Excerpt: The Book of Fish Heads

XII.

The lands around what is now this island once housed a grand civilization that rivaled your Atlantis in the West. Those two civilizations spawned everything we know today. In the days of the last Ice Age peoples were forced to abandon their inland civilizations for coastal areas due to the shortage of water.

As the arid lands spread throughout the world unified civlizations erected mighty cities along the oceans stretching from modern-day Japan around the horn of Africa to Gibraltar. Of course, when the ice caps receded all of these mighty civilizations were flooded, destroying all but the most robust structures.

The Great Stone Temples of the Zartani must survive to this day under the waters of the Pacific around what is now the Ryukyu Archipelago, not far from here. One day soon these temples will be discovered, and maybe then you will believe my words. The Stone Temples of the Zartani were among the wonders of that most ancient world, along with the World Power Plants at Giza and the Seven Temples of the Dead River Sarasvati.

I felt that in order to continue my quest. I needed to better understand the paradigms of good and evil that the Zartani held dear. I journeyed to the temple of Zenrod, Commander of the Abyss, a renowned expert in Zartani philosophy. Maybe the mighty Zenrod could help me better understand the darkness within me and how to embrace the light of the world.

I traveled for several days from village to village, taking in the tales of the great Zartani monks and their miraculous deeds. One particular tale struck me and I have held onto that memory to this day. I will share this story with you now. It is one of the most profound things that I have ever taken in and has shaped me in many ways.

That night it seemed like the whole village was gathered in the square to hear their elder speak. The elder stood before them in long robes, his weathered features told tales of their own. He had lived a harder life than any of those who were there to take in his tale and to them and me that brought credibility and a sense of awe. This great man raised his arms and his voice to tell us all about a man who was even greater than himself.

“I stand before you tonight to tell you the story of the monk Ashva. Undoubtedly, some of you have heard it before, but there is always something new to learn. Every time I hear this grand tale, I leave with a different understanding of the profundity of all things, and each of these messages is just as correct as any other.

“The words and actions of Ashva will reach you all, but will reach deepest to those initiated into the ways of the Zartani. For with understanding of the Boognish and the Threefold Entropiphy come greater understanding of the all and the nothing. Experience with me once more this journey that Ashva underwent.

“Ashva left the realm of the Dark Receptor in the times of the Ancient Cow Bill Bob, in pursuit of the answers of the questions that could never be asked or fathomed. His journey was unlike any that had come before or since. There was no journey or adventure to it besides the greatest and least of such things that were to be fathomed within.

“The time of the Ancient Cow Bill Bob was indeed a powerful time among the dark and the light, never to be paralleled in all of creation. Ashva understood the power of the times and the necessary discetion for dealing with the ancient Sarasvats and Erdites. We all have known since our days as small children of Ashva's journey into the Turkey Spit Whirlpool to retrieve the souls of his ancestors, but that tale is but a precursor to the great feats he would accomplish as he made his travel into the land of the Neverending Constant.

“Indeed, this is where Ashva's travels would take him in his mind, but not in the flesh as his flesh would instead travel to the hellish realm of Atharva to the north of Starling Falls. Ashva rode into the darkness of the Neverending Constant intent on salvation for all who would accept the teachings of the mighty Zartan and the doctrine of the Turkey Spit Whirlpool and the Razor Sharp Curly Straws. Thus his journey took him into the very bowels of hell itself to retrieve the greatest weapon against the Darkness of the world.

“Ashva journeyed deep into the storied caves of Ragnar where he faced a great and mighty beast.” The crowd was now hushed and enthralled by the tale that was spun before them. “The beast of Galthreon guarded the entrance to the caves and all of the treasures that lay within. Ashva yielded the fabled Sword of Tardion against the beast striking it down with one swift strike to the thropic juguloid. Never before had a warrior bested the beast, but mighty Ashva continued, unabated into the depths of the cave.

“The caves of Ragnar housed many treasures and many traps for those who dared enter their dark depths, but among these treasures was the quarry which Ashva sought on this occasion. Ashva was in pursuit of one of the most powerful tools that the powers of the light could ever obtain. He sought nothing less than the Volden Sphere, itself.” With this revelation the crowd let out a gasp.

“Indeed, the Volden Sphere lay in the depths of those dark caves of Ragnar in those days. Ashva journeyed into the darkness equipped with his senses and the skills of a Zartani Addarai. He made his way through the darkness not for himself, but instead for the good of humanity, for if the Volden Sphere were not retrieved from these depths then humanity would be doomed when the dark beast Beelzebub returned and lowered its darkness upon the world,

“The darkness in the souls of men would not be held at bay for long once the darkness fell and the world would turn upon itself in eternal hatred and anger. Without the Sphere the world would devolve into the Turkey Spit Whirlpool, where the dark lord rules now.

“Ashva descended into the depths and retrieved the Sphere to save humanity from its own devolution, and, as you all know, he was done in by the wickedness of man. The Sphere was saved, however, and now resides within the Temple of the High Priest Zenrod, Commander of the Abyss, where it is being held for its rightful wielder and its rightful time.”