The Halalal Snake looked at the little worm for a moment and then looked at the human under the tree. It would come back for the morsel after it has had its meal. It could sense that the human was dying and would soon be lost to this world, taking its meal from it. It used its tail to flick away the broken empty eggshell floating in front of it and lunged towards the human.

Shiv stood straight, all of 3 feet tall, knowing fully the futility of it. At ten months, the chaos had reduced and he was able to think a bit more clearly. He still didn’t have all his memories back and found it difficult to hold new ones beyond a day, unless they were repetitions of things he had experienced in past days. His muscles were still developing, his control over his legs and hands was limited and his hand eye co-ordination was shit. The purple snake however loomed over him. It appeared to be around 3m in length, with half coiled on the ground under his cot. It was covered in iridescent scales and there was a purple miasma around its body spread about 2 feet on either side of its head and just about half a foot at its tail. It exuded a sense of extreme danger.

Then he saw how casually the snake removed the cot from between them it confirmed that the situation was hopeless. True the cot was floating but it was heavy. He had tried pushing it when he could stand up and could only move it a little bit. There was just one thing he could do and hoped it would be enough to wake her up and buy enough time for her to get away. As the snake lunged towards her, he dived at the snake's tail and fell on its body with his back as he caught the tail. Then he did the two things he'd mastered as a baby. Rolled, wrapping the snake's body around him and screamed as loud as he could. The scream wasn't just to warn her. The miasma around the snake was corrosive, it felt like his skin was burning off while being bitten by a thousands of ants.

The snake felt a weight on its lower body as its momentum got cut short and his face slammed into the ground. It was just a couple of feet short of the human and time was short. It tugged forward, dragging itself and whatever was weighing it down. In a few moments managed to sink its fangs into the human. But she was dead and it whipped around angry, to vent its wrath at the worm that had stopped him. It would consume this body later, what it had wanted was shakti, and while the worm would just be a tiny morsel tearing it apart would offer sufficient satisfaction for now. It looked at the bawling worm, broke its tail from the worm's grip and slapped it over its mouth to shut it up.

Shiv saw the snake peering at him and then it suddenly jerked its head to look towards a section of the forest. He could also sense a presence there. One of the reasons the chaos after birth had been so heavy was due to all the new senses he seemed to have. With time as his body developed, he had also learnt to better understand these senses. This one would probably let him sense everything around him, once it developed. For now it presented living beings as bright halos and inanimate things with dull, faded outlines. This presence was unusually bright.

The snake, looked for a while. It had sensed that powerful beast earlier also, as it crashed into the egg. But it seemed to be just resting there, doing nothing, so the snake paid it no mind. Neither the snake nor the humans were worth that beast's effort. It had moved now, but stopped after coming closer to the tree. The snake turned to the worm having decided to have its revenge and run away. The beast wouldn't eat another beast's kill, so the snake could come back later.

As it looked back at the worm it saw that its distraction had allowed the worm to loosen the hold its tail had on the worm's mouth and the mouth was open but no sound was coming from it. The worm looked at it straight in its eye then clamped its mouth down on its tail, using its teeth to pierce its scales and draw blood. Pain flashed through the snake's body, it reared its head back and slammed its fangs into the worm's body. The worm tried to dodge but failed and the snake's fangs sunk into its legs. The snake jerked its head away, drawing flesh, and uncoiled its body tossing the hindrance away, as it lunged into the forest away from the direction the beast had been at. Its head was crushed in an instant between a massive paw and the ground.

Shiv was in immense pain. Pain that had instantly flared up and spread across its whole body from the snake bite. He was feeling pain across his whole body. Even just standing was painful. He felt as if every cell in his body was being wrung out and burst. He had been circulating energy throughout his body from the start of the encounter and tried to ramp it up. It would provide momentary relief and then the pain would increase even more. He wanted to do nothing more than stop and let oblivion claim him, but he still had work to do.

