“Amylian and Selia”
Chapter 1
Death
It was an era of slavery and hypocrisy, an era of death. Countless citizens had died, brutalized, and got savaged by the unforgiving, merciless prime minister of Kobi kingdom. The king of Kobi had left the kingdom, traveling around the world for political reasons and negotiating with other kingdoms in order to deliver what he could do and fit for the sake of his kingdom. Then, the kingdom was handed to a dirty, bloodcurdling hand. It was then they were calling it the era of Kylbe, the prime minister.
Marching toward destruction, toward barbarism, those were the soldiers of the prime minister. It was a night with pouring rain and dark for the black clouds had painted the sky with meaningless shapes that it was hardly seen with eyes of no sharpness. It was pouring rain, heavy rain, which was falling upon the screaming ground. “O what rain that makes such a sad and pitiful night as this? The star has been erased, and the moon flushed away from a man’s eyes. O pitiful shadow, hear this: at such a night, a heart is dark, and a soul is full of plight.” A voice of wise-like person, Frendlus, echoed in the head of Amylian, the young boy who works in the laboring business with his father’s friend Frendlus. Amylian was fixing the roof top of the cottage. As the storm began to grow aggressively strong, Amylian could no longer carry on his work so he answered Frendlus back.
“O, I hear you, and I shall come right away.” Replied Amylian as he was stepping down the stair carefully.
“Good my son.”
“What is it in your hand?”
“A book.”
“I don’t value these books as you do, and that I don’t know why. Such knowledge at hands and never been valued. I think I possess the mind of a sheep.”
“Worry not my son.” Frendlus said, holding the dear book near his heart and looking at Amylian’s eyes at the same time. “Life is not about books, you will come to understand, the truth will be revealed once you are grown, and God will prove to you that life itself is a book. Come now; let us go in, I feel the dancing wind will be angry in a moment.”
They had gone inside the small cottage, and the prime minister’s soldiers were still marching. The ground was shaking, and the sky was lightening as they got nearer to the village. The villagers, upon hearing the soldiers, went outside to examine what was going to happen, and what kind of fate was waiting for them and who will be killed or whose cottage will be set on fire. Such thoughts immediately clouded the villagers’ mind and they couldn’t help but to see and observe what to become of them. The husbands were in a state of panic for they had known that their wives will be taken or killed, and all of them were afraid. The soldiers had entered the village, and stopped in the town square. And their General, a man not originally from Kobi, who was anxious to command, said in an unsophisticated voice full of pride “I am here, carrying on my shoulders the orders of our prime minister, Kylbe. He asks all of you to pay little money of what you have saved so far at once for our beloved kingdom. With your money, his blessed presence will build us a kingdom by all means. Your lands will be reformed and your incomes will rise to a level where all of you will be content. Soldiers, go and collect the money.” The soldiers obeyed the general's order and hurried to do what the he had told them to do. What had been saved for many a year, was now gone in a blink of an eye, but, unfortunately, they couldn’t and can’t do anything but to pray to God.
“How unfair, how unjust! All what I have saved and what I sweated for, was it all for the prime minister’s lust?” A desperate villager remarked to one of the soldiers with tears in his eyes, flowing on his both cheeks, and those tears which had purified the sacred ground had also purified it with a river of blood; a passionless soldier drew his sword and cut off the man’s head in front of his children and wife in an instant, and filled their heart with more hate. Loud cries reached the neighbors and the soldiers couldn’t care a less. They carried on their work, collecting the money and if anyone turned down to pay, they killed him. A soldier had passed by Frendlus cottage and called in a loud voice.
“Is there no one here?” He inquired and felt rather angry for not receiving any response from anyone living in there. He prepared to set the cottage on fire and when Frendlus appeared, the soldier stopped.
“Turn down your flame of anger,” Said Frendlus, swabbing his white beard. “Hear me solider of Kobi; do not let your soul be fooled. Be free, be free, alas, one day the salacious, and the manslayer, whom you carry such orders from, will behold that the strongest who had ever lived, wept and those who still live will be burnt by the fire of an angry, furious man, a free man.”
“Non-sense, meaningless, and non-understandable words I hear. Pay old man, or fire will devour your cottage and you I fear.”
"The fear and the outrage of a greedy tyrant, whom you worship, shall die of disgrace. He will sell you to others; he will use you for his satisfaction. A man, who only knows nothing except eating, women, and war. Go soldier, and think of what you really desire."
The soldier showed a sign of anger, and could not receive any more words from Frendlus.
