Oshadha Perera, Invercargill

When time started, there was nothing in Earth except blackness. The fierce depths of Earth were boiling lava, and the very surface was covered in chilling glaciers. Layers of mighty clouds imprisoned the sunlight. There was no such thing called life... except a tiny village at the very point where the extremes met, to make fire and water, where the clouds gave way to the gentle sunlight.

This village was full of all sorts of animals from horses to kakapos to wetas. All except one. Nevertheless, the village remained in peace, in the highest possible level of law and order.

The village had a special day, a day where all the villagers engage in one single activity: harvesting crops. This event was on the first day of the year, and the whole village looked forward to that day.

The day finally came. The villagers started their journey to the vast fields that contained all types of food anyone could imagine. The villagers had to pass through bridges that creaked under every step and mountains that touched the sky, to reach the fields.

The villagers were on this journey when they saw something unusual. There was a tiny black dot in the misty horizon. They hurried to the shore, but the strange object was already there. It was a hollow half-sphere woven from flax.

They were about to investigate the strange article when they heard a high-pitched noise, a tone between the bellbird and the tiger. They followed their gazes to see a peculiar creature buried half a foot deep in the powdery sand. It had four limbs but used only two to walk.

The villagers took the delicate creature to their leader. There, they said that they wanted to keep it in the village. Now everybody knew that strangers were not welcome in their village, but again, it wasn’t like there were newcomers every day. This was about the first stranger in their villager. The leader, unable to avoid the mesmerising eyes of the creature, couldn’t help but agree.

So, the creature grew up in the village, enjoying the youth ages and always looking to help the villagers. There was nothing he couldn’t do. The grizzly bear would ask him for the honeycomb that was out of its reach, and the wild goat will ask him where the best grass grew. The extra two limbs did not go to waste. Within several years, he became the village favourite. Everyone wanted to invite him for tea or dinner.

The strange thing was that this creature, or ‘human’ as the villagers called him, did not accept any of these offers. He preferred to sit on the exact spot where the water touches land and stare at the distant horizon, at the diverse scenery that befell upon him when the Sun disappeared into the sea. Every night, he would look at the millions of stars and galaxies and wonder where he came from.

One day, when the villagers gathered for their monthly meeting, the human raised his hand. He had not talked yet in any of the assemblies, so the villagers fell silent, longing to hear what he had to say. But they were not in the least prepared for what he uttered.

“May I have permission to cross the horizon?”

The villagers felt silent. It was common knowledge that no one was allowed to pass the horizon, not even the Blue whale.

“For what purpose, would you like to do that?” the leader spelt the burning question of everyone.

“I would like to explore.”

The villagers were bewildered. Never had they thought about what lied beyond the things they could see.

But their rules clearly stated that no one was allowed to do that. Nobody knew who wrote the rules, but no one was allowed to break them. Not even the human.

So, there the decision was. The human could pass the horizon. But he would be given twenty-hours to return, considering all the good he has done to the village. If he did not return within that time, he wouldn’t be allowed into the village.

So, the human went, in a hand-crafted canoe, not forgetting to say goodbye to one single villager. But he never returned. From that day on, homo sapiens, or modern humans, had the blessing of his spirit inside their bodies. This spirit would protect them against any disaster they would face. Like the human, they would proceed to become leaders, and with time, rulers.