Something Eternal
The immense expanse of waves and breathing water, watching restlessly from a distance, would be there permanently as an eternal force. During the day, the waves would seemingly splash in rage against the rocks or glide smoothly and peacefully on a mirror surface, depending on the intensity of the breeze. Water would respond to the blowing air by rising and splashing around – otherwise, it would remain unaffected, calm and shiny, reflecting the light in shimmering dances. At night, its presence was of unexpressed depth, melted into the pitch black sky, hidden by darkness, confounding itself with it, but it was still there. It could be heard breathing, an endless shuffle of waves, distantly and mysteriously undiscovered.
As a young boy growing up on the shores of the secluded island, Hylios spent a long time deciphering the mysteries of the sea. He saw it as a live presence, a witness of centuries and millennia, brimming with immemorial secrets, a powerful force that was both alluring and unpredictably dangerous for unaware visitors.
To him, it kept sending the same message ever since he was five years old. He was certain it whispered something, sometimes so subtly, other times roaring abruptly in high motion, as if representing unknown forces of the universe that had to tell him something important. He strived to understand what it wanted to say. However, along the years he could only distinguish one truth the sea was carrying forward, reverberating it with relentless waves. It wanted him to remember. “Remember yourself... remember who you are... remember the immense infinity... remember the universe... remember the sea... remember, remember, remember...” The waves kept sweeping the sand across the shore, insisting on an eternal truth, trying to make him aware, to imprint in his mind something essential about his life.
In his teenage years he often squinted to the horizon, as if asking the sea for an explanation, for more clarity of the message. Remember what? What about the universe? What about the water? What about who I am? And yet the waves only kept foaming and repeating the same thing: remember... be aware, remember. The eternal truth was right in front of him, yet he couldn't quite grasp it, in its entire meaning. He sensed it implied something so essential and so immense, it overwhelmed his mind.
And then something happened: the sea sent an answer. Just before his twenty year birthday celebration, the sea sent him something he did not expect: the immensity of water sent a messenger in the form of someone. It was a girl, but not looking anything like the women on that island. Hylios was accustomed to seeing sailor wives covered in veils, walking around with baskets of fish, flashing their sharp dark eyes in haste, always worried about something, going somewhere or looking for their husbands far to the horizon, often coming to the shore to look out to the sea, sometimes holding hands of little ones they dragged along. There were also girls waiting to get married and showing up in colorful robes, painting their faces and hands on occasional celebrations. Hylios hadn't chosen any of them, as he hadn't decided if he would remain on the island or go elsewhere. The secretive sea was occupying his mind more than the perspective of a farmer or a fisherman's life. Many young men would leave the island and never return. He liked the sun bathed shores, with small plants leaning in the breeze, the peaceful hills where local people grew olive trees and vines. However, he didn't know what the future could be. He kept looking for something more – he sensed there was more to life than that simple existence of daily routine, growing up then growing old and repeating the same things for centuries. He knew there was a higher meaning, and the sea was hiding it.
And then, the sea sent him someone. She came on a boat. He was watching the distance when he noticed the small veil of the vessel, floating on the waves. It was different from the usual island boats. Instead of the long narrow pointed shape, it looked wider to the sides and round at the front. It had a string of flowers hanging on its edge. He noticed the unusual boat and somehow knew he had to approach it. It was as if the sea had sent him a sign. He ran into the water, helping her steady it on the waves. As she stepped out, he noticed she was unlike any other girls he had met. She looked as if she had emerged from the sea: her hair was wavy and shiny like the glimmering light on the water. Her eyes, when she looked at him, had the clarity and the depth of the sea on summer days, when light was brightest. There was something eternal like the immensity of the horizon in those eyes. He stared at her, convinced the sea was in front of him, in human form.
“I think the currents brought me here”, she said smiling calmly.
She didn't seem upset by the fact that her boat had wandered away from its course.
“I'm from the island of the sunrise”, she added.
And she turned to show him, extending a hand to point out to the sea.
“If you row that way, to where the sun rises every day, you will find my island”.
