The Rising Phoenix // Vani Fanfiction

#41. Naagin in the Snake Hole

Bani stood before that familiar statue of Shiva. The statue depicted him in a meditating form with snakes coiled around him. Bani bent down and greeted him. Bani just looked at the beauty of the idol. It was beautiful.

Shiva did tandav when he was pleased and he also had rudra tandav when he is angry. Naagins had their own tandav when they wanted to please their lord. Rudra tandav was when it was aggressive. Naag tandav was when they wanted to please their God and express their own happiness in the form that he did. Their human forms allowed them to be able to do tandav, so they did.

Bani's tandav this time was to express her happiness. To return here in this human form was something she had never had the pleasure of doing for 10,025 years since she became human. She was graceful in her movement. Several movements of naag tandav mimics a snake's movement. It was beautiful. Bani was soon joined by Vanshika.

The two had never done tandav together but no one who saw them could believe it. Their moments retaliated with the sound of soft hisses. The sound of Vanshika's scales rubbing against each other and Bani's own rattling sound. Their movements matched perfectly and synced well like they had done this for ages.

The movements were extremely graceful like the movements of a snake. As Bani move, every movement of her took away every single worry from her mind. She felt free. Leaving out all her worries and all her inhibitions.To experience the beauty that is in Shiva. His eternal peace. Her scales flashed hints of dark blue and black as the sign of belonging from Sheshnaag's vansh. As if her God was slowly taking away everything that held her back.

The two finished with bowing down to the idol. Vanshika wasa little behind Bani.

"Bholenath, aaj meri bohot purani iccha puri hui hai. Apna pran pura kiya hai. Aapko maine vachan diya tha jab aapne mujhe Nageshwari ke roop mein insaan hone ka vardaan diya tha ki yahan Nageshwari Shiv mandir mein aapke saamne taandav karke aapko khush karun. Aaj woh pran bhi pura ho gaya." Bani said, almost tears lining in her blue eyes. Her devotion for her lord was something unshakable in her. Her devotion for her God went beyond anything else in her. Bani had no words to express how she felt at standing here in front of the idol. A place so familiar to her yet she felt anew returning here like she had shed off the old skin. All her worries fading away, only thing left was an assurance that she was going to make it.

"Bani..." Vanshika put her hand on Bani's shoulder.

Bani closed her eyes and something flashed into her mind. She saw Aakesh. He was looking up at something at the top of tall tree.

"Tumhe pata hai na ki jaise hi tum uss mandir ki chaukhat ke andar aaoge, tumhari cheel shaktiyan nahi rahenge iss mandir ke andar. Utne upar tak udd nahi paaoge." A man told him who sat on one of the lower branches of the tree. The man was so beautiful that there was no comparison to his beauty. His hair was long and perfectly brushed back. His eyes were beautiful. Brown with flickers of green. He wore yellow dhoti.

"Mujhe pata hai yeh baat. Udd nahi sakta par chad sakta hun." Aakesh answered. Aakesh started to climb up the tree but after climbing up little, he'd fall down but everything he'd stand back up and try again.

The man laughed at him. He wore a locket with a stone that shined beautifully. He twirled with the flute in his hand as he laughed at Aakesh. His aura was so beautiful that she couldn't mistake who it was. The only one who could such a golden aura would be Narayan. Clearly, Aakesh did not know that. He laughed at Aakesh.

"Aakesh, rehne do. Kyu swayam ko kasht de rahe ho?" He asked Aakesh.

"Yeh khud ko takleef nahi, jeetne ki zidd hai meri. Upar tak pohoch ke hi rahunga." Aakesh replied. This time he managed to climb up even above the branch that Narayan was sitting on. Aakesh fell down again which made him laugh again.