Tale of Tyrasmund: Excerpt #1

Afternoon tides ebbed and Tyr slept. A great peace lidded his eyes for days as restorative waters soothed his soul. All was calm and quiet for some time. No dreams disturbed his slumber. The look of innocent contentment he used to wear as a child crept into the corners of his eyes and mouth as he melted into the comfort of night. It all ended in an instant with a single word. 

“REMEMBER!” As the cacophony of sound rang out Tyr opened his eyes, rising to his feet in an instant.  Poised and ready for battle. 

The butterflies had all gone. The fields had gone and all the flowers too. Tyr stared with blank blinking eyes. His jaw hung loosely in astonishment. Before him was a vibrant tapestry woven of reds, oranges, and browns. The sun beat upon his head and he could feel sweat already covering his body. 

He felt a tickling sensation against his skin but it wasn’t the legs of butterflies this time. It was the first droplets of sweat dripping down his spine. He knew instantly that he had returned to the place where it all began. 

“The desert.” He spoke against the rushing wind; tiny grains of sand lodged themselves in his teeth and coated his tongue. Huge gusts blasted him in anger but he stood steadfast. The winds picked up speed until the small rocks flying through the air began to cut him as they flew past. Yet he stood. 

His hair had grown long since the start of his journey and now it flurried about him in a chaotic dance. He held his hands up to his nose and mouth and shut his eyes as the desert continued to rage. 

The sand storm threatened to dry out his bones or send him flying into the distance but not a single thought went through his mind. He wasn’t afraid, or angry, or resentful, or confused - he didn’t feel anything. He simply held fast refusing to be brought to his knees. Not after coming so far. 

When the storm finally calmed and the sand returned to the ground Tyr released his hands and gasped for the clean air. Oxygen filled his body. He shook his hair out and patted his clothes causing his own small dust storm. When he looked down at his dusty appearance he laughed. He found it delightfully funny. Sand and dust covered his hair, turning his skin and clothes into a matching palette of the desert itself. 

“Heh. All connected afterall- ” He thought back to the night that felt so long ago - the night he had seen the universe itself. In his mind, he knew that he was one with the desert anyway.

“I might as well look like it.” He snorted, amused by his own joke, but instantly regretting his actions as specs of sand flew into his nasal cavity. He was beginning to discover that sand was an all-pervasive problem in his new environment. In his mind, he resolved himself to a very gritty existence for the next foreseeable future.  

After the storm dissipated the sun returned to its glaring zenith, it shone down upon the earth greeting all living things, some in need and others in excess. When the sun met Tyr it saw not the same man who had first entered its light. The sun could no longer recognize him as the broken and beaten man who had awoken in a strange land on the verge of death. With pride, the sun smiled on him.

Tyr was quite the sight to behold. His clothes were covered in holes and both the fabric and the visible skin beneath were stained the dustiest of browns. His hair had grown down past his chin and wild waves of locks sprouted in all directions. It was the look of a man both wild and free. 

When he had first arrived in this land his body had been emaciated, weak and poisoned. Now thick muscles showed through his tattered clothing and a healthy layer of fat covered his body. His face had gone from skeletal to full and handsome. Even though he was covered in dirt there was a light that shone through his eyes and smile. Yes, his smile.

Covered in sand, worn down, and lost, but yet Tyr stood proudly facing the expansive desert and he smiled. It was a smile that came from deep within, full of satisfaction; the kind of soul-level satisfaction a dog must feel when it finally catches the squirrel, or when the chemist discovers a new element, or when a child is born to an expecting mother. 

His whole life he’d felt like paper. He floated from thing to thing based on the direction of the wind, the wind of his parents, his desires, and even the wind of the wild beasts that had pushed and pulled him along. But now he didn’t feel so much like paper. Tyr felt like a raging wildfire. As he stood tall as a wild energy rose within him, he felt new power coursing.

“Listen to me desert! You will not break me! Do you hear me?? You think you can have your way with me, that you can end me? You’re wrong. Dead wrong.” He shouted into the empty air but his voice fell flat. The desert has a way of insulating us. His determination continued to rise and with it he raised his voice until a mighty battle cry escaped his lips. 

“YOU WON’T BEAT ME!” 

Not this time. Not now. I’ve come too far. I’ve lived through too much to let this faze me. This is the end. 

Without hesitation he strode into the horizon. His mind was silent. He didn’t theorize about what he would find out there, he didn’t even wonder, he simply didn’t care anymore. He was ready to fulfill his promise. He was ready to travel the road before him, he was ready to end his journey.