Racing through forest, meadows, and hillsides, I finally reached the great plain. I looked down to the raging battle and was paralyzed by a dreadful sight. Our force could barely assemble. They were rounded from all sides. Slain to their feet were heaps of disintegrating demons, dead bodies of our soldiers, dead elephants, and horses and the ashes of burning chariots.

This was the horror of wars. Where should this madness end? Was this harvest of death and dying not enough?

I could feel it. The ground was trembling. New hordes were coming. Like a stampede of elephants, they came over the mountains, crossing the river—demons and giants and beasts. Both the big monsters and the small glorified in their master's game.

"Take arm!" Issarak's voice rang from somewhere I couldn't see. I knew he'd been holding up with the King and his trusted friends, Ravi and Vijay. The latter avatar had multiplied himself into the warrior Marutas, but now I could only see a few of his duplicates around the field.

Again, our soldiers formed a wall of spears. But they were slower this time. It was harder to bring them into position. Behind them, the swordsmen let their arms hanging in exhaustion as they held their shields. They didn't look like they could survive another onslaught.

Tepi raised her conch again. Before the sound of her conch could be heard, a whirling ball of fire flew from the sky towards them. The earth split open, sending chunks of rocks and earth everywhere. A quarter of our soldiers were blown into the air. Fire spread.

One shadowy figure appeared, coming down the hill on a chariot drawn by ten black horses. He wore a richly crafted armor which shrouded him to his neck. Carried with him were weapons used in battle, a bow, a spear, a staff and a trident. All were studded with bosses of gold. The metal of his chariot wheels gleamed red like the bleeding sun.

At last, Ravana rode into the battlefield for the first time. The Demon King's flaming eyes flared and his wide mouth opened in a howl of viciousness. He came to a halt before the crowd of his army. The Asuras gathered themselves around him in the shape of a half-moon.

The sight of his face made my blood boil like bubbling lava. My heart stopped beating for a split moment then raced furiously again. The rage and grief melted into one, forcing a scream out of my mouth, a wild angry sound that shook my whole being.

Everyone turned their heads, the humans, and demons, looking at me in frozen shock and joy. Gajasimha pounded his massive paws against the ground as he roared the loudest roar that scared even the toughest of man.

The avatars saw me and breathed in awe and disbelief. I survived. I was back another time to fight with them, wading through the sea of death and blood together. The rest of the enemy began to break apart like I was a knife that would cut through them.

Now the sun got low and the sky turned redder. The shadows became long as our soldiers raised their shields and swords once more time.

The kings and princes took up my war cry. Our whole front was yelling with new found vigor. The war horns then swept away the cries and the conch made the earth tremble.

Both sides came to a standoff, and for the first time, we were face to face with Ravana, the King of Asuras.

The avatars grouped around me when I reached them. Some patted the legs of my mount as if for good luck.

"Nikita, you shouldn't have come, your wound..." Tepi said. Her face and clothes were all dirty from fighting as the rest of the others.

"I am fine," I said and she saw something in my eyes and did not say another word. Then I turned to the others.

"My friends, my kings, princes, and warriors, now the heavens need us to overcome this terrible king, who has done us more hurt than any enemy, I implore you to fight and end this together once and for all."

Among the sea of faces, I saw Amarisa's father on his war elephant with the other kings and generals. He was leading his soldiers against five other kings who had pledged their service to Ravana. The King caught my eyes and gave me a solemn nod out of respect.

All around me our army screamed my name. I gripped the reins of my great mount. My hands tingled with a golden glow.

Ravana stood high on his glorious chariot, staring at us. Then he raised his hand. His demon soldiers reassembled.

Before we knew it, they had formed into the devastating and invincible formation. Each demon stood in rows and started moving around in a great circle around their king. From above, one would see them in a shape of a thousand-petaled lotus. The soldiers would constantly rotate and advance themselves upon the enemy and cause them terrible destruction.

"Oh Meru gods, he's using the Padma-vyuha!" someone cried. "No one can penetrate this war formation. They're going to wreak insurmountable havoc on us!"

"Is there any way we could break it?" I asked Tepi.

"Yes," she said. "But the lotus formation can only be destroyed from the inside."

"Then help take me there," I said.

"Nikita, this is a terrible risk," she said. But I dismissed her concern with a shake of my head.

"We don't have much time and you know deep down that it has to be me," I said to her, looking into her eyes. "Help me destroy Ravana."

Tepi stared back, and I could see her tears welling up in understanding.

"Well then, Nikita, we shall aid you until our dying breath," she said like it was a vow.

And there was nothing else left to be said. Everyone knew it. Then we began to spread out again.

"Archers!" Vorac cried from above. I looked up to see her on the chariot drawn by the Ashvas. One familiar winged horse wailed at me as she passed by. Pisey had sustained several wounds from the enemy arrows, yet she was still the swiftest horses of all.

Following behind on his own chariot was Atith. I was both shocked and relieved to see him. Shocked to see that his golden armor was gone, stripped from his body. He was stained with blood all over his chest. But I was relieved that he was still alive and still fighting. Riding with him was Ravi.

