A Path Divided

Two Intertwined Fates Diverge in a World of Entanglement. Are we intelligently designed to walk predestined pathways defined by an All-Knowing Source? What does it mean to See Beyond the Present?

Two boys who were cut from the same cloth had decided to finally quilt themselves with a barrage of new colors and patterns, designing new destinies. You see, it was the turning point of each of their lives where they performed the Ceremony of Transferal. It was this time that they would no longer be boys. It was time for each of them to begin their journeys as men. These boys thought that their lives would be forever intertwined, their fates entangled by an unbreakable cord. It was this night that their path would be cut in two, dividing their tether to one another forever.

The ceremony began. The great sage of the village told stories of the young men who had finally begun their voyage into manhood. He told tales of men traveling the world and making new discoveries of species and treasures that the village people simply could not wrap their heads around. He warned them of the many temptations that have led to the demise of many men before them. The sage cooked up delicious details about the possibilities and opportunities that would come to each of them in the near future. The prospects of prosperous experiences were infinite for the two young men who had their whole lives ahead of them. 

It was time. The sage walked to the two boys sitting at the Tree of Knowledge. He told them to take the strange fruit from the tree and consume it. The fruit was magical and would endow each of them with an idea upon which they would begin their journeys to bring the concept to fruition. They would each have an adventure of their own and would never be allowed to return to the village until they completed their lifelong tasks. Unfortunately, their tasks would likely never be met. It was almost certain that death would meet them before they completed their missions. 

They each took a bite of the deliciously odd fruit. The more they bit into the fruit, the hungrier they became. They soon began to ravenously devour the fruit until it was completely nonexistent. After they finished devouring the fruit, they felt a great sense of emptiness. A minute passed by, and it hit each of the young men like a hammer of honest foresight. They each knew what they had to accomplish. 

The sage secretly already knew the fate of the two young men, and had been waiting for what felt like an eternity to be able to observe them embark on their own quests. He knew that one was destined for greatness whereas the other’s fate was one of failure and redemption. The sage gave the two young men their new names.

He pointed out the young man who was musclebound with long black hair. He had the body of a boulder, but a mind guarded with a fortress of bright ideas and deep thoughts of curiosity. The sage saw that this man was destined for failure, but he named him Dalil despite this fact because he knew that the young man would lead a life of unyielding courage to overcome life’s challenges. The other young man was bright-eyed with bright, blond hair. The sage saw how much hope and energy this young man possessed and bestowed upon him the name, Azad. Though Azad was not the strongest nor the most intelligent, he maintained an innocence that not even the most honest child could maintain. He was destined to live freely among the world and one day become the owner of many castles. 

The ceremony ended with quiet goodbyes. The men who were boys, no longer, departed each other in opposite directions, walking parallel paths that would not ever meet. They never looked back.

Many years passed by as the young men embraced their callings. Dalil spent years struggling with loneliness due to his travels, and was once imprisoned for 2 years when he got in a fight with a law enforcer of a city that he was simply walking through. He eventually got out, just to get in trouble with debtors that tricked with an expensive game of chance. He had gambled his earnings from his time working at the home village and lived a poor man’s life for most of his life. Dalil had had enough of the real world, and traveled back to the village where the Ceremony of Transferal was held. The sage acknowledged Dalil with an anger so fiery, that he burned Dalil with banishment from the entire village for Dalil had broken the simplest, most important rule. He was never to return, but oddly enough, he was tasked with returning to the village with a promise to return prosperity to his people. 

Azad on the other hand had traveled to many countries freely, openly meeting new friends and forging important bonds that led to him gaining a fortune through his investments. He met beautiful women and ate gourmet meals that would make the wealthiest king jealous. Azad lived joyously and gluttonously to put it lightly. He eventually married a gorgeous woman who had come from humble beginnings and had 3 children. Azad had conquered happiness, but he had come nowhere near completing the tasks that he was given upon eating the enchanted fruit. As a matter of fact, he had forgotten his life’s purpose. His purpose was to learn what true despair felt like and to learn how to live with pain.

