AgartuSay was deluded by the Dragon, and lured into the Maw of the Dragon. He was plied with sweet words, the promise of an end to torture. His food was dragon poison, the dragon poison clouded his sight, and he thought this was clarity. He had denied the hundred gods, and cursed his ancestors. He balanced the elements of his body in the Dragon way - that is to say, he cut off everything he feared and denied it was him. There in the Maw of the Dragon, AgartuSay only had his mind left, and he would soon be free of that and become wholly a dragon himself.
But then it happened he met a fish seller.
The fish seller was old, and humbled. He had baskets of fish before him, and watercress-lined baskets of prawns too. His left leg was bent wrong, and his iron harpoon was rusted next to him. His tunic was made from fish skin, and his sandals were made from shark skin. The gorakiki-men and gorakiki-women crawled on him, they bit into his skin, they ate of him, and he did not once strike at them.
Ah! the mind of AgartuSay thought to itself. They have told me there would be one final demon of Ignorance, and once I defeat him, I shall become a Dragon. This must be it, and it must be a demon that fights with poisonous words.
"Hello, young man," the fish seller said to AgartuSay. "Are you hungry at the end of your journey?"
"Thank you, but no. I gave up my stomach weeks ago."
"Why'd you do a fool thing like that?"
"It was a burden I no longer needed, I was challenged to overcome it, and I did."
"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard, if I challenged you to give me your eye, to prove you didn't need it would you?"
AgartuSay only failed to strike out his eye as proof of his dedication when he remembered he didn't have an eye, or a hand.
"Okay, bad example, but I've made my point." The fish seller sighed, and gestured with his left hand. "Every time I see your type come through here, you follow the dragon road, you spurn the demons and ask for blessings from the spirits. But never do you look where the road was built. Never do you look back where the road has come from. Never do you look where the road leads to. Young AgartuSay, take my lantern and strike it, and look at what you see."
With his absent hand, AgartuSay didn't light the lantern, and it didn't cast light. In the not-light of the unlit lantern, he saw the gnawing dragon on the Earth, he saw the devouring dragon of the road. He saw they were two heads of the same great beast, and that his escape would trap him inside the world even more frightfully than he already was.
The dragon fog cleared from his mind. His vision was clear again. AgartuSay took one step, and in the highest heaven he had his Star Heart returned to him by the Star Permutator. AgartuSay took a second step, and in the deepest hell, Shadow Cancer gave him back his shadow. Sheng Seleris took a third step and returned to the Instant Torture Camp in a blaze of glory.
- A common episode in the Chen Durel version of the epic The Life of Sheng Seleris
But then it happened he met a fish seller.
The fish seller was old, and humbled. He had baskets of fish before him, and watercress-lined baskets of prawns too. His left leg was bent wrong, and his iron harpoon was rusted next to him. His tunic was made from fish skin, and his sandals were made from shark skin. The gorakiki-men and gorakiki-women crawled on him, they bit into his skin, they ate of him, and he did not once strike at them.
Ah! the mind of AgartuSay thought to itself. They have told me there would be one final demon of Ignorance, and once I defeat him, I shall become a Dragon. This must be it, and it must be a demon that fights with poisonous words.
"Hello, young man," the fish seller said to AgartuSay. "Are you hungry at the end of your journey?"
"Thank you, but no. I gave up my stomach weeks ago."
"Why'd you do a fool thing like that?"
"It was a burden I no longer needed, I was challenged to overcome it, and I did."
"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard, if I challenged you to give me your eye, to prove you didn't need it would you?"
AgartuSay only failed to strike out his eye as proof of his dedication when he remembered he didn't have an eye, or a hand.
"Okay, bad example, but I've made my point." The fish seller sighed, and gestured with his left hand. "Every time I see your type come through here, you follow the dragon road, you spurn the demons and ask for blessings from the spirits. But never do you look where the road was built. Never do you look back where the road has come from. Never do you look where the road leads to. Young AgartuSay, take my lantern and strike it, and look at what you see."
With his absent hand, AgartuSay didn't light the lantern, and it didn't cast light. In the not-light of the unlit lantern, he saw the gnawing dragon on the Earth, he saw the devouring dragon of the road. He saw they were two heads of the same great beast, and that his escape would trap him inside the world even more frightfully than he already was.
The dragon fog cleared from his mind. His vision was clear again. AgartuSay took one step, and in the highest heaven he had his Star Heart returned to him by the Star Permutator. AgartuSay took a second step, and in the deepest hell, Shadow Cancer gave him back his shadow. Sheng Seleris took a third step and returned to the Instant Torture Camp in a blaze of glory.
- A common episode in the Chen Durel version of the epic The Life of Sheng Seleris
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