- Jawad Haider
1st Year
Augustus
kept staring at the sky; perhaps he could catch the blessing stares of Jupiter
on him; perhaps he could see the spear of Mars directed at a land unknown to
him; the goddess of love, Venus is going to bless someone with eternal love and
perhaps he can see it with his humanly eyes. There was so much to see that was
believed to be left unseen but Augustus believed he could see every god’s deed
with mere two eyes. If faith can make you believe in unseen gods, it can also
make you see one.
So the
night was entirely spent with eyes on the watch but no strange act was detected
in the heavens. Perhaps the gods were asleep. The next morning Augustus ran up
to his mother to ask her to give him permission to go out with his friends.
They were
playing in the streets when two men, middle-aged came towards them. One of them
had a bushy mustache and the other had a beard. They both seemed to be
strangers and Romans at the same time and something was really atypical about
them. The children stopped playing and stared at the two strangers. The man
with the beard smiled and said, ‘Why don’t you children play in the parks?
That’s what every child does.’
‘We go
there only to hear stories,’ Aeliana stepped forward. She sounded like a
stubborn little girl.
The man
with the beard looked at the other man who nodded. ‘Okay then. I’ll tell you
story.’
Every
child roared with excitement. All of them went to the park and sat around the
man with the beard. ‘My name is Lucius,’ said the man with the beard, ‘and he
is Marcus.’ He pointed at the man with a mustache.
Every little
kid was impatient as they rocked back and forth on the ground. Lucius guessed
it and started at once. ‘Okay then. Let’s start with the story,’ said he. ‘One
fine morning, before the creation of man, the god Jupiter was sitting on his
mighty throne. For some reason though, he looked troubled. He was the supreme
god and could do whatever he desired but there was one thing he couldn’t do.’
‘And
what’s that?’ Every child asked.
‘He
couldn’t place impossibilities in the room of possibilities.’
Every
child looked a little confused. Lucius noticed that, ‘Let me explain. On Mount
Olympus where the twelve gods lived, there were two very, very special rooms.
One, the room of possibilities. The other was room of impossibilities.
Impossibilities were made by Saturn, the father of Jupiter. Only he could
control them. All the other gods were left with possibilities, but Jupiter
wanted to take control of impossibilities as well. So what he did, he took
parts from each impossibility and took dreams
from the room of possibilities and merged them together. He placed these sacred
dreams in a box which was then placed in the room of possibilities. Now he
could do everything he wanted. Everything impossible for others was now
possible for him.’
‘We never
heard that before,’ said a child named Gaius.
‘Now you
have,’ Lucius smiled. ‘Now you all know that Prometheus created man and blessed
him with fire which he stole from Jupiter. What you don’t know is that he also
sneaked into the room of possibilities and opened that box. The sacred dreams
escaped and became a part of man. Now every man born among us has the power to
do impossibilities. Everything that you can dream is possible. Whatever you can
imagine can be realized. You just have to believe that you can do it.
Everything that is seen through closed eyes can be achieved with open eyes. The end of story.’
Every
child clapped but Augustus was suddenly engulfed by the recalling of his dream
last night. He remained silent and Lucius stared at him from the corner of his
eyes.
‘Now kids,
tell me about your most recent dream. I assure you that it will be true and can
be realized. Believe me,’ Lucius said and a sudden wave of joy passed through
the children. ‘You kid over there. What’s your name?’ He pointed at Augustus.
‘Augustus.’
‘Such a fine
name. Come on; tell me about your most recent dream.’
There was
a long pause and then he started.
‘Well,
last night I had a dream,’ said Augustus. ‘I saw future in it.’
‘Future?’
‘Yes,
future. The people there had seen our gods, but they didn’t call them gods. In
fact they didn’t believe that they are gods.’
‘What do
they believe in then?’
‘Planets.
That’s what they called them.’
‘Planets?
Why would they call them planets?’
‘I don’t
know. And goddess Venus was the nearest planet to Earth, I heard one man say to
another in my dream.’
‘That
explains a lot, doesn’t it? Venus, the goddess of love. Love is always needed to sustain our Earth. I can guess that
Mars would be the planet on the other side of Earth.’
Augustus
was shocked. ‘How do you know that?’
‘It’s much
clear and understood, son. The fate of man has always been subjected to the
clash of war and love. They always have a choice. They may choose god Mars and
wage a war, or they may choose Venus to prevail love and peace.’
Augustus
nodded in reply. Nothing could have explained it better. It sounded logical.
‘Is that
all?’ Lucius demanded.
‘Yes. Is
my dream true? Did it actually show me the future?’
Lucius
looked a little confused at this question. He looked at Marcus who again
nodded. ‘Yes. I guess it did,’ said Lucius.
All the
children started raising their hands to tell him about their dreams but now
Lucius didn’t want to hear them. ‘Why not you tell me about your dreams
tomorrow? In this park, the same time?’
That was
the last thing the kids expected. Anyhow they stood and left, leaving Marcus
and Lucius alone. Lucius turned towards Marcus.
‘The boy
knows. He knows future. He knows our time.’ Lucius sounded troubled.
Marcus
smiled and spoke for the first time, ‘What wonders a child’s imagination can
perform! But no worries, for the rejections and the criticism he’ll face when
he opens the story of his dream to the society will force him to believe it as
a mere fantasy that has no link with reality.’
Lucius
simply nodded in approval.
“Time to
report back. Roman Civilization is as rich as ours!” said Marcus.
“What
about other dreams?” Lucius demanded.
“We found
the sacred one. No need for others. We should leave.”
Before
they vanished in the thin air, a child somewhere in the vicinity heard Lucius
say: “Want a cappuccino when we get back?”
1 comments
you should write more omg. Loved it!
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