On the Wings of Hope: Prose (Chosen)

Legend of Divine Island

"And why one has to overcome this wood on his journey to the Bridge at all? Cannot we simply bypass it somehow?"

"One has to pass through this entire wood so that he can accumulate enough Wisdom, without which it will be extremely difficult to journey to the end."

"And what is awaiting us further, after the wood? Probably the very Bridge to the Island itself?"

"Oh, certainly not!" the Wiseman smiled good-naturally. "Just behind the wood, the River of Time keeps flowing."

"What a strange name for the river! And who has decided to call some usual river so pathetically?"

"Oh, if only it was some common river! But no, it's even more surprising than the Wood of Life Difficulties itself."

"Most probably, it's very wide and filled to the bottom with some sort of predatory fish like piranhas?" the young man cheerfully burst out laughing. "Nevertheless, it's probably not too difficult to cross it by swimming."

"No sort of predatory fish is ever present there," the Wiseman unexpectedly replied firmly. "To be bitten for feet by some pity piranhas – it's such an insignificant trial! It's much more uneasy to feel the Link of Times under own feet and pass the river, leaning on it."

"But what's that – the Link of Times?"

"The rope bridge, connecting two sides of the river, is called that way. This bridge is very, very, extremely ancient and old, for it has existed there since the most ancient eras, connecting the times. Waves of time of that river are lapping under it, sprinkling it with myriads of water drops and consequently during all the time of its existence the bridge has become extremely slippery. An inexperienced and self-assured traveler can easily slip on its boards and fall down to the river."

"But is that not possible to get out of river back on the coast and start everything anew?" the young man was surprised.

"Alas, but as soon as the man gets caught into the raging whirlpool of that river, the time starts flowing for him so quickly and uncontrollably, that, when he will finally manage to swim to the coast, he can have already become elderly aged man, and thus will possess neither the forces, nor time or desire to move through the river any further."

"But how is it possible not to stumble on that bridge through the River of Times? How can I truly feel the bridge under my feet?"

"The feel underfoot the link of times means to understand that behind the last instant there will be a following, and behind the current, there was the previous one. We were forgetting the previous instant and never knew the following, but that doesn't mean that there was no previous, and the following would never come true. To understand that means to feel the link of times, and, feeling it, not to slip. To understand the rapidity of time and the value of each given to us instant means to cross the bridge over the River of Times."

"All that is so uneasy!" the young warrior sighed. "Well, and what is awaiting us after the River of Times? Now it will probably be that main Bridge at long last?"

"No, before reaching the Bridge on the Island, one still has to travel through the entire Desert of Loneliness."

"Sounds very terrifying!" exclaimed the young man.

"In the Desert of Loneliness, each man remains alone with himself. In the Desert of Loneliness, he is being tormented by his own demons, over whom he still hasn't totally prevailed in course of own life. Demons of Fear, Doubt, and Grief are being encountered there more often than others. It seems to the traveler that he is left alone and abandoned to the mercy of fate, though it's his fate itself that leads him through this scorching desert. Demons are constantly tormenting him, trying to make him fall in despair and curtail from own path, for they do clearly know how very close is the final goal of the traveler. The sun of reason does constantly burn down his skin, poisonous scorpions and snakes of evil thoughts endlessly crawl under his feet. There is a lonely Oasis of Hope in that desert, yet one can reach it only by the end of the day when your forces are practically extinguished, yet there is a faith in a miracle living deep inside your soul. Those who have reached the Oasis are granted the good fortune of Strength of Spirit, which is so greatly required for the ascension on the Bridge. From the Oasis to the Bridge there lie two more days of traveling through the desert."