs and started marching towards the cave, the way to netherworld.

  The Dark Lord was asleep and Torriyan was in charge, the Demosus was furious about his senses, he could sense the danger before it arrived. The secret door should not be opened. Demosus made his promise to himself to protect his master.

  The tree was torched; it wouldn’t take more than an hour to turn down into ashes. Torriyan commanded nothing to stop that intrusion. The Gods broke their truce, but Demosus couldn’t negotiate with them as he was not in charge. Torriyan had do something to stop them into the netherworld.

  Demosus ran to the chamber of his master where he was sleeping for long. He bent down on his knees and started praying to his master. He was not afraid of his life, he was afraid of his master’s life who went deep slumber.

  Demosus muttered “My lord, I know you have trust on Torriyan, He may be a mightier but gods have more power than we have. You are our god and anything happens to you will lead us to the darkness”.

  Demosus then left for his chamber and prepared his armor and walked towards the gate to join others. He called his trust worthy leaders to prepare their armors and start gathering near the cave. The rats all had fled but that spy rat was left to watch over them, while addressing his leaders Demosus sensed its presence spying over them.

  He captured it and put it in a small bar. Prince God wanted
information about the tactics of netherworld army. That is why he was waiting outside the gates for that spy rat’s final report.

  The heaven army already surrounded that secret door but there was a disadvantage, only one by one could pass through that door, because it was too small.

  Prince god had a great conviction to break that door but had no idea he was going to face terrible consequences; this was not earth, not heaven. This was the land of Dark Lord. Even the King of gods also step back not to visit that place without his almighty weapon known as bolt, it was against truce visiting other world with a weapon.

  The heaven army’s cheers had cracked through the door and heard in netherworld, they were so close to the door. The netherworld army was ready to answer god’s audacity with blood and the Demosus was leading them in this battle. Netherworld army tightened their grips on swords, bows, spears and shields and made a formation if the heaven army broke into.

  The army outside the door was still waiting for their Prince god’s permission. What was that stopping him to attack?

  The general of heaven army had cooked up a plan; they had received the news about the door. That door couldn’t be broken with weapons, they must require a heaven horses to pull out the door.

  It sounded pretty well as they had horses with them. Prince said “Then do it, we have so many.” The general looked at him and stammered “my lord…”

  “Now what is it tell me?” Prince asked the general.

  “My lord, we will require thousand heaven horses to pull out that door, but if one horse fails or falls down during the pull the all thousand horses will die, it’s a curse, my lord” the general added.

  “What thousand horses? Do you have any idea those heaven horses are much more precious than gems and gold. They breed in hundred years, they die in thousand years. And you want me to bet thousand horses on that door” the Prince shouted on general.

  After coming so long and putting all efforts together he simply couldn’t walk back just sake of thousand heaven horses. The dark lord wouldn’t be asleep forever; the prince didn’t want to wait so long and miss this golden chance to prove his credentials to the heaven.

  RIVALRY

  Vikram loved reading books and one day in his father’s cupboard he discovered an old book named Devil’s Heart, a novel where he read a chapter about Shantipriya, the princess who wrote a letter to Veer in her own blood before the Gladiator fight for Swayambhar ceremony, which dramatically attracted his mind too to write a love letter to Sheetal to find her love forever.

  But he was afraid of blood but one day he managed to gather his all courage to write a love letter in his own blood and posted to her.

  She was impressed and she was worried too. But Vikram had proved his promise of bond with her would be forever.

  The wind whistled their love story to the ears of Rajat, spread like a wild fire across whole village. He had decided to teach Vikram his status.

  Rajat on his bike created a barrier to Sheetal to her home in the middle of road. He couldn’t control his anger and broke into arguments with her while Vikram had come to know this and jumped into those arguments. Rajat with the help of his friends threw hands over Vikram and beat him on the road while Sheetal was helplessly watching her Vikram to be beaten mercilessly. But interference from villagers had saved Vikram’s life.

  Rajat left that place but he would take his revenge back, he wouldn’t let Vikram enjoy with Sheetal. She would be his and his forever.

  Vikram’s action had impressed her more, she was impressed but she started respecting him as he came for her safety. She couldn’t resist herself hugging him. That was the best moment of his life. He literally wanted to kiss her in exchange but he controlled his emotions. He thought it would be misbehavior if he had kissed her earlier in this newly born relationship.

  Everyone knew that Rajat wouldn’t sit silent and he would be looking for next opportunity to finish his job what he started with Vikram. While Vivek was his best friend and he was cleverer amongst them. And he suggested Rajat to wait till right moment appeared.

  Rajat was looking for the chance to feed his burnt heart with revenge. Teach him and scare him so he could make distance from Sheetal. But he was proved wrong about Vikram, he had no idea that how deep their love was.

