Notes - Chapter 33

#gow/idea #gow/notes

There was very little overlap between Kratos' preferences and the inhabitants of Kailasha. This fact become expressly evident with the extended absence of Murugan. The boy had left for over a month now, at least that was the estimate running in Kratos' head - after all, time was a nonlinear construct in this realm. A day here could span a few hours, up to weeks or even months in Bhuloka, a fact that Kratos had verified in person.
With the lack of anything to do apart from wait for Murugan's return, Kratos was not left with anything to do, apart from succumbing to his boredom. In a way he felt himself returning back to the rut he was in when he was first stranded in these lands. But his hosts were empathetic to his growing boredom, and Ganesh had opened up a portal that would allow him to descend into Bhuloka and return whenever he wished - a pathway Kratos utilised regularly. His morning routine involved waking up early and descending into the mortal realms and exploring the expansive mountain range near Kailasha.
The Himalayas, as the mountain range was called, was a congregation of tall mountains that rivaled the height of Mount Olympus itself. Each and every single one of them was tall enough to have the greater portion of its heft hidden beyond the clouds.
Kratos, along with the head dangling by his waist, trekked these mountains and observed the surprisingly diverse fauna and flora. Kratos cared little for these new sights. But his forays tended to silence the head, as he cross-referenced his own knowledge of the creatures' supposed ancestors when they were first created against their forms right now. This silence brought Kratos some much needed peace.
- Although his sleep was silent, it was not peaceful. It was eerie.
- But Kratos knew that even this eerie silence was hard won. Furthermore, he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth.
"Is it this one...? No! This?!... What was it called?" A loud whine and an anxious hoot followed by a stream of near-incoherent mumblings disturbed the ambient peace. This wasn't the first time Kratos had crossed paths with people in his walkabouts. Due to the proximity of the mountain range to Kailasha, a lot of pilgrims walked these paths. Though Kratos preferred to avoid them. And as usual, he wished to avoid whatever this was.
But right as he was about to turn and leave, a forceful gust brushed past him. The object was a blur of white that nearly caused Kratos to stumble. And in front of him, crouched and facing away, was a creature Kratos had never seen before.
- It looked like a monkey, not quite an ape but definitely as big as one, and had the face of one too. It walked on two legs and stood upright like a human, but it had a coat of white hair all over its body. Waving frantically beehind it was a long tail that ended with a tuft of white hair. Above its head was a type of helmet that allowed a bit of its hair to jut out in an elegant ponytail.
- The creature was bent over and searching frantically amidst the bushes and grass for something, all the while lamenting its inability to fair the said something.
Kratos observed the creature for a while before turning to leave.
- "Is that a Vanara?" Brahma evoked in amusement. On hearing this, the creature snapped out of its anxious daze and gazed inquisitively at Kratos and Brahma.
- A beat later, a spark of realisation bloomed on the monkey's face as it bound over to them hurriedly.
- "Greetings, travellers," the creature greeted while joining its hand and bowing. "If I could disturb you for a moment. You see I am looking for a particular herb... What was it called?... Its to treat an injury caused by poison... What was it called? It's supposed to be here, I was told... What was it called? I'm certain it started with a 'Sa' sound... What was it called? Time is of the essence, a dear friend of mine is at death's door.. What was it called?"
Brahma spoke up from Kratos' waist, "If you could describe either the effect of the poison we could narrow it down for you."
"I would be at your debt, Oh Knowledgeable Head!" The monkey expressed wildly while prostrating before them. He leap upright in one movement and started to explain the effects of the poison. "Its effect was instantaneous. It completely necrotised the tissue at the point the arrow pierced my fried. And then it quickly started to infect the blood, causing it to turn an extremely dark red shade. The next symptom to surface was extreme weakness, hallucinations, fever-"
"The herb you are looking for is the Sanjivani," Brahma interjected. "Only that is strong enough to counteract the poison you are describing."
The monkey snapped its finger and a spark of recognition brightened its gaze, "That's it! How could I forget?! Damn! I forgot what it was supposed to look like."
"Its looks like a small clump of leaves turned into vines," Brahma described. "Though you need to make sure that its an olive-green shade, partially faded. Otherwise its not mature enough and you cannot make a potent enough antidote."
"I am truly in your debt, Oh Knowledgeable Head. If you ever need anything, do not hesitate to call me!" The monkey declared before zooming away.
- "He didn't even tell me his name," Brahma muttered. "How am I supposed to call him if he doesn't tell me his name?"
"What was that creature?" Kratos asked.
"A Vanara," Brahma explained. "They were one step behind humans when I created everything. I had my hopes pinned on either the Humans or the Vanaras to go the distance. But looks like Humans will win this race after all."
"Why?" Kratos probed. "What is wrong with these creatures?"
"They're far too innocent for the world," Brahma lamented.
Kratos continued his indulgence in the mountains peace.
- "Wait! Kratos look!" Brahma exclaimed, causing Kratos to halt in his track. "Its the herb!"
