The Mystic's Summer
The Mystic's Summer

Schala

It was summer. The sun shone nearly every day, the few clouds were white and puffy, the sky was a pure blue. Breezes shook the leaves and fruit from the trees. When all was still, the rustling of leaves that birds moved with their flight could be heard.

It was a beautiful summer.

It was a summer marred by war.

She was cocooned in darkness, broken only by the faint light from distant stars.

She did not see the summer.

She saw only the death.

So many had died, and many more would before the end of the War. Those who grieved for the warriors saw only the bodies lying on the ground, lifeless.

But she knew there was another kind of death. She had once experienced it.

The death of the soul...

Imagine a living body without a soul and you have an entity without feelings, without emotions, without the capability of having pity, sorrow, or love for others.

Such a being can feel only pity for itself...And in doing so, it kills itself every minute, every day...

Until slowly the body reaches the same state as that of the soul.

She closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair. Sometimes she felt as though she were teetering on the edge of sanity. She had thought the isolation would do her good. Now she found that it was driving her insane.

She needed to contact someone. She, who had always preferred solitude, actually needed another person. Her mouth broke into a smile.

*How different I am now...*

Then she became grim.

*What is wrong with me? Why are these thoughts floating through my head?...*

A word sprang into her mind and refused to be chased away.

Death...

Somehow, it was the key. But the key to what? What secret would it unlock? What would she find?

Death seemed to be the end to so many things. But, she slowly realized, death was also a beginning. For death does not refer to merely the ending of life. If something dies, both the dead and the living move on to a new chapter. Those who remain must adjust their lives. Those who have gone, they travel to a vast unknown. Death takes away -- but it also gives back. Death destroys -- but it also builds. Strangely, it is the base upon which life stands.

She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. She felt as though an iota of understanding had come to her. Standing up, she walked a few steps and stared at the tapestry on her wall for a few minutes. Then she turned toward the window. When she looked out, she was so startled and amazed that her heart leaped.

There, in a far-away corner of the blackness, was a single, faint beam of sunlight.