Chapter 1 – The failed hunt

Artwork by Adarsh Jadhav (with use of AI)

Disclaimer: The following story is a work of fan fiction. It is purely meant for entertainment purposes and not for any commercial or profit related purposes. I do not own any of the characters mentioned in the story. The Gods and characters from stories of Hindu tradition and not owned by anyone for they are living divinities. The character of the Predator is the one from the Predator movies, distributed by 20^th Century Fox. The character of the Predator was created in the film “Predator” (1987) directed by John McTiernan.

Hanuman, Jambavan and Garuda were chatting away to glory under the clear starlit sky in the western mountains. It was incredibly hot in the jungle and the proximity to the brook nearby was a relief. Dinner was done and they were all three content.

They had not met in nearly 300 years and there was a lot of catching up to do. The bright and brilliant night sky was irresistible and that’s what drove their conversation, “How had the stars changed in the last 1500 years”. They were staring at a gap between two trees and debating what stars were there in the centuries past.

That’s when a shimmering in the air was noticed by them, most clearly by Garuda, with his eagle eyesight. Jambavan bristled internally. He was the oldest of them and had the keenest instinct. The other two felt his worry before they sensed the danger.

There was something amiss. The atmosphere changed. There was no physical change in either the 3 ancients or in the surrounding landscape. But a battle had begun. The adversaries were not yet known, but they were all three certain of a malevolent presence.

Hanuman changed his grip around one mace and reached out for the other with his tail, very gently, without obvious intent. Jambavan carried no weapons and relaxed, but more like a seasoned warrior awaits a battle with an all pervading calm. Garuda felt a flash of anger before relaxing. His wing feathers realigned gently. No one would have realized the defensive movement, save the two with him.

None of them would initiate the attack. That would reveal their strength and intent. Revealing one’s strength was the best way to reveal one’s weakness and give the enemy an opening for a counterattack. Also, an enemy who did not know of their awareness of him or her would not be alerted that initial surprise was lost and hence change tactics.

The conversation they were having never missed a beat. All the other subtle changes happened in increments and none would be the wiser. Over the course of the next few nimishas (minutes) they kept the talking on. But the feeling of being observed and hunted never went away. It just got stronger. They all felt the danger shift around them. As they waited for a move that never came, they came to an unspoken decision. It was time to flush the stalker out, or eliminate him or her. With their experience, there was no risk of hurting an innocent.

Hanuman then stood up and stretched, just like anyone sitting for too long would. He was still stretching, when his tail suddenly lashed out. It was like a whip, only a prehensile whip. One of his twin maces was held at the end of it. His tail struck into the lower branches of a tree a short distance away. There was a solid thunk. And a body fell out of one of the branches.

As the body was falling, Garuda flew. He was less than a blur. He was where he was sitting one moment and the next he was on the body that had fallen. In the kshanas (moments/seconds) it had taken for it to fall, he had seen the shape of it and determined how it would fall. He landed exactly on the body to pinion the limbs of the stalker. The creature was smaller than he was. Two long blades were still sliding out of the top of its wrist. He pushed down on them and snapped them like they were twigs. They were twigs, for one of the strongest creatures on the planet, maybe in the universe.

The stalker was strong. The snapping of the blades had freed one of its arms and punched Garuda’s jaw. That enraged the great bird. He had always been one to anger quickly. He absorbed the blow and in the movement of his body absorbing the punch, he slid off the stalker’s side and in the same motion pulled on the arm that had struck. His move pulled the creature off its back and up. Garuda had pulled his right leg to his chest as he had rolled off. Now with his arm still gripping the stalker he pushed his leg out. That flung the stalker over him and several feet away.

The stalker seemed slower now. There were green glowing patches on parts of its body. Garuda, however was up in a flash and was about to fly in for the finish, but he saw Jambavan standing over the stalker and indicating to him to slow down.

As Jambavan looked on, he heard the creature make guttural and clicking noises. Its right hand was struggling to work on something on its left wrist. Due to a sense of sudden dread at the focus of the stalker, Jambavan, went down on his knees on the left arm and snapped it with a very efficient twist of the wrist, push of the arm into the shoulder and pressure against the elbow in the wrong direction.

The stalker gave a shrill squeal and drew a chakra with its weak right arm to strike at Jambavan. But Hanuman, who had walked up, brought his mace down on the stalker’s chest heavily. That left silence in the night, with the moon just rising and lightening the sky. All three stood around their stalker for a few minutes. The stalker was dead now, the danger past.

With the moon rising, they set about examining the one that had dared attack them. It was an unusual occurrence. Nothing living had dared attack these three in a very very long time. And when it had last happened, nothing solitary had attacked any of the three.

Hanuman asked his elders, “This is not any Asura I’ve ever encountered. Nor any animal I’ve seen. What manner of Asura or animal is this?” Jambavan and Garuda had seen the world for far longer than Hanuman, but both were unsure. “Neither a Kalakeya nor a Nivatakavacha” said Garuda. “Does not look like a Daitya, Danava or the later Rakshasas to me” admitted Jambavan. “And it is too big to be a shape shifting Pishacha or a Yaksha” opined Hanuman.

Jambavan leaned in closer and said “There is something strange about the face; it seems to be a mask to me”. He fiddled around the face and there was a hissing of gases. With that the mask seemed to loosen. Jambavan carefully lifted it off to reveal the horrific visage underneath.

There was a high scaly and slimy forehead. The head was topped with very long matted hair. There were four mandibles surrounding the mouth in its snarl of death. The eyes were small in the large face.

“Well, that’s the ugliest creature I’ve ever seen.” grumbled the great bird. Jambavan examined the rest of the body and said, “The blood in this creature seems to be green!!”

Hanuman and Garuda also noted the presence of armour on the chest, arms and legs. Only the midriff seemed bare, though covered by a net.

“None of us has seen this kind of creature or asura earlier. That can only mean this is a being from beyond Bhoomi, unless Lord Vishnu deliberately kept the presence of this kind from us.”, said Hanuman. Garuda was surprised, “That is highly unlikely.” He was the closest to Lord Vishnu of the three, though all three of them could be considered part of the Preserver’s inner circle. They were less devotees of the God and more his instruments, better still friends over the ages.

“This creature is an immaculate hunter.” said Jambavan. The other two concurred, “The intent we felt was really pure and incredibly strong. Far stronger than that in any predatory animal.”

“Also, it seems to be able to stay invisible, maybe using some yantra (device/technology). When I first fought with it, there was some shimmering and sparks in parts of the armour. Parts of it were invisible, then shimmered and became visible.” said Garuda. The other two were thoroughly impressed with this ability.

“Well, nothing more to learn for now.” said Hanuman. “We might as well get some rest in a different place.” They all walked a few yojanas (unit of distance, about 12 KM) form the scene of confrontation and settled in to relax. There was little conversation and all were anyway deep in thought. They all drifted off to sleep. There was no risk in that, they were all three supreme warriors after all, sneaking up on them was beyond impossible.

Back where they had left the slain body of the stalker, there was another shimmering in the air, a much larger shimmering than that noticed by the three. A large vimana (aircraft) appeared in the air and 5 creatures resembling the deceased stalker appeared around the body. One seemed in charge and there was some clicking and hissing. 4 of them picked up the body and disappeared. The one left behind raised its left wrist to its mask, where its mouth would have been. There were more hissing and clicking noises. And then several creatures appeared around the one in charge. There were maybe 50 of the creatures. More hissing and clicking followed and the group moved out in the direction taken by the three great ones. As they went, smaller groups split away. The hunt was on, again.

Next chapter – The Ambush, on 4^th July 2024