She looked at him smiling, as if she already knew him from childhood. “Your name is Hawk, isn't it?” she said casually.
He shook his head.
“No. You're mistaking me for someone else.”
“Then your name is Horus, right?”
“No, I'm not Horus either. And I don't know anyone with those names on this island.”
She looked for a moment to the waves.
“I thought I knew you. These names came to my head.”
He smiled, this time feeling less awkward. Her guessing game was building an invisible string between them, like a spider web. It was comforting and inspiring to stand near her. She had something of the endless sea in her presence. He wanted to continue the conversation, just to keep her around a little more. It was an irresistible attraction.
“ So... do you have other ideas of what my name could be?”
She stared at him from head to his bare feet, as if trying to figure out the truth.
“How about Hyperion?” He laughed.
“That's a myth.”
“No, it's not. It's a true name.”
“ I'm Hylios, this is my name. I live around here. If you like, I'll show you this island. Then you can visit again.”
It was established. She would come again.
After her visit, he knew what he was looking for, when he was staring at the horizon. He no longer wondered about the mysteries of the deep water. Instead, he was hoping he could see her boat. Her presence had the same fascination to him as the enigma of the universe and the eternal truth that the waves wanted him to be aware of. Their shuffling whisper still followed him, day and night, echoing in his ears, insistently. Yet he didn't dwell on it so much. He was happy to have Aurora to walk with along the shores. That was her name, that she mentioned. She came to visit his island almost every day. They would spend a few hours walking and talking, and she would leave right before sunset each time. She never stayed until dark.
One day, she warned him that the happiness and the peace would not last for long.
“What do you want to do in this life, Hylios?” she asked him on one of their walks along the shore, as the sun was still intensely heating everything in sight.
They were sitting under the shade of a small fig tree.
“I would like to have a boat and travel across the water.”
“A fisherman? Why aren't you doing it now?”
“No, not a fisherman”, he explained. “An explorer. A sailor who goes beyond what is seen by the eye, someone who discovers what is hidden across the sea. There is so much out there to be known. I want to know it. I must find the meaning of it.”
“Wouldn't it be easier to have an orchard of olives and fruits, or a vineyard and live the joy this island gives you? The land has enough. The sun is bright. The water is generous and nourishing. The sky is endless above us. Isn't that enough?”
Hylios smiled, watching her. He wanted to tell her she was all that and she was enough. She was joyful as an orchard of colorful sweet flavored fruits, she was astounding, emotional, inspiring and beautiful like the immense sea, she was enticing, free and eternal like the clear infinite sky and her presence was warm and uplifting like the sun. He wanted to tell her, but he just looked in her eyes, smiling and knowing it. She was a gift from the deepest forces of the universe, the most amazing creation: as unpredictable and as smooth as water, as shiny as light, as essential as air, as nourishing and stable as the land. He couldn't imagine what it would be like not knowing her. He didn't understand why, but the emptiness he envisioned in her absence was as troubling as the mysterious sea at night.
He still had the unsolved longing in his soul, the yearning for truth. He had the urge to know what life had hidden beyond the horizon, beyond everything.
“I want to be with you, Aurora. You can come with me, if I build a ship to travel. I want to take you with me.”
She didn't seem surprised by his words. She didn't seem too certain either. “It's a nice plan, but you might need to do that sooner, if you want to make it real.”
He took her words as a warning. “Why are you saying that?”
She glanced thoughtfully to the horizon.
“The peace of these islands will not last for long. Soon, the destroyer will come.”
“What is the destroyer? A storm?”
“No. A storm will pass. But the destroyer will remain until there is nothing to destroy. They did it to other islands, toward the sunset. They will come here too, one day, soon.”
“Who are they?”
“They are people. Ruthless, soulless people. They seek and destroy everything that lives. They tear, break and burn down whatever they find. They kill and enslave. They bring war.”
Hylios looked at her. She was the complete opposite of what she was describing. Her eyes reflecting the endless sea and sky made her words sound unreal. He almost couldn't imagine what she said. He couldn't see the island as anything but that blissful, peaceful place, where seasons had their turn, where the essence of life had the eternal truth in it.
