"You shall lose."
Hayagriva's cold smile stretched across his face as he locked eyes with Indra. Moving with deliberate slowness, he rolled the dice, letting them tumble lazily from his fingertips.
Clatter!
The dice landed—five!
In an instant, Hayagriva surged forward.
The game intensified as the two rivals continued rolling, moving their pieces across the board with calculated precision. The devas and asuras watched in breathless anticipation, the tension suffocating even for celestial beings who rarely knew fear.
Six!
"I'll surpass you in the next move," Hayagriva sneered, seizing his piece and stepping forward, every motion precise and deliberate. His eyes gleamed as he closed the distance, victory within reach—
Snap!
His blue-skinned arm was suddenly knocked aside, his piece was sent tumbling back onto the board.
"Wait!" he barked.
Indra, still seated, merely smirked. "Your roll was too high. You needed an exact number to land safely. Since you overshot, you stay where you are."
With a flick of his wrist, Indra gestured. Hayagriva's piece, which had barely advanced, remained frozen in place.
"Besides," Indra continued, voice smooth as silk, "I rolled exactly what I needed."
A chuckle escaped him as he moved his piece forward, landing directly on Hayagriva's.
Hahaha!
The devas erupted into laughter as Hayagriva's piece was unceremoniously sent back to the start.
Meanwhile, the asuras clenched their fists, their expressions darkening with barely contained fury. Their bodies trembled as though they might erupt at any moment.
"You should have said that earlier!" Hayagriva growled, teeth grinding.
Indra leaned forward, resting his hands on his knees, golden eyes gleaming with amusement, sharp, cutting.
"Explain?" His voice dripped with mockery.
"When Parvati first played this game with Shiva, did he ever explain the rules to her?" His smirk deepened. "Since when did the Asura King ever follow the rules?"
A deadly silence filled the air.
Hayagriva's expression turned glacial. His blue mane rippled like fire, and an overwhelming aura burst from his body.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Thunder roared, shaking the heavens.
Indra's gaze was sharp as steel, his golden eyes locking onto Hayagriva's cold, equine glare. In their stare-down, it was as if a thousand bolts of lightning clashed, their intensity radiating across the battlefield. Their expressions remained unreadable, but the bloodlust between them surged like a raging tide, ready to consume everything in its path.
All around them, tension crackled in the air. Divine weapons materialized in the hands of the devas, while the asuras clenched their fists, poised to strike at a moment's notice.
"You dare make a fool of me?!"
Hayagriva's voice was a guttural growl, his teeth grinding in fury as he glared at Indra.
This bastard—! How dare he! How cunning! How vile!
Indra simply smirked, amusement flickering in his golden eyes.
"Did I deceive you?" He tilted his head, voice mocking. "Hmph! No, I was just playing you."
His grin faded, his voice dropping to a slow, deliberate murmur.
"And besides… didn't you try to cheat me first?"
Before the words had even fully left his lips—
WHOOSH!
Indra's arm shot forward, fingers unfurling like a raging inferno. In one swift motion, he seized the dice from the board, gripping them tightly in his palm before slamming them down.
BOOM!
A blinding flash of lightning erupted upon impact.
The board groaned under the force, fracturing like a spider's web, cracks spreading wildly, threatening to shatter completely. The dice, no longer whole, split apart at the center of the board.
And the Maya, which was alluding to the true form of dice, also broke along with it.
Pale, skeletal bones lay exposed.
The air thickened.
A single moment of silence, stretching unbearably long.
Then—
Indra reached down, plucked the bones from the wreckage, and rose to his full height. His gaze bore into Hayagriva like a hammer upon an anvil.
"You really thought I wouldn't notice?"
His voice was low, laced with quiet fury. He lifted the bones for all to see.
"You tried to cheat me… with dice carved from your ribs?"
His lips curled in disdain.
"How desperate you must be, Hayagriva."
Hayagriva's nostrils flared, his mane rippling like an untamed storm. The asuras behind him seethed in silent fury, their auras darkening.
Indra stepped forward.
"Hayagriva!"
His voice echoed through the heavens, a thunderous decree shaking the cosmos.
"I declare—"
Lightning carved through the sky, the very stars trembling as Indra's voice filled the three worlds.
"Your conquest of Svarga is not by Dharma!"
His words resounded through existence, shaking the very fabric of reality.
"This bet is null and void!"
The proclamation sent ripples through existence itself.
From the endless expanse of the akash, thick black clouds churned into being, spreading like ink across the sky. Lightning howled within them, serpentine and unrelenting, like a thousand Nagas thrashing in the storm.
The very Tri loka shuddered beneath the weight of his words.
