Literary Diarrhoea

And so it was that Casoman Cavilla went to the forest in search of the Dragon. And upon setting foot on the grass that marks the beginning of another land, Casoman promised himself of no return, unless with the head of the famed Dragon. With Hope as companion, Casoman traversed the alien land, all too familiar with unfamiliarities.

Casoman Cavilla was a son of a preacher, but Faith never shared a room of thought with him. Casoman ridiculed Trust with a passion and slayed Faith with the swords of Reason. Eventhough that, his first steps into the treacherous forest, Casoman begun with a Prayer. In his thought, a Prayer is a promise made to oneself, not to God or an external force. It is a contract with the conscience, not to be broken ever upon undertaking. And that contract this time was never to return without the Dragon, slain.

A few minutes upon traversing the jungle, Casoman stopped, for a moment of quititude. He reflected on his journey, and the words of his master rang in his mind :

Be sure to find it, the Dragon of 5 heads, evil yet mighty. Many men have traversed the path of knowledge, the path of wisdom, the path of power, the path of strength, but none, almost none, has slain the Dragon of the Jungle. And upon finding it, slay it, without thought, without hesitation. But…if at all…in the end of your time, you fail to find the answer to this mysterious Dragon, climb the ninth mountain of the sacred Jungle, and turn the rock that is there, unbelonged. You will find much help, there underneath."

It made Casoman cringe, that his master’s last words were to him, for his benefit. To slay the Dragon, infamous for its ruthlessness, and become the member of the highest order of Warriors.

And so Casoman Cavilla trekked the mountains, and traversed each path, always looking out for signs and tell-tales of a Dragon.

He saw, on one notable occasion, what was to be the remnants of a great city. The city seemed to have been destroyed, yet trickles of shining pearls lay scattered around its marble floors, surviving the lagacy of what once must have been a glorious empire. Inside, Casoman chanced upon massive chests, spilling with pearls and diamonds and golds. A fortune, but no one to claim them. Casoman’s mind did ponder on the turn of fortune he would enjoy, if he took a mere fraction of these treasures home. But no, he had a mission, the dragon, "still the mind, still the mind…" he told himself, leaving the place.

After several days of wandering, something caught Casoman’s attention. A  beautiful song, being sung by a faraway voice. He followed the music, it was a woman’s voice, sweet but with pain. He couldnt make out the language, but he knew this was a sad song. He followed the voice, till he reached a flowing stream. And amongst the rocks that littered the river, Casoman saw a woman, the stream bathing to her voice. She was naked, one with the river and nature. Even her voice, and songs, her flowing hair, and dark, silky skin, were one with nature.

Hearing his footsteps, the woman stopped her singing, and turned to look. Casoman didnt make any conscious effort to hide himself, for he was, in a way, inviting himself to be spotted.

"Who are you!"

"My name is Casoman…i come from a land far away…in search of the Dragon with Five Heads. I didnt mean to interrupt…"

"It’s alright. The hands of fate has met us here, in most unlikely circumstance. Would you like to have a bath with me. You must be really tired from all the trekking"

Saying this, the mysterious woman inched closer to him, the receding water unveiling a well defined bare body, her bosoms clothed only by her dark flowing hair.

Casoman’s every cell tempted him to just rip his clothes off and jump in with her.

"i better get going,…I…I…am already on my way. Goodbye"

He turned his back, fighting back the strongest emotion : temptation of passion, all and only because he had a contract, a deal with his conscience.To avoid the (in)famous "second thoughts", Casoman ran. He ran and ran for hours on end, aimlessly, his mind a blank cacophony of a emptiness. He was beginning to doubt himself, his mission, his purpose, and this made Casoman agitated…running helped ease the burden of doubt. And so he ran.

Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain on the back of his neck, and as a warrior, instinct told him to fall. One of the greatest lessons thought to him was the control of general reactions. When a usual person would turn in curiosity, Casoman was trained to respond, not react…Soon, his eyes closed, and he allowed himself to pass out without panic.

Casoman jolted up, head spinning and breathing heavily. There was a drum being played, maybe 2, or maybe a hundred. The sound of drums and conch and stomping feet, indicated a tribal ritual being carried out. In his heart was only one fear; that he be not the reason for the ritual.

The local warriors had caught him, and when he felt a little more oriented, he realised he was tied onto a tree, his hands behind his back. The tribe spoke a language unlike one he has heard before, but their hand gestures told him they only meant harm. He was made to understand, that the penalty for intrusion was death, paid at the first light of dawn.