Dalil was a vagabond living off of the land. He hunted and gathered for his own survival. He was a mighty man in his own right and he was determined to complete his goal. Dalil belonged to no one and had nothing to call his own. All he had was the skills that he had taught himself. He also had become wiser than the sage himself, as each night he would have visions of the future. It was never his own future, however. He was seeing the destinies of the children of his home village, but he hadn’t a clue why he was seeing such vivid fantasies. He didn’t even understand why he was given this gift, as the fruit never hinted at him unlocking this type of potential. Dalil set off to finally meet a long lost friend. Dalil crossed many mountains and swam through many seas, stopping in every town in order to question the residents about the whereabouts of Azad. He spent 2 years searching for Azad until he finally came upon an enormous castle. 

The castle was in the middle of the richest village of all the land. The walkway leading up to the castle was paved with golden bricks. The castle was made of royalty. Dalil saw this castle in a dream and had a creeping suspicion that Azad owned it. Dalil was unquestionably granted permission into the castle by the royal guards, but the reason why remains unanswered. Dalil walked to the great ballroom where he saw a man that looked oddly unrecognizable. He knew that this was a familiar face, but the man that stood before him was overwhelmingly different. 

Azad ran to Dalil with a bright smile and an endearing hug. Azad immediately noticed that Dalil looked like he was in shambles. The hard experiences that Dalil had lived left an awful stench of tragedy in Azad’s heart. Dalil and Azad sat down in glorious, jewel-encrusted chairs. Dalil stuck out in this scenery of wealth like he had never touched money before. Dalil explained to Azad of all of the hardships that he had endured. He spent hours detailing his time in prison, his struggles as a homeless traveler, and his quest to find Azad. Azad was overcome with emotion. It pained him to his core to hear of all of the terrible things that Dalil suffered.  Azad slowly but surely began to recall his task and realized that he satisfied his lifelong objective. Azad knew that he had to repay Dalil for helping him with such a feat. 

He made an offer that Dalil couldn’t refuse. Azad told Dalil that his castle was large enough to hold all of the village people from their birthplace.  Azad promised that if Dalil couldn’t return back to the village, he would bring the village to him. Dalil reluctantly accepted his offer, disappointed that he himself did not have the power nor the influence to make a contribution. Azad asked for 7 days in order to follow through with his promise. 

Azad traveled for 3 days to get to his home village. He told the sage about the ordeal and the sage smiled. The sage knew that this was coming, for he saw it in his last vision of the future 20 years before Azad and Dalil were born. He knew that together they would help one another bring the village out of its economic depression and into a much brighter future of hope and opportunity. The sage rounded up all of the village people and they all traveled to their new home. 

Dalil waited patiently, playing with Azad’s children and telling them about all of his adventures with Azad during their childhood. The children began to see Dalil as their uncle and Azad’s wife constantly cooked for Dalil. Dalil lost his sense of eternal loneliness and desperation and learned to finally love who he was as a person. 

The seventh day came. The village people along with Azad made it to the entryway of the castle and entered. Dalil heard the resounding excitement of the village people and he ran to the door to embrace his lifelong brother. He thanked Azad for helping him achieve his lifelong mission. Azad told him that though they hadn’t seen each other in 25 years, it was an honor to finally be able to see him again. Azad knew that they would never meet each other again when they were 25 years younger, because he knew that they would live two completely different lives and grow into two, uniquely blessed men. Dalil was none the wiser about their fate even though he had been having visions for longer than he could remember. It had become clear that the tether that was once severed for decades had finally come back together. Their fates were sealed with an impenetrable lock that forever bound them together again. 

Shortly thereafter, the great sage passed away peacefully in his sleep. Dalil was named as the new sage of the kingdom and also served as Azad’s noble advisor. Azad himself had become the first king of the village, ensuring that every child lived fulfilling lives. The Tree of Knowledge was rendered unnecessary as Azad determined that he would dedicate the rest of his life to granting the people of his new kingdom the opportunity to seek out their own destinies. 

The kingdom prospered and the path of destiny was rerouted, expanded, and entangled into a newfangled concept of self-discovery and redefining the purpose of life. Though each village person lived uniquely, Dalil and Azad were never forgotten as they all experienced the world in their own looking glasses. The world changed, but the standard of living to experience life to the fullest never changed. The Ceremony of Transferal ended with Dalil and Azad.