Any decent, self-preserving demon would have quivered and quavered after hearing Ram's speech, seeing the ghosts of his evils, watching the sun's light surrounding his enemy in a halo of brilliance, or really just seeing this great mortal ready to kill them. But Ravan wasn't decent, and certainly not life preserving, and really had no thoughtful bone in his fleshy, ugly body, forget the sheer muscle control required to start shaking, so quivering and quavering was quite impossible for him. He stared at the ghosts for a single moment, and then glanced back at Ram.

"You summon the supernatural to help you, Ram." he cackled, before raising his bow again. "Like a coward."

"Don't mistake their presence for my weakness, Ravan." Ram boomed. "I simply invite them to watch your demise. It is their right, as it is of my vanar sena, who have lost so many fathers, brothers, and sons to your army."

Ravan cocked an eyebrow, before shrugging. "Well then, you shouldn't be too troubled by my summoning of my own army." Many meters behind him, the few remaining in Ravan's army materialized, standing ankle deep as the Earth sagged beneath them, too disgusted to touch them. "After all, they too have lost fathers, sons, brothers, and leaders to your ragtag group of monkeys and bears."

He dropped his bow and reached out both his arms, grasping an Agni astra and a Varun astra, throwing them one after the other at Ram. Through the whistling wind and the swirling dust storm that seemed to overtake the battlefield, only their hazy glows were visible through the mist. Still, Ram's trained eyes sharply identified them, and without a moment's hesitation, they were obliterated from the air.

Then, it was his turn. Ram folded his hands so he could hold three arrows, one in each crook of his fingers, and let them fly towards Ravan. Wrought from iron, they were barely visible through the haze, and yet, Ravan managed to splinter them with his own. The shards flew towards Ravan's army, turning into red embers.

Ravan turned his head around to follow their flight, but Ram's gaze remained trained solely on him. Years and years in the forest had taught him to never get distracted by the rustle of a leaf, a fallen twig, a disguised demoness or a golden deer. Certainly not the remnants of his arrow. But he wouldn't attack. No, Ravan needed to be aware of every second of his death, needed to track his demise, finally grasping onto him when he'd been teasing it for so many eons.

Just as Ravan's head twitched to turn back around and not a second later, Ram lifted an astra gifted to him in his early days by Vishwamitra. Hard eyes, rough words, a weapon pressed trustingly into youthful, unpracticed hands. Perhaps not even the great sage could have predicted how far his gift would go.

The simple arrow morphed into a large, golden spear in his hand, which he strung into his bow. The shrill sound of his elastic bowstring was Ravan's only warning as the astra soared towards him. It was aided so by the wind, which turned around and forgot all about any destination it could have ever had.

It seemed hopeless for Ravan, all of a sudden. Here he was, still turning around, and yet, the end of his life was moving faster than any reflex. He wasn't even prepared. His bow lay on the ground of his chariot. His hand still remained far away from his astras.

The weapon whistled with the screams of death, even the shrill breath of the wind unable to mask it. Yama seemed trapped inside its depths.

The world stopped turning. The sun stopped soaring across the sky.

Neel gasped, his binoculars grasped tightly in war-worn hands. Could this be it? The end of Ravan?

Jal dropped her sewing, walking up behind Neel and squinting into the sky. Sugriv gripped onto Angad, as if worried that his nephew would drift away.

Hanuman stood up in excitement, his tail waving eagerly behind him. Was this Ravan's death? Finally? After all this time?

Vibhishan blinked, before frowning. His green tea's billowing steam had long drifted away into the humid depths of the tent, and he rubbed his temples frustratedly. There was something important he was forgetting. What was it? What was it?

The astra flew and flew, for what felt like forever. Ram watched it with bated breath, praying that the king wouldn't retaliate. Please, please, please, please, please. Let this be it.

Before Ravan could turn around, the baan clashed into his neck. A sonic boom sounded, as if two large pillars of iron were crashing into each other instead of a simple arrow and neck. For a moment, a bright yellow flash blinded the rest of the battlefield.

Nal and Neel flew back from the force as a circle of power dispersed from all sides of impact. Sugriv covered his eyes with the crook of his elbow, wincing, and Angad turned away. Lakshman held onto the pillars of the tent to avoid crashing into tables and accidentally bringing the entire tent down with his weight.