“Careful! Insolent and ungrateful old man,” said the soldier, with a sign of threat. “Words, in this kingdom, such as yours are considered as a crime. We could cite you whenever we want; that is, your words could induce others and have them disobey the ultimate rules like you do now.”
Frendlus, refusing to hand his pride as a freeman to a mere soldier, went inside his small cottage – which is made by frond, - and left no other option to the soldier but to create death for him.
Meanwhile, the soldier was calling and Frendlus, which is deep in his soul and heart that he had filled with wisdom through life, knew what would happen, so he picked a black box up, and handed it to little Amylian who was frightened and trembling with fear, perplexed and clueless. Frendlus began to say, “A bright future is within this box, despite its color. Lights will shine again, though it had never shone before in our kingdom, it will hear the suffering, and cure the pain.” He stopped and looked with determination and trust at Amylian and carried on, “Now my son, hear and judge, listen to your heart and let it listen to your true self and let your true self listen to your human nature. Follow the path of freedom, and be, as God let you be, a freeman.” Frendlus stopped for a moment with a faint smile on his wrinkled white face. Amylian tried to comprehend what Frendlus had just said to him. But what could a man do in such circumstances and weakness which flows inside his veins. That weakness, in Amylian’s case, which will create obnoxious, hatred, that by touching and inflaming it would bring a disastrous death upon whoever touched it, or even so, whoever possessed this power, will be terminated by his own power.
“As I always tell you my child, worry not. See the light, hurry, save yourself.” The old man added.
“What do you me ____?” Asked Amylian, but the soldier had already begun to set the cottage in fire. A few minutes passed and the tongue of flame rose, high toward the dark crying sky, screaming to reach it. Frendlus, then, met his death and was burned and turned into ashes.
Chapter 2
Alive
The fire ate every precious memories and lives. It was lost. Amylian had managed to get out of the cottage and escape the fire without being hurt except for his left leg which was burnt and he, unable to move it normally as the right leg, accepted this truth and was glad that he was alive, but deeply sad that he had lost the most generous person, whom he considers as a father, and his teacher. He escaped. He ran, dancing with night wind that blew upon his face which was filled with tears of hate, of revenge that he couldn’t deliver. While he was walking that night, and went far away from the cottage, he looked back and was able to see that the fire was in rage. He felt weak and couldn’t help but to face the wet ground and cry. His tears had been lost within the falling rain and, his cries, however, had been lost within the wind.
Meanwhile, a meeting was being held and the prime minister of Kobi, Kylbe, stood in front of all the other ministers of the kingdom. All of them were waiting for him to deliver his speech anxiously. He only stood as a statue, to deliver a speech, which the words of it are bigger than the looks of it and, if someone were to think what is to become to this kingdom, he has only to say “Oh! Today, the prime minister speech shall open the mystery.” Indeed, it will be clarified subconsciously.
The moment arrived and everybody was waiting for the Prime Minister, Kylbe, to begin his “what is to become to this kingdom” speech. Though Kylbe is quite old, he looked strong and lively. He has a wrinkled face with black hair and a moustache. His clothes are impressively expensive and one cannot afford it simply by working with a salary of 150 or 200 Coins. His figure is normal and neither fat nor skinny. While all the other ministers broke the noise, they gave their attention to him; he began his speech as follow:
“In the name of God. Most gracious, most merciful. To all of you, I speak, with sincere words that came once in my heart and I would like to share it with you my grateful ministers and my people who love this kingdom as I do, to all my great brothers in arm.” Said the prime minister, while, still, the others were silent and looking at him with a positive look of hypocrisy. “It is a great patriotism occasion that we live, in this day, with great happiness and independence, the day of peace, the day that all my people agree to improve our kingdom, to work on building a path for freedom and comfort. This wonderful attempt will reflect on the trust, the faith, and the bond which ties the leader with his trustworthy people to work on developing our kingdom to reinforce and establish and apply the moral, economic, cultural, and social principles. My people will be free and happy physically and spiritually.” loud applauses had reached the ears of the Prime Minister and was filled with great joy, a mysterious joy. However, the speech didn’t seem to deliver the idea of “what is to become to this kingdom” clearly and utterly, so they waited, again, in silence to see what was coming from the Prime Minister’s mouth to their ears to go through ,then, on thin air. Kylbe paused a few moments to catch his breathe and carried on his speech and it was as follow:
“So the management of our great kingdom passed an ordinance that the security soldiers had been nullified; our kingdom and its people don’t need such thing; that is, we will do anything which our fair constitution says. It will provide us justice and equivalent of chances. Now that we are savoring this very moment of our lives in this new era, the era of new justice, where our kingdom will have its place and name between other kingdoms, Kosra
and Heade. I assure you that I, personally, am going to instruct each of you my faithful ministers to work on inning and land reforming. To make such decisions demand hard work and patience, but with chaining our hand by hand and heart by heart, we will go through the entire economic, social and racial crisis in order to intensify the will to achieve what my people are looking for. We will rise and stand against all odds. To end this speech, I only ask all of you to have faith in yourself and commit to commitment. Our destiny is in your hand my people.” Kylbe ended his speech and left immediately. The astonished ministers slowly rose and gave loud applauses, again. Then they began to chat to each other about the words of the Prime Minister and how it will affect on building the kingdom. They had launch together, they laughed and whispered ears in ears and only deaf minds were listening.