"Fire!"

The bows were held high with gleaming arrows, some were fire-tipped and others were celestial gold. Then the sky filled with flying darts like a black rain of death upon the demons. They fell and crumbled but kept coming. The spearmen took their stand with their shields. The rest drew their swords as the enemy crashed into them. Their waves swept over our first ranks. Then came the swords of the next rows. Our soldiers hardly stood against the enemy wielding their maces, smashing over the helmets and rib cages.

They were like a destructive storm.

"For the holy city!"

The conch was blown again and the ground shook as we rode together into the field as if we were a great herd of wild bulls. Morokot's rhino smashed into a line of demons. Fire burst out among them. Issarak attacked a band of giant beasts with three heads with Vijay. Everyone did their best to break the deadly formation, but Ravana's army kept advancing forward. Our lines began to waver.

Vorac and Tusita flew ahead of us.

Tusita held her golden bow and let her arrow ripe through the enemy with a crackling thunder. It struck the demons and exploded in a ball of fire. The others fell to the ground in the impact. But the formation reformed itself immediately.

The chariots of the avatars flew low to the ground. Atith drew his fiery steeds in a wide arc and swiped his spear over the throng of giants, slashing their bellies and stabbing their chests. Vorac was magical with her silver bow. She drew arrow after arrow from her inexhaustible quiver. Each found its mark. The thunder rolled from Tusita's bow, the flash of lightning appeared and the fire roared over the enemy as they fell in clusters.

At last, I saw the opening of the lotus formation, which revealed Ravana at the center. Before it reformed itself, I quickly urged Gajasimha to sprint into the army amassing in front of me.

The lotus closed behind me again like a mouth. Everywhere I turned was bodies of demons rotated like a war machine. Their swords and spears swung at me. Gajasimha let out a wild roar that knocked them off their feet. His armor-like scales and thick mane had been a great protection and advantage as the kingly beast bolted forward.

I caught a glimpse of Ravana on his shining chariot. He was waiting for me.

At last, I summoned my trusted astra. My hands burst into light then out came, the indestructible Chandrahas. The blade shone like the crescent moon at midnight. The sight of it sent a wave terror.

I rode forward while slashing my sword wildly. Ashes twirled from the fallen demons.

Ravana saw me advancing towards him, and his voice roared from the middle of his formation. He started forcing his exhausted troops to attack me.

"Kill her!" he cried. "Whoever can kill that miserable girl and her avatars shall rule the world with me!"

His words emboldened his servants' hearts and brought more savagery to the war. With a mighty battle cry, he rallied his force again.

Before I knew it, I was drawn back by a new wave of weapons. My mount began to reel.

Ravana knew where to strike that would set the bravest of heart scattered in defeat. His demon soldiers did not abide by any rules. And as the night began to fall, the Asuras slowly regained their power for they were, after all, the beings of darkness.

They sneaked from behind, turned invisible, grew an enormous size, or transformed into your loved ones' faces and confused the mind of our soldiers.

By the time, the sky darkened, Ravana had turned the tide of the war. All the while, he did not lift a finger in the fight. He was in no hurry. His eyes turned to the field where the armies clashed into each other.

"This is what the gods sent to kill me?" he said with a booming laugh. His voice was heavy and resonating like a terrifying thought in one's mind. Everybody in the field could hear every word he spoke.

"Whatever I am, I will slay you with my own hands!" I yelled back, stabbing a green demon in the chest at the same time. "Sending others to fight your fight? How could you call yourself Emperor of the Universe when you couldn't even face a mortal girl yourself?"

"You will die!" His voice boiled with hatred and anger. "And after you, I will kill everyone you love. Your wife, too! Yet if she shall make me a happy husband, I can spare her life and keep her as my possession forever!"

He laughed again.

I knew this was only his poison tongue to hurt me. He could never lay a hand on any woman or his head would split in two. But it did not fail to fuel my rage. I gritted my teeth.

'O invincible one, be calm and stay sharp with your senses, don't let his bitter words anger you.'

A divine voice spoke inside my head. The sound could be from Hanuman.

I had my mount storm in Ravana's direction again. The demon soldiers tried to block my path, but Gajasimha flew over their heads with a mighty leap. I wielded Chandrahas and swung the blade down. The demons scrambled away.

My wound still hurt from the effort, but the medicine gave me strength, the medicine, and the monkey god. He was there, I could sense him. My mount dropped to his feet again. I had entered the inner ring, but Ravana's chariot still stood too far away at the center.

The Asura King swirled his chariot around with a smirk.

"You are no match for me," he growled. "The gods must be blind to choose you. Look around you now. I am going to crash everything that dares to stand in my way!"

The mass of moving bodies seemed to keep going forever. Our army was being slowly devoured by his.

"Nikita!" my friend's voice cried out from somewhere outside the formation. It was from Raksa, who had tied down three gigantic beasts together. "You must stop his pitiless vyuha! Summon Yama's army! Now!"

And that was what I did. I chanted the mantra that would call upon the dead.