Ignoring the pain, he stood groaning as he looked at the beast in front of him. It was a monstrous kitten, or maybe it was a huge tiger. Whatever. It was over 3 times as tall as him and more wide than he was tall. It had two large canine teeth overhanging its bottom lip. So, saber tooth tiger or kitten. He couldn't be sure. This thing was a mix of red and orange with black and silver stripes, like a designer kitten. It was looking at him curiously, completely ignoring the snake under its paw, which now looked like a splatted water balloon than a lethal creature. He must've blinked because he saw the kitten-tiger was standing right before him, so close that he could feel its breath on his face as it stared at him. Then it placed its right fore-paw on his chest and the pain erupted, as if what he'd been experiencing was a simple fire cracker compared to the nuclear blast that threatened to blow his consciousness away. At the same time as pain detonated within him, a ball of silver light expanded from the base of his spine and then exploded into a massive lightning storm that blasted the tiger and the trees behind it. A few of the closest trees vanished into smoke and ash, while many others fell like broken twigs.

As the light and dust settled, the kitten was still standing, though it had a few scuff marks on its body, and the boy was leaning against its paw. The boy looked at the kitten/tiger with defiance then slumped over the paw, fast asleep.

... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Far away on the slope of the volcano, a woman was sitting on the edge of a chair, holding a popcorn in her hand in front of her wide open mouth. Her hand and mouth had been frozen like this for the last few minutes. She saw the boy's complexion that had been turning purple turning back to its normal healthy tan. Bewildered, she turned to Lord Shiva standing beside her and asked, "What was that? What just happened?"

"His boon kicked in."

"Oh, I never checked what he got. Let me see..."

"Match Opponent. Any time he is attacked or fighting, at risk of serious injury, the boon will match his power levels and all attribute levels to that of his attacker, if they are lower, and also grant him knowledge of all the techniques known to the attacker - for the duration of the attack or fight."

"Whoa. When the Halahal Snake attacked, the lag between Anad's death and the boon manifesting meant it was not available to him. Siyah didn't attack him, so why would it kick in now?"

"You know why I was here?"

"To steal my call."

He looked at her with an arched eyebrow. She stared back fiercely before relenting, "I don't know."

"I answered Anad's call because I was here and it felt unusual. I was here to observe Siyah. She had come here with her son, most likely to have him interact with that very snake."

"You've lost me."

"What do you know about Siyah?"

"Volcanic Tigress, stage 6, 3 core beast with affinities for fire, earth and water. The last coming from a lightning mutation. She is one of the Queens of the Beasts. This planet and in fact system is not her usual haunt."

"Did you know she fought and killed King Baam, the king of Halahal Snakes, even though he had bitten and infected her?"

"Wasn't that the stage 6 beast that had evolved into a dragon form?"

"Yes."

"His poison would have been thousands of times stronger than this stage 1 snake's and would have been deadly to anyone at his level and below. How did she survive?"

"By circulating shakti and using its restorative abilities to hold the poison at bay long enough for her to kill him."

"Still. The halahal poison attacks both the physical and the energy body. Shakti can be used to hold it back but unlike other poisons this one feeds on shakti, growing stonger, its effect continuously increasing even when restricted. The poison's strength grows slowly, but even that much is enough to increase the pain substantially. The pain of the energy body corroding is not easy to bear."

"She bore it, killed him and then used Baam's body, blood and cores to cure herself. Prior to her fight she had spent time with Golden Stripe Honey Badgers to understand their poison immunity. Her earth and water affinities have allowed her to acquire an understanding of biology and medicinal techniques."

"My point stands. She was trying to help him."

"He didn't know that. She infused a part of her shakti into his body to help him, but it would have aggravated the poison even more, causing him more pain and injury."

"Making it appear as an attack. The addition of the enhanced levels of shakti due to the boon would have been enough to overwhelm the poison, suppressing it completely."

"Not completely, only for a duration. Long enough to allow her to make an antidote for him, using the snake's body and core, along with what she has left from Baam. Same as she was going to do for her son."

