"We are under siege," the man-lion bellowed from atop the walls of the keep. The muscles of his bare chest rippled under his sandy-blonde coarse fur as his two of his four arms swung wildly directing his troops here and there while the other two brandished double sabers slick with blood.
Deep in the jungle far from civilization lay Narasimha's kingdom. Turrets of crystal rose high above streets of gold. Windows inlaid with precious gems glistened in the sunlight. But the real wealth lay within the gilded walls. The beauty of his divine city was overshadowed by the carnage of war. Shakuni and his legions were bombarding the golden walls. They sought gold and riches but knew not what they threatened.
Shakuni and his men took refuge in a village at the edge of Narasimha's jungle. The village sat on the banks of The Great River. Its source lay within the golden city. It bubbled up and rumbled through the jungle. Humans settled along the water source and drew their livelihood from it. The Great River was the lifeblood of the jungle.
Shakuni ransacked the village, making its inhabitants cower in fear. He and his men commandeered their houses, forcing the citizens to flee into the jungle. Narasimha's beasts took the refugees into their jungle homes and cared for them as best they could but the villagers couldn't stay in the jungle forever. Narasimha knew that he must help them reclaim their homes.
Narasimha sent for Vritra, a fearsome serpent with elemental powers.
"Vritra, I need your help. I know you value your solitude at the bottom of the world but we need you now," he pleaded. The mighty King of Beasts seemed small in the presence of the dragon.
"My king, I may live at the bottom of the world but I have heard of your war. I know what is at stake and I will lend my aid," Vritra hissed, his forked tongue darting in and out of his great jaws.
"Go to The Great River and use your powers to stop its flow. Without water Shakuni and his men cannot survive. We will starve them out," Narasimha bellowed, beating his fists on the armrests of his gilded throne.
The great dragon slithered through the throne room. Creatures big and small scurried out of his way. Narasimha might be the King of Beasts but Vritra was equally feared and revered. The serpent had great power and could control most elements. But his greatest gift lay in the control of water.
Vritra made his way through the dense jungle, following the river from its source in the golden city to a place just upstream from the village occupied by the enemy. Vritra slithered into the deep water and coiled his great body enough to fit between the banks. He called on his elemental powers and stopped the river's flow behind his scales, allowing not a drop to pass over his great body. Eventually, the river beyond Vritranthat flowed past the taken city ran dry. But, through Vritra's power, further downriver - just out of Shakuni's reach - the life waters still flowed. Vritra did not want to jeopardize the livelihood of innocent people downriver.
Shakuni and some of his men were on the banks of the river when the water stopped flowing and dried up. Shakuni stared at the dry riverbed in astonishment.
"You two, follow the river upstream and see what's blocking its flow. Go, now!" he bellowed angrily. He and his men relied on the water and fish within for nourishment and he knew they would not survive long without it. His men stowed their cane fishing poles and armed themselves for their journey into the jungle.
When they reached the point on the river where the water stopped flowing, they saw what appeared to be giant, black, scaly boulders glistening in the sun and damming the river. Neither soldier wanted to approach the object but the stronger of the two lashed out, pushing the scrawnier of the two, sending him tumbling down the bank onto the dry riverbed. He rolled head-first into the scaly rocks. As the man righted himself the boulders began to move and shift. Vritra uncoiled to reveal his true form.
The man screamed and scrambled up the bank on all-fours. Vritra growled, shaking the ground under the men's feet.
"Send me your commander," he demanded, whipping his giant head around to stare at the men with his piercing red eyes.
The men did not answer but turned on their heels and ran back to the village. The men did not stop until they reached Shakuni where he was resting in the room of a commandeered house. The men fumbled over their words but eventually delivered Vritra's message. Shakuni, fuming with rage, assembled his best fighters to accompany him to find the so-called great dragon his men had seen.
As he neared the place where the river stopped flowing he too saw what looked like scaly boulders. Vritra did not wait for Shakuni to reach him like he had with the other men. He lashed out with his giant tail, sending Shakuni's fighters flying into the jungle, leaving Shakuni to face him alone.
"Comeeeeee, wretched man! Come and facccccccccce me!" Vritra hissed, his reptilian tongue darting between monstrous jaws.
Shakuni stood on the banks of the river dumbfounded, staring into the flaming eyes of a dragon.
To be continued...
Author's Note: In Hindu beliefs, Narasimha is a humanoid lion figure who is an avatar of Vishnu. However, for the purposes of this storybook, I wanted Narasimha to stand alone as his own character. Although the Narasimha in these stories will share some common traits of Vishnu he is a stand-alone character. I wanted to take all of the fascinating creatures found in Indian epics and build my own story around them, almost an epic of my own creation. I chose Narasimha to be my king of beasts because he is part lion and lions are often associated with being "the king of the jungle." That's why my text is purple, a color of royalty, and why I chose the lion's roar track to accompany my home page.
I chose to use Shakuni, who you will recognize the name from the Mahabharata, as the villain in these stories because he just kind of fits. In this case, he is a stand-alone character and not the same Shakuni from the Mahabharata. I'm just using his name and some of his characteristics to build a good enemy for Narasimha. More about Shakuni here.
Vritra is also a villain of sorts in Hindu myth. Vritra is described as a serpent or dragon, the personification of drought, and adversary of Indra. I just really like dragons so I decided to use Vritra for my own purposes as well. More about Vritra here.
Image and Sound Attribution:
Narasimha: By Molee on Deviant Art
Vritra: From "Megami Tensei" Wiki
Battle Sounds: By SoundDoom on YouTube