The Phoenix Throne
Book I: The War of the Realms
C. Steven Meldrum
About the author Craig has worked for over 30 years in the financial services industry. He graduated from Monash University with a Bachelor of Business degree in 2000 and completed a Diploma in Financial Planning from Deakin University in 2003. For the last 15 years, he has worked in assisting accountants and financial advisors with technical information and strategy. In 2015 he completed a Masters in Taxation from the University of NSW and in 2018 extended his role to encompass corporate governance and professional standards. He has contributed to various professional association committees and working groups and in submissions to government. He has authored many academic and research papers and contributed to various technical journals. He is regularly quoted in the media and has presented to audiences around Australia and overseas on various issues impacting professional advisory, particularly technical services and strategy, advice professionalism and legislative change.
He is married to Shaye and has three children, Charlotte, William and Ava. As a creative writer, he has produced some short fiction but this is his first full length novel which has come from a lifetime of interest in science fiction and fantasy adventure.
Who can trace the invisible path of the man who soars across the sky? Liberated, free to tread upon infinite paths, without beginning, without end. Over whom do the passions and pleasures of Irth matter not? His path is as difficult to trace as the hawk upon the sky.
Buddhist saying Dedicated to the memory of my dad, William George (Bill) Meldrum and to my mum, Margaret for all their years of scrounging and saving and working
multiple jobs to allow my brothers and I to achieve an education. The biggest thank you of all goes to my wife, Shaye, for her unwavering love, support and patience over all these many long years of crafting this story
and to my beautiful, intelligent and talented children, Charlotte, William and Ava. A special thanks to Craig Smoothy for his magnificent artwork.
And lastly, to the Friday Nighters; my brother and best mate Jason, my mates Mark, Michael and Jeremy and the Carnifex Will (cruellest and best of the DMs).
Table of Contents
BOOK I : THE WAR OF THE REALMS
Part I: The Rinpoche Prologue 6 Chapter 1: Tashigang 15 Chapter 2: Tara the White 33 Chapter 3: Deliberations 40 Chapter 4: Lhapka 54 Chapter 5: Guild of the Golden Dragon 68 Chapter 6: Rinpoche 79 Chapter 7: Festival 98 Chapter 8: Lingkhor 115 Chapter 9: Budhi Pallien 140 Chapter 10: Rogel 149 Chapter 11: Partings 171 Chapter 12: Shang Shung 186 Chapter 13: Khyunglung Ngülkhar 205
Part II: TheKarākau Chapter 14: Goldenhawk 234
Chapter 15: Irirangi 251
Chapter 16:Karākau Hondo 259
Chapter 17:The Kāwharu 271
Chapter 18: Battle 280
Chapter 19: Friends 291
Chapter 20: The Dry Land 305
Chapter 21: The Cursed City 312
Chapter 22: Terra Nullius 338
Prologue Tetsuko ’s tale: The Battle of Naraka
Long ago, when the universe was young and the children of Manushyas were but a dream and the gods yet frolicked in the heavens and built their palaces and worked their gifts of creation in the fields of our skies, there lived an asura named Naraka who so much wanted to be of the realm of the gods in their kingdom of Devaloka that he worked feverously for thousands upon thousands of the lifetime of men to be considered worthy. In our land, he forged the foundations and raised the mountains and the seas and the forests and glades and rivers so that the gods might be pleased with him: and they were.
The beautifully savage and ambrosial garden that was called Irth, in the realm of Manushyas, they peopled with mankind, and with the birds and the beasts and the insects and the flowers of the garden and the trees of the forests, and the fish in the sea. And the gods were proud of their creation.
The world of Irth was full of passion, desire, and doubt. And it was given to us above all life, for we were favoured by the gods and made unto their likeness to rise above pain and fear and for those who would but look, and could overcome suffering and ignorance, then the path to enlightenment was open because man and beast and insect and flower fade and as all creatures that can overcome ignorance, hate and suffering can rise to the good realm, so it was that the lower realms housed those that could not rise above those things.
