Light and Dark

Light and Dark

The fragrance inside the cramped cubicle was one Sara had never smelled before. It was strong, a mixture of burning agar wood and thyme. It made her feel dizzy. Smoke filled the room. Sara couldn’t quite make out the source of the smoke, it impaired her vision and she couldn’t see anything beyond a few inches from where she stood. The strong smell burned in her nostrils and throat and the smoke almost brought tears to her eyes. She shut her eyelids and held her breath.

 Remain calm, and rid your mind of all thoughts, all fears, all apprehensions. Chant repeatedly, only your sole purpose.

“The woman, the woman, the woman. I need my answers, woman. Let me see you, woman,” Sara muttered under her breath. “Don’t be afraid, Sara, don’t be afraid. Just trust yourself, Sara, just trust yourself,” she told herself, making a desperate effort to calm herself down.

She won’t reveal herself until you concentrate with all your mind and soul. She won’t come to you until you submit yourself to your sole purpose.

Sara could hear whispers. Her head was full of voices but all she heard was gibberish. She tried to comprehend the words she heard, but she failed miserably. The voices were trying to lure her into giving up on her mission. Blocking the sounds out was getting increasingly difficult.

It’s a test. She wants to distract you, she wants to veer you off your path. Devote yourself to your purpose. Tell her you need her.

Sara shut her ears and eyes tightly and yelled at the top of her voice, “I need answers, woman. Only you can help me. I need answers. Tell me the truth. Tell me the truth. Tell me the truth. Tell me……..”

Sara didn’t know how long she’d been screaming when suddenly the smoke began clearing. Sara slowly opened her eyes and looked around. The room was now dimly lit, four candles burnt weakly in the four corners. The strong, dizzying scent subdued to a pleasant and bearable one. Multi-coloured graffiti blanketed the four square walls. Words in some ancient and unfathomable language were spray-painted on the walls, leaving not an inch of the walls bare. Red, gold and purple orbs dangled from the ceiling. They were there for some special purpose unknown to Sara, who thought they looked like toys kids would love to play with. In the middle of the floor was a small low table. On the table was placed a large bowl that contained stones of various shapes, sizes, and colours.

“Sit down, Sara,” a voice spoke. Sara, who was engrossed in the unique decor of the place, jumped on hearing the voice. She did not notice the woman sitting in front of her. As Sara’s big round eyes fell on the woman, they widened even more and she raised her eyebrows so high in bewilderment at the sight before her, that they almost left her forehead and disappeared into her hair.

“Sit,” the woman repeated. Sara sat down.

The woman’s skin was pale as snow and fine wrinkles creased the skin around her lips and eyes. She was bald except for a few wisps of shiny silver hair sticking out at places on her head. Her honey-coloured eyes shone in the dim lighting of the room and the flickering candlelight accentuated her sharp jawline. Her voice was crisp and sharp. Anyone who heard only her voice would say she was a young woman in her 30s. She was clad in loose, long red robes. Something about her told Sara that she must have been an incredibly beautiful woman in her youth.

“You know why I’m here. Please help me,” Sara said cautiously and carefully.

The woman stared at Sara. When she finally spoke, Sara felt as if she had been staring for two thousand geological ages.

“You’re just like your father,” she said, twisting her thin lips into a smile, intensifying the creases around her eyes and mouth.

“I am not like my father! I am not a devil,” Sara cried out, her eyes brimming with tears at his mention.

 The woman sighed deeply. “How did you know how to find me?” she asked.

“Why does everyone say my father was a devil?”

No reply. The woman just stared.

“How I found you, is not important. Give me my answers, please.”

Still no reply. Defeated, Sara had no choice but to answer the woman’s question.

“The Book of Secrets. It had a whole chapter about you. I memorised it.”

“The Book of Secrets….yes, of course.”

“It belonged to my father.”

“If you think your father was the devil, why do you have what belonged to him? Why haven’t you got rid of the devil’s possessions?”

“I…It’s because….uh….It’s.….. It’s just a book,” Sara said. She was beginning to feel annoyed by the woman. “I am the one who should be asking questions and you should be the one answering!”

“If you’re unwilling to co-operate with me, stop wasting my time and leave,” the woman said, giving Sara a stone-cold look.

