Rayangha the Grand Mistress of Changelings

Role

Chapter 8

Rayangha grew up in a small jungle village whose culture, language and
dress roughly correspond to those of rural India ala Kipling's "The
Jungle Book". From an early age she showed an affinity for the natural
world, though she didn't fully understand the implications of this. She
wasn't an especially evil or sadistic child, but was irrevocably changed
after being shown a series of disturbing visions. These were thrust upon
her by a shapeshifting mystic at the behest of the "yaksha", or "ancients"
as they are known outside her culture. Instead of a "near death"
experience she had an "actual death" experience, after which she was
revived by the ancients in conjunction with an anti-venom potion concocted
by the mystic. Experiencing these visions was extremely traumatic and
drastically changed Rayangha's demeanor. From that point forward she was
consumed with a desire to destroy all those who seek to harm the web of
living things within which the yaksha reside.

Awakened to a larger spiritual reality and able to hear the voices of the
ancients, but also half out of her mind and mostly feral, she just barely
survived long enough to regain her faculties. At this point the voices
whispered that she should seek out magic, similar to the mystic who had
subjected her to the ritual. She did so, but in so doing was forced to
spend time in the great cities of stone since they were the only place
such knowledge could be acquired. This imposition only deepened her hatred
of such places and caused it to metastasize into something even darker.

She is now thoroughly wicked, delighting in the violent destruction of
any so-called "innocents" who number among those the yaksha have whispered
to her should be destroyed. Unlike some, however, she can still recall
a time when this was not the case and she was "different". She does not
lament what she has become, though, and considers it to be her true nature.
While her own deaths, whether the specific one from the ritual or any
others, are not to be celebrated, neither are they something to be feared.
Rayangha was born of the jungle and, when her flesh at last expires, will
return to it once more.

Role

Chapter 7

He took the jar the girl had been holding and emptied its contents into
the pot above the fire. The medicinal smell it had been giving off turned
more pungent, more acrid. This was expected. He had started preparing
the curative early that morning in the expectation of this very ritual.
Poor girl. She had no idea. It had been no different for him all those
years ago when he himself had been reborn.

Gently, he placed a hand behind the girl's head and tilted it up at an
angle so he could ladle some of the concoction into her mouth. Only a
minute had passed since he stung her. Much longer than that and he knew
even the yaksha would be unable to intervene; she would be little more
than meat for him to consume. He poured several spoonfuls into her mouth
and closed it so that the liquid would run down her throat. Then he
waited. At first there was no sign of life, but soon the girl's eyes
scrunched up as if she were in pain, or, perhaps, as if she were furious.
Maybe both? This was followed by a coughing fit, and then by her
evacuating the contents of her stomach all over the floor of his hut.
Lovely. It meant the yaksha were not wrong, however, when they directed
him to subject her to death.

The curative worked its magic and the girl quickly regained consciousness
and the use of her limbs. He sat calmly, legs crossed, as she recovered.
When she was strong enough to raise herself she fell into a crouching
position, regarding with crazed eyes like a wild animal that had been
trapped. He could see the whites of her eyes and her nostrils flare as
she emitted a wordless scream. There were no words, but its meaning was
clear to him. She had seen. She now knew. It was not a cry of terror,
but one of challenge. Testing to see if he was dominant. In response, he
said to her:

"Go now, and remember this death. When you return to yourself, seek out
those whose ears have been opened; who hear the voice of the yaksha. Do
not forget who you are, or what you are, vyadha."

She swiped at him then, with her hand, fingers curled into claws, as if
she were a large cat. He did not flinch, and she did not connect.
Another test. She was lucky that he understood this. Seemingly convinced
that he was not prey, she tentatively sniffed at the air, then ran out
into the jungle. He wasn't sure whether she'd survive. Maybe? If not,
then the jungle would claim her flesh her just as it would claim his own
when the time came.

This was the way of things.

Role

Chapter 6

Visions came to her then, in quick succession. She did not merely see
them, but experienced them fully with all five of her senses. Beyond
that, she "felt" them in an emotional sense. From each to the next, there
was one emotion that overrode over all others: anger. Burning, raging,
inconsolable anger, fueling a desire to destroy. She saw her village from
a bird's eye point of view: still small, but growing as the men burned
back the jungle in order to plant more crops. She saw the distant markets
in larger towns, awash in a cacophony of voices haggling over prices,
where the villagers sold their meager produce and spent the proceeds on
baubles and trinkets, or tools to more efficiently expand their fields, or
in some cases on whores.

Then she was shown an even larger settlement, with buildings made of stone
and iron, in which many forge fires burned in order to create the tools
the men of her village purchased. Filth belched forth into the air from
innumerable chimneys, and the sound of axe strokes echoed in her mind as
woodsmen destroyed the surrounding forest in their never-ending quest for
more fuel. She saw many other things as well, each more repulsive than
the last, until she thought the weight of them all must surely drag her
down to the bottom of the pool and be the end of her. But, through it
all, there was that common thread of emotion. That anger. In
desperations he seized upon it, and it flowed around her, through her, and
at the very last, seemed to emanate from her.