Three days had passed since Amylian’s cottage was burnt to the ground by the strange soldier who works under the command and care of Kylbe. Everything was lost and Amylian threw himself in the depth of life. He ended up in a forest where all the green trees had been trying to make him a home under their cabers. The birds were singing to him, while the sun was warming him. It looked as if the wilderness had pitied him more than a human would do. A wilderness has its nature of aggressiveness whereas, human has the nature of goodness, but to Amylian, it is unlikely incomprehensible for a human psyche such as him to believe that. He, not being able to cure the wounds himself, looked at the black box that Frendlus handed it to him. Looking mystified and not knowing what to do with this box, he had done what everyone would have done, which is to open the black box and explore what is hidden inside. He opened it and saw a white scroll in there. He picked it up and before opening it, he heard a cry coming from outside the wilderness. It was a cry of a girl which sounded a cry of helplessness and need. He put the scroll in its original place and hurried toward the sound and ended up in a southern village. A village full of Kylbe’s soldiers and it seemed that the cry was of a girl whose father had just been killed and mother was raped in front of her eyes. It looked dreadful to Amylian’s eyes; his tears filled his eyes, and hate, more, filled his heart. The girl was crying and the soldiers were laughing hysterically like madmen. One of the soldiers took an old man who was begging them to stop their ugly work, but it seemed the language of words and reason wasn't their language. The old man was barely able to move. They thrust his legs with a spear and he broke down with great pain as Amylian got closer to the filthy scene to witness the rudeness of the soldiers, who were commanded by one man only, and the brutal attacks they were offering the old man.
“Spare an old man.” The old man said, crying, to be released for he suffered a great and unbearable pain. The soldiers looked at him, laughing at him, and then, he received a disrespectful slap over his wrinkled face which reminded Amylian of Frendlus. Though Amylian was near to the scene, he couldn’t do anything; he just waited far away to watch the wolves fed themselves.
“Hold your peace old man for I don’t care. And if I hear your winning again, I shall strike you down right away.” Indeed, the violent language is the only way a wild animal knows how to speak and understand.
“Oh! Heaven O dear, Oh! Hell you must fear.” The old man, again, said, but received another humiliating slap.
“Do not preach old fool, for now I shall immediately consume your soul.”
“Slay me now and take your glory with you.”
“But I will let you live in shame.”
“God will prevent us from shame. And will never abandon us.
“He already did.”
“How dare you speak about God with presumption?”
“Fool old man, your only GOD now is me. Your fate is in my hand and I, who decide, whether to take it or keep it, fill it with shame or plant upon your body pain and make you suffer. I can do what I desire.”
“You are a mad man. Nothing more than a hire-hand man who works under the Prime Minister and obeys his order not like a GOD, no, but as a slave as you are.” The determined old man, with pain in his legs, angered the soldier and cut the old man’s right arm, leaving the old man bleeding to death. The soldier had seemed out of his mind, cut the left arm of the dead old man and threw it away, he, however, concentrated on stabbing the body. He lost his mind for no reason like a wild, dangerous animal would do. A soldier is supposed to be a loving person who try to keep others safe, but this one wasn’t from Kobi, and this one wasn’t a loving person and this one was a thug.
“Stop it.” The other soldiers alarmed him.
“What!?” Cried the pitiful soldier. “I can’t stop; it is my duty as a soldier to kill this bloody and insane old man and insult him.”
