Hi,
For all the people who emailed me about Destiny,
here's a preview... I know, I know. I promised you
guys that I'll complete the chapter soon and get it to
my pre-readers fast, but guess what? I'm lethargic, I
don't have much free time in my hands, I'm not
satisfied with the way I have written a pivotal part
of the story that occurs in chapter 4 and IMHO, my
writing sucks royally. So, until I get the act just
right and am satisfied with the chapter, I'm not going
to send it to my proofreaders.
However, since it's already been over a year since I
posted Chapter 3 on the FFML, I honestly don't want to
make you guys wait any longer, which is why I'm
posting this preview. Hope you like it.

Chapter 3: If anything can go wrong, it will [Preview]
He was born twisted and depraved as the heir to the
oldest of the great 
houses in the land. Sadly, by the time of his birth,
his family had 
fallen on hard times, having been brought to its knees
by an upstart 
house acting at the behest of the Emperor.

He grew up in a world that continuously hurt, rejected
and humiliated 
him. The kids treated him as if he was a pariah and to
the adults, he 
was less than a worm. As he grew, his bitterness
slowly turned to 
hatred. The inborn propensity in his soul towards the
dark provided the 
necessary fertile ground for the seeds of malice sown
by a cruel world 
and the malevolence in his heart flourished, unchecked
and unknown. So 
great did his hate become that soon, his heart turned
black and blacker 
still.

In essence, he became a demon.

Realizing instinctively that the world would abhor him
even more if he 
revealed his true self - perhaps even hunt him down -
he hid his hatred 
and kept it sealed until such a time came when it was
safe. When that 
day came, he swore, he would help the world reap its
deadly harvest of 
hatred. He would return a thousand fold the pain
visited upon his soul 
and person. He would make the whole of creation
suffer, with special 
attention given to the never to be sufficiently damned
house and clan 
that had destroyed his world even before he was born.
And of all the 
people in that nonentity of a clan, he hated none more
than �him,� the 
consummate bastard who had architected his family�s
fall from grace 
with style and panache.

And so, he bore all the taunts, deprecating himself in
front of the 
world to curry the favor of the scions of noble
houses. Houses that 
were noble in name only - if they were truly noble,
they would not have 
permitted the Emperor to hamstring his clan as they
watched from the 
sidelines, as scavengers would, while �his� house tore
the roof down on 
his parents� head, would they? - but whose helping
hand he needed to 
bring his plans to fruition. To further his ends, he
joined the army, 
where his impeccable tactical and strategic sense
stood him in good 
stead. He quickly rose through the ranks, until the
day came when the 
unsuspecting Emperor made him the chief of staff.

He truly set about pursuing his work that day, passing
secrets to the 
enemy and undermining the kingdom in every way he
could. He spun plans 
within plans within plans and wove a web of deceit
that had everyone in 
the land fooled. So successful was the mask he wore
and so well did it 
fit him that they awarded him the highest medal in the
empire for 
service to the crown.

Then the day came when his plans begun to bear fruit.
He still 
remembered the astounded look on the Emperor�s face as
he announced the 
outbreak of war - a war that he had promised them as
impossible. He had 
savored that air of stunned disbelief, as he had
relished the 
expression on the Emperor�s face while his chief of
staff ran him 
through with the very symbol of the Emperor�s office,
the onyx sword.

All that paled when compared to his crowning
achievement, however, 
which was the fall of his people. They lost the war
not because the 
enemy troops were better, but because his treasonous
acts broke their 
back even before the enemy struck the first blow.
Their cities were 
wiped off the face of the planet and they themselves
massacred first by 
the thousands and then by the millions. In fact, all
his plans worked 
out perfectly, except for one small cog in the wheel.
�He� had survived 
the attempt on his life. And having escaped the
assassination, �he� had 
went on to unmask the traitor in the ranks, made the
enemy pay a hefty 
price for every square foot of ground he yielded and
shielded a small 
remnant of �his� people from the genocide pogroms,
derailing every plan 
to wipe them off the face of the earth forever. So
successfully had 
�he� shoved the enemy�s face into the dirt and so
frequently, that at 
last, they had resigned themselves to the fact that
they could never 
wipe out �his� people, but had to contend themselves
with �simply� 
imprisoning them in another plane. A plane so removed
from the real 
world that it was practically uninhabitable.

Thus it was that at the very hour of his triumph, he
found that his 
nemesis had snatched a small victory from the jaws of
oblivion, and 
successfully shanghai-ed vengeance from his grasp. But
more maddening 
than the disappointment was the discovery that the
banishment had also 
taken out of his hands the ability to act decisively
against the 
bastard once and for all. His hate grew to unheard of
levels - so much 
so that his allies, the Gods christened him Demon. It
was a fitting 
name, admittedly, but he preferred the humble
sobriquet given by his 
people: Betrayer.

