LORE BEHIND THE LORE- Ch.4: Answers to the East
A bone-chilling wind swept across glistening mountain peaks; whistling through cavernous caves and lifting up blinding drifts of loose snow which raced across long miles of the most impassible terrain on Earth. These were the mountain ranges known as the Himalayas, and atop one of the tallest of them sat one of the smallest of men. Vamana, the Fifth Avatar of Vishnu, had spent the greater part of the morning and midday there sitting in still and silent meditation. He was facing out toward the north, over the vast fields and the rolling hills of China; though his eyes were shut and his mind was far away from his senses.
Through his meditations Vamana had endured to commune with the spirit and knowledge of the creator god whose essence he represented. From the centers of his heart and his spirit he asked for guidance in understanding what was before him. Through Vishnu, Vamana also sought the knowledge of the other Trimurti members: Shiva and Brahma. He guided his thoughts through the many questions which the sudden appearance of this new northern nation brought to him. Where had it come from? What existed there? Would it threaten his beloved India?
To each of these and many more questions he received the same response. His mind would feel calmed, and whispers from the unseen reaches of his deepest thoughts would bubble up to quietly remind him of the first, simplest, and at the same time most complex tenant of his faith; that all is one. While the shadows of the mountains shifted around him through the passage of the day he maintained perfect stillness and sought to understand what this ancient piece of wisdom could mean when applied to this puzzling new development.
It was not until dusk that he was shaken from his contemplation. He would have carried no qualms against the idea of peacefully spending the entire night sat on the mountain top, but his eyes quickly snapped open when sounds of commotion and cries of fear began to echo their way up the slopes. The bantam protector rose to his feet, took up his wooden umbrella from the snow, and peered East across the peaks.
There he saw a great azure serpent coiling and darting across the sky. As he watched, the scaled god buffeted the sky and dove sharply. Vamana's eyes traced the path of the dragon's decent, and through that he was able to spot the focus of it's attention. A caravan of monks from a nearby monastery were travelling north through the mountain passes, and had somehow managed to raise the ire of this mighty Dragon King.
Ao Kuang pulled out of his dive barely a foot above the wagons, his long body slithering over the convoy below in a roaring display of power. As he passed the lead cart he pulled up sharply and flicked his tail behind him, churning up a powerful gust which toppled the vehicle and sent it's horses off in a panic. His body coiled over itself in the air, and before the vicars below could even recover from his first pass he was diving overhead again, pushing gale-force winds in his wake which caused men to go tumbling in all directions. The proud storm god let out an uproarious laugh filled with malicious glee as he hovered overhead and watched the men scream and scramble in search of cover like scared ants.
"You dare attempt to cross into my homeland without paying tribute to the Jade Emperor?!" boomed the Dragon God from his high perch. "Turn back now little men, unless you desire to learn the full extent of my fury!"
"Who are you calling little?" echoed Vamana's voice from a short distance away. He was approaching at an amazing swiftness, his tiny bare feet tearing across mountain slopes as easily as a child plays hopscotch. A giant cloud of powdery snow blew up behind him as he sped onto the scene, and he skidded to a stop near the caravan's center to bravely confront The Dragon King of the Eastern Seas.
Ao Kuang peered down at the half-sized man who had just crossed a dozen leagues in a handful of seconds. He lowered his head, rubbing his old eyes with clawed hands and blinking a few times to assure himself he was seeing clearly. Once more the serpentine king's laughter bounced off the mountainsides, doubly as strong as before. "Oh-ho-ho-ho! Indeed it would appear I had spoken too soon. Who are you, tiny being, that you would think it wise to parley with the most powerful of the four Dragon Gods? Did you not see the many, twice your stature, who were running for their lives not seconds ago?"
"I believe you allow appearances to deceive you too easily, oh powerful sea lord." Vamana said humbly. His stance was relaxed; spinning his umbrella lazily as it sat on his shoulder. He was familiar with prideful minds such as this, he knew from what he had seen already that a humbling lesson was just the cure for this Dragon God's temper. "Perhaps it is because your nature is to look down on everything from high above, but you apparently cannot see that there is as much strength in any of those men as there is in you, or I. Even if they are not fully aware of it themselves..."
