Seeing the monster approaching at a supersonic speed, Sagar panicked. His muscles were weak from all the exertion to breaking through the curtain of water, moreover he still had to overcome the pressure continuously. He was well past his upper limit of 4 hrs in water this deep add to it the increased pressure of the ocean on himself, he was having a hard time maintaining conciousness let alone flail his arms around to break open a cliff. The water pressure which compressed the sediments make sure that the rock was hard, reaallllyyyy hard. Mustering up courage he summoned his trusted friend 'The Gada of Pehelwan' (the mace of a strong man). A golden light suddenly descended from sky and coutinued descending, it entered the ocean and sent ripples as high as 20 m around a kilometre away.

 

Sagar raised his right hand, to the sky with his palm open and shouted "Give me the strength of a hundred oceans oh lord" and the Golden light descended and entered his hand. He closed his palm and the light took the form of a blunt mace. As soon as the blunt mace took shape, the protective layer around his mouth blew open and he this was like striking the first nail in his coffin, his ribs were crushed and spit out five to six mouthful of blood in the water. The disturbance in the water caused the angelic mermaid to wake up. She had lost conciousness from the pain and was on the brink of death. Unable to formulate any words as she couldn't move her jaw, her first impression from seeing Sagar was that he was here to kill her. She couldn't think straight nor could she see clearly, in her delusion and weak vision she saw a deformed shape of Sagar, one where he was a tall dark beast with a golden lightening in his hand out to pierce her, she was a proud independent woman. She was really happy when her scales did not shed before 17 years of age then happier when she reached 17.5 years but as her age was progressing and they did not shed off, concern started to grow in. Mermaids are not immune to sea pressure, what they have is the blessing of the ocean which allows them to move around anywhere in water in the world without any resistance, but if the ocean itself would want to apply un-natural pressure even the mermaids would not survive. Even with her status people did not want to stand by her in her time of need and 2 weeks ago when the limits were crossed she was put in her current condition, it wasn't that she did not understand why they were doing it but it still hurt her. Anyway there was no way she was going to survive so she just closed her eyes and waited for the end, slowly peace crept in and pain caused her to slip into a coma yesterday. Today being her birthday, was nothing to rejoice for her as she was aware of her impending death "Oh Hero Posiedon. Thank you for the oppurtunity you've given me, I am sorry, seems i was not capable enough".

 

She was woken from coma cause of a loud noise, like that of a thunder descending, only it was happening a few meters from her. Her groggy senses made it seem as if standign there was the hero heracles holding the lingtning of Zeus in his hands, it seemed he had come to kill him. "Ah, so the disaster caused by me has invoked the requirement from a Hero itself" she thought. After grabbing the ligthning in his hands, the hero 'as if' fell on his knees, breathing heavily. He looked up and realised that she had awoken, In a guttural voice (she heard it due to impaired senses and disturbance) he said "Hey kid, I'll get you" and then flashed the most evil grin she had ever seen. Suddently the hero spit out copious amounts of acid at her, reflexively she tried to back away a bit, but as if paralysed she couldn't. The blood got dispersed in the water, the pungent metallic tinge on her nose, brought her out of her reverie and she regained her senses, her cleared vision showed her a broken and battered man, far from the Heracles' image. The man had his toe crushed, nail broken and peeled, teeth broken, cuts all over his body, ribs caved in with signs on internal bleeding all over his chest, the fingers in his left arm were broken beyond repair, the bones in forearm were twisted in a spiral, his muscles tightened to the extreme if she did not see the chest moving due to his deep breaths she would have assumed him to be dead. She could not speak but was pained just by looking at the disfigured avatar of the man. She did not understand why a person would put himself through so much pain but in but a few moments she realized.

 

"Cough.... cough.....cough...."

 

"Looks like my lungs are about to give up"

 

"Who would have thought, a young girl could have the power to do this to the mighty Sagar, the one whom even Pruthu would think twice before challenging. Heh.... he. cough.. cough...."

 

"Looks like this will be last time i take a stand cough... cough....."

 

"Oh..... how i wished, I could see her again"

 

Seeing the flailing left arm he thought "Shit, that ones never going to be repaired"

 

Mustering his strength again in his right arm, he used the mace to push himself up "aaarrrghhhhh........."

