Elias and the Guardian of Thoughts

Elias was a loner who often sat by the river, watching the surface of the water as if it were a portal to other dimensions. The old man was often there, an hour away from the nearest town. His grey hair framed a weathered face, the wrinkles telling the stories of his life like deeply buried rivers.

One evening, as the sky turned a dazzling orange-red, Elias noticed a strange apparition on the other side of the narrow river. A shadowy figure moved in the twilight. The air seemed to vibrate, as if time itself had stopped for a moment.

Attracted by a secret call, Elias decided to follow the apparition. As he crossed the shallow river, the water cast glistening reflections on his skin. On the other side he saw the figure more clearly. It was a child playing with a strange glowing sphere. The sight of the child was both comforting and confusing. He seemed trapped in another world, while the sphere in his hands pulsed as if it held the heart of the universe.

'Who are you?', Elias asked. His voice trembled with curiosity mixed with fear.

'I am the Guardian of Thoughts', the child replied in a voice that was gentle yet full of wisdom. 'Every thought you think carries weight. Every choice you make has an echo.'

Elias was fascinated but sceptical. 'How can a thought have weight?'

The child smiled mysteriously and threw the sphere into the air. It floated, sparkled and turned into a thousand lights, shining like stars in the sky. 'Look closely, old soul! Every thought you have affects the world around you. The light you see is the result of choices you and others have made.'

Elias reflected on his life. He had made many choices. Some had been wise, others he regretted. 'I have often thought about what I could have done differently. But the past is gone.'

'The past lives in you, but it cannot determine the future', the child replied. 'Every day offers you a new chance. You can choose how you let your light shine.'

Suddenly Elias was overcome with a deep sense of awe. He remembered the moments when he had hesitated. And the opportunities he had missed out of fear of the unknown. 'But how can I channel my thoughts?'

The child tilted his head, and the sphere reappeared in his hand. 'By allowing yourself to feel fear and by allowing yourself to dream. Your thoughts are the seeds you plant. Let them grow!'

Elias wanted to know more, to fathom the secrets of the universe. But just as he began to ask, the scene resembled a fading dream. The colours blurred - the child, the sphere, the river. Everything was shrouded in mist.

Suddenly, Elias found himself back on the original bank of the river. Dusk had fallen. Overwhelmed by this encounter, he returned to the city. But nothing was the same for Elias as it had been before. The child's words echoed in his mind and would not let go.

In the days that followed, he began to change his life. He watched his thoughts, spoke them out loud when he was alone and let them flow like the waters of a river. He started talking to people he had previously ignored and realised the power of their stories. Each person was like a little mirror, giving him a new perspective on his own thoughts.

But not everyone wanted to listen. Some of his fellow citizens lived in a bubble of routine and comfort. They looked at him as if he were a fool when he told them about his encounter. 'The old man has lost his mind', they whispered behind his back.

Elias was not discouraged. As he realised that his own change was beginning to affect the people around him, he found a new purpose in life. He realised that the light he was bringing into the world was contagious. More and more of his neighbours began to ask questions and take an interest in his thoughts.

And one early evening, Elias sat down by the river again and waited for the child to return. 'What if it was just a dream?', he thought. The setting sun cast golden rays over the water, and Elias felt a presence. Suddenly the figure reappeared, the child with the shimmering sphere.

'You have begun to realise the weight of your thoughts', the child said. 'Many will soon understand you, but some will always remain in darkness.'

'Can I help them see the light?', Elias asked desperately.

'Perhaps. But remember, you can only feed the light within you. Someone else must find their own light.'

This answer made Elias think. He understood that everyone had to go their own way and that he could not force anyone to see what he had discovered. But he also knew that he could continue to work on being a source of inspiration.

Time passed, and Elias was often seen in the town, telling stories to children and talking to older people. More and more people were interested in the world of ideas that he had opened up. It was a slow, painstaking process, but the changes were noticeable.

One morning, as he sat by the river, a little girl ran up to him and held out a stone. 'Do you see? I have a wish. I wish that one day I could fly!'

Elias smiled. 'We're already on the right track. What do you think you need to do?' And the girl laughed, her ideas flowing freely. It was then that Elias realised that the seed of hope he had planted had begun to grow.

And so Elias continued to live, constantly interacting with his surroundings, while the imaginary sphere of thoughts began to glow in the hearts of the people around him. Every decision, every thought became part of a greater whole.

The mysterious encounter at the river was not the end, but the beginning of a new chapter. A chapter in which people would learn to take responsibility for their thoughts and actions and thus shape the world around them.

© 'Elias and the Guardian of Thoughts. A mysterious encounter by the river': A fantasy short story written by Izabel Comati (German: "Elias und der Wächter der Gedanken"), 04/2025. The image shows a boy with a glowing sphere, CC0 (Public Domain Licence).