Story Planning: The Razing of Vishnarus: Chapter Three

The Razing of Vishnarus: Descent into Darkness 

Security Room Conceptual Image

The story inspiration continues to come from the Ashok Banker, and his descriptive writing style as well as that of the horror movies and games I have mentioned may times prior. At this point the story feels like it is deeply inspired by the Alien series, which was not directly intended, but not a big issue.

Plot:
Rama will awake after extreme exhaustion overcame him, prior to his fight with the giant, beast like Raksha. Rama will realize how much energy gets drained when he unleashes his 'true' self during a fight. The beeping that awakes him will be that of the broken distress recording sent out during the initial invasion of the ship. Rama was still in Cryo-sleep at that time, and it wasn't until the chaos of the invading Raksha killing and devouring people, that Rama was awoken. Again, the reason Rama was awoken is because in the C-R Delta there was a struggle between a few of the security personal and a Raksha. The Raksha fought and killed the humans, throwing one into a Cryo-pod, which became lodged and smashed into the control panel of Rama's pod. The warm up sequence for the pods take 6 hours to complete. This gave much more time for the Raksha to decimate the majority of the humans and severely damage the ships functions.

This broken distress message will be similar to the one used originally. Some ideas include:

"*Static*... this is...Vishnarus has been...breached...unknown...number. *Static*"

"This is Commander Asheek. Our S.S. Vishnarus has been breached by an known force, The breach site is located on the starboard, specifically the Quarter. All renaming noncombatants immediately evacuate the area. Non-combatants do NOT engage the enemy, I repeat, Non-combatants do NOT engage. All combat and security forces, report to your security wing immediately."





Story Motifs and connections:
Rama
Pinaka (Shiva's Bow)
Ravana (Ravanash)
Ravana's army of raksasha (Raksha)
The final battle between Rama and Ravana



*More details and edits to this planning will be added before the story is posted.*



Source:
Prince of Ayodhya
Author: Ashok K. Banker
Published by Orbit (Time Warner Books UK), June 2005. Great Britain. Print. University of Oklahoma Libraries.

Portfolio

The Forest's Cry: Dharma Awakening

Dark Woods

This story is a twisted rendition on Lakshmana, the beloved and deeply loyal brother of Rama, from the Indian Epic known as the Ramayana. This story tells of a dark night where Rama and Lakshmana encounter daemons and the horrors they force humans to endure. 



The Razing Of Vishnarus: Chapter One

S.S. Vishnarus

This story is a space/future sci-fi fantasy rendition of the Ramayana, based off the book: Prince Of Ayodhya by Ashok Banker. I also took some inspiration from the dark space genre from games such as Dead Space and Prey, as well as movies like Event Horizon. I am a big fan of horror space movies. 



The Razing Of Vishnarus: Chapter Two

Vishnarus' Interior

The story continues with the second chapter of  the dark sci-fi adaptation of the Ramayana. I continue to draw inspiration from many horror games and movies. Recently, adaptations have also come from a show titled Parasyte: The Maxim.

The Razing Of Vishnarus: Chapter Two

The Razing Of Vishnarus: Rama's Determination

Conceptual Image: Beast Raksha

The scream echoed throughout the large corridor, reverberating all around Rama as he sprinted. His muscles flexed and relaxed, rippling under his skin like an ocean of power. His torch barely broke through the immense darkness that enshrouded the ship’s hallway.

“Faster. I must protect the people from the Raksha. Faster!” Rama thought, driving himself forward with increased swiftness.

“Faster…”

…

Several hundred meters later, Rama began approaching the source of the blood-chilling scream. An intersection of hallways was fast approaching. A faint light began to grow visible. As Rama neared the intersection he slowed to a jog. The light of the intersection was faint, but gave enough glow to illuminate the floor and several dozen meters of each hallway of the intersection. Rama turned off his torch to conserve its power as he continued towards the light.

Another scream rang out but was quickly cut off with a loud ‘crunch’. Rama swiftly ran to the left corner of the intersection. He stepped around the edge to face the left hallway. There, to his dismay stood a giant Raksha, its back mostly turned to Rama. It was five meters tall, stooped over a large amount of half eaten corpses and limbs. Its large legs were bloodstained from all the people it had trampled. Just like the last Raksha Rama encountered, it too had three arms. The third was embedded into the lower left part of its back.