  Rajat was not holding any kind of peaceful mind and couldn’t wait for the fair chance; he just wanted to bang Vikram badly so he could never stand in his way. Sheetal’s denial and love with that poor boy had really hurt his ego, and status.

  Ranjan was an imbecile and brute with his wife and used to fight with her and beat her when he was out of control and over drunk. There was no place for Aaditya to have tranquility so he used to sit next to that dry well, that day he went there for peace away from his daily family fight. Vikram had missed him whole day so he thought to meet him, but he wasn’t home when he went his home, he knew that where would be Aaditya for fresh air.

  So he walked to him with slow steps, Aaditya was thinking something and missed the wolf near. Rajat passed near Vikram also couldn’t sense anyone. Then he heard sounds of screaming of Aaditya. Vikram rushed to him and saw him on ground Rajat and his friends had been beating him with sticks and kicking him, and Aaditya was helpless and screaming in pain.

  Vikram screamed “Aaditya!” and he jumped into the fight to rescue his friend, which cut loose and gave a chance to Aaditya to stand and fight back, he got his friend’s back. But Nandu stroke the blow on his head and knocked him down on the ground and Vikram was alone now.

  The fight turned into a brutal ravage, Vivek could sense what was coming out of it so he walked away slowly, and other two friends of Rajat’s held Vikram tight and Rajat was being heavy on Vikram with punches and kicks. Aaditya was on ground weaker and exhausted. Vikram was helplessly watching Aaditya crawling on ground trying to reach to his friend for help, but he was bleeding too much. It made Rajat little happier but not completely, he waved Nandu to hold Vikram and Satyaprakash would help him with Aaditya.

  Rajat took Aaditya with Satyaprakash and pushed him into that, he screamed “Vikram!” . The well is deep and dark, Vikram was stunned and got frozen and his eyes were wide for while, he could not understand what just happened with his friend, friends of Rajat were also frozen with a fear and Rajat fled from there in fear of being caught. They realized they had committed crime and killed Aaditya. They left Vikram alone there. He had no choice except jumping into that well, so he jumped into…

  THE COLLISION

  The heaven army at their secret door and the netherworld army were in the cave at opposite side of the door to protect and hold it steady. Both sides were in fire for fight.

  Demosus commanded and screamed “hold it”. The face was so terrible that whole army gets scared of him. They were loyal to him and ready to fight for their home netherworld. Since its inception the gods, shadows, other tribes and human also attacked several times but always failed but this time it was for secret door. All the battles were fought on open ground but never inside the cave. Holding enemies in the cave was like burning own hands in boiling oil in hell’s torture room.

  The heaven army was waiting outside with anxiety to finish the world beneath the earth and have control over everything. The spy rat didn’t come yet and the general looked at his prince said “My lord we are running out of time”.

  Prince understood the storm going inside the general’s mind and the army too, but he was also feeling the same. If he failed he might lose his chance forever. The eyes were burning in waiting for the door to be broken. The thousands heaven horses gathered in a parallel line, and the knob of the door was chained with it.

  Heaven horses could sense their deaths and they started protesting little. There was one horse less; they needed thousand horses, so prince had given his favorite, loyal horse, his friend named Doser. It was gifted by his father when Prince was a kid.

  They shared the great bondage like brothers and friends. The Prince used to spend time with Dose
r whenever he was alone. The presence of Doser in that line stops the resistance from other heaven horses.

  Demosus with his netherworld army was waiting at the point of the door, there was a fire in front of the door, Demosus never came here before so he was little confused with the size of the door, so he starts staring at the door “Is it the secret door?” he muttered.

  The whole army was standing erect and silent and then Torriyan from the fire appeared. Army cheered to see their mighty leader had come for their help. Torriyan with a giant sword in his left hand and a whip in his right hand, his eyes was the balls of burning fire. All bent down on their knees and kept their right hands on their chests to salute their leader. His presence had lightened up their motivation. Demosus knelt down “Lord Torriyan”. He smiled at Demosus and said “Well done, you prepared them well, my friend, rise and hold the line stronger”. He addressed his army “this is our home and nobody can take this from us, not today, not tomorrow.” The army cheered for him again.

  Before Demosus could ask him Torriyan looked at the door and vanished through a hole in the middle of the door. “The great Torriyan” Demosus muttered and smiled, he raised the sword up and yelled “be ready, be strong and be merciless tonight.”

  The general went to the prince and sought for his command. The prince was little emotional with his Doser but he had to do it for the welfare and future of the universe.

  The chain was tied and ready to pull the door then Torriyan appeared, the first line of heaven army broke and a blow on the face of general, an invisible man. Torriyan knew the Achilles hill of the thousand horses. He looked at the prince and prince looked at him “a shadow” prince whispered, then it vanished.

  The curse was known to all, if the door is opened it will allow one at a time only. The door can shut if it senses any harm to any kind. The Dark Lord who has the strength of thousand heaven horses can open that door and thousand heaven horses can open it also.