A fire in the midst

A Fire in the Midst





The Scripture reads: At the start of our time there were four entities: one of earth, one of water, one of fire, and the last of air, and they came to create our world and placed upon it all its needs to exist, such as the ocean, so gallant in its movements, the forest, a beautiful structure of dark secrets, and the mountains, whose hearts contain a rapture of fire.  Nonetheless did they also concoct the beasts that dwell freely upon nature’s splendor.  And when the time passed that were ready to decide what our kind were to be, they faltered, for they all had diverse dreams and could not agree upon one stature, one feeling, one judgment.  So they waged war upon each other and brought the madness of this destruction to the very soul of the earth in which they had just created.  And they fought in the core of the world and destroyed the center of the earth, and nothing there was left but a desolate wasteland of desert and ruin.  But eventually they stopped for they realized the world was too grand for but one species so they separated from one another and were each assigned to one of the four corners of the world; and there they created their own beings, unto their liking, of their own stature, of their own feeling, of their own judgment.  And the center of the world, destroyed and barren, was kept as a barrier, so no being of any entity could step upon foreign land.  Thus began the start of our world, and thus began the end of our world.



         “Lies!” I said to myself.  “Lies!” I said again out loud.  “Lies.” I said but softly as my kinsmen stared upon me with daring eyes.

“What is the matter brother?” said my ten-year-old brother Alet.

“Nothing Alet, let us go home.” I placed the Scripture back where it belonged; in the gutter where no lights reach.  My name is Alev Recrem.  I am twenty-two-years-old and live in the supposed land of the entity of the Great Fire.  Laugh willingly I do often as I see these stupid people of my village read on and on about the Scripture and pray openly everyday for something new, but what they don’t realize is that it is all lies.  A non-believer people call me, others a madman, but most say I am a terrorist to the Great Fire, sent here to destroy all things made and so forth.  But I do not bring myself down to believe these deaf and dumb people, for they do not understand the real world, and only I have come to know of it.

         I look down upon my brother Alet, and hope only that he grows up and comes to believe that the Scripture is lies and it is made just to protect us from leaving our home here in Forn Alor, a castle of confinement, because here I feel no protection; all I feel is that I am locked up behind bars and everyone else is watching as I suffer.  They say the center of the world is a wasteland, but I truly, truly believe that out there is a paradise, a Heaven, far greater than living here in Hell.

         Even now walking home I see the wandering eyes staring at me, and it makes me wonder why was I born this way, what is my purpose of living, and why is it so hard for me to conform to the society in which we created; or so called the Great Fire created.  And as I step up to my door at my home I see yet again another hate mail, a board implying, “TERROIST!  TERROIST!  DESTROYER OF THE WEST!”  Figures; I have gotten many worse before, but the worst one to my knowledge is the “Scourge of the West”.  They think I am some kind of disease, just about to spread everywhere and kill everyone; well I will be leaving soon, so no more will there be fear.   

“Goodnight Alet,” I said tucking him in bed while taking his favorite book out to read.

“Goodnight Alev.” It took nearly an hour until his eyes slowly closed.  He never wants to sleep anymore, probably because he knows I am planning to leave and go to the Forbidden lands.  I am scared for him, for I am all that he has left, but there is nothing I can do, I must go, I must do this.  I opened the door slowly and gazed out searching for any guards.  Curfew began at eleven and if I was caught outside at this time I would be most likely whipped or worse.  I left my home, and walked slowly into the shadows, watching the guards pace back and forth, back and forth.  I walked even slower as I approached the home of the King and Queen.  I jumped up and caught a ledge and pulled myself up.  I reached for a nearby window, almost slipping when I grabbed hold of it.  Staring through the window I saw a beautiful young girl, brushing her long, brown hair.  I tapped on the window as softly as I could.

“Princess!” I said whispering.  She didn’t hear.  I tapped harder.  “Princess!” she turned around and trotted over to the window. 

“What are you doing here?” she said.

“I have come to see you my love.” she kissed me on the lips.  I continued further and slowly trailed my hand up her leg–she backed away.  “What is the matter?” I said.

“If my father hears us he will kill you.” I reached out for her, but she stepped back yet again.

“He will not hear us, I promise.” I walked slowly and finally got a hand on her.  I rested it on her cheek and her lips brushed upon it as I slid my hand down her neck.  We laid on her bed and a rush overcame me, and a night of bliss had begun.  After while I spoke, “Moriel, you know I love you, right?”

“Right!” she spoke.

“And you love me, right?”

“Of course I do.” She picked her self up over me and stared deeply into my eyes almost penetrating my very essence.