"Why?"

He pointed to the blue stripes on his neck, "I guess because surviving and defeating the poison provides immunity from all poisons and strengthens the energy body over time. The poison is not flushed from the body. It is instead co-opted into working to help the infected rather than hurt them."

"No. Why use it on him instead of her son?"

"Her son was killed by hunters. He was just a cub, less than a year old. The devastation you can sense in the surrounding area is a testament to her fury. She had come here intending to kill Anad and the boy."

Parvati nodded, "She instead saw her son in him, fighting against overwhelming odds, having the will to hold back the poison, all at such a young age. If she takes him with her then its going to make Yama's plans way more difficult."

He smiled at her words, turning his face to hide it. But she sensed it, "There is more."

"This was just the second act. A third act is coming. Her vengeance will not go unanswered."

"But they don't know its her. Even the Saptarshis would tread lightly with her."

"It is not going to be like that."

"By the way, if Siyah is going to make him her son, will you now treat her as your mother?", Parvati managed to pull off a serious look on her face even as she popped a popcorn into her mouth.

The sound of Shiva's palm slapping his forehead was heard across the forest.

... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Yashi was tracking the tigress. It had been two months since the tigress had gone on a rampage. It had started with the annhilation of Fool's Town, the only settlement bordering this forest. Rumor had it that some of its hunters had unknowingly bagged a Volcanic Tiger cub and now its mother was reeking bloody vengeance. She had randomly attacked hunter groups. No one saw her, but the shredded remains of the groups were found. The regional admin, continental admin and planetary admin had sent hunting parties, one a week in succession. They were not heard from or of again. They had just vanished. And then the killing of hunters had also stopped, allowing rumors to start. All of which agreed that the tigress had either left or had destroyed and been killed by the planetary team. A fool's hope to assuage fears in the hearts of those who still needed to brave the forest.

Bola, her and their team had arrived at a planet a month ago, with an Imperial award allowing them land of their choosing to settle their own township. They decided to resettle Fool's Town, but named it Hope Cottage. Hope. Bola had meant it to be forward looking hoping it would kindle something in her, but she had none. She had spent it all, when she'd lost her daughter Boshi to vengeance. Then she saw the tigress, drinking at the lake at the foot of the volcano. She had frozen for a moment and the tigress had looked at her, shaking its head in warning before vanishing. She decided then that she would hunt the tigress, for the fear it had caused, for the shame, for its audacity in warning her but mostly to keep her from thinking of Boshi.

The tigress moved like a ghost, hardly leaving any signs. Yashi's keen eyes caught the few that remained. Bola was high up in the air in his wing-bike, trying to get a hit on the tigress through its scanners. He was also ready to swoop in if the tigress was stage 3 as rumored. Both of them were upper stage 2 and with the wing bike's arsenal should be able to handle a stage 3. They had prepared many scenarios for defeating the tigress as she tracked it through the forest. She was not prepared for finding a sleeping child in a cot under a banyan tree. She had the child in a sling, strapped to her back before she knew what she was doing, her practiced hands keeping the child from waking up. The cot was a standard model and she set it to follow. Then she turned to leave and saw the Volcanic Tigress sitting looking directly at her.

Yashi immediately had her spear in both her hands and took a guard stance. She tried but couldn't reach Bola, her unit just produced a buzz. She had not felt the tigress arrive and even now couldn't sense anything from her. This beast was well above stage 3.

"You wish to take my son?", the voice was surprisingly light and melodious given the menacing appearance of the tigress.

"This is a human child. Not even a hybrid."

"You wish to take my adopted son?", there was no menace in the tone.

"It needs humans. To learn, to grow, to develop,..."

"You think I cannot teach him?", this time there was a hint of annoyance.

"You can. But do you know all that a human child needs? Do you know to help him make sense of himself, his body?"

"He needs more than that. Can you protect him?"

"I am not sure I can protect against someone like you. But I'll give my life before I let him come to harm."

