The Silent Mountain.
🌄 Chapter 4: The Silent Mountain
The journey was longer than Aarav had imagined.
Days passed in buses, trains, and on foot. The crowded cities slowly faded into quiet towns, and the towns gave way to open roads and endless stretches of wilderness. The air grew colder. Cleaner. Every breath felt different, as if the world itself was changing.
Or perhaps, he was.
He did not know exactly where he was going. He followed no map. Only a feeling. A silent pull deep within his chest, guiding him forward.
One evening, just as the sun was disappearing behind the horizon, Aarav reached a small village at the foot of a vast mountain range.
He froze.
His heart began to pound.
It was the mountain.
The same mountain from his dreams.
Tall. Silent. Watching.
Its peak was hidden behind slow-moving clouds, and its presence filled the air with an unexplainable stillness. The villagers moved about their lives normally, carrying water, lighting lamps, calling their children home—but to Aarav, everything felt distant.
His eyes remained fixed on the mountain.
"You can feel it too, can't you?"
The voice came from behind him.
Aarav turned.
An old man stood there, dressed in simple white cloth. His hair was long and silver, and his eyes were calm—calmer than anything Aarav had ever seen.
Aarav hesitated. "Feel… what?"
The old man smiled faintly.
"The call."
A chill ran down Aarav's spine.
He had told no one about his dreams. No one about the voice. No one about the feeling that had brought him here.
"How do you know?" Aarav asked quietly.
The old man did not answer immediately. He simply looked at the mountain.
"This mountain does not call everyone," he said. "Only those who are ready to listen."
The wind began to move around them, cold and gentle.
Aarav felt the same presence from his meditation. The same silence. The same awareness.
"Who are you?" Aarav asked.
The old man looked at him, and for a moment, Aarav felt as if the man could see through him—through his body, his thoughts, his soul.
"Just a servant," the old man replied.
Then he turned and began to walk away.
After a few steps, he stopped.
"If you truly wish to understand," he said without turning back, "come to the mountain at sunrise."
He continued walking until he disappeared into the fading light.
Aarav stood there, frozen.
The mountain loomed before him.
Waiting.
For the first time, he realized something important.
His journey had not brought him here by accident.
It had brought him here for a reason.
And tomorrow, that reason would begin to reveal itself