Sky – Ameravith

When our time comes, how will it go for us? We wonder and may have our own preference – and not so much a choice – on how the end should come to pass. Most of us would prefer to avoid violent, spectacular exits and choose one that’s peaceful, where all loose ends had been tied up and everything that needs to be said, has been said in the relationships that matter most to us. Some would like it where the spirit of the recently departed lingers to say goodbye, before taking leave. I’d imagine that’s reasonable to want. Personally, I prefer stories where the characters leave their bodies in a dignified manner, the energy of their earth-bound selves – call it Soul or any other name you like – levitating gently and floating away into a night sky splattered with stars. In the movies, such an exit would be witnessed by a fallen character, like an excommunicated priest whom nobody would believe if he related what he’d seen. But in reality, death might turn out to be more mundane and, in contrast, more mysterious than we expect it to be.

Continue reading “Soul Road Trip”

Prologue

The sky is a different place when you fly through it. Many times, I have sat on a plane and looked out the window and, it seems to be a different world out there than what we see from the limitations of our existence down here on earth. When you fly, the clouds are ahead of you, around you and most interestingly, beneath you. Majestic, mile-high cirrus and cumulus towers loom up, rose-tinted when the sun is low on the horizon. They look exactly like mountains, which in a way, they are.

If you are airborne during the earth’s late evening, a darker hue seeps into the crisp and clear blue dome of sky. The first star comes out – which one is it? And before you know it, a profusion of stars present themselves, forming constellations older than man and his limited knowledge.

Who is to say mountains can only be of the earth? Who is to say there aren’t other worlds or realms up there? I will tell you of the story I heard as a child.

Some among us have long known of the fabled existence of cities among the clouds. These were the ancient sky kingdoms where generations thrived and vanished, disappearing completely from humanity’s collective knowledge, save for brief glimpses that remain in the near-forgotten literature of various civilisations. They were not Gods strictly speaking, but a pure race somewhere between humankind and divine beings in the order of creation, blessed with the ability to travel through the skies in their magnificent chariots. They lived, loved and died as did lesser mortals on earth. Only the lifetimes were longer, the carefree days more blissful while darkness, when it arrived, was entirely more crushing.

There came a time when the First Kingdom, blessed with lifetimes of bountiful harvests and benevolent leadership, had passed the zenith of its rule and was threatened with war unless it subjugated itself to the rule of the war-mongering Third Kingdom. Emissaries journeyed between both nations, intent was counter clarified, until it became abundantly clear that the First Kingdom was left with two clear choices – surrender or face annihilation. Continue reading “Fall of the Sky Kingdom”