Awakening: An odyssey to salvation (Prologue)

Born in the shades of ignorance, he was tamed to submit to the ways of a land that had long fallen into the fathomless darkness of oblivion. A world galloping in pursuit of an unknown goal. A world labeling itself civilized without realizing that it is nothing different from the paganism it seems to detest, obliterating anything and everything for the hunger that flourished inside it, slowly devouring its very being. With its fangs piercing deep inside its own soul, the soul that birthed the very life that flowed through it, it searched for immortality. He was no different, a creature born in a dystopian land crawling with voracious beasts, to silently march behind the horde, not knowing where it was headed. But it was all there was, all that he was aware of. An endless pursuit of the unseen. A lifelong odyssey to salvation? "Keep up, or you shall be squashed", they would threaten him. Still learning to walk with his trembling legs he would stumble and fall but an invisible leash would suffocate him, compelling him to get back up. Struggling to even stand on his feet he was dragooned to run. The sores on his feet would agonize him but the fear and torment of suffocation would make him slowly tread his path. The miserable faces of the creatures around him would scare him to his bones, but why did he fear them? Was he not one of them? he would ask himself. Unaware of anything else, he too believed it to be the sole purpose of being until he witnessed something peculiar, something he could not yet understand, a halo. An obscure figure materializing from nothingness, far from where he was, illuminating the horizon with its blinding glow. Faraway from his physical being yet he felt its glow penetrating deep into his skin. He felt it closer than anything he had ever felt, closer than even his own self. Enthralling as it was, it was a perplexing experience, something incomprehensible for his unripe mind. Hypnotized by the arcane tranquility it had showered him with, he forgot where he was and why was he there. This too, however, lasted for a split-second, like all his moments of hush, vanishing into nothingness. Emptiness, like a part of him had left, leaving a carrion behind to be eaten by scavengers. Desperate for another glimpse, he felt something grow inside him, something he was not familiar with. An urge, an innocent wish to live it again and carve it on the cradle of his juvenile consciousness. But it was nowhere to be found, gone, leaving nothing behind, like it never existed. Never before had he felt so alone, like a lone sapling growing in the middle of a cold desert, fighting a cruel storm on its own. Never before had he felt so cold, like a hoary omega wolf cut off from the pack, struggling to find his way back through a terrifying snowstorm. "Firmly hold on to the ground, penetrating its roots deeper into the chest of the desert" or "be uprooted"? "Keep following the scent" or "suffocate to death under a blanket of snow"? Fogged by a mist of uncertainty, he found himself between the devil and the deep blue sea. A task too heavy for a weakling, completely incapacitated by something he was never prepared for. Lost in the maze of his cluttered thoughts, something pulled him out of his head back into his world of unending misery. A sensation he had known for as long as he had existed. A companion that had been his only driving force. Fear, growing stronger as his leash strangulated him, extracting whatever signs of life were left in him. What else could he do but silently follow? So, he did. The mysteries hidden in that moment had, nonetheless, watered the seed, cracking its shell for the roots to sprout. "What was it?", " Was it just a dream?", "Why was no one else intrigued by what had just passed?", "Will he ever see it again?". He hoped for someone to answer, someone to relieve him of the burden it had put on him, but all he encountered was the ceaseless chaos he had always been in. Dejected, he would do the only thing he was indoctrinated with, continue his endless journey. Streaming heedlessly through the swarm, the desire for one more encounter had made him forget his sore feet. The memory of that soothing moment would stay with him for a lifetime, buried in the deepest crevices of his core. It had indeed left something behind - Curiosity. To be continued.