In its left hand was visible the torso and legs of the person who had screamed out in horror only moments before. Blood still spouted from its torn belly. Bits of meat hung over the creature’s large hand and blood dripped to the floor.

Rama winced at the sight of another being devoured by this dark force. He pushed down his despair deep into his body. As he did, justice and retribution raged inside him. He stepped out into the middle of the hallway and prepared his body with several fluid arched motions, setting himself into a battle-ready position.

The Raksha sniffed the air, and smelled Rama’s fresh skin. It turned its head to glare at Rama. A deep smile was unnaturally carved into the beasts's distorted snout, one of an animal. Its maw was uneven allowing bone to jet from its skull.  Many twisted horns became visible, crowning the beast’s head.

It spoke with two deep voices at once. “Ah, we have finally drug you out of your hole.”

It turned to completely face Rama now. Rama stared down the beast with great vigor.

“Your tardiness has allowed many of your people to die in horrific ways. You must feel so proud. Rama, savior of the humans. Destroyer of Raksha.”

These words pierced Rama as he grew guilty and angry. The beast looked at its half-eaten meat and tossed it towards Rama. As it landed its bones cracked. It slid only a meter away from Rama. Now the prior human was a pile of wet meat and pointed bones. After a short moment, the beast dropped down to all fours with a ground-shaking thud; rearing its body and preparing to engage Rama.

“…and now you will be gored and killed. I shall bring your remains to Ravanash so he may devour you himself!” 

With that the beast charged for Rama, swiftly closing the fifteen-meter gap between them. Rama was mentally preparing himself as the beast spoke. Quickly Rama slid himself forward, allowing him to grasp the broken femur of the dead body, and lightly place down his torch. With a nimble snap Rama pulled out the broken bone. His body spun clockwise from the momentum. Getting a solid footing, just as the beast was upon him, Rama jumped into the air, thrusting his weapon forward into the forehead of the beast. It pierced into the Raksha’s skull, as it screamed in agony. Rama landed, ducking slightly under the beast as it ran over top him. Its momentum was too much to be able to stop before the blow. Screaming in pain the beast skidded to a halt, grasping at the bone embedded into its brain; hot blood ran from the wound to the ground. It turned around in anger to face Rama again. However, before it was fully facing him, Rama was already airborne. Rama had leaped up for the final strike. With his left arm forward for guidance, he pulled back his right arm, preparing to strike the bone. An aura of radiant light shone around Rama as uncountable number of spiritual arms formed to his body. The essence of Vishnu poured from him that moment. Time and space slowed for an immeasurable amount.

“I shall destroy all who threaten the balance of the Universe. May that which you devour be your doom,” Rama spoke.

With godlike speed Rama struck the embedded femur with his palm, launching it through the head of the Raksha. Bits of flesh and brain exploded from the back side of the creature’s skull as it toppled to the ground. Rama landed lightly atop its head with one foot, briefly posing his body into the Abhaya Mudra.

Rama hopped off the beast’s head and landed back upon the blood-soaked floor. The aura around him slowly faded away.  

“I must find my equipment. I cannot fight all my battles with such ferocity, especially with Ravanash seeking my destruction,” Rama thought to himself.

Rama retrieved his torch and started jogging away from the intersection. Two hundred meters away, on the right side of the corridor was the equipment room for the Royal Fleet Security. When Rama arrived, he noted that the door had been ripped away. He stepped in carefully, shinning his torch’s light through the darkness, evaluating its many lockers. Suddenly Rama’s vision blackened as he fell to the floor. He tried to catch himself but was too weak to do so. Exhaustion overcame him. As his consciousness faded away, the last thing he could make out was a soft rhythmic beeping.

...

