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Sutala, the third realm of the Patala Loka and the home to Pisacha ( Vampires ), Preta ( Ghosts ) and other chaotic species. 

If Rasatala the home of Asuras can be compared with Svarga, the home of the Devas, then it wouldn't be difficult to imagine Sutala as a large land covered with darkness and fog, full of loud shrieks of pain and misery. 

The Pisacha and the Preta races were the two major dominant races of the Sutala but as others would have imagined both the races didn't fight each other at all and instead minded their own business and stayed in their own respective territories. 

No way they are already quite weak and come in the lower positions in the race chart of the world and they certainly don't want to die by weakening each other and becoming an easy target for others so most of the time they maintain peace with each other and thus this makes it difficult for the other people or inhabitants of the Realm Sutala as both the races maintain peace leaving no chance for any other race to rise up. 

In a dark corner of the Realm, a powerful buffalo-like Giant appeared and roared madly. 

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Thus just like years after years had passed and the Asuras were secretly gaining their strength and making preparations for the upcoming battle. 

While the Middle realm was in fear and was constantly fighting a horde of lifeless monsters which suddenly appeared one day and started attacking the inhabitants of the Middle realm. 

Although this incident caused some damage in the start but due to the lack of strength of the Lifeless monsters they were soon suppressed and killed by the strong men of the Humans themselves and didn't even need the Gods to help them.

Some say this was a plague which made the dead come back to life but since the dead coming back to life is against the rules of nature, so this only made them come half back to life, some say this is a race of demons from Patala and according to Devas, this is naturally caused by the Evil and Cruel Asuras.

Well in the end all which remained were guesses and theories about this suddenly appeared monster horde and no conclusive evidence was found. 

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In an icy cave where there was no light present even after it was broad daylight. 

Andhaka looked at the Ten small beads of darkness in front of him and satisfies smile bloomed on his face.

 He has to say he was quite satisfied with his creation and it had taken him many years to create these ten small balls of darkness. 

If any normal creature would have looked upon these balls of darkness, then his soul would have corrupted immediately or it would have been petrified by seeing the heart-wrenching and suffocating darkness held inside these balls. But to him it was quite pleasing, the more he looked at them, the more satisfied he felt. 

" Now since these all have been completed I should start focusing on my own matters as these things can grow powerful by absorbing my aura while I practice. " Andhaka thought with a smug expression on his face and he was really proud of the things he created after so much effort. 

" Humph? who is there? " Andhaka spoke in a cold tone while looking in front of him. 

He waved his hand and the mask which hung on his waist suddenly changed his shape into that of a large metallic chain with pointy edges and an air of coldness around them.

the chains gave off heavy pressure and radiated a contained but deadly bloodlust. 

On the wave of Andhaka's hands, they rushed forwards toward the area where he had felt a presence. 

" Oh, great and powerful warrior please let the life of these Poor Brahmin go and not do the cowardly work of killing an old man and disarmed man." An old but firm voice came from outside and Andhaka quickly held the Chain and stopped it from going on any further. 

" Let's go and see what is happening and who it is this old man. " Andhaka got up and went out of his cave while his appearance was still that of a Brahmin. 

His chains returned back to him and once again took the form of a half-face mask which was hanging on his waist. 

outside his cave was an old man wearing Brahmin attire and holding a stick as his support. 

" Oh, an old monk can I know the reason for you coming in here? " Andhaka asked in a respectable tone as he can easily detect that the man in front of him was a normal human and since it was an old man with no weapons he can't go on and kill him that. You know he has his own pride as the Asura King. 

" I don't know Young warrior but I just felt like there was something in this mountain and since this old man was curious he decided to take a visit and it seems I wasn't wrong. " 

" Old man has you heard of the saying ' Curiosity killed the Cat' what if I decided to kill you now? " Andhaka asked in amusement as this doesn't happens every day that he has someone to talk to while not knowing his real identity. 

" Then I would have died, what else can this old man do, and since you look a little like this old man's son then I wouldn't have even cursed you. You know the curses of Sages are quite deadly. " The old man smiled with no fear on his face. 

