Sunwasdirazam d'Vanecu

Atop a distant peak on the Wall of Heaven, an aged man sat beneath a gnarled peach tree. Once a noble monk of the Xiao Shun Shi monastery, he was cast out after a disagreement with the prefect. Incensed by the affront, after his lifetime of service, the man climbed the Path of Spring, seeking to find his peace once more with the world beneath him. Yet as he meditated beneath the peach tree, a young boy staggered up the path towards him with a bottle of sake in hand, calling out to him in a loud voice.

"Ancient one," the boy called, mischief in his glazed eyes, "How is it that you sit so straight when the tree that has seen you grow is as gnarled as the workman's beard?" Taken in uproarious laughter by his own insult, the boy did not see the monk rise, anger in his eyes. Yet, when the man lunged forward, his fist was stopped only moments away from striking his insulter by the boy's own fist, a wide smile on the younger man's face.

"Ancient one," the boy asked, nearly crowing in delight, "Why is it that you would strike the first to affront you? Are you not a seeker of enlightenment?" In silence and shame, the monk retreated, settling down beneath the tree and attempting to meditate again. Soon, however, a peach dropped on his head and bounced into his lap, where it settled easily. Looking up, the monk saw the boy hanging from the tree, grinning widely at him.

"Ancient one," the boy said, as though educating a child, "Do you not know that you sit beneath the Tree of Eternity? To eat its fruit is to achieve Nirvana, and become as a god! Do you not wish this?"

For twenty days and twenty nights the aged man sat with the peach on his lap, the boy lingering atop the mountain's peak with him and goading him towards the fruit, speaking as to how he would prove himself over the prefect and prove himself superior, inciting the aged man's malice until at last, the monk bit into the peach. True to the young man's word, his surroundings blazed with power and he soon found himself within the temple of the Serene Circle, standing before a man.

The monk could not believe this man to be a god, for he looke dto be a simple human - his dark skin shown especially well with his bald head, though a long braid of black hair wound down his back and wrapped around the waist of his simple robes like a belt. "Immortal one," said a young voice behind him, and the monk turned to see a large monkey with fur the colour of stone standing behind him, opening a bottle of sake. "Will you not kneel before Irori, the Enlightened One?" With a harsh, screeching laugh the trikster god vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving the monk alone with the Master of Masters.

"Razam, you have become as a god, yet you still bear the soul of a man." The Master of Master's eyes remained closed, and he did not react to the monk sitting across from him. "You have taken a cheater's path to achieve immortality, spurred away from Nirvana by the goading of a trickseter, and it is my place to strip you of this and subject you to the punishment of Fumeiyoshi ."

"Master!" Razam cried out, "Will you not grant me a chance of redemption? I was but a man when I was fooled by the King of Monkeys, and is man not fallible?"

Irori sat for months in contemplation of this, though to Dirazam it was but a moment. "Yes," the Enlightened One said at last, acknowledging the point with a grave nod of his head. "Extend your hand." Dirazam did as instructed, and the elder god plucked a strange ball of glowing light from within his palm. "Monkey!" The Master of Master's voice rang through creation, and with a poof the Monkey King appeared before the Master, who repeated the instruction and process.

"From your essences combined, I create a mortal soul." With a gentle blow, the Master of Masters allowed the soul to escape to the custody of the Four Winds, which quickly carried it towards the Prime Material Plane. "Should it succeed where you have failed, Razam, then you will be granted redemption and you and the child shall behold Nirvana. Should it fail as you have, and fall to treachery and malice, then you shall receive its punishment and yours with Fumeiyoshi."

"I understand, Master," said the Monkey King, but a frown of confusion lingered on his face. "But why did you require me?"

"The child will be a mix of man and monkey," said Irori, nodding his head sagely. "For you played a part in Razam's failure, and his heritage will be as much a challenge as his mortality."

Sun Wukong stood, incensed, and declared, "You cannot place the Vanara, the children of my soul, under such harm!"

Irori finally opened his eyes, which reflected the beauty of a moonless, starlit night, and spoke, "Then you should hope the Trial of Wasadi is one it can pass. Perhaps your meddling will be for the benefit of another at last?" He chuckled long and heartily as the Four Winds placed the soul within the womb of a vanara woman, who would soon give birth to her child: Sunwasadirazam Vasilias.

Training with the Xiao Shun Shi monastery from a young age, the boy quickly proved to be a natural and many lessons he seemed to already know, and the elders would often remark that he carried within him an old soul. Yet his childish pranks warranted concern and stern talking-tos from the elders and the prefect, for his mischief did no true harm but did not promote harmony.

In time, the boy would come to his 17th birthday, and set off by ship across the Inner Sea, to seek growth and to conquer the temptation of the world. With him he carried naught but his clothes, spare coin for food, and a statue of the Monkey King given to him by a drunken stranger on the docks.