Even Ram blinked rapidly for a second, raising his eyebrows as dots of light danced behind his eyes. But the second he was able to force his eyelids back open, he was greeted with one of the most horrifying sights he had ever seen in his life (which was a tremendous statement, considering he had once seen Shatrughan dance to Chammak Challo).

Ravan, much less having one less head and being very dead and gone, actually had one more.

Now two heads sprouted like tainted leaves out of his neck, and four sets of burning red eyes glowered at him. Ram's mouth parted for a second, before he quickly shook his head to get rid of his reverie. This was ridiculous. He glanced down at Matali, who seemed just as shocked as he was. "What is this?" he breathed, before bringing his bow arm forward with a spiral, and arming himself with two arrows.

Ram had always prided himself on being able to easily adjust to situations, multi-headed mortal enemy or otherwise. If Ravan had two heads, he'd just shoot both of them off without issue.

Before Ravan himself could even adapt to his new state, Ram was already trying to kill him again. Another boom, and this time Ram covered his head when debris flew from all sides of Ravan's chariot.

But the moment he surfaced, Ram's eyes narrowed. Instead of two heads, one head, or preferably no head, Ravan instead had decided to conjure two more. Two plus two was four. Ravan had four heads.

And he was growing more massive by the minute. He was growing like Hanuman. His feet became bigger, and then his legs, and then his arms, until he was ten times his normal size. Twenty times. Fifty times. The earth wailed with his weight, and still he did not stop growing, until even the sound of the wind couldn't drown out his laughter, until the sky shook with his breath. From the side of his head, all on their own, grew six more heads, and then ten smiles, and then ten throats laughing. Ten sets of fangs dripping with strings of saliva, and beads of blood rushing out of ten red mouths like raindrops.

Twenty beady eyes staring at him, on ten heads attached to ten necks that Ram couldn't sever.

Ravan was disappearing, bit by bit into the sky. Soon, only his chest and below could be seen, arms crossed and shaking with what could be assumed to be laughter but might have also been a nervous fit. What the wind could not drown out of his laughter, the clouds blanketed out instead.

"Thank God," Lakshman muttered, back from the camp. "I was going deaf. Imagine Ravan's ugly wheezing being the last thing you hear."

Ram looked up, exhaling. For a second, he paused. Then, his eyes narrowed, and the grip on his bow, which had become slack, turned deathly again. He knew how to deal with rakshasas with their head in the clouds. He had defeated Tadaka and Subahu and Marich and Khar and Dushan and their army of thousands.

"Take me there, Mataliji," he said, his voice sounding like the scriptures personified.

But before Ram had even completed his sentence, the restless Matali (who was wondering if Shri Ram even needed a chariot), grabbed the reins and took them straight up into the sky at a sickening pace, and suddenly, all three of them were invisible to all the animals on the ground.

Hanuman squinted up into the sky, eyes blinded by the sun, and looked about ready to jump after his lord, but Lakshman shook his head, placing a hand on the vanar's shoulder. "He is never wrong. Have faith, and he will fulfill our every hope."

-----O-----

This was less like killing Tadaka, and more like hide and seek at this point. Ram picked up a Vayu-baan to clear the clouds, but before he could, Matali spotted Ravan with his eagle-like eyes.

"Look, Prabhu!" Matali cried, pointing forward. A dark shadow was growing in one cloud. From the depths of it, his red eyes and head emerged, caressed by curly gray clouds. A glint of carefully cut gold shone through a gap in the darkness, blinding the sun, but not the man and his charioteer.

High in the sky, where even birds dared not venture, the tip of Ravan's crown penetrated heaven. His head itself was the size of a thousand giant clouds stacked on top of each other, and his large red eyes stared at their target without hinder. He was in a different world, the pinnacle of evil, shoulders broad as the ocean and anger as unforgiving as the night.

Amongst the looming towers of fog drifted Indra's great winged chariot, the horses standing steadily on absolutely nothing at all. Ram had already crossed an ocean. The deities who lived in the clouds bowed down to him, forget the demon that momentarily decided to barge into them.

"Welcome to the heavens, Ram!" Ravan roared, his hands crackling with dark magic. "Welcome to my realm!"

"It's this same arrogance that will get you killed, Ravan," Ram muttered, but didn't bother shouting anymore. His voice might get hoarse, and he would hate to have to spend the days after Ravan's defeat with a sore throat.

With one arrow, Ram reduced the cluster of dark force flying towards him to small bits which flew every which way. With the next, he cleared away the clouds with the blinding flash of the Surya baan.