“If I tell you something you will not think of me any different, okay.” I trembled as she shook her head no.  From there I knew it was a mistake, but I continued anyway.  “I do not know if you have heard from the streets yet,” my tongue was caught in the back of my throat.  “But I am a non-believer of the Scripture.” A tear fell from my eye.  Moriel’s eyes darkened.  “I do not believe in one thing that those lies say and I plan on leaving tomorrow to the Forbidden lands; I want you to come with me.”

         Moriel began to shake, her face lit up bright red, her eyes now colorless and faded into oblivion.  She opened her mouth, though hard it seemed for her, she stuttered to get out the words, “Please leave.”

“Moriel no, please I beg of you, come with me.  There is paradise out there I know it.  I can see it from dusk till dawn, I can feel it in my heart, please trust me!”  She could not get any words out; her eyes began to bleed tears.

“I cannot come with you Alev, I just cannot do that.  It is so sudden and I understand your purpose, but I grew up reading this and I cannot turn my back on it now.”

“So have I, but once my parents died I chose not to believe, because why would a god kill the two most important people in my life, for no reason at all?”

“Well tell me than, how did they die?” her eyes began to glow a bright red, fiercely.

I remember the last thing my father told me before he and my mother were killed.  He spoke, ‘My boy Alev, you have a destiny to fulfill and I believe it will be for the good of our civilization.  Go far in your ways and stand above the rest.  Do not believe our lies that we have bestowed upon you.’ and then all I heard was the snap of his neck followed by my mother’s.  They were hung of course, for being different from everyone else.  Yes they studied the Scripture, but they did not pray, nor did they go to gatherings, nor did they feast on the Dark Day, for the Dark Day was the day in which the four entities fought.  But how could we feast, for my family is bred off the streets, and they stole regularly and wrecked property and I was and always will be worthless.  I was lucky enough the King spared me a small home for Alet and me.  I had to bend over backwards just to get my home.

         I stuttered stepped my thoughts to quickly and right as I was going to tell Moriel the fate of my parents I backed away.  Nothing was alright from here and nothing will ever be.  I staggered to the window in pain from the loss of my only love.

         “You are going into the forest are you not?” Moriel spoke suddenly.  “To get to the Forbidden lands you have to go through the forest right?”

         “Moriel–!” she interrupted.

“Right!” she said harshly.  “And I suppose you have not heard of the stories, have you?” her tone grew serious.

“No I have not Moriel, what are talking about?” I became scared, her body was shaking.

“Well since you are a non-believer I am supposing you have never read the full Scripture.  Towards the end of the Scripture each entity wrote the way the world was going to end.  They all used the Forbidden lands as their answer.  Now as for the Great Fire, it placed creatures in the forest, and it described these beings as your worst fear.  They will kill you if you go into the forest!”

         “Why?  Why would they kill me?”

“To protect our kind, from people like you from ending the world, because it is said that if one being takes a step upon the Forbidden lands, the Great Fire spoke that it will rise from the core of the earth and spread in a wild inferno of ruin.  It will bring the madness of destruction from the center of the earth.  Is that what you want?” she was now more serious than ever.

“Moriel, I have heard many stories of people running off into the forest and look, we are still here.”

“Yes, but have you considered that they could have died?”

“By what do you think killed them?”

“The creatures of fear!  And even if it was not by the creatures it was by starvation.  The forest goes on for miles, hundreds maybe thousands of miles, I do not know.  It would take a few months to travel to the Forbidden lands.”

“Moriel, you sound crazy to me.  I truly believe that those people have found my paradise I have always been dreaming of.  I am sorry you feel this way, but I am leaving tomorrow and there is nothing you can do about it.” Her eyes were lit and hooked on mine.  It seemed as if I could not escape her grasp of hatred, but right as I stepped out the window the last thing I remembered was a fist flying at my face.

         I woke up in agony, and I felt that my eyes were bruised because I could not open them.  I believe that I was in a jail cell, for I could hear the yells of others behind bars swearing above and beyond, screaming words I had not even heard yet.

         “Get up you scoundrel!” a guard had grabbed my shirt and made me stand.

“What is my crime sir!” I said.

“You have been charged by the King for trespassing and breaking into his home, and sleeping with his daughter Princess Moriel.  You are to be hanged midday.” He dragged me over to a chair.  “Sit here, do not move!  If you even attempt to run you will find yourself with an arrow in your back, you hear!” I nodded.  The guard chuckled and spoke, “It is shame midday is in five minutes.” He kept on laughing as he walked away.

         I was not about to die, not here, not now.  I am not afraid of death!  I slowly rose from the hard wooden chair and quietly made my way down the hall.  Stupid guard could not even stop to think to cuff me.  I ran as quickly as I could towards the entrance of Forn Alor, not stopping, even as I heard the screams of the guard who should have thought better.  From afar I heard soundly, “Stop that man, that fool, the Scourge of the West!”

