It started out as a single beam of light through the blackness. As I got closer, it grew larger and brighter by contrast in a light source. In due time, I should get so close that it will envelope the entirety of the horizon and in a sense, become the horizon itself. In due time, I shall be there myself.
I was sailing, and each day I got closer to my destined point, our nearest star.
I stand on the stern of the ship and look ahead into the solar landscape, into the source of all life. I am a voyager falling into a celestial body. I did not know how long I had slept; I lost all sense of time weeks ago. Here, the Sun never went away. It surrounded you, bounding every inch of your body. It even penetrated your eyelids. Every time I opened my eyes it was like taking a shower in stagnant waves of light.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the pocket watch. It was made of gold and had an engraving of a sun on the front.
I opened it. The clock no longer worked, it was stuck on the time 6:26 A.M. Opposite the clock, the word Helios was engraved on the inside cover.
"Does anyone really know what's at the center of the sun?"
While looking at the pocket watch I suddenly realized why so many ancient cultures worshipped the Sun.
It is sentient.
(Whispered): "Now open your eyes"
I opened my eyes, and the light consumed me all at once.
This was it; the surface of the sun.
It's loud on the surface of the sun, like a constant resonance of violent white noise.
The Sun screams
The light felt heavy, wrapping around my body, cradling it from everything else. Cloudless rays of light shone in every direction, never once crossing one another. A voltaic layer of mist seemed to radiate above the surface. The vivid glow of a sea of bioluminescence, the Sun's sea. A sunspot cracked in the distance.
Lights on beneath the Sea
There was a distinct hue of electricity in the air that caused a burning sensation in the back of my throat when I inhaled. It was an aroma so intense that you could feel it inflaming the pit of your chest. The taste of static tickled on my tongue.
The Sun smells like lightning
I leaned over the side of the boat and looked straight into the source of human existence. My shadow was cast somewhere far off into space.
I reached down, and made contact with the surface of the Sun. My hand held steady. I imagined for a second that the liquid light would engulf my arm, but nothing seemed to happen. The light shone through, and my hand was cast as a bright, vibrant orange and I could see the skeletal structure within. I was so close now that I could slightly taste the vapor being emitted off the surface. I could savor it on my tongue, liquid life.
I pulled my hand back. Liquid Sun trickled off my hand. I am now part of the Sun.
A voice answered me: "You always have been"
I already knew that.
Feel the fizz, the electricity run through you!
And then, whiteness.
(Whispered): "Now open your eyes"
Inspired by a dream.
And also the movie Sunshine.
Two lines taken from Underworld's Peggy Sussed
Hafssól is Icelandic for "The Sun's Sea".