- Kratos swivelled around and followed Brahma's gaze. In the distance, hidden amidst the bushes was the plant the monkey was looking for.
Kratos paused, pondered and proceeded to leave.
- "Wait! Where are you going?" Brahma asked.
- "What do you want me to do?" Kratos retorted.
- "The herb!" Brahma reiterated. "We should get it to the Vanara."
- "I do not know where the monkey is. Even if I did, there is no reason for me to get involved in this," Kratos declared. "I do not wish to get entangled in another's mess."
- "Come on! It's just a small detour. This mountain isn't particularly large. We are bound to cross paths with it," Brahma pleaded. "Do it for me."
"I am not obligated to do anything for you apart from what is stipulated in our verbal contract," Kratos said sternly, though his feet carried him towards the herd.
As he was bout to pluck it out, Brahma interjected, "You don't just yank it out, you barbarian! The moment its roots are exposed, the plan loses all its potency within minutes. You have to repot it."
- Kratos threw out his hands and asked, "Do you see a pot here, anywhere?"
- (Brahma advises Kratos on how to carefully remove the herb with the soil safely.)
- (Improvised storage pouch?)
Right as he was about to attach the pouch of the herb to his belt, the sky turned dark.
- "Isn't it far too early for the sun to set?" Brahma asked.
- Kratos frowned and turned to look at the sky. But he was shocked to see a massive face looking down at him. It was the monkey.
- "What in the-" The ground started to shake. "What is he doing?"
- "Oh no..." Brahma evoked as a realisation dawned on him. "I'd suggest we buckle up or hold on to something... tightly!"
No sooner had those words left his his mouth, Kratos started to feel the ground rising. He was being lifted alongside the entire mountain.
- (Some description as how the land and his surroundings are changing due to this movement.)
- The sudden increase in gravity as the mountain was raised pushed Kratos into the ground.
- Once the mountain reached the zenith, it stopped and for a moment Kratos felt weightless.
- But the pressure resumed immediately, and twofold at that, as he felt the air pushing down on him. The mountain was not just being lifted, it was flying!
Kratos' thoughts recollected Sisyphus. Forced to push a boulder up a hill, only to have it roll back down. Forced to repeat the arduous, endless task for all eternity.
- He was thinking of Sisyphus at the current moment because he was certain that he had experienced something similar before, back in Greece.
- And it wasn't an isolated incident. He'd been carried by titanic entities so many times that he had grown tired of it.
Kratos held on precariously to a flailing tree as he weathered the gale force winds brushing against his face.
- His hearing was overwhelmed with the sound of air.
- He didn't know where they were headed. But he was certain that he wanted no part of this.
He realised a while later that he had no reason to hold on to the branch for dear life. Because with the axe tethered to him, his life was merely a transcient opportunity. He would revive almost immediately anyways.
But his actions were futile as he merely fell back and collided against a sheer cliffside. The force of collision caused him to get embedded into the formation. He was now stuck.
- Though one good thing did come out of it, the wind was no longer drowning the voices around him.
- "Ow..." Brahma expressed monotonously and with a muffled voice. "You have got to hang me in a better spot." Kratos reached behind and repositioned the head and the pouch with the herb.
- "For the record," he added. "Vanaras aren't known to grow to the size of mountains like this."
Kratos' grumbling was immediately silenced by a thundering boom that elicited a vibration all around him.
- "What was that?!" Brahma exclaimed.
- "I am stuck in his alongside you, head," Kratos responded. He then exerted some force to push himself out of the hold he was embedded into.
The resonating boom repeated a few more time in quick succession. And after a long pause, right as Kratos had made it out of the crevice he was lodged into, an explosion erupted right at his face that sent him hurtling back.
- "Someone's firing at us!" Brahma evoked angrily
- "Not us," Kratos growled amidst a groan. "At the mountain."
- He had seen who the attacker was in the split second before the explosion had rocked him. It was and entity aboard a flying chariot. All he saw was the arrow leaving the chariot and exploding in front of him.
- "They are firing randomly," Kratos explained. "If he were targeting us in particular, the arrows would have struck the same location every time."
"Are they trying to destroy the mountain?" Brahma hypothesised.
- "This is why I did not want to get involved," Kratos expressed angrily. "The monkey is in some sort of conflict with this attacker. And now we are drawn into it."
At that moment, explosions started to resonate from all around Kratos. It felt like the attacker had lodged delayed charges accross the mountain and detonated them all at once.
- As the sounds of the explosions settled, Kratos could feel the ground beneath him vibrate and crumble.
- The next thing he knew, he was hurtling down alongside a shower of dirt, rocks, trees and water.
- He fell through the clouds and saw the ground approaching rapidly.
- He didn't even feel pain when his life was immediately snuffed away.
Kratos awoke again amidst the sounds of simian whines and shrieks.
"What have I done?! WHAT HAVE I DONE?!" The monkey yelled.
"Relax," came the head's response. "He'll be awake soon."
"You don't understand, O Knowledgeable Head. Maybe its because you don't have hands. But he doesn't have a pulse," the monkey explained frantically and sincerely.
