On the Birth of God and Monkey Philosophy (Tales from the World Bloom 1)

In the beginning, Aman who Dreams the World looked upon the black seas of infinity and saw a tiny sparkling seed. He drew it up and saw that it was bright and fair like one of his own eyes. He planted it in his forehead and a flower grew. Plucking it, he found it had left behind a third eye. He returned the bloom to drift on the black seas. 

It is upon this flower that our world came to be.

But that is of little interest to you, my dear one. I know you yearn for the whole story of Halar Serpentborn, Dragonslayer, Emperor of the Jeweled Throne, Bearer of the Words of Divinity, and Avatar of Aman. In my position as your tutor and tale weaver, I have not been afforded much time for study abroad, but because of your eager desire for learning, oh curious one, and your express command under penalty of death, I have scoured the five petals for the tales of Lord Halar.

It is my understanding that this is the first attempt that has been made at truly gathering together all the many different stories of Halar's journeys. Innumerable scrolls exist of his different adventures and many of these contradict each other and themselves to maddening degrees. This record will attempt to be accurate and comprehensive but it will inevitably be incomplete as anything accurate is incomplete, commenting on variations and contradictions where possible while still maintaining a coherent narrative. I know this is frustrating to you, my princess. As I quote, "Just tell me the truth, you miserable beetle!" Believe me, shining one, whatever frustration you feel over these contradictions, I feel thrice over. I shall endeavor to keep my interruptions to a minimum as we tell the story of the hero who saved our world all those years ago.

Halar's Journeys

Birth of the Immaculate One:

In the beginning, there were only two people, the Night Folk and the Day Folk, the Vatiar and the Satiar.

Forgive the almost immediate interruption, but this scroll is so brazenly contrary to reality that it bears noting. This scroll claims two kinds of people only to later mention the White Apes. This is not even to mention my people, the Scarabi, or even the other kinds of humans on our world, but I digress. This is a common way that these scrolls begin despite the transparent inaccuracy of it so I included it. 

The Vatiar, pale, fair, and lithe, lived in the great jungles always dwelling in the shadows of the towering trees, never daring to step out into daylight for fear of their enemy: Seyam the Serpent.

Seyam was a serpent of brutal strength and cunning whose venom was death. All the Vatiar lived in fear of it, cowering in the trees or living in servitude to the snake. A foolhardy Satiar warrior, Rhudor Dawnbreaker, hears of the serpent and went in to kill it.

Rhudor put up a good fight but the serpent bit him and left him to die. But a Vatiar woman, Moon Shadow, found him and tried to save him. Over the weeks she tended to him, they fell in love but each day the venom grew stronger in his veins and each day time grew shorter and shorter. They are wed by the customs of the Vatiar in the last days they expected him to live.

But after their wedding night, the warrior seems cured and the elf knows she is with child. A mere 3 months later, Halar was born as if already sprinting into life. The demon Deneng who Closes the Mouth of the River came to kill the child upon his birth, but the goddess of life Vashrati who Sprinkles Morning Dew, appeared and spoke a Word of Divinity, "Hope," casting the demon into the depths and teaching the young Halar his first word. So Halar is born of the venom of the enemy and the words of the divine, thus the Night Folk called him Serpent Born.

Some of the scrolls of the nativity of the Lord Halar claim that since Moon Shadow is an avatar of Vashrati, the goddess herself did not appear, instead Moon Shadow herself beat the demon to death with her own hands, others say she ripped the demon’s head off.

The Journey of Many Monkeys:

At merely five years old, Halar was speaking in full sentences, or rather shouting as he bounded from tree to tree, louder and rowdier than any of the timid Wood Elves. At this great noise, the White Apes of Zhandabar came to see what was the matter. They saw the young hero and were greatly confused. He was light on his feet like one of them, loud like one of them, and even messy like one of them, yet he had no hair. The apes took him quietly and brought him before their wisest elders, but, as a child, Halar was a master of monkey philosophy and he stumped them all. Convinced he was the wisest being to ever live, they called him Bald One of Boundless Wisdom. They assigned their young prince, Hamadi, to follow him always and learn from him. So Hamadi became the infant Halar's first disciple.

