Parashurama
A mighty warrior is sitting in the middle of the forest, deep in meditation. Except he was not meditating at all. He had been unable to properly mediate for a long time. He sat there, thinking hard and reminiscing about the past.
As Parashurama sat there in peace, he remembered about his long and distant past. It was hard for him to remember things nowadays. There was too much information, too much history in his head. Sometimes he would forget whole years; decades would pass disguised as days. He still remembers when he was young, and oh, how the world was different then.
He remembered how he got his name when he received a Parshu (weapon) from Lord Shiva as a boon. He also thought of the time when his father commanded him to kill his mother. A command he obeyed, earning a boon, which he used to bring his mother back. Of course, they were all gone now. Everyone he ever loved was gone now. Everyone he ever knew grew old and died, but he remained here.
He thought of the time he killed the Kshatriya warrior class 21 times over. For generations, he annihilated the warriors, and when their sons were born and grew up, he did it all over again. He was a mighty warrior, invincible with Shiva's Parshu. He could feel his axe still, strapped around his back. He is still a mighty warrior, but the world has changed. There was no Kshatriya class anymore. The abuse of power and tyranny which characterized them and for which he hated them has been transformed. The weapons of oppression are no longer warriors, but objects and ideas.
Parashurama felt out of place in this world. As hundreds of generations passed the world changed with them. It was too much for Parashurama to keep up with. The divine caste system had been overthrown. There were no more kings or kingdoms. People lived in cities and forgot their deep connection with nature.
War also changed. There are no more mighty warriors, skilled in the use of the sword, bow, and arrow. It used to be, that you destroyed your enemy during war, but now war is much more devastating. War devastation is total. We have leveled entire cities to the ground. We can destroy entire countries; we can destroy the entire planet with weapons whose destruction is autonomous and indifferent.
Of course, Parashurama tried to keep up with the change of the world. However, each day was becoming increasingly difficult. It is human nature to change, to adapt and overcome. You are not the same person that you were ten or twenty years ago. How long does it take people to completely change? Parashurama understood that if he rejected change, he would die out with the old world. But how much can you change, until you are no longer who you were?
Some things never end, like suffering and pain, or the unsatisfiable desires of mankind. Life is full of needs and wants and many problems, and if your life is infinite, so are all those things. There are other more noble ideals that never end, like love, but they are not men. Men are defined by their mortality, but now Parashurama did not know what he was. This endless pain and suffering was his penance.
As Parashurama sat there under a tree, he felt him before he ever saw him. A young boy no older than ten stepped out of the trees. He was barefoot and raged, but his eyes were fierce, and he had an aura of divinity.
The boy spoke, "I seek the mighty warrior Parashurama so that he might teach me all he knows."
It was not the first time someone sought out Parashurama for training. Parashurama replied, "Who are you, my child?"
The boy said, "My name is Kalki, son of Vishnuyasha, his fifth child. I am from Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh."
Parashurama smiled; the time had come.
Author's Note:
I wanted to include a couple of different elements in the story. On the one hand, I wanted to include some of the backgrounds of Parashurama and some of the things he had done. But I also wanted to include the downsides of immortality. In this story, I wanted to explore the implications and disadvantages of being immortal.
I included some watered down arguments regarding the philosophical problem of existentialism. The arguments being between facticity–who we are now–and transcendence–our tendency to change. I pose the question that if you are immortal living in a changing world, how do you change with it, but also keep yourself the same?
I focused on the negative side of immortality because it ties well with the overall theme of my project. In addition to exploring some of the chiranjivi characters, I also wanted to explore the concept of immortality.
The story ends with Parashurama meeting Kalki. For anyone who does not know, Kalki is the tenth avatar of Vishnu. He has been prophesized to usher the end of the Kali Yuga. He is pretty much bringing the end of the world, except is not the end of the world because the Yugas are different cycles. It would be the end of the world as we know it. Parashurama is also destined to train Kalki.