This article is also available in:
Italiano
The eighth of my stories: the story of the giant Antaeus, ruler of the lands of Libu
My unpublished stories
What you are about to read is an unpublished story of mine taken from the novel that I started writing in the summer of 2021. In it, a main story alternates with various small stories (for now from 3 to 5 per chapter) that the protagonist narrates at the end of the day, each with its own specific meaning and “why” within the plot. In September 2021 I launched a survey on the Middle East and Surroundings Telegram channel to understand how many were interested in the project and, to my great joy and surprise, there were many votes and all of them positive. Not wanting to reveal the whole work to you, I have chosen to show you only the stories, so that you can have something absolutely new and unpublished to read and I have an extra motivation to carry it on. My ambition is to write at least one chapter a month and thus make this column a fixed appointment, but in any case the stories of each chapter will be loaded all together and only and exclusively if the latter is completely finished.
Precisely for this reason you will already find on the site all the stories of the first chapter “The sand and the wayfarer”: “”The Tuareg and the voice of the desert“,”The Sand Child“, “Atlas“, “The island that is not there” and “Hannibal“. Today’s story instead belongs to the second chapter, which includes:” The tattooed girl “,”Ashes of Sufis “and” Antaeus “.
Enjoy the reading!
Antaeus
Centuries ago, a gigantic and mighty ruler reigned over the lands of Libu, son of the Earth and the Sea. Confused by the qualities he inherited from his parents, he challenged every traveler who stood before him to a mortal duel, building entire palaces with their remains. His invincibility was given by the love of his mother, who illuminated every step, as long as the latter remained anchored to the ground.
One day, a light-skinned and wild-looking man arrived here; he had just deceived an ancient astrologer king and was about to fulfill his destiny with the three apples of Eden, when in his footsteps he met the sovereign, who promptly challenged him to a duel.
The traveler, realizing that the opponent’s strength lay in his mother’s embrace, lifted him from the ground in a deadly embrace, suffocating him thanks to his immense strength. Before the latter drew his last breath, the stranger told him:
“Truly I am an angel sent by your Lord to put an end to your atrocities and give a clear sign to your lineage. Since you refused to fly pompous for the embraces, so you perish now for my flying embrace; woe to him who refuses to evolve arrogant for the gifts received from his Lord. If your mother is the Earth, you learn to fly and become sand, so as to take her love away and get closer to your Lord. He who draws his strength from being chained to the earth is actually a prisoner in this world and in the next; while the one who manages to detach himself from all bonds and soar in the air is a worthy inhabitant of the Heavens. “.
Once this was said, the traveler resumed his journey towards a new adventure, leaving his body in the arms of mother earth, who in the meantime had opened her hands to give her son the last and eternal embrace, bringing him close to his heart of fire.
Follow me on facebook, Spotify, YouTube and Instagram, or on the Telegram channel; find all the links in one place: here. Any like, sharing or support is welcome and helps me to devote myself more and more to my passion: telling the Middle East
