Story: The Forest's Cry

The Forest's Cry: Dharma Awakening 

The Dark Woods

On the eve of their arrival at the great city of Mithila, Vishvanmitra the sage, Rama and Lakshmana stop for their final night’s rest. A small fire is made in little time. It burns with the branches and leaves cracking beneath, releasing warmth into the air as the embers dance up into the sky. Rama is content as he watches the fire, and listens while Vishvanmitra and Lakshmana discuss the next day’s travels. Their time together burns into Rama as he thinks back on the events since they left his father and home. There is a soft hypnotic pleasure within him as he watches the flame slowly burn out. More contemplation reaches him as he becomes anxious of the days to come, and the conclusion of his adventure. The fire he so enjoyed watching slowly releases its last ember up into the sky and Rama becomes deeply saddened. With his soul still spinning, he quietly rises and moves into the forest for meditation in private. Lakshmana and the sage sleep quietly.

…

Lakshmana rises quickly and looks around the camp. Closing his eyes, he listens intently, trying to find a horrible scream that came from the think forest. Trying to find another sound of similarity, his ears ring again; another distant and distorted scream echos in his head. He drops to the forest floor with mute silence. He notices the fire died out several hours ago, and that his brother Rama is nowhere to be seen. Vishvamitra sleeps silently near the dead fire. 

After a short time of searching the area surrounding the camp, Lakshmana finds Rama meditation on a large rock in a small clearing in the forest. The sky is slightly visible above him, and the light of the stars and moon softly fall where Rama sits. Lakshmana sees this sight and becomes overrun with peace, feeling as if a godly grace touches him from the sight of his brother, just as the moon’s light envelops Rama. Content in that moment, Lakshmana takes his position at the base of the rock and sits to guard his brother. The memory of the scream he heard, just shortly, melts away.

...

Again, a disturbing sound echoes in Lakshmana’s head and he stands up abruptly. Knowing without a doubt he heard a horrid scream, he draws his bow. Rama does not stir, and that is what Lakshmana wants: his brother to stay in meditation. Once again Lakshmana quietly walks into the forest towards the noise. He continues until another disembodied scream echoes through the forest, this time much louder. His blood freezes, and the warm night air becomes chilled. He begins running towards the scream.

When he arrives, a horrible image greets him: a small village burns. Trails of blood lead from the houses off into another part of the dense forest. A blackened corpse lies on the ground between two of the village's huts. It moves slightly, trying to crawl its way into the forest. Lakshmana rushes to the person, hoping to save them. The moment Lakshmana reaches for his hand the arm decays away into ash. Lifting its head slightly, the body looks at him with dark, colorless eyes. Blood drips from them in the place of tears. The body tries to speak, but instead falls motionless into the arms of Lakshmana. The body dissolves into cold ash. Horrified Lakshmana stands up and begins searching for other survivors. Everything is dead. He heads into the forest, following the blood-stained trail.

Another agonizing scream reaches Lakshmana. He pushes himself faster to reach the cries. As he runs he notices a white figure on his right flank. While still running with haste he turns towards the figure and fires a bolt from his bow. The shot misses only slightly in front of the creature. He stops as he becomes deeply horrified from what he sees. A slow-moving pack of Pretas are accompanying him to the sound of the scream. Their small white distorted bodies move closely to the ground. What were once greedy people are reincarnated into these small, disgusting shells. Their eyes were blackened, mouths sown shut, and their slim arms, legs, and neck protrude out from a swollen abdomen, also sown shut. They moan terrible noises as they all turn to look at him, yet they continue like cattle towards the location of the screams.

Lakshmana shakes away his disbelief, reminding himself that if these Pretas are here, then there must be something equally as horrible further ahead. Again, he starts towards the sounds, sprinting with all his might. The urge to stop these terrible acts being inflicted on humans resonates throughout his being.

When he finally arrives, he sees a pile of burnt and bloodied corpses lying in a giant pile in the middle of a clearing. Blood trails from all directions lead to the bodies. There are several figures heaving the bodies each direction, some depositing the corpses while others drag and carry them away towards a large burning fire. Near the fire are limbs and bones scattered around more dark figures. His body trembles as he watches the daemons devour innocent people.

Rama appears behind Lakshmana, urging him to leave the terrible sight. Rama tells him that there is nothing they can do to save the villagers anymore, for if it was their Dharma, then it was long past. Reluctant Lakshmana and Rama leave heading back to the sage. They return to their campsite silently. As they sit, Lakshmana prays deeply to Vishnu to judge and restore the balance of karma to the villagers, Rakshasa and Preta he witnessed that night. As he does Rama feels a flood of emotions and images rush into his mind of the events that unfolded that night. He hears his brother's voice praying to Vishnu, although not aloud. Rama’s eyes open to see the sage and the sun rise. As they leave, Rama and Lakshmana say nothing about the events of the night to either themselves nor the sage. A fiery passion for retribution and balance burns inside Rama as he feels Lakshmana’s prayers continue while they walk to the city of Mithila.

Authors note's:
The enjoyment of dark twists and partial insights to events and story’s is something I thoroughly enjoy. That is, story’s that do not tell you everything, but leave speculations and bits of information about itself up to the reader to contemplate, deduce, and speculate. I draw my passion for this from the many hours I have spent enjoying horror movies, games and readings: some of my favorite readings come from dark fairy tales of my German ancestry, and the modern urban myths know as creepy pasta’s. Slenderman is one of those dark stories that grabbed a hold of my interests and fears very deeply.

Also, there is a certain pleasure for me to tell about minor characters or those who are not within the main spotlight of stories; such as Lakshmana, Karna, or Balarama. Most of my stories within this portfolio and this blog that are derived from my readings will include such renditions. Main character spin-offs are things I despise, not because they are bad, but rather because there are so many other characters and options for one to imagine and create that are in the background of major stories.

The Forest’s Cry: Dharma Awakening is the conclusion to week two’s story planning, although additions and amendments will surely be added to this and all pieces.

Source: 

The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Pose Version of the Indian Epic

Author: R. K. Narayan

Published by Penguin Group, New York, New York. 1973. Print (and Web).