Mahabharat: Shiva's Last Variable

(A/N):

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Devara continued swimming, though every stroke was becoming more difficult because of the enormous number of souls clinging to him.

He had already accepted that reaching the opposite shore would require patience, but then something much larger moved beneath him.

The water suddenly shifted.

Devara stopped for a moment and looked downward.

A massive shadow passed beneath him.

His eyes widened as an enormous creature slowly emerged from the green depths. It was a shark, but nothing like any ordinary shark he had ever seen.

Almost half of its body had rotted away, exposing portions of its skull and ribs, while several of its bones were clearly visible through the decaying flesh.

Yet despite its horrifying appearance, it moved through the river with surprising speed.

Before Devara could react, the creature opened its enormous jaws and swallowed a cluster of wandering souls.

The translucent figures disappeared between its teeth.

The shark continued swimming as though it had just eaten an ordinary meal.

Devara stared.

"What kind of river is this?"

The answer became obvious when he looked around.

The shark wasn’t alone.

All around him, the river was filled with strange aquatic creatures that he had never encountered before.

Some resembled enormous predatory fish, while others looked like twisted versions of creatures that might once have existed in ordinary rivers and oceans.

Some travelled in enormous schools, surrounding groups of souls before tearing through them together, while others hunted alone, patiently following individual spirits until they found an opportunity to strike.

And the strangest part was how naturally they behaved.

To these creatures, the souls weren’t people.

They were food.

Devara watched another enormous fish dart through the water and catch a fleeing soul.

The creature swallowed it in one bite before disappearing into the darker depths.

Then something moved beside Devara’s leg.

He looked down.

Aquatic plants were growing from the riverbed.

They were unlike anything he had ever seen, even in Goddess Ganga’s divine realm.

Their stems were long and twisted, while their leaves emitted a faint supernatural glow beneath the green water.

One of them suddenly moved.

Devara’s eyes widened.

The plant’s tendrils shot outward and wrapped themselves around a passing soul.

The spirit struggled.

The plant pulled it toward its centre.

Then the glowing leaves opened like a mouth and swallowed the soul.

Devara stared at it in disbelief.

"Even the plants eat them?"

Another tendril moved nearby, searching through the water.

Devara immediately pulled his leg away.

"No. Stay away from me."

He pushed himself forward, suddenly much more cautious about what might be hiding beneath the surface.

The River of Sin wasn’t merely filled with wandering souls.

It had its own ecosystem.

Predators hunted the souls.

Plants fed upon them.

Creatures competed with one another for them.

And somehow, all of these beings had survived here for ages, existing entirely within a river where the dead were the primary source of nourishment.

Devara glanced toward the opposite bank.

It was still some distance away.

Behind him, the enormous chain of souls continued clinging to his body.

Ahead of him, the undead creatures continued feeding.

Devara took a slow breath.

"Wonderful."

He began swimming again.

But this time, he wasn’t only watching the souls.

He was watching everything beneath the water.

Because now he knew that the souls weren’t the only things in the River of Sin that could drag him into trouble.

Meanwhile, Kandarpaasura continued making his way through the River of Sin, though his method remained brutally straightforward.

Whenever the souls reached for him, he swung his enormous spear through the water, forcing them away before pushing himself farther toward the opposite bank.

Every few moments another group would surround him, forcing him to stop and clear a path again, but despite the constant interruptions he was making steady progress.

Still, he remained considerably behind Devara.

The difference between them was becoming obvious.

Kandarpaasura was treating the souls as enemies.

Every time they grabbed him, he fought back, and every time he fought, more of them came rushing toward him.

Devara, on the other hand, had stopped resisting them aggressively.

The souls were still clinging to him in enormous numbers, and their combined weight was becoming increasingly painful, but they weren’t dragging him down with the same desperation they showed toward Kandarpaasura.

Devara continued swimming forward, carrying the strange burden behind him.

Then the creatures beneath the river noticed him.

At first, only one enormous fish changed direction.

Then another.

Soon several of them began circling Devara.

The souls attached to him had unintentionally turned him into something resembling a floating feast.

The aquatic predators had been hunting individual souls, but now they were looking at Devara and seeing dozens, perhaps hundreds, of them gathered together in one place.

It was as though someone had delivered an entire meal directly into the middle of their hunting ground.

A large undead fish suddenly darted toward him.

Devara twisted his body and narrowly avoided its jaws.

Another creature came from below.

Then three more approached from the side.

"You’re all hungry, aren’t you?"

Devara muttered as he looked around.

One of the creatures lunged.

Devara’s expression sharpened.

"Fine."

A brilliant golden light suddenly erupted from his hand.

