"What is this… this blinding light?" I fluttered my eyes wide, consciousness crashing back like a tide of fire.
There stood a figure that belonged in nightmares semi black skin smeared with what looked like grey cremation ash. The very air around him seemed to vibrate with otherworldly energy. And the blinding light was emitting from his very body.
"Who are you? Am I dead? Are you the messenger of death?" I stammered, my voice hoarse and unfamiliar.
"NO," his voice rumbled like distant thunder. "I am Asura."
Asura? Aren't they from southern part of the world? Did he also die? Am I now in his company after death?
The Asura stood like a shadow born from the ashes of the dead.
His skin was smeared with grey cremation ash, clinging to muscle and bone like war paint from another realm.Long, matted dreadlocks coiled down his back like serpents,streaked with blood, earth, and centuries of forgotten rituals.
His eyes hollow yet burning pierced through the living, as if he saw not just souls but the weight of every sin they carried.
Around his neck hung a necklace of rudraksha beads, dark as dried blood, intertwined with another strand of miniature human skulls whether carved bone or something far more sinister, I couldn't tell. Each piece whispered of rituals performed under moonless skies, of prayers spoken in tongues that predated civilization.
He wore no cloth above his waist, his torso painted with sacred symbols that seemed to shift in the dim light.He carried the aura of a man beyond shame, beyond fear,beyond the very concept of death.
The only thing in his possession was a kapala a skull bowl stained with whatever unholy liquids he used in his dark rites.
"You are not dead, Rudra. "His words cut through my confusion like a blade.
"What do you mean I am not dead?" I asked, my voice barely steady.
"Hahaha..." His laughter was like grinding bones against stone. "I mean you are dead, but not entirely dead. A state between states."
"Okay, it looks like either I'm dead or facing a madman. Which one is it?"
SMACK!
The slap came like lightning harder than his seemingly frail frame suggested possible. My cheek burned as if branded with hellfire, the pain shooting through my skull like electric current.
"Children should not interrupt when elders speak..." He paused, letting the silence stretch like a blade hanging over my neck. "Am I clear?"
"Crystal," I managed through gritted teeth.
"Good." He continued coldly. "So basically, you are dead but simultaneously alive. A paradox made flesh. What happened is this I caught your departing spirit mid flight and bound it inside the corpse of this boy using ancient rituals that predate written history."
I looked down at my new vessel with growing horror. Young skin, wrinkle free and pale as moonlight. Thin arms that stretched impossibly long, reaching nearly to my knees. The limbs felt foreign, like wearing clothes that didn't fit.
"Do you like this new body, Rudra? Or should I say... Danny?"
"Danny?" The name felt strange on my tongue.
"The flesh you now inhabit belonged to a boy named Danny. Eighteen years old. Any guesses why I chose this particular vessel for your resurrection?"
A cold smile tugged at my new lips. "It's simple, isn't it? You want something revenge, knowledge...or maybe a glimpse into your own future?" I added with a faint, bitter chuckle.
SMACK!
Another hit harder this time. My head snapped sideways, stars exploding behind my eyes. The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth.
"The palmist who couldn't even predict his own death wants to tell me about my future?" The Asura's laugh was cruel, mocking the kind that belonged to ancient demons, not men.
"What do you want then?" I asked, wiping blood from my split lip. "Why drag me back from the void?"
His expression grew darker. More serious.
"I'm dead too. Or close enough. That body you inhabit I was trying to save it. A ritual to bind departing soul to cooling flesh. The boy was drowning in Mother Pureflow. Still had a flicker of life when I found him."
He paused. When he continued, his tone carried the weight of mountains.
"But before I could complete the binding, someone shoved a blade through my heart."
My eyes narrowed. "What?"
"Yes. And not just once. The bastard stabbed me again. And again.Each thrust harder than the last, tearing through flesh and spirit alike. And then... he whispered something that chilled my very soul."
The Asura's voice dropped to a deadly hiss:
"'No one gets between me and my target.'"
Ice water flooded my veins.
"This wasn't random..."
"Exactly. That boy wasn't just drowning in the Pureflow by accident. He was targeted for death. And I was merely collateral damage wrong place, wrong time."
He took a shaky breath, ancient pain flickering across his ash smeared features.
"By the time my soul separated from my dying body, the boy's spirit was already gone. Departed to whatever realm awaits the innocent dead. But I refused to pass on. I wasn't finished with this world."
His dead eyes fixed on mine, unblinking.
"And then I found you your soul burning with the same fire that consumes me. Revenge. Pure, undiluted vengeance. So I bound you to his flesh."
Simple. Brutal. Final.
"But why not use the body for yourself?" I asked, genuinely curious.
He sighed the sound carrying centuries of regret.
"My powers have... limitations written in blood and bone.I can resurrect strangers, bind foreign souls to empty vessels.But not myself. Never myself. And not people I loved. The more you care about someone, the less control you have over their fate.That's the price of power."
"Tch. Thanks, I guess."
"I don't want your thanks, Rudra." His voice dropped to a whisper that somehow carried more menace than his earlier shouts.
He stepped closer, ash covered face inches from mine. I could smell death on his breath not decay, but the cold finality of endings.
"I want your promise. A blood pact. Find my killer. Get me justice. Spill his blood like he spilled mine, and let his screams echo through the spirit realm."
I stared at him. Weighing my options.
I could lie, of course. Say yes. Let him fade into whatever afterlife awaited him. Then walk away. He'd never know...Would he?
"Fine," I said finally. "We have a deal."
But the look on his face didn't change.
He already knew what I was thinking.
"Don't bother trying to cheat me, Rudra," he said quietly, almost gently."This deal comes with conditions written in the fundamental laws of existence."
His voice dropped like a hammer on an anvil.
"Break the pact…and you'll die again slowly, screaming, and in pieces.The pain will eclipse anything you've ever known. Your first death will feel like a lullaby compared to what's coming. You have thirty days. Find him. Kill him. Or join me... in eternal torment."
The air went still. Even the shadows seemed to hold their breath.
"DEAL," I replied without hesitation.
Beggars can't be choosers, and I was the ultimate beggar now.
The Asura gave one last look something between a warning and a farewell and then, slowly, his form began to dissolve into the darkness like smoke from a cremation pyre.
"I have left you another gift, Rudra, "were his last words, echoing from everywhere and nowhere. "Use it well..."
Then silence. Only the silence remained.
And somewhere in the distance, I could swear I heard the sound of a clock ticking down the clock of death.
Tick. Tock. Tick.
The countdown had begun.
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