Even the dominators of the sky could do nothing but heed a command when it was from the mind of Shri Ram. The clouds flew away in a flash. The heady sky, which had filled with despairing rain, lightened once more under his arrow of light, and a beam of sun shone upon him in delight.

"Very good, Prabhu." Matali agreed, and even the horses snorted excitedly. "This way, Ravan won't be able to hide any of his devious tactics like the punkish whippersnapper he is."

"Well I was thinking that the sena couldn't see anything going on up here through the clouds," Ram murmured, gaze moving down below the rapidly clearing layer of clouds. "But yes, let's say that instead." With a swoop, Ram rearmed his bow.

He aimed his next arrow towards Ravan's knees.

-----O----

Meanwhile, down towards the ground, the monkeys were using axes to try to cut Ravan's feet like a tree. "One!" shouted Nal, sitting on top of Neel's shoulders. Five swings from an ax. "Two!" Another five swings.

"This isn't going to work." Angad whispered to Neel.

"My legs are falling offff," Neel wailed.

"THREE! Timbeerrrrrrrr!" All of the monkeys (lumberjacks) assembled stared up excitedly at Ravan (or the junction where he disappeared into the sky). The king might have swayed a little bit, but didn't fall.

"Darn it," Nal cried. "This book on lumberjacking says that it should only take a few swings to bring down a tree. Lies! LIES!" (#deforestationisbadbutderavanationisgood)

"Ravan isn't a tree." Lakshman pointed out, before noticing the teetering get worse. "Maybe we should move." In a split second after his words, giant-Hanuman had gathered them all into a hug and flew off before Ravan could start rapidly shrinking back to the ground again and crush them all.

He landed heavily on the ground, and monkeys rushed off of him like swarms of insects. "Look!" Hanuman cried. "Ravan is shrinking! I can almost see the entirety of his mouth now." And it was true. The king, who had suddenly grown to the size of Kailash, was, at the same pace, shrinking again.

"Haha!" Nal exclaimed. "I knew it!" He grabbed an ax and started swinging it around excitedly until Sugriv swatted it away.

"I doubt it was your tree-cutting skills that brought Lankesh down." Jambavan whispered, pointing. "For our Prabhu is descending too."

-----O------

They were like two cyclones, soaring and roaring around each other just enough that they didn't merge into one. One glowed red and the other glowed blue and as Ravan spiraled down, so did Ram. They hurled astras at one another even as the world spun around them and dust erased everything but them. They were it, they were all that anything was. They were the end of the world.

Ravan did not breathe fire, but became it, his eyes glowing with its orangish light and lungs burning with smoke. He was his own destruction, he was rushing towards the ground after ages of soaring without support in the sky, towards a pyre he had blindly built.

The lord whose name gave people the ultimate strength, Ram, Ram, Ram, circled him, pushing him further towards the ground. He might have been floating above the chariot as the wind lifted him up, skidding to its sides in order to unleash arrow upon arrow, weapon after weapon after a man who was already descending. Could there have been anyone but him, whose lotus eyes glowed blue and whose long arms were unparalleled, who could have defeated the terrible demon?

Could there have been any other event other than the ever-serene gaze of his suddenly turning terrifying in anger to signify the end? Ravan landed on the ground, ten times his size, feet finally touching down on Mother Earth, except Matali's chariot kept circling him, bombarding his body from all sides. The sun peeked through the clouds again, pressing a golden halo of rays around the demon to give Matali a path to drive upon.

Round and round and round they circled, until every inch of Ravan's body, throat, and head was splintered with the remnants of the lord's arrows, and still he did not fall. Slowly, his eyes were growing redder and redder, and as he descended towards the Earth, Ravan descended into evil as well.

Even as he was hit and hit, even as dots of blood decorated his body like rubies embedded armor, he didn't die. Even as the power of god after god clashed into him, he did not die. Even when Shri Ram himself looked upon him with all his wrath, unleashing every weapon known to him, and thus known to man on a singular demon, Ravan did not die.

"Prabhu!" Matali shouted, for the wind had taken to circling around him and his horses deafeningly. "Ravan isn't going to be defeated like this!" Ram didn't look down at him, too concentrated on his bow and arrow and not flying out of the carriage when they were thousands of meters above ground. "PRABHU!" Matali shouted. "Can you hear me? Oh my god. I'm losing my voice." He hacked a cough out.