On the first day of their journey, the pair found King Ghan of Sparkling Khandar, his carriage laden with gold, jewels, and orange blossoms. 

This is the first mention of our own Sparkling Khandar, quite a different place than all those years ago, yet it would be this meeting that would one day lead to Halar taking the Jeweled Throne of Khandar and siring a dynasty that would last up until this present day, to you, my princess!

King Ghan was said to be the wisest of the Three Kings of the East and prouder than them all. So Halar said to Hamadi, "Watch this!"Halar bounded down from the trees, landing right before the carriage. 

"Hail, wisest king of all the earth! If you are so wise, great king, answer me three questions!"

The king was surprised but he knew he could answer any questions this child put to him, for he was wise and proud of it! "Ask me any question, child!"

"And what will you give me if I can ask you a question you cannot answer, oh wise king?"

The king laughed, "I shall give you all my orange blossoms if a child such as you could ever ask me a question I could not answer!"

"Very well, oh king, then tell me: what is the sound of the color blue?"

The wise king furrowed his brow and thought mightily, but he had no answer! So he handed over his orange blossoms. 

"That was a lucky shot, boy! Ask me again! This time I will wager all my jewels!"

"Oh greatest king of all the earth, what does sorrow smell like?"

The king thought again, thinking so furiously that the trees shook! But he could not answer!

"Again, tricky boy! Ask me once more! I know I can best you, else you may have my gold!"

"Then, great king, what does courage taste like?"

The king thought and thought so hard the ground shook and Bardju who Tips the Mountains with Snow turned over in his slumber but again he could not answer. In shame, the great king gave over his whole carriage to the boy. 

Hamadi was amazed and this was only the first of many times Halar would ride a kingly carriage of Sparkling Khandar.

On the second day, Halar cavorted with the apes and the Lotus Nymphs in the ruins of the gilded city. The apes convinced him to partake of their melon wine and he drank many barrels unhindered. Seeing an opportunity, the demon Attra who Paints the Chameleon's Scales, a demon of Ignorance and Temptation, approached the child hero.

"Fair lord! What treasures you have! You have but to ask me and I will double your orange blossoms!"

"Of what value to me are orange blossoms? I bought them with a question," he replied, frustrating the demon. 

The demon in turn asks him of his jewels and his gold, each time seeking to indebt the young saint but each time he refused her.

Finally, the demon uttered a prophecy, "In your time of need, young Lord, you shall seek my help and find it but my price will be steep for this night!" Then Attra was gone and Hamadi stored up all these things in his heart.

On the third day, the heroes were going through the jungle when they saw Vatiar offering sacrifices to Seyam the Great Snake, most cunning of all animals who crawl on the ground. They offered the serpent honey and gems and even monkeys some of whom were Hamadi's friends. 

Hamadi looked to Halar with worry, but the young hero simply said, "Watch this!"

He leaped before the great snake and Seyam was intrigued. "Great snake, greatest beast of all the earth! Your wisdom is known from the east to the west! But answer me a question, oh most cunning of serpents?"

Halar asked the first of his impossible questions, but the Serpent replied, "The sound of blue is the sound of the sea and the sound of the wind in the high heavens."

Halar was frustrated, so he asked his second impossible question, but the snake replied, "Sorrow is the salty smell of tears and the charcoal smell of ashes."

Halar stomped his feet and asked his third impossible question but the serpent replied, "Courage tastes of melon wine and young heroes too arrogant for their own good!" 

The snake lunged to consume Halar, but the child saint nimbly bounced into the trees. He fled and wept bitter tears, but Hamadi rejoined him asking, "Why do you cry, wise one? Your plan worked! While you distracted the serpent, I set my people free! I learned it from you! Never do as your foe suspects!'

Halar embraced his friend, and to his dying day, Hamadi ever said, "My Master has never been wrong! Even his mistakes were genius!"

Notes:

This is a little piece of fiction that has emerged out of a worldbuilding project with one of my friends. I think this is a worldbuilding project that I am going to continue with my own spin on this blog. You might see more of these myths or details of the World Bloom setting here soon.