Fear, is a feeling most terrible. It clutches your soul, squeezes your heart, and burns every cell in your body. A myriad of possibilities run your mind when in fear, all cowardly solutions, acts disgustingly undignified seem naturally acceptable when taken over by the claws of fear. Such was Casoman’s emotional situation, when death loomed just a sunrise away. He thought of trading his family, his riches, his warrior ethics, secrets, everything short of his soul, for the pittance of his life. He cried, screamed, wallowed in self pity, succumbed to fatigue and distress, accepted defeat and resolved to die in shame.

A few hours before dawn, as the tribal watchguards slept, Casoman, in his bouts between sleep and wake, noticed a scene, an event of such miniature size but of colossal significance. There by his tree branch, was a spider web. A bee had unwittingly got itself stuck on it, and the spider waited patiently for the right time to strike. And as helplessly lost the bee would be, it never wasted a single minute in self doubt or pity. On the other hand, the bee, used its mouth, legs, and even its wings trying to wiggle away the web. The bee, being slightly heavy for the web was moving so much and so vigorously that the web became more and more unable to contain the activity. And true and soon enough, the web snapped, the bee escaped, the spider immediately started to work on repairing its broken web.

This gave Casoman much inspiration and insight to the laws of survival. Neither did the bee give up its life to the web, nor did the spider give up its web to a single failure. Both the insects displayed what was so apprently lost in humans today, the will do go on doing their righteous acts. That action is the only substitute and remover of doubt. Without hesitation, Casoman started rubbing the tied knot on his hands upon the tree, having only a couple of hours to go before the watchguards wake up. He used his new found energy and adrenalin to good measure, and blocked out all negativity.

"I am not meant to die this way! I belong in the Order of Warriors. I will survive! i will survive!"

As it got brighter, with only a few minutes to sunrise, Casoman managed to sever the knots and the rope that tied him to the tree. Without hesitation or ideas of revenge, Casoman ran. He ran like he never did before, up the mountains that surrounded the forest. The famous Nine Mountains of the Sacred Jungle.

After days of running, Casoman could see the ninth mountain on sight. He remembered the ninth mountain, told by his Guru, where lied the answer to the Dragon which he has evidently failed to find. He was constantly chased by sounds of horses, bad dreams and sudden frights in his sleep. Casoman recalled his guru’s words

"Fear is the blindfold of the eyes of glory. Overcome fear, and all this world and the netherworlds are yours."

As he climbed his way up the final mountain, his body feeble and undernourished, Casoman realised he did not fear death anymore. He laughed, almost insanely, at the thought that he had held on to life so much, not realising he was dying every second. A coward dies many times before his death, a valiant never tastes of death but once. Casoman laughed and screamed, a thunderous roar, an exclamation, a proclamation by a warrior who has no more fears, when all worries, anxieties, fears, joy or sorrow can never affect him anymore.

It was the last resort, his guru had said..the 9th mountain, turn the rock unbelonged. Casoman crawled atop the mountain, his eyes scanning the ground, so virgin and untravelled. At the back of his mind, he kept asking himself, "Why didnt i find the Dragon!"

But, his maturity had blossomed, and he comforted himself, "There must be a meaning to all this. I shall find the rock"

Finally amongst large rocks of dimmed and greying colour, Casoman saw one, a rock, one amongst the lot, but dinstinctly black and shining. This must be it.

Rushing to the rocks, Casoman lifted the big black rock…

Turning it over, Casoman finds a papyrus leaf underneath, untouched by the natural elements, so pure and divine.

And on it was written :

"The dragon looms not in the forest of this land. It strays large, within the vastness of mind."

Casoman Cavilla closed his eyes. Tears flowed down uncontrollably, his heartbeat amplified on his mind, as he struggled to contain the gravity of the emotion. He flashed back on his days and days in the forest. The treasures that he sacrificed, the carnal desire that he overcame, the successful fight with fear, and his final realisation that to live, one must remove all doubt and fear.

He stood up, took a deep breath. As the vast jungle and faraway lands stretched out on the view from the top of the mountain, Casoman held the papyrus with both his hands. He read the immortal words again :

"The dragon looms not in the forest of this land. It strays large, within the vastness of mind."

Indeed, Casoman had slain the Mighty Dragon.