The night was falling fast now as the deep blue sky was turning black by the minute...
His fondest hour of the day was always when the stars started to shine brightly above, while in the distance a dim light still shone.
All birds and insects would stop their fuss just before the nightly creatures took over, giving him a peaceful moment.

It was a bit breezy that evening, but in a pleasant manner as Spring drew closer to Summer.
Distant scents of spices, oils and flower balms mixed with ripe fruits traveled silently in the wind. Echoes of the nearby desert city of Ahmun.
As the merchants would gather their benches and tuck them away for the night, these scents would change into wine, grilled meat, lust and sweat.
Pleasure is the decay of civilization. Good manners and delicate words conceal true feelings. Verbal mockery and irony take the place of offense.
Of course none of the civilized people would expect to have his head chopped off just because his words offended someone, but with this man –that would be just the case.

“What is he thinking? He looks like he’s always thinking something” said the young woman.

-“He envies all those who can have a normal life” the dark-haired lady responded.
“The things he misses most are the ones that seem natural to you and me, those that we take for granted. A calm evening, a friendly company, a warm embrace, a tender kiss…"
"Sleeping without nightmares and waking up to have breakfast with his wife and son.
Being concerned with the trivial things in life and fear what ordinary people do”

-“So why doesn’t he; Saadia?”

-“Because he IS what ordinary people fear. He’s the storm that threatens their roofs, the animal that slays their livestock, the boogieman that comes in the night to steal naughty children, the stranger that rapes their wives and the army that will burn and maim them. He’s their nightmare that never ends…”
Saadia stared at his bent head under the hood as he stood farther away
“…and he weeps for this gruesome role”.

-“But, why does he uphold such a dreadful part?”

-“You’ve never seen him child –have you?”
Saadia turned to the puzzled girl with the firm and slim figure that could put men into quarrels over her
“I mean really see him. He’s always covered with that hood and conceals his face –he’s good looking you know- and he’s always pulling away from us, away from everybody. Undercover of that darkness that always surrounds him."
"But I have seen him. I’ve looked into his eyes the day I met him…”

-“His eyes.. I like pretty eyes, does he have pretty eyes Saadia?”

-“Pretty?”
Saadia laughed with the naivety of the question,
“Yes, now that I think of it he has the most wonderful eyes you’ve ever seen."
"Even though at the time I was struggling to just pull my gaze away from them!"
"It was last Summer, as the hot days were ending and the first leaves were blown in the wind that I found him, laying half-dead on the grass. His clothes were charred and his leather chest piece blackened as if he had just popped out from the flames of hell itself. And maybe he had…"

"I undressed him, washed his wounds and tended them, covered his burned flesh with eucalyptus balm mixed with aloe leaf and cucumber. Gave him water to drink and stayed next to him for 8 days, when he finally opened his eyes and looked at me.”
Saadia briefly shivered at the memory but kept on;

“He was a very handsome man by any woman’s standards, to be frank, that was the reason I helped him in the first place. But when his eyes stared at me I felt an impossible anguish! Every bone in my body shrank a bit and my skin screamed agony like a million pins crept through it. My eyes felt as if two burning daggers were piercing them from inside-out… and I could do nothing to save myself as my breath seized. I stood staring at two mirrors where mist and shadow swirled forever in place of iris and pupils. And everything –everything!- swirled in there with them."

"Imagine every fear, every pain, ever demented passion, every sick thought the human race ever had –suddenly explode from within two tiny frozen ponds…
That’s what it feels like looking at his eyes!
With no apparent sympathy or regret, he spared me by casually turning his gaze away from me and put on the hooded robe you see him wearing always. That used to be mine you know, but I never miss it as long as it serves such a kind to the rest of humanity purpose”
she said and tried to crack a bitter smile at her own ironic joke;

"But as I stood there mesmerized in pain and anguish, in sorrow and anger, it struck me: this wasn’t his soul. I just knew it deep inside me. He reflected all the feelings he was draining from humanity. He’s a hub of pain and serves as a medium for every soul screaming in the world. That is his curse. And the burden I briefly glimpsed at, is what he feels every hour of the day… forever!"

"He’s the torment of everything stacked up in one instance. He is our shame and our relief. And –as I’m sad for him- I’m glad he exists to lighten our load.

"When he left; I had to follow. As a counter balance to my own guilt for what he feels."
"And I follow him since. Behind the darkness that spreads where he walks, underneath the thunderclouds that mark his presence… -I follow.”

(Thanking him with every tear, dreaming that I kiss his weeping lips, touching his tormented body, loving him with all my heart) –she thought to herself but never said it.

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