End of Journey

Okay Guys, below is the essay which I submitted to the commonwealth essay competition. Luckily I won a bronze prize at least xD. Enjoy your self ^_^ Special thanks for Putu Agung, my friend, who have helped me a lot in editing and choosing some appropriate diction as well as checking my grammatical mistakes. ^_^

End of Journey

Death is like the haughty and lethal tiger who will try its best attempt to hunt us. We may escape the predator several times in our life; however, it will not stop in its ultimate conquest, to feast upon us. It will always try to chase us, corner us, fill our soul with vehement fear and deliriously feast upon us.

I used to detest death; I hated its foul intention, separating people whom you love from you. Death is a boundary upon our endless road of progression; a limit to our ability to continuously improve. It had taken my parents, the most precious people in my life. I mourned fortnights long, thinking how lonely I was in this unjust world. Then, I grew up as a doctor, a profession where I could wrestle against death. However, as I progressed through my path, I realized that my fight was far from being over. I failed over and over again; I witnessed my patient dying on my arms; I heard their plea to be rescued, their desperate will to live, and then, there came a moment -- a moment when they choke in death’s embrace, and then they leave this world. I have been piqued by the haughty beast.

Since that moment I have begun to accept death as an inevitable fate of every living being. I have fallen to a gaping crevice of desperation; I had been engulfed by apathy. Life had turned insipid, if not brackish.

However, with an intricate twist of fate in a silent night, everything changed. Something broke that fateful night’s deafening silence, and it was in my front yard.

I was shocked when I saw that my front yard was in a total mess. Then, I saw a translucent spherical block of metal, which resembled a ship, landing near the trunk of my fallen tree. The ship was about 9 meters long, with a strange letter carved around the layer of the ship. Astonishingly, a grid of line appeared gradually in the surface of the spherical ship, forming a door. Then it opened, revealing a vague image of a living creature. Suddenly, a shimmering light emitted from inside the sphere revealing the creature’s appearance. It was barely a human; his head was smaller than an adult, and his eyes were big and black. His legs and hands were human-like, but his skin was very pale, devoid of blood. The only different feature that this mysterious creature had was a pair of strange looking antennae on his head.

I approached him carefully, but before I got anywhere near him, he gave me a sign for me to stop my movement. “I can speak to you from here, O denizen of the earth.” I was very perplexed to hear an English sentence uttered by this bizarre creature. “You shall not be perplexed anymore, for I have learnt your language before I choose to travel to this planet. My name cannot be uttered by your tongue, so it is pointless to introduce my real name to you, but if you insist, you can call me Nephthys. Let me get straight to the point. I have been sent to invite you, Mr. Christopher Richardson, to show you our civilization. Please step into the ship.”

I was completely bewildered. I could not find any logical explanation prior to this amazing phenomenon. Surprisingly, as if this anonymous creature could read my thoughts, he told me not to question anymore, but to step into the ship, and then my very desire shall be granted. In the end, driven by my own inquisity, I stepped into the ship.

It is impossible for one to articulate his feeling of amazement once he steps into the ship. The inner part of the ship emitted a dazzling green light and the wall was written with a lot of strange inscriptions. The machine of the ship could be operated by the voice of the pilot and the seats would obey its master’s commands. I sat on the seat. It was softer than any Persian carpet, and surprisingly, its fur caressed me very gently.

The next split seconds I felt a sensation as if I had been pulled from the end of my foot and my head simultaneously. I could barely breathe. I felt like vomiting to my heart’s content, but sadly, I could not.

Lucky for me that this unpleasant feeling only last for a few seconds, for if it were to continue a little much longer, I might be shattered into bits. As soon as I was relieved, he explained to me that we had travelled in warp speed and announced that I had arrived in his planet, Morpheus.

He asked me to step down from his ship and out into the planet’s surface. I did and as soon as I breathed the fresh air of the planet, another Morpheans approached me. “Welcome to Morpheus, Mr. Christopher. My name is Artemidoros.” I greeted him with a friendly smile, then he took my hand and I felt the same sensation when I warped to this planet.