Author’s Notes:

 I am pleased with how the story is developing thus far. I have one more part panned, but if the story is not quite finish with another one thousand words I may do four chapters instead. (Part four would just have to be something I do extra, outside the course.) I am finding it slightly difficult to keep the unique horror theme to this story. The detail to the creatures works well I think, but what I am finding hard is the genuine horror aspect. I suppose that just takes some practice for getting acclimated to. Also, I am trying to avoid big cliffhangers, but that too is slightly more challenging with our word restrictions. For the two remaining chapters: chapter 3 will be the journey (now that Rama has his appropriate gear), of Rama traveling to the location in which other humans are fighting back the Raksha and Ravanash. The beeping will be a coded message that was from several hours prior, while Rama was still in Cry-sleep. The final chapter, chapter 5, will be focused primarily on the final fight between Rama and Ravanash. Depending  on the detail of the battle, and the numbers on both sides of the struggle, it might be a condensed or extended chapter.

Source:
Prince Of Ayodhya
Author: Ashok K. Banker
Published by Orbit (Time Warner Books UK), June 2005. Great Britain. Print. University Of Oklahoma Libraries. 

Story Planning: The Razing of Vishnarus: Chapter Two

The Razing of Vishnarus: Rama's Determination 

Security Armor

The inspiration of the book continues to be taken from the Ashok Banker novel: Prince Of Ayodhya. As this is going to be part two of a three park story


Plot:
After the encounter with the Raksha in Cryo-Room Delta, and narrowing escaping, Rama now finds himself running down the long corridor of the ship, looking for other survivors, and help. while running from the C-RD, he hears a human scream echoing through the hallway ahead of him. This is where part tow will take place.

In part two I will dive into a bit of back story for prior events and knowledge. Why the ship is traveling. How long Rama was asleep for. A brief explanation of how and when the Raksha attacked, etc.
This will also be the part of the series where Rama obtains armor and his weapon; the Pinaka Rifle. Rama wont wear all of the armor, but he will wear vital parts of it for protection. He will find a broken audio announcement from during the breach, some 15 hours prior to Rama awaking in C-RD. He will listen and find more information about what is going on in the one of the security rooms. This will be after he follows the scream and witness two giant troll like creatures (very possibly Ravana himself) terrorize and than eat several ship inhabitants. Rama will realize he needs weapons to help defeat these Raksha, and goes to the Security Room Charlie. At the end of this part of the story, Rama will encounter Ravana, although not actively. He be searching for Rama, trying to find and kill him. While he is searching for him, Rama will find and join a force of the Royal Fleet's Security (approximately 100-150 guards) and join the fight against some of the Raksha. Shortly after Ravana will join the battle, and the final part of the story will commence.



Story Motifs and connections:
Rama
Pinaka (Shiva's Bow)
Ravana
Ravana's army of raksasha (Raksha)
The battle between Rama and Ravana



*More details and edits to this planning will be added before the story is posted.*



Source:
Prince of Ayodhya
Author: Ashok K. Banker
Published by Orbit (Time Warner Books UK), June 2005. Great Britain. Print. University of Oklahoma Libraries.

Story: The Razing Of Vishnarus: Chapter One

The Razing Of Vishnarus: Chapter One: Bodies and Screams. 

Cryo-Room Delta - Conceptual Image

...

Rama awakes as his body topples towards the soaked floor. Natural instincts are all that stop him from falling limp, as he catches himself with his right forearm. Thick enveloping fluid pours from his mouth as he coughs and gags. He is lying at the base of his cyro-pod, which had at some point, been knocked forty degrees off its standing position. Another cracked pod lies atop his, pressed tightly against his pod's control panel. Dazed, Rama coughs out the remaining of the fluid from his lungs. He is disoriented, and there is a loud, high-pitched frequency resonating in his inner ear. After allowing the noise to slowly vanish into oblivion, he stands up slowly. Holding his head, he shakes away his daze, and gazes around. What he sees is the distorted remnants of Cryo-Room Delta. The overhead lights flicker on and off, sending a hypnotic and confusing wave of light upon the ruined chamber. The smell of blood fills the air heavily. A faint sploshing is audible. Rows of pods line either side of the long, narrow room. Each one had been torn open, leaving cryo-fluid drenching the floor. Some pods had been torn from their very station, allowing the cables to spark and flicker, adding to the dance of hypnotic light. Only a few lay erect while most others had been ripped, smashed, or pounded apart, not only from the outside, but from the inside as well. Rama stares at this sight, awestruck and horrified. 

"What has happened?" is all Rama is barely able to say. 

