The Face of the Vaesiir

'No man may see the face of the Vaesiir.'

The veiled priest had spoken with a subdued tone, yet filled with grim pride and open contempt. 'None may do so, for to see it is to die, or to be marked forever by its will.'

Ceremonial lamps burned silently around us, shifting light and darkness as they saw fit, colouring the priest's veil from dull brown, to deep grey, to dark crimson.

'What if one were to fear neither of these things?' I said.

'Then one would be both brave and a fool of the highest order. Even to glance at the passing form of the Vaesiir is to be changed and chained to it for all time. For it is a creature of means unnatural and arcane, of measures twisted and otherworldly.'

'What if one were willing to try, regardless of these perils?' I respectfully persisted.

Only then did the priest seem to truly notice my presence and appearance. He studied me for a few moments. At last, he laughed from behind his heavy veil, a veil which hid even his eyes, and raised a gloved hand.

'Verily shall ye ascend into paradise, living and dead, calm and uncaring, like the flow of the eternal river' he recited, quoting the one verse uniting all the sects of the Great Desert.

Then he removed his veil.

***

The name Vaesiir was given in dreams.

They are the dreams of all those who once felt its passing through the world. Some believe the name represents the night sky and the secrets beyond it. The Ashwalkers of the far south routinely invoke it in their evening chants, in defiance of the roaming sandstorms. Then there are the robed star-worshippers of the desert interior, who see the Vaesiir as the source of their migration across the skies. There are even some desert mystics who say the Vaesiir was not born of this world, but that it came long ago from the higher heavens and the dark spaces between the stars. Yet all know that to even glimpse the Vaesiir is to be burnt by the desire to follow it.

I too had seen it once, as a child, just out of the corner of my eye. From that moment on, its light would be the most beautiful thing possible in all existence. It grew within me as I did and led me ever closer to its truth, even as the rest of the world was blind to it. On some nights, its vague shape and closeness came to me in my dreams. And I knew, in a way that only believers know, that it was no beast, no living-construct of the old artificers, no demigod of three dimensions, but something altogether far stranger, ineffable and wondrous, a keeper of all the secrets of life. This is why I had journeyed so far into the Great Desert, in search of the man rumoured to have seen the face of the Vaesiir, hoping he would find me worthy.

***

Across measureless dunes, within ancient domes of amber-coloured, abyssal stone, beneath the harsh gaze of the farthest desert stars, there leads the trace of the Vaesiir, changing as the great desert winds change. These had been the parting instructions of the priest, whose revealed face bore the radiance, signs, and attributes of one who has seen.

The next evening, I travelled beyond the knowable realms of men, and into the silence of the desert. And it was thus, after many wanderings, that I found the trace of the Vaesiir. Before the dunes erased it, I feverishly divined its pattern with the help of my tools and that of the stars. All through that night, my strider took me further into the desert. As I raced across the sands, the trace of the Vaesiir grew stronger before me, while the stars burned ever brighter above. I know not for much I rode, but the night grew to an unnatural length, until it seemed to me that three full days must have passed. Finally, I saw the temple. Unarmed, unveiled, and with shivering hands, I climbed its steps, made smooth by passing ages, and entered the central chamber, where a familiar light was waiting.

The Vaesiir had its back turned to me. I looked upon its massive, undulating, almost serpentine form, growing impossibly long with the interlunar shadows that swept all around us, and saw that its skin glistened with the brightness which had haunted my dreams. I could tell that it was covered in scales that were not scales, and mirrors that were not mirrors, but eyes reflecting all there was and all that would ever be. Within those eyes I saw my face, my own life, and the journey that had brought me to that point. I also saw the countless paths of countless others, until life itself seemed to reflect its splendours, its angles, and mysteries. I did not even notice when the Vaesiir turned towards me. I cannot recall the rest. I only have the present, the flow of the far dunes, the sound of changing desert winds, the paths traced in the darkest spaces between the stars.

Now that you have come so far and followed me into my tale, know that you too are part of it, with all your desires, with all your dreams. Know that you too are trapped inside the Vaesiir and its unending, labyrinthine eyes. And this is as it should be.

For no man may see the face of the Vaesiir.