"This isn't a matter of Ravan's talent." Ram declared, not faltering for a second. "But some illusion from long long ago. We have to get to the bottom of this!"

(cue inspirational Detective Byomkesh Raghuvanshi Music)

----O----

Silence at the camp. "WELL YOU HEARD THE MAN!" Sugriv cried, only to be faced with a Lakshman glare. "Ahh. I mean, well you heard the expectation-defying, earth-shattering, hero of the planet, the one and only mega superstar of this generation! Monkeys? ASSEMBLE! FIGURE THAT BOON OUT!"

Chaos. Monkeys were running this way and that, furiously throttling each other for information about Ravan's mysterious illusion from long long ago and screaming their heads off. Lakshman, almost never calm in the face of war (especially ones he was unable to participate in), managed to channel his inner Shatrughan and find some cool, and whirled around to stare straight into the eyes of Vibhishan.

Lucky for Ram (who wanted to make sure his brother never turned to the dark side), Hanuman got to the man first. "Vibhishan sahb!" Hanuman shouted, clasping his hands together. "You are our only hope! You know Ravan better than anyone else. You only can help Prabhu Ram! Please, please think!"

Vibhishan's hands trembled. His brother. His sole remaining brother was out there on the battlefield. God, all of Ravan's faces kept clouding his memory. The maniac. The soft brother. The crazy evil wannabe-cannibal. His elder brother tugged on one side, and Hanuman's rapidly increasing "THINK THINK THINK VIBHISHAN JIII-" pulled him on the other.

The man closed his weary eyes, and suddenly found everything silent. He exhaled. "Lord please. Show me the way."

"I already have, Vibhishan. Remember your wish. Never stray from the path of dharma." The voice sounded strangely like his prabhu. Vibhishan's eyes squinted shut until all the sunlight disappeared from his conscience, and all of a sudden, memories filtered through his brain clearer than anything he remembered.

He muttered to himself, running a hand through his disheveled hair. "No, no, no, let me think. What could it be?"

Lakshman held his breath. Hanuman's grip slackened on his mace. Sugriv's hands tightened on his hips, and Nal and Neel pushed each other away to hear. Every monkey and bear in the vanar sena stilled.

In the battlefield, Matali's horses came to a halt, stopping as they made a turn, legs pausing in midair. The charioteer's hands still gripped the reins, deathly white, and his expression froze on his face. Ram flew in midair, hand poised to release an arrow, and Ravan's mouth was braced open in a snarl.

Only Vibhishan's breaths were heard, a harsh whistling sound. Everyone held their breath, even Brahma opening his eyes in desperation. The Gods gathered on the edge of the sky, arms as great as planets crossing and all-seeing eyes trained on one single man. The whole world and all creation stopped for a single second.

Pictures and pictures, faint words and conversations stuck in Vibhishan's memory. "Brahma has granted me a boon, Vibhishan." "Immortality, bhai? I cannot believe that you've achieved it. I did not know that Lord Brahma could do that." "No, that's not it. See, Vibhishan, I can trust you with anything I know. I have been granted invincibility after all these days, against all gods and all deities." "What about mortals?" "Mortals? Pffttt. Don't be stupid, Vibhishan. What can mortals do against me when I have the nectar of immortality stored right here?"

A flash of color. A large finger pointing to a stomach.

Vibishan's eyes snapped open. For a moment, he stuttered (#relatable), placing a hand on his heart and scrambling to hold onto the table.

"Vibhishan sahb, now is not the time to face stage fright!" Hanuman shrieked. "We're all depending on you."

"Stomach," he whispered, and the world began to shake. "Ravan stores the nectar of immortality in his stomach."

Everyone went silent, staring at the brother of Ravan in awe. Lakshman was the first to blink out of it. "WELL BHAIYYA CAN'T BE EXPECTED TO HEAR HIM FROM HERE, CAN HE?" he shouted.

Even though it felt like Hanuman's soul had slowly glided out of his body, some mysterious force remained to guide it. Hanuman whirled around, his mouth opening wide. "HIS STOMACH, PRABHU!"

Miles and miles up, the sky flashing by in bursts of color, Ram's ice blue eyes darted back to the tents. They focused on Hanuman's figure, before looking up towards the heavens.

The world restarted again.