She opened her eyes, then, still underwater, and chose not to be overcome.

Back in the hut, the rishi watched the girl as she died. The yaksha would
reveal themselves to her, in the world beyond, and she would either return
him or not. If she did, then her life would be forever changed. If she
did not? Well, then she would make a fine meal. It would not be the
first time he had tasted human flesh, and it would not be the last. He
was a predator and they the prey; why should he not take sustenance from
them?

Role

Chapter 5

She was once again in the jungle. How had she gotten here? It didn't
seem to matter, so she put the thought out of her mind. The jungle was
familiar to her, but changed. Darker, and yet somehow simultaneously more
vivid and alive. The insects still made their insect noises, but whereas
before it had all blended together into a low hum she was now able to
differentiate each voice. The wind blew through the trees and she heard
the individual contribution of each single leaf. Would this jungle
whisper to her as it had before? Had that even happened? She had trouble
remembering. It felt like trying to recall something from a dream after
she'd woken up.

But the jungle did not whisper to her. This time, it spoke.

"VYADHA, WHY DO YOU HIDE FROM US? FROM YOURSELF?"

She shivered involuntarily. The voice contained multitudes, all speaking
in unison. The bugs, the trees, the soil, the water, the air. The very
stones themselves. What she had previously perceived as an unintelligible
whisper now roared in her mind with frightening clarity.

Hide, though? She had always been a bold child, never one to hide. Had
she not volunteered to fetch water like the older girls, despite being so
much younger than they? "Vyadha". That word again. Where had she heard
that before? She could not remember.

"I do not hide," she replied, looking around for where to direct her
response. The voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere all at
once. "But I know you not, ajnata." In her language, "ajnata" was the
word for "stranger" or "unknown". The voices came to her again:

"YOU KNOW US. YOU HAVE ALWAYS KNOWN US. ENTER, AND BE REBORN."

Suddenly there was a pool of water before her. Where had that come from?
It was murky, very unlike the clear running stream where she drew water.
Was that something she did? The memory passed as soon as it had come.
This water in this pool was a dark green color and it teamed with life.
Water weeds grew up at its borders, and she could see small insects
skating across its surface. Tadpoles darted to and fro in the shallows.

Rayangha sensed that it was this pool the voice had spoken about. She
reached up to begin undoing her sari only to realize she was completely
naked. And yet she felt no shame. Why should she? Slowly, she stepped
forward into the water until it reached her knees, then hips, then neck.
Pausing, she launched herself even further out into the pool, exhaled, and
let herself sink until she was fully submerged and floating weightless.
She closed her eyes and the voices spoke again:

"SEE, AND KNOW."

Role

Chapter 4

The first thing that happened was that she drew in breath to scream.
Before she could do so, however, the creature's stinger shot out so
quickly she could barely track it with her eyes. The second thing that
happened was that, instead coming out in a scream, Rayangha felt her
breath simply leak from her mouth in a long sigh as her body suddenly
relaxed. Her head lolled forward and, feeling oddly detached from what
she was witnessing, she noticed that a thin, wicked looking stinger was
entered her exposed midriff just below where the fabric of her neriyathu
ended, which she wore to cover her upper chest.

She felt no pain, but neither could she move. She saw the stinger retract
and exit her body, barely leaving a wound, and felt herself start to
collapse. Her mind clouded and her vision narrowed, but not so much that
she was unaware of the hands that caught her as she fell, lowering her
gently to the ground and snatching away the jar she had been holding
before it could fall and break. Neurotoxic venom surged through her veins
as it made the short march to her brain. Before she lost consciousness,
though, she heard a voice whisper in her ear:

"I send you from this world now, vyadha, that your eyes might be opened to
the other beyond. You are the yaksha's now."

Yaksha? Nature spirit? Why would anyone be talking about them? Why was
someone talking to her at all? She couldn't think. She felt warm.
Utterly relaxed. Curiously, she noticed that her heart had stopped
beating. Well that was certainly strange. Then Rayangha died.

Role

Chapter 3

Together, Rayangha and the rishi walked a short ways to the place where he
made his home. He moved more slowly than her, even with the jug of water
balanced atop her head, and, out of respect, she slowed her pace to match
his. She halfway expected a cave, but the man's dwelling turned out to be
a sort of crude, thatched hut built against the side of an enormous banyan
tree, with the tree's trunk forming two of the walls. She set down her
jug of water, then the man lifted some branches and they entered.

