The Endless Golden Dunes

Chapter 14: Training

ELIJAH

He reached his tent. Luckily, it was a two-person one, and Adam had already agreed to share with him.
  
He looked at the already-set beds and tables. The little decoration that was. A pot, a circular, poorly-woven carpet, and some calligraphy with Arabic words. Elijah put it inside a drawer. He knelt next to the pillow and from his pocket, he pulled out the cross. He kissed it. He quietly said a prayer, the same one he had said the days before his father died.
 
‘O Father! Bless your children in the Holy Land, bless Your children everywhere else, bless my mother, bless my father, bless me. Indeed, Father, You Who has created us, have let your son, Christ, die for our sins that we did because of Satan, the one who disobeyed. We won’t enter Your kingdom unless it is because of Your divine Mercy, so forgive us and bless us.’
  
Then he added something extra.
  
‘Bless those who followed You, and smite those who have disobeyed you, smite the kind who murdered one of Your most loyal servants in cold blood.’
  
One more time, he kissed the cross and he hid it beneath the pillow. Couldn’t have risked it being found.
  
Elijah sat on his bed and breathed out a large amount of air. He closed his eyes and allowed his thoughts to run free.
  
It wasn’t a comfortable feeling, but it was satisfying, like the fast displacing and placing of the dunes, like the mounting on a camel when it gallops. What was Elijah thinking? If asked that question many years later, Elijah would give you the unsatisfying answer of ‘I don’t know’. But at the moment, he knew exactly where his mind was traveling.
  
He thought about the infidels.
  
Apparently, they were real men according to Walid. How so? Because they killed and plundered? The thought started brewing a rage inside Elijah. Why can’t he say that Christians are real men? Has he not heard about the great kings of Europe? The soldiers who helped spread Christianity? They were real men who fought.
  
But they also killed.
  
So they were one of the same suddenly? They were both the same cruel people following the same cruel religion?
  
Elijah shook his head. No. They were the ones who were cruel. They were the ones who killed Isaac, killed his father. There were none of them who were good. Christianity was a religion that respected all other religions.
  
Then he remembered Father Noah.
  
No. He wasn’t a true Christian. He didn’t embody the religion the way Christ did. Christ would never say foul things about the Jews. But could the same go for Islam? Elijah remembered Ibrahim, the shopkeeper. He was kind, was he not? What if he embodied the religion of Islam?
  
He thought about the religion’s founder: Muhammad. Elijah began to realize how little he knew of the man. All he knew was that he was born in Makkah, that was it. Could he be wrong in judging Islam? No, no. He believed in it for so long. Surely this is a false suspicion? A foolish thought?
  
When Elijah opened his eyes, the remains of the thoughts still remained.
  
He reminded himself that Adam should also hide his Star of David.

ABBAS AND UMAR

  
Finally, the dunes began to talk to him again.
  
For some reason, their talks were clearer than ever.
  
‘Are you satisfied yet, Abbas?’ they asked. ‘You are not. You have your purpose to pursue, do you not?’
  
Abbas nodded. But day by day, he was beginning to feel he was getting closer to what he considered was his destiny.
  
‘What do I want?’ he asked.
  
‘You want to feel like any other human. You want purpose, do you not?’
  
‘Y … yes. That is true.’
  
‘Do you know where you will find purpose?’
  
‘Does it look as such?’
  
‘Be patient, young Abbas. You would never know when aid will come to you, walking towards you. That aid will help you. It will heal you. You just need to be patient.’

***

  
‘Are you free, Umar?’ the dunes asked.
  
He did not reply.
  
‘Fates are intertwined.’
  
‘How does that relate to what you said?’ It might have been the first time Umar replied to the dunes.
  
‘It relates to everything. Do you think you are the only person I talk to?’
  
‘Well, you are everywhere, so I wouldn’t …’
  
Umar paused on his words. The dunes were telling the truth. Umar did think that the dunes only thought of him. He blushed in embarrassment.
  
‘See? Though I am not as endless as many perceive me to be, my gazes extend far and wide. It touches the sun and white moon. I know what will happen to you. Therefore, let me guide you towards your destiny.’
  
‘Destiny? What sort of destiny? To where must I go?’
  
‘Look around. The answer is within the first person you see.’
  
Umar hesitantly did as he was told. His head flinched as he began to turn it. His neck stopped him as soon as he spotted one person. Abbas.
  
‘Are you mad? Is this some kind of trick?’
  
‘I cannot be mad. What I have told you is true.’
  
‘What am I supposed to do with him? Is he going to help me?’
  
‘I cannot reveal all things. I must be subtle in my prophecies otherwise they will change the path of destiny. After all, I am but a servant of God. Anyway, going back to your question, all you need to do is give him your apology.’
  
‘Until Hell freezes–!’
  
Umar hanged his words. They had left a bitter taste on his mouth.
  
‘Also, you should talk to Abbas.’
  
Umar turned to him.
  
‘Do I need to?’
  
‘Of course you do. It is all part of the process of you becoming the best version of you.’
  
No. He was better than what he previously was. He had to be Umar the Compassionate, Umar the Apologetic, Umar the Forgiving. He thought of his namesake, the friend of the Prophet. He was just as aggressive as he was, yet there was a humility to the man. Some honesty to him. Kindness to him. Like all humans, he was flawed, yet he was great. If he can be flawed and great, then so could he.
  
Tapping his left chest as if he was comforting his heart, saying to it all of this was normal and for its growth. He went forward, the figure of Abbas getting closer.