Conflicting Views ~ Part 2

      “Certainly,” said William. Chang led him to a warm and elegantly furnished room and motioned to him to sit at a rosewood chair next to a table, while also helping himself to a chair.

      “You live alone here?” asked William.

      “No, I live with two adopted children whose parents had died of illness. They are still asleep.”

      William breathed a little more easily upon hearing these words, for they suggested that Chang was a good person. Yet he also knew from his experience with the necromancers that mere words can deceive. Could Chang be concealing himself behind a facade of goodness by making up stories? And what about those idols?

      “I think it will be best that we commence our discussion immediately,” said William as he removed his helmet and gauntlets and Chang poured for him a cup of hot jasmine tea. “Even now the Serpent Riders stir in their slumber.”

      “Aye, the Sleeping Riders,” said Chang, smile changing to a frown. “They had brought enormous suffering upon many worlds indeed while they were alive. Truly they must be prevented from causing further harm!”

      “Indeed. It is with this in mind that I have come to ask of you what means you know of that could put it all to an end.”

      “Your patronage moves me deeply, young sir,” said Chang, “for I myself have actually been working on a special means to combat evil in all its forms since many years ago, but have despaired that so few should show any interest in my researches, even here in my homeland.”
   
      “Please tell me of your researches, wise one,” said William, eyes brightening with eagerness.

      “For sure, honored guest. But lest my words should fail your understanding, I have need to gauge first the scope of your knowledge so I may choose my words accordingly in my explanations. Could you therefore tell me first what you know of the nature of ch’i, please?”

      William knitted his brows a little. “Ch’i? If I recall correctly, the term has its origin in the lay of this land and translates as the Aether, which in turn is but a clear fluid that fills the space between the worlds and holds them in place. What else is there to it? This is something all schoolchildren on Thyrion learn, albeit in different languages. The people of Septimus call it pneuma, for example, and the Mazærans, the nagual.”

      “Ah, but the ch’i or Aether is much more than that!” rejoined Chang. “Not only does it fill the space between the stars and hold them in place, it is also the very basic stuff of which all things in the Universe are made, including all living things, such as you and me! All things are in a sense frozen Aether; there is nothing at all which is not made of Aether!”

      “Not even the dark beings that dwell outside of the Crystal Sphere?”

      “No, even those beings we designate as spirits or ghosts are constituted from Aether, too, only of a much finer and more tenuous variety. And, truth be told, the void outside of the Crystal Sphere is also filled with Aether, though again of a much more rarified variety; and there are countless Crystal Spheres more or less like ours floating in this infinite Ocean of Aether, each with its thousands of worlds, all of them ultimately all composed of Aether, or ch’i as we of Tulku call it.”

      William was momentarily awed by the sheer immensity of this vision. How great must be the Creator of All, the All-Father, to be able to create a Universe of such vast dimensions! Yet a disturbing qualm also arose in his mind: in speaking of all living beings as made of Aether, would Chang say that of even the All-Father, the very Creator of the Cosmos, thereby reducing Him to a mere material being? Such a debasement of the All-Father would be unthinkable!

      But presently William put all these thoughts aside and returned to the conversation. “And what would all this have to do with your researches, wise one?” he inquired.

      “Everything,” replied Chang after pausing briefly for a sip of tea. “Surely it is imperative that we understand the nature of life, of all living beings, before we may diagnose correctly the reason why they turn to evil and hence determine what can be done about it. Which brings us to my next point: Aether is one. Therefore, all life is one.”

      William was a little taken aback by this statement. “How can that be so?” he asked. “Are you and I not distinct individuals, for example?”

      “Let me provide you an analogy. You cannot cut water into pieces, can you? It is always one and indivisible. Try passing a knife through a body of water; clearly it doesn’t become two bodies of water. Likewise with the Aether. And since all life is made of Aether — is a part of this boundless ocean of Aether — all life is one, just as the ripples and waves and foam on the sea are all one, because they’re all part of the sea and there’s only one sea — though we may often pay so much attention to the waves and ripples that we forget the sea. We — you and I, and all living beings — are but waves and ripples on the great ocean of Aether; thus we are ultimately one — one with each other, one with all of life, one with the mighty ocean of Aether.” Chang’s gaze softened, evidently rapt in his words.

      “But… But unlike us living beings, the Aether itself is not alive, is it?” objected William.

      “The Aether is alive, sir!” replied Chang. “Everything in our Universe is alive, even what we commonly term inanimate entities, such as the rocks and dust; they merely manifest a different form of life, that is all. Never think for a moment that they are devoid of life: I assure you, if your inner faculties were sufficiently developed, you would clearly see their substance suffused with a throbbing vitality! The entire Cosmos forms a single living body, and we’re all part of it. And if all life is one, this would lead to a profound ramification: all life is actually good in its essential, original nature.”

      William nearly choked on the tea he was drinking. “What — all life is good?” gasped the crusader, wanting to make sure he had heard correctly.

      “Yes,” replied Chang. It was evident from his earnestness that he was not jesting.

      “Even the Serpent Riders?” asked William, knitting his brows with incredulity.

      “Don’t forget, I said ‘in its essential, original nature.’ Yes, even the Serpent Riders, except that they’re deluded — a point I shall elaborate upon in due course.”

      William found his mind being stretched, and his commonsense affronted, as never before by these unfamiliar and often seemingly ludicrous ideas, but he decided to persevere. “Pardon my inability to understand, wise one, but how does it follow from this oneness of all life you speak of that all life is good?”

      “Would your liver do anything to harm your heart, or your hand inflict any injury upon your eye? No. On the contrary, all these parts of your body work to sustain and protect each other. And why? Because they’re all part of one and the same body, so that if any part of your body were to hurt any other part of your body, it would ultimately be hurting itself. In a similar vein, all living beings in their essential nature seek to be good rather than evil, to affirm rather than negate each other, since they all form one body: the great ocean of Aether.”

      “But clearly you have many evil beings around who do actively seek to negate other living beings!” objected William, voice charged with vehemence. “How on earth do you explain that, if what you’ve said is true?”

      The alchemist put on an apologetic expression. “I am most sorry if my words should have proved a source of consternation to you, young sir,” said Chang in a humble tone. “Here, why don’t I show you something which I believe should greatly aid your understanding? It is part of my research as well. Your indulgence, please, young sir?” Chang stood up and nodded at William, gazing appealingly into the crusader’s blue eyes with his smiling, hazel eyes.

      “All right,” said William. Chang walked to a wall in the room on which hanged a landscape scroll depicting distant mountains enshrouded in mist, and pushed at the wall, which swiveled around to reveal an entrance to a dimly lit stone staircase. Down the staircase the two men went, their footsteps echoing in the vacant passage, until they came to a cavernous stone chamber.

      “My laboratory, honored guest,” said Chang, his voice echoing through the chamber. A brief survey revealed to William’s eyes an array of finely crafted bronze and porcelain articles arranged in a patterned manner around a mysterious symbol on the floor in the middle of the chamber: a large circular diagram divided into two halves by an s-curve running through its middle, one half white in color with a black dot in it and the other half similar in design but with the colors reversed. William could not be sure if this might be some sort of trapdoor, or if the walls of the chamber might not conceal yet other secrets — perhaps secrets not meant for human eyes. Almost involuntarily, William’s grip tightened around his warhammer…

Please click on link below to proceed to
"Conflicting Views ~ Part 3" 

If you have not read this story from the beginning and would like to do so, please click on the link below:
"Conflicting Views ~ Part 1"