The next few weeks were the calmest. There was no more training. Every day, Amarisa and I went to visit my mother. She was overjoyed that we were back together and blessed us with many blessings. Though she insisted she was well, I was still worried as she showed little signs of full recovery.

In the evening, my friends came to visit us. We sat around the low-burning hearth, talking about everything under the heavens. Amarisa was close beside me, her hand stroking Malis as she listened to us.

But one particular night, the fire in the hearth suddenly burst with sparks. It roared and wagged with lustrous flames. We recoiled from the flare.

"What's happening?" I cried.

"My father, Agni," Morokot said. The glow softened. Then standing before us was the messenger god himself. He did not appear in his full form on the old ram as before. This time, his flaming body lingered in miniature scale within the fire.

We all bowed to him in respect.

"Nikita, Child of Prophecy," the fire god said my name.

"Lord Agni," I replied with a bow.

"I'm here to warn you that speculation and rumor are racing down every corner of the blessed earth," he said. "Now the prophecy is being woven into reality. All deities have to leave your realm. The gods sent you a message of warning that the godless month is near. You must get ready for the upcoming war."

"Tell us more of the rumor you spoke of, Lord Father," Morokot said eagerly. "We need to know about our enemy's strength."

His other head turned to her.

"An old immortal demon shall be the avalanche to all destructions if you fail to slay him."

The god's radiant red eyes flickered back to me.

"The choice you shall make might suffer you one way or the other," he said, glancing between me and my princess. "Be prepared for the consequence."

With that, he regarded Amarisa with a slight trace of a shadow on his face. It was of sympathy. Then Agni began to shimmer again before dissolving back into the flames.

"Wait, Father!" Morokot said. "Who is the demon?"

But the god was gone.

~*~

Later that night, I found Amarisa sitting poised like the first night of our wedding. But her face was marred with worries. Once she saw me, she came to hold me.

"If you have to fight in the war, you know I will go with you," she whispered.

"Indeed I have to fight, but you will not follow me," I said.

"But I am your wife!" she protested. "How could I sleep at night if I stay here while your life is at stake?"

"All the more reason, you shouldn't follow me, Amarisa," I said with a chiding frown. "It's a time of killing and cruelty. You must stay with my mother and wait for me here. I won't be alone in the battle. The avatars will be there to help me. Besides I own the most powerful sword handed by the gods. Nothing would harm me."

"The sword?"

I realized she did not know I had broken my oath.

"Forgive me, Amarisa," I said. "I had to..."

"Oh no, no! You don't understand," Amarisa cried and shook her head hopelessly. "You promised me not to wield, oh why?"

"Amarisa, listen, my love," I said. "I needed to do it. Yes, I know the blade is cursed and whoever possesses it never lives long! But the curse only falls to the unjust owner. I am not like Ravana, so there is no need to be worried."

Amarisa was silent. She bit her bottom lip as if she was considering some private thoughts. I coaxed her to bed with me.

"Now forget about all that," I said. "I'm still here with you after all."

After the tension from the hectic journey rolled off our shoulders, we were able to find a moment of peace and quiet, which we often sought for. As we lay in bed, I thought of how many nights I had lain awake loving the princess in silence.

Now we were married, and nothing could stop our passion. Yet there was the war looming closer, and I tried to cherish the time we had as much as I could.

I leaned forward. Our mouths found each other with the same intense needs. I was glad that Amarisa was no longer worried about having to leave before dawn anymore. I allowed her hands to fumble a little, trying to undo my clothes before drawing me to her, welcoming me with slow warm breath and perfumed skin. Once we were both satisfied, we curled up into each other's body.

Days passed into weeks. It was the quietest time for our married life. I was determined to make the most of it. Not in the obvious bodily way, though we certainly enjoyed sex. It was the time I wanted to redeem myself to Amarisa. I spent more hours with her. Sometimes we went on a dragon gondola and sailed through the pleasant river.

Sometimes I taught her how to draw and she taught me how to fold lotus petals. We took a walk in the Asoak Garden in the evening. Amarisa would tell me things she had never told anyone. The most memorable story was when she was little. She fell into a river. The water was cold upon her skin. It was the first time she met her divine father, the serpent god with his green, striated face.

"When he held me, I did not wish to leave. In fact, I clutched the king's arms and cried, 'keep me with you'. He closed his glowing eyes and shook his head. 'I wish I could, sweet child, but the mortal world is where your destiny will unfold'. Then he pushed me gently upward."

I could tell that Amarisa missed her serpent father. I held her in my arms and rubbed her back.

In the end, we took each other by the hand and went to our bedchamber, where I could console her and loved her in a way she longed to be loved.

~*~

The King sent an urgent message a few weeks later. The avatars and I were to meet him at the Elephant Terrace. We had to climb the high stone temple to view from above. I saw for the first time the great Angkorian army. Long before I arrived, my ears were assaulted by the cacophony of animal cries, the neighing of horses, and the trumpeting of elephants. Soldiers stood like a colony of ants.

