Part 1
Full Descent
Full Descent The descent never feels like falling at first. It feels like slowing. It feels like thickening. It feels like the air turning to syrup around me. After so much altitude, so much brightness, so much velocity, the first downward pull feels almost gentle — a soft tug at the edges of my mind, a heaviness settling into my limbs.
By Elisa Wontorcikabout a month ago in Chapters
The Problem with Altitude
The Problem With Altitude Altitude always feels like freedom at first. The higher I rise, the lighter everything becomes — the thoughts, the tasks, the doubts, the weight of my own history. The air thins in a way that feels clean, almost holy. I can see farther. I can think faster. I can move without friction. It feels like transcendence.
By Elisa Wontorcikabout a month ago in Chapters
The Body as a Warning
The body always knows before the mind admits it. Long before the thoughts begin to fray, long before the brilliance turns brittle, long before the light fractures into something sharp, my body starts sending signals — quiet, precise, insistent. Not alarms. Not emergencies. Warnings.
By Elisa Wontorcikabout a month ago in Chapters
Overexposure
There is a point in the ascent where the brightness stops illuminating and starts burning. It happens gradually, then all at once — the moment when the light that once felt like clarity becomes something harsher, sharper, more invasive. This is the stage of the upward weather I call overexposure.
By Elisa Wontorcikabout a month ago in Chapters
The Sky
I always know the beginning of the ascent by the spark behind my eyes. It’s the smallest shift, almost imperceptible to anyone else, but unmistakable to me. A flicker. A sharpening. A quiet ignition in the center of my skull, as if someone has cracked open a window in my mind and let in a gust of bright, electric air.
By Elisa Wontorcik2 months ago in Chapters
Chapter 9: The Final Sermon (Farewell Hajj)
The Final Sermon (Farewell Hajj) In the year 632 CE, Prophet Muhammad ﷺ knew that his mission was coming to its completion. After more than twenty years of struggle, patience, guidance, and sacrifice, Islam had spread across Arabia. Tribes that once fought endlessly were now united by faith. Justice had replaced chaos, and mercy had replaced revenge.
By Wings of Time 2 months ago in Chapters
Chapter 8: The Peaceful Conquest of Makkah (630 CE)
The Peaceful Conquest of Makkah (630 CE) For nearly twenty years, the city of Makkah had been a place of pain for the early Muslims. It was where they were mocked, tortured, boycotted, and forced to leave their homes. Families were divided, livelihoods were destroyed, and many suffered simply for believing in one God. Even after migration to Madinah, the threat from Makkah never fully disappeared.
By Wings of Time 2 months ago in Chapters
Chapter 7: The Treaty of Hudaybiyyah
Chapter 7: The Treaty of Hudaybiyyah Several years after migrating to Madinah, the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and his followers still longed for Makkah. It was their birthplace, the city of the Ka‘bah, and the center of their faith. Though they had been forced to leave, their love for Makkah never faded. In the sixth year after Hijrah, the Prophet ﷺ had a dream that Muslims would enter Makkah peacefully to perform Umrah, the lesser pilgrimage.
By Wings of Time 2 months ago in Chapters
Chapter 6: The Early Battles and Self-Defense
The Early Battles and Self-Defense After migrating to Madinah, the Muslim community finally found safety—but peace did not come immediately. The Quraysh of Makkah were furious. They had lost control over the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and his followers, and they feared that Islam would grow stronger outside their reach. Even though the Muslims had left their homes, property, and wealth behind, the hostility did not end.
By Wings of Time 2 months ago in Chapters