Rama slowly walks from his pod's wreckage. He notices the pod that has fallen atop his had smashed into the release panel.

"Of all things that could have happened...ironic I wasn't killed," he thinks to himself.

 He continues to comb over the remains of C-R Delta, and falls to his knees as he catches sight of another inhabitant. Slumped over, half fallen from its pod lies a dismembered body. A pool of blood lays inches from the stooped over face. Flesh and bits of meat lay in the pool below it. No arms are seen, but the axillary area's bones and tissue are exposed. The flesh was torn away from its back, exposing the lungs and spine. No human hand could have done such a horrid thing. A faint sploshing is audible. Shocked at the sights of such cruelty and pain, Rama gags and vomits onto the floor. He rises again after a short time and wipes away tears and bile residue. 

"This is terrible. I must find the meaning for such demonic actions!" he says aloud. He speaks a short farewell mantra for the body's spirit. 

He begins wading through the stench-filled room, towards the entrance. All the while the hypnotic overhead lights flicker, lighting his way. He comes across several other dismembered bodies, and winces as he looks upon them. He speaks brief farewells to them respectively as he wades past. A faint sploshing is audible. As he reaches the entrance to C-R Delta, there is a steel locker to the left of the steel door. The locker's grated door had been smashed, allowing him to tear open the 'should be locked' cache. Within it he finds a torch: a heavy military grade flashlight, ironically, designed for non-combat situations regarding maintenance with the cryo-pods. He withdraws the torch and tests it. Flawless light pours from it, shining a brilliant white aura onto whatever it touches. Satisfied with the torch and its usefulness, Rama reaches for the door's controls, but nothing happens. Again, he presses the door's release but only a loud buzz rings through the room. Frustrated, Rama hits the door with the end of the torch, making it flicker on, then back off. The sploshing sound stops. 

Rama sighs and bangs his head on the cold steel door.

"Maybe I was meant to perish here after all." he says.

After a moment, Rama realizes the eerie silence of the room. A soft noise, much like something wading through water, reverberates through the long room. Rama, eyes wide, stands paralyzed with his forehead still resting upon the cold steel of the door. Slowly he turns his head to peer behind himself from the corner of his right eye.

Standing hunched over at the far end of the room is a creature. Long black hair runs from its head down to its knees. Two arms fall limp around its thin body. Its face is covered in shadow, but Rama can see its deep red eyes piercing through the darkness of the room. Blood drips from the creature's long nails and curved teeth. 

"Raksha," Rama thinks to himself.

The creature smiles and in a high, distorted voice, speaks. 
"Oooooh, looks like we forgots one, haven't we? Thiss one wont escape either, no."
"No. Kill this one nice and sllloww." 

A third arm becomes visible on the creature's back as it bends down to its hands and knees. Rama turns to face the horror directly. As he does its head rotates unnaturally, giving vision to a smiling mouth with curved, blood-soaked teeth. Screaming, the creature swiftly crawls towards Rama. Rama prepares himself. The creature jumps into the air, as to strike Rama from above. Rama sidesteps at the last moment with detailed precision to the left. With his arm, he grabs the creature's hair at it's skull, and smashes it into the steel door's control panel. The panel sparks and the door opens halfway. The creature is dazed, but as Rama rolls under the door to escape the room, it lunges for him. The door slams back down upon the creature's torso. Rama now stands in pitch dark, in a large hallway leading away from C-R Delta. Turning on his torch, he looks back at the door. The creature's upper torso and one of its arms are split from its main body. 

Wheezing with its own blood clogging its throat it speaks again. "We are only one offf a legion come to ssslaughter your kind. A plague. You shall be eaten alive." 

The creature's eyes watch Rama with delight as he walks over to it, and swiftly smashes its head into the floor with his heel. 

"If such a terrible thing has come, then worse is yet to follow. I must find help!" Rama says aloud. 

He turns and swiftly starts running down the dark corridor of the ship's main hallway. So massive and dark is the path that even his brilliant torch has trouble peering through the dark. With only his thoughts leading him, he races to find aid in the security wing of the ship. 

After a moment a long scream echos throughout the hallway.

A human scream.

...

