Achieving Serenity

Infinity Island

Community creates confidence

Ever since he was a young child, Danny always dreamed of moving to Infinity Island, a magical and mysterious land beyond the Great Mountain. Infinity Island was a land where the weak grew strong, the poor grew rich and old become young. It was a land where all dreams came true and worries were non-existent. Nobody in Danny's hometown of Serena ever traveled to Infinity Island because its only pathway was blocked by an enormous mountain. It was simply too tall for a man to climb without facing certain death.

Danny wanted to be the first one in his home town to travel to Infinity Island. He was now a twenty-eight-year-old man living in a small populace of a declining ninety people. It seemed the community was dying, and as Danny grew older, the mountain seemed to grow taller. Regardless, he never stopped dreaming of the day he would make it to Infinity Island.

Before embarking on the adventure, the town warned him that he would never survive such a trek. Danny didn't listen to them and continued to hike daily in a vigorous effort to train himself. Whatever it took, Danny was going to make it across the Great Mountain. He set a date that he would finally make the decision to climb the mountain alone. His family stopped paying attention to his wild goals because they honestly didn't believe Danny was going to go through with it.

Danny was expecting the entire town to be talking about his great adventure, but it appeared that they were too busy to even take notice. The last thing Danny wanted to do was to leave behind no legacy, so he postponed his adventure date in order to hype it up for the town. Danny knew he could do it alone, but wanted to make sure that his name was remembered within the town.

He continues to campaign a new date that he will climb the Great Mountain and travel to Infinity Island. Still, it appears the town is too caught up with their own personal growth and relationships to even care about Danny. They either don't believe he will actually do it, or they merely do not care. This was bothering Danny and began to second-guess his motivation for making the trek. He sat in his home staring out the window at the Great Mountain. Danny swore the mountain was growing taller by the day. It had seemed so much smaller when he was a child.

Danny talks with his family and decides to give up on his goal of traveling to Infinity Island. The mountain is simply too large, and he won't ever be able to make it there. He decides to start working for her father in his restaurant business. He decides that the dream of going to Infinity Island was nothing more than a child's fantasy and that he needs to start focusing on more realistic things.

He tries to ask out females in his home town but is rejected by three of them. Danny feels humiliated and curses himself for being so bad with women. He decides that talking with them is too hard because once they get to know him they realize he's a loser. Danny vows to become rich so his money can do his talking for him. He travels to a neighboring town casino, betting his paychecks away in hopeless desperation.

Danny spirals downward into a crushing gambling addiction, isolating himself from the community. He never dares talk to any women, because he doesn't want to experience the shame of rejection once again. He spends years of his life trying to master casino games, only driving himself into a grim deterioration.

Growing insane and bored with his life, Danny looks out toward the Great Mountain. Its peak is so high up in the sky it is no longer visible. He didn't understand how a mountain could grow as if it was a tree. On a sudden impulse, Danny decides to hike the 44 miles to the base of the mountain.

Hours into the hike, Danny notices he can now see the peak of the Great Mountain. Somehow it appeared as if the mountain had grown shorter. He takes a huge sip from his camelback and speeds up. The closer he gets, he notices the smaller the mountain gets.

He speeds up his strut to a full sprint as he notices the mountain shrinking to a barely-visible height. Danny squints as he lays a look of confusion as he sees the once Great Mountain is now nothing more than a molehill. Beyond it is a wide moat circling around the sacred Infinity Island. Danny jumps into the water and swims the small distance to the island shore.

Danny emerges from the waters and can hear people partying up ahead. He begins running to the civilization, flashbacks of being a kid and dreaming of this moment flashing through his head. He cuts through the trees to make it to the community when he notices that the surroundings are beginning to look familiar. He finally makes it to the party to see they are all familiar faces. Danny was in his hometown of Serena.