Fuggit Khan:
My entry from the Scribes Contest VIII:
Just a young beardling coming of age, Sin-shar-Ashkad was now allowed for the first time to accompany his father and the other patriarchs of his clan to their family mausoleum in Zharr-Naggrund. His clan was preparing again to march to war against the lesser races of the west, and per tradition for the past 400 years, the leaders of his clan would visit the great ziggurat mausoleum of their clan, in order to reclaim a mighty token of war. It was the family heirloom of the mighty Ashkad family, and tradition was that this heirloom was the reason that their clan had never lost a war.
The numerous petrified stone statues of long dead Sorcerer priests from other clans lining the streets in Zharr-Naggrund had made an impression on the young Sin-shar-Ashkad… and while ascending the 666 steps to the top of their family mausoleum, he asked his father about them. His father, an undefeated veteran of numerous wars against the weaker races, laughed in contempt.
�?oThey would have you believe in an afterlife,�?� he said. �?oI will tell you this: there is no afterlife. No heaven, no God, no paradise after death.�?�
Sin-shar-Ashkad was puzzled. �?�But there are Gods! Hashut, Khorne, numerous others!�?�
With a grin that reflected pragmatic wisdom, his father replied: �?oThey are not true Gods in any sense of the word… They are beings of immense power when compared to us. Nothing more. If you were marooned on a small island, and the only other inhabitants on the island were ants, you would be the God of that world. One stomp of your foot would devastate their anthills, killing thousands of them in a single whim. A swipe of your hand would topple their great forests, but just mere weeds to you. They would fear you and offer you any sort of appeasement that they could muster, to gain your favor. And they would only want to buy your favor, so as to promote and strengthen their own wants and needs. With their needs fulfilled, does that make you a God? Or does that make you easily bought with mere words and their pittance of offerings? Are you so weak that you need smaller beings offering prayer and appeasement to you? That does not make you or anyone a God.�?�
Sin-shar-Ashkad could not find fault with his father�?Ts logic, and asked: �?oSo there truly is no afterlife?�?�
�?oPerhaps you should reflect more on what happens to you after your life, as opposed to the idea of an afterlife itself,�?� his father replied.
Sin-shar-Ashkad thought about this as they reached the top of the 666 steps, and watched his father unlock the massive stone-cut doors to the mausoleum with an ancestral key made of obsidian and copper.
Looking to his father, Sin-shar-Ashkad asked: �?oIf I am dead, and there is no afterlife, then what choice could possibly happen after my life?�?�
His father looked at him, and replied: �?oWealth is fleeting. It cannot be taken with you once you die. Let the weaker Dawi Zharr clans covet wealth. Let them line the streets with stone statues of their dead kin, only to be shat upon by the black ash pigeons that perch atop them. Ask yourself… how do you want to be after your life?�?�
Sin-shar-Ashkad thought for a moment, and then answered: �?oThe weaknesses of our enemies are an affront to my family, I live now only to see them killed. So my wish after my death would be to continue to see them killed by my kin and descendants.�?�
His father smiled approvingly.
His father then unlocked the mighty obsidian casket of their family founder, the great warrior Zharr-Ashkad himself. Reaching into the casket, Sin-shar-Ashkad�?Ts father lifted out the family heirloom… the skull of Zharr-Ashkad himself.
The skull gleamed with inlaid runes of copper, the eye sockets stared contemptuously with pupils of polished obsidian. Mounting the skull atop the family battle standard, Sin-shar-Ashkad�?Ts father and the other clan patriarchs all read aloud the runes embossed upon the skull, the final words of their founding father: �?oTo see my enemies slain before me, in my life, and after my life.�?�
And Sin-shar-Ashkad knew then the true meaning of �?oafterlife.�?�
There was life after death, it was the memory of your life and deeds, carried forth with honor by your family.
