Back to Light

For as long as Kodi could remember, the world had been cloaked in darkness. He and everyone else in the town lived their lives guided by the soft echoes of sound and the tender whisper of the chill of the wind on their faces. They built their homes with stones, wood and leaves they found by feel and told each other stories of what they imagined the world might look like if it was not shrouded in blackness. 

To them the darkness was their life, a constant unchanging and sometimes a confronting familiarity. Kodi was a curious child always asking questions and going to places others avoided. He was born with an insatiable curiosity to know more, a trait that made him endearing to a few people and exasperating to the majority of people in his town. 

“Kodi, stop wandering so far from me.” His mom said to him in a scolding voice. “There’s nothing out there but more darkness.” 

Kodi didn’t believe that. “ How do you know that, Mom? Maybe there is something else out there. Maybe there is something or someone waiting out there in the light.” 

“Hush, Kodi. Believe me there is nothing.” His mom said. 

One day Kodi was out exploring the cliffs which boarded his town. His fingers brushed against something unusual. It didn’t feel like the usual rocks or dirt he was used to. It was smooth, round and oddly warm. He hesitated then gripped the object firmly in his hand and pulled it as hard as he could until he finally got it free from the ground. It was a sphere about the size of his hand. Although Kodi could not see it, he could feel and energy radiating from it. He carried it back home, holding it like it was precious treasure. 

That night Kodi sat in his room and ran his hands over the sphere. He wondered what it could be. Suddenly the object began to hum and Kodi felt a surge of heat on his hands. The darkness of the room around him started to fracture. The darkness wasn’t gone but there was something cutting through it like a dull knife. Kodi felt a strangling blinding sensation which made his eyes ache. For the first time in his life Kodi saw a glimmer of light. 

He didn’t understand what was happening. His room appeared dim and shadowy in a way he never imagined. The rough wooden wall, the uneven floor boards and the table next to his bed all had shape and color, concepts he could not explain. 

Kodi screamed and his mother rushed to his room. “What is it?” She asked, gripping his shoulders. 

“I can…I can.. See!” Kodi said. He didn’t know what the words meant until he said them. 

“There’s something that…something that shows us the world.” Kodi said.

His mother gasped as Kodi held up the sphere. The faint glow emanating from it began to grow stronger, filling the room with a golden light. 

The people of the town gathered near their house when they heard the commotion. 

“It’s the end of darkness.” Someone screamed.

Kodi didn’t know what to say. He didn’t understand the power of the sphere. He knew that it was something extraordinary. The light revealed the town in a way he could never imagine. The houses, the winding paths, the towering cliffs they were all visible and vivid.

Not everyone welcomed the change. Elder Gio, the town’s wisest and most respected leader stepped forward. 

“Kodi, put that thing away. It’s dangerous. The darkness has kept us safe. We don’t need anything  the light will bring.” 

“But, Elder,” Kodi argued. “Look around! The light shows us how the world really looks. It could help us. We could learn so much.” 

“Or it could destroy us.” Elder Gio countered. “The darkness is our home. Never forget that!”

Kodi’s heart sank, but he refused to let the light go. Over the days, he experimented with the sphere. He discovered that he could dim or brighten its glow just with his thoughts. Some people in the town welcomed the light, liking the beauty it revealed. Others did not. The children played games, laughing as they chased their newfound shadows. The artists who had once sculpted in the dark began to create carvings and paintings inspired by the colors they could now see. 

But, the light also brought some challenges. People discovered flaws in their homes and gardens which had gone unnoticed in the darkness. Arguments started over differences that never mattered before. And the more the light spread it seemed to draw unwanted attention beyond the town. 

One night Kodi sat by the cliffs looking at the illuminated landscape. He heard a sound that scared him and made his blood run cold. A deep growl echoed from the darkness beyond the scope of the sphere. Kodi tightened his grip on the sphere. The growl grew louder and then silence. 

The next morning Elder Gio confronted Kodi. “You see?” He said. “The light attracts danger and it is not natural. You must destroy it before it destroys all of us.” 

Kodi hesitated. He knew that Elder Gio was right, but he could not bring himself to extinguish the light. Kodi proposed a compromise. 

“Let me take the sphere far from here.” He said. “I’ll find out where it came from and if it can help us. If so, I will keep it and if not I will make sure that it never returns.” 

The people in the town agreed, some reluctantly. Armed with a small bag of supplies, food and the sphere Kodi left for the unknown. The sphere guided his path. The light from the sphere revealed a world that was both breathtaking and strange to Kodi. He saw towering trees in the forest, rivers which sparkled like liquid silver and creatures with eyes that glistened in the shadows. 

As Kodi continued his journey he began to understand the true nature of the light. It was not just a tool but a force that could transform the world as he knew it. It brought clarity and exposed the dangers and truths which had been hidden in the darkness for centuries. Kodi realized that light was neither good or evil, it was just part of existence just as the darkness. 

When Kodi returned home he was a changed person. He shared his stories of what he saw of the world in the light beyond the town. He told them about all of his encounters. The townspeople listened closely. The fear had lessened for some but for others the fear only worsened.  Kodi no longer had the sphere. He had left it in a place where it could do no harm but would remain a beacon for those  brave enough to see it. 

“Both the light and the darkness have their place in the world.” Kodi said. “We don’t have to fear either. Instead we have to learn how to live in a world with both and find balance.” 

The people in the town took his words to heart, and over time the town became a place where light and darkness mingled together. Shadows danced with the golden rays of the light and the people learned to embrace the comfort of the familiar and the thrill of the unknown. 

Kodi’s discovery had changed their world forever not by banishing the darkness but by bringing  in the light showing them that there was more to life than living in the darkness.