Song of the Chapter- Bolo Har Har Har from Shivaay

When Lakshman stared at Indrajit, he felt something hard hit him in the stomach. He thought it was the feeling of fate, slamming him hard, but apparently it was a large, sharp rock that Indrajit had thrown at him to distract him. Lakshman hadn't intended to kill the rakshas while he was defenseless (he wasn't Ravan), so he thought the effort was useless, especially since he wasn't exactly using his stomach to shoot arrows.

"Lakshman bhaiyya! Are you okay?" Hanuman cried, hastening his pace to diagnose Lakshman's wound. Lakshman waved him off calmly. Just a couple of scratches? What, did Indrajit think that would hurt him at all? Well, of course he did, because Indrajit probably whined at the smallest of papercuts. Lakshman huffed, pinching the bridge of his nose. The sheer audacity just stunned him each time.

"Yes, yes I'm fine." He sighed, shaking his head. "But I bet Meghnad's run off to cry to his mother about how he's being bullied by me. He's all bark and, like, absolutely no bite! Just like the thunder clouds he's named after. What do thunder clouds do? Nothing. They just rumble like they have bad digestion or something. Yeah, we get it. You had way too many hajmolas. Shut up and be on your way."

"Speaking of being on his way, where is Meghnad?" Vibhishan muttered. The army and the three men who stood at the front all looked around. All they could see, anywhere near or far, was smoke. Thick, heavy smoke that loomed in the air like clouds that shielded Meghnad from the piercing glare he had been impaled with, that hid him from the thing he refused to acknowledge; his own cowardliness.

But from above, from the red powder that dusted the air faintly and painted the cave walls, emerged a golden chariot. It floated, bobbing up and down, five meters above the floors, many meters away from the army and the angry man who surveyed it.

 Indrajit laughed from inside it, one hand placed on the front of the mobile, and the other situated arrogantly on his thigh. "What, you thought you could surprise me?" he cackled.

Lakshman rolled his eyes, clenching his jaw, stepping in front of Hanuman and Vibhishan. "You know, instead of this entire evil prince schnadig, you should join some talent shows. You changed from coward to prince pretending he's not a coward real fast. How much effort does it take, pretending to be all this mighty when you rely upon your abilities to pop out of midair like a mosquito?"

Indrajit narrowed his eyes. "You talk about my skill of illusions as if you have any yourself! Don't forget, hermit, that my ability to make everyone believe something that isn't real is a mastery of its own! If I can beat you with it, then that's a victory in battle! Don't consider yourself so high and mighty when you aren't! Besides, I really got you with that dead Sita thing, didn't I? You weren't so smug then."

"You speak," Lakshman laughed. "As if this was a battle of cowardliness and arrogance. I'm sure, in that case, you would win without doubt! But this isn't, and you know that very well. Isn't that why, in desperation, you were kneeling before your goddess. 'Oh Mata! Save me please!' Crying like a little child." 

He leaned in with a sadistic smile. "Because you don't know how to win in a fair battle. No mummy to save you from karma, is there?"

Indrajit opened his mouth, but Lakshman was still going. "When you hurt me and Ram bhaiyya, we accepted our fate, didn't we? Didn't appeal to the Gods for life, didn't beg anyone. But now, once it's your turn, here you are, holed up in your goth cave, throwing vermillion in every direction like a blushing bride. Instead of resorting to violence, you've resorted to insanity! You won a battle against Indra, and since then, have you been taking a little break? Well, Maa always told me that practice is perfect, and it seems you've lost your streak now."

Indrajit's canines peeked out of his top lip in an almost animalistic threat, but in seconds, he had tossed his head back, and began to laugh. His bellows and guffaws echoed in the high ceilings of the cave, bouncing off the walls and coming in from all sides. 

Lakshman raised his eyebrows. "The last stage of denial isn't insanity, you idiot, it's acceptance. Ah well, it's good to find the humor in things, I guess."

Lakshman lifted his bow, notching a single arrow in the string, when Indrajit recovered from his laughs in a second. "I'm not in denial. I'm just a distraction! Why, look behind you!" He pointed somewhere beyond the army.

 Lakshman didn't remove his gaze from Meghnad, knowing every trick in the book (he grew up with Shatrughan), but Hanuman and Vibhishan both looked to where Meghnad pointed.

