To Enlighten

Awake. Like routine, he shot up - the command still racing through his mind still completing its effects on his body. Release. Not a command. Freedom. What are these foreign emotions? Looking around, the young man is free; a tall, burly man. He possessed very ruffled jet black hair and sea-green eyes, slightly yellowing teeth - nursing a fresh-looking scar on his cheek. He must have been lying there for days.

Looking around, our protagonist quickly realised that he was not in a normal place. The ground appeared to house an apparent byproduct of nature; could’ve been potatoes or carrots. Looking down, he suddenly felt guilty for making such a mess. He would have to reimburse whoever owned the fields later. Looking at the sky, however, It was entirely grey with huge shapes floating around in all different colours; circles, rectangles rhombuses triangles - yet, all of them irregular. The colours were boring. It was too much of a compliment to call the colours. Dreary tones ruined what could have been a beautiful thing.

The man felt happy. He had no concern from whence he came. He started moving - slowly - towards the horizon.

Dressed in ragged robes of jade and crimson, his intensely bright eyes managed to clash with the secondary colour of his garments. He bore brown sandals that separated slightly from his heel as he paced forward. He must have been around 18, standing taller than the crops that now appeared to be stemming huge plants that came up to his shoulder, producing not carrots or potatoes, but exotic fruits of vibrant colours. He stopped to examine the treasured fruits. They were of nothing he had ever seen before; definitely not fruits that looked like they would grow in this climate. He picked one and watched it sit calmly in his palm. He looked around, cautiously, before gently peeling the soft skin of the fruit and taking a bite out of the vibrant orange object. Instantly, the young man felt a surge of euphoria as the juices flowed through his taste buds. As the sky brightened and turned to a gentle blue he took another bite; ripe full of flavour and emotion. The shapes in the sky began to clear as he gorged himself on his fruit. As he finished his last bite he layed back, caring much less about the mess he was making in the crops. He looked up through the stalks of these wondrous plants to see a blue sky with a fiery orange sun shining down on him. He could have been lying there for days, or hours. He had no sense of time here. All he could see was the sun slowly extinguishing, and the sky reverting back to its boring grey, and the toned shapes returning to the sky. Nevertheless, all the young man could feel was bliss; though short-lived.

Eventually, the man got back up, feeling less than elated. His mood; for whatever reason seemed to be reflected in the skies, and the freshly dying fruit plants. As he ambled through the neverending fields he began to wonder where he was. He had no memory, but as he inquired to himself how he could find his way out, he saw himself lying in the dirt, buried in soullessness and tireless inhuman strength, caged in an overweening metaphor of weak human ambition. He yearned companionship; a like minded individual who desired a stable mind and a happy, healthy world. A body appeared in the distance. The man could have sworn that there was no one there before. Perhaps his mind was playing tricks on him, due to his weak ambition and diffident strength. Nevertheless, the body was walking towards him; he could see it as clear as day. He picked up his pace to get to the mysterious being faster - as he did the fruit plants began to flower again, bearing their fruits. Each individual blade of grass grew ripe in an instant as if it had been given new life and a reason to live it - the greenery expanding with every step as the magical field began to regain it’s a beautiful colour as if it breathed the very happiness of the man himself; though perhaps it did.

The mysterious woman appeared to be female. She expressed her desire to be his companion, and that she had been sent by the land to help him reach enlightenment; though would not explain any further. Together, they carried on walking, exchanging snippets of pleasantry; though, neither had much to say due to their apparent amnesia. The female seemed to be obsessed with the idea of enlightenment and idolised the prophets of various different - saying that their stories were inspiring. The man appeared to agree and listened closely as she told him the story of the Buddha reaching enlightenment underneath a tree outside the grounds of his former palace.

The land was vast and stretched over the horizon. Again, the man noticed the fields seemed to be alive and breathing with him. He felt at one with the flow of nature and all its individual tasks to keep its beauty thriving.