 

Then he swung his whole body clockwise, hitting the cliff 'BANG' it was like grenade going off right next to your ears

 

'BANG BANG BANG BANG'

 

He swung his entire body to hit the cliff each time, but all that would give would be a few rocks breaking loose and a small crack spreading out. It was then that he realised, that under influence of the girl's power his Karmic power "Ocean's blessing" had been forsaken.

 

"Hah.... hah.... This is taking way too long. Looks like the girl will survive if she is allowed to live, I just to push that Kraken off, plus i also need to figure out what i should do about the freaking monster coming our way"

 

It seemed the Kraken was moving faster and expected and would be here in a minute

 

60 sec left.... 'BANG BANG BANG BANG'

 

Using his entire strength just to break the cliff, but no major change.

 

Then a huge presence was cast over the cliff and the Kraken was over them. The being said to have terrorized the sailors and navies of many nations for centuries. Its appearance was that of a squid with 10 arms. each arm had a 20-30 suckers, which had spikes coming of from their circuference. Each spike was the size of a human arm and the sucker was the size of a human adult. It was standing near the two of them, unable to come nearer than 3 kms despite it huge strength. Even maintaing that position was difficult for it.

 

"Heh... freaking monster's just a squid in the end"

 

But he knew, the Kraken could just bid its time standing there and once the girl matured it could make its claim on the girl.

 

"Looks like I get to go down taking down a legendary monster. Sorry bud, I have nothing against you but you should not have crossed path with me"

 

He put some strength in his legs to jump, but slipped. The whole ocean floor and water seemed to be quaking, he thought he had lost a lot of blood making him queasy, but soon an ocean current started which pulled him and kraken northwards. He realized something big was happening bigger than the mermaid shedding her scales, because the current even dissolved the water pressure around the girl. The girl feeling the pressure lighten tried to move around but the sudden pull of the current pushed her in the direction of the ocean floor with the two. The link which tied her to the cliff was pulled taut and she was left hanging in water, Sagar let go of the mace and grabbed hold of the chain, the mace turned into a golden light and disappeared. The kraken got driven away by the current but grabbed onto a nearby cliff. It was determined to not let go of its prey. If the two could come up and have a bird's eye view of the situation from air, they could have seen a typhoon in the ocean, seemed like someone had pulled the drain plug from the tub that was Sarayu Ocean. The ocean water was draining into a crack in the ocean floor, slowly it increased to a canyon. The tsunamis heading toward the land due to the mermaid's scale's shedding, lost intensity instantly, the marine life in the ocean was about to end. Just then Pruthu used his awesome power reign in the flow of water, but shifting of axis due to the crack was well beyond even his powers. The water this time began flowing southwards in every ocean, it was like Coriolis force had lost its effect and all of the ocean water was falling down off a peak. Meanwhile Sagar and the mermaid girl were swinging around in the water with the water current changing direction. It was like they were in washing machine. The force on their body was so great, that it tore off the skin on Sagars chest. The mermaid girl remained unaffected, as if the water simply bounced off her body, seeing this Sagar laughed, seems like I am no longer the one who is the most loved by the sea. "Seems like no one will come out this unscathed, even that Pruthu will not be able to save the world this time. A real hero needs to descend...... I guess"

 

When all seemed lost and the end of world was nigh, a white rock sped past him, it was the fastest thing he had ever seen, even faster than a spear thrown by Pruthu, it seemed travelling right into epicenter of all this, there were tons of rocks and dirt moving in the direction, seemed like the shape of the planet was about to change, so a small rock the size of a forearm going that way should not have been noticeable, but this....... this felt different. He couldn't describe it felt something which should be worhipped, but something sad, something that deserved to be put on a pedestal, but something that should be loved and nurtured.

 

"haah.... seems i have grown senile in the middle of life. Hmm.... maybe this is a mid-life crisis? But this is the end right? So maybe an end life crisis?"

 

While he was in his reverie, the ocean currents slowed.

 

"What the fuck is happening?" He couldn't stop himself from cursing. Even in his life full of adventure and fights with warriors from all over the world and race he had yet to experience an event so bizzare to say the least. Surprisingly the chains had survived and so had a third of the cliff though both had been displaced hundres of thousands of kilometers in northwards. They did not have a bearing of their location, but they did not have time to settle down as within a few seconds of the ocean currents stopping...... a shadow of a giant tentacle formed over them engulfin the entire cliff.

