He was finally here.
He stood tall and silent upon the rocky ground as his keen sharp eyes took in the sight before him. The muscles in his body were tensed, and he felt like in that place, at that moment, it was his body that kept the sky tethered to the earth. The strange emotion on his face was that of complete ecstasy and innocent wonder mingled with supreme dignity.
He had been the bravest, strongest and wisest among all the Searchers, and when he was chosen, there was not one person in the tribe who doubted the choice, and not one person who envied him for it. For the journey would be the toughest any of them had ever undertaken. He had traveled for years, across deserts, rivers and mountains, and he was finally here. He had walked in the deep dark shadows of unnamed woods, and on the soft green grass of endless plains. He had braved the bite of the wind, the spears of the rain, and the wrath of the sun. He had seen wonders he never knew existed, but all that paled in comparison to what he saw now. His knees were weak, whether because he was tired or fearful, he did not know.
He remembered his mother, who used to sit with him and watch the red sunset wash the blue above and the green below. The deep dark night used to come marching from the realms of time to mingle with the fading rays of the sun, till their entire vision was filled with a majestic shade of magnificent purple. "Where does he go, mother? Where does the sun go at night?" he used to ask her. And always she used to reply, "I do not know, son. Maybe you shall find out one day."
Today was that day. Today was the day he stood at the edge of the world, on the brink of a sheer cliff, with the wind furiously howling into his face. Today was the day he bore witness to the unseen, listened to the unheard, and reached for the untouched. It was massive beyond anything he had ever imagined, stretching to as far as his eyes would allow him to see. It was constantly in motion, heaving up and down, sometimes like a sleeping giant, sometimes like a breathless playful child. And the sound! Never had he heard such a restless yet serene song, a song that sang of the balance between the desire to do and the desire to be. The world was young, and he had discovered that which no man had come upon before.
He was the first man on Earth to discover the Ocean.
He stood transfixed, tall and silent upon the rocky ground. He felt the rocks below him as he felt his own muscles. He felt the water of the Ocean as the life force of his own blood. He felt the chaotic repeated consistency of the waves resonate with his breathing. He saw himself as he had never seen before, as the raw extension of the rocks, the water, the sun, and the wind. He saw himself shaped and driven by an immense force, a force that he could only feel but not fathom. He saw himself as the tiny speck of existence, a witness to the grandeur and beauty of the Ocean before him. And yet, it was from mere drops that the Ocean was made, and it was through his existence that its beauty was discovered. And in that moment of awareness, he realized that the greatness of the Earth, the Sky and the Ocean were converged and manifested at the single point that was himself.
The young world turned the same magnificent shade of purple that he had seen so many times before. "I know where the sun goes at night", he said quietly.
