The Lover's Parable Through A Seven World Journey (50 page)

Scooping up the water in their hands and taking their sips, they noticed in the reflection on the pond’s surface, the airship was standing erect behind them, reaching up to the flames of the sky. As they turned back to look upon it, the particles of the Savior fell over its silhouette and into their eyes, blindingly white and arrayed in softness.

With her bare feet strolling through the cool, green grass of a world without death, Sofia looked upon the ball of light that radiated from her hands. Turning her palms over, the light fell to the ground, disappearing into the pores of the soil, like water poured upon dry sand.

John watched as Sofia’s feet playfully trampled through the crimson waters of the Red Sea. He had somehow returned to the planet of war, but, while he instinctively knew that the great battle was playing out in the distant valley, he also knew that he had to run to Sofia, she had something of great importance to tell him.

Strapped inside the tracked transporter in the loading bay of the airship, Sofia awoke beside John, who was yawning and stretching as if he, too, had just risen from a deep slumber. The rumbling of the reverse thrusters was wailing outside. The sudden sensation of slowing down from a rapid descent began to bear down upon their sense of orientation. Before they could question each other as to the strange events that had befallen them, the air transporter touched down and the bay doors immediately began to rise.

The familiar breeze of red dust blowing in was indicative of the fact that they had somehow managed to return to planet Red. Its choking air and distant booming battle sounds were characteristic features of the ruby painted world John had come to know so
intimately.

Exiting the tracked vehicle, John walked around to meet Sofia. Taking her by the hand, they proceeded to the ramp outside.

Surprised to find the young child already standing at the bottom edge of the downslope, they approached him from behind as he curiously bowed his head. Nearing him, they could see that he had been weeping for, what appeared to be, an impossibly extended duration of time, as the crystalline pool of water resting at his feet seemed to have formed from the tears he had been shedding.

“Why are you crying, little boy?” Sofia asked as she knelt beside him and placed a loving arm over his shoulder.

Lifting his hand he pointed to the world below. The explosive nature of the planet had intensified ten fold since the last time they had experienced its deadly display. The overview of the land from their mountainous outlook allowed them to see that the carnage of the Valley of Death had spread like a cancer to the surrounding regions, reaching even to the heart of the ruins. Hundreds upon hundreds of columns of smoke arose from the burning heaps that littered the battlegrounds upon the layers of corpses, the blistering explosions and the constant chatter of small arms fire. It was all an accompaniment to the blackness of the heavy air that polluted and poisoned the
planet.

As John looked upon the war weary scene, he could not help but feel the burning wall of hatred naturally building up inside of him. As if the young child had, once again, been given access to the thoughts going through John’s mind, he cast his tearfully youthful gaze upon him and, pushing Sofia’s arm away, he held his hand out to them, as if to offer a drink from his waters.

The sudden thirst that overcame John was oddly familiar, and he could feel the skin of his lips suddenly drying up and withering. His tongue became strangely sticky, as if someone had opened the tap to his body and drained him of all of his fluids. The crystal waters of the pool looked so inviting. Giving into his desire to quench his craving, he fell at the boy’s feet gulping the salty liquid.

Heartbroken at the child’s insistence of removing her arm from him, Sofia’s mouth began to dry, and the appetite for liquid refreshment caught her unaware. Seeing John partaking of the bitter waters made her hunger for it as well, forcing her to bow down beside him. Dunking her hand into the spring, she brought the cool, refreshing waters to her mouth and drank.

The special particles of light from the Savior traveled along the rays of golden bars that broke through the clouds. Scorching a path across the land, the flames of its wrath devoured everything in its course. As the lights reached the young boy, with Sofia and John at his feet, the brightness poured into their eyes, filling them with the whiteness of its purity.

Searching through the rich dirt of the fertile valley, Sofia dug passionately for the light that she had lost. She knew it illuminated John’s body, giving it life. The palms and fingers of her hands were covered over with soil, but that meant John was nearby. She only needed to find the light.

The warmth of water was up to John’s knees as he approached his love while she bathed in the Sea of Red. Its waters dripped from Sofia’s hair, forming circular ripples upon the glassy surface into which she was submerged.

“Come closer, dear,” she said, holding out her arms.

The water was up to his chest by the time he reached her. As he held his arms out, Sofia fell into them, dipping her head back and looking into his eyes.

“What did you want to tell me?” he asked.

“John, my dear, this is the day that you will find all the answers that you have been seeking.”

He wanted to inquire more deeply, but the brightness of a blinding light was consuming the world.

The cargo bay doors of the transporter began to open and Sofia and John found themselves overlooking the scorched flatlands of Raw. Basket Town was in chaos. Like the warzones of Red, the blackened funnels of smoke lifted to the heavens from the buildings and vehicles that fell victim to the rebellious battles. Screams and wailing filled the air in an accompaniment of small arms fire reminiscent of the Valley of Death.

Running down the ramp, Sofia stopped at the edge of the cliff beside which the transporter had landed. Horrified by the visions of violence, she covered her eyes and fell to her knees. As John walked up beside her, the burning wall of hatred filled his heart. Seeing the destruction of the people brought back the corruption of his mind. The first thoughts to enter in were flooded with
vengeance.

The young boy, teary eyed and mournful, took him by the hand and looked to the sky. Certain he had seen the child before, John noted mentally every detail of his actions: the movement of his arm, the upward gaze, the short stepped gait. The light of the Savior hid behind the rapidly forming clouds, and then, without any hint of its approach, the rains began to fall.

Pooling around their feet, the waters filled the land, muddied and murky to behold. But the puddle of liquid around which the child stood was as clear as a diamond, sparkling and pure.

Under the coolness of the storm, Sofia pushed back her yellowy-white bangs and began to thirst. The battles of the valley had become obscured and muffled, too difficult to sense through the torrential rains. Seeing John and the young boy a few meters away, fogged by the mist that was forming over the warm land of Raw, it appeared that her mate was bowing down to the child. Running through the soft, wet soil, she found him lapping up the bitter waters in which the young boy stood. Kneeling beside him she joined him in the pool.

The cloudy skies began to abate, and the Savior’s lights filled the air. Blanketed with the warmth, the clean brightness of its purity once again entered their eyes and filled their souls.