In a world where you can be what you want to be, and everything is possible if you can dream and imagine it, there lives an ‘Outlander’ whose only dream is to build the most illustrious structure ever known to man, in order to demonstrate the ingenuity of his human mind. To achieve this, he devised the idea of synthesising quintessential arts from prehistoric times with the greatest architectural design in modern history to form a single monumental work of art. Determined to create this singular chef-d’œuvre, he traversed all the oceans and seas, in search of arid lands where he could build his superstructure edifice. As he journeyed through the end of the world into the Black Land, he arrived at the beginning of time when modern civilisation had just begun, and ancient knowledge had become a lost civilisation. 

Upon his arrival in the land, he stumbled upon a stone tablet, which was engraved with a theological aphorism, which read: “In the making of a man whose being has been designed and decided by divine will, he is destined to become two things — the one he could never create, and the one he could never alter.” He reflected deeply on the maxim and raised his head to gaze upon the sky with an imploring look. It was as though heaven was opened. Suddenly, the sun began to gleam like the days after the great flood; likewise, at night, in full celestial glory, the moon shone at its happiest, as if it were the first day of creation. 

All over the sky, joyfully assembled were bands of stars which came out in unison and en masse for the great experience. As the night succeeded the day, and the day transitioned into night, the builder initiated his creative plan for his one-of-a-kind project. He began by recreating the six obliterated wonders of ancient times, namely the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, the Temple of Artemis, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, to forge the assemblage of horizontal wonders next to the Great Mer of Giza.

After the successful recreations of the obliterated wonders of the world, he moved the Great Wall of China to Kemet (the Black Land) with modular construction robots, and remodelled it with aesthetically engraved Palaeolithic cryptic designs. At each point along the segment of the wall, he erected watch towers thrice the size of the Eiffel Tower. Next to the Great Wall, he reconstructed the El Castillo of Chichén Itzá and the Taj Mahal, and integrated his upgraded version of the megalithic temples of Malta into them, thereby enabling the formation to serve as the viscera of the ovoid Roman Colosseum. Inside the Colosseum, he rebuilt the obelisk of Orunmila, which doubled the height of the Burj Khalifa, and recast the Neolithic Göbekli Tepe of Mesopotamia along with Stonehenge as its internal pillars. As his chimerical monumental art was nearing its completion, he worked day and night without rest. Brick by brick, stone by stone, he never stopped building, ensuring he succeeded in his idea. To the best of his knowledge and artistic perception, every little concept is a divine idea that must be developed into an innovative design.

Subsequently, he relocated the Khaznah of Petra and the Machu Picchu of Peru into the internal pillars of his superstructure edifice. Thereafter, he mounted the colossal statue of Jesus Christ at the crest of Reims Cathedral, carefully fitting it at the top of his monumental art, which stretches into outer space. And just like magic, there he has it: a multifaceted superstructure towering into the heavens that is embodied as a single monumental work of art. Yet, even after he was done, he didn’t stop building as he developed new ideas every day. He kept building and adding new structural designs until the dividing walls encroached on each other.  As a result, the erection of the superstructure edifice evolved into a perfect sphere, connecting from the beginning to the end and from the top to the bottom, measuring up to the sky where the whole world could see it. 

As day goes into the night, and night into day, he builds and continues to build until there is no way out for him. However, like a mosquito which flies into a camping net, he was not yet aware of his awaiting doom until he began to take a tour of his monumental creation. He had thought that he had built a magnificent architectural edifice for his personal glory and social validation. But it turned out he had only built himself a prison facility that takes away his own freedom and a sepulchre that appropriates the totality of his mortal existence. As he continued to walk around, he began to understand that his superstructure edifice had manifested into a sealed cave, with no entrance or exit point, and apparently with no escape route above it. 

Before he realised it, it was too late, as he became restricted inside the walls of his own invention, and disconnected from the outside world. As his final hour hauled itself toward an inevitable end, he could not believe he had become trapped inside the enclosure of his own idea, design, thought and mind. Deluged by uncertainties and hopelessness, he thought about a solution that left him with only two options: bring an integral part of the design down, or carve a way out through the consolidated structural designs. He soon discovered that attempting to bring down part of the design or to carve out an exit was very much the same as destroying it, because it would ruin his blueprint and aesthetic designs. He didn’t want that. Rather, he wanted the meritorious recognition for his outstanding achievement, which is why he could not bring himself to accept the reality that confronted him. 

Taking a moment to reflect on what looked like the only solution, he thought to himself: would he spend his entire life building this praiseworthy project, with all his sacrifices and efforts in blood and sweat, to see to its execution and success, just to have it pulverise into nothingness all by himself? This was not the end he anticipated, nor was it the outcome he envisioned. However, fate is a beautiful reality twisted into an inevitable event and a mysterious fantasy. Even with the structural limitations, he continued to explore his breathtaking mighty project with a deep reverence for his creative invention. As he walked into the heart of Reims Cathedral, he was fortunate to catch a surreal view of the colossal statue of Jesus Christ. 

Astonished at what he had created, he became smothered with happiness and a sense of fulfilment, and thereby erupted into an explosive outburst of laughter. But the moment he noticed that the sun, moon, and the bands of stars were finally gone from his sight, a dead cold immediately befell him. Feeling dejected and disheartened, he quietly lay down on the concrete floor with his eyes closed, as he remembered the theological aphorism he had encountered upon his arrival, and reiterated it once more: “In the making of a man whose being has been designed and decided by divine will, he is destined to become two things — the one he could never create, and the one he could never alter.”

Thereafter, in his state of ideation, while he continued to visualise his wonderful creation, for the first time since his arrival at the Black Land, he heard the voice of the wise one of Kemet: “Life is not an imagination, it is what you imagine. When you conceive it as imagination, you become an idea within it. But when you perceive it as what you imagine, it becomes a concept within you.” Immediately, the Outlander opened his eyes in profound bewilderment, startled by the voice of the wise one. He tried to comprehend what had just happened, while reflecting on the mysterious voice that had just echoed in his subconscious mind. However, for the maestro builder, it was his dream or nothing, so the idea of destroying his superstructure edifice to save his own life was not an option. Ultimately, he chose to accept the reality of his fatal pursuit and tragic end in his perfect sphere, where he remained entrapped until the end of time, with no one to tell his story and sing his praise.