Mahishi | Re-writing

Chapter 3. Aikyam

While Mahishi was busy in thoughts, the soldier stationed near her room entered. "Your Highness, Guru Vaayakaal is seeking his permission to meet you."

She looked at him surprised. She gave a curt nod. In a few moments, a man wearing red dhoti and red angavastra like most of the asuras entered. "Namaste, Guruji," she bowed down, touching his feet. His face broke into a smile as he blessed her, "Ayushman bhav."

A man of average build, tanned body and white beard and moustache made him look like an ordinary Asura. But he wasn't one, he was the teacher of Mahishasura and Mahishi. He was Guru Vaayakaal, a rakshasa.

He beamed, "I am able to see your resolve towards your goal, Queen. From getting your boon granted to killing Anjan, I can sense the fire in you."

She smiled.

"But there is a problem, my child," he worried.

"What's that, Guruji?"

"Unification of the banished asuras," he stated.

"Unification? But Guruji my father had already unified them, didn't he?

"Yes, King Rambha had unified them. This empire is the result of that unification. But when we conquer Devloka, there will be a civil war."

She frowned, "How will that lead to civil war?"

He explained, "Pardon me, Your Highness, you must have heard this from King Mahishasura numerous times, but please bear with me. When your father married your mother, who was not from the Asura tribe, he was banished for bringing upon shame to the tribe. He then started the unification process for all the banished tribes of daityas, danavas, sarpas, rakshasas and nagas. They were promised to be given important posts in the newly founded kingdom. Later, King Mahishasura was handed over a unified Asura tribe to rule.

When he had conquered Devloka, there was a situation similar to civil war. Your brother had tackled it using force. But we cannot use the same trick again. Our rules and laws are strict, we cannot let them act the way the other tribes want.

Whilst we were busy dealing with these problems, Devas won over their kingdom back. This time we cannot give them another chance to throw us out. Unifying them by rules and regulations won't work this time. We have to think of a way to unify ourselves."

Mahishi pondered for a while. An idea struck her. "We will unify them under one force. That will be a force of similar thoughts and ideology. You must be knowing this. We will call it Aikyam."

"Aikyam?" Vaayakaal asked, surprised.

Mahishi nodded. "I have heard my father, Rambha and Mahishasura talking about it. It was introduced by the Asura Guru, Shukracharya. This time I will use it to strengthen the banished Asura race."

"We should be very careful. Aikyam is a very difficult topic to understand. Only Guru Shukracharya and his immediate disciples understood it as they were the ones who thought of this. Maybe, we should think of some other way?" He proposed.

She shook her head. "No Guruji. I have decided. I will make sure it will be implemented in the correct way. I will take your leave, Guruji. I have to divide the army and assign sub-in-charges so that no more time is wasted for the war preparations."

Vaayakaal nodded. This is why sometimes boons shouldn't be granted. Mahishi has started to ignore the counsel of her well-wishers. This is exactly what King Rambha and Mahishasura did.

A soldier entered her room with a scrolled roll of paper. "Your Highness, we have received word from the spies stationed in areas surrounding Pandalam."