"Bhaiyya!" Hanuman cried in a second. "Indrajit's army is entering the cave through the entrance!" (no Hanuman, I thought they were entering through the exit). Lakshman's eyes still didn't falter from Indrajit's, even as they creased with worry. "They'll have us cornered in seconds! We won't be able to escape!"

"Hanuman," Lakshman began. "Take our army and keep them right at the place where the pathway narrows to create a bottleneck." (they had water bottles guys, give me a break) "That way, when they finally manage to get through the narrow hallway, they'll have done all our work for us. Organize a nice welcome for them. We'll kill them as soon as they squeeze past."

"Vibhishan, you're good with a spear. And don't even try to deny it," he warned as soon as Vibhishan started to wearily edge away. "You asked for asylum from my brother, fine. But you fight. You can't stray from dharma, and right now, in the battlefield, a warrior's dharma is to fight. Remember, they wouldn't think twice of snapping your neck or impaling you. They have no chance of recovery. Not like you."

He turned back towards Meghnad, eyes fixing on the demon as he continued to laugh, clutching his belly. "As for this coward," Lakshman growled. "I'll take good care of him."

Mid War Bonus Scene

"There are many strategies one can take when fighting in an enclosed space," Neel said calmly, spreading out a parchment. Sugriv, Nal, and Angad all leaned over it immediately. "You see, you can push out into the invading army and pull a little spear trick I like to call the "fork". You don't give them a chance to fight back, just a wall of spears."

Not even a snort of laughter was heard at the utensil name. Everyone was too focused on the strategies that Neel was pointing out, that they didn't even notice Ram's recognizable shadow appearing over the paper as well as he watched the monkeys tensely discuss the actions of Lakshman, and what he may have been doing.

"This one," Neel said. "Is called the bottleneck. The enemy army is going through a narrow hallway, and you meet them as soon as a clearing appears. They're already winded from the thin walls pushing in from all directions, and won't be expecting assailants on the other side. It's especially good when you have weapons like arrows, which can make the dead soldiers block others from getting in. It's highly risky though, especially if they are expecting it. You could be speared with arrows before even starting the maneuver."

Ram squared his jaw, trying to keep his stomach still. "Laksh will use that one," He said, as if without a doubt, voice not even wavering. "It was Shatru's favorite whenever they played pretend battle. It always defeated him."

-----O-----

Meghnad watched with his dark eyes as half of Lakshman's army started to block the entrance to the cave, and swallowed, before glancing down at the man who had a bow angled up towards him in warning. In seconds, it was as if his eyes flashed red. Both his hands held long spears that sparkled even in the dim cave light.

Lakshman's eyes snapped towards them, before glancing at Indrajit himself, head cocked in a mocking tilt. "Why don't you just throw your little knife-sticks, see how far they go against my arrow?" 

His hands moved in a flash, the bow angling up more and rushing towards Indrajit's chariot. Indrajit ducked for a second, only for the arrow to fly above him and tear his signature red flag, pinning it to the cave wall behind him.

"Oh, don't worry about me trying to kill you when you're not ready. I'm not you or your father; I'm quite sure I'll be able to beat you even when you're at full power." Lakshman scoffed, rearming his bow in a flash.

Indrajit grasped a large golden bow in an instant, and an arrow flew from his chariot. It sparked with embers, and just as it reached the center of the arena, an arrow dripping with water crashed into it, rendering both of the weapons into splinters, little pieces of ember floating towards the ground.

Lakshman, gritting his teeth, stared Indrajit down, before sending a vayu baan towards his chariot. The vayu baan was gifted to him by the Lord of Wind himself after Lakshman helped Hanuman with a nasty pair of monsters on the battlefield. It could spread any fire, blow away any danger, lift up any human being from their chariots and throw them into the cave walls, breaking their head in a second.

What it couldn't move was the mountain. Indrajit recognized the arrow from his massive armory, for he was graced with the weapons of the gods and used them quite often, and met it with a parvat baan. He had, anticipating a vayu baan long ago, trapped the deity of a mountain in a few arrows so that they could meet the arrow of the wind with full force and not be affected by the godly weapon.

After meeting the vayu baan, Indrajit's arrow kept on flying towards Lakshman. The prince did not duck, realizing that the weapon would probably crash into the walls of the cave and cause it to collapse. Or worse, hit a vanar. "Bhaiyya, what did bhaiyya say?" he murmured. "The Mountain is big, but not bigger than the earth."

