Part 1: The Myth of the Grieving Soul

‘Poetry provides us with the history of the human heart.’

They were mirrors to a world that only celestial beings transcended through; a place to love the unloved. Past the beating of hearts and into the Garden of Eden.

This is where the story of a geologist begins and ends, in a lonely land filled with mourning souls, in the bittersweet awakening of the forever feared.

Ahimsa lived a life as mundane as any other, and it was this prosaic lifestyle in which she found solace - however it was one she was too comfortable in. This warmth bred a happiness and goodness that had not known hardship and failure and, as a result, was impure. Pure happiness is only to be obtained when one has experienced considerable amounts of good and evil and, at the end of the day, still chooses to unite with goodness despite the overpowering strength of the evil within.

On the very day her journey through evil was to begin, her cyclical lifestyle hit a momentary barrier: she got sent out to gather samples nearby an active volcano on a stormy day with a team she was unfamiliar with. Due to the tight time schedules put in place there was no time for formalities and Ahimsa was assigned to work alone in the most frightening part of the island. The nature lover, at the peak of her youth, feared the very concept of death and it was in this fear that awoke Aladdin’s spirit: The Djinn. And, to her misfortune, it so happened that she was working on the world’s only archipelago where the cries of desperate souls could be heard by the restless Djinn squirming beneath.

The Djinn arrived, assuming the guise and disposition of a friendly young man, a face and spirit of an angel, one to have fallen in love with; but it was a love that cowered from light, a love that grew in darkness and possessed the very spark of souls. One Ahimsa never saw coming.

Adopting a position as a member of her fairly large team, he was easily able to befriend the naïve soul and aided her in gathering volcanic ash and rock samples. She soon became quite enthralled by the stranger who had come to her aid, however it was a fascination that tugged on the deepest darkest parts of her soul. This abnormal feeling should have made her uneasy, however, Ahimsa was a being that had very little experience dealing with the effects of evil and so it was a feeling that betrayed her.

Just as they had finished gathering their samples, an earthquake shook them alive. In silent fear they stood, as the volcano poured out its heart and the storm screamed alive anguish. Hoping no echo would be heard, they quickly departed and amongst the chaos she momentarily lost sight of her admirer; in the fear that he was left behind began frantically searching the vessel. Ahimsa searched through all the lifeless faces on the ship until at last she found him in the deepest darkest corner curiously inspecting a lifejacket which hung above. She silently walked over and offered him her hand.

Infatuated by the stranger she met, Ahimsa threw herself into the dauntingly unfamiliar love they shared, but it was a love that was wholly unequal. Ahimsa was drowning, and was completely oblivious to her declining state. However, help was of no use, it was already far too late. Days grew to months and soon the years began to mourn Ahimsa’s playful nature, for the darkness of The Djinn consumed her very being, and, in the distance, faint cries for help could be heard, but alas, on deaf ears did they fall.

She was trapped in the planes of her own subconscious, forever forgotten by the youth of her days. In pain, a pain and struggle which never failed to grow alongside the ever-increasing strength of the evil that rumbled within. Ahimsa spent what felt like millennia searching for the source of this darkness, whilst battling its growing intensity. However, it was only until she began compromising with her immoral nature, and began accepting it alongside the purity she was born with, her lifeless form awoke. The progress was slow and started with her hearing. Muffles of voices cascading to form a single voice. A scared voice. The one of her Djinn, who was unaware of his love’s development. For a long time, he was the only one she heard until one day an abundance of voices were heard. Gruff, scared, hoarse, softly spoken, but most of all, voices consumed by sadness. This was when Ahimsa was made aware of The Djinn’s true nature and it was at this point when her darkness became too overpowering. Startled, she awoke, taking in her surroundings in fear and uncertainty for her environment had changed from the last she could remember. Seconds later, becoming increasingly frightened of her imminent death, she asked for a wish, a wish that tore her apart.

For weeks she pleaded and the wickedness within continued to manifest. Ahimsa, in the time she was awake, noticed that the being she fell in love with was still the same but more. He had grown, in love, and in purity, but this was not enough to convince her tarnished soul to choose the side that always won: goodness. The boon was eventually granted. Ahimsa’s soul was thrown to be lost to the planes of the world; The Djinn preserved her body with magic and her soul remained immortal, both having been saved from physical death. Before her departure, The Djinn revealed that if she wished to find freedom then all she must do is find a ‘mirrored soulmate’, if she was able to do that she could live again.

What Ahimsa was unaware of was that The Djinn was a creature that had been confined to the very heart of torture since the beginning of his existence. Confined to love nothing. And, as a result, in Ahimsa’s passionate love he clutched-in the eyes of the ever-sociable youth. After all, the creature was one to have never felt the complexity and strength of human emotion and in his struggle a turmoil no tsunami could ever conquer was created. One Ahimsa was doomed to suffer.

Ahimsa’s soul, being separate from her body, was reunited with the purity and goodness she was born with and had loosely held onto until The Djinn had arrived, but their love was still impure. Years passed, Ahimsa’s soul wondered the planes of the Earth, bumping into souls and spirits alike. Tortured ones, blissful ones and ones to have never loved in life. The lost soul was doomed to find her way home on her own and find her way she did.