The two men carefully picked their way along the rock-strewn, uneven floor of the Cavern of Knowledge. It was a perilous walk that took them over countless ankle-breaking ground holes and fissures of unseen depths, and a single careless footstep could result in disaster. The flickering flames from their burning torches struggled to penetrate the blinding darkness that surrounded them, while they searched for an inner chamber within the vast interiors of the great cavern. When suddenly the light of their torches reflected back in a myriad of multi-coloured spots from crystal studded walls that glistened out of a separate chamber... It was almost totally hidden within a recess, deep inside the cavern’s interiors.
They wordlessly exchanged a look and a nod, as both men stooped to go through the wall cavity into an inner chamber known as the “Crystal Grotto”, and walked straight towards a dark pool of water at its centre. One of the men knelt down, and with a cupped hand he took a drink from the pool. He then reached inside his flowing shirt and held what he brought out, above the still surface of the water whilst calling out...
‘Oh great Oracle of the Crystal Grotto, I drank with gratitude from your Pool of Ken and I now gift you my most valuable possession. What I seek in return is the means to free my betrothed from a witch’s evil grip.’
The glowing fist-size lustrous diamond silently dropped into the dark water of the “Pool of Ken”, and was swallowed-up without causing a splash or a ripple. The seeker and his companion held their torches aloft, their breaths within their chests and waited, when suddenly the water’s dark surface brightly lit-up in the sky-blue colour of the diamond, and a powerful female voice resonated around the now shimmering walls of the Crystal Grotto.,,
‘Seeker... Your gift is accepted. Your heart is pure and your intentions are good, but a sip of knowledge will not make you ready or able to recover what you have lost.’
‘I am Captain Sinbad, hailed as lord of the seven seas, slayer of ogres, beasts, and demons. I have overcome the worst of storms, vanquished a legion of Jinn, survived the blackest of magic, and along the way I have healed the sick, fed the hungry and freed the enslaved. I have brought back treasures beyond the dreams of kings, and I freely offer you my most prized possession to help me win back a possession that I cherish even more, and I would give-up my entire wealth to have my Hanna safely returned to me.’
‘True love is neither a prize won nor a possession owned Sinbad, love is a valuable gift, but it can also be a lethal malady. Salouwa is a most powerful witch, to incur her jealousy is perilous, but to incur her wrath is fatal. Hanna shall remain captive in the woods of Salouwa’s forest until you gain the Seven Pillars of Zen. For this you must set sail again, let your love be your guide, and then seek-out and find the lost cornerstones of man.’
As he was instructed to do, Sinbad listened attentively to every word the Oracle uttered, but he was still anxious to hear all that she could tell him and commit it to memory.
‘Where..? When..? What..? I am ready for anything...’
‘Then hear me well to face your strife, the words I tell shall spare your life.’
The many questions Sinbad was about to ask were overtaken by the Oracle’s powerful voice, before he could begin to ask any of them...
‘Your eyes see all, but do beware of what’s beyond your sight...’
‘You hear the calls, though fail to hear, the whispered sounds of night...’
‘Your nose can scent, but cannot smell, the stench from shallow graves...’
‘Your tongue can taste, but only tells, the pleasures that you crave...’
‘You can touch, but cannot feel, the thorns beneath a silken skin...’
‘Your mind perceives all that is real, but misses what lurks within...’
‘Go forth Sinbad and keep on a true course to the open seas to sail across the Ocean of Time. You will find it when wallowing in the arms of the sleeping winds, but when the random winds awaken, fear not their fury, for they shall take you to Shadoworld.’
‘What is this Shadoworld, and what shall I find once there..?’
‘Find the children of a distant when, land on the shores of the there and then, lean on the cornerstones of men, and when you’ve gained the Pillars of Zen, follow the streams that have more ken.’
‘Riddle me not Oracle. I have paid well and will pay more... so tell me more...’
The blue light faded-out, and in the ensuing silence only Sinbad’s voice could be heard echoing back from the walls of the vast cavern...
The echoes of Sinbad’s pleas reverberated uselessly around the blackness that engulfed the cavern again, but his mind remained fully focused the words of the oracle.
The following deathly silence in the vast dark interiors of the cavern was at first reassuringly interrupted by the pair’s rushing footsteps as they hurried to find their way out. However, their curses as they stumbled over loose rocks, potholes and debris, did little to eliminate an eerie chorus of whispers that started echoing around the rock walls of the cavern... They were the whispers of torment and dismay, the despairing pleas of those who had sought what could never be found.
The sunlight outside of the cavern was blinding, but to Sinbad and his friend and partner on many adventures, it was a great relief from the oppressive interiors of the Oracle’s Cavern of Knowledge. The cavern was a place where some had entered never to re-emerge into daylight again, an altar where only the well-intended could pray, and those who had tried to buy power through acquired knowledge, had become victims to their own greed and vanity.
Sinbad quickly found a boulder to sit on, and was concentrating hard as he wrote down the oracle’s words with a charcoal pencil on a piece of paper. Yacoub, the Timeless Wizard of Sumer had instructed him to take heed of every single word the oracle would utter, as a single word missed could mean a disastrous end to his quest, and for once Zachariah the eternal sceptic kept silent while his friend wrote, even though his scepticism was still clearly drawn all over his face.
Sinbad was reciting what he had written back to himself for the umpteenth time and nodding with satisfaction, when Zachariah finally lost his patience and blurted-out ‘so now the great captain Sinbad, sets his sword aside and waves a piece of paper with a rhyming riddle in the face of Salouwa, the most potent witch in this and all the surrounding regions, and expects her to kneel before him and yield to his demands...’
Sinbad took his eyes off what he had written down, looked at his life-long friend, and shook his head while smiling with customary tolerance.
‘I have always maintained that some scepticism is often a healthy tool if not an essential weapon, but in this case Zak, I would have to say that it is quite short-sighted if not totally blind. There are times when words cut deeper than the sharpest blade, and I know in my heart that this is such a time. My sword, yours and a thousand others would not defeat Salouwa and free Hanna from her clutches, but the oracle’s words will show us the way. I know that I don’t ever have to ask you if you want to be at my side on any quest, but I also know that this will be the most important quest of my life, and I intend to stake my life on it if I have to. So I will ask you to sit this one out instead.’
Zak’s reply came as no surprise at all. ‘What..? And let you have all the fun..?’ he then laughed before adding ‘you never listened to my warnings against your close friendship with the witch, and you have even enjoyed her fawning over your charms, but now that she has gone too far, I am not going to abandon you to her evil intentions. You just work on solving the oracle’s riddle, and I’ll get us ready to set sail to this Shadoworld wherever it is...’