Everyone’s eyes were fixed upon mine.  Sweat poured down my face as I neared the entrance and the villagers started to close in on me.  Down in front a guard blocked my way, but that did not stop me as I jumped up and kicked him in the jaw.  I could hear the crack of the bone and I knew I had killed him, but that did not matter, and I kept on running till I reached the outside of Forn Alor’s walls, and into the grassy plain lands.

         The grass stood tall in the plains and it felt like I was in a maze, but I followed my instincts and kept running forward, though I knew I was just going in circles.  For hours on end I ran, and little by little I began to lose hope, but my life could not end this way.  I must finish what I was born to do.  FREEDOM!

         “Moriel!” the King came bursting into the princess’s room.  “Your little man has escaped from the guards.  Where is he going!  I will ring his neck, now tell me!” the princess was hesitant for deep down she still loved me.

“He is going to the Forbidden lands.”

“What!  Is he mad?  He will destroy us all!  Guards, send a search party now.  For disrespecting the King’s orders, once I have him back, I will do worse to him than what I did with his filthy parents.”

         

I had finally found the woods.  Endless running does pay off I suppose.  I stepped forward into the dark forest and as the day grew into night the forest became pitch black, darker than night.  I placed my hands in front of me for I could not see but one thing—!  I tripped and fell and rolled down a long hill.  I felt a rock hit my side and also my head and knocked me unconscious.  The next day I awoke with a sharp pain shooting throughout my body.  The back of my head was bleeding and my eyes were more dazed than ever.  I had not remembered which way I had come from, for the night is dark in the forest.  I guessed a path and stuck with it.  I ran and ran and ran some more and discovered my journey was going to be a long one.  My sides ached, a broken rib perhaps, maybe even two, but my adrenaline had kicked in; finally and no more was there any pain.

         Towards the end of the day I heard faintly the sound of guards marching just miles behind me.  Tonight the moon was lit and it brightened my way through the forest.  As I ran the pains from my ribs were aching yet again, now more than ever.  My vision became dazed and distorted so I took a seat upon a fallen tree limb.  My only night of day was completely lost, and the voices of the guards grew ever close.  I stumbled to get up as I felt the blood rush through my veins.  I could hear my heart beat vibrating through the ground.  I took one step forwards and fell straight into dirt.  My breathing grew heavier as I coughed even louder and louder and blood spilled from my mouth.  As my eyes tightened and vision went dim I slowly, but surely lost conscience.

         I woke up the next morning, or so it seemed that I had been gone for days and saw a boot right in front of me.  I looked up to see a guard and my nose started to bleed, for that is where his hand landed.

         “Get up you scum!” he threw me up and pushed my back against a tree.  Around him were ten or so more guards pointing their bows at me.  “Take off his shirt and bind his hands around the tree!  I will teach this scoundrel to mess with the law.”  He whispered.  “We have been searching for you for over three days now,” he said taking out his whip.  He cracked it upon the ground and I stared fearless in its wait.  “Not afraid are you.  I will teach you fear!” the saliva from his mouth hit my face.  I held back all pains and sufferings and endured my fate.  His first swing hit me across the face.  His second hit my leg.  His third hit my side.

         “Oh!” I mumbled.

“So the boy grunts,” he laughed and then said, “So that is where it hurts.  Let me make it feel better.”  His hand reached for my side and he dug his fist in.  I tried to hold in the pain, but it only burst out in screams.  I felt his finger touch the broken bone and move in and around my rib cage.  I knew I was bleeding internally and if this continued I would surely die.  But I could not die; I must fulfill what I was meant to do.  I will not die, not here, not now.  I took a deep breath feeling the vibration of my bones rattle, and released it slowly.  The whip continued cracking upon my body for another hour before the guard was finished.  Scars and gash wounds protruded from my worthless corpse.  I could feel the last blood drop leave my body.  My head had fallen and I stared at the ground.  But I was still alive and there was still hope.  FREEDOM!

         “Alright untie him!  I am done with this rat.”  The guards came and pulled me down from the tree.  They laid me in a bed of leaves and I felt the grubs crawling within my spine.  Ahead, a bright light shined before me.  I thought it was my paradise, but it was only the sun fading into the void.  Darkness came quick and crept upon the guards; no more was there a moon to light the way.  Sweat poured down their faces and their expressions tightened.  A gulp, no two, no three, I heard being swallowed down the throats of these so called valiant guards.

         “Sir Tarvi, which way do we go, I cannot see.” said one of the guards quavering.

“We go back the way we came!” his finger pointed in circles.  His mind was confused for the dark does this sometimes to people unaware of its purpose.  “Alright men, settle down, we will camp here.  Start a fire!”

         The men went off into the forest to gather wood.  The guard who whipped me could not take his eyes off of mine.  It almost reminded me of Moriel, the way she stared at me, almost piercing my very soul.  Suddenly a scream arose in the distance.