 

A grin emerged on his face as shouted "By the power of ocean" and the mace descended again. He rotated his entire body in three quaters of a circle and let go of his mace right into the eyes of the monster. The right eye of the monster blew up and mace did not stop as emerged from his other side. The monster screamed inaudibly in water, its anger had shot up, now it not a question of its prey anymore, it tried to speed-up it attacks on the two as if wanting to destroy the being, a mountain started rising from the depths of water and it kept risng, blowing up the entire being of the monster, it body parts all over the ocean, the rising peak was merciless as it kept on rising, an extension on its side managed to pierce the monster and smaller extension was heading towards the still immobile girl. Seeing that it was end this time for sure the mermain girl shut her eyes and accepted her fate, just then she was engulfed in massive arms. Mermaids by physique are generally large when compared to other sentient being, but this man was large even among humans, though not the largest. Again she tasted a mettalic tinge on her lips, when she opened her eyes, as expected she was in the arms of the Heracles-esque zombie man who fought to protect her from the monster. She had an expression showing incomprehension on her face, when he looked down at her eyes, "do not worry girl, we are surviving this ordeal, that is for sure." It was then that she saw that they were rising up towards the water surface at monstrous pace.

 

"AAAhhhhhh....." The first sound which came out of her in long time. The man had sacrificed his own left hand to protect them from the momentum of the rising peak.

 

"Why......" was the second word she said.

 

"Haa haa haa cause you seemed like you wanted to live and I am a Hero (self proclaimed)!!"

 

"Cough cough cough...." he coughed another mouthfuls of blood as he surface with the peak. And as soon as the peak surface it stopped coming up.

 

It was then that they realised, that the chains had shattered due to the momentum of the peak and only a ring was left around her ankles. As expected the ordeal took a toll on the two of them and the two of them passed out an hour after coming out of water.

 

3 days later,

 

He came to and the first thing he did was look for the mermaid girl, she was lying there her body in full view.

 

"So she safe huh..... good for her"

 

He looked around and saw that he was on an island, there was nothign around on the island, other than a few fishes that got carried away like them. In the center of the island was a black peak which was probably a 100 m high. The entire island was as if made of fresh water corals and smelled of the ocean.

 

"Haah..... looks like this ordeal is finished"

 

Then he looked into the condition of his body, 23 ribs broken, his left arm shattered beyond repair, 3 ribs were pushing against his lungs, his magic was drained, tendons in his right leg were cut, his left ear cut in half, his liver and a kidney seems, to have been pierced by rock.

 

"SIgh..... If i somehow reach home, Alicia's going to kill me"

 

Using enormous will power he picked his broken and battered body up and started walking towards a nearby shark in a lame gait and bit down on it like a monster gobbling up meat like a hungry carnivour, treating the oozing blood as sauce, he laid his body against nearby rock.

 

"Sigh.... brings back memories" as his eyes started tearing up as he remembered his childhood in the streets of the slum eating shoes to survive.

 

"Heh...."

 

"Uwaahhhhh........ uwaaaahhhhhhh.............."

 

He heard the cries of a baby from the top of the cliff

 

"Maybe i really am going through mid life crisis" saying so he gulped down the fish and dropped the bones on the land

 

Making sure he was hearing the right thing. He picked up the mermaid and made his way towards towards the center of the island where the cliff was. He couldn't walk properly but, as time went on his natural healing abilities kicked in he starting to get strength in his legs back. In a few hours he was at the base of the cliff. It then that he realised this cliff was made of material he had never seen. What the fuck is happening? That Pruthu must know what is going on, looks i need to make a trip up north later on. He put force in his legs and jumped to top of the cliff, where he thought he heard the noise of crying baby was coming from.

 

At the a top of the cliff he saw a newborn baby, the size of his hand. It was crying at the top of his voice, it probably was hungry, how did it survive till me. Dont tell he born with 'Endurance', sigh poor kid, you have the worst of luck, even worse than me. He took a seat next to the kid and picked him trying to console. Sorry kid I dont have anything to feed you.

 

"Uwwaaahhhhhh...... uwwaaahhhhhh....."

 

The kid inconsolable wouldn't stop. He also noticed the kid's right hand was not moving, probably dead from exhaustion, malnutrition or broke from impact.

 

"Uwwaaahhhhhh...... uwwaaahhhhhh....."

