When Won Odego drew near to the end of his life, his eyes grew as quiet and reflective as a still pond. His student, Harthal, asked him what it was that troubled the master.

“Not troubled,” said Won Odego, ‘I am only thinking of what I might still achieve before I join the ancestors.”

His student protested, saying the master surely had many years left, but Won Odego only hushed him. “My time will be coming soon. Even now, the wind tugs at me, drawing me on.”

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Before he was to pass on, however, he wished to erect a series of monuments for those who would later learn the Way of the Paragon. He would be buried at the site of the final monument when his time came.

Won Odego and his student Harthan got to work at erecting these monuments. Each would deliver a lesson for future students.

They erected the first on a high peak, where students could meditate on the mountain, studying to be immovable and constant.

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Among desert dunes, where wind howled and kicked at the sand, they built the second monument. This monument would be for students to meditate on the wind, and freeing themselves to become unrelenting and unrestricted.

The third monument they built at the mouth of a great river, where the students would meditate on fluidity and the need to be aware and adapt.

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Finally, they came to where Won Odego wished to be buried. This location, he explained, was positioned at a high, central vantage from which he would watch over the students as they underwent their journey, always.

“Master,” said Harthal, “let us leave now, and return when you are ready to pass.”

Won Odego shook his head and smiled. “It will be soon, Harthal,” he said, “you may go, but I will stay.”

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Harthal would not leave his teacher. They set up camp. That night, when Harthal slept, he had a dream that a Shalastir came and stood before Won Odego in the eye of a hurricane. The elemental beckoned Won Odego out of the eye and into the storm. Won Odego followed and disappeared into the swirling winds.

In the morning, Harthal woke to find his master cold. Burying him there beneath the final monument, Harthal became the new master of the paragons, and passed on the teachings of Won Odego and the monuments they had built.