         “Run!” I heard a guard scream.  The next thing I heard was a gargle as if someone was drowned.  From all around me guards came running out.  One in front of me had suddenly been severed at the head and his blood poured onto my face.  Another behind me had fallen into pieces and another caught fire abruptly.  All the guards had soon fallen to the ground and my mind stood in bewilderment.  Though, the guard who was still staring at me was still alive.  He soon stared over me and spoke, “No please, do not do this.” He backed away.  I turned around to see nothing.

         “What is the matter, what is going on.” I trembled to get the words out.

“No please!” the guards body began to lift in the air.  His neck tightened as if a noose was placed around it.  He dangled in the air and then all I heard was the snap of his neck.  The blood dripped upon the red stained grass.  His body soon dropped to the floor and I was now alone.  I could hardly stand for my hands were bound behind my back.  I grabbed a guard’s knife from his back pocket and started to cut.  After I released myself, I hurried backwards and ran far off into the night.  Noises encircled my mind, and the screams kept growing. 

For two days I ran without stopping.  I was exhausted and dead.  I took a seat on the ground resting my head against a tree watching yet again the sun arise from the east.  I fell into a deep slumber dreaming of Moriel and Alet.  I feared of losing them.  I awoke in the dead of night once more and stared down the line of trees in front of me.  The voices came back and burned my thoughts.  My heart beat raced and my skin became cold and pale.  Far off in the pasture I saw a figure, maybe two walking towards me.  As they got closer my heart beat slowed.  Finally they stood in front of me.  It was Moriel and Alet.

         “Moriel, Alet, what are you doing here?” I was shocked.

“The question is what are you doing here?” Moriel said.

“I told you Moriel, I am going to paradise, to the Forbidden lands.” My eyes shook and were hard to keep open.

“I am not Moriel.  I am your fear.” Its breath was lifting, soothing me as Moriel’s voice did.

“What do you mean, I do not fear Moriel.  I do not fear anything!” The figure began to disappear.

“You are unique Alev, and I understand your purpose, but I highly advise you not to step any further towards the Forbidden lands.  If you do your worst fear will come true.” Its voice faded even more.

“I fear nothing, not even death!  There is nothing you can do to stop me!”

“It is shame your guard friends all feared death.  Being alone in the forest is unsafe, and a wrong doing against the Great Fire.  Do what you please, but hear me, your worst fear will come true.” The voice was lost, gone in the air of the forest’s breath.  I believed in my ways and the creatures of fear were still unreal to me.  They were an allusion of my unconsciousness.  I stood up and kept moving forwards as I always do and kept running for days on end, on end, on end, on end.

         Three months of running had paid off.  In the distance I saw the Forbidden lands.  I saw a dazzling waterfall and an endless supply of fruit trees and beauty of course was in its trail.  I ran tired and unfocused upon my discovery of new found world and harmony.  As I exited the forest I fell onto the grounds of the Forbidden lands.  I smelt the grass of onion and filled my mouth to the point of joy.  I slowly chewed and enjoyed my first meal in months.  As I swallowed though, I choked and tasted not onion, but a rough, hard taste.  A taste of sand it was and as I opened my eyes yet again I picked my self up from the ground and stepped back into the forest.  Astonished I was for my long dreaming paradise had all but been an illusion and it was nothing but a desolate wasteland, an endless desert of ruin, and no Heaven I could see in the distance, only death.  And the creatures I had thought not to exist began to howl in distress and their agony wept beyond the world, out into the open space of nothingness.  I was dumbfounded, and then, started the eruption, and a fire swept from beneath the core of the earth and it brought with it the madness of destruction and it scorched the forest and burned the creatures to obliteration.  Time then stopped and I heard from the hundreds of miles away the cries and screams of the villagers in Forn Alor.  The King and Queen as they burned in their sleep, Moriel, though no scream was heard from her, I felt her soul dying and grasping for life, and Alet, my brother, I hear you now and always burn in a flame of torment.  And slowly the inferno came towards me and it climbed up my legs, consumed my flesh, smoldered my bones and took my soul to paradise; the madness of destruction.

         It all makes sense to me now.  As I have watched over the years I slowly see each corner of the world fading into destruction.  All of those thousands of deaths were caused by one person who solely believed in something right.  I myself do not regret my wrong doing against the world, though the Scripture had been real all along I still cannot and will not bring myself down to my people’s sight of the world, for I am numb.  A non-believer people call me, others a madman, but most say I am a terrorist to the Great Fire, but I tend to disagree.  I believe I am something more than a worthless animal, than a stupid fool, than the end of the world.  I believe I am the freedom.  But now I see clearly that freedom is not free, for if it were we would all still be alive.

         I can see clearly now that the world is over and all my dreams have come true.  I have found my purpose.  No not death.



….FREEDOM!