There were horse troops, elephant troops, chariots, and foot soldiers. Figures of swans, owls, buffalos, and deer crested atop their helmets. This must be how the kings organized their soldiers into ranks and divisions. I was taken aback by the huge assembly. So many men stood as far as my eyes could reach. The figures were impossible to count.

Their shields and spears gleamed proudly under the sun. Yet I couldn't feel the comfort in knowing that beyond our kingdom, past the mists that shrouded the no-man's land, the army of demons might lie in wait. News from the borders had alerted us about strange disturbances. Then the King scheduled our battalions to leave the holy city at the end of the month.

As the avatars and other generals were discussing warfare with the King, I stepped out to the portico and narrowed my gaze, staring at the veils of heat. The sun was blistering hot outside. I tried to imagine what lay on the other side of our kingdom. Then I thought I saw a great flash of a face, the way a thought or a memory sometimes comes to mind, except this was the face I had never seen.

In my trance-like state, I saw ten heads rotated about a set of mighty shoulders, each one was more bloodthirsty than the next. Their burning red glare sent trembling fear down my spine. My knees buckled as I put a hand to my forehead, which was burning with fever. Atith caught me before I fell.

"Nikita, are you alright?" he came to ask in concern. "You look so pale. Should we call the twins?"

But the dizziness faded, and I waved at his concern away.

"Maybe just the heat," I said.

I convinced myself that what I saw was nothing but my own imagination. Too late, I was now afraid that it wasn't the case.

At the end of the day, I returned to my beloved wife with a distracted mind. But her sweet smile eased my nerves somehow, and I was pleased to see her. Amarisa received me wholeheartedly as I tried to report what I did during the day.

I told her I had helped designing new war weapons using my artistic skills. The Angkorians already had war machines that could launch arrows and spears from the back of the chariots and elephants. The avatars were itching for battles, discussing meticulous plans with Queen Indradevi. Her husband and other kings were also busy briefing their generals. My friends seemed to anticipate the war to prove their prowess against the demons and honor their divine parents. All I wanted was to protect my loved ones.

The southern king, true to his words, had withdrawn his troop and all supplies he had promised us. We had lost a quarter of the army. In spite of this, our hearts were strangely unruffled by it. Amarisa listened until she fell asleep in my arms, her head softly rested on my chest. Yet I was still thinking and thinking, of the prophecy and the warnings. I looked at Amarisa again and stroked her cheek with the back of my fingers.

She, too, would be the catalyst of the prophecy, but how so?

~*~

The preparations for the great battle had begun, more training and rehearsing. We were ready for departure. Amarisa'd wept and I had dried her tears— and then mine. She had begged to come along, but I refused, gently at first and then heatedly later. She cried and would not speak to me. After my overture of tenderness and sweet love-making and many promises, Amarisa finally calmed again.

It was decided that my mother was unable to accompany her husband along with her sister. I was relieved, but whenever I went to my mother's ashram and knelt before her, she was weeping. All these times, she had grown older and more fragile. Her face was ashen and there was the saddest look in her eyes that startled me. I was worried, but she reassured me she was fine. Instead, she gave me talismans and taught me mantras to chant to avert dangers.

"May your soul be protected by the gods," she said with a tear-stained face. "May you be free from calamities like the moon becoming free from the darkness."

I thanked her for her blessing and held her in my arms again. I understood the pain of seeing her loved ones going away and not knowing what would happen, or whether they would return.

During those hectic days, I had seen Kesar only briefly. She was always busy helping the palace maids in our preparation. It dissatisfied me now that she would not talk to me without lowering her gaze to the ground. But she wished me a great victory and a safe return.

The night before my departure, I went outside the chamber, gazing at an enormous, coppery moon. It hung low between two packs of grey clouds. Amarisa had fallen into an exhausted slumber, which she reluctantly allowed herself to after long anxious hours. It had been a month full of anticipation and worries over the impending war. Now everything was set ready to go, yet I found it hard to sleep.

And tonight, the moon had a sad glow in the sky. It was difficult to tell if it was an omen.

All of a sudden, the same powerful trance overcame my consciousness. It felt as though I was being pulled towards a state beyond my knowledge. My forehead tingled again with a burning sensation. Though my eyes were wide open, it was my mind that pierced through the darkness.

I saw the fearsome face of a black demon emerged. His face loomed over like a lion leaping at prey. With bulbous glowing red eyes and enormous jaws, he growled with rage. He had a serpentine body, which coiled on a chariot of silver pulled by ten black horses. I saw those two clawed hands big and strong, reaching out to me. His horrible mouth opened wide, mouth jagged with sharp teeth, intending to swallow me.

Then I was pulled back with a loud gasp. Everything was silent around me, but my heart was racing. Then I heard a ringing voice in my ears, speaking softly.

'Let not the oppressor and his dreadful jaw of vengeance devour me, O Blessed One, for if I am gone, then so will thee.'

I blinked in shock. My forehead throbbed. I knew without a doubt that what I had envisioned was the demon we were warned about.

At that moment, I knew I had to battle this hideous Asura, the enemy that could swallow a god. The god that tied my lifeline to this realm, and I must have Rahu slain by the keen edge of my sword.