Section 1: When my eyes meet yours
England, 900 AD.
A young man named Arthur worked in the sale of coal until he spent his earnings on his mother and sisters after the death of their father due to lung diseases.
Arthur walked amidst the coal with his worn clothes and his beautiful face, filled with sadness and contaminated with coal ash. His hands embraced the bread that he bought with his day's wages.
No one cared about his condition because everyone in the village worked in the coal factory, which was the only source of income for this town. The lack of education and poverty had spread, as well as diseases among its inhabitants due to coal and air pollution.
On his way, he noticed a person around whom people gathered and applauded. It was the painter Jack,
who treated people with art and drew beautiful things that made them forget their reality.
He gave them his paintings to hang in their homes and painted the faces of their sick children to keep their memories alive even after their death due to the disease that had spread in the town.
And everyone loved the painter Jack and attended his painting seminars, which were their only refuge for entertainment and a means to forget their reality.
At that time, there was no known cure for their patients to save their lives. The cure lay in a distant country in the Arabian desert,
where herbs held the healing power. However, caravans were unable to reach that place due to the drought, difficult terrain, and slim chances of escaping the desert.
While Arthur was engrossed in observing the painter Jack, one of them stole food from him and ran away. Arthur, tired from work, couldn't run after the thief.
The thief was faster than him and disappeared into a narrow alley. Arthur followed him, only to be surprised by the presence of the thief's group waiting there.
They surrounded him and mercilessly beat him until his eyes swelled. He fell to the ground, struggling to see, as they continued to gather around him and deliver kicks.
Arthur heard a girl's voice from afar, commanding them to stop. Accompanied by her two guards, the girl ordered them to arrest the thieves.
They surrounded the group of thieves and apprehended them. Arthur, lying on the ground, could barely make out the face of a girl approaching him. She was dressed beautifully and spoke with an Arabic accent. She asked him if he was alright.
Moments later, he lost consciousness and woke up alone in a magnificent palace, his wounds tended to. Getting out of bed, he walked around the palace and found the girl sitting at a table filled with food.
When she saw him, she invited him to eat with her
and her family. He explained that he was in a hurry and needed to deliver bread to his mother and sisters. He was running late and had to leave quickly.
The girl asked for his name, and he told her that his name was Arthur. She introduced herself as Soundous, the merchant's daughter.
Arthur expressed his pleasure in meeting her and complimented her on her beautiful name. He asked about its meaning, and she explained that it meant "silk clothes worn by the people of Paradise."
Arthur humorously responded, saying that he was certain the people of heaven didn't wear clothes as worn and coal-stained as his. Soundous laughed and insisted he take whatever food and clothing he needed for his family. Grateful, Arthur explained that he only wanted to take what he had earned through his own work.
He thanked her for her kindness and bid her farewell before leaving.
Soundous watched him leave, surprised. She had never encountered someone like him in the affluent society where everyone cared only about money, despite its abundance. This person, however, showed no interest in wealth despite his own need for it.
As Arthur reached the palace's entrance, he overheard a maid talking from a distance. She revealed that she would be forced into marrying an old man in the Arabian desert the following day, with no knowledge or consent of her own. Soundous would be departing with the king's caravans bound for the Arabian desert.
By chance, upon hearing this, Arthur hurriedly left the palace before the maid could spot him.
And he kept thinking about her on his way back, realizing that he had to do something to repay her for what she had done for him.
As he walked, he noticed the caravans getting ready to depart in the morning.
A thought occurred to him that he should come in the morning and intervene before Soundous boarded the caravan.
However, he arrived home late and found his mother waiting anxiously at the door, with his younger siblings surrounding her. She asked why he was late,
and he recounted what had happened.
They sat down to eat,
and he asked his mother to wake him up in the morning after the eventful day he had experienced.
That night, sleep eluded him as he gazed out of his window at a solitary tree shedding its remaining leaves.
Eventually, exhaustion overtook him, and he fell asleep.
The next morning, he overslept and woke up late for the convoy.
He hastily got up and started running toward it,
only to find that Soundous had already locked herself inside the carriage
Determined to help her, he ran in her direction, but the vehicle sped away. Soundous spotted him running towards her and recognized his intention to assist her in return for her kindness.
The guards intercepted him before he could reach the vehicle, overwhelming him and throwing him to the ground.
Soundous shouted for Arthur and pleaded with the soldiers to stop. He continued to gaze at her until the carriage disappeared among the town's buildings.
Feeling lost and unsure of what to do, he wandered through the town without going to work that day. When night fell, he used his savings to buy food and returned home. They gathered for dinner, but Arthur remained silent. His mother observed him and understood that he had not made it to the caravan. She informed him that the Arabian desert was very far away, and he lacked the funds to go there.
Nevertheless, Arthur assured her that he would find a way. He retreated to his room, pondering over the fact that Soundous might be getting married the following day, and he had yet to repay her kindness. He decided to gather his savings and began counting the money.
His mother heard him and realized he was awake, so she approached him and handed him her necklace. She encouraged him to go and assured him that they would manage fine until his return. The night passed, and he heard his mother suffering from the same disease that afflicted the townspeople. In a rush, he sought out the painter Jack and informed him of his mother's illness.
They hurried back to her side. Upon seeing Arthur's mother, the painter Jack knew that she would not survive.
He recalled his doctor friend mentioning that the only cure for the disease could be found in an herb located in the Arabian desert, a place rarely visited by
anyone. Arthur declared that he would go there the next day.
The painter Jack offered to accompany him and agreed to meet him at the caravan in the morning. The painter Jack set off while Arthur remained with his mother throughout the night, his younger siblings beside him, watching their mother in pain.
When morning arrived, Arthur bid farewell to his brothers, embraced his mother, and wept on her shoulder.
He promised to return soon and quickly departed. On his way, he encountered an elderly woman who sold vegetables and asked her to take care of his family until he returned.
And the kind old woman accepted that, telling him to take care of himself and return safely.