The glow illuminated the green water around him, forcing several of the approaching creatures to hesitate.

In the next instant, Rudhirabhra materialized in Devara’s grasp.

The divine weapon appeared with a brilliant golden radiance, its presence immediately changing the atmosphere around him.

Devara tightened his grip around its handle and looked toward the creatures surrounding him.

"Come on, then."

One of the enormous fish opened its jaws and charged.

Devara swung Rudhirabhra through the water.

The weapon cut across the creature’s path with tremendous force, sending it tumbling away through the current.

Another predator immediately rushed toward his back.

Devara turned sharply.

The souls clinging to him cried out as his movement disturbed them, but he managed to bring Rudhirabhra around just in time to block the attack.

The impact sent the creature spinning away.

Devara looked around.

More were coming.

He sighed.

"I was already carrying half the river on my back."

He tightened his grip on Rudhirabhra.

"Now I have to fight the wildlife too?"

A faint smile appeared on his face despite the situation.

Behind him, the enormous chain of souls continued clinging together.

Ahead, the opposite bank remained visible.

And somewhere farther behind, Kandarpaasura was still cutting his own path through the river.

The first trial had become far more complicated than either of them had expected.

The commotion Devara had caused in the river only continued to grow.

What had initially been a few curious predators circling him soon turned into an entire feeding frenzy, with creatures from every part of the River of Sin beginning to converge on his position.

Several enormous fish came rushing through the green water, their rotten bodies twisting as they opened their jaws.

Devara swung Rudhirabhra in a wide arc, cutting through the first creature before immediately turning toward the next one.

A massive shark came from beneath him.

Devara noticed its shadow just in time and twisted aside, allowing its jaws to snap shut only a few inches from his body.

He brought Rudhirabhra down across its back, sending the creature tumbling into the depths.

Before he could even recover, something much larger approached.

A group of enormous killer whales emerged from the murky water, their bodies covered with strange markings and patches of decay.

They moved together, surrounding Devara from different directions before charging toward him.

Devara stared at them.

"Really?"

He swung Rudhirabhra again.

The divine weapon flashed through the water, forcing the nearest whale away while another attempted to strike him from behind.

Devara turned and intercepted it with another powerful swing.

The river around him had become a battlefield.

Octopuses with unnaturally long tentacles emerged from beneath the riverbed, reaching toward the souls clinging to Devara’s back.

Some of their tentacles even tried wrapping themselves around Devara’s legs.

He immediately cut them loose.

"Those are not yours."

Another tentacle came toward him.

"And neither are those."

Slash!

The tentacle separated and disappeared into the green water.

But the commotion had attracted something far worse.

A dark mass appeared farther ahead.

At first Devara thought it was another school of fish.

Then the entire mass moved.

Thousands upon thousands of tiny shapes were swimming together.

Piranhas.

A massive colony of them had noticed the disturbance and was now heading directly toward him.

Their eyes seemed to glow faintly beneath the green water as they moved in an enormous formation, their bodies packed so tightly together that they almost looked like a living wave.

Devara stared at them.

"You have got to be kidding me."

The piranhas suddenly accelerated.

They weren’t interested in him.

They were interested in the countless souls attached to him.

To them, Devara wasn’t a warrior anymore.

He was a moving food supply.

The entire colony rushed forward.

Devara tightened his grip around Rudhirabhra.

"All right."

He took a breath and planted his feet against the riverbed for a moment.

"If you want the souls..."

He raised the divine weapon.

"...you’re going to have to get through me first."

The piranhas crashed toward him.

Devara swung Rudhirabhra.

A brilliant golden arc tore through the green water, scattering the front of the colony and forcing thousands of them away.

But the swarm immediately regrouped.

Devara’s expression became serious.

"There are really too many of you."

He swung again.

And again.

Every movement of Rudhirabhra created a path through the swarm, but the piranhas continued returning from every direction.

The souls clinging to Devara cried out as the predators repeatedly attempted to reach them.

Devara realized he couldn’t remain in the same place.

If he stayed there, the entire colony would eventually overwhelm him.

He looked toward the opposite shore.

Then he glanced back at the endless chain of souls attached to him.

"Hold on."

He wasn’t even sure whether they could understand him.

"But we’re getting out of here."

Devara pushed himself forward again, Rudhirabhra in one hand and his other arm cutting through the water.

Behind him, the piranhas continued pursuing.

Above them, sharks and other predators moved through the darkness.

Below, the strange aquatic plants continued reaching for anything that passed close enough.

And somewhere farther behind, Kandarpaasura was still fighting his own way through the river.

The first trial had become a race through an entire underwater nightmare.

But Devara continued forward.

The opposite bank was getting closer.

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(Author note:)

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