Author's Note:

This is the first part of many of my multi-genre Ramayana story. I found a lot of inspiration for this short series from things like Dead Space and Event Horizon as well as the fantasy version of the Ramayana by Ashok Banker. I want to allow this to be a 3 or 4 part series that will allow me to dive into a lot of detail within the story. One thousand words max per part is a difficult but doable length to keep it to. If I could, I would fill my stories with as much detail as possible. For instance I have yet to describe in detail the deeply dark mood of the C-R Delta, or even the clothes Rama is sporting! Part two will dive into another short confrontation, as well as weapon and armor collection. The final part will conclude with Rama's epic battle with Ravana. 

Source:

Prince Of Ayodhya

Author: Ashok K. Banker

Published by Orbit (Time Warner Books UK), June 2005. Great Britain. Print. University of Oklahoma Libraries.

Week 10 Story Planning: The Razing of Vishnarus

Story Planning: The Raze Of Vishnarus

Ship Concept (S.S. Vishnarus)

Conceptual Idea:
Rama's Dream / Alternate Version

Inspiration/Source:
In the Ashok Banker novel Prince Of Ayodhya, Rama awakes to an unseen threat, which launches him into high alert and a ready to kill mindset. After this a disembodied voice speaks to him sending him to a dream world foreseeing the horrors waiting to be unleashed. This ended up being Ravana speaking to him, within a dream. Awakening, Rama finds nothing wrong. 

I want to take a flip of this dream where Rama again has a nightmare but this time is teleport  into a space station traveling through the expansive cosmos. The ship is a City Ship, meaning it has a large population of vital humans. The forces of Ravana breach the space ship, laying waste to all humans aboard: devouring and brutally slaughtering all inhabitants on the ship. 

Character and Plot:
Rama will awake from one of the cryo chambered used for the sake of preserving the inhabitants on their long journey. Rama awakes to see the cryo-room torn apart and blood spewed across the hallway and floor. Another pod had been smashed against Rama's cryo pod, protecting him from detection and initiating the warm up sequence. This takes 11 hours to completely revitalize and adjust the specimens vitals to appropriate levels.  Rama locates the weapons room for the ships security, and equips himself with one of the modified Pinaka Rifles, as well as some slight armor. He finds a broken transmission and begins to investigate the ship for what is happening. He eventual comes across body's and several enemies and begins his struggle to reach the remaining inhabitants before they are completely slaughtered. 

Details:
Rama is a member of the Royal Fleets Prince Class Security, Nicknamed the Ksha (kay-shaw)

"We have been...-ched! I repeat... -Breached!" "They are...in from the...ear of the shi-..."

Ship Name: S.S. Vishnarus
Gun Name: R3 Pinaka Rifle. Fires super charged electric rounds capable of melting steel.
Ravana's Forces: Dark Ones
Ship Security: Royal Fleet 'Prince' Class Security (RFS) 

R3 Pinaka Rifle

Story Motifs and connections:
Rama
Ravana (disembodied voice)
Ravana's Army of Raksha
Dreaming*
City(Ship) Under Siege
Pinaka (Shiva's Bow) *Side note: Does it break?*


*More Details to be added before the story is posted*

-Edit 1: This will more than likely turn into a multi part story, spanning a few weeks. 


Source:
Prince Of Ayodhya
Author: Ashok K. Banker
Published by Orbit (Time Warner Books UK), June 2005. Great Britain. Print. University Of Oklahoma Libraries. 

Growth Mindset: Staying Busy to Stay Productive

Growth Mindset: Staying Busy to Stay Productive

Let's Be Productive

Everyone has to work to achieve the growth mindset that is ideal for themselves. For myself, this practical learning and work style is still being polished. For chart we evaluated for this class, it is apparent to myself that there are a few aspects I must work on to complete my mindset. Specifically 'setting your own schedule and priorities' and 'taking risks' are two of those aspects. My scheduling issues comes down to some things I am working on personally, not just for school: which is Time Management. The big TM that always seems to give me a bit of trouble. Setting time aside to work on projects, homework and and other components of my day is very hard. As much as I love a structured and well planned day, I always seem to retain my 'relaxed and unplanned' habits. This is something I plan on using this class to help correct; with the balance of freedom and structure. Paying closer attention to given tasks and not procrastinating will help with the mindset. Setting scheduled alarms and times for work, school, assignments and other activities will be a way to aid the progress.

