by Vikram BS
Chapter 18 – Sacrificial War
They reached the northern part of the island in no time. There was a lot of commotion; it looked like as if Acura and Idaha were fighting a lost battle. Thousands of dwarf like human beings were fighting with Acura and Idaha, the only advantage with Acura and Idaha was their height, otherwise Pelmec and the others felt like as if they would be defeated by the dwarfs.
Pelmec, Jeneele and Vilom wasted no time. Vilom recollected all the skills that he had mastered under Acura. The three of them along with the violet horse descended at the scene of the battle.
Pelmec observed that there was a very huge sacrificial fire place for conducting prayers to invoke the Fire god for the good of the world. But it was now under the control of the dwarfs. The dwarfs knew that Acura needed the place for the good of the world, but that part of the land belonged to the dwarfs and it looked like Acura had tried his best to resolve the issue amicably but now the things had taken a different turn and the situation had turned sour.
Thousands of dwarfs were coming into the battle scene from some small hut like structure that looked like a termite hill. When Idaha and Acura were about to kill a group of dwarfs as usual there was another mystic experience for everybody. There was a bright light descending on the area where the war was going on.
The angel like being spoke “Please stop this fight, all of you would have to unite in fighting the Asuras and the Daityas who would be set free in a matter of a few weeks.”
“Who are you,” asked one of the dwarfs?
“My name is Pole-Star. I am the star that many people use to gauge time and day. The angel said this land belongs to Acura. He has performed many sacrifices in this place. It his right to perform the sacrifice for the welfare of the world, so please allow him to do his duty. Do not forget he has enough power to destroy all of you in a second, but he has not because he knows the goodness of you dwarfs. He knows that you will have to help him on his journey of saving the world from the last of the Asuras and Daityas along with their leader Kalihan. Acura has the same mystic powers as the Sun god but at the same time he has the same golden heart like the Sun so he has been acting like as if it was difficult for him to deal with you Dustruds.”
The twins along with Vilom and Jeneele were able to understand that the Dustruds were a dwarf race living on this remote island.
Acura paid his respects to Pole-Star and said “Thank you so much for your kind words. It is true that I could have destroyed them in no time, but I knew that this land now belonged to them and I will have to take it amicably, but could not because of a slight misunderstanding, hence tried to keep them at bay by asking Idaha to simply involve himself in a harmless attack and to just disarm them.”
The Dustruds were all in tears. The leader of their group Silly said “This land had been given to us by Sonste and he had asked us to protect this land from anyone who would try to take over this sacrificial altar, except for one who would come and perform a miracle and then we were supposed to hand over this part of the land to him. But Acura did not perform any mystic miracle, so we did not know what to do in this situation, so we continued fighting, please accept our apologies.”
Acura gave a broad smile and said “The moment I entered this place, my father Sonste asked one of the celestial architects to construct brilliant palaces for you ‘Dustruds’ at the corner of this area, if you guys can turn around, you can see the palaces for yourselves.”
The Dustruds along with their leader Silly were able to see beautiful palaces constructed just for their shelter. They all started shouting slogans “Hail Acura, Hail Sonste, and Hail Pole-Star”.
The miracle had been performed. So Acura had kept quiet. This is one of the qualities of an ascetic. Though powerful they rarely misuse their powers.
Silly came in front of the group and said “We will always support you; many of us here too possess powers to bring down huge armies. We were actually surprised that we were finding it difficult to keep 2 humans and a horse quiet; we should have realized that we were facing tough opponents. But, we will assure you all that if given a chance we would also participate in the largest war of this epoch so that a new set of souls could enter earth to experience God’s mysterious ways.”
Acura and Pole-Star were more than happy. Pole-Star wished them all luck and vanished into the ethereal part of the sky. Acura and the others along with the Dustruds retired for the night so as to get some rest as Acura had lot of work to do the next day.
Acura got up early in the morning had his bath in the river and immediately rushed to the place where Pelmec and Vilom were sleeping. Acura was surprised to see Jeneele when Vilom woke up and explained everything to Acura. Acura had completely forgotten to ask about the Panacea.
Pelmec woke up and handed over the Panacea. Acura looked at the necks and gave a broad smile. He asked them about the gemstone.
“How is Arjana,” he asked?
Jeneele was shocked. Acura turned towards her and said “She is my step sister and you are my grand niece.”
Jeneele was more than happy to have found such a great person as her relative. The twins and Vilom started groaning as now all these metaphysical and mystic experiences were becoming predictable.
Acura called everyone for a meeting.
He spoke “All of us have gathered here to perform a sacrificial fire so as to mix the Panacea and the Soma so that we get hold of a sacred mixture to activate the bodies of the great soldiers and warriors who had lost their lives in a previous encounter with the Asuras. At that time we had the help of Lord Gabhiro in physical form but this time we are all on our own. We will still get help from the Lord but only in subconscious form. He will not be there to fight this battle with us but we will be joined by the ‘God of Wind’ and the ‘God of Fire’ later on. The sacrificial fire will go on for around 18 hours so please get ready for it by completing your daily chores and please all of you assemble here in an hour at the same place where we met Pole-Star. Is that clear?”
All of them replied “Yes” in chorus and left for having their bath.
Acura got all the things ready for the sacrificial fire. The others joined him. Acura started chanting the auspicious incantations so as to attract ethereal beings and get their blessings for their victory in the greatest battle ever of this epoch. The incantations were so good to the ears that many of them present there instantly went into a trance. Time passed by very quickly and Acura at the 18th hour emptied the bottles of the ‘Soma’ and the ‘Panacea’. There was a huge blast and then divine music was heard. Thousands of ethereal beings started hovering around the sacrificial fire and ‘God of Life and Medicine’ handed over a mixture of the liquids and asked Acura to be careful with it.
Acura paid his respects to the demi-gods who had assembled there and gave a loud shout. The others were surprised to see Acura behave like a kid.
He said “My life’s mission is almost complete. We will have to travel now to one of the densest jungles where a wild river joins the sea. Under the sea we will have to excavate a huge palace where the bodies of many dead warriors and war heroes are present. This is a humungous task as we will not find friendly people either in the jungle or under the sea. I will explain everything later. For now please join in the enjoyment by having a grand feast arranged by the Gods.”
The entire group which was now huge was surprised to find that a grand party had been thrown by the Gods. All of them were famished after their fast of 18 hours and they all jumped in excitement and ran towards the dinner table.
