(Book) Raz'ka'Nul

*Raz'ka'Nul is an incomplete work of Ankhari literature. Although originally taken to be a contemporary account of its protagonist, the historical prophet Bekadi'al'Raz (née Raz'ka'Nul), historians now believe the text to be a later fictional work which very loosely adapts the historical events for dramatic effect. The work is often attributed to the prominent Middle Ankhari diplomat Karad'al'Tasakur.*

*The text is ostensibly a tale about a peasant boy (a young Bekadi'al'Raz) fulfilling a greater destiny as guided by the Red God. It has strong religious undertones, as well as themes about the shared cultural heritage of western and eastern civilisations of the time. It is often described as 'propaganda for peace', due to the heightened international tensions of the era, as well as its author Karad's well-reported concerns about a war with the eastern powers.*

## The Book

### **KShep-sa ka Raz- *"Raz of a New Era/Dawn of a New Era"***

*(Raz means “dawn” in formulated/ancient Ankhari, the title is a play on words with the eponymous hero's name)*

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Raz’ka'nul's tale began when he was but a boy with his first voyage out fishing on the Great Sea.

He had woken early, before dawn, to prep the nets and sails of his father's fishing junk. Raz helped with the preperations for the first trip of the many to come now that he was of working age. But these trivial matters were of no real significance to him in his later life, merely mundane, if touching, youthful moments with his father. It was that sunrise which he saw from the boat at the break of dawn that capitavated the young boy, cultivating a fascination and burning passion that would pursue him for years to come.

Raz had never before seen the sun rise from out at sea, a blank canvas of sea and sky perfectly framing the ruby red glow that filled the horizon. It was this spectacle that filled the young Raz with awe and he was certain from that moment that it would shape his future.

From thence forth Raz dreamed of that crimson horizon, inspired by its beauty and its mystic link to the Red God, but also to the tales of the distant lands that lay far to the east across that umber frontier. Yet he lived the life of a simple fisherboy, assistant to his fisherman father; his dreams were too distant from the reality presented unto him, a reality he was all too aware of. Raz's dreams were dreams and nothing more.

Then one night the spark within him grew into a flame, he dreamed of that sunrise that he had seen a thousand times and basked in a radiance unlike one he had ever experienced. Bathed in its dazzling flare he heard a call from within his soul, within the fire, the voice of the Red God that called on him to follow his destiny in the lands to the East, the lands that had ever called to him from his youth.

Raz knew what he had to do but could not bare to leave his family behind, they needed him and so did the city; the people depended upon that which he drew from the sea as much as his family required his company and help.

So Raz went forth into the inner city, to the Temple Way in order to consult the holy men of the Red God. He presented himself unto them and asked for their help but they did not believe the tales of this simple fisher boy.

Raz would return time and time again until one day, at the height of the Red Dawn (\*the holy week for the Ankhari) he joined the thronging crowds between the holy ziggurat and the royal palace, almost resigned to fail in his search for guidance yet too familiar with the chore of searching to be worn down by failure entirely.

There he heard the royal address and welcomed the Red Parade (\*largest religious parade of the year, featuring the king and high priest) through the temple district, a spiritual experience but one which, to Raz, paled in comparison to that one dream so long ago.

The procession passed by and became as a blur to Raz, his mind wandered to the memory of those sunrises and to the divine fire that engulfed and spoke to him in the past. It was then that Raz felt something, the Red God was coming unto him again? No, this was mortal, a human sensation. Raz returned to consciousness, re-grounded to his mortal plane by the hand that rested on his shoulder. The crowds were gone and the sun low in the sky, he must have been absorbed in his self for hours.

Then he was again acutely aware of his shoulder and he turned his downcast gaze upon it. The hand was pale but wrinkled, decorated with rings of gold, encrusted with rubies great and small. He followed the hand along the soft, light skin of the arm that followed until his gaze lay upon the ornate red and purple robes of a priest that ordained the elderly man before him.

"Arise from your visions child of the fires. Why have you not embarked on your destiny?".

Raz'ka'nul simply stared, returned to this realm in spirit and body yet distant and muddled in mind. What did this mysterious priest mean?

"The Red God speaks to us both child, yet he has greater plans for you than as a humble servant in this city. To fulfil his desires is your ultimate duty, fear not for your family and your people for his word is the ultimate path to all our salvation".

To any other person these words may have been a cryptic command, but Raz now knew that following his dreams was not only to follow his destiny but also his duty to his family and to Ankhos. Raz simply watched as the priest and his entourage walked away, a familiar man yet not one of the many priests who had shunned him in the past.

Many minutes followed as he mulled over the priest's words, consumed in a stupor broken only as he realised, his mind having only just returned in full to this realm, that the priest to whom he had spoken was none other than a heirarch (\*one of the holy men second only to the king and high priest, highly respected as the bridge between priesthood and commoner).

Raz knew now that his conviction was more than valid, it was the true path that he had to follow for the sake of all Ankhosians, a journey across that ruby-bathed sunscape to the place of his destiny.

And so he [fragment ends here].

## Original Work

### Opening Section:

Sing of umber skies of the tales of Raz'ka'nul, that great man of our distant past who did unite his friends against a greater foe. Would that their bond had held through time and peoples, for such great calamities since passed may have been avoided.

From Ankh did this legendary Ankhari come, a child born to man and woman of priestly stature, graced in the temples and halls and loved by many. Yet as the shadow of adulthood approached, he could not bare the confines of the cloth. Nay, he strove to seek new lands, lost cultures of his ancestors and the distant fledgling worlds across the sapphire sea.

Thus did Raz'ka'nul seek the aid of a humble and unlikely friend, the fisherman Ob'ab who told him of his adventures. To Raz'ka'nul, the tales of the open seas and of the hills beyond the confines of Ankhos were a jewel in his fading expectations. If this humble fisherman could see such wonders, then so too should he. Thus did Raz'ka'nul seek new meaning and new worlds.

Now did Raz'ka'nul take stock and set forth with Ob'ab to the north, an isle home to a small fishing town from whence Ob'ab came.