“OK, OK! I’ll tell you. I kept his book because I… I like books. I love reading books.”

“You know that book isn’t just any book. All copies were destroyed. Your father secretly retained the only existing copy of that book.”

“Who destroyed the book? And why?”

“The People of Darkness. They remained ignorant of the power of the knowledge hidden inside The Book of Secrets.”

“My father knew about the book’s power?”

“He did. He was among the People of Illumination. And so is your Uncle Mark, who handed over to you all that your father had left behind.”

“Is everyone from the People of Illumination considered a devil? Because…..because everyone says Uncle Mark is a devil too, just like my father,” Sara said, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand.

“You miss Uncle Mark, don’t you, child?”

Sara was crying violently now. Tears flowed down her cheeks in a helpless flood. She bent her head and watched the tiny pool her tears had formed on the dry concrete she was seated on.

Uncle Mark was Sara's only living relative in the whole wide world. But she had pushed him away from her, forced herself to distance her from him in a desperate attempt to make those around her believe she had nothing to do with him. They all called him he devil, like her father. Initially, she thought everyone was mistaken. How could the sweetest, kindest man in this world be a devil? But the more stories she heard, the more difficult it became for her to resist them and not believe them. The more stories she heard, the more convincing each seemed to her. The more stories she heard, the more she began to avoid Uncle Mark. Sara just wanted to be a normal person and have a normal life. She did not wish for any extraordinary things to happen and didn’t want to become the topic of everyone’s gossip. The only way she could have a normal life was to make everyone believe Uncle Mark was not a part of her life. She gave up living with him and moved into an orphanage. She refused to see him every time he came to meet her. But she knew she had questions she needed answers to. She wanted to know the truth. The truth about her parents, the truth about him and truth about her very own existence.

“Sara, your mother, and father were both among the People of Illumination and considered devils by the People of Darkness. All the People of Illumination went into hiding to escape prosecution by the People of Darkness. Except for your mother and father. They continued facing the torments of the People of Darkness. They did not want to give up. They wanted to bring every person that took a breath on this earth onto the Path of Illumination. The People of Darkness decided to burn them to death. But as soon as they were thrown into the fire, everyone present there witnessed what happened next. The fire spoke out, ‘You cannot use illumination to destroy illumination.’ The fire then died out. But the bodies of your mother and father disappeared and haven’t been found ever since.

“Your mother gave birth to you only a few days before the prosecution and handed you over to your uncle along with the responsibility of protecting you. Even though the practice of prosecution of the People of Illumination has died out, the People of Darkness still exist, their hatred towards the People of Illumination still exists, and so do the People of Illumination, scattered in secret pockets of the world.”

“If the prosecution has stopped, why are the People of Illumination still hiding? Uncle Mark does not live in hiding.”

“Only Mark knows his motive behind emerging from hiding. Everyone thought the reason behind him going into hiding was to give you the best protection. But exposing himself and you to the people of darkness is something no one-- myself included-- ever understood. The ban on prosecution does not ensure complete safety. ”

“Why do the People of Darkness hate the People of Illumination so?”

“At the time of the genesis of the world, the Creator gave only a certain group of people the privilege of guarding the knowledge of the secrets of the world. Only they were given the privilege of understanding the deep meanings hidden within that knowledge and their true potential. This group was also entrusted with propagating this knowledge among the rest, but slowly and cautiously. This group of people was called the People of Illumination. This angered the rest of the people. They were asked to be patient; they were told that they too would receive this knowledge when the right time arrived. But they grew impatient. They tried to steal the knowledge. But the People of Illumination had already anticipated this, and they concealed the knowledge beneath layers and layers of unbreakable codes and riddles incredibly difficult to crack. Unable to decipher and extract the knowledge, the People of Darkness ultimately gave up and decided to destroy the power of the knowledge by regarding it as unholy and unworthy of existing in this world. To remove all traces of this knowledge from the face of the earth, they began prosecuting the People of Illumination. The People of Illumination being only a handful, struggled to survive and fight back, but they couldn’t and were ultimately forced to retreat into a twilight existence.”

“If the People of Illumination still exist, does that mean my parents still exist as well?”

“Yes, it’s possible. But nobody knows the locations of the People of Illumination.”

