: Athelstan walked to the door with sorrowful and blurry eyes, and stood at the door while staring at the rising sun:
Step!
Step!
Step!
Step!
:I noticed him walking away from his cottage bearing a smiling face as if nothing happened, passing by the neighbours and villagers without saying a word to them and looking straight to a faraway location. Among the neighbours who saw him, some whispered words of reproach and some disgust, to themselves, because they found it absurd not to bury a person that dies but Athelstan bearing no mind to their whispers kept heading to that location which happened to be his farm at the outermost skirts of the village. When he got there he cultivated the farm as he usually does and since the farm was nearby a forest close to the village he also went in as he always does to bring back some herbs to take care of his deceased wife's corpse. I then looked to the direction of his dead wife laying on the bed in the cottage and noticed that her body hasn't even began showing signs of rot, well looking past the shrivelled body that looks like a skeleton and realised that due to the abnormal level of coldness her body exhibited she seemed more like a frozen corpse than a regular dead corpse which maintained her organs from rotting:
Sorrowfully Athelstan arrived at the forest and began picking some herbs and since being very knowledgeable about plants he picked the herbs needed to maintain the corpse such as myrrh, frankincense, rosemary, wormwood, and also Cedar wood oil. He kept on doing these regularly for seven days and amidst those days he experienced scrutiny and mock from his neighbours and villagers due to him refusing to burying Godiva, some spat on him while he passed by, some threw stones at him, some ridiculed him, some said he was a part of a secret society that sacrificed corpses, some even said perhaps the reason his farm always yielded was due to him already sacrificing his wife in a demonic ritual and still Athelstan neither replied to them nor rebuked them rather he smiled at them bearing no ill will or intent against them, it was like he understood their fear and worry and did not hold any fault to them behaving that way. At times even with that situation some young maiden tried to approach him and court him, also trying to seduce him but due to his gentle and calm rebuke to their requests they rather grew more suspicious of him and ignored him completely as if he no longer existed, no one spoke of him again, some diverted roads whenever they caught sight of him approaching so as not to have any bad luck from him.
: I watched these humans acting stupidly and wickedly to Athelstan forgetting all they enjoyed from him, his care for them, his sacrifice to his wife and his village, aside from the fact that he refuses to bury his wife, there was no fault day could scorn him at all. Watching all these pissed me off more and more and somehow, I, who have never interfered in the affairs of mortals for the first time in existence I felt PITY not for myself but for a mortal whose life span was not more than a century and as such broke a rule that never existed:
On the morning of the seventh day after Godiva's death, Athelstan as he does cleaned his wife, rub the herbs and oils he prepared for her body to prevent the rotting though he knows it's just for a short time because eventually the body will fully rot and it will be irreversible at that point, he then clothed her and left to go to his farm. After finishing his duties at his farm he went into the forest as usual but on his way, at the midst of the forest he saw a large Atlas Cedar Tree and beneath it a boy who looked older than seven years of age dressed in black shorts and a tugged in white t-shirt with white socks and black shoes holding a stick which had a rope tied to one end and the other end was immersed in a pond also beneath the tree, the boy had short golden blonde hair and a very calming and yet divine and majestic demeanour to him, it was as if the boy was the answer to a prayer he never had. The pond was not big it was quite small at least a seven feet long and seven feet wide and seven feet deep as well, Athelstan seeing these wondered what a child is doing in the midst of a forest because he knows how dangerous the forest was as it was filled different kind of wild animals, he then approach the boy to try and gently send him away from the forest
"Ah, boy, ah hello boy"
The boy still sat there calmly trying to catch a fish with his tool
"Boy its quite dangerous here, aw, where's your parent or you perhaps lost?"
Athelstan bewildered by the fact that the boy acted as if he could not understand what he was saying noticed the boy with his right hand patting on the ground close to him as if to say 'sit' , Athelstan then sat close to the boy and noticed the fishing stick having a worm as a bait to attract a fish but realising there were fishes that could be numbered up to thousands in the pond yet for some reason none of the fishes were attracted to the bait in fact it was as if they could not even see the bait
::What do you see?::
The boy said calmly and gently to Athelstan, who was mesmerised by the majestic tone of the boy's voice, replying to the boy said
"I the fishes swimming around refusing to take the bait, it seems as if they cannot even see the hook and bait at all, why is that?"
