Naga Nest was in quite an uproar when Ekluvya dragged the defeated Garuda there. Dragging her was Sarpakshita’s idea. She was certain that the mystical being wouldn’t perish with a bit more of torture. Though Ekluvya didn’t like the idea, he understood that can’t really bring the Garuda girl there otherwise to heal her.
Nagas came out from their bambis to watch the show. They hissed and yelled, laughed and danced as they saw their mortal nemesis in such a state. Garuda girl groaned and screamed while bleeding from her entire body. Her brown cave was a mess with 3 arrows stabbed deep inside it!
Even Naga Lord was amazed at the state Garuda girl was in. He looked at Ekluvya deeply.
“Well, I thought you'd be dead meat once you encounter the Garuda, but bloody hell…” he muttered in amazement, “still; the deal was that you will slay the Garuda, not just defeat it, for those purple Naga gems.”
“Oh, stop being so petty,” Sarpsara rolled her eyes, “he has done an unprecedented deed! Give him the reward he deserves!”
Naga Lord Sarpagya scowled but eventually his mood got better. The fact remained that the Garuda which had terrorized Nagas had finally been defeated and even enslaved! She would no longer harm the Nagas!
“Before that, Sarpsara, won’t you please heal her?” Ekluvya asked, “this is my first slave and a mystical being at that! I can’t let her die before having used her thoroughly!”
“Haha, spoken like a true human,” Sarpsara chuckled. Ekluvya was putting up a fake greedy attitude. In earnest, he cared about the pitiful Garuda who had been put through much misery as she neared her death.
Sarpsara approached the girl and started pulling out the arrows while using her mystical power of healing. Within a few breaths the Garuda girl was completely healed!
“Hmph, having healed me doesn’t make me owe you anything!” Garuda girl snarled, “Get away from me, filthy snake!”
“Is that any way of speaking to your benefactor?” Ekluvya frowned, “apologize to her and thank her properly,”
“…” Garuda girl’s face twitched before she sighed and bowed properly, “I’m sorry to have spoken rudely to you, fair Naga lady. Thank you so much for saving my life.”
“…” Everyone was stumped at this 180 degrees turn in her behavior.
“Hmm, she’s truly enslaved,” Sarpagya thought and a mysterious light flashed in his snake eyes.
“Hehe, I forgive you,” Sarpsara said and looked at Ekluvya instead, “well done lad, truly well done!”
“Thank you,” Ekluvya nodded, “Sarpaskshita helped by hypnotizing her.”
“Hmm of course,” Sarpsara kept smiling, “well, it’s a wife’s duty to help her husband. Time to get married, you two.”
“W-what!?” Sarpakshita shouted but did not cause a drama. She blushed red instead and glared at Ekluvya who scratched his cheek. He hadn’t given it any thought when Sarpsara had declared she would wed her daughter to him. But now that everything was said and done, here he was, facing the marriage with a Naga girl.
“Anyway, I might as well give you your reward now,” Sarpagya said after a sigh. He hated to give away such a large number of valuable Naga gems to a human, but he had to keep his word.
---
Soon a bundle full of glowing purple gems was lying in front of Ekluvya who looked at them in awe. He picked a gem up and scrutinized it. It was the size of a thumb and was elliptical in shape. It gave off a purple hue and was faintly translucent.
“Nagas have many different kinds of gems that have different mystic powers. Fire gems, water gems, healing gems, light gems, hypnosis gems and so on. Purple gems don’t appear much often. In the entire history of this Naga Nest, only 417 purple gems have appeared. I’m giving you the majority of them. You’d better use them responsibly!” Sarpagya said to Ekluvya.
“Of course. Thank you for the reward,” Ekluvya said.
“These gems can negate most of the poisons’ effect. They can even boost immunity. Their effect on humans will be even stronger. Whoever wears these purple Naga gems will undoubtedly gain great health and long life…in human terms.” Sarpagya said.
“Take this ring too,” Sarpsara said to Ekluvya, “it is a mystical ring that can store a large number of items in it. You can summon the stored items at your will too. This is my gift to you.”
“Oh? Thank you,” Ekluvya said and approached the ring. Sarpsara smiled and slid the ring on his ring-finger.
There was an awkward silence, broken by a deafening shout.
“M-mother!! Why did you do that!” Sarpakshita shouted while flushing, “he’s my husband! Why did you put the ring on him instead?!”
“Ara-ara~” Sarpsara put her hand to her mouth, gasping a little. Ekluvya blinked while Sarpakshita whipped up a storm, grabbing her mother by the throat and strangling her.
“My husband! My husband! I am the one who should put the ring on him!” she kept shouting.
“Oye, don’t tell me…” Ekluvya looked at Sarpagya with a horrified expression who looked back with a dark one.
“In Nagas, we put a ring on the person we are marrying. It doesn’t need to be two-ways,” Sarpagya explained, “you’re now married to Sarpsara. Congratulations.”
“…What the fuck!” Ekluvya exclaimed.
---
An hour later, Ekluvya came out of the Naga Nest accompanied by his two new wives: Sarpsara and Sarpakshita, followed by his slave- the Garuda girl.
The mother and daughter duo were clinging to Ekluvya’s one arm each, pulling him in a tug of war.
“Oh well, what the hell…” Ekluvya frowned. He had already married 2 girls back in the village and now there were 2 more wives. Since polygamy was legal in this era, no one would point a finger at him. Plus, his new wives were Nagas, possessing mystical powers! This was a boon instead.
“I need to gain as much power as I can at the earliest possible! These two wives will only be more useful to me; there’s no harm. But can I really fight Krishna with just this much?” Ekluvya thought, “I need to strengthen the whole tribe and level up the whole civilization around me! Even that won’t do. I need to obtain holy weapons of mass destruction! Krishna… Krishna… I will not be slain by you. Nor by anyone else! I will survive no matter what, you hear me!?”
As Ekluvya traveled back to the Nishad tribe, having married two snakes, a gentle wind blew in the entire landmass, reaching hundreds of miles away to a dark, tall & handsome young man standing upon a hillock. He had a pretty peacock feather tucked in his wavy black hair. His yellow clothes fluttered in the wind and he smiled, putting a bansuri to his lips.
Melodious flute music echoed in nature, echoing far-far away.
“Krishna! Let’s go! Mathura city awaits us!” a lanky muscular fair-skinned young man called out from below the hillock.
“Coming, brother Balram!” Krishna said, jumping & landing several feet down, soundlessly, as though he was a feather.
“What are you smiling so much about?” Balram asked curiously as he gazed at Krishna.
“Hmm… someone is thinking of me somewhere. It makes me happy,” Krishna replied, “I can’t wait to meet them.”
“Bah, I’ve lost count of your admirers & devotees,” Balram said, “do you even remember all of them?”
“Haha how can I forget?” Krishna chuckled, “everyone who thinks of me, I think of them too. Let’s go, brother. I must hurry to meet this person.”
Together the two brothers traveled towards Mathura city on an adventure which would soon become a famous folklore for thousands of years to come.