A Flicker of Hope
The blizzard raged around him. It howled and tormented his nerves, commanding him to turn back.
Despite this, the pilgrim continues his venture into the endless twilight. As the remaining daylight dwindled upon its final hours, his torch burned bright. Though the flame flickered amidst the throngs of white snowfall, he trekked further up the mountain path. When he reached the summit his journey would be over. A reunion with heaven was his final wish. It would not be taken from him tonight.
Dusk soon settled its veil across the horizon.
As he proceeded up the treacherous path, the frosty chill slithered under his robed garments. The winter evening greeted him with a violent shudder coursing through his body. The blizzard restrained his movements with a barrier of snowfall. Yet even in the darkness he carried his flame higher and higher up the mountainside.
However, the torchlight was soon snuffed out by the relentless onslaught.
With the dying of the flame, no mortal could ever reach the summit.
The pilgrim, now lost in the shadows, moved cautiously up the winding trail. He felt the scree of the mountainside clatter against his fur boots as they crunched against the rising snow mounds. One sudden misstep later and he stumbled to his knees. The pilgrim’s body lurched forward. He caught himself before he tumbled off the cliff edge. The winter air howled at him, expecting to swallow him on the way to his demise. A poignant reminder of the bottomless abyss that lurked below.
He rose to his feet warily.
His hands traced the coarse rockface, the fingers surrendering to the numbing frost as they caressed the permafrost layer of rock.
Despite the adversity, the pilgrim defied the forces of nature. For he harboured his own secret within himself: Carrying an eternal flame underneath his cloak. The flickering flame igniting in his belly with each stride through the snowstorm. An internal fire borne from passion and devotion to his faith, that not even the darkest of nights could devour.
This fire inside will be the light that guides him to hope.
He chose to reclaim the pilgrimage with every next step. Footfall after footfall, he ascended higher and higher into the darkness. Even as the flurry of snowfall hounded him, each bite at his flesh leaving searing injuries upon him, the pilgrim trembled towards the top of the slope.
Carrying his defying flame higher and higher, he set the frigid night on fire.
Though his body stumbled to reach the peak, his mind never faltered. As the pilgrim took his final steps, clambering on all fours to heave himself to the end, he saw the dauntless horizon of the evening extending before him. Up above, the lights of the Aurora Borealis glistened across the night sky; streaks of pale green, violet and red permeated through the heavens. A wide smile played across the pilgrim’s lips: heralding him as a man adorned with fulfilment.
He had reached the end of his journey.
Gravely wounded by the biting frost of a weary winter, the pilgrim laid his head down on the summit. Gazing up at the night sky, he took his final look upon the world he had been blessed to live in.
This piece was inspired by the song Torches by X Ambassadors. Let it be a poignant reminder to rekindle your own flicker of hope during difficult times.