 

Seeing the crying kid Sagar teared up, remebering his own past,

 

"I am sorry kid this is not a fair world. A kid as young as you will have to die"

 

As tears were falling down his eyes, he closed them "Fuck... fuck.... looks like i really am having a mid life crisis"

 

"Who other than me is the definition of 'It is not the end till you give up'"

 

"No fucking way in hell am I letting you die"

 

"Uwwaaahhhhhh...... uwwaaahhhhhh....."

 

"Yeah kid, remember this well, pain is feeling which keeps you alive and as long you live you can achieve anything in life. Remember this kid and cry cry but dont give up, cause i wont as well"

 

As he said so, he broke the base of the cradle shaped rock on which the baby and put mechanism from rock which the cradle to his head. He put the mermaid girl in the cradle it as well and jumped down cliff making sure to land softly for the baby. He ran with all his might to the edge of the island and started swimming in the direction of the star of hero Dhruva to go North. He thought, the child is lucky enough to survive the mess from before, his fate is not to die. Then he started swimming for hours non stop and swam hundreds of kilometer, but as if he had thrown in the middle of nowhere, he couln't find an island al all. (What had happened was that all island were destroyed by the moutain which rose from the bottom of earth). Not place to feed the child at.

 

"No human population, even if I get some fruits I could feed the squeezed juice to the kid. Dont die on me kid" Slowly the volume of the kid's voice was going dying out. The child lips were drying out, it stopped moving its other limbs. It would not survive another hour of hunger. It was then he saw 300 km away a small black island, thinking he might get some fruits for the kid or mammal to feed its milk, he swam like a monster. I took him a couple of seconds to cross the distance, but as he neared he realized it was extension of the same mountain he was coming out from.

 

"Reaching their spread out his perception, for 1000s km there was not island present. The baby had gone silent and was turning blue.

 

"Damnit.... damnit.... " banging his head on the mountain which cracked with each hit.

 

He sat their with his eyes on the child "Sorry child, this guy doesn't have the perception as monstrous as Pruthu, or we would have gone in the right direction since the begining"

 

His unmoving broken and battered figure made him seem like a zombie on a cliff. When all hope was lost.....

 

"Mooooooo..... Moooooooo....."

 

He heard the sound of a cow and along with it was a dark skinned boy with a flute in his. If beautiful had a definition, it was this boy. The boy wore a yellow dhoti, a golden flute in hand and yellow sash around his neck and peacock feather in his hair. The boy was slowly moving towards him. Seeing the cow with him, Sagar proceeded towards him and dropped to his knees.

 

"Boy, please help me. The child over there is going to die, it hasn't fed in a few days. It is not responding any longer, please give the cows' milk to save the child"

 

The boy ignored the man entirely and walked towards the child himself with his cow. The child was on an elevated cradle above the ground, the cow placed itself so that its uders went in the mouth of the child, the child on feeling the cow started suckling on the milik immedeately.

 

"I am sorry master, I could not stop myself when. From the looks of it, you received the greatest 'Characteristic power' of this of Bhuloka 'Endurance'. I will be willing to face the consequences when you come back, this standing next to me is mother Bhumi, she came in this form to greet your descent." Hearing which the cow began to nod.

 

The child stopped after it was full and burped and went to sleed. The dark skinned sat down and played with the cheeks of the child

 

"Cho. cute..... I did not know your Avataar would so cute"

 

Saying so he made his way towards Sagar and said "Please take care of him, he has waited a long time for this"

 

Sagar stood their unable to respond, he was able to guess what the identity of the dark skinned boy was. He asked to the boy "Are you the legendary great hero Krishna?"

 

The boy simply smiled and walked to the edge of the peak-island and said "Oh hero Posiedon, please excuse me" and he kicked the water.

 

The ocean split apart in two and one could see the sea floor from the peak-island, the deepst point on Bhumi of 100000 meters. It was like ocean had parted way for him.

 

The dark skinned boy turned to Sagar gave him a smile and said "Follow this path it will take you to your home" and then disappeared along with the cow.

 

Dumbstruct Sagar, stood their motionless, "Did I just witness the miracle of Hero Krishna?"

 

"Wooohoooo..... A real hero in this day and age? so i must him who saved us all huh. Why was he so attached to the child? Anyway, even if he did not say anything I had already made up my mind to take care of the child. Alicia is going to be thrilled to see the child"

 

"Yoohoo....." picking up the child in the cradle and mermaid he used the cleaved ocean to run home