I
found myself in a secluded village during my life's journey,
pondering the progression of my life and lamenting over its state of
perceived futility and fragility. An old man in the town in which I
was staying told me an interesting tale. He told me that there was a
mighty drake that soared through the skies on certain evenings and
that he was indescribably beautiful and old. Furthermore, if one were
able to kill the drake, that person would inherit the drake's
immortality.
As
I had been of late much concerned with my own mortality and age, I
decided to await the drake on the appointed nights with a magical
weapon in hand. This spear had been forged by the local armorsmith, a
man of legendary weaponry, and blessed by a powerful local shaman.
Eager to have the matter of my trial against the drake over as
quickly as possible, I paid these local experts to prepare these
items for me. Wealth I had, eternity I did not.
After
some nights of failure to spot the drake, waiting impatiently on
sparse wind-bitten steppes, I finally caught sight of my prey. He was
indeed beyond any words I know and likely beyond any that exist in
the tongues of man. Nonetheless, I can say that he gracefully wound
across the whole sky, back and forth, too quick to fully interpret
his moves yet too slow to be unawed at their magnificence. He cast
color about in all directions, lingering longest where he had last
wound and coiled his titan form across the welkin.
He
suddenly yet purposefully turned back towards me as though he was
aware of his challenger but wished to display his grandeur before
approaching in his regal fashion. This all after he wound ahead for
what appeared many miles, though speed and distance were hard to
judge, owing to his massive size and aforementioned timeless motions.
Picking
up speed, he appeared to instantaneously grow many sizes larger,
though I quickly realized this was because he was charging at me. As
his tremendous bulk struck the ground I managed to leap and perchance
land upon his body, clining barely with my extremities. Though the
force with which he seemed to strike the ground was shattering, if he
left any marks upon that virgin though spartan land, I did not see
them and could not find any later. It was as though his force was
concentrated only upon me and my mission, that we existed in a realm
beyond that around us.
I
managed to find projections and undulations to grip and maneuver
about his body, though the wind as we rushed over the landscape was
fierce and though his light was blinding against the ever-dark
backdrop of the clear night sky. Once I had adequate purchase, I
looked about for a weak spot from which the drake might be
dispatched. I was raised my magical weapon as I looked, ready to
attack at a moment's notice.
Then
I lowered my weapon as my actions and their consequences seeped into
my head like a gentle breeze against a fog bank. I could not bring
myself to injure this creature, though it was quite doubtful I could
at all, even marring his hide to claim some victory over his might
would be fleeting. This besides, neither satisfaction, however great,
nor life, however long, could compare with the pleasure of knowing
such a beautiful creature existed untainted and untamed. I might live
forever, but the drake's beauty would be lost forever to people the
world over. I could not be so selfish nor could I feel fufilled were
I to injure the drake.
He
seemed to sense this change and wrapped me in light and warmth til I
was blinded. It was as though I floated in a cloud on the sun. Then I
saw a dark opening in the light and approached it, knowing
intuitively that it led to the reality I had left when I first began
battle with the drake. Though it was most comforting here, I realized
that I must leave this place. Though it was serene it was also void
of all other things. I needed to bring the lesson of the drake to the
peoples of the world, something I could not do from deep in its
bowels. I hesitated for only a moment to draw a deep breath, then I
plunged into the darkness of the surrounding night.
I
emerged upon a high hilltop near where my evening began, weapon
alongside me. I looked up in time to see the drake sailing over a
nearby mountain range. Though I cannot be sure if it was the wind in
my ears, I fancy I heard some roar of acknowledgement from the drake
as he departed. I made my way back to town feeling like a man reborn.
The
next day I encountered the old man who had told me about the drake.
He had a large smile and held up his hand to silence me before I had
opportunity to tell my tale. He said, "Tell others what you have
learned and live by it yourself. For no man can live forever in
seclusion nor should he live to steal beauty. Beauty will come to him
in its own time and a man's life is his own eternity for the universe
is made only of his own perceptions and thus is born and dies with
him." I then thought I heard a faint stirring of the wind like
the voice of the drake and turned to look. Seeing nothing I turned
back to the old man who had vanished. I returned to my life and home
and lived happily by these lessons and the many that followed in
their wake.
*Content copyright The Samnambulist, 2013*