To the animal realm, that of Tiryag-yoni, went the non-humans, those creatures who were yet to walk the realm of Manushyas in the guise of man; who were yet full of stupidity and prejudice. To the realm of hungry ghosts, that of the Pretas, went those of humankind who could not release possessiveness and desire; those who craved wealth and riches and the appetites of the flesh above all things: and they were many. They were called hungry because in that dry land, of grey dust and perpetual thirst in an endless twilight where nothing grows, their riches meant little.
And thus it was that Naraka obtained a boon from the great god Vishnu, for the devas were happy with his work and praised him most highly. Vishnu concurred and granted him power over all males– asura, deva, and manusha. But it was not what he wanted. He appealed to the devas that he wanted to be as they, to be considered their brother and to be given a place among them. But they laughed at him. “You are an asura”, they said. “It is your nature to be jealous and to struggle forth to achieve your wants. You have not achieved enlightenment. Be thankful that you are a demi-god and not a human. Your life is much more pleasurable than what humans can have. We see you are plagued by envy of us, but you are to us as an animal is to a human. Go back to your brothersand seek enlightenment through prayer and meditation.” Naraka was expelled from Heaven and in sadness left the gods behind the walls of Heaven to their laughter, their hedonism and to those higher matters it is not for us to know.
But if the devas thought that the end of it they were deceived. Being a jealous and covetous god, Naraka expected betrayal. He did not accept his fate willingly and had, during his years of toil, created his own realm, hidden below that of the devas, the asuras, the manushas, the animals and even the hungry ghosts, which he had named after himself. And in the lowest levels and in the deepest dungeons, in shadow and fire and with all his malice and envy and hate he brooded and planned his revenge. He gathered to him all things fell from the deep places of the abyss and peopled his realm with all that was most wicked and evil and pernicious and ruinous.
In the many years following that time, Irth grew and upon it the peoples tilled its lands and harvested its seas and built their cities and made their wars upon each other and filled the towns and cities of the dry land with their numbers. And, unknown to the devas, through Naraka’s deceit, they could sometimes come back. For he had been busy. From the planes of his own realm and from the dusty slopes of the dry land, and from the realm of beasts he recruited his armies with promises of power and plunder and to him did all those aggrieved souls flock most willingly. For he was the king of lies and his arrogance knew no bounds. But he bided his time. He waited, as patiently as the vulture that waits for the dying man to fall and not to rise.
And almost when his name had passed into legend and his deeds became obscured in the mists of time, so that even the immortals no longer spoke of him, and congratulated themselves for the fine garden they had created, it was then that Naraka reappeared and, fortified by his boon, unleashed a reign of terror heretofore unprecedented throughout all the realms. In the form of a great black dragon he came, with armies of his kin, for he wooed his brothers from the realm of the asuras with promises of the riches of Heaven, and created legions of demons upon his legions of the dead from the unquiet land of the pretas. Strengthened thus, he razed the cities and t
owns of man to the ground, plundering and killing and destroying all before him. But he did not stop there. Upon the very steps of Heaven, before those mighty gates, he vanquished the gods and brought down the walls of the cities of Heaven, thereby conquering Devaloka, enslaving the devas and exiling their ruler, Lord Indra, the King of Devas.
And so it was that Indra, humiliated by his defeat, travelled to that place of eternal bliss called Vaikunta where Lord Vishnu dwelt in paradise with his eternal consort Lakshmi upon the three-fold serpent Sesha Naga, and appealed to Lord Vishnu for help. And then he found himself in the throne room of a mighty palace on Irth, for of all the realms and all the worlds, Vishnu liked to spend time on Irth most of all. He reclined upon his throne in the form of Krishna, the King of Dwarka with his queen and chief consort, Satyabhama. When Indra saw them he bowed low before the Supreme Being and cried for the loss of his lands and for the devas, thrust into cruel bondage.
“It is karma”, said Lord Vishnu. “He completed great works for you over many times the lives of menand your devas laughed at his request.”
