Aru Shah and the Forest of Shadows [COMPLETED]

More Things Aru Hasn't Heard Of

Aru almost fainted. Did Hanuman, the freaking god of monkeys, just quote Gandalf on her?!

Looking at her friends' faces, she could tell that they were just as shocked as she was.

But then Hanuman ruined it all by turning to Urvashi and asking "Did I do it right this time?"

Urvashi waved her fingers dismissively. "Well enough, I suppose."

Aru could do little more than stare open-mouthed. Aiden, who was standing right next to her, nudged her with his shoulder, at which point she blushed and shut her mouth.

Hanuman cleared his throat. "So, Pandavas. You may have noticed that there seems to be an increased level of demon activity in both the Otherworld and the mortal world."

"Yeah," Aru muttered. "We may have noticed."

If Hanuman heard, he didn't let on.

"We have found the source that allows them to travel back to the world." He said.

"Excellent," Brynne said with a wicked grin, like she wanted to blast more demons into oblivion. Which she probably did. "So, what is it?"

Urvashi waved her hand and a huge holographic light shone up from the center of the room. It showed a small black rock with a glowing red symbol in the middle:

"The trident of Shiva," Mini said in a horrified whisper.

"The trident of the destroyer god?" Aru asked.

Mini nodded.

Surrounding the rock was what looked like a pool of acid. The stuff bubbled and fizzed, and there was no grass, no flowers, no anything growing near it in a good ten-foot radius.

"The trident is called the Trishula," Urvashi said. "So the stone is called the Trishubed."

"Catchy name," Aiden muttered.

"The Rock of the Trident," Mini translated.

"Creative," Aru commented.

"And where is this rock?" Brynne asked.

"Kalivana," Hanuman said. "An ancient forest said to be cursed. No one has gone into it for several millennia, not even the gods."

"Even the Pandava brothers didn't dare venture into that forest," Urvashi said.

A lump of fear stuck in Aru's throat. "And... you're saying that we have to?"

"It falls to you to protect the cosmos," Boo said from atop her head. "No one else but you can go in."

Aru resisted the urge to whine loudly. Why did she have to go into this evil-looking forest that not even her superpowered previous incarnations had?

Aiden coughed. "Since I'm not a Pandava, does-"

"You can go," Urvashi said. "After all, Draupadi was with the brothers when they climbed the mountain to Heaven."

"Yeah, but..." Aiden trailed off.

"Does that mean we'll all die in this forest?" Mini asked.

"Yudhistira didn't die," Aru offered, but she could tell it didn't help Mini much.

"No," Boo said, pecking her head. "It just means Aiden is close enough to a Pandava for him to enter Kalivana."

"Hooray," Aiden murmured.

Deep down, Aru was secretly glad he was coming. Then she felt a smidge guilty for being glad that he was coming along on a another impossible quest that could get him killed.

But then again, all of their quests could've killed them a long time ago.

"Once we find this rock," Brynne ventured. "What do we do with it?"

"If possible, you should bring it back here to the court of the gods," Urvashi said. "But if not..." she snapped her fingers, and the hologram burst as if it was glass someone had shot. "Destroy it."

"Is it guarded?" Asked Mini.

"We do not know," Hanuman said. "If it is, we do not know who is guarding it. But I would expect something to be."

Aru pursed her lips. How were they supposed to fight something they knew nothing about?

Easy, a part of her brain answered. Hit it with Vajra until it dies. If it gets up, hit them again. And again and again.

She managed to not roll her eyes at herself, but just barely.

A calendar popped into existence in front of Urvashi. Her perfect eyebrows knit. "The winter solstice is in one week. You must complete your quest by then."

"Or else..." Aru ventured. In these quests, there was always an or else.

The apsara's eyes fixed on her. "Or else the world will be overrun with demons."

A/N: very little of this will be actually based on mythology.