Reflections on the Holy Life: A Priest's Last Words in his Dying Days

Reflections, the last spoken words of famous Vasilian priest Horace Ariston as recorded by acolyte Borus Hecklyte, is written on a scroll contained within a silver scroll case. To reveal the scroll, one must pull a bar on one end of the case which will unravel the scroll - it is impossible to remove from the case without destroying. The main script is written in the holy language of the Vassoans - Celestial. Provided between the lines of the original transcript is provided a translation into common. The text is as follows:

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*"My apostles! My devotees and loyal believers! Hear me now! For it comes swiftly, approaching me with the speed of the roc in flight. Speeding nearer and nearer to me with incredible force, the inevitable now draws near, and I have reached the winter of my years.*

*Since I was a child my parents raised me in the faith. As a child I received the initiation rites of the Vasilian Faith, I was baptized as a high priest in front of his almighty throne, and I studied the texts and tomes of this great city of knowledge. For years I pondered the questions of theological thought, considering the motivations and origins of the gods.*

*Strangely as a boy I resented the teachings of the Great One. I considered wasting one's earthly time debating matters of heaven a trivial pursuit, one more accustomed for daft old men unable to cope with their swiftly approaching demise.*

*It wasn't until my time studying in the foreign kingdom of the Darmans that I was struck by the importance of religion. The Darmans, though another Kingdom of Vasilias, have a radically different view of the almighty. They saw Vasilias as not one single deity but rather just one personification of an even greater being called 'Vas,' or The Thousand-Faced Being. This being has the name Thousand-Faced because the Darmans believed every god to be a personification of this 'Vas.'*

*Though I disagreed rather radically, this difference in belief fueled my intrigue. How could the same exact story be perceived so drastically different? How could these people pervert the teachings of Vasilias' superiority? If faith between two believers of the same god could differ so much, what could that imply for religions that come from drastically different cultural and religious backgrounds? These questions are those which fueled my interest in the faith.*

*Throughout my early adulthood, I studied religions far and wide, meditating with wise men and monks in an attempt to gain metaphysical enlightenment. No religion has brought me closer to truth than that one which is most native to Vassos. That faith which it was founded on, is known for, and will surely go on to celebrate hundreds of years into the future. The Vasilian Faith.*

*Through research and study of the Holy Texts I have found the faith to be one that celebrates human nature. We as humans were made to create, to spread out, to adapt. The Vasilian Faith celebrates this triumph of the will. With our divine, God-given talent, we have the power to be whatever we may want. This is the heart of Vasilias' message to his people.*

*In my middle-age years I became a priest of the old god. I communed with the holiest of Vasilian Believers, including priests of great reknown, priests such as Pelopia Dasux and Gyrtias Snoot. I even once had the immense honor to commune with the chosen priest - he who sits at his right hand.*

*I learned what value these strangers held in their knowledge of Vasilian Faith. I also, however, began to be wracked with nightmares and visions. I was afraid that I approached death and had no stake in the physical realm, being so concerned with the celestial. All these priests, especially those who were eldest, refuted the notion of earthly accomplishment with promises of endless paradise.*

*I was unimpressed with their notion of paradise. I was unhappy with their refusal to posit a physical mark of their existence. The teachings of Vasilias urge us to make our perceptions actual in the world, yet these holy men spend their short lives pouring over religious texts.*

*I was struck with an existential problem: Was it better to spend my life in contemplation of heavenly matters or devote my time on this physical realm to physical matters?*

*For so many years I had chosen the former, and so much of my mid-age years were spent chasing the latter. I found my beautiful wife, had a wonderful son, and saw him go on to start his own family. I must say that this has been the most shining accomplishment of my entire life.*

*I devoted many days to the care of my child, to rearing and loving my boy. Would I have gained more spending those days in contemplation of holy truths? I do not know. I think that my son has given my joy immeasurable though, and I think that I would lose all the knowledge in the world if it were for him.*

*In my recent years, I have returned to studying the matters of faith. I study matters such as death and heaven. I have performed death rites on many sick and elderly. I have questioned the dying. This is what I have discovered. In life, we are all radically different. We each try to establish ourselves as individuals within a set of social norms, but we oft fail to realize that beyond the individual is a specific particularity - that is particular person-hood - beyond the individual. Each person is different in this particularity, and we each try to account for that difference through devotion - such as devoting ones life to a different faith or religion. However, though we may all be different in our particularity - our particular beliefs, thoughts, ideas, imagination - we are not all completely different. For though we be different in life, we all be the same in death. And so this I say to thee followers! Explore your inner particularity! Find out what in life gives you purpose, as religion and family have done for me. For all of life is dealing with the inevitability of death, so if we must die then we are forced to live. If we must live than we must, to have any sort of satisfaction, find our purpose. Said succinctly, my advice to you my followers is this: Know Thyself."*