The mountain was no match for the earth, which crushed the arrow into smithereens, and continued making its merry way towards Indrajit's chariot. Indrajit jumped out of the way just in time as the arrow embedded itself into the Earth, where it would always return. In a fit of rage, he turned back towards Lakshman, and without thinking, targeted him with fifty shining silver arrows that soon formed a v formation in midair.

There were few things stronger than silver, but Lakshman knew that one of them was golden. Fifty silver and fifty gold clashed violently above the two warriors, shining in an explosion that sent debris flying everywhere. Monkeys ducked as they continued to fight, and some shrieks echoed from rakshasas who were thrown back from the raining, coal-hot embers that showered upon them like a curse from Indra.

As Indrajit's every move was countered, arrow after arrow, celestial weapon after celestial weapon, his temper began to rise. Finally, he noticed something. His chariot, which hovered many, many meters above the ground, looked down about his foe. He was, by physical means, anyways, above Lakshman, and thus has the ability to trap him, or to be rendered invisible in a blind spot.

With a smirk which Lakshman didn't tag as up to any good, Indrajit sent another fifty arrows towards the warrior prince. In the center of his attack was an arrow made of gold. Now, if silver was above bronze and gold was above silver, what was above gold? 

Lakshman puzzled about this for a second, hand hovering hesitantly above his quiver, before it clicked in his mind. Gold was easily malleable! Heat! An agni baan!

But as he countered Indrajit's initial attack, as his focus was directed that way, Indrajit surrounded him with a circle of arrows. Finally, once the gold arrow was finished off, and Lakshman paused, he noticed the circle that surrounded him. Confused, he glanced up at Indrajit, just as the demon sent a final arrow of fire flying towards the circle.

In seconds, Lakshman was trapped in a ring of fire, completely vulnerable. He couldn't duck, for the fire was way too tight around his feet for him not to be scalded. 

He couldn't jump out, for the flames were too high. In the smoke that blew up from the fire, he couldn't even see enough to be able to grasp at a water arrow in order to douse the fire and get back on track in the battle.

And even if Indrajit didn't send an arrow, Lakshman knew one thing. The way these flames were spreading, he would be burned to death. Slowly. Painfully. He glanced at Indrajit, watching as the demon prince sat down luxuriously in his chariot. Ah. So he intended to watch him burn to death.

Well, Lakshman wasn't about to just watch Indrajit watch him burn to death. His eyes turned down to focus on the arrows. As soon as he moved them, the fire would move away from him, right? But the smoke was thickening, and if he couldn't see his own weapons then, he certainly wasn't about to be able to now.

Then, he looked up, meeting Indrajit's eyes with his own, piercing ones. Indrajit kept the gaze, mouth turning up in an excited smile. "What? Your final glance before you go up in flames? Don't do it too quickly, okay? I want to hear your screams as you call for your pathetic brother, beg him to come and help you. Burning to death hurts, I'd imagine. Maybe you'd even plead with me to end your life quickly. Who would be the coward then?"

Lakshman clenched his jaw. "It would still be you." Then, he lifted his foot, crushing the flaming arrow under his bare foot. The flames disappeared underneath his footfall, and he stepped out of the circle without even a limp, even as the hem of his dhoti singed. "You, the coward who could never win a fight, even with advantage."

With a slow, deliberate gaze, he watched Indrajit stand up, teetering slightly, before an arrow speared his charioteer's heart. The demon fell over, slumping over the weapon. The chariot, which flew with invisible force, began to tilt slightly. 

With the height that Indrajit was, he would crash to the floor in seconds. It would have taken no terrible weapon to end his life, just the magnetic pull of Bhoomi Devi. The vengeance hungry bhoomi devi, whose daughter was trapped in someone's clutches when the Earth could never be trapped.

Indrajit jumped over the helm of the chariot in a second, sitting down in the charioteer's seat next to the dead demon, grabbing the reins with one hand and glaring at Lakshman with the other. With a flick of his hand, an illusion controlled his chariot as he stood up, reaching behind himself for his bow. "Now I'll show you and your disgraceful brother." Indrajit laughed, but just as the bow was by his side, it exploded in smithers.

