Next Project
Serdar Ozkan’s second novel, When Life Lights Up, will meet its readers after the international publications of The Missing Rose…
WHEN LIFE LIGHTS UP is a novel about hope, unconditional love and the miracle of life. The story is about a unique little boy; the special friendship he enters into with a dolphin and his experience with the Angel of Death twenty years later.
- Prologue of When Life Lights Up
- The child the old man was looking for was not to be found in this seaside town, either.
In a quiet corner of the Aegean Sea, situated close to one another, lie seven charming islands. The seaside town that the old man was about to leave behind was one of the nineteen towns from which those islands could be seen. The sixteenth one he had been to thus far.
All the signs showed the old man that the child lived somewhere close to the seven islands. Therefore, several months ago, he had begun roaming the streets of the towns facing these islands, asking the same question to the hundreds of children who’d gathered around him.
In every town he passed through, he would do the same thing. First, he would wear his white shirt with an assortment of mirrors sewn on it, and hoping to attract the attention of children, he would wander around glittering in the sunlight. Then, sitting in a quiet spot, he would take the seven rocks out of his sack and gently line them up before him.
He would always begin by asking them, “Oh, beloved rocks, shall I tell you the story of the Immortals again today?”
After waiting in silence for some time, as if to hear their answer, “Very well, then,” he would say, and begin:
“Dearest rocks, millions and millions of years ago, before you were rocks, or the continents continents or the seas seas, the Immortals who live in the World of Light where everything is eternal, came one day to visit our world. Along with Happiness who was the last to come, Beauty, Freedom, Wealth, Power and Reason were just a few of the countless Immortals who came to our world. Once here, each took one of the innumerable hands of Happiness and began to wander happily over the face of the earth.
“A little while later, however, they came across the Angel of Death who'd settled in our world a long time before they arrived. The Immortals soon discovered that in this world everything dies, and so fearing the Angel of Death, one by one, the Immortals fled back to the World of Light. Of course, since they were immortal, the Angel of Death could not have taken their lives, but they consulted Reason and Reason advised them to act with caution.
“The first one to heed Reason’s advice and leave our world was Happiness. Thus, every happiness we know in this world is just a fragrance; a fragrance that Happiness left behind as It was wandering through our world. In time, the other Immortals also departed this world, each leaving their own fragrance behind.
“That is why, in our world, just like the fragrance of all the other Immortals, every beauty, every reason, every wealth, every power, every freedom and every happiness eventually fades away.
“But my beloved rocks, whilst all the Immortals feared the Angel of Death, one of them had fallen in love with him and, in spite of all Reason’s warnings, It refused to leave our world.
“And now, dearest rocks, now pay the utmost attention to what I am about to say, for I have the most joyful news for you. That Immortal is still here. It is journeying around the earth without cease, making everything It touches last forever. With It, one can make everything stay. For in Its hands, lies the code of immortality. So, if you can find this Immortal, oh dearest rocks, first water, then light will burst out of you. And, before day dawns, you will look and see that you have each become immortal.
“And so, my beloved rocks, if it is your wish to know who that Immortal is, let me tell you the story of two friends who became one friend. A story lived in this world but not of this world…”
Often, the old man’s monologue with the rocks would last for hours, until he had succeeded in gathering all the children of the neighborhood around him. Then his eyes would roam over the children and he'd ask them the question, the answer to which he was seeking everywhere: “Have any of you ever talked with a dolphin?”
Surprised by this question, some children would laugh, some would look curiously at the old man, while others would shout questions at him. Only very occasionally, there would be a child who’d say he’d talked with a dolphin. On hearing this, the old man’s heartbeat would suddenly quicken and his eyes would shine. Immediately, he would ask the child his second question: “So what is the dolphin’s name?”
Unfortunately, the old man was always disappointed with the answer he received and became downhearted in a way that was not fitting to the trust he carried. He was ill and tired. He knew he didn’t have much time left to live and that he had to hand over The Book of Hope to its new keeper before it would be too late. Or the age of eternal peace awaited by so many might never prevail.
It was getting late and the children had all gone home. After a long fit of coughing, the old man heaved a deep sigh, and put the rocks back into his sack. As he always did before continuing on his way, he randomly opened a page from The Book of Hope and read it.
The Book of Hope has been in the old man's possession for the last seventy-eight years. One day when he was nine years old, his grandfather came and held out to him an old book bound in black leather. He said that he had only a few more days to live and from then on his grandson would be the new keeper of the book. Then he made his grandson promise that he would bury The Book of Hope in a secret place, that he would not open the book until after his grandfather’s death and that he would tell no one what was written in it. He refused to answer any of his grandson’s endless questions and said that everything he needed to know could be found in the book.
As he had been told, his grandfather died a few days later, and so he dug up the book from where it was buried and opened it. According to what he read, The Book of Hope had been written in ancient times by a child who'd made friends with angels. But the name of the author and the time of its writing were not mentioned. A copy of it existed in every language and only one person for each language knew of its existence. Only at the time when the book was passed on did this number rise to two.
The next keeper of the book as well as the time for handing it over would be made known to the one who carried it a short time before his death, either by means of a dream or by some other sign. Sometimes the keepers would be relatives, sometimes strangers. Sometimes they were poor, sometimes rich. Sometimes male, sometimes female. However, there was one rule that never changed: The Book of Hope always had to be passed on to a child.
The book spoke of The World of Light, of a journey to that world, of the Immortals and of men and women who’d deciphered the code of immortality. It also spoke of The Return of the Blessed One.
The Blessed One was mentioned several times in the book. It was written that the final keeper of The Book of Hope would be the Blessed One and that only he would break open the sealed section at the end of the book. When the seal was broken, the whole world would be illumined and mankind would enter into an age of eternal peace.
For this reason, the responsibility of the one who held the book was immense: if even one copy of it in any language did not reach the Blessed One, it would mean that the eternal peace awaited for thousands of years would never be fully realized. Gathering together all the copies spread across the four corners of the earth, the Blessed One was going to make of all languages one language and of all books one book.
While this aspect of The Book of Hope concerned the whole world, another aspect concerned the person who carried it. Everything in the universe had its reflection within the human being. Within the human being, there, too, were endless wars and an unbroken longing for peace. Within the human being, there was a Blessed One, a book that needed to be handed over to him and a seal that needed to be broken.
That was why, in addition to being a link in the chain bringing The Book of Hope to the Blessed One, the keeper was also able to break the seal within himself. In truth, every human being had the ability to break this seal and reach the infinite light and peace beyond it. Because The Book of Hope was written in every heart.
And thus, despite feeling the peace of having lived with The Book of Hope, the old man couldn't help but feel the anxiety of still not having been able to find the child to whom he had to hand it over. He paid no heed either to the coughing spasms which tore at his lungs or the unbearable pain in his limbs. For he knew he would soon meet with the compassionate hands of the Angel of Death. If only he could hand over the trust…
Signs were showing him the way and angels were helping him. In truth, God was doing all. But God left a part to His servants which they thought they were doing themselves. And that was the part the old man needed to complete. Otherwise, what would he say to his Friend?
As the sun was setting, the old man, with weary but radiant eyes, gazed at the seven islands once again. And then, he directed his steps towards the seventeenth town situated at the skirts of Desert Hill. His next stop…