Falling

 Once more you pulled against the nails, lifting yourself as the splinters scraped your torn shoulders. The thorns at your temples were nothing compared to the agony at your wrists. A last breath, and with it, you gasped a cry through the echoing universe. Your head dropped, your soul carrying the weight of the entire world into death.

I imagine you falling. I see you as a light crushed under the strain of all evil, dropping down into the darkness. A falling star thundering into oblivion. And for three days you fell through the terrors of wrath, enduring flames and shadow.

Until finally you arrived.

I felt the bedrock of damnation tremble under my feet as you touched down. Nothing less than the thunder of a million strands of lightning colliding with the ground. Yet, as you were consumed by the greatest punishment of all, you endured. Though the light had been ripped from my soul, your’s survived the tortures.

You found me broken and alone, the radiance of salvation gleaming through your eyes. As you neared, the loneliness and hopelessness of all eternity began to retreat and the surrounding darkness drew back into itself, fearful of your awesome power.

Taking your hand, I felt its warmth and life, fully aware of the coldness and death of my own. But something happened. You took on my darkness. You pulled it into yourself and endured its terrible price, destroying it forever. You put your hand to my heart and ignited the flame within, making it stronger than ever before. The light returned to my soul and I began to breathe.

Then we rose.

– Arik Stewart

Photo of Alek taken by Arik Stewart