“How do you know these destroyers will come here?” he asked doubtfully. “I told you, they already arrived on many islands nearby. They are getting closer. It's just a matter of time before they step on these shores and start ripping everything apart until there's nothing left.”
He knew that was possible, even if it seemed absurd. There was a dark realm, with dark power in the underworld. He had heard fisherman talk about seeing that rage during storms. The nothingness that claimed lives, that sucked the light out of the earth. The nothingness that was hungry to devour whatever in its path. It brought death and emptiness. He wondered if the time had come for him to decide: could they escape together, on a ship? Could they keep the peace and joy of life, sail under the sun, across the seas, find out the secrets of the universe and never worry about the nothingness again?
“I will build that ship. I will start tomorrow”, he said.
He didn't know that the next day that came he actually had to make a different decision.
He could no longer choose between being a fisherman, a tree cultivator or an explorer.
He had only one choice: war. He had to fight for the island. The next day there was news of battle. The island gathered young men for an army and prepared for defense.
Hylios knew Aurora would not show up again in her boat. He also did not have time to go and wait for her ashore. He had to put on an armor and learn to handle sharp iron weapons, arrows and swords.
The attackers came from the sunset, by water, in big ships. The fishermen of the island didn't have enough fighting skills to overcome the intruders. A part of them surrounded the ships with their boats, shooting arrows and launching fishing nets on the soldiers. However, the ships threw fire balls on them and the fierce warriors jumped on the boats, slashing with swords whatever came in their path. Soon, the fishermen were gone.
Hylios stood among the resistance rows that had formed ashore. He had his knees in the waves. The anxiety and sense of danger, the shouts in the air, the blood, pieces of burning wood and the corpses thrown in the sea made an apocalyptic vision. It was the end of the island life as he knew it. And yet, the turmoil of the battle was not new to him. He had seen it before: the rage, the killing, the destruction, the pain and inhumane screaming. It was there, somewhere, in the dark night of the mind, like the reminding shuffle of waves, unseen but present nevertheless.
When the warriors reached the shore, he jumped ahead without thinking, swinging the sword, hitting metal, cutting flesh. It was a race against time, a life or death battle. He didn't want to die. He was too young: he hadn't lived his dreams yet. He wanted to know more of what the years could bring. And yet, he was faced with the threat of days ending in one strike, in those troubled waters. He didn't have time to think of Aurora, to think of his ship that he hadn't built, to think of a life taken away. He had to fight to breathe. The warriors were too big, too many, too determined. He unexpectedly got hit by a sword and fell in the water. The metal had slashed through his shoulder. Sharp pain shot in his bones and muscles, and then the sea waves covered him and dragged him under. The attackers rushed ashore, leaving dead and wounded for the sea waves to bring to the sand.
As he was submerged under the water, Hylios closed his eyes and thought he could finally rest, go to a deep sleep, forget the battle and the destruction. However, when he opened his eyes it was because of the intense sunlight, burning on his face. His body was sore and he was laying on his side. There was a rocking motion that he recognized as a boat. He was alive, barely breathing and he was on a boat. His shoulder was still painful. He had chains on his wrists. As he opened his eyes, he saw the edge of the wooden ship and the horizon, rising and falling, sky and water together.
He was drowsy and thirsty. And he knew he had been taken away from the island. His mind wandered to a strange place: he had an unusual sense of awareness of himself, his surroundings and the universe. It was as if his consciousness had awakened to a new truth that had always been there. He was calm and wise, even if he knew he was a prisoner. It didn't matter. Some unknown eternal power was in his mind, in his soul. He had the strength of the infinity of water and sky. He was the sky. He was the sun. He was the open eye that saw everything. He felt the light run through his veins. “I am immortal”, he thought. He realized his name was many names. He wasn't just lying there on a strange ship, being taken away: he was everything above and beyond it. He knew he had a power that could overcome anything. He was the truth itself. He had remembered what the waves wanted him to know. His greatest source of power was not in the sore body that could be wounded or broken. It was not in the random circumstances of a moment, or the consequences of actions around him. It was in his essence of being – he could see infinity unfold in his mind, he could recognize the light in his soul, the wisdom of having seen centuries and worlds pass by. It was the awareness of being above and beyond it all. It was not a moment in time: it was a timeless affirmation.