In seconds, he flew out of his frozen position in the sky back into his chariot. Matali grabbed the chariot reins, the sound of Hanuman's shout still echoing in his ears and without being commanded, pulled up sharply. Indra's steeds galloped upwards, manes flying in the wind. Ram gripped onto the edge of the chariot, adjusting his bow around his shoulder. Inhale. Exhale. Trumpets blared, and a heavy drum beat like his heart in the sky. Inhale. Exhale. Ravan swiped at them again. One hit would be enough to knock them out of the sky and send them flying towards the ground. No force great enough to stop their fall. Just one hit. And he would be dead.

Inhale. Exhale. Matali kept taking them around and around, in steep circles. "Higher," Ram commanded. "Take me higher." Ravan reached up more and more, trying to grab at the mortal, but he was just out of reach each time.

Inhale. Exhale. Ram reached his palm out, and Matali stopped the flight of the chariot. From here, he felt as if he could see the entire world. The city of Lanka on one side, strangely dark. His army on the other, the rushing ocean behind them. Inhale. Exhale. Ram licked his lips, finding Hanuman amongst his men. Then, Lakshman. His Lakshman.

His duty.

"Prabhu!" Matali shouted, maneuvering the chariot out of Ravan's reach just barely without descending or ascending. "I can only try to hold him off much longer! We need to go higher!"

If he didn't see them again, then may the heavens hear his thoughts. He did this for dharma. He did this for Sita. Inhale. Exhale. Ram opened his eyes, and smiled. Whatever happened now, it was okay.

"Take me down, Matali."

"Prabhu-"

"Let him hit us." Ram stared back when Matali whirled around in horror, eyes widening. "Don't worry. I don't plan to kill myself doing this." He rolled his shoulders. "Only Ravan."

"How? Can your greatness fly too?"

"No." Ram smiled. "You'll catch me."

Matali shook his head, turning around. His shoulders squared. "As you command, my lord." he declared, before gripping his reins again.

-----O-----

Ram felt the wind against his hair. Furrowed his brows. Narrowed his eyes. Armed his bow with one final arrow. Brought his huge arms forward and closed a single eye. Watched as Ravan's face turned into one of glee.

The demon swatted up, and Indra's great chariot was hit with a sound blow. They began to spin. Around and around. Ram fell like a star, feeling every organ in his body rush up to his throat all at once.

There was no rope to catch him, no arms to pluck him out of the sky and gently place him on the ground.

Still, the conqueror of the senses could not be perturbed. He pulled back on the string as he flew through the air. Sita, Sita, Sita, Sita, Sita. My beloved.

Ram fell past Ravan's head, and stared into his eyes, unafraid. If the demon was aware of his enemy's plan, he made no sign of it. Ram only saw a glimpse of glee in Ravan's eyes before continuing his fall. Nothing, certainly not the demon's arrogance, could distract him now. He was falling, falling, falling, and yet, he was certain that he would only rise.

At the thought of the great lord sacrificing himself, the sky turned dark of its own accord. They were all thrust into darkness, but Ram still saw his target clearer than if the sun itself were his lantern, pointing the way.

Still, the sky opened up with a furious gesture from Indra. A bolt of lighting touched the ground, illuminating Ravan's terrible figure in a white flash. The sun appeared behind Ram in the clouds, creating a halo around his angelic figure.

Ram pulled his bowstring, loaded with the Brahmastra, back. Neck. Inhale, exhale. Shoulders. Inhale, exhale. Chest. Inhale, Exhale.

His arms popped into a position he was born with, his legs bending into the angle of a pouncing lion, one forward and one back.

Stomach.

The flying archer gripped his arrow one last time. Held the Brahmastra in his dark hands reverently. Pinched it tightly, before letting go. He continued falling, spinning in the air now that his job was over.

He could hear his arrow flying, whistling in the air. Ram didn't have to turn around to know it would meet its mark. Years and years of shooting out demons as small as pinpricks from the sky. This was nothing.

Matali's chariot caught him sideways, flipped in the air before righting, flying away from the demon before circling towards the ground. The sky turned a bright yellow again, pleased now that its hero was safe again. Ram quickly paced forward in his chariot, straining his neck to watch.

The arrow of his wouldn't dare move an inch from where he had released it. Still, the Gods stepped on the edges of the clouds, hands over mouths. Braced breaths.

Lakshman ran forward from the camp, dropping his bow. Hanuman drove his mace into the ground, eyes wide. The whole army came to a stop.

