Hidimba

The Gas Station

As the three friends walked back to the car Sanjay said, “So, you guys, I was serious about needing gas.”

Mehul and Saira laughed out loud and Mehul said, “There is a gas pump down by the city. Let's fill up there and then try to find…what was his name again?”

Saira said, “His name is Hidimba and he is the demon king around here. It sounds like he has a personal vendetta against your family.”

As they climbed into the car Mehul stated, “I wonder why he targeted my family? All they ever tried to be was good and decent humans and look where that got them…. they are dead.”

Mehul felt a burning rage inside him as Sanjay started the car and they began the drive to the gas station. As they began their travel Saira started to tell them about Hidimba and how to defeat him. It appeared that Hidimba was one of the Demon Kings. He only searched out the people who had wronged him greatly. As she explained more and more about how he had relatives who were just as equally as nasty, she told him that in order to kill him they would have to burn him.

Mehul asked, “What about our daggers and glasses?”

Saira replied, “Those only work on the lesser demons. What is unique is that you can supposedly see a demon king without the glasses. I don’t really know because I have never faced one.”

After the thirty-minute ride they finally reached the gas station.

Sanjay got out and said, “You guys wait here, this will only take a minute. Then we can plan on how to find Hidimba.”

Mehul and Saira nodded in agreement. A few moments later they heard a terrible scream come from behind the car.

Hidimba

As soon as Mehul and Saira got out of the and looked back where Sanjay where pumping in gas they were frozen in shock. There stood a twelve-foot-tall red demon. His eyes, well where his eyes should have been, there was nothing but two dark holes. It looked like he a crown of horns surrounding the top of his head. He also had a long black beard.

As they stared at him Mehul yelled out, “So you are Hidimba? You don’t look so tough.”

Hidimba stared back and smirked, “Tell that to your little friend here.”

With one motion he lifted up his right arm and threw Sanjay into them. Both stared in shock Sanjay was covered in blood and in the middle of his chest was a huge gaping wound with blood pouring out of it. Mehul and Saira tried to put pressure on his wound but the blood was gushing through their fingers. Blood was encompassing the ground that they were standing on.

Sanjay somehow, was conscious and looked at Mehul and said, “You might need this, brother, now burn this fucker down.”

Sanjay reached into his pocket and pulled out a lighter and proceeded to place it into Mehul's hand as he died.

Hidimba looked at them and said, “Well, if he’s the best you got then this won’t be a problem. Now I wonder how the fuck you destroyed my other demons.”

Mehul glanced at him with a burning rage he had never known before. He bolted to the car and grabbed his knife and Sanjay’s knife from inside.

Hidimba roared, “You think your blades can kill me boy, you are nothing but a tiny fucking insect in my world!”

Mehul looked back at Saira and said, “For Sanjay and my family.”

Hidimba yelled, “Your family! What about my little sister Hidimbi that your family killed!"

It then made sense to Mehul: Hidimba had targeted his family because they had killed his little sister.

Mehul yelled, “And now I will finish their work by finishing you!”

He proceeded to charge Hidimba sent Mehul flying backward. Mehul knew that charging at Hidimba would not work so he had to be more tactical. Mehul and Hidimba danced around taking turns cutting each other up. Unbeknownst to them, Saira had cut the gas line at the pump and now gasoline was trickling all around Mehul and Hidimba.

Mehul was becoming weak, his left arm was badly wounded, and blood was gushing out. He did not know how much more of this he could take but then he smelled it. He could see the gasoline pooling around Hidimba in the ditch that he had made with his giant feet.

Mehul looked at Hidimba and said, “Don’t demon kings usually boast before they finish off their enemy? I mean that is what Vetala and Bakasura tried to do."

Hidimba smirked and proceeded to drone on and on about how this will reset order in the world. He also talked about how he and his demons would come back to conquer the world. All the while he was doing this Mehul had pulled out the lighter that Sanjay had given him. He glanced quickly back and saw that Saira had pulled Sanjay out near a tree far from the gas station.

Mehul flicked the lighter and threw it on the ground in front of Hidimba. In the blink of an eye he was engulfed in a ball of flame.

Hidimba yelled out, “This isn’t how it’s supposed to be!” and soon perished.

The fire lasted for a day and half and during that time Saira and Mehul gave Sanjay a proper burial.

5 years Later

Five years had passed since Sanjay and his family’s death, but during that time period Mehul and Saira had gotten married, finally accepting how they felt about each other. They had taken over the mantle that Mehul’s family once had.

One day Mehul came home and Saira let him know she was pregnant with a boy and she asked, “What shall we name it?”

Without hesitation Mehul said, “Sanjay.”

Author’s Note:

I thought that when I introduced Hidimba he should be as scary as possible. Since he was a demon king it only made sense that a crown of horns was around his head. He was originally choked to death, but I thought having a demon being burnt to death was more poetic justice. Having him kill another person close to Mehul shows that no one is capable of escaping death.

If there is one thing that I have learned when writing stories and reading stories is that not all of them end well. I think having Sanjay die a horrific death really plays into the story line of not invincible. While it seems that our heroes have had great luck and nothing bad will befall them I knew from the get-go Sanjay was going to perish. He was a great character and I wish I could have developed him more, but we do not have that luxury, hence why he died.

I added having Mehul and Saira married at the end with a kid on the way because it reminded me of some of the films I have watched. All too often the main character finds his lady love and once they complete their mission it flashes to a few years into the future and shows they are married or have a kid. I wanted that to show up and have people be like what happened in between the time. It makes them want to read more.

Bibliography:

Gupta, Govind. Who was Hidimba?. Who was Hidimba?