User:Vsmathurco/Siege of Mithila

The Siege of Mithila begins from where the Prince of Ayodhya left off, wherein Rama and Lakshman had battled the evil forces of Tataka and her army of evil offspring, half-breeds of animals sprouted as a result of her evil scorcery, decimating them thanks to the Bala and Atibala dev-astra's granted to them for this very purpose by the Maharishi Vishwamitra himself. When the battle begins, Rama and Lakshmana together kill more than two hundred monsters back-to-back with their bows and arrows. When the second, more powerful wave attacks, however, while Rama remains unscathed and continues to wipe out monsters, Lakshmana is brutally murdered and torn to pieces.

Meanwhile, the King's guard, the elite Vajra regiment, has continued to tail Rama into the Bhayanak-van and enters the battle, at which point the remaining monsters are wiped out. Tataka, a beautiful yaksa rakshasi of towering height, arrives on the scene, entirely naked, distracting most of the soldiers. Rama realizes at this point that Lakshmana has been killed, and pleads with the Maharishi to revive him. Simultaneously he has qualms about killing Tataka because she is a woman, but Vishwamitra tells Rama that the only way to revive Lakshmana is to kill Tataka for her sins. Rama uses the power of the sun in his blood, and destroys her utterly.

Lakshmana is revived, but is not informed that he had died upon the battlefield. He and Rama arrive at Vishwamitra's ashram, where they spend a vigil of seven days guarding the yagna after receiving the divine power of the deva-astras, weapons which have the ability to call upon the power of any deva at will. At the end of the seven days, Subahu and Mareech, Tataka's two sons, attack the yagna, but are both dispatched by Rama and Lakshmana. After the completion of the sacrifice, Vishwamitra tells Rama and Lakshmana that they are now to travel to Mithila in order to complete the next task - attending a marriage. Perplexed, Rama asks whose marriage they are to attend, and he cryptically replies "... Yours."

The first book "Prince of Ayodhya" finishes with the image of Jatayu flying over the massive navy of Lanka, which is preparing to invade the mainland in full force with the power of Ravana behind it. Meanwhile, in Ayodhya, Kausalya, Vashishta, and Sumantra all realize that the King's condition is most definitely fatal, but also find out that a spy exists in the royal family who may be destroying the country and court from within...

In the "Siege of Mithila", the first chapter picks up from there as Rama lies sleeping on a straw palette in the Siddhi Ashram, he is called by the Mother Goddess who has called him to show him something mysterious .. the scene melts to Mithila where Sita has a nightmare and awakes to be addressed by the voice of Ravana who transports her to his island Lanka to show her the mighty forces of various species of Asura's being loaded onto the ships for invading the land of Arya's. Just about when her presence is detected as missing by her powerful bodyguard Nahuda Devi, she is transported back, having witnessed those terrible scenes. In the meantine, Maharishi Vishwamitra detects Rama has ventured into the forests alone, and so does Lakshman. When Lakshman ventures out to look for his brother he comes upon Supanaka in the guise of golden deer, who bolts when a tiger who had been stalking her almost attacks him, stopped just in time by Maharishi Vishwaitra's timely intervention, which saved the tiger from certain annhilation. Just then Rama appears with a bright flash of light

Ravana chastises Supanakha for attacking the Vajra battalion on it's way back to Ayodhya, just after she finishes making the hunter the hunted - she kills the tiger that had been stalking her. He transports her to the site of the attack and after she remonstrates before him, he creates a twice-lifer by putting the life of one of his minions into the lifeless form of the deceased Bheriya, second in command to Captain Bejoo, who has been put in charge of Rama and Lakshman's life. He commands the twice-lifer with some unknown command.

Meanwhile, Bejoo requests the Princes to return with him to Ayodhya, immediately after he encounters Bheriya's disembodied voice telling him about the imminent danger of invading Asuraffdes