“But he is an asura”, countered Lord Indra, “and his place is beneath that of the devas’.”
“Still”, said Lord Vishnu, “he deserved a rich reward, no matter his intentions. Would he have received any more of your favour had he sat in meditation for those eons? I think not. My boon to him is your lesson in humility and clemency. That should be the end of it, but I agree that he has gone too far. This world of man suffers for your indifference and the kingdom of Heaven is not to be taken by force of arms but embraced by force of faith and entered into with a heart full of love, having risen above fear and greed and suffering. He would make of it a realm of fire and shadow to mirror his own realm and the balance of the universe would suffer.”
Lord Vishnu sighed. “You have created a great enemy through your actions Lord Indra. I agree that Naraka must be stopped. It will be difficult. Nevertheless, I will try.”
His queen was well trained in warfare and Lord Vishnu asked her to accompany him and to drive his chariot into battle against Naraka. The queen willingly agreed to accompany her husband. Lord Krishna gathered up his weapons, and with Queen Satyabhama holding the reigns of his chariot that was pulled by five of the purest, whitest and finest horses ever to gallop the lands of the good country, Krishna set off to Naraka's kingdom.
On the eve of the new moon, in the month of Kaartik, when Surya, the sun, was at his lowest point on the horizon, and Chandra, the moon, was high above them, in a dark valley where winds howled and men and beasts alike hid in caverns beneath the mountains lest the fell dragonlord take flight again, the queen skilfully steered the chariot on its course toward a destiny that would shake all the realms to their foundations.
In rebellious and sacrilegious glee, Naraka had cunningly built his fortress palace, which he named Pragjyotisha, the name that his son would one day give to the kingdom he would rule during the time of the Kurukshetra War. Many-tiered, cruel and unholy, it stood on Irth atop holy Mt Kailash, gateway between Irth and the realms above and below it. Naraka’s armies poured forth to that one place, the fulcrum upon which rested the destiny of all creation. From that holy summit he could see over all his conquered empire, and from that lofty height also could he gloat over his prize, the realm of Devaloka. On the battle plain before the monstrous keep, and here ahead of them, Shiva, destroyer of evil and sorrow, his consort Parvati, Ganesha and Muruga and their armies battled the demon hordes of the Plains of Fire, Ash and Shadow.
The queen steered the chariot through narrow passes to the aid of the devas that resisted to the last. Naraka stood upon the battlements of his mighty fortress brandishing his magic trident, Trishula and saw what he thought were two more devas approaching in a chariot. And while he thought it a fine chariot indeed with fine horses that pulled it, he directed his armies to destroy them. Dragons reigned fire from above, and the fell creatures of darkness, tentacled, slithering and poisonous, struck at them from below while storm giants stood upon the battlements and threw boulders the size of houses that fell hither and thither about them: but none struck true. Finally, one giant threw a mighty boulder that landed with a thud before the chariot and blocked their path. The warrior queen Satyabhama reined in the nervous horses and they swerved to avoid it.
Krishna raised his mighty club, called Khitaka high toward the moon goddess and smote the boulder with a single stroke that shattered it to dust. Laughing he yelled, “is there no more you can do Naraka?” They resumed their journey and the queen skilfully drove the chariot onwards.
No sooner had they passed the place where the boulder fell than a thousand pretas wielding every kind of weapon poured from the black fortress and came at them. The queen spoke in a commanding voice and the horses, who seemed about to break, were filled with a fierce courage and became mighty war stallions. They charged toward the thousands approaching them and rode them down, crushing helmeted skulls and armoured chests and shielded arms with mighty kicks. Those not directly in their path fled and were felled by Lord Krishna who shot them with his mighty bow, Ayuthaya. One after another they fell before him.
They drove on and in no time had cleared the way before the gates of the fortress. As they approached, the gates suddenly burst open and an army of asuras, much larger, better armed and more fierce charged out.
