Myssiah
From Cause of Doom Series
In the black-iron city of Samara, the traveler wandered, crowned with knowledge, his hair aflame with frankincense, his gray robe cascading from the golden bridge atop the mountain of light. Samara had lived in benighted ignorance from time immemorial. The people of Samara frowned and asked the stranger his name, wealth, and origin.
The Traveler proclaimed: “I am Myssiah, coming from the kingdom of harmony atop Mount Patho, a journey that took Earth one orbit around the ring of fire. I saw the mountains of light with my own eyes, the land of the gods touching the sky with their paradise, separated from our world by a golden bridge. I sensed their presence and yearned to enter, but I was still a man. I travel the Earth to spread knowledge and seek answers, so that I may one day obtain the full knowledge to ascend to the land of the gods. I am as old as time itself, and my wealth is my message and my dreams of tomorrow.”
The people of Samara argued when they heard the stranger’s speech. The stern men of Samara saw the mountains of light on the few spring days of the year and imagined the prosperity and food that lay beyond them. They doubted it was the land of the gods, but they believed it was paradise. Therefore, they invited the stranger to stay, even though they disliked his red hair, his smell, and his words. They only hoped he would lead them to the paradise they didn’t deserve, so they invited him to the evening feast to listen to his teachings.
In the evening, during Myssiah’s sermon, an old blind man, a regular at the feast, prayed and said, “I see a halo above the teacher’s head.” The government of Samara took the old elder’s eyes when he was young for believing in the prophecy that a man from our world would cross the mountains of light and lead the land to another realm. Most of them yawned and laughed. One man threw wine in the old man’s face, laughing, “Delirious!” Most fell asleep because Myssiah didn’t tell them what they wanted to hear. He conveyed his memories, dreams, and hopes to people whose minds greed dominated.
Myssiah left the feast and walked through the narrow stone alleyways between the gloomy square houses made of black stone, seeking something green in the ominous autumn air. At the stone dam at the end of the River of Death, he saw a child wearing a dark green robe that was too big for him. The boy stared at the reflection of his face in the water with sad eyes, waiting for the green buds that the wind sometimes carried to the River of Death. When the boy saw the teacher, he spoke to him and said:
“Aren’t you the one who is looking for a utopia in a miserable place? I am Rou, born of peasant blood. I yearn for warm orchards and distant lands of beauty and knowledge, as my father told me. Beyond the mountains of light lies Syra, the city of gods and gold, which men can do no more than talk about. I would go there if I were old enough to find the way. Let us leave this city and wander among the hills of spring. You will show me the way to travel, and in the evening, when the stars intersect in the minds of dreamers, I will learn your teachings. Perhaps Syra is the city of lutes and dances, the perfection we strive for, where the gods will know our longings and welcome us as sons.”
Myssiah felt a kinship with the boy, seeing courage and a love of adventure in his words. He replied, “Brave boy if someone wants to find beauty in this faraway place, let them first search their heart and mind. Then they can search for other places. But do not believe that happiness and understanding can only be found in the Mountains of Light or any other places you can visit in a year or on a journey. When I was young Before the Kingdom of Harmony lost its glory, I lived there, and no one listened to my teachings or warnings until the last day when I became the only survivor.”
The next day, at sunset, Myssiah and Ru departed Samara and wandered amidst the gray sands and cold forests. Ru seemed rough and stumbling at first and did not seem to be getting any closer to Syra until they reached the cedar mountains and fruit forests. In the darkness of night, when the stars appeared, the teacher spoke of the light and beauty of the towering mountain peaks adorned with clusters of knowledge. Ru listened and learned, and they were both happy. They ate many red fruits and did not notice time passing. Until Ru fit his father’s robe and grew wiser and stronger, but his heart sought prosperity, not knowledge. Myssiah remained unchanged, always persevering, and determined to spread his teachings and pursue his message.
Moonlit, travelers saw a mountain peak resembling a lion’s head decorated with ribbons of light. They asked a farmer in the village below, who told them they were in the presence of the Two-Headed Lion Mountains in the western half of the earth. Locals call them by this name because when the full moon shines on the lion’s peak, it splits, and another head emerges, becoming a single body with two lion heads. Between them lies a city with the same name. Myssiah knew they were furthest from the Mountains of Light.
Not even familiar.
Ru suggested to Myssiah that they stay in the city for a while to rest from their constant travels and for the Teacher to recite his teachings in a welcoming place. Ru had other goals in mind, for he aspired to constant hypocritical generosity. But, when they entered the city, they saw the joy of flowers tied from house to house and hanging from the windows and balconies. The lamps cast the soft magical light of the moon on the ground. The people listened to the Myssiah’s teachings, threw flowers, and clapped. For a moment, Myssiah thought he had found other people who thought and felt the same way as he did.
The wealth and prosperity captured Ru’s eyes and filled him with happiness and peace. He went quickly to one of the people carrying trays filled with cups of wine and drank without stopping.
Years of prosperity passed. Ru, the boy from Iron Black Samara, drank wine every day until his dreams were lost and he became sullen, like the people of his town whom he had not seen in years. He stopped listening to Myssiah’s teachings and attending his gatherings. He sat, laughed, and ate at feasts all the time. Myssiah continued teaching in the new city, but his sadness grew day by day. On this evening, Myssiah had a new dream about Syra. He searched for Ru among the audience, wanting to find him and share their old dream, but on that night, Ru was red and fat, moaning loudly on the silken feast pillow, dying of wine poisoning.
Myssiah stopped teaching for the first time to embrace the bright little boy, place him in a carved tomb inside the right lion’s head, and cover him with the green tree branches he had dreamed of. Myssiah wept and threw the crown of knowledge besides the little boy’s body, saying. “Our search for love was a double-edged sword, it brought us closer and made us live in harmony until harmony became meaningless.