They feared him, his allies. They would have killed
him themselves, if 
not for the fact that they valued his military genius
even more than 
they feared him. To secure his loyalty, they created a
new brigade, 
stocked it with the worst scum they could find and
swore by The Code 
that they would help him have his revenge. The prize
was not nearly 
enough, for it was by their actions that �he� had made
�his� successful 
getaway, but Betrayer had taken the job anyway, mainly
because he had 
already formulated new plans and set his sights on
greener pastures; 
plans that would see him crowned as the king of all
creation.

He was able to ascertain early on that his new working
environment was 
a lot more constrained than in the court of the
Ashuras, but that was 
because the Gods did not trust him at all. Against his
genius, however, 
the constraints were nowhere near sufficient and he
had quietly 
gathered a small group of likeminded Gods around
himself - the core of 
his future army. Then he set about corrupting the
medium sized fry in 
the pond; the middle class Gods. The actual process,
of course, was 
tiresome and had dragged for millennia. Finally, when
his plans had 
advanced enough that they were moving along smoothly
on their own 
accord, the Council informed him of the imminent
breaking of The Wall, 
and thrown a real spanner into the works. But like any
true master of 
the battlefield, he had not let the setback get to
him. He had 
improvised and woven his plans to account for the
impending invasion.

And the Council, which was as blind to his plans as
the Emperor had 
ever been, had unwittingly delivered the golden goose
into his lap. 
Thanks to the machinations of his supporters in the
court, they had 
asked him to guard the senshi!

Betrayer has assumed personal responsibility for the
mission and tasked 
the most loyal of his conspirators to the task. His
men were outcast 
Gods whom the rest of their race reviled and abhorred,
which Betrayer 
admitted gleefully to himself, worked out to his
advantage. They were 
his most fervent adherents because he welcomed them
into his brigade 
and gave them a home when no one would. For one week,
he coordinated 
the efforts of his men as they shadowed the senshi as
well as their 
human enemies.

Their efforts had paid off handsomely, for who should
stand below in 
the middle of the street negotiating with the senshi
but Betrayer�s 
archenemy, that thrice-damned, twice-accursed bastard
Indiran. The dam 
of rage and hatred that drove Betrayer had almost
burst at the sight of 
the Ashuran General. Until Betrayer realized the
unprecedented 
opportunity that Indiran�s presence entailed for the
furtherance of his 
plans, that is, for much as he hated to admit it, he
was the military 
genius he was because he had studied Indiran�s
campaigns extensively, 
and made the Ashuran General�s tactics and strategies
his own. And 
because Indiran always subordinated tactics to
strategy in his 
campaigns, Betrayer knew that Indiran would not follow
Chola�s orders 
blindly in the field. He would take one look at the
neo-senshi and 
decide that there were flaws in the intelligence
reports in Chola�s 
hands. He would then look at the overall picture to
determine his 
course of action rather than make the mistake of
looking at the here 
and now.

There was, of course, only one course of action that
was viable in the 
strategic sense and Indiran chose exactly that.
Betrayer congratulated 
himself at having read his enemy correctly and turned
to his second in 
command, the commander of the platoon, already decided
upon his course 
of action. He would eliminate Indiran and his toadies,
and maybe even a 
senshi or three while he was at it. The General
because his penchant 
for working miracles in the battlefield posed the
greatest danger to 
his plans and the senshi because killing them would
destroy any budding 
alliance between Chola and Serenity. Then, he would
report on the 
senshi�s treasonous behavior to the Council and thus,
retain the trust 
they had placed on him - what little there was, that
is - for the time 
being.

�Karthikeya!�

�Yes, General?�

�Inform Sgt. Thirumaran that he is to take his squad
and circle around 
the block. He is to take position in that building to
the left of that 
lamppost. On my order, he and his squad will open fire
on the positions 
of the human degenerates. Start with their command
post and move on to 
successively cheaper targets,� he said, pointing to
the skyscraper 
Indiran had used as his observation post.

In turn, Karthikeya turned to one of the two
messengers standing 
nearby.

�You heard the General. Go!� he barked, though not
loudly.

�In the meanwhile, Second Squadron will get ready for
action,� Betrayer 
continued in the same vein, �When I give the order, I
want everyone in 
the squad to shoot at that bastard yacking with the
senshi on the 
middle of the street. I don�t care if you have to blow
away a senshi�s 
brain to get a clear shot at him, but I�ll skin anyone
who so much as 
harms a single strand of hair on Serenity�s head. Make
that clear to 
your men. They are good troops and I�m reluctant to
execute even one of 
them, but that doesn�t mean I won�t if my orders
aren�t obeyed to the 
word. Do you understand?�

Karthikeya snapped to attention.

�Yes, Sir, General, Sir!�

Betrayer nodded and turned his back to Karthikeya, his
eyes once again 
focused on Indiran and Serenity. Silently, for the
next few minutes, he 
observed the two negotiate the terms of the new
alliance. During that 
time, the messenger returned, bearing Sgt.
Thirumaran�s communiqu� that 
his squadron had moved into position and was awaiting
further orders. 
Finally, Serenity and Indiran reached some sort of
acting agreement and 
Serenity made to swear the oath.

Boom!

Arun
Aren't I a little stinker?


		
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