Shadows over Ice (The Mazu-Kin Files part 1, a cosmic horror flash fiction series)

The Buddha’s Disciple Jotika was formerly a wealthy man whose wife was brought to him from the otherworldly realm of Uttarakuru by the Devas aboard a Sky Palace. She was taller than any man, with golden skin, a bowl of worm like rice that always replenishes itself and a crystal that glowed with the light of a star and the thunder of the gods. This inspired much jealousy from the King. Eventually, Jotika sent his wife back to her home world and he joined the Sangha as a monk.

— Buddhist Cosmology: Expanded with newly uncovered archeological findings in the Antarctic (1956), by Professor Karl Cheng (later admitted to an insane asylum)

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Oral Testimony of Dechen, an 8th century Bon-Po Shaman:

For generations, my family has served as shamans for the gods of the land of snow.

I was there when Padmasambhāva arrived from the Hidden Holy Land of the Buddha Dharma.

As I cast my eyes upon him, something strange happened. For a moment, the snowy peaks of the mothers of Tibet became awash in another worldly light.

I saw Mountains taller than the Mountains of Tibet sweep across the dark skies. But these were no Mountains.

They were buildings. The Palaces of some giant being, whose denizens are nowhere to be found. Temples of a design alien and at once familiar, but for a race of being whose stature was beyond comprehension.

Tilting my head up, I looked up high, up beyond the tallest peaks, I saw the shifting mass of….something rising up high into the clouds.

Baleful emerald eyes stare back at me, like torches in the darkest of storms.

I knew then that this was not India. This was nowhere in the Earthly realms.

Was this the “Pure Land” of the Other World of the Buddhas. How can this frightful and alien visage be the Pure Land?

The eyes stare back at me. The eyes are everywhere.

And suddenly Padmasambhāva looked upon me in his human guise once more. One of his consorts blinked her eyes, and I saw slivers of some worm-like-creatures scuttling back into the back of her skull.

I shivered in horror.

The Messenger of the Buddha Dharma only smiled at me, and said, “Be not afraid.”

The gods of my ancestors screamed in my ears.

“Run. Run away. Anathema. Alien. Other.”

Padmasambhāva inhaled, and the gods were silenced.

“Delicious.” The Being spoke, “Now, let us built this Monastery in peace.”

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The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah as recorded in Biblical mythology, and the lightning of Indra, as well Typhon, the storm monster of Greek mythology had their roots in the Otherworldly Vessel-Entity of the Tibetan Dharmapalas. The locals call it The Sky Palace of the Bodhisattva Marici. The Chinese called it the Heavenly Platform of the Queen of Heaven, Consort of the Nine Emperors of the Hidden Star. That Star is the Vessel-Entity. The Cosmic Spacecraft of the Aryan Gods. I have seen it. I have been inside it. Beyond the Crystal Gates lies only Hell, not Nirvana. I don’t want to talk about it, no matter how much Himmler and the Führer demands it of me. I will take what I have seen to the grave. This power is not for humanity.

— The Secret Journals of Ernst Schäfer (fragments recovered by Soviet Researchers in a hidden vault underneath Wewelsburg)

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From the Diary of Peter James Moreau, French Businessman:

My father accompanied the famed explorer Alexandra David-Néel, the Lady of Digne, to Tibet, but he did not return the same. He became obsessed with cockroaches. He was listless, his eyes see without seeing anything, he barely remembers me and he broke my mother’s heart. He tried to attack my younger sister once, I had to punch him in the face. Eventually I had to sent him away to an Asylum for the mentally disturbed where the doctors declared his madness was incurable.

I have asked David-Néel many times why she never talked about my father, denying him the fame that was due him in history and if that contributed to his extreme change in personality. She told me, “Your father is dead. He sacrificed himself for me in the secret Tomb of Princess Wencheng. What returned is not your Father.” I thought she meant that in a metaphorical way. Now…now I am not so sure.

I received the news early this morning. My father had disappeared from the Insane Asylum. They discovered a hidden tunnel behind his bed, dug by millions of cockroaches that facilitated his escape.

He left a message for me, cut into the walls with his nails.

“My son, find me in the Tomb of Princess Wencheng. The way is with the Lady. The EVIL must be stopped.”

I prepare now my journey to Tibet. But first I must visit the home of the late Lady David-Néel. I am certain the path to the Tomb lies in her grave.