Role

Chapter 6

On nights when the insects buzz loudest and the moon gazes through the
cypress trees, Obughum feels him. It might be that his memories of youth in
the swamps become sharpest on these nights. Or perhaps it is that his
recollections are as murky and confusing as the swamps themselves.

But the face on the moon - he is sure it is the face of Mr. Bogglesworth.
Obughum's youth is over, and in his middle years he has taken to reflecting
more deeply on his youth and what it meant.

As the moon waxes and wanes, Mr. Bogglesworth's old lessons of the
wilderness come into focus.

But so, too, do small things both comforting and troubling. His mannerisms,
his movements, his quirks and sayings. Mr. Bogglesworth's stories about a
Strange Island he had set out to explore. Of tigers and ruins and ghastly
things no man should have to see. But he never explained what brought him
to the deepest swamplands. And the bizarre rituals and stories he told
about Akresius have turned out to be far from accurate.

Obughum told Akresius that his idea of Victory was to promote struggle so
all would learn to value life - an idea Akresius said was not well
developed. After speaking some with Akresius' Avatar, Marintok, Obughum
came to understand that the Victory that Akresius sought for him was a
deeply personal one.

It soon became clear that his Victory had always been there, lurking
beneath the surface like an alligator in the swamps. He had just
failed to see it.

Mr. Bogglesworth had become an idea to him. His flesh and blood were gone.
His bones were likely crushed and passed by an alligator that is long dead.
He has returned to Nature. It is impossible to tell, now, what was real and
what was not. But to become larger than life and loom like the moon, as Mr.
Bogglesworth does for him, is Victory.

He would have to adhere as closely as possible to the tenets of Lord
Akresius' faith, while simultaneously seeking large, symbolic statements to
make. True Victory is achieving the immortality of legend through deeds
of integrity, and bringing others to find Lord Akresius through one-on-one combat,
glorious acts, and mentorship. It is to die and become like the moon - cold,
distant and untouchable, but a powerful lantern in the dark for those
who later come to wander the twisted trail of life.