Now that I am getting more and more into H&W Coaching and Person Training, scheduling clients and practice sessions is consuming a lot of my day, leaving the rest for the time to be productive. I put a lot of pride into establishing rapport with clients and practice clients to ensure the best possible session. Staying busy working with others in this aspect helps me maintain productivity in my off time.

Productive Octo-Man

Week Five Story Planning: Karna's Travels

Story Planning: 

Karna

Conceptual ideas:

Action/adventure, enlightenment story of a more significant character than thought of from the Mahabharata.

Karna, son of the Sun God Surya and Kunti, making him half-brother to Arjuna. The story will take place on his travels to the gate where he challenges Arjuna to a battle. This is before he is crowned King of Anga. In his travels he comes upon many challenges, from ferocious lions, to rakshasa, and other daemons. The story will briefly tell of his travels, and will primarily focus on his battles with the daemons and evil creatures who realize who he is; the son of Surya. 

This story will also give a brief insight to Karna’s enlightenment of the three aspects of being: mind, body and spirit. He is said to be one of the most generous and kind hearted  individuals in the Hindu faith, even going as far as to aid gods in disguise.

Also the story will tie in the aspect of karma, in the aspect of releasing one’s opponent and sparing other people’s life. (possible struggle with Dharma, which will accentuate the Bhagavad Gita and Krishna’s teaching of Dharma).

Characters:

Karna will be the main focus of this story, telling about his unrecorded adventure and battles on his way to the ceremony listed in the Mahabharata, where he challenges Arjuna.

A gleaming Arctic Lion will challenge and attack Karna while he is in the mountains. After a great battle that destroys one of the neighboring mountains, and creates a scar on the earth in the form of a deep valley, the lion subdues Karna. After a brief exchange, the lion will release him due to the kind heart he sees within Karna. The lion will either be a celestial being or a reincarnation of Vishnu, or Shiva (or simply one of these two gods in disguise on earth).

Another battle will ensue with a Corrupt Sage. This will take place after the battle with the lion. The sage will be righteous man that was imprisoned and tortured by rakshasa. Although he doesn’t bend his will or his teachings to the daemons and the years of torture, a strong rakshasa appease and curses him to become corrupt, until the grace of the sun god shines upon him. In the battle, Karna will defeat the sage, and spare his life, lifting the curse (because he is the son of the sun god). 

Source:
The Mahabharata: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic
Author: R.K. Narayan (1906-2001)
Published by Viking Press, 1978 (Also note, The University of Chicago Press edition 2000 and 2013). Print (eBook).

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).

Not Quite Famous Last Words: The Understanding of Karma

Ruling your world by Sakyong Mipham.

While undergoing a ravenous and completely sporadic appetite for reading, I stumbled across a book more fascinating then I remembered. The book is titled, as you have probably already interpreted; Ruling your World by Sakyong Mipham. This book is both revering and interesting for the Indian Epics readings for several reasons. The author is an enlightened Buddhist priest. As we know, Buddhism sprang from North East India with the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) himself in the 4^th to 5^th century. Because this religion came from a region that was heavily influenced by Hinduism, there are many similarities between the two religions including the four yoga’s, Karma, chakra, and enlightenment.

The one aspect that draws my attention the most in Sakyong’s book is that of Karma. This is not only because his explanation of Karma is so thorough and insightful, but it also holds great validity when tied to the scholarly readings, writings, and understandings of the Mahabharata, Bhagavad Gita, and the Ramayana.

Sakyong speaks of Karma in this way: “Like Gravity, karma is so basic that we often don’t even notice it. But karma is happening everywhere. Whatever we see is a meeting of interdependent causes and conditions…Karma sometimes manifests very directly. We eat a meal and we feel full. We turn the key and the car starts. A more subtle interconnectedness has to do with our thoughts, actions, and words… We never know exactly what moment one action or word is going to trigger another, but everything we do sets something else into motion.” -Ruling Your World, Chapter 5: Understanding Karma.

The way he explains Karma is a gripping understanding of not cause and action, but of the many cause and actions we have as a being, and how it shapes our lives in an unknown way. 