"What?" Lakshman snarled. "What will you show us? Your broken bow? Or your illusions?" Another arrow sent Indrajit's quiver and arrows scattering through the air, landing on the ground like flimsy sticks. Indrajit grabbed his spears from where they stood, lined up in a row on the sides of his chariot.

He threw two of them at once, but Lakshman blew them both up with a simple agni baan. He tried to spear the prince with a sharp knife to the heart, but Lakshman grabbed it in midair, and sent it flying back with a muscled arm. They both stared as it broke off one of Indrajit's chariot wheels. The plaster fell to the ground, which was littered with broken weapons at this point. The newest addition to a collection of Indrajit's lost pride.

Whatever Indrajit tried to use, it was either blown up or send right back towards him. To his credit, the demon never stopped trying. But as he grasped for his spear, he glanced behind, finding only emptiness. Nothing. His weapons storage, rumored to be inexpendable, had finally finished. He glanced around wildly, only to find nothing. Finally, he found an agni baan lying on the ground of his chariot.

That, and a thin brown bow. His first set of weapons. But what good would an agni baan do, when the hermit had already shown that he could beat it?

--

Lakshman watched Indrajit lift up a humble brown bow and an arrow which was obviously an agni baan, and blinked. Was this a last stand? With a deep breath, he watched Indrajit point the arrow towards him, directly to his forehead. 

Lakshman didn't falter, staring at him right back. Indrajit stood completely still, as if afraid to move. He should be, Lakshman thought. But it was as if he was trying to startle Lakshman.

He did. One moment, there was an arrow pointed towards him, and the next second, the arrow had raced through the cave ceiling, blasting the rock. Lakshman stared as Indrajit and his chariot flew through the gaping hole and into the sky. "He must be limited by the cave," Lakshman reasoned thoughtfully.

Hanuman, who had been keeping a watch on the fight thus far while trying to beat away Indrajit's rakshasas, approached Lakshman calmly. "Bhaiyya. I have come here for one purpose. If that vile Meghnad has a chariot, I can be your flight. Please, allow me." Lakshman looked up at Hanuman, before nodding, stepping onto the monkey's shoulders, and holding on as he grew a few sizes.

Hanuman hovered, before lifting up and out of the cave as well.

-----O-----

The air was fresh and the winds were cool, but Lakshman did not breathe in the air or enjoy the breeze as he normally would have. They flew maybe tens of miles above the ground, and the tops of tents, the broken cave, and the bloodied battlefield, were all within sight, an aerial view. No wonder the Gods were so great. Mortals would have been nary invisible to them, like ants Lakshman could crush within his feet.

Calmly, he swept his hair away from his eyes, where it had been blown, and searched, with his sharp eyes, for any sign of illusion at all. The sky was a storming blue despite it still being midday, and Indrajit would have been masked by the grey clouds which had taken over.

Suddenly, from the dull sky, Lakshman noticed a flash of something as Hanuman flew. Sparkling, like a charm had been placed upon the cloud. Hanuman flew towards the signal immediately. As soon as he was close enough, Lakshman reached out, touching the sparkling. Immediately, something hard hit his hands.

Bonus Scene

"I am scared of illusions," Lakshman murmured, buried in his mother's lap. He was only five years old. "You know why I am scared of illusions, Maa? Because if I can't see something, how can I defeat it? If I cannot know a thing's location, how do I even know it's there? I could be shooting arrows towards the East while the enemy is silently, invisibly laughing at me from the West, a knife at my back. I won't trust myself, won't know what to believe."

"Lakshman," Kaikeyi chided. "Five is too young to think about these things." But Lakshman's eyes peeked up at her, and she relented.

"Here, let me tell you something. Finding an illusion isn't too difficult. It will sparkle, it will glint, as if it had been tied together with the stolen fabric of time. A certain shimmering aura will linger around it, even an invisible man."

"Really?" Lakshman asked, sitting up in an instant.

"Yes," Kaikeyi said, pleased. "And here's the real truth. Once you find an illusion, once the cat's out of the bag, it cannot continue. If you find an invisible man, their illusion will be up. The strength of an illusion is that you do not know what is true and what is false. Keep the truth close to you, and remember that everyone has a weakness."

----O----

Slowly, the chariot came into full view. And there he was. Indrajit, looking away into the sky, some sort of evil smile gracing his face. And even though he wanted to, desperately, Lakshman reasoned that it wasn't right to startle a warrior with death. 

