Storytelling Week 2: Thataka

By the end of the twenty-first century, the world knew it was dying. There was so much hate and animosity mixed in with a deteriorating environment that the Earth simply could not support her human parasites any longer. That’s when they gave in to war.

After the nuclear war’s treacherous fallout, many of the people who weren’t killed by radiation or radiation-induced cancer began changing. Some drank blood or ate human flesh. Others simply became sadistic and violent. Many were grotesque and deformed with extra appendages and hunchbacks and fangs. The one thing they all had in common, though, was an insatiable bloodlust for vengeance against those who never had to suffer the agonizing changes they did and who, when confronted with their brothers’ new figures, ran away horrified and abandoned these Ravagers.

 (Krampus, a horrible creature)

Of the people left unchanged, many went into hiding. Others tried to build their lives back from the ground up. After many generations, all people knew was that Ravagers and humans were enemies, meant to kill each other. Neither side remembered their common ancestry. Neither side cared.

Our story opens on, Danaia, head of a branch of the organization known as Order. Order was bent on protecting the few people left in this hull of a world from Ravagers. Danaia, like all the heads of branches, protected her charges fiercely and led merciless forces against the Ravagers. Accordingly, the people in Danaia’s district adored her; however, Danaia was, as people in cruel times are wont to do, growing old far too quickly.

To ensure the future of her district, Danaia went to her three captains, Kaush, Samit, and Kaikey, and bade them to bring her young women who might succeed her. Kaush, her most cherished captain, brought forth a beautiful woman of strong stature and steel morals. He introduced her as Rama, his most valued soldier. Samit came to Danaia with a set of twins named Luka and Shutra who looked nearly the indentical. Luka was wise and a brilliant strategist, and Shutra was clever but managed to spend most of her time in the shadows lurking while her sister spoke out. Finally, Kaikey came forward with a stern girl of 14 named Beya who could have bested a brick wall in a contest of will immobility.

Danaia looked over the four women brought to her and immediately took to them, claiming them as her own daughters and immediately training them all in earnest to one day take over the task of defending her Adaya, her district. She would one day determine her favorite and guide them to take over with her sisters as her trusted inner circle and the whole group of them trained to lead and fight as one, cohesive unit.

After a short while training her daughters, Danaia had decided: Rama would be her successor. She fought like a legend and the people of the district flocked to her, trusting her leadership against Ravagers implicitly. So when an informant named Visha came to request Rama and Luka come solve a Ravager problem at a local trading center, Danaia was all too happy to send her daughters. It would be a field test for their training and allow them to exercise their skills against Ravagers.

Visha led Rama and Luka through the carcasses of an ancient urban hub where the trading center was located. Shattered glass that had long since rotted out of frames lined the streets and shone and glittered hopefully under a midafternoon sun. They passed miles of crumbling ruins that had been hollowed out years ago by people, animals, and the elements. There were rows of crops where empty lots once stood, surrounded by chain-link fences that were one of the only well-maintained memoirs of a world long-gone. The women surveyed the enormous trading center as they saw it rising in the distance. A mostly stone building with makeshift wooden and stone patches filling holes in the wall and a sign on the side of a word that didn’t exist anymore. The thick dull-black letters read “Dil ard” to the left of the barricaded doors.

(A destroyed city)

Rama and Luka turned to Visha to ask where the Ravager was holed up, but Visha only shrugged explaining that the thing would be back again by sundown to wreak more havoc, as it and its son always were. Rama and Luka nodded solemnly and took posts by the center’s entrance to wait, ready with swords and a single, rare gun in hand to fight the creature.

(Black Widow looking very cool perched on top of a building)

When the creature arrived, the two young warriors were at a momentary loss. This giant thing that had been tormenting the town was female. They turned to Visha while the creature, unmistakably a woman, was still at a distance and began to shout at her for her deception in not telling them.

Women, as the bearers of life in a dark world, were considered holy and precious especially since something in their biology had made them more capable of avoiding the transformations. Science had become myth and myth religion until women were considered holy warriors ordained and blessed by god among creation.

Visha turned away briefly and then entreated them not to be deceived. This Ravager needed to be killed or the women, children, and men she tormented would be killed in her stead. After some arguing and rage, Rama was persuaded to see reason, and when the Ravager approached the trading center, Rama fired a single shot through her head with the ancient gun she held.

Visha thanked her dearly and offered her a store of weapons hidden away in the center as a reward for her great deeds. Luka stood by and took in all that occurred, using the experience to help her grow as a leader. Eventually, Visha began to guide the two sisters home the long way, taking them through many of the district’s villages so that they could begin to know the people for whom they sacrifice.

Author's Note:

I wanted to tell an engaging story here that took root in the Ramayana but strayed away from some of the original text's character choices. I felt that in order to tell a successful story I would need to set the stage so I drew from several different early stories within the Ramayana, starting with the story of King Dashartha. While King Dashartha's story involves a flourishing kingdom with the sun always shining and imagery of flowers and birds, the best that dystopic leader Danaia can get is people who love her and trust her to protect them from Ravagers, my story's equivalent of rakshasas. I then proceed into a very loose parallel of Dashartha's sons as I tell of how Danaia has her captains select 'daughters' for her. This presenting is meant to generally reflect the ceremony conducted in order for Dashartha to have sons. I elected to make Danaia's 'daughters' already young adults to speed the storytelling process along and explain how her captains were able to make a selection. I also did this because the story I really wanted to tell was that of Rama and Lakshmana battling Thataka. I felt that my version of the story would give an interesting reason why Rama and Lakshmana were hesitant to kill a demon woman. I hope to use this story as a basis off which I can write other stories. The reason I chose to go the dystopic route is because I thought it would be fun to do an almost Bizarro-esque parallel universe sort of storytelling method. Although the good characters are, in this case, still essentially good, some of their values and character traits are different or simply emphasized differently. I hope you enjoyed reading it!




Bibliography:

All stories were drawn from the Public Domain Ramayana

King Dashartha

Dashartha's Sons

Rama: Avatar of Vishnu

Vishvamitra

Thataka