Buddhist Training

Book Reference and Citation:

Ruling You World: Ancient strategies for modern life by Mipham J. Mukpo

Three Rivers Press, New York, New York. 2005. Print.

Story Planning: the Night of the Rakshasa: a Story of Lakshman

Story planning:

Conceptual ideas:

Rama and/or Lakshman leave the company of the sage on their travels to the City of Mithila, the nigh they hear the story of the Ganga’s.

Full of emotions or nervousness of reaching the city, and what he feels like the journeys end, Rama sneaks away with Lakshman to meditate in the woods some ways away from the sage. Rama begins to meditate but Lakshman begins to feel uneasy after hearing screaming and howls in the night. Rama does not stir from his meditation. Lakshman searches for the nose and finds a trail of fresh blood leading deeper into the forest.

He will either come across a Preta or a Rakshasa

Rakshasa

Preta

Characters in the story:

Rama: wants some solitude from the travel to reflect and meditate on his emotions of coming near to the end of his journey of reaching Mithila city. He and Lakshman sneak away in the night while the sage sleeps.

Lakshman: goes with Rama to watch after him as he meditates. While Rama is doing so, Lakshman hears voices, screams and howls of something terrifying. He decides to look for the source of the noise allowing Rama to meditate peacefully.

Rakshasa: is killing and devouring people from a nearby village and dragging their body’s away into the forest. The villagers are all dead when Lakshman arrives at the location the Rakshasa is bringing the body’s.

Preta: are following the trails of blood, trying to consume them. Lakshman see’s several of them as he is tracking to blood, and shoots one of them with his bow, but it has no effect.

Styles:

Journals of Lakshman he wrote while on his adventure with Rama and the sage. This can give an accurate account of how horrified Lakshman is during the night, but it must be written in first person, which is not preferred.

A poem of the telling of the night Lakshman found the blood trail. This would be interesting to do, but the stanzas must be calculated, which is a little harder to do.

A rhyming short story drenched in horror telling of the story listed. This would be similar to the short story written about the man and the lake monster. There may be a way to tie in the Journal into this style. 


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).

Thoughts on the 'Growth Mindset'

Carol Dweck TED Talk, "The Power of Believing That You Can Improve" and "Make Challenge the New Comfort Zone"

There is a lot of validity in this TED talk from Carol Dweck in the concepts that pushing students to be successful and proficient in the future is considerably better compared to the push of being successful and proficient in the now. This is because of the way understanding of ones own performance can be immensely impacted based on how we view failure and success in a 'now' time frame. If we took a test recently and fail it with, say a 35%, we usually feel inadequate, uneducated and often times unable to do well in that specific topic or subject indefinitely. That is a very 'now'/'set' mind set that addresses our failures and successes in a short term rewards system (our grade in a course). That is what is called a 'reactive system'. This is compared to a 'not yet' mind set where the failures and successes we have now, will lead into the future successes we have like a domino effect, cascading information, motivation, and inspiration to do better and to push harder in the topics that are sub-standard (this can also be referred to the instant vs delayed reward system, or even chess strategies). That is what is called a 'proactive system'.

Chess Strategy: Thinking Ahead

Both of these systems have validity in different situations. But as for education, the proactive system is a more effective teaching and study strategy for students than the reactive system. With the proactive system, again, students are pushed to learn form their mistakes, engage in critical thinking and trial and error learning aspects that will ultimately lead to break thoughts and innovation in their [critical] thinking and education. There is no benefit that comes from viewing errors and failures as permanent deterrents; viewing them as future successes, however, is drastically beneficial.
Challenging ourselves with difficult problems and critical thinking is an excellent way to push ourselves into doing better in all aspects of education.

Productivity and Time Strategies

Balance
There are multiple aspects in ones life that must be taken into consideration, invested in, and balanced.

