Whatever he was, nobody was quite sure about. His form, described differently by all. The only thing everybody agreed on, was how much they revered and feared him. And Him only because it isn’t very respectful, is it?

He was a whisper in the back of the villagers’ minds. A dot in the periphery, that cleared up immediately you tried to switch focus to it. But he was there. Not because everyone felt him, but because he knew that he was. He knew what his goal was. And he knew, if not how to achieve it, how to pave the way for it.

He was the guardian for this little patch of dirt and greenery. While the dust and dark whirled around outside the thin filament that sorrounded his domain, light and life boomed inside. But mostly, it wasn’t booming. There was always something to fix, meaning there was always something broken, or on the verge.

You were born for this, they’d told him. And he had believed. Now he wasn’t so sure. The cost of his destiny was beginning to break him. And if he broke, there wasn’t going to be home for the village anymore…


He’d been out by the waterfall at the crack of dawn to catch a glimpse of the hippos as they came back from their night-time graze. This he had been doing from since he was allowed to step out of their hut alone. He had sat in the same spot in the grand old tree, it was almost like it had acquiesced and formed its bark just right for him. The day had dawned full of promise and he was sure today he’d get a chance to see ‘small’, a calf that had been born the previous week. He had been so excited that it took time for him to register the chill that was forming up in the forest. The birds did not sing, there was no wind to flutter the leaves and even the waterfall was silent.

The shudder hit him full on when he touched the bough of his ‘old friend’. It felt as if he took on the fear of the entire forest. The cold seeped into his lungs and he chocked on his breath. His feet became leaden and his hands like jelly. And then, the ground came up to meet him. A familiar feeling started up just as he felt that he was about to pass out.He saw the bright dot in the periphery and started to turn towards it. Today however, the dot didn’t disappear. It started to grow and take form. He saw the smile, the extended hand, and then he passed out. At least he thought he did, because what happened next could only have been a dream.

I wish I remembered how this story was supposed to continue…