Charan's Prophecy
"I have seen in my dreams the coming hoard, ripping and scraping their way out of death itself. In a year's time, nothing will be left of the living world!"
Charan's Prophecy is an old Jirian epic that tells the story of a young hero who is tasked by the spirit of the hero Suraiya to save his sovereignty from an army of the dead. It is a very common tale in the Jirithkae, and the original story has been adapted into several books, tragic plays, and one radio drama.
The lengthy folktale is divided into eight parts, each with their own villains and quests for Charan to undertake.
Summary
Part I - Prologue
The prologue of the epic introduces the setting. Jiri is at peace and is ruled by a kind and wise sovereign. It says that back in ancient times, the barrier between the spirit realm in the ocean and the living realm on land was much weaker, and that sometimes dead spirits could find their way into the living world.Part II - Charan's Quest
The hero Charan is introduced. He and his seven older cousins are members of a poor rice farming family that falls into ill fortune. An infestation of weevils eats all of their crops for the year, lightning strikes their small house and burns it to the ground, and soon after their grandmother falls ill and dies. Without food, shelter, or the head of their family, the seven cousins all part ways to try and make their own way in the world, leaving Charan entirely alone.
Just as Charan is about to fall into despair, a beautiful woman appears to him in a dream. The woman introduces herself as Suraiya, a long-dead champion of the gods, and promises that all is not lost. Suraiya warns that in exactly one year, an army of the dead will arise from the ocean and invade Jiri. Unless they are stopped, all of the living will be dragged into the realm of the dead beneath the sea.
To save the sovereignty, Charan must perform a magical ritual to completely seal off the spirit realm before the undead army invades. The ritual can only be completed with a dragon's bone, a seven colored diamond, and an incantation.
As a dead spirit, Suraiya is trapped in the spirit realm and cannot perform the ritual herself. However, she chooses Charan to be her champion and save the land. Charan accepts, and prepares for his journey.
Part III - The First Steps
Charan sets out on his quest. First, he travels north to find the skeleton of an ancient dragon.
Along the way, he is captured and tied up by an ogre who plans to eat him in the morning. Through cunning and trickery, Charan spends the whole day convincing the ogre that it is actually still nighttime. He manages to trick the ogre just long enough to cut himself free on a rock and escape.
Part IV - The Dragon's Bone
Charan continues is journey northward and eventually reaches the skeleton of an ancient dragon. Just as he is about to take one of its bones, the spirit of the dead dragon rises up from the ground and demands an explanation from the hero. Charan explains his mission, and the dragon promises to allow him to keep one of its bones only if he takes the rest to the sea so that the old dragon's spirit can be reunited with its kin.
Charan agrees and spends weeks moving the enormous skeleton to the ocean. Once he finally accomplishes the task and allows the bones to sink into the sea, the dragon's spirit appears again to thank Charan and give him its blessing.
Part V - The Forgotten Temple
After collecting the dragon bone, Charan returns southward. Along the way, he meets an old man who tells him of a legend that a seven-colored diamond is hidden in a lost temple deep within the Scarlet Jungle. So the hero sets off westward in search of the mythical temple.
After several minor adventures, he arrives at the lost temple only to discover that the diamond is no longer there. Instead, he finds the temple's guardian, a half-man-half-tiger mortally wounded on the steps. Although Charan is too late to save him, the guardian manages to tell him that it was an evil witch who stole the jewel and asks the young hero to stop her.
Part VI - The Rainbow Diamond
Charan sets off in search of the witch and the diamond. Once he finally tracks down the thief, a fight over the diamond breaks out between the two of them. Although Charan has no skill in magic or combat that can match the witch's spears of ice, he uses the surrounding jungle to block and avoid her magical ice until some wind blows away the witch's hat and she briefly pauses her attacks to retrieve it. Realizing that the hat is her catalyst, Charan manages to steal the hat, which strips the witch of her powers. After grabbing the diamond, he quickly retreats with the hat and continues his journey.
Part VII - The Solar Library
Charan journeys to the ancient Solar Library, a mythical archive said to contain all knowledge in the world. However, the library only appears for fifteen minutes each day when the sun is highest in the sky, so Charan must quickly search for the incantation and get out before he is trapped there forever.
Once inside, he is met by a paper butterfly archivist who offers to tell him the location of any book he wants. When Charan asks for a book of incantations, the butterfly instead gives him a riddle before flying off.
When he solves the riddle, the answer reveals the section and shelf where the magical book is kept. Charan quickly takes the book and runs out the doors just before the Solar Library vanishes.
Part VIII - The Ritual
With all three components, Charan journeys to the seaside where the ritual needs to take place. He draws the ritual symbols and places the dragon bone and the diamond at the center. After he recites the incantation, white tentacles form from the ritual circle and pull open a rift in the sky, allowing the woman from Charan's vision to step through.
At this moment, the woman introduces herself as Azayek, the Archdemon of Dreams. They reveal that the ritual that Charan had performed actually opened up a rift to the Abyss and allowed the Archdemon to physically enter the natural world. They then vanish, leaving Charan alone on the beach.
"Your work was truly incredible young hero. You have managed to rip your way through death itself. I look forward to exploring the living world. "
The Danger of Prophecy
Jirians are distrustful of fortune-telling and believe that life is too chaotic to predict. This legend is used as a warning to those who are too quick to trust dreams or omens.
Although the story is well known across Jirithkae, not all cultures accept it as true or even as a moral fable. Othkaens and Rhenacians are much more receptive to fortune-telling practices, and most view this legend as an overreaction.
The Hero Suraiya
The character of Suraiya is the central figure in her own set of folktales set many years before the events of Charan's Prophecy. She is said to have fought a thousand monsters, demons, and giants who nearly wiped out the ancient Jirian people. To aid her in battle, the gods gifted Suraiya with immortality. However, she eventually lost her gift when she tried to kill the god of death Heliasek.
The Forgotten Temple
There is some debate among literary scholars about whose temple is supposed to have held the rainbow diamond. The most widely held theories are that it was used by followers of Vesmek, a Jirian deity associated with both stone and art, or H'kaishen, the Old God of nature.
Others say the temple is just as factitious as the tiger-man guarding it.
The Butterfly's Book
The book of incantations that Charan retrieves from the Solar Library appears in other Jirian myths as well. It is said that the pages were scattered across the world, and all known incantations were copied from the book.
Kamesh's Prophecy
In older versions of the tale, Azayek appeared to Charan in the form of Kamesh, the old Jirian deity of time. Today however, Kamesh and the rest of the old Jirian pantheon are no longer worshiped. Instead, later versions have the Archdemon appear as Suraiya, who is a much more recognizable mythical figure to modern Jirian audiences.
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