Believe. 

The word drifted off his lips, encapsulated in a whisper. A shiver ran down his spine, leaving him cold and feeling oddly hollow. For a split second he stopped rowing, slightly taken aback by this seemingly involuntary release of the word. Dismissing it as fatigue, he continued to row, rippling through the cerulean sheet of the ocean. 

He tried not to notice the mountains, shrouded in their cloaks of greenery, the peaks flaunting their snowy headdresses. Or the way they perfectly caved in on either side, exhibiting a clear passageway in the centre, which extended far beyond the realm of his weary eyes. 

He tried not to notice the way they shyly peeked through the array of trees, finally ascending into the depths of the vast sky, unfettered and free. Unrivaled in their beauty. It was almost - 

Divine. 

He stumbled back in his boat, a gasp of indignation flying out of his open mouth. 

That word. It was meaningless - utter lunacy that should have been made obsolete long ago. It surely had no business winding its way up into his mind. He absentmindedly ran his fingers through his hair, tousling the choppy auburn locks. His breaths were heavy and defined; an outsider might call it flustered. He called it tired. He had been rowing for a long time; a quick rest wouldn’t hurt anybody. Plus, these spasms of random and irrational vocabulary were giving him the impression that he was delusional. If there was one thing he was sure of, it was that he could not afford to be delusional as he solitarily crossed oceans with no source of communication to another living species. 

He folded up his oars and slipped them under his seat. Taking a deep breath, he stretched out his legs and lay on his back, stifling a yawn as he continued to gently drift. It was evening now, and he could finally stare into the sky without being blinded by the dazzle of sunlight. 

Now it was colours that the sky was awash with. The horizon was a jewel, reflecting a sea of colours onto the world. Hues of pink and orange swirled against the slowly darkening blue, canopies of clouds accentuating their brilliance. 

Then there was the sun. There it stood, basking in its own light for all its glory. It seemed as if that was where sky touched land, in a glowing collision of scarlets and golds. The threads of light spooled out far and wide, lingering and blazing, illuminating the towering mountains and trees. It was deafening. It was -

Heavenly. 

He didn’t realise how long he had been transfixed for before the first tear spilled out of the corner of his eye, silently meandering down the side of his face. 

He was sitting up now, on his knees, shoulders shuddering convulsively, loud, hacking sobs resonating all over the infinite wilderness. He cradled his face in his hands, his hair flopping out over the top, slightly trembling as well. His sobs became louder, until they bore enough resemblance to yells. He clenched his hair in his hands and bent over, as if in physical pain. 

“Alright. You win,” he choked out, which resulted in a fresh wave of sobs. 

Twilight was fading into darkness. A single, lone star had appeared in the freshly inked sky, flickering and flashing like a silent firework. He caught its reflection in the rippling blanket of water and tentatively raised his gaze to meet it in the sky, eyes glistening. 

“I believe.”