In the Ashok Vatika, Sita stood up, watching as the sky turned yellow again. Her hair billowed behind her, escaping from her pallu, but she couldn't bother with it anymore. From her vantage point, she still saw the shadow of Lankesh in the sky. Closed her eyes and prayed with every pure shred in her body.

The arrow expanded in size. Flew and flew until Lankesh finally saw it. Certainty turned to fright, and he reached down to try and grab it in midair.

But he was too slow to stop his own doom.

The weapon embedded itself into his flesh, into the store of nectar in his stomach, piercing his navel. Ravan's pained roar shook the Earth itself, and even Surya Dev had to grab the sky in his fierce hold to stay put. But no amount of screaming and no amount of pain could stop the gold from seeping out of his stomach in a sudden burst.

Lankesh, the demon who had shaken the skies and the underworld upon his single whim, who could make the sun fly through the sky at double the speed and whose roar displaced entire oceans, was helpless to the Brahmastra that penetrated his "immortality". After all his boasts of invincibility against the gods and asurs, Ravan was powerless in front of a mortal.

A mortal. A mortal. A mortal. In the end, he too was a mortal, for who could be invincible in front of the immortal lord?

"Maharaj, do not be so selfish. I advise you as your uncle." "Don't do this, Bhrata. Return her at once." "Dear Ravan, my husband, give this pure woman back to hers." "I am your grandfather, Ravan, and I have seen many battles. None quite as foolish as this." "Beg forgiveness at his feet." "He must be superhuman." "We can't fight against him." "Ravan, please reconsider." "Ravan." "Ravan." "RAVAN!"

A woman began to laugh in his dreams.

Flashback

She was standing at the edge of the waterfall. Her plain red sari had been torn until it billowed behind her in tatters. And there they were, her desolate eyes, staring desperately into his. Ravan had never seen a sight close to as beautiful. To think that he had spent years pursuing her, all to lead up to this moment. He took a confident step forward. She took a meek step back, her feet sinking further into the spray of water.

"Where are you going?" he asked. "I'll come too."

"Far, far away from you." she whispered. "Far, far away from the mistakes the younger me made."

"And what were those?' Ravan laughed, crossing his arms across his broad chest. "Surely, the only mistake a fair lady like you could make is rejecting me."

"Mistake?" she shuddered. "No. No, Ravan. I scorn the younger version of myself who dared be kind. I scorn the woman who offered you compassion and sisterly affection. I scorn the child in me who wouldn't dare deny a person for fear of being rude. She never knew the terrible king you were." The damsel slouched in front of the demon, wrapping her arms around herself. "I hate that I am not full of fire, that I don't possess the pride that strikes fear in demons." She tossed her head aside, mouth twisting with agony. "I hate that I cower in fear in front of you, though you have taken everything from me and my kingdom, and I have nothing to lose."

She held a hand forward, stopping Ravan's further footsteps. "But know, Ravan, that one day, there will be a woman like her. A woman whose glare would stop your army from touching a blade of grass in her kingdom, forget nearing her. A woman will arrive at Lanka who will be the reckoning you've managed to delay. THIS I CURSE!" Lightning flashed, somewhere, almost imperceptible. "She will be the mighty Ravan's downfall."

"Downfall?" Ravan boomed. "You forget, in your crazy passions woman, that Ravan cannot die! I have been blessed by the illustrious Shiv for my penances!"

"We are all to die someday." she responded. "Death is like a dooming ocean wave that nears each time it crashes on memory sifted sands. One could only hope to let the inevitability of it wash over him instead of directly pursuing it like you do, Ravan."

"How dare you-"

"Look upon me not as a conquest, but as you would Lanka Devi, Ravan." she shouted, as menacing as she could with her once sweet voice. She glanced behind her at the deep fall, before turning her gaze towards Ravan once more, before quickly concealing a sob in what was remaining of her flying pallu. "There was once a day when I was laughing and bathing in rays of splendor. Now I weep in agony as everything I've ever valued is destroyed."

"This will happen to you too..." And though every other part of her shivered in the cold spray of the water, her finger did not as she pointed at her murderer. "You and your beloved Lanka will burn in the shrill echoes of her laughter. This I promise you."

-----O-----

The demon collapsed. His eyes slowly shut. Trees uprooted and flew with the wind of his last breath.

Ravan was dead. 

A/N: aaaaannnnd, it is done. Barely published this one because my computer stopped working, but here it is. In the flesh, blood, sweat, and tears. Thank you so much for reading PoA and sticking with my story. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Love to you all!