The girl, after slaying her mother in the process of raping by stabbing a sword in her neck where the blood flooded like a river in the cottage, had been taken out of her house by these soldiers and had her clothes been taking off. She cried. They laughed. They abused this girl of fifteen sexually. The blood came out under her legs and was in a terrible pain, she screamed for help. But no one was there to help out; they only stood to look, helpless and hopeless. She was screaming for help, only laughter could be heard. They were hungry for blood, their only pleasure. Then, after finishing their abuse, they had left knowing that if they left the girl alive with shame; either she will take her own life one day. By the end of the day, the girl had, as Amylian witnessed, forgotten how to speak. The feeling of the assault was unknown to her and strange; her little head had yet to acknowledge such thing as sexual intercourse and against her will. Unpredictable emotions played with her mind and, such a violent attachment, made her lost her memory of the events. The girl lost her mind, alas.
The day had passed and Amylian showed himself. He walked on vanity ruins, on the blood that had been shed.
“A filthy deed, uncontroversial sinners, and prejudice. It sheds the blood of innocent people, and forces the will to hate, to lose its right. I shall avenge, I will get my revenge even if it costs me the life I’ve never had,” Amylian thought, “Rage, Oh! Fury. Lend me your power, for I shall rebel against the devil, and take my glory."
Chapter 3
A Dream
Once, a dark fate,
Filled the heart,
With a joy of hate,
Love is lost,
O drowned in darkness and coiled the pain,
Hate O hate and hate,
O Cry within the falling of the filthy rain.
Seven years of homelessness, of hunger and pain had passed and Amylian has grown into a strong, well-built, and handsome young man. His fate tied him to meet a girl in a northern village. Her name is Selia. She was amazingly beautiful, though she was living in a fishing village, she has thick black hair and wonderfully bright and shiny face; a lovely face. Her waist and even the forbidden fruits are more likely to be an angel’s. She was a girl in figure and a woman in reason.
Amylian had been wandering since the incidents in Kobi kingdom and there were nowhere for him to be. He ended up in the northern village, working as a fisherman. One day, he had had an OBE (Out of Body Experience) and his whole spiritual sensations floated in the sky and pulled out of his body. His spirit wandered. Flying around and beholding the green trees, and swam in the air of thoughts.
“Where am I?” He thought, and realized that he was not in physical form, but kept wandering in the endless blue sky and breathing heavily.
“You are in the land of solitude.” A strange and beautiful voice like of a goddess answered. Amylian turned back to see who was speaking to him and was amazed when he saw a beautiful spirit. A goddess whom he thought God had sent her to aid him from his loneliness and life of poorness.
“Who are you for God's sake?” Amylian asked her with open eyes. He was afraid to get near her.
“A divine spirit."
“I don't understand.”
"I am the one who dwell within you,” She said while flapping her wings and carried on saying. “I am a divine spirit. A spirit that was divided in the age of creation into two forms, and now wishes to regain its true form as one and powerful spirit that I once was." The spirit said with a smile. "I am you. And you are me. No matter how many generations have us separated, we will be together again. We must be."
"To be together?" Amylian Asked. "For all what I have dreamt of before, I have not in my entire life seen such thing as you. I think reality is beginning to lapse. Is this real?"
"If not, then what is it which is real? Is it the fire that burned your small cottage, and killed your master? Or is it the girl and the mother that you saw being raped maliciously? I doubt you are real." Said the divine spirit with determination and made a face full of seriousness.
"O what life am I living in? The calling of the night and the tears inside, the fallen rain that ran down ever since plunged my hatred, my anger, in a sinful fence." Replied Amylian, his heart broke as he said those words. He remembered all the sad events, the unforgettable rain at the time when his master had died.
"Use your sense of judgment, and lead your way through, and tear out the devil's heart and taste his blood. Use it to fill your heart with unspoken words of rage, and your hand with blood. The blood must be shed. The blood must be shed. The blood must be shed." The spirit vanished in a blink of an eye and left Amylian in the endlessness alone.
"O dark nights blend with my dark dreams. O black sky, let me hear the song of thunder, let me taste the tears of blood, that upon my life, I swear, I will shed." Amylian's spirit went back to its original body and he got up by the sound of Norbas, his new master, the fisherman.
As Amylian started to stand up, he thought about his dream, though it was not a dream rather than an illusion. He made his way out of the cottage, which was similar to Frendlus's, and followed Norbas to the sea. The sun had started to rise and color the sky with its light. Norbas was a strong man with thick arms and he has scar in his right cheek. His voice is substantial. Norbas, as he was walking, turned back his large face and asked Amylian who seemed to be in his own little world. "I see you in a chain of thoughts, what makes you worry that much my son?" Norbas threw his question and it seemed he pulled Amylian out of his dream and woke him up.
"It is… actually, I... do not…Oh! Nothing" Amylian did not know how to answer the question or rather he was disturbed.
