THE SPIRAL AND THE SPARK

A middle ground of abandoned roads and forgotten buildings--a nameless wasteland, Searcher had left the city, walking again without direction. He wasn't searching anymore; he was simply moving. The letter's question lingered in his mind: "If life is a virus, why are you still alive?"
He wandered through an abandoned gas station, rummaging for anything useful. His body was weak and he had barely eaten anything in days.
A pack of stray dogs watched him from a distance, their ribs visible beneath matted fur. He laughed to himself. To him they were parasites feeding on parasites, taking until there was nothing left. But then he noticed one of the dogs carrying food back to a smaller, weaker one and something about that view unsettled him. As he stepped back onto the cracked highway, he saw a lone traveler sitting by a fire.
The man was old but had a calmness that made him seem ageless. Searcher almost ignored him, but the man spoke first:
"You look like you've lost something"
"You can't lose what was never real" Searcher scoffed.
"Then why are you still looking?" The man said, nodding.
Silence...
The man pulled out a small, dried-out seed from his pocket and placed it in Searcher's palm.
"Tell me-- if I plant this in the dirt, what will happen?" The man asked, arching his wrinkled brows. Searcher shrugged.
"It dies"
The man shook his head. "No, It becomes." His response made Searcher chuckle in disbelief and he replied...
"You're saying life is some grand transformation? That suffering has purpose?"
The man smiled. "I'm saying that destruction isn't the end. Only the beginning of something new."
These words dug into him like a thorn. The man stood up, leaving the fire burning.
"You can keep the seed." The man said, disappearing into the mist.
Searcher stared at the seed in his hand, turning it over. He had spent years believing that life only destroyed. But what if...destruction wasn't the end? What if the virus of life was actually...a cycle?
The wanderer's words echoed a deeper truth. Life wasn't just decay, it was renewal in every meaning of the word.

Author's Note

Looking forward to the reviews, thank you all so much for reading 😊