Thunderbolt has a minion!

Sentinel the Raii

A tall, cloaked figure moved silently through the creaking forest. Winds picked up as he walked but they never seemed to touch him. In fact, the wind seemed to stir behind him as soon as he took a step. The cloak was grey and heavy, and stuck out oddly in several places as if the person under it was carrying a large backpack. His gait, however, didn’t match his lumpy appearance. His movements were languid and airy as he continued gracefully on his way.

A young woman was packing up her campsite and looking at the storm rolling in. She looked toward the path reflexively, thinking she should get going, and that’s when she noticed him. She noticed that the way the light was playing on his cloak in the inky twilight made him look like a cloud moving through an eerie night sky, rather than a person. She almost laughed at herself for letting a drifter frighten her.

“Hey there,” she called, “are you alright, friend?”
“Did you summon me?” the man asked.
His voice was low and reached her even though he didn’t yell across the distance. At first she was shaken by his words but as her mind caught up she said, “Summon? Uh, you must be talking about the little freak out I had there.Yeah I’m sorry about that shouting. No one else is supposed to be out here and my grandpa’s favorite tree is dying. I’m Tara, by the way.”
“I am Indra,” was the only reply.

He took in the campground for a moment, noticing there was no one else around, and no one for her to have been yelling at. Finally, as he got closer, he stopped moving, waiting just in the shadow at the edge of light cast by the woman’s lantern.
“Did you hike in or did you drive? Storm looks pretty bad, so if you need a ride into town or something you can hop in the truck” tara said.
“Neither” he answered, lowering his hood as she turned to put her supplies in the bed of the truck.
“Hang gliding?” she guessed playfully, but the laughter was gone from her voice when she turned around to see him “Oh, dude you’re… do you have like a condition.. Are you dressed up for con or something?”
“A condition?” Indra asked, tilting his magnificent head and peering into the woman’s mind as far as he could “no, I’m not ill”
“Are you here to kill me?” she felt a stab of fear tear through her usual open curiosity.
Indra felt no need to lie to this woman. He had no reason to do so. He thought for a moment. If she’d been willing to sacrifice herself, he would have said yes. He unbuttoned his cloak and let it fall off of himself as he answered with a sincere “No”
“What are you?” Tara asked, knowing that she should have been afraid, knowing he wasn’t human as she realized it was no backpack under his cloak, but extra arms.
He took a few tentative steps toward her and held up his hand, “Let me show you,”

She took a step toward him and as he touched her head her vision filled with clouds. The layers of time peeled away and she was taken back, back through a thousand years. What she saw when she settled again was breathtaking.
Fine, fat pigs and cows were being tended by equally fine, well built young men. Sheep and wolves alike sat peacefully together a short distance away, their magnificent coats being washed in sparkling water and fine oils. The women who were doing the washing were draped in shawls and scarves made of pure gold. Diamonds twinkled on their fingers and in their hair. Closer to the center of the room there was a pool of fresh warm water with a floral scent rising from it in the steam.
People were resting in the water, laying back and floating, and lounging against the sides of the pool.