"You think to belittle me so greatly, tiny man, to compare my power with that of measly mortal pests?! My winds could blast you a thousand miles with only a breath!" Ao Kuang coiled his body in the air and bolted downward with a snarl, his great form dropping at terminal velocity toward the small god who might speak of him so. His bearded maw snapped to a halt in front of Vamana's face, the Dragon God's eyes thinning into a scowl.
Vamana's face grew a slow, widening smile. He dropped his umbrella from his shoulder and stuck it in the deep snow next to him, leaning on it with a nonchalance tailored to taunt the temperamental god. "Then prove it. Blow over this cart." He pointed his thumb at the caravan car behind him, half-stuck in the snow from having been halted so long.
"The arrogance! To not only challenge ME, but to such a childish task! So be it, you've none but yourself to blame for the storm you have called forth!" Ao's mighty neck lurched backwards. His fanged jaws opened wide as he inhaled sharply, and he held a long breath as he stared down at Vamana with vindictiveness. With an ear-shattering roar that shook avalanches from distant peaks he lunged forward at Vishnu's avatar and spat a violent, relentless tempest of winds from his mouth.
Vamana steadied himself during the dragon's mighty gasp. He planted his bare feet firmly in the tundra beneath him, centered his weight low and placed his umbrella open in front of him. When the winds came, he erupted in size. His body, as well as his legendarily strong parasol, grew so suddenly and so large that he became an instant wall against the gale-force assault. His now-gigantic bare feet dug into the icy landscape as he held himself firmly in place. Behind him layers of snow, ice, earth and mountainside blew away, but Vamana did not budge an inch from his place.
The Dragon God's mighty breath subsided and he realized what had happened. Vamana had managed to stay his winds from not only the cart which had been his challenge, but the whole of the caravan. He roared out in wicked anger. "You! You cheat! Impudent, deceptive child-man!"
Vamana uncurled himself from behind his umbrella, doubling in size again as he stood. With a swift hand he reached down and grabbed up Ao Kuang as if he were a tiny caterpillar. He held the dragon with just enough force to keep him still as he spoke with a soothing, calm tone.
"No, Dragon King, I have not cheated. You simply failed to realize that something small is not always something weak. Man, god, and nature alike... In knowing the dharma, I acknowledge that all these things are equal. The embodiment we observe is not more than a figment of perception."
Vamana paused then, and a look of sudden realization washed over his features. He looked down at the travelling monk's carts, and something in his own words forced him to recall them in his mind. A key had turned in Vamana's mind. "Listen," he requested, loosening his grip and letting Ao free. "It would be ignorant of us not to see that these are turbulent days. We need not discover ourselves as enemies on the same evening that we discover ourselves as neighbors."
Ao Kuang hovered up to meet Vamana at eye level. Offended as he felt, he found the Hindu paragon's request for peace to be difficult to deny. "What would you propose, then?" he spat harshly. "Mortals have been crossing our borders from your lands in greater numbers each passing day since it's sudden appearance."
Vamana nodded in understanding, his suspicions had already led him to believe that to be true. "Go to your allies, call them together so that we can all meet peacefully. I believe I have found the answers to a great many of the questions which have risen as of late."
Ao Kuang grumbled irritably, and dipped his head in a lazy imitation of a bow. "For the sake of not starting a war I suppose I should do as you say. You and I will have a great much to... discuss in the future though, I assure you." The Dragon King of the Eastern Sea pulled back his lips in one final, threatening snarl before he turned and flew away to his home.
As Vamana descended back to his normal size he was greeted by the cheers of the returning monks. Some started to work reclaiming what they could from the mess of goods while a handful of the highest ranking among them came to give their thanks. "These passes are treacherous enough without being attacked by angry dragons! Is there anything we might offer you for protecting us?"
Vamana requested only a piece of parchment and an inkwell. As the caravan of monks made camp for the night he wrote out what had occurred, and what he had learned. When he was finished he stood, walked to the campfire the monks has prepared and; with a quiet chant, tossed the parchment into the flame and strode away.