MY MOM AS THE GUARDIAN ANGEL OF ANGELS 36" x 48" acrylics on canvas, 2019
THE SON OF THE FIRE - THE FAIRY TALE
A very long time ago, when the World had no ground to walk on and the Sun was missing from the sky, Mother Fire gave birth to the gentlest child any mother could ever give birth to. The son was unlike to any other man. Instead of being a dark shadow the boy illuminated light. You could feel the cool of the water and the lightness of the air every time you interacted with the child.
You see, the World at that time was ruled by shadows, or rather, it was filled with shadows and looked more like a dark ever-changing sphere. Humans were mere silhouettes wondering around without a purpose or direction. Nothing had any tangible form then.
Mother Fire didn’t let her child out of her view. She kept him away from the shadowy world. But, as it happens with most young adults, the son became curious about the world he was not allowed to see. The boy asked his mother if he could explore the world he knew almost nothing about. Mother Fire was not ready to let her son go, but she also understood, separation was inevitable.
- My dear son, I cannot stop you from the journey only you can take, but promise, my child, to send me the light I gave you, so I know you are okay.
- I promise, Mom, to shine it back at you each day.
The Son of the Fire left his mother’s embrace and landed in the dark world. His presence disturbed the shadows. They all dispersed and hid away.
- This place is really strange, - thought the son. - There is nothing here.
The young man put a cloak of mist and began his journey. The Son of the Fire wondered the world days upon days on hand. A few years passed by before he met his first shadow. The young man didn’t know what or who he encountered on his way, but he could feel what the shadow felt.
- Don’t be afraid, - whispered the son. – I mean no harm. I only want to know you better.
- But what are you going to give me in return? - the shadow asked.
- I don’t know. - the young man answered. - What do you want in exchange of it?
- I want a part of you. – the shadow murmured back.
This meeting could have been one of those that meant nothing if the son had refused to give a part of himself to the shadow, but the young man’s curiosity about the shadow was much deeper. He let the shadow have a part of his light without realizing that a part of the shadow deposited in him as well, replacing what he gave away. The Son of the Fire didn’t think much of the fact that the shadow left him as soon as it received what it wanted.
The news about the human who was born with the oceans in his veins and the skies in his eyes spread quickly. Everyone wanted to experience his incredible beauty which felt like a butterfly’s wing brushing against your skin with the most refreshing drop of an early summer’s dew.
The shadows became bolder. They didn’t hide anymore from the explorer who was giving himself away. Pretty soon there were drones of them approaching the young man, leaving in him their shadowy deposits in return for his light.
The child with the oceans in his veins and the skies in his eyes was growing heavier with each new day, with each new encounter.
One day, when the Mother Fire couldn’t see her son’s light come back the way it did every day, she thought her son forgot or was too busy with the world. A month, then a year has passed by, but still there was no light coming back her way. When she didn’t receive any message on the day her son was born, she knew, he was in trouble. She decided to look for him in the world of shadows.
The Mother Fire was not sure what she was seeing when she reached the destination. A glob of dark matter engulfing shadows morphed in front of her eyes as some kind of murky bog. She was surprised that the darkness didn’t disperse the way it usually did when she was near.
- My son is inside of that dark mass. – she thought.
The dark substance was somehow heavier and denser than before. She had to gather all of her strength just to be able to cross into the dark gooey mass. She gasped when she saw somebody, who resembled her son, kneel from the heaviness of the shadows in the center of it. The shadows were entering the body scaring her son’s skin into a dry hard crust. She could not recognize him. What she saw resembled a huge boulder getting bigger and sharper on the edges. The Mother Fire tried to crack through the scabby surface, but the thickness of the shadows dimmed any light. It was not letting any shine reach her son.
After many days of trying, a little slit opened up on the glob from inside. Mother Fire heard something. It was her son singing the song she used to sing to him when he was scared as a child. It was clear, he needed her. She lit herself into a blazing ball of fire, and began boiling shadows into a sizzling lava. Mother Fire reached the heart of the mass after she melted the shadows away from her son for what it felt like millennia. The son was unrecognizable. His blistering skin was oozing relics of the scorching shadows. He was engulfed by the burning lava.
- I am sorry, my son, I could not protect you from these shadows, - his mother cried.
- Do not worry, mom. Because of them, I’ve learned who I am, - and with that he burst the oceans of his veins and threw the skies of his eyes hardening the World's surface into the ground.
- I will be right next to you, my son, and make sure you keep alive. – Mother Fire turned herself into the Sun and flew into the sky. She became the always shining light.
Shadows still follow humans though and constantly hide behind them. They are still afraid the Sun might melt them the way she did her son, turning him into the ground we walk on today.