Chapter 4

“Look, what reason do I have to lie to you? I’ve lost my friends, my brothers and sisters, well over half my memory. Mainly though, I have lost my wife, I just started to remember her when I got stupid doing this,” Shiva said, hanging his head. “I need your help, something I have never, from a human.”

Call me a softy, I don’t know. I reached out, shaking Shiva’s hand. “Alright, let’s go.”

Almost immediately, we were hundreds of miles away. I looked up the mountain, seeing what appeared to be another chamber. I looked closer, swearing I could see the symbol of Kali on the rock face.

I sighed, OK, I could for the first time see why Shiva was so aggressive. I had been dealing with the same type of loss as he was, well, somewhat. Then again, I thought he should see why the hell I wanted to be left the hell alone. Then his story hit me, he had been alone. Alone, a hell of a lot longer than I had.

I thought about it longer, dropping into a chair that had appeared behind me. “So, you were the same way when you first released your wife, Kali?” I asked.

A slight smile came to Shiva’s lips as he shook his head no. “No, I was by far worse, I said some really asinine things to my wife. You know the saying, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, yeah believe it. You might say that Kali was far beyond pissed off.”

I winched as I thought of what Shiva had done to me, a female? To an asshole male? Yeah, I could see a lot of anger there.

“So, she’s not going to want to get revenge or be angry when I let her loose, right?” I asked.

“Well,” Shiva started, “at you no. In general, yeah, I think she might. All of us had only been out a year when we tried to open the tombs of the lesser gods. It, uh, had the effect like the original battle between Me and Vishnu.”

“The original battle?” I asked.

“Yeah, Vishnu and I have always disagreed to a point. I guess it was a few years ago, well a few thousand for you,” Shiva said, as a faraway look came to his eyes. “In all this time I remember every word, we were both angry. He had said I was a disgrace to the God realm, I responded in kind. Needless to say, we went at each other. We were both at full power for the first time in a very long time.”

“Didn’t the other gods, your wife, try to stop both of you?” I asked.

“Oh, they tried, though, the first casualty was my wife. We used so much power that all the other gods had no defense. Subsequently, our full powers locked all of them away. I was nearly out of my mind, ‘til I realized that Kali was gone. I was calm, then worried and ashamed. Vishnu took advantage, not realizing I was sane again. The blast knocked both of us in opposite directions, me, without a memory nor realizing I had powers, as a god,” Shiva explained.

“So, in a sense, Vishnu was as you are right now,” I said.

“Perhaps,” Shiva said. “He had been at it a lot longer; he did things differently. Now, he and all the others are locked away, especially Vishnu. I need to release as many, well you, while we still have a chance to save everything.”

This last bit got me worried, “Save everything?” I asked.

“Yes, there is a balance that we keep, along with the other god realms. Thankfully, I have felt two, with a third increasing in their influence. That is perhaps why we have survived, though now that I am out, we need to release the others to restore the precious balance,” Shiva told me.

I nodded, then stopped, “you do realize that it took me almost a month to break into your chamber. What in the hell makes you think I can get to the others faster?”

A small smirk crossed Shiva’s lips, “why, you have me, of course.”

I rolled my eyes when he said this, “for once no offence? What makes you think it will go faster with your help? Remember all of you got trapped again after last time. I’m not really feeling all that much confidence, if you help.”

“Oh, I’ve learned quite a lot since last time. I said that I would help you. I am not that foolish to believe that I can open it. I can, however,” Shiva said as several heavy digging pieces of equipment appeared.

I could only shake my head, “and just how am I...” I started when Shiva touched my forehead. “OH shit!” I yelled as the knowledge of running all of them, flooded my mind. “Shit! Shit! Too fast, OH!” I crumpled to my knees as Shiva touched my forehead again.

“My apologies,” Shiva said as the pain disappeared. I looked up at Shiva, not believing the words Shiva had spoken. “I, too, have experienced what you just did. Unlike you though, I was not given a reprieve. Kali said she had to leave me like that. I believe at times she intended the pain I suffered.”

I only nodded, still afraid that if I spoke the pain might return. Shiva shook his head, pointing to his head. I had forgotten that Shiva was attuned, mostly to all my thoughts.