*
After he was taken prisoner by the people who attacked the island, Hylios was sold as a slave to a big boat. He was chained under the deck of the wooden boat, along with other prisoners, and was made to row for endless hours, without getting a glimpse of the sun. Sometimes it was hot, sweaty and the air was scarce in that dark confined place; other times it got cold and the slaves who were almost totally naked kept rowing and trembling from the damp draft from above.
If they stopped rowing they were whipped and cursed in a language they didn't understand. Hylios was tired and hungry all the time. He needed sleep badly and his muscles and bones were sore from the straining effort. He looked for ways to break the chains, but there were no tools available under the boat. There were many boats and sometimes they were taken to the battle. The rowing slaves had no idea what was going on above. They only heard the shouts and the noises of the fight, the splashing of bodies in the water and the screeching of the boat rocking from side to side. They were aware that the boat could be torn to pieces any moment, if the enemies were stronger – and that would mean certain death for them if the vessel sank. They were chained to it and would go down with it to the bottom of the sea. Whenever there was a fight above they held their breaths, listening in silence.
One day, the moment came and they were taken outside, still wearing chains, to carry big pots of oil to the shore.
Hylios knew that it was his chance to escape. Blinded by the bright sun, walking with a round clay pot on his shoulder, he looked to see clues for a plan to get away. The only weapons available nearby were hanging at the waist and in the hands of his enemies. He had to make a dash for the swords. He thought he could try it on the way back. They took the pots of oil to a big white temple.
As he put down the pot, he looked around the room made of white creamy stones. There was an altar in the middle of the chamber, with candles and small trays of burning resin. A few girls in white robes came to give water to the slaves. Hylios suddenly recognized one of them. Startled, he stepped closer to whisper her name.
“Aurora!”
She looked at him confused.
“Don't you recognize me?” he spoke louder.
“Shh! Of course I recognize you. But keep your voice down, or we'll both be in trouble. What happened to you?”
“I was taken prisoner and sold as a slave. But I plan to get away. What are you doing here in this temple?”
“I was brought here to serve the priestess.”
“Let's run away together! I'll take weapons from the guards and free myself from these people. Come with me!”
She looked to the entrance with a worried face.
“I can't. I swore to remain in this temple and honor the gods.”
“These are not your gods.”
“It doesn't matter. A vow is a sacred act. I can't break it.”
“Damn it! Why the hell not?”
“Don't swear in the temple, it's not right.”
Hylios stared at her helplessly. She was determined to remain in that situation. As happy as he had been to meet her again, it was no use. He got angry and desperate for a moment.
“Forget about the vows! You don't owe these gods anything.” Aurora stood firm.
“I'm sorry, Hylios. I can't do it: I can't join you. I hope you free yourself, but I'm not coming with you.”
And she turned to leave quickly with the other girls.
Hylios didn't spend one more second thinking about it. He didn't have the time. He drank the water, then returned outside, where he rushed to a guard, grabbed a sword and started a fight for freedom and for life. The other slaves followed his example and the fight extended to the entire group. The prisoners were desperate, which made them stronger in that moment when freedom seemed so close. Some of them got killed in the clash, but most got away with weapons, following Hylios along the shore, running in a search for a boat that could take them far from that place.
After they were out to sea, Hylios could finally breathe and enjoy being alive, in the salty air and bright light, free to decide, free to go wherever he wanted, free to be on his own. He learned that freedom was the highest ideal, a precious treasure worth fighting for. He learned that he had the power to become free, transcending any difficult circumstance – that his identity was that of being free, despite the illusions of temporary situations. He learned the truth of life was what he made of it, and infinity would assist him in being a winner, if he wanted it hard enough. He also learned that love and freedom were sometimes incompatible with each other, no matter how much he wished he could have both.