Filled with newfound vigour, Saiyuki began to explore the cave. It was larger than he had first suspected, and what it mostly contained was skeletons. He quickly deduced the fates of the previous sacrifices sent to the cave. Towards the back of the cave, beyond the piles of bones, there was a larger skeleton, of a being almost twice the size of Saiyuki. It lay in front of a stone table, atop which were a golden-ended black staff with some golden markings decorating it (the writing on the staff reads, in Old Realm, ‘Golden Clasped Wishing Staff’), and a shining, golden breastplate. Without hesitation, Saiyuki slipped the breastplate on and was delighted to discover it fitted perfectly. He was less delighted with the considerable weight of the thing, but found that this lessened over time and before long he hardly noticed he was wearing it. The staff, on the other hand, was so heavy he could only lift it at all with a tremendous effort. But once he had done so, it quickly lightened to the point where he could swing it round his head with ease. It felt right with it in his hands. Weapon and armour aside, Saiyuki was almost disappointed to find no other treasures waiting for him to claim. When he was satisfied he had fully explored the full extent of the cave, and having failed to be eaten by the Mother Goddess, he decided he could do nothing else but return to the tribe and show off his new wonders.
First, he had to leave the cave. How could he do this while carrying the staff, he wondered. Saiyuki wished the staff were smaller, so he could climb more easily, and before his very eyes the staff shrank, until it was small enough to fit neatly into his ear, where he placed it until he had climbed down from the cave.
Had Saiyuki returned empty handed, the elders of the tribe would have assumed he had been too cowardly to sacrifice himself for the tribe, and pronounced him the most terrible of blasphemers. The penalty for this would have been a suitably horrifying death for him, and a second sacrifice would have been sent.
But this fate was not in store for Saiyuki, as he bore upon his body two signs that the favour of the Mother Goddess was with him - armour brilliant with the sacred colour of the sun, and a blazing mark shining from his forehead in the shape of one of the sacred signs that long ago the Mother Goddess had taught the ancient progenitors of the tribe.
The elders hailed Saiyuki the champion of the tribe, come to them in their hour of need, though this being their ‘hour of need’ was news to most of the tribe. The elders had been suppressing the fact that the tribe was, for the first time in many generations, in contact with humans not of the tribe. It was therefore their sacred duty to make war on the ‘not we’, and Saiyuki was clearly destined to lead them to victory.
Except that Saiyuki said “no.”
There would be no holy war in the name of their god. He had a revelation of his own for the elders, who had failed to ask him what had transpired between himself and the Mother Goddess. He told them the truth that had been given to him in the cave: their god was long dead. The elders did not react well to this, and their reaction was only what you would expect - they declared Saiyuki a heretic and ordered him put to death. Now, Saiyuki’s martial skills were feared, but not half as much as the word of the elders, so the fighting men of the tribe tried to seize him. At this, he took the magic Wishing Staff from his ear and, at a thought, it grew to full size in his hands. With this weapon Saiyuki was invincible. He fought off the men, then went to the elders’ hut and slew them all. When he emerged, he glowed as brightly as the morning sun, and the burning image of a four-armed ape-man towered over all the tribe. At that moment, the cult of the Mother Goddess died, and her tribe became the Kingdom of Saiyuki.
One of Saiyuki’s first acts as king was to establish friendly contact with the outside world, for the first time ever in the tribe’s long history. If this had gone badly, things might not have turned out so well for the new king, but the first contact was good, and soon the Kingdom had many friendly neighbours, with whom it traded, and gained many benefits as a result.
When the first trappings of civilisation came to his Kingdom, Saiyuki gained something else - a thirst for more of the knowledge and learning that had for so long been denied his people, kept only by a few elders until, that is, Saiyuki had rashly slain them in his sudden fit of rage. The Kingdom had the potential to become extremely rich from its rare flowers and fruits, much prized in nearby kingdoms, but the king valued wisdom above wealth. As the prayers of his people went to their king, Saiyuki prayed for a teacher to come to him, to give him the education he had so far been denied.
His prayers were answered one day, when a hooded and cloaked figure came to the Kingdom and asked to speak with the king. This individual claimed to be a wandering wise man, with many years of travel behind him, and all the learning that came with it. He answered many questions put to him by Saiyuki, and seemed to possess more knowledge than the entire tribe put together had possessed since Saiyuki killed the elders. He appeared to be exactly the teacher Saiyuki was looking for. But the man insisted there was a price that the king must pay - to learn from him, Saiyuki must leave his Kingdom and travel with him as his student, he would not stay to teach the king when the king could spare the time from his ruling. Ever impulsive, Saiyuki agreed to this without hesitation.
The wise man taught the king much during their wanderings, though perhaps not as much as the wanderings themselves taught him. Still, many of the secrets of Creation were known to the wise man, though he taught these to Saiyuki sparingly, only when he judged the king worthy. Amongst the most precious of secrets taught to Saiyuki were the basics of Sorcery, which the king grasped quickly and instinctively. Before long he knew a few spells, but in his choice of magics to learn, Saiyuki showed a side to his companion that the teacher saw as a flaw in his pupil:
“He will learn only what he wants to learn - that is not the path to wisdom.”
Though Saiyuki was much enlightened by his fellow traveller, his companion was never able to civilise the king, who always remained a barbarian warlord at heart. The wise man realised that teaching Saiyuki as one would teach a civilised man was doomed to failure, that the king must be forced to learn the hard lessons of life, and that he must learn them by himself, in his own time. Furthermore, he saw that Saiyuki wanted the trappings of civilisation for his culture, without the philosophical sophistication and responsibilities to go with them. When the time came for them to part company, the wise man foretold that Saiyuki would never return to his kingdom unless he accepted the ways of civilisation. For this to come about, he must fulfil a mighty destiny, and learn the lessons that come with it. Only from that can he draw the great wisdom he wishes.
So Saiyuki wanders Creation, still seeking his destiny. The wise man meets with him from time to time, sometimes to test Saiyuki on what he has learned, other times to teach him some new magic. Saiyuki no longer trusts his mentor as once he did, for something in his mind tells him that the master has some hidden agenda for the pupil. But he has yet to ask himself why he has never been told the man’s name…