Later, he apologized to me for not telling me first that he will warp me. Then, in front of me; standing like a haughty dame, was a gigantic screen. It suddenly projected a three-dimensional image of a coffin with a dying human inside with the snapped of his fingers.

“Death is the concern of every living creature which has dwelt this universe. It is the predator of every living creature, one that we have been trying to eliminate.” He explained. “It is one of human’s primary concerns also, I suppose. You humans have been failing to defeat death since the very beginning of your history. But, we, Morpheans, have succeeded in what Man could not do. We have defeated death itself.”
“Preposterous! No one can ever possibly defeat―”

“You foolish earthling!” Artemidoros interrupted. “We, Morpheans, are living proof of our conquest over death. I have been living for nearly 5000 years. Before we invented this miraculous technology, our life expectation only dwelt around 50.”

Then, to show another proof, he took out an old book – a tome, to be precise. A tag was attached to it, and I read in amazement and horror: ‘The Epic of Gilgamesh, Original Script’. First, I did not believe him, since ‘The Epic of Gilgamesh’ is in the form of a tablet. However, he suddenly touched my forehead, showing me an image of the king writing in a piece of paper. He explained to me that he gave the king the writing tools needed for him to write.

I could argue no more. I had not the capacity to argue with this creature and his irrefutable proof.

“Now that you have seen our victory over death with your own eyes,” Artemidoros continued, “I will be glad to share the water from our pool of knowledge with you, earthling. We have discovered a way to bind souls to our bodies and preserve the vitality of both.”

“There is no such thing as a soul in our history of science!”

“Foolish earthling!” Artemidoros retorted. “Souls exist within all life, and they are the essence of life itself. It may weigh lighter than 1 over thousand of an atom’s weight, but its power is supreme. No body with fresh and working organs shall live without it.”

I stood listening to his lecture on souls and how it is bound to their bodies in horror. I could not believe that mortals can bind souls or even that souls exist in the first place.

“Now, let me offer you a deal. I need one human’s corpse for us to examine, which should be easy for you, doctor. In return, I shall revive your parents, and you shall live with them for eternity.”

“How could you know that they are dead?” I inquired.

“It is a simple matter for us Morpheans; not even a single droplet of your darkest secrets is unknown to us,” he answered. “Think about it for a while. You may live forever with them – happily ever after, as you say it. Together with them, you may –“

The rest of his words were muted in my ears. I was deep in thought. I could imagine my father and mother beside me. But, will they be happy? Will they be angry at me, for I may have disturbed their peaceful slumber? Then suddenly, an answer came to my mind.

“Now, what about it, human? Will you take the deal, or –“

“No,” I cut him off sternly. “They will not agree to be revived, they need to rest. They have are tired of living in this world.”

“How about if I share my secret of immortality with you?” he tried another demand.

“You may seek another doctor then, since I don’t need it.”

“Inconceivable!” he shouted in shock. “No human can resist the temptation of living forever!”

“Well, I’m not your average human, then,” I shrugged.

“Take him back then! I shall hear no more from you!” he exclaimed in anger.
Soon after, Nephthys grabbed my hand, teleported me to the ship, and suddenly we warped back to Earth. He threw me out and left me alone, standing on the grassy plain of my front yard. I could not get a last glance of him, for he warped back to his planet, without saying any goodbye to me.

Now, you must be confused as to why I refused such a tantalizing offer. Actually, while he lectured me about souls, I was reflecting. I thought about the possibility for me to finally conquer death, and the sweet taste of satisfaction I would perceive. Then, I heard a whisper in my ears; it may be the voice of the deepest part of my heart or, to be irrational, my parents’. That whisper realized me that it is our right to avoid death, but we must admit that in the end, we must end our story and let next generations take our place and continue walking down our path. Those Morpheans were pitiful creatures, for they only thought of progressing and progressing, without giving any moment for themselves to rest.

To us, humans, time will lead us all to the same end. We cannot plug our ears and cover our eyes; we must remember that we are mortal. However, at the same time, we face death not as an enemy, but as a friend who will lead us to our eternal repose.

The End

note: the pace of the story is a bit fast due to the limitation of the words xD