"Check again," the head sighed in exasperation.
Kratos felt a pair of cold and rough fingers rubbing against his neck. He flinched on instinct, and the fingers retreated instantaneously.
"WHAT?!" The monkey shrieked. "Y-You're alive?! But how?"
"Long story," Brahma answered on Kratos' behalf as he tried to sit up and cleaned the dirt and stone fragments out of his eyes.
"Though I don't think you have the liberty of time to hear it all out," Brahma reminded.
The monkey's expression fell into despair upon hearing Brahma's words.
"What am I going to do?!" The monkey whined. "The mountain is gone! The herb would have been destroyed."
"Not quite," the head interjected with a smirk. He opened his mouth wide. Wider still. He opened it so wide that his head seemed to split cleanly in half. From the depth of his jaws he regurgitated the makeshift pouch that Kratos had created.
The monkey couldn't suppress the disgust on his face, though his curiosity forced him to slowly open the pouch. The moment he got a complete view of its contents, his eyes widened in shock, immediately mellowing with gratitude. So much so that his eyes even started to bubble with tears.
"I am in your debt, Traveller and O Knowledgeable Head. If there is anything you need, ever, do not-"
- The monkey's ears twitched. His head jerked sideways, and in a flash of white, something elongated from behind him like a whip. Kratos barely realised that it was the monkey's tail before another boom resounded against his ear.
- He waited for the impact, but felt nothing.
- As he opened his eyes, he was awed to see an impromptu shield formed in front of him make of the monkey's tail wound into a tight spiral.
"Well, well," a disdainful, baritone voice mocked.
- As the monkey's tail shortened, Kratos saw the chariot firing at them land away from them, and a man dressed in a decadant black and gold armour jump out.
- His skin was an unnatural shade of grey and black. From a distance, Kratos could make out piercing red eyes that were reptilian in shade, and two sharp canines that jutted out through his lips.
- "What's tree-dweller doing so far away from home?" The man mocked.
The monkey snarled and revealed its teeth as an intimidating gesture. To which the opponent shivered in mock fear. He then immediately nocked his bow and fired another shot.
The monkey barely had time to react and block the attack with his tail. But Kratos caught through the gap, the opponent disappearing in a blur and instantaneously appearing behind them.
The man fired again, forcing the monkey to body the attack while protecting the herb by shielding it against his chest.
- A muffled shriek escaped from the monkey's lips, though his gaze was hardened with focus and rage.
The man let out a bellowing laugh that bordered on a monstrous cackle as he repeated his tactic. Kratos noticed that the man was consistently positioning himself on the monkey's blind-spot and directing his attacks solely to damage the herb, not to kill them.
This was a guerilla confrontation aimed solely to decapitate a crucial resource delivery. Classic. And thus extremely obvious.
But the fact remained. This was not Kratos' fight. He slowly stood up and started to walk away from the duo's confrontation.
- In fact, the two completely ignored him as they engaged each other, one side defending staunchly while the other pressing the attack continuously.
- "Where are you going?" the head asked as Kratos cleared away. He could still see and hear their confrontation, but he was far enough to not be in the crossfire.
- "This is not my fight," Kratos reaffirmed. Then, he reached for the head and raised it in front of him. "You are being excessively nosy."
- Kratos noticed that the head wasn't paying attention to him at all. His gaze was affixed at the monkey in the distance.
"I actually made the Vanaras first," Brahma confessed. "Well, I prototyped their form first. They appeared on the mortal realm almost at the same time as Humans, but they were the first living creations of my mind. They exemplify everything I wished the world to be. So in a way they embody my naivete."
"I could already see it," he continued. "A world dominated by them would truly be a beautiful and wonderful one to live in. Alas, that was a just a pipe dream. It became evident that there was little space of innocence in this world."
- He looked at Kratos now. "Please do me this favour, Kratos. Go help that Vanara. I know that you can defeat that man. Think about it this way. The sooner you defeat him, the quicker you can return to Kailasha. After all, that Vanara can fly. He could carry you back after he finishes his quest."
Kratos processed the head's pleas.
- It was true that he had no reason to indulge in whatever farce was unravelling behind him.
- But it was also true that interfering here was a zero-sum prospect. He had nothing to lose, nor gain. If anything, the head was right. It would make the return trip more convenient.
With a reproachful groan, Kratos turned and walked back to the fight.
Kratos walked back slowly. For a brief moment, Kratos pondered over his own decision making process. He never considered himself to be a good person. He never did anything that didn't ultimately offer him some sort of benefit. But this wasn't because he didn't want to be a good person or be selfless. In every step of his life, he was forced to step over someone to get forward. Mutual growth wasn't something that he was taught. There were many times Kratos wanted to offer help unbidden. Even before, a part of him wanted to step in and assist the monkey earlier. But his core character held him back, because maybe, he believed that noone would do the same for him if he were in such a situation. So why should he go out of his way to do the same?
- But that was the irony of being a good person. You just had to be content with giving without expecting anything in return.