The tigress stared at her for a long moment. The whole world seemed to hold its breath in that moment.

"He will be safer with you. Treat him like you would your own born son.", the words were softer preceded with a sigh.

Yashi also breathed a sigh of relief, but the grip on her spear and her stance stayed firm. Then she realised that the words have come from behind. The after-image of the tigress was fading as she whirled to face the real one.

The tigress had something like a smile, then she tilted her head to the left, "Take those, its for him."

Yashi saw a pile of crystals, a half coconut with a shiny liquid and the pelt of a Halahal Snake. Her eyes widened.

"Yes, he was bitten. I've treated him, but the pain will linger for a few months. Give him a few drops day and night till its finished."

"Will he be fine?"

"From the bite? Yes. His body will be weak for months but he is strong, stronger than you or I."

Yashi put away her spear and swung the child, to the front. Two mothers of fate looked at their son together, a loose string of destiny tying all three.

"A cub becomes a tiger after 5 years. After 5 years I will return to take him for his trials. Till then teach him to hunt well. Let him roam the forest."

"Why? What trials?"

"Don't be fooled. I have fed him my milk, given him my blood essence and all I had planned for my son. He will be a young human and a young tiger and much more. He is my son.", the tigress paused for a bit, "He is a prince of beasts, but even a prince needs to earn his place. My name is Siyah."

Yashi closed her eyes. She knew the name. She opened her eyes with a long breath, steeling herself to ask, "Where did he come from? What is his name?"

"I don't know. His mother was dead. I sense she traded her life for a boon for him. I didn't give him a name. I had named my son Mrigendra. You may choose any except that."

"Rudra. We had chosen for ... if my child had been a boy."

Both of them looked at each other, seeing a shared misery in each other's eyes. The tigress bowed her head first, "Lord of storms, it is good."

As Siyah turned to leave, Yashi asked, "How will he be safer with me?"

"With me, the danger that would seek him would be beyond me. With you, weak as you are, the dangers would be... 'manageable'."

"How long will I have?"

Siyah stopped and looked towards the volcano at a certain empty ledge, "I don't know, I am sorry.", she whispered in a heavy voice.

With that the tigress vanished. This time she left no tracks or traces, none that Yashi could perceive.

"Yashi! Are you ok? I've located you, I'll be there soon.", her unit burbled.

"We are fine."

"We?", Bola's puzzled face came into view as he landed the wing-bike.

... ... ... ... ... ... ...

"That was anticlimactic. I waited a month for this. I was hoping for girl on girl action"

At Shiva's raised eyebrow, she corrected, "Ok. Girl on tigress."

"You can't say I didn't warn you. But this could be entertaining."

Shiva and Parvati were watching Siyah attack a group of nobles on a hunting expedition on the other side of the planet. The hunters who took her son's life had been sent by a member of this group.

"Pffft. As if. She is toying with them. She has masked her silver stripes and is only using fireballs, stone showers and lava spikes, that too at stage 4 power levels."

"And she has only killed her target, injuring the others. The lack of gratuitous violence is disturbing."

"She is just setting up a diversion to cut the scrutiny of this forest. She'll either run away into that forest or pretend they got her. And there she goes."

Siyah let three arrows sink in, ensuring none hit a vital organ and then let large amounts of blood spurt from her wounds. The fight had occured near a lake, she dived into it, using her techniques to merge into the lake bed then travelling through the ground to the far shore. She arrived unnoticed and soon after left the planet, leaving in her wake legends of ruin and vengeance and a rule for hunters to let young ones be.

"Now what?"

"Interesting times, very interesting times are ahead. Can I ask you something?"

"I am sure you know the answer, but if you still want to ask go ahead."

"Why do you torment me?"

"Do you remember the old place? Do you remember the Tyrant Queen? I often wonder if her son returned."

"That fight..."

She slipped one hand into his and put a finger on his lips, "You can ask but I never said I'd answer."

"Are you punishing me?"

She grinned, "You know so much. I want to see how well you know me."