" Old man, this mountain is on such a high altitude and you must have faced quite some hardships while Travelling till here with your old body so why don't you take a rest while I went out for a minute for collecting some fruits and then we can sit down and talk with ease. " Andhaka found this old Sage quite interesting and wanted to talk more with him so he decided to invite him for some food. 

" Then I would have to disappoint you as I already have the food so you won't be having any chance to get away from this old man hahaha " Andhaka smiled while hearing the old man's words. 

It seems that he should come down to Earth more from time to time to refresh his mood. 

" Then I will be troubling the old man. " Andhaka spoke with a smile on his face and waved his hand and his mask transformed into a chain and chopped down a nearby tree into a table and a pair of Chairs and returned back to Andhaka. 

" May this old man ask what this Mask is? " 

" Hmmm, this I don't know how it came to me but it's a part of me. You can say this is not a weapon anymore but a part of me myself. " Andhaka spoke fondly while rubbing the mask gently. 

This thing has been with him since childhood and it won't be wrong to say that it is his most dependable partner. 

" Is that so? well then let's sit down and have some food. " The old man walked slowly to the table and sat down there with a huge sigh while several of his joints made a cracking sound. 

The old man took out two large steel glasses and a bronze kettle from his bag, put the glasses on the table and then poured a white-coloured drink from the kettle into the steel glasses. 

" Hmmm, may I ask what drink is this? " Andhaka asked while smelling the fragrant and fresh smell coming from the drink. 

" This, a young man is a thandai, and I am surprised you don't know what it is. " The old man spoke with a smile while pushing one of the glasses towards Andhaka. 

" Old man, I don't eat, and nor do I have any desire to taste delicious food. You can say it's the first time in many years that I have wanted to drink something with my own willingness " 

' And that too a mortal food on top of that.'

Andhaka thought to himself with a little melancholy as the last time he ate mortal food was in his previous life and the scene in which he died by choking on pizza is still fresh in his mind. 

" hahaha, it must be quite a hard life then. living without tasting such delicious things. Try it, this old man personally made it. " The old man spoke while pointing towards the Glass. 

" Hmmm," Andhaka nodded and held the glass and drank it whole in a single gulp. 

" Burrpppppp " Andhaka to his extreme surprise Burped. 

Burped from drinking just one glass of mortal food. He couldn't believe it himself and if anybody came to know that he burped after drinking a glass of drink made by a mortal then he would instantly become the laughing stock among the gods. 

" Well, I have to say I am surprised and more importantly it is the first time that I have felt satisfaction from such worldly desires. " Andhaka spoke with a smile on his face. 

" Old man, Ask what you want, I as the Kings of Asura shall give you one thing which I can give and is in my limit. " Andhaka spoke with a smile and reverted back to his true form. 

He has heard the Trimurti and the gods acting like this towards their devotees and since he liked the old man he also decided to give him something which he desired. 

Seeing the Old man not speaking a look of disappointment flashed on Andhaka's face. 

" What? are you scared upon knowing that I am the Asura King? " Andhaka quickly suppressed his look of disappointment and asked the old man in a teasing tone. 

" No - No, I was just surprised that the King of Asuras was such a polite and patient individual, you may not know but Asuras are depicted as a Cruel and Evil bloodthirsty group of people who live under the earth. Well then let me think what is it that the old man can have, Hmmm.... there is indeed one thing that I desire, will the majestic Asura king be able to grant me that. " the old man spoke after some thought. 

" We will see, if the condition is something which can be fulfilled then it shall be done. You know if you ask something outrageous I will just kill you right here and now, after all, I am the King of Asuras and cruelty and bloodshed are my nature. " Andhaka spoke in a threatening tone while his eyes started to burn bright red with more and more intense with each passing second. 

" The old man has been quite lonely for a very long time due to some reasons so I would love to ask the Asura King to come here once a year and spend a day talking with this old man, I think it's not something outrageous as I certainly don't want to die now. " The old man spoke without any shred of fear or any type of signs showing that he was afraid of Andhaka's show of power.

" hahahahaha if it's just that then I will happily oblige to your wish, old man. " Andhaka nodded with a happy smile. 