I slowly stood staring at Shiva, my mouth hanging open. “I don’t believe that I have ever heard of any of you apologizing.”

“As I said, much has changed, as have I. I do not wish to experience the utter aloneness that I did. When it was just me, in my mind, with no memory, it wasn’t that bad. Now? I am not sure if I can last through a long time of it,” Shiva said, a look of sadness on his face. For the first time, I believed all that he had said.

I looked at the backhoe, then jumped into the driver’s seat. I was soon driving the teeth of the bucket into the large stone-like slab covering the chamber.

I worked all day surprised when I had gone several feet into the slab. I knew it was thick but several feet? It was actually getting harder to press in with the bucket. I stopped a few hours later, seeing that I was at least eight feet.

I nearly dropped off the machine as I went to get something to eat and drink. Almost immediately, a shaded tent appeared beside the machine, leading me to crawl in. Lying against the couch, I accepted the large glass that was handed to me, taking a big gulp. I was immediately spitting and sputtering the wine from the glass.

I looked at Shiva, “you trying to kill me? That will dry me out far more than the heat will.”

He nodded then handed me another glass filled with cold water and ice cubes. “Ah!” I said, “that is better, much better.”

“I keep forgetting you are human, not a god,” Shiva said, then several platters of meat appeared.

Again, I stared at Shiva, “forgot?” I almost shouted, then stopped seeing an almost lost look on Shiva’s face. “I was expecting it to be thick but, this is ridiculous. I’m about eight feet now,” I told him.

Shiva was nodding as his face dropped in sadness. “At least you have help. The last time I only had a pickaxe. I worked for over a month, we ... I don’t have that type of time.” He looked at the hole I had dug so far. “It appears to be much thicker than it was before. I believe I was in before now.”

I threw my hands up; great I was going to die out here before I got through.

Shiva was suddenly beside me, “no, I won’t allow that to happen. Ryan? Do you think I am as vindictive as that,” Shiva asked.

“Well,” I said as I took another bite, finally starting to feel better. “You are the god of destruction, what do you expect me to think?”

Shiva started to speak, then grew quiet. “I can see where you might think that. True, I am the god of destruction, though you might say that is my job.”

“Job?” I said, somewhat shocked. “Destroying everything is your job? Give me a break I...” I stopped. I hadn’t met any other gods, so who was I to say it wasn’t true?

“Yes, from the start, we all have had a responsibility or job, as you humans say. I don’t really like the destruction; it was found that my decisions were better than any others. Though, like all families, I have found that there are always, in family fights. In our case, it puts part of the world in jeopardy,” Shiva said.

“So, tell me,” I started. “You mentioned that part of your memory was gone. Just how much of it have you recovered?”

Shiva started to shake his head, then seemed to have a moment of clarity. “The last time I was about forty to forty-five percent. Oddly enough, I feel as if I have half, a lot better than before.”

I was nodding running all I had learned through my head. A stray thought crossed my mind. Could he really protect me from Kali? Especially if she was as pissed as he had described her before. I remembered that anger could provide a hell of a lot of extra power, with a god. Heaven help me.

I started to turn to Shiva to ask when he said, “I will do the best I can, I’m sure she won’t kill you.”

“HEY! You said you could protect me, not going to be much help to you if I am after all dead,” I told Shiva.

A small smile came to Shiva’s lips that installed me with even less confidence. I then noticed that Shiva again, had an odd look on his face. For a moment, he grabbed his head, then looked at me with more clarity.

“Well,” he started, “that will surely help. It seems that I have recovered a bit more memory. Now, I think I can protect you even better.”

I just looked at him as if he had lost his mind, (more of it I was afraid). He then looked at me again.

“No, I actually gained more, it appears that I also know that you are almost through. I need to set up what I can against Kali, though now? I have more knowledge than I did before,” Shiva said, with seemingly more confidence.

I wasn’t that convinced, I mean really, with all his powers and he had only about half his memory to use them. Shit I thought, this was starting to feel like every other bad situation I had gone through.

“Alright,” I said after an hour, “we might as well get back at it. I guess the sooner they are out, the sooner things can go back to normal.”

The look that Shiva had on his face again, wasn’t instilling much confidence in me. He turned toward me a moment later, then his face went blank.