This storybook holds the untold alternate tale of the Ramayana. In the original story, a young man is born to a king who wants children. This young boy is the incarnation of the god Vishnu. It is his duty to defeat the ten-headed asura Ravana, who wishes to take over the land. These stories, however, tell the tales of four young warriors chosen by the gods to defeat the evils that plague their land and ultimately Ravana.
Ravana had been a nuisance to the gods and mortals for many years. He had taken it upon himself to try and get rid of all of the powerful gods, for starters. He also terrorized the mortal world by burning villages to the ground and taking human prisoners to entertain him in his underworld home.
In short, he was not very nice.
Vishnu met with his court of gods to discuss the issue that was Ravana. He knew that they desperately needed to find someone to defeat him- and quickly. Ravana had made it very clear that within just a few weeks' time he would make his move to take the mortal world into his domain. His domain was a vast portion of the underworld..... a place no one could survive..... What was even more pressing was the fact that Vishnu was blessed with magical power. He had threatened many of the gods with mortal deaths and continuous pestering until one finally gave in and granted him power. This god was Vishnu's close friend Brahma, who could not bear to imagine anyone suffering. With this power, no god or single man or woman could defeat Ravana. It was because of this curse that Vishnu had gathered his court together to decide what must be done.
As Vishnu was thinking, Brahma piped up. "Sir.....according to the blessing, Ravana cannot be defeated by any single man or woman, correct?"
Vishnu's brow furrowed. "Correct. What did you discover?"
Brahma continued. "I have thought about the wording of my blessing. What if you were to find more than one worthy man or woman? Would that not defy the blessing and work against Ravana?"
Vishnu pondered what Brahma said, and, coming to an internal realization, suddenly rose from his seat. He hastily made his way to the edge of the room, where there was a window to look down upon the world below. He lowered himself to the floor and closed his eyes.
His mind wandered across the kingdom, looking deep into the hearts of the people. He passed through women, children, farmers, bakers, teachers, and almost all of the dwellers of the kingdom before finally settling on a young woman out in a field, swinging a wooden sword back and forth.
Vishnu opened his eyes and returned to Brahma.
"I have to agree with your statement, Brahma. I do believe that your plan would work. I've already set my sights on the first warrior of my choosing, and in due time, we may discover three more. Right now, I can see that our first chosen warrior has a fire in her heart and a drive for adventure. She will need it in the upcoming weeks."
Brahma stuttered. "B-but sir.... should you not try and seek the others now? We are running out of time-"
Vishnu held up his hand to Brahma. "All in due time, my friend. This is how the the events must fall in order to defeat Ravana. We mustn't be hasty. We must have faith in our first warrior. It is up to her now to follow her inner fire and find the others."
The two returned to the window to watch the young girl slice through rows and rows of vegetables with deadly accuracy until she grew weary and retired to her home, unaware of the great responsibility that had suddenly been bestowed upon her.
Image Information: Good vs Evil by WallpaperSafari Source: WallpaperSafari
Author's Note: In the original story, our hero is one boy who is asked to go on this adventure by a sage, and he accepts. In my story, I changed the blessing just enough to be able to have the gods choose four warriors so that I could expand the story. Also, in the original, we do not get to hear much about the inner workings of the gods and their interactions so I added insight into their meetings. I gave more backstory to the specific gods who are involved in the choosing so that the reasoning and loophole would make sense and easily integrate into the story. It was purposeful that the first hero chosen is a girl, so that there is a clear difference with how the story is presented and the battles that ensue. I revised with more analysis into Ravana and his goals with the gods and mortals, and explain why he needed to be defeated. I changed some of my words such as verbs into the active form, and added some clarity on lines where I contradicted myself or moved too fast in the scene. I changed some more words to add variety to my vocabulary and to make the story itself more exciting.