Every skin tone, hair color, eye color, shape, and size were seen among the people in this room. Everyone in the room was different in every way except for the fact that they were all incredibly well rested, well fed, and well dressed.
“Tara, you are a guest in my throne room” Indra’s deep voice boomed.
“A guest? I thought this was just a memory or a vision or something,” she sputtered.
“It is. I have a powerful mind. I am old and have been known by many names, but I am Indra, commander of storms, controller of floods. God of wind, rain, and lightning.”
“These people, they’re your sacrifices?” she asked.
“Yes” he nodded calmly.
“You murdered them?”
“No, they offered themselves, hardly a murder” he said.
“That doesn’t matter. They must have been desperate for something, to sink low enough to let you mu-”
“They are not murdered. Nor are they lowely. This is one of the highest honors, or it was before I was forgotten, and in exchange for their joining me, I bless their land with rains and storms, I protect their families from storms.”
“You’re not murdering them?”
“Just watch” he said, moving away from her.
Indra sat on his throne, at the very center of the room. It was at first made of solid grey stone, but soon began to churn and swirl under him, transforming into a tumultuous cloud. Lightning flashed within it and in the same second, Indra dropped through it.
His descent to the earth was graceful and peaceful but it was faster than lightning. He landed next to a field that seemed to be cut down, razed clean by vicious winds, softened and soggy with relentless rain. When his feet touched the ground it dried beneath him, and the winds calmed. He walked, once more, with a breeze at his back, taking his place as he walked gracefully toward the house.
The doorway to the house was nothing more than a sheet, and he passed through easily, finding the inside hardly more sheltering than the outside. A family was waiting, all bearing the same dark hair and chocolatey eyes, all smiling at the door, and all surrounding one makeshift bed, with an elderly woman on it.

A smile creased her ancient face, barely visible beneath the wrinkles, and a thin, papery voice called out “Indra, finally”
“Did you summon me?” his voice boomed the same as it had in the forest.
“I did” the old woman answered
“For what purpose?” he asked, in a softer tone.
“I need more favorable conditions for my family’s crop to grow. They need a bountiful harvest next year.” the old woman’s gaze shifted around to her growing young family.
“Do you sacrifice this life as payment for my deeds?” he asked the woman.
She nodded and heavy gold jewelry rattled on her, “I do,” she whispered weakly. She looked like she was barely strong enough to hold the weight of the jewelry.
“Rise then, and follow me” he said.
“My mother is. . . is. . .” a younger woman stuttered, “She can’t walk. She can’t follow”
As Indra shifted his regal gaze around the room several of the adults shrank back but a small child stepped forward and reached toward him. He simply touched the child’s head and she fell asleep.
“She will wake in the morning. No need to frighten her” Indra said, his voice slipping into a soothing murmur.
“About my mother” the young woman said again, motioning to the bedbound elder.
He stepped toward the old woman and took her outstretched hand. With a flash like lightning and a crack like thunder, her physical body began to shimmer and dissipate into sparkling flecks. Indra breathed in and with that breath consumed the light the old woman had become.
Where the withered body had been there was a young, dark haired beauty. The same jewelry sat upon the now strong body. The vein streaked legs were long and able and healthy again. Her eyes were no longer failing her, and her lips bent into a smile around a mouth of perfect, strong white teeth.

“Mother?” one of the men who’d been watching the scene spoke to the woman on the bed “Is that you?”
The once elderly woman looked down at her new body and back up at her children, then down at her sleeping grandchild, and finally she spoke “Yes, it’s me” Her voice was different; Steady, deep, sultry tones replaced the wafer thin croak she’d had before.
“Come now” Indra said gently, motioning toward the door.
“Thank you my lord”. She lowered her head and her jewelry glinted in the moonlight which was now pouring in from the clear night sky.
Tara wanted to speak as she watched the scene unfolding, but she didn’t dare. She simply followed silently as Indra and his accompaniment walked outside. The ascent to the throne room was as graceful and quick as the descent had been, and when they got there Indra took his place on his throne.
“I am Anjali” the woman spoke, bowing to Indra.
"Did that hurt?” tara finally asked, her curiosity boiling over.
To her great suprise, Anjali heard her and responded, “It was ecstacy”
“Go and be at peace here, Anjali” Indra motioned to the vast throne room.

With another bright light, Tara was standing in front of Indra, back in her own time, in the forest, near the dying tree she’d been shouting at when she’d accidentally summoned him.
“If you are not coming with me, I will leave you in peace, mortal,” he said.
“Alright. Alright” she nodded, taking a nervous step back.
“I hope that one day, when you’re ready, you will call out to me. Go now and thrive, and remember the forgotten god” Indra said before once again disappearing into darkness.

Profile by Johnny_673 | writing by Chrystle | art by Naddi
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