This was certainly quite an amusing wish. It was his first time letting someone ask him for a gift or a wish and he never even in his dreams thought that his first given wish would be this. 

This will certainly put some delay to his own practice but it will only be a little as the old man looked quite weak and seeing that he was a normal human he had approximately only around ten to fifteen years left and that isn't too much for him. 

" Now then I will be taking my leave, and take this Royal sign, old man. Whenever your life is in danger just break the sign and you will have a shield covering you that no current human would be able to break. " 

Andhaka spoke proudly with a guarantee as the current strongest Human is not even a god class and this Royal sign can hold off attacks of Even Low God class level beings for a certain limit of time. 

" Then what if this old man is attacked by an Asura or a Deva? " 

" No Asura would attack you after you show them this Sign and if any deva kills you then I assure you that I will avenge you. " Andhaka liked this old man quite a lot but this doesn't mean he was giving him a guarantee of his personal protection and if he was killed by some Deva before the Asuras are ready for the war then he can only be Avenged and not saved. 

" See you next year on this same day and I would find you, so you do not need to look for me. " 

" That won't be necessary. I ask the Asura king to come to this same place next year and if I don't come then assume that I am dead or do not want to meet you. " 

" Ok " Andhaka nodded after a second of thinking and didn't ask the reason behind this request.

Then he gave a slight nod to the old man and disappeared from the spot. 

It has been more than five to ten years and he wants to go back and see how is everything going in Patala and most importantly he wanted to see how much his little brother had grown up. 

" Hash, it seems I have really grown up to be an old man. " The ordinary human senile man smiled and was just going to disappear from the place but suddenly stopped. 

" By the way, old man do you have more of that drink named Thandai? I have a little brother at home and I must bring something for him as I have been away from Patala for such a long time. " Andhaka spoke while scratching his head. 

" Of course, this old man also carries an extra kettle, just in case something happens and it looks like I was right to do so. here take this whole Kettle. " The old man took out another Kettle from his bag and gave it to Andhaka. 

" Well then see you after a year. " Andhaka smiled and disappeared after taking the kettle. 

" Brother he says, hmmm. well let's go and I certainly look forward to our next meeting. " The old man spoke with a smile and disappeared from the Mountain. 

~~~~~~~

Varuna ( Water God ) looked at the turbulent waves of the Cosmic ocean with interest as he can feel that there was going to be something big occurring in the Cosmic ocean soon and he thinks that this is his chance to rise up, so he carefully observes the changes in the ocean every day patiently to see if any kind of opportunity comes out from the mysterious Cosmic ocean. 

Well, he can't monitor the entire endless Cosmic ocean by himself as not even ten him can do that, so the area he monitored was the area till where his rule spanned.

As for going into the deeper parts? nope, he doesn't have any loose screw in his brain and he loves to be alive and doesn't want to take any kind of risk. 

" Jalashay, how is it? did you find my sixty-fourth son? " Varuna turned towards his General and asked in an irritated tone. 

His sixty-fourth son has been missing for quite some years now and his mother had started to constantly bug him asking him to find her son. 

"..... I. I am afraid to say it.... but Lord it's bad. We have found the sixty-fourth prince's... lifeless body in the northern direction from here on and from what it looks like his body was burned from inside out so he was probably killed by some dangerous poison or a very destructive type of energy. " The General named Jalashay spoke with a little fear as this was the first time that son of the Water God has been killed in the Cosmic ocean. 

" Ahhhhh Who dares to do it?do they think I am some small fry who is easy to provoke? I want an investigation and call the Asvini brothers to find out the details about the way of the murder. " Varuna spoke with anger seething from his eyes. 

He is considered quite a good-natured and fair God but there are some things which should be and shouldn't be done and killing his son in his own territory is certainly one of the things which came in the shouldn't be done group of things. 

" Jalashay put the territory on high alert and tell all my sons and wives to not wander outside and call the ones who are still outside and tell them to return. " Varuna spoke in a contained voice as if all the anger in his voice had vanished. 

" As you say, my lord. " Jalashay nodded in fear, after serving for so long under the Water God he is sure of one thing and this is, the more calmer his lord acts the, more dangerous he becomes and so he desperately wanted to vanish from here. 

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