"Speak to me and let the rain in your own world pour and reach my heart."
"I will tell you then."
Amylian told Norbas about his dream last night which left Norbas astounded and amazed by this dream.
"A divine spirit?" Norbas looked thoughtful and tried to comprehend the story in a way that life had taught him to do.
"That what she said to me."
Norbas, quickly, threw away his fishing equipments and told Amylian to follow him.
"Where are we going, Master?" Amylian Asked.
"To the place of knowledge." Norbas Answered.
Norbas had led Amylian to a place that looked like a temple. It was surrounded by red roses and in each corner there were statues. In the north east corner there was a statue of a devil with two horns on its head, and the North West a maiden. And two statues of angels in the southern corners. Amylian looked bewildered.
"It is such a lovely place. Who lives here?" The astonished Amylian asked Norbas while looking at the statues and red roses below them.
"It is the place of Clausra. It was built in the era of Jemride. It was the period when all the revolutionists had been killed by the new government in order to keep the ideology of its law firm and against whoever walks the wrong line, and it goes back Thirty-Six years ago. Clausra was the one who was in charge of speaking about politics; he has this sharp tongue and words that can shake the system. Once, he, in a confrontation with the soldiers of Kylbe, lost his sight when a spear thrust his right eye, but the soldier didn’t stop there and he, as cruel as they were and are, thrust the left one. Clausra was helpless and in need of help, he kept screaming, but his voice didn’t carry to the ears of his comrades; dead people may hear, but they don’t response. At that moment, when Clausra was in the middle of the battle and helpless, the soldier readied his sword to take Clausra’s life, but, fate, or shall I say tough luck, is such a strong way to be saved. A small rock and a weak throw from a young boy, who was near by, saved Clausra. The soldier got tempered and threw his deadly spear toward the young boy and hit him on the right thigh, till he bled, he died.” Stopped Norbas for a few second and sigh, he, then, carried on. “Well, this place was built for those who had died in the battle and specifically for that poor soul, the young boy."
"It an interesting story; I would like to know more about Jemride and the young boy." His shining eyes sparkled with a light that can fill the dark side of someone who nearly drowned and lost within the endless nothingness.
"I will tell you later my boy, let us go inside and meet Clausra.”
“But I have one final question, why a devil statue in here? Is there a reason for making such a statue in a place of divination?”
“I do not know either,” Said Norbas while walking toward the temple-like house and carried on saying. “But it could symbolize the greed, the pride, and the lust for power in the human beings; these, as we should not deny, are part of us, and make, no one living, differ from a devil.”
They walked a few steps toward the place and stopped there. It was organized with many statues of those who were revolutionist in the Jemride era. Amylian examined the whole place. Clausra was a frail, weak old man and always coughing from now and then. He was, however, small and had white bear with a wrinkled face. He heard that someone was in there and turned to know who it was.
"I came to search in the depth of my mind and soul, are you here, master of the remaining knowledge and who once was lost in battle and poor?" Amylian said in a load voice while examining what surrounded him.
"I am here in this narrow room, in my grave, in this flourish ground of insight, where the light shines, though I cannot see, the heat of this radiance still burns in my mind." Clausra replied back as if he knew it was a young man, a young man in need of a missing something.
"Strike the heavy delusion in my mind, and shatter my confusion."
“Confuse not the heavy burden in your utterance of revulsion; many a dark aura drowned in the sea of the soul's demise, let their tears tear out the lust of vengeance, eyes open not, and the curse of hate threw the edge of life, and makes not an insurance of man’s existence, makes him not as he is must to be, wise.”
“Now you know my secret of mind, a dream befell like a burning star; I know not how to deal with it nor do I know how to interpret it.”
“Oh! Vengeful young man, be happy; a maiden, a chosen maiden, for your half of your soul is lost, and shall be whitened, and cured from despair.”
“I pray you. Who is the one?”
“The stirring lust of yours.”
“I beg you. Who is the chosen one?”
“The emotive power in yours.”
“I beseech you. Who is the preferred one?
“The retaliation of yours.”
Amylian turned his face just to see the wonderness on Norbas’s face. Fatal slash of words which can tear apart the reason had struck the unfortunate Amylian who seemed lost in a stigma of the wind and those incomprehensible words that came out of Clausra's mouth fogged his thinking and made the reality of his own little dreams lapsed. Norbas said nothing. Clausra stopped for a moment, and beside the howling wind, Amylian's hard-breathe could be heard by Clausra.
"Do not hear the appearance of words, little one; instead, see what is hidden between it."