The air was full of their magic and they flung spears and arrows and all the weapons of war at the chariot and its two occupants. The spears and arrows burst upon the golden armour of the five fine horses and the gilt edges of the chariot like rain upon rocks. Krishna held aloft a mighty golden shield called Sipar over himself and his queen against the thousands of shafts that rained upon them and blotted out the stars, such was their number.
“Is there no end to his folly!” scoffed Krishna. He drew the mighty blackbladed sword Jaya Sri that rang with all the energies of the cosmos and with each sweep he smote the hapless legions of asuras as they rode, their heads and limbs and dismembered carcasses littering the road through the main gate and into the fortress grounds. Those that did not fall before his might ran in all directions and, fearing that they now knew who they faced, quailed and begged for mercy before the king of the gods.
Krishna's queen successfully guided the chariot to the massive doors of Naraka's fortress, which loomed large from the murky shadows.
“Naraka!” roared Krishna.“Enough of your stupidity. Come out and face me!”
Naraka, the fell Dragonlord of the kingdom of fire, greatest of the asuras, wreathed in a cloak of fire and shadow, made powerful and terrible by Vishnu’s boon, watched the progress of the battle and in his hatred and his arrogance and convinced of his own abilities did not stop to think what hero this was that had beaten his hordes of pretas and vanquished his legions of asuras. He charged out through the doors of his mighty fortress atop a fell war elephant, a creation of his black guard; massive, armoured and invincible.
Queen Satyabhama calmed her five fine horses as much as she could and wheeled the chariot around the courtyard to avoid being crushed by the hideous beast.
“Fool!!” yelled Naraka.“What hero is this that dares stand before me! I have conquered Heaven and Irth. I am the Supreme Being. There is no-one that I cannot defeat. Kneel before me and I will speed you to Yama. I have your measure mortal for you are a male. Don’t you know that I have power over all males?”
With all his hate and his malice and his desire to dominate all life he had gone mad. With a maniacal laugh, he flung his finest weapon, a magic spear he had created in the lowest levels of the realm of shadow and fire calledKośa Muku,meaning “the spear of eternal death” as hard as he could at Krishna. To those of the armies of devas that saw this they thought the universe had ended when they saw the King of Dwarka fall, his mighty sword clattering to the stone floor of the courtyard.
Naraka laughed a fiendish and maniacal laugh.“Bow before me devas. Your hero is fallen!”
Now, theKośa Muku, the magi
c spear of fell creation that had pierced the body of the Lord of the all things, drank of his blood and was changed. It shone with the combined powers of the highest and lowest of the realms. It had become the fulcrum of the universe, the balancing point between all that is best and all that is most foul, overflowing with the blinding power of the realms and the beauty of the gods and balanced with the sadness of sorrow and regret and all things that prevent us attaining enlightenment. It had become the Kośa Sastra, meaning “the spear of universal balance”. And when Queen Satyabhama, who could not believe that her husband was slain, took up the spear, she was changed into a magnificent golden dragon and flew high over the keep and called out,“Naraka, your boon grants you power over all males. But dare you fight a woman?”
Naraka was surprised by what he saw but not to be outdone he also became the fearsome dragon that had despoiled much of Irth and flew up to join her in combat, the fire of his breath washing over the devas and asuras below.
Long did they fight. The armies of Heaven stood motionless across from the armies of the black land and all heads were pointed upwards to where a mighty battle was fought across the skies of this and all the other realms. From the burning and sulphurous pits of Naraka’s own realm to the gabled aeries and lofty peaks of the towers of Heaven did they fight in a battle as long as the life age of the universal night, and finally, when it seemed there could be no outcome, Queen Satyabhama threw down her enemy upon the spires of his own fortress atop Mount Kailash and drove his own spear through the demon’s black heart. Such was her fury that his last fall broke the ramparts and battlements of the fortress and he, his armies and all his works of darkness were driven back into the abyss.
Krishna, who was, of course, none other than the great god Vishnu and could no more be injured by the destruction of the all the realms let alone a spear, stood up and cheered his queen's bravery.
The War of the Realms Page 1