Athelstan still mesmerised calmly asked the boy back
::Imagine life as a great river, flowing endlessly. A tree stands by its banks, its roots drinking deep. When the tree dies, it falls into the river, its wood becoming a home for fish, its leaves nourishing the water. The fish eat, grow strong, and one day, they too will return to the river's depths, their bodies becoming food for others. Look at the field, grass grows, deer eat, and the grass is nourished by their departure. The deer's flesh feeds wolves, and when they too pass, their strength becomes the soil's richness. The plants take it in, grow tall, and feed the deer once more. Death is not an end; it's a transformation. A seed must surrender its shell to grow into a tree. You, too, are part of this dance. Your essence will nourish others, just as theirs has nourished you. The circle turns, shapes shifting, yet the life force remains woven with all that was, is, and will be.::
Athelstan shocked by the boy's speech could only gasp at the words coming out of the boy's mouth and yet could not understand any of it, still confused Athelstan asked what he meant, the boy explained
:: Life and Death are not really far off from each other, they are always a pair woven together into reality, but only appear at the absence of the other. Some may see Life as a gift and Death as a curse, but would one call his body a gift and his own shadow a curse 'NO!', likewise a life must be given in order to overcome death and also death to life::
Turning to Athelstan the boy told him to look at the worm closely, and Athelstan not still understanding anything the boy is saying still looked at the worm and realised the worm was somehow still alive in the pond, surprised Athelstan turned to look at the boy in shock wanting to ask something but suspecting the boy will still reply in parables he ignored that thought. The both individuals sat beneath the Cedar tree from morning till dusk without any of them uttering again any word to each other occasionally Athelstan strolls around the tree and moves around to somehow quench his boredom and tiredness. And at dusk the boy finally broke the silence
:: What you seek you've found, and what you asked you've been given, but it comes at a huge cost; a life for a life and a death for a death, are you willing?::
The boy asked to Athelstan who finally somewhat understood what the boy has been saying
"A small price to pay"
Athelstan replied or so he thought.
: I looked at him in pity knowing fully well that he has already made up his mind, I sighed, and then stood up to touch Athelstan on his shoulder, unbeknownst to him, i took the essence of life from him the moment I touched him though, it was not an action that will immediately kill him, he will be dead by morning:
Athelstan surprised by the boy suddenly standing to touch his shoulder initially tried to resist but for some unknown reason he couldn't, that was when he clearly saw the boy's eyes, he didn't know why for a moment he assumed the boys eyes were normal but he soon realised the boy's eyes were unique as well just as his own is…
'is it even possible to have such kind of eyes, I know mine is different but I still have the basic traits that are found in all eyes like pupils, lens, cornea etc. though the colours may seem different but they're all basically the same, but his eyes look ethereal and clear as the starry night, shining with plenty tiny flickering lights within, as if floating in the void lies a bluish-green beautifully curved stroke within the eyes somehow encompassing the universe within it'
:: Finally, the cause of your misfortune was not from without but rather from within, look within yourself and then realise it for yourself::
Having said those words the boy walked away from Athelstan who was still sitting with his eyes closed. Opening his eyes Athelstan realised he was in the forest alone no Cedar tree nor pond and the boy was nowhere to be seen as well and as if understanding what the boy said to him Athelstan headed back home as it was getting dark. He arrived at his home and headed to the bedroom where he laid Godiva's body, then sitting close to her, he held her hands to his lips and kissed them, he then gently stroked her face and hair as if caressing them for the last time
"I'm sorry, my dear you mu…"
With tears finally dripping from his eyes and his head bow down as if to kiss her
"You must have suffered because of me, it was my entire fault. My obsession, my love and affection…., I guess they were right, I did kill you, I should have realised sooner that your affection for me were abnormal, perhaps because I've always been abnormal I thought it was normal but only now do I truly realise I caused everything.."
Athelstan having said those words kissed her one last time, it was a passionate and sorrowful kiss
:I watched as tears streamed from his eyes as he kissed her for the last time, he then laid close to her with his arms wrapped around her body and slept smiling, it was a beautiful smile, a ridiculous smile, a gentle smile, a sorrowful smile:
:it was dawn Godiva slowly opened her eyes, her body healed, her beauty restored, it was truly a sight to behold. As she struggled to sit upright she felt someone holding unto her, a man she no longer remembered, with a peaceful smile on his face she realised the man was dead, out of shock she hastily retreated and fell from the bed she once slept on. Surveying her surroundings, she pinched herself to feel if the situation was real:
"ouch, it hurts, why did I even do that?"
Looking around and noticing her environment Godiva slowly walked to the corpse in front of her, looking at him closely she tried to recognise who he was but surprisingly she couldn't, she could not identify who he was, why he was dead and why he was hugging her while even smiling peacefully in death. But for some reason her heart ached, tears gently streamed from her eyes; she could not understand why her heart hurt with sorrow and sadness nor could she explain what was happening to her
:As I watched her cry in sadness, I whispered some words to her as a form of mourning with her but the message went to the world as a form of prophecy, realising now I can't seem to recall what it was I said to her. I don't believe I also have a defective brains as humans do, so how is it that I do not remember what it was I said…..:
Realising these TIMELESS felt worried and concerned because it was as if a part of the universe was missing from 'His' memories and 'He' was the consciousness of the universe itself.