Matter Of Perspective: Asura’s Wrath

There’s a sound enough, accepted theory that we as a species are having some negative effects on our natural environment, and the creatures that live within it. Animals and plants have gone extinct due to human pressures on their habitats, though the exact number is unknown due to not knowing how many species actually exist. But what if our environment and planet finally decided it had enough, and its anger manifested itself into something so powerful that a race of gods had to build a whole military to fight back to merely subdue the power unleashed.

This is the backstory to Asura’s own tale of revenge. He is a demigod who is part of the Eight Guardian Generals, those who are sworn to protect the human tribes of Gaea from the planet’s dangers including the creatures known as Gohma. These Gohma run havoc all over the planet, endangering and killing humans, with their manifestation getting stronger until a point where they and their leader, Vlitra launches a full scale attack to destroy the gods and people. It is a cycle that reoccurs every so many thousands of years, with Vlitra getting stronger each time.

Enter Deus, the leader of the Generals, who is sick of merely pushing back Vlitra and not finishing it off once and for all. He tries to appeal to Emperor Strada, the main being in charge of this god race who decides that working on a weapon to destroy Vlitra is a bad idea. When this decision is made Deus approaches the other demigods, apart from Asura, and convinces them to turn demon so they can carry out the greater good and remove the threat from the humans. They all agree to join his cause, and use Asura as the scapegoat to help launch their campaign.

You can’t blame Deus for turning to a darker path and killing his Emperor, because the Emperor was very short sighted. Deus wants to stop Vlitra from ever being a problem again so that peace can finally take hold for both humans and the gods. The Emperor is delaying a point in time where Vlitra will become too powerful for even them to destroy. Deus doesn’t want to take control of the empire, he just wants Vlitra dead and then he will step aside. He doesn’t care about absolutely power, just completing the cause he was raised to carry out.

Deus decides that Asura must be the fall guy because Asura would never go with the plan as he is prone to snapping quickly, and doesn’t consider the long term effects of the situations he tackles either. Deus also needs to use Asura’s daughter, Mithra, to channel the power which Asura again wouldn’t agree to because it causes Mithra pain. The only way to make sure the plan to eradicate Vlitra forever is to sacrifice Asura.

That isn’t the only sacrifice Deus needs to power up the Brahmastra, a super weapon, as it requires souls, human souls. To accelerate the speed at which the weapon will be ready Deus and the remaining demigods decide that it is best to target areas that are in imminent danger from Gohma, and then kill the humans to save their souls. Deus has taken the stance of sacrificing trillions (7 trillion souls required to power the weapon) to save the humans that will come after the defeat of Vlitra. It’s a tough decision to make but Deus really believes it’s worth it.

Of course on the other side of the battle is Vlitra, who we discover is the will of the planet itself. Gaea has created something so full of hate that it wants to kill everything it can and lead the way for its own creatures. This is a planet who cannot take the stresses of humans on it anymore or the gods, so decided to fight back and start its cycle again. Vlitra is the manifestation of rage the planet feels to those who subjugate it time and again.

Gaea doesn’t want to be forced to support a lifeform it doesn’t want, but instead of having the free will to remove it the planet is forced to relinquish control. Gaea unleashes Gohma that take the forms of animals it much rather prefers, animals that live in a fine balance with each other. The humans are the only ones targetted in Vlitra’s purge because of how much of a danger they pose to the planet as a whole.  Gaea is using Vlitra as a form of protection for all the other creatures that live on the surface and the seas.

Gaea and Vlitra are fighting for survival while the gods fight for conservation of a species that has been deemed a danger by its own home. Even Asura who hates those who betrayed him still fights against the planet so that the humans can grow. He doesn’t subdue the will of Gaea, he outright destroys it, forcing the planet into a permanent state of complacency. Asura’s wrath is so great he destroys the will of a planet.

A planet that fought back because it had enough, and lost.