Hanuman flew back to the cave as the prince climbed onto the chariot quietly, stealthily. "Indrajit," Lakshman said. His voice rang through the damp clouds, and Indrajit whirled around, jaw slack.

"You." He growled, and in seconds, there was a knife in his hand. Lakshman eyed it warily as they began to circle each other on the chariot. He didn't glance towards the chariot floor, where a single nail stuck out of the ground. His foot fell upon it, and he winced, glancing down as the burnt flesh met the sharp nail.

In seconds, Indrajit had slashed his arm, and his bow and quiver fell over the edge. Lakshman turned around, all fury, and lifted his foot up, pulling the nail out and throwing it towards Indrajit. 

The rusty metal embedded itself in the demon's arm, where he roared, grasping at it, but, as always, too scared of the pain to pull the metal out.

But, cowardly or not, now Indrajit had a weapon, a small knife, while Lakshman had none. All he could do was dodge as the prince swiped at him, left and right. But what he did know, and what Indrajit didn't, was that Lakshman's strong point was never bows and arrows and long distance fighting. 

This, this one-on-one battle, was always the place where he thrived. Knives and swords and blood and brawl.

The next time Indrajit swiped, Lakshman grabbed his hands, twisting the wrist so hard that the bones broke. Indrajit dropped the knife, and Lakshman kicked it away from them. Still, they remained evenly matched, as Indrajit finally pulled the nail out of his arm with a gasp, and brandished it angrily.

The rain had begun to fall. And not only fall, it poured. The heavy drops landed on the roof of the chariot before the roof flew away, carried by angry gusts of wind that claimed anything made by man. This realm, ten thousand feet in the air, wasn't controlled by mortals, but by the fury of the spirits of nature.

It was crucial to remember, at this point, that the chariot still flew in midair, suspended only by the illusion that Indrajit had created. The wind swept past them as the illusion forced the invisible horses faster and faster as Indrajit grew angrier and angrier at his inability to kill the prince, who, even with a large gash on his arm which dripped red in the cold rain, and burned feet, moved around his chariot with astounding agility, dodging his knife swipes and throwing punches that bruised his face.

Finally, Indrajit grinned. "Stop. Stop and walk towards the edge of the chariot." Lakshman blinked. "Do it now. We both know that I have the weapon. What you don't know is that I control this chariot. It flies miles above the Earth. If it falls, well that would be a pity, now wouldn't it? So walk, slowly, backwards, to the edge of the chariot."

Lakshman glanced wordlessly at the illusion, at the reins suspended in midair, then at Indrajit. The loud echo of the rain pattering resonated in his ears. Silently, he walked towards the edge of the chariot, upper body teetering over the edge precariously. 

Indrajit walked forward with a triumphant smile, holding the sharp edge of the nail to the prince's throat. "I've got you cornered now, haven't I?" he laughed. "Now I will condemn you to a slow death of drowning in your own blood."

Indrajit hummed, deciding to prolong it by giving a little speech. "You, your brother, your army. What are you against me? My father? We are kings! You are hermits! Even your own mother couldn't tolerate you and your pathetic brother! Oh wait! She's not even your mother! What did your elder brother say? He would 'spare' my father? MY FATHER? Ravan? Ram couldn't even exist within the gaze of my father! Ram would be kicked to the curb in front of my father! It's a pity you can't watch him die, now that you're dying yourself. But say hi to him in Yama's abode, will you?"

Indrajit closed his eyes, enjoying his moment of victory before he killed his enemy. He could see Sulochana already, dressed up and pretty and so proud of him. He could feel his father's approving gaze, his warm embrace, the silky feeling of his praise. He could even envision his mother's reaction. All at the death of a mere hermit? 

Why, Indrajit had defeated Indra, that simpering god! Indrajit feared no god, so why would he fear man? He could do whatever he wished, and no celestial being, not even that Vishnu, not even the king of the Gods, would dare oppose!

Lakshman just gazed at him with dark, unfeeling eyes, watching the demon revel in his own fantasies. The rain masked his vision of the evil demon, soaking his clothes and numbing his wounds. Then, in one fluid motion, he snapped Indrajit's other wrist, swung them around so that the demon was now half hanging over the edge of the chariot. "There is one difference between you and me, Meghnad." he boomed. "And that is that I do not fear death, as long as I do my dharma. Now I see that my dharma, my role in this battle, is ridding the world of the likes of you. And I am proud to do it, even if this chariot here crashes to the ground with me in it."