The interior was more in line with Raynagha's expectations. There was a
mat of banyan leaves where the rishi must sleep, a fire pit with a small
earthenware pot suspended above it, and a short wooden bench upon which
were arranged a series of small jars. There was already a fire going in
the fire pit. From the sound of it, whatever liquid was in the pot was
nearing the boiling point. Steam wafted up from the surface and with it
came an exotic scent. She thought it smelled medicinal.

"Pass me the rightmost jar, balika," said the rishi.

He stood on the other side of the fire from her. Under the shade of the
banyan tree, with the structure's thatched roof, it was surprisingly dark
inside the hut, and the rishi's face was eerily illuminated by the
wavering light of the fire. She turned away from him to pick up the jar
he'd indicated, and when she turned back to hand it to him he was no
longer there.

Instead, where he had been standing, there hovered what she could only
describe as a giant insect. It had an angular body covered in red and
black carapace, two bulbous compound eyes, matching antennae, and long
double wings consisting of a transparent paper-thin membrane held in place
by rigid, tubular veins. The creature's compound eyes sparkled in the
firelight, each hexagonal component reflecting the light in a different
direction. It was as beautiful as it was terrifying. That was what
occurred to her while she was frozen in surprise, before time seemed to
start again and many things happened all at once.

Role

Chapter 2

"I seek only water, pitamaha, if it please you."

She spoke to him using the language of deference and respect as she had
been taught to do when addressing to a man of his advanced age. She also
called him "grandfather" in line with how he'd referred to her earlier.
He seemed to find this amusing.

"I wonder whether that is all you seek, vyadha, but you may take from the
stream. Perhaps then you might assist an old man with a simple task?"

Vyadha? How bizarre. It was the word for "hunter" in her language, which
was something she clearly was not. However, it could also have different
meanings in other contexts. As a verb it could mean "to pierce" or "to
wound" and it could also describe a wicked or low person. Should she take
offense? Could she even, given the difference in their stations? In one
sense, she supposed, she was a "hunter of water"; perhaps that was what
the man meant. Or maybe he was just senile. Either way, she chose not to
show disrespect by questioning his choice of words.

"Of course, rishi, I will do this thing."

She bobbled her head from side to side to punctuate her agreement. The
gesture wasn't strictly necessary, but it was something her people often
did when answering in the affirmative or voicing agreement. She called
him "rishi", or "holy one", since it had become apparent to Rayangha that
this man was the hermit rumored to live somewhere out in the jungle near
her village.

He had no name. Or, at least, none he'd ever chosen to share with the men
of her village, so "rishi" would have to do. He was a mysterious figure
to them, seeming to have knowledge of the world far beyond their own,
which was not too surprising considering most of them had never even left
the village except to hunt or fetch water. He also spoke in riddles and
talked about things they could not, or would not, understand. Small
children whispered about him in hushed tones and parents invoked him as a
sort of bogeyman. Seeing him here in the flesh, though, Rayangha was
primarily struck by the man's frailty. He was little more than skin and
bones, with the latter seemingly held together by only the barest of
sinew. So it was that she had no fear of him as she might have had if it
had been a younger man she met alone in the jungle that day.

She would live long enough to understand the full extent of her error.

Role

Chapter 1

The tall jug felt cool against her skin despite the heat of the jungle.
She listened to the sounds of the birds and insects, and inhaled the
myriad scents of growth and decay, and relished the incongruity of it all.
This was the best part of her day: when she went to fetch the water. As
the only daughter, village customs dictated that this task was hers and
hers alone. Some girls her age saw this as an imposition, but not
Rayangha. Fetching the water gave her the opportunity to trek through the
jungle, alone with her thoughts, which was her favorite place to be.

Sometimes, as she walked through the jungle to the place where their
village drew water, Rayangha fancied she heard it whispering to her. The
buzz of the insects, leaves rustling in the wind, the stream flowing along
beside her, the song of birds; these would rise and fall, blending with
one another in such a way as to convey the distinct impression of
language, but as soon as the sounds clicked into place in her mind they
would vanish, once again simply an unrelated collection of noises. Once
she had tried to describe it to another child, hoping to find a kindred
spirit, but the other girl merely made the sign to ward off evil spirits
and called Rayangha stupid. So it was her secret now, to enjoy alone.

Lost in her thoughts, she looked around and realized she'd reached the
point in the stream where they drew water. It had seemed like the jungle
was whispering to her again as she walked, but, unlike the many other
times, its multitude of voices did not fade this time when she became
consciously aware of their presence. In fact, they seemed to grow even
louder and more animated when she belatedly noticed the old man who was
crouched by the stream. He was bent down, lifting water to his mouth with
a cupped hand in order to drink. The whispers ceased abruptly when he
spoke:

"What do you seek, putri?"

She found it disconcerting that he didn't turn around to look at her
before speaking, but she hadn't been making any effort to walk quietly so
he must have heard her approach and assumed it was one of the village
girls. That must be it. Still, it was an odd question: what else would
she seek here besides water? And why had he called her "daughter"?

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