1-8-21 - Svarga

 Svarga

IDEA - 1-8-21

by

Patrick Ryan

Sarif is seated back in his chair, an old man now, reminiscent of his time sailing in the ocean. We were out in the open seas, in the Indian Ocean. There were five of us here, including a Brit named Kellen. There was a report that there was a hurricane. But, that did not deter us. We were so blown off track, we were telling ourselves "at least a hundred miles," it might have been a thousand. Now, that man, Kellen, was weird. He claims to have climbed Mount Everest, helped build the Berlin Wall, been part of the Manhattan project, things like that. Well, while we're all in a panic trying to find our way back to the familiar, Kellen's going on about this island, Svarga. He's sitting on the bow of the boat drinking and doesn't do anything until I call him out. He slides back to the spot where we were standing. "It's easy, gents, we go to Svarga." He named it paradise; he mistakenly discovered it 20 years ago, when the island was ruled by the vicious Tang. He rules with an iron fist, killing those who oppose him, taking most of the resources, and leaving the people on the island to starve. Kellen's boat had crashed into the rocks, and his body washed up on the shore. He was rescued by a woman named Eami. She brought him back to her hut to where she nursed him back to health. Eami's father was part of the original resistance trying to stop Tang from taking their island. Upon surrendering to Tang, Eami's father was killed as well as the other members of the opposition. Kellen promises to defeat Tang after Eami saved his life. With no firearms, no men willing to fight, and the enemies with guns, knives, and trained guards, he still defeated Tang. Kellen spent the whole next day gathering cicadas in the thick forests of the island. He spent the next three nights teaching them to sing only at night. In the first part of his strategy, he took the hundreds, almost thousands of cicadas, broke into Tang's compound, and scattered them around all of the sleeping quarters. For five days straight, they all hardly had any sleep at the compound. In Step two of his scheme, he filled the compound's septic tank with ocean water and then snuck into the compound's food supply and laced it with a powder that would make everyone at the compound vomit and have diarrhea. In phase three of his plan, he spent a month fixing up his boat, adding a flair of luxury that it initially didn't have. He sailed the ship to the dock near the compound and claimed to be a rich traveler from the British Isles. Tang valued western wealth and welcomed Kellen to the compound, where he could see firsthand what a month of sleep deprivation, sickness, and a stench of feces can do. Kellen went on to tell Tang about a tremendous undiscovered island with riches beyond his imagination. He told him the journey was long and risky, but it was worth it. And yet, he possessed the only map. Tang was miserable and willing to pay for the map, "he just had to get out of here." The transaction took place, and the next day Tang set sail with nearly everyone from his compound. A few were left behind to keep the villagers working and earning for Tang, but most of the compound left. Little did Tang know, but Kellen's map would lead him along a dangerous and impossible path to Cape No Hope. Within a few days, Eami and a group of villagers, still committed to the resistance, were able to take over the compound. Kellen remained on the island another year, and Tang never came back. He had to leave when he got the news that his mother was ill, but he looked forward to coming back with us. So we traveled there, not knowing what to expect when we got to the island. Did Tang come back? Was Eami still alive? Will Kellen be greeted as a hero or betrayer?