From his dhoti, he lifted a shining silver dagger. Indrajit's eyes tracked it, and widened dramatically as he scrambled uselessly at the edge of the chariot, before trying to pry Lakshman's hands off of his throat.

The prince studied the knife, smiling some joke to himself, before turning it around and grasping it by the handle. With a calm, precise hand, Lakshman slit the throat of the demon, and let him fall. Fall off the chariot, and far, far down, his golden shoes glinting through the shade of the clouds. Let him fall towards the underworld, where he would stay for his next thousand lives.

And then, for a second, Lakshman forgot that the chariot's illusion had disappeared, and the vehicle was rapidly free falling. Turning around, Lakshman calmly cleaned the knife before setting it back in his pocket. "I hope I have respected you properly, dagger, by taking a life with you. It must have been humiliating to have only been used on a rakshasi, once, in fourteen years."

The thunder finally stopped rumbling in the clouds, and in a bright array, the lightning flashed, maybe ten feet away from Lakshman, claiming the dead body of Meghnad.

Finally, the heavy rainstorm stopped. Finally, the wind began to calm down, the spirits appeased by the end of the battle. Finally, the sun peeked out from the clouds as if tentatively inspecting the Earth with its soft rays. Finally, the thunder receded.

Bonus Scene

Shatrughan, crying, ran into Kaikeyi's room as well that night. Ayodhya, a city known for its rainstorms and lush forests, was having a night of lightning. The thunder rumbled threateningly, advertising the fall of electricity, and young princes everywhere, but especially this one, raced into their mother's rooms to be comforted.

Lakshman watched calmly as Shatrughan climbed onto the bed as well with his tiny limbs, crawling into Kaikeyi's lap. "Oh dear," Kaikeyi cooed, brushing Shatrughan's hair with her hands. "Oh no. What happened to my sweet prince? Who has dared make him sad like this? The youngest prince of Ayodhya? Tell me, Shatru-darling, I shall banish them from this kingdom at once!"

"Banish the lightning, mummy," Shatrughan sobbed, clutching onto Kaikeyi's arm. "I'm scared. Does the sky hate me? Will the palace fall down? I don't want to be crushed under rubble, burnt to a crisp by lightning! I don't want Lakshman bhaiyya to die!" Here, Shatrughan crawled away from Kaikeyi and towards Lakshman, hugging him tightly and sobbing on his shoulders.

Kaikeyi looked at Lakshman expectantly, and Lakshman looked at Shatrughan. "Well," he began hesitantly, trying to pat Shatrughan's back. "You know, Indra is the god of Rain, Thunder, and Lightning. It says that in the books. He's also the King of the Gods. Whenever the lightning flashes or the thunder roars, Indra is laughing."

"He's happy, so he is laughing, and his happiness shows by bringing us light during a dark, cloudy day, even for a moment, in the form of lightning. He's laughing like you, loud and raucous, and that's the thunder. And you wouldn't want to banish the King of the Gods from Ayodhya just for laughing, right?"

Shatrughan sniffled, before shaking his head rapidly. "No. Then I would become too much like you, bhaiyya."

And Lakshman laughed as well. The thunder and lightning had crashed during his birth. It wasn't a symbol of anger, of tempest and furiosity, but of Indra's joy. Finally, a warrior had been born on this Earth who could defeat a demon so arrogant that he believed himself to be above the Gods. Finally, he could be avenged.

Finally, Indra had the last laugh.

A/N-Finally, Mochi finished this chapter!

Gosh, I had to plug in my Lakshman music playlist to get through this one.

I had a competition I had to attend, so actually, good reason for the delay.

ALSO-did you see the sheer size of this chapter? 5K words. Humongous. Freaking gigantic. I didn't even write the party scenes, because I was about to drop dead from writing. FINALLY, LAKSHMAN HAS KILLED MEGHNAD!

Understandably, the next chapter will probably be filler (and also a long time later), because I can't deal with any more plot. 

Plus: New theeeme! How you likey likey?

IN ADDITION: This story has (somehow) garnered 4K votes. I don't know how, but it has, and for that, I have only to thank the amazing dedication of you guys to this book, and your willingness to vote and read and comment and whatever other amazing things you do to promote this! Thank you so so so so so much.