Sara was lost in deep thought. She had been told her parents had died. The possibility that her parents still existed and that she could have a chance to see them had completely baffled her. After learning about the People of Darkness and Illumination, her perception about herself, Uncle Mark, her parents, about everything changed. She now saw everything in a new light. The woman’s words had woken her from a deep slumber. She felt a torrent of emotions. Her heart ached for Uncle Mark. She had been punishing herself and Uncle Mark all these years for crimes none of them ever committed. She felt angry and frustrated at herself for trying to avoid her past and the truth inherent in it. But she also felt as if a void inside her was filling, the sense of emptiness gradually disappearing as she learned more.  

“You see these stones, Sara dear?” the woman asked, pointing at the bowl of stones placed on the table between them. “Stones have memories trapped within them. Stones retain information about everything they have witnessed. These are some of the stones I collected from your parents’ old residence.”

Sara’s head shot up. “These stones can tell me more about my parents?”

“Yes. They whisper in your ears. These stones have never told me anything. They will whisper only in the ears of the person who truly deserves to know the information trapped within the core of the stones. I have been keeping these safe with me for years now. I knew you would come to me one day. I have waited for you for a very long time, Sara.”

The woman picked up a stone and gave it to Sara. “Listen carefully,” she said.

Sara placed the stone to her ear and heard muffled noises. Her heart was beating incredibly fast. She felt as if her heart would jump out of her chest any moment now. She did not want to hear something she would regret having heard for the rest of her life.

“Our Sara is the one. Don’t you see it, Dill? The prophecy was true all along,” Sara heard her mother say. How soft, how kind her voice was; warm like a summer breeze.

“Maria, are you telling me to put Sara’s life in danger? How are we going to do that?” Sara had heard from her uncle that her father was the most generous, benevolent man to walk this earth. Hearing his voice, she realised she had never wanted to see her father as badly as she wanted to at that moment.

“Dill, Sara is going to be the beacon of light after us. Who will carry forward the torch of knowledge after we are gone, after the People of Darkness destroy the Illuminators? We cannot afford to let our knowledge die. We must pass it on.”

“You’re right. We must make this sacrifice. But in advocating our cause, Sara might lose her life.”

“We must do as the prophecy states.”

“Maria, I would like to listen to the prophecy. Could you recite it for me please?”

“The darkness will consume the light. But she will persist. She must. History has witnessed what the ignorant ones have done to the awakened ones. History has also witnessed how the awakened ones have fought till their last breath. The ignorant ones have always been stronger, but only physically; they have always been larger, but only in number.  The enlightened ones possess the power of illumination, making them a hundred times stronger than the ignorant ones. The enlightened ones have always been not more than a few, but each one is the possessor of knowledge.”

“Consider her birth as a ray of hope and hold onto it. The solitary flame burning deep inside her will conquer the darkness. The sparks contained within her will ignite a huge fire one day. A fire so huge, not a soul will remember that darkness ever existed.”

Sara could hear her father sobbing. And then he declared, “We must fulfil our duty. Please fetch Mark for me, Maria. Today, we will tell him what must be done.”    

Sara now understood why she and Uncle Mark did not live in hiding like the others. She could feel the weight of the huge responsibility now resting on her shoulders. She had always wanted to be normal and live an ordinary life, but destiny had something else in store for her.

“So what does it say?” hissed the woman in a conspiratorial tone.

“It prophesies that I am the ONE, the ONE who will eliminate darkness. But…. I can’t. I am not that strong. And …and I can’t give up my normal life just like that.”

“Hmmm…” sighed the woman and assuming an all wise pose, said gravely, “It’s the fate of all illuminators. Some give up their homes, wives, children, others all their worldly possessions, wealth. Sara, to bring light, you must pay with your life. You, my child, will bring the dawn of the sun that will never set.”

Sara shuddered at these words. She closed her eyes and shut her ears with her palms in an effort to escape from the turmoil caused by the prophecy. She expected to face a storm inside. Instead, all that she felt was a strange calm. It was the end of a tumultuous journey. She had finally come home.

Sara took a deep breath, her eyes glowing with the power of her new -found identity.

“I know what I have to do”, she said firmly.

And with a nod at the woman, Sara walked out, her head held high, ready to confront the dark with her light.

Batul Rokadiya