Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana continued their journey in exile through the jungle of Chitrakuta. Deep in the forest, they are met by none other than their brother, now king, Bharata. In Rama's absence, their father had passed and Bharata had become king per Bharata's mother's wishes. Her wishes were the same reason Rama had been forced into exile in the first place. In their meeting, Bharata bears the news of their father's death to Rama and they both weep. In time, Bharata admits to Rama why he had been given the throne over Rama, and offers that, as king, he will pardon Rama from his exile under one condition. Rama must return as king. Rama is hesitant at first as he feels his would be disobeying his late father, but Bharata is able to convince him that actions like these are necessary, and that as king, he has the power to overrule such actions. After a long debate of whether or not it was honorable to return, Rama finally decides it is alright to return as king from his exile. Together, the brothers and Sita return to the city and Rama is ceremoniously appointed to be the new king.
Under King Rama, Ayodhya prospered, but the balance of nature had shifted. As an avatar of Vishnu, Rama's purpose was not only to lead, but to defeat Ravana. As king, Rama had a kingdom to rule, not a demon king to slay, so the godly powers had fallen out of balance. Before returning early from his exile, Rama and Lakshmana had fought only a few Rakshasas, but upon hearing of a great warrior capable of taking down bands of rakshasas single-handedly, Ravana took notice. As the years went by, Ravana began to amass an army to rid the world of this new, powerful being that was Rama.
One night, under cover of their magic, a large army of rakshasas including Ravana himself made their way from Lanka, Ravana's home, to Ayodhya. Capable of precise shape shifting, it was easy for Ravana's army to sneak into Rama's kingdom. All at once, chaos was released in the streets. The flesh-eating rakshasas began to feast on Rama's people. Without the rest of his celestial armory, Rama was stretched to his limits trying to defeat the invading army. Wave by wave he took down the demons, but the numbers were far too high for even the avatar of Vishnu to handle. As the fight drew on, Rama became weaker and weaker. Without the help of allies outside his kingdom, he couldn't hold back the assault.
Ravana took Rama's weakness after all the fighting he had done to his advantage and got another rakshasa to scream the sound of Sita's scream from a room in the palace. Trying to protect his wife in his final breaths, Rama fell for the trap and instead met Ravana in the room. In his weakened state, Rama had no way to fight back against such a powerful foe.
Ravana's weapon spat flames that one by one turned into serpents that tore Rama down piece by piece. After the death of Rama, Ravana began to feast on his body, feeling the power from within Rama as he was devoured. Ravana, the Demon King immortal to the gods themselves, has now slain the mortal created by gods sent to kill him. Nothing left stands in his way to conquering all the lands.
As the battles faded, Ravana had rid the world of another powerful being, and he once again felt at ease that his power would not be threatened. After this massive success, Ravana began to take city after city and expand his reach much farther than Lanka. The world slowly fell into disarray as rakshasas took over the globe. And so began the reign of Ravana and the rakshasas.
Author's Note and Bibliography: As a first dive into alternate histories, I wanted to take a turn from early in the PDE Ramayana by various authors. In this versions, Rama returns to Ayodha with Bharata when he finds him after their father's death. One of the reasons Rama was able to defeat Ravana in the Ramayana was due to the people he met along the way. In this story, he never meets Hanuman, meaning that Rama and his army would not be able to be saved several times by the monkey's ability to jump to the mountains and save them. Rama was also unable to get his full set of celestial weapons. Another main reason Ravana is able to win in this case is that Rama has had much less experience fighting strong rakshasas. Rakshasa magic is also not very present in the Ramayana, so being able to use it as a large element of surprise in this story was a fun way to give Ravana's army the edge they needed to make this a realistic victory. Overall, these alternate histories are a great way for me to stretch the possibilities of what we've all read before. I hope you all enjoyed reading as much as I did writing!
Banner Source: A Sketch of Ravana