The pilgrims of scarcity & eUK WRITING CONTEST

Day 5,777, 00:04 • Published in United Kingdom United Kingdom • by eerte

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Turkey International editorial team

The pilgrims of scarcity

I am Nosah Dalekan, born in sector Nova, in standard year 2399. This is my diary, and in case of my untimely death, my will. If found please do not let anyone else than xxx to read it.

I was sick of walking among those people who worshipped nothing but wealth and power. My nerves were saturated with an excess of stimuli among so much glitter. I wanted to find myself, I wanted to truly feel again.

Everyone had heard of the legends: Pilgrims of scarcity they were called. For 40 grueling days, the goal was to do a pilgrimage in an unforgiving desert planet situated in the far confines of the galaxy. Armed with only the scantest provisions of food and water, barely enough for more than three days if consumed recklessly. The legend has it, embarking on this arduous pilgrimage was a solemn quest to reconnect with the essence of life itself, by finding meaning in the abundant scarcity that surrounds it.

One night, a shady individual with an unrecognizable face approached me. He revealed himself as one of these pilgrims. I didn’t think twice. I was going to do it. He handed me some coordinates to travel. And so, I went on to wander the deserts aimlessly for 40 days.

Each day, as I rationed my meager provisions, I grew intimately acquainted with the pangs of hunger and thirst. It was a deliberate lesson in self-control. I felt a profound empathy for the scarcity that surrounded me.

Then I saw a miracle happen. After weeks, I was accustomed on how the sand flowed around, how dunes eroded and reformed. But some of them were different, some particular grains of sand danced on the desert winds, and seemed to become alive!

I had nothing but time. And all the sand of the world to keep track of it. So I made tabulations and revealed patterns. Interpreted the data and formulated theories. I came to the conclusion that it was a lifeform on its own!
Groups of sand particles would form such interactions that they form coherent units that could be considered individuals, and allow them rudimentary communication between each other. These beings had a very fragile life that exists for a fraction of time before giving birth to other sand beings and dissolved in the chaos of the desert.
They have no corpses, no limbs, but they would be formed solely out of interactions of large groups of sands that somehow creates a self replicating system. Their essence was flowing sand. Nothing else.

Imagine that sand beings "bodiless appearance". They would possess no corpses as to speak. No limb no organs. Their entire body is indistinguishable from the environment. But look closer and you would see that sand flows within sand in a lively manner. A web of interactions between billions of grains of sand.

It is wind that makes things move in desert. Interestingly for these beings, the passage of time is marked with wind, and when there's no wind all their bodily functions ceases, time freezes for them.

After 40 days, I returned to my old life in glitterworld.
I am now a pilgrim. People generally avoids me, as I acquired the mannerism of the desert.
Had I imagined it, did I even make the journey? I don’t have any answers.
But when I close my eyes at night, all I could see are patterns…