Mandala Mountain trembled, its foundations groaning under divine wrath. The sacred peak quaked as if the cosmic churn had begun anew, sending countless ripples through the vast void.
And then—
A shift.
A power long denied suddenly surged through the devas' veins.
One by one, their eyes widened in realization.
Agni's flames blazed higher, his voice crackling with renewed vigor. "Our strength… it has returned!"
Surya's radiance flared, golden and blinding. "Yes! The power of Svarga flows within us once more!"
Vayu's presence swept through the heavens like a roaring tempest. "We are the rightful rulers of the svarga!"
A triumphant roar erupted from the devas, their divine essence blazing anew, their very presence setting the skies aflame.
The tides of battle had turned.
And at the center of it all stood Indra, King of the Devas, his gaze locked onto the defeated Hayagriva—his eyes alight with storm and judgment.
…
The devas erupted in cheers, their voices ringing with disbelief and exhilaration.
Meanwhile, the asura generals behind Hayagriva staggered, their expressions twisting in horror. A dreadful realization settled upon them—they could feel it. A portion of the divine power they had seized from Svarga was vanishing.
Viprachitti staggered, his eyes widening in horror. "My celestial power… It's disappearing!"
Puloman snarled, fury twisting his features. "Damn it! We have to crush them and reclaim what's ours!"
Shumbha roared, his voice echoing across the battlefield. "Attack! Take back our strength!"
The asuras let out a collective roar, their war cries reverberating like a thunderstorm tearing through the battlefield.
Indra, however, frowned slightly. Something felt off.
Um?
His Svarga's power… had not returned.
Across the battlefield, Hayagriva finally rose to his feet, his blue mane rippling like waves of fire. His piercing gaze locked onto Indra, and in an instant, he let out a terrifying, guttural roar.
"So what if you've restored a fraction of their power?!" he sneered, his voice like a tempest.
A deep, mocking laugh rumbled from his throat, shaking the air.
"This is the Svarga they abandoned! You weren't its king back then, and your brother forsook it. I seized it—fairly, honestly! The vacant throne of Svarga became mine!"
His eyes gleamed with unyielding arrogance as he pointed a clawed finger at Indra.
"This was never part of your so-called gamble! Fight! Conquer! Take what you can by force! That is the dharma of the Kshatriyas! Unless you defeat me, Indra, you have no claim over the power of Svarga!"
His voice rose to a furious crescendo.
"I am still the Lord of Svarga! Now, die!"
With a roar that split the heavens, Hayagriva swung his arm.
BOOM!
A colossal black battle axe materialized in his grip, its aura surging with boundless malice. The weapon's edge gleamed with a deadly brilliance, as cold as the moonlit waters of the Ganges. The divine radiance pouring from it seemed to carry the combined force of asuras, as though the very heavens and earth had fused into a single, devastating strike.
He swung the axe.
The sky howled.
The stars trembled.
A golden light flared.
BOOM!
Two radiant golden arms shot up, crossing high above Indra's head. The impact was cataclysmic, shaking the cosmos itself. The force of the collision sent shockwaves rippling outward, distorting the fabric of space.
Indra's arms shone like molten gold, exuding an overwhelming power. His blood pulsed with the fury of the Ganges, his muscles coiling and twisting like the body of a great naga. His golden skin radiated divine brilliance, illuminating the battlefield in an ethereal glow.
And then—
CRACK!
The mighty battle axe, forged by Mayasura himself, splintered.
In an instant, cracks spread across its surface like a shattered mirror.
BOOM!
It exploded.
Shards of divine metal burst outward, streaking across the battlefield like meteorites. But even before they could reach the ground, the fragments disintegrated, crumbling into cosmic dust that scattered across the sky in a dazzling golden drizzle.
The battlefield fell silent.
Hayagriva stood frozen, his face drained of all color. His breath hitched as he stared in disbelief.
The golden dust fell upon his head like divine ashes, and reflected in his wide, horrified eyes—
Indra's smile.
Indra was grinning. A slow, knowing smirk stretched across his lips, his amusement unmistakable.
He tilted his head slightly, rolling his shoulders with ease.
Crack!
He twisted his neck, flexing his arms.
"Ahhh…" he sighed contentedly.
"This blessing is indeed useful."
---
(A.N.: The line in italic is a nod to a lesser-known story that doesn't show up in the main Puranas, but pops up in some regional traditions, especially in certain Tantric texts from the Khemraj editions and Kashmiri Shaivism. In that version, Parvati beats Shiva at chausar, which is really about how Shakti (divine feminine energy) can outplay even Shiva when it comes to cosmic games and illusion.)
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