The sun rays are piercing my eyes, the desert sands are suffocating, it has been three days since I last saw another person, I have long lost the way, I am completely lost in those vast empty dunes.

Everything was alright, I had a nice job, a nice apartment, a nice girl, I was living a happy life; Like thunder on a sunny day, a vision came to me, I know that my life would no more be the same. Curse that day! Curse that vision descended from planes unknown! What madness had taken hold of me to follow such a mirage! I would have died happy, in my home surrounded by my family and friends, if it has not been for it! Now I am condemned to die in the emptiness of the sands, without comfort or kind words, isolate and alone!

Another day has past and nothing except vast dunes as far as the eye can see, I am starting to feel more and more tired, these sands burn hands and feet. My camel has died, supplies are ending, I don't know for how long I can survive, I wonder if is not better to just end it here, in a moment all will end and I will be free... NO, I have not done all this road to die without seeing again that vision, I must go on, I must find the meaning of it.

I see a dot on the horizon, a mirage maybe? Arriving there I realize that this is some sort of small red cave, it's protected from the sun and so I can rest here... or die, I don't know at this point if I will awaken from sleep.

Strange sounds near me "a long time ago people come here to be sacrificed" a heavy animalistic voice say, I open my eyes, a creature similar to an albino buffalo was staring me, "you are dying," he said without moving his mouth

"Are- you an hallucination?" I said scared

"Would that change anything?" he said in a kingly tone

"If- you are real you could give me some water..." I replied very weakly

"Oh my dear, is not lack of water that is killing you," he said amused

"What do you mean?" I ask in confusion

"Is a long time that you are dying, I can see it, your soul is longing for awakening, your mind for meaning, your heart for passion, yet you have not heeded their call, they are dying. What life did you conduct?”

"No, you are wrong, I was living a happy life before that damn vision!" I said with rage, ignoring the question.

"Since when the aim of life is happiness?" He said smiling "Only a dying and desperate soul embarks on a visionary quest in the desert."

"You know about my vision?"

"Yes I know it, is because of it that I am here, I was once a king among kings, a lord among lords, and yet I sacrifice everything for a vision, a mirage, a dream." He goes outside looking at the stars, I follow him. "I have nothing to give to you except this symbol of a long-forgotten meaning" he pulls out a strange object, it looks like a piece of violet white wood, with a strange symbol on it, it reminds me vaguely of a moth, "would you accept this symbol and with it his burden?"

I stood idle, thinking, for a few seconds "I accept it".

He smiles at me, then he looks up at the stars, crying, the moonlight embraces him as his body fades into a thousand grains of sand.

I looked at the piece of wood and his symbol, I now have a mission to fulfil, a burden to carry, and a meaning to my life.

Desert once holy

Vast dunes that the sun golden

Ancient beings long forgotten

Let the prayer found the way

Upon stars and moonlight

Let his soul find awakening

Let his mind find belonging

Let his heart find passion[1]

Nothing to lose except his life

Nothing to give except a holy symbol

In the vast dunes of the desert desert

A loose soul found the way