When it comes to productivity and time management I am often one who struggles with staying on track. Lately I have dove deeply into exploring methods that help with focus, not just for scholarly purposes, but mental physical and spiritual as well. Balancing ones time is an immense part of balancing a lot of different, and uniquely personal behaviors.
Getting started is a usual deterrent for people who have procrastination issues, but there are simple solutions; in fact most of my tricks to my own time management and productivity are fairly simple (or rather somewhat enjoyable).
Setting a a time each day or every other day devoted to specific tasks is a fairly easy way to get things accomplished. Depending on how bulky an assignment or studying should determine the length. Breaks are not something to be avoided; they allow the brain to re-calibrate and information to soak in.In fact, there's a study method that is called the one third rule. I have found this effective on the longer study days for tests to be especially helpful. Basically, one third of your time studying or doing tedious tasks should be in the form of a break. Work for ten minutes, break for five. This can be done with any denomination of time so long as it is one to three (one hour work to thirty minutes break). Setting a timer for all of this is usually helpful.
What you do in your one third break is essential for maintaining endurance throughout the work periods: including watching movies, reading an interesting book (one that you enjoy), or perusing of the media's.
 After working for the day there are a few great ways to refresh for the next days work load: exercising and meditation.
Exercising allows one to take a break from tedious contemplation. Working your body is also the perfect way to keep your body healthy after all the sedentary studying and work.
After this, late into the evening before sleep, and occasionally during breaks, meditation is a great way to cleanse the mind and body.
Keeping a balanced body is a key objective to strive towards.

The Lake Monster and the Man

Lake Monster by Tom Gauld

There once was a village isolated from the world; surrounded on three sides by dense forests of blackened trees. Only one road led to this small and miserable place, but it was a long and dark road that people rarely rode (and with little haste). The villagers farmed as best as they could, but their crops always died, withered and taste like dried wood. They were forced to eat barely edible corn and brownish beets. Aside from this they had little more than a horse and three pigs. Miserable and doomed they waited anxiously for the arrival of their deaths, from malnutrition or un-kept gambling debts.

Than one day from the road, rode in a man on a horse. He talked to the villagers and asked how they fared. When they told him their plight, he did nothing but empathize with their despair. The man then entered a short meditation: thinking and twisting in deep contemplation. He tried to think of a way to help with their miserable situation.

Than with a look of confusion he asked about the lake.

“Three ways this small village is surrounded by blackened trees, but the fourth is a plentiful lake full of tasty fish you can catch and cook with ease.”

With quivering hands they all turned and pointed to the sign beside the road leading to the lake.

“Beware: lake monster and death ahead!” The sign read.

The man laughed with a start, mocking the villagers with his roar. He stopped with a pain in his heart as he saw, all the villagers stayed silent, all eyes wide open and gazing at him. Uncomfortable he noted their serious tone, he then drew out his sword and a very long bow.

“I shall slay your Lake Monster and allow you once more; to live and to prosper from the fish off your shore.”

They cheered him on as he rode towards his doom, promising him silver and gold upon his return.

The man reached the lake after a short gallop. He rode up a hill overseeing the large water.

“Come to me Monster of the Lake! Let me show you my mettle and give you disgrace!” Shouted the man on his horse.

With a large rolling wave appeared the giant Lake Monster; having a massive gaping mouth full of dulled razor teeth. With its uncountable eyes it watched the man, while bellowing a moderately long roar and a few unsettling grunts. It lingered 15 meters over the ledge where the man stood so proud.

Staring down the beast and returning its roar, the man jumped off his horse and bellowed once more: “I have come to slay you foul Monster of the Lake. I will be victorious this day, and march back into town with your severed hea-“

With its agitation amplified the monster simply leaned over and ate the man, and than his horse. He died in agony from embarrassment. 

The monster returned to the deep water, to continue its ruling over the lake. 

The villagers never saw the man again. They died several years later from malnutrition.

Fin.

Authors note: This story was based off the image created by Tom Gauld entitled: the Lake Monster. This image was created for the book: Beasts!

Creating a story from a single picture requires an imaginative perspective and imagination. With no text included aside from the authors name, image title and book that the image was made for, I had to base my creative thinking upon the task of enveloping my story around the image. To me, the man upon his horse with a sword staring down a many eye fiend should be a climax and transition of the story into a fierce battle. I however am a fan of irony and humor, so I decided to conclude the story where it should have heightened, along with a dreadful ending.   

Bibliography: "Lake Monster"; a cartoon by Tom Gauld from his book Beasts! Web Source: Tom Gauld

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