Tayku, a boy who ran tirelessly across the mountain slopes, couldn’t understand why anyone would want to be a mamo. To him, mamos were serious people who sat for hours, staring at stones, listening to the wind, and murmuring incomprehensible things to the river. While they spent their days trying to talk to lifeless things, Tayku preferred to be outdoors, running among the trees, hearing the croaking of frogs and the buzzing of insects.
Despite his disdain for spiritual lessons, Tayku had been chosen for a special destiny. His future as a mamo had been decided from the moment he was born, or so the elders said. To them, the signs had been clear: the day Tayku came into the world, a flock of birds crossed the sky in perfect formation, something that supposedly only happened when a future guardian of wisdom was born. But Tayku didn’t see those omens as anything more than an excuse to sit around doing nothing exciting for long periods.
One day, his mountain races came to an end. He was called to begin his true path, one from which there was no escape. He was taken to a cave deep in the Sierra, known only to the wisest mamos. There, in the darkness, his training would begin.
The cave, contrary to what Tayku had imagined, was not a cozy cavern with green moss and small puddles where he could distract himself. It was a dark place, so dark that even the air felt heavy, as if the very walls were made of night. There wasn’t a single light, not even a crack through which a beam of sunlight could enter, making him wonder if the mamo's fate was even worse than he had imagined.
As the days passed, Tayku tried to get used to the darkness. In that void, time felt different. The seconds stretched like the gum he used to chew while exploring the forest, but here there were no trees or adventures. Just silence. However, little by little, something started to change. The echo of his own thoughts stopped being annoying, and the sound of his breathing, the only noise he could hear, became a steady rhythm.
In the gloom, Tayku began to notice that the cave wasn’t as empty as he had thought. Though he couldn’t see it, he felt as if the Earth itself was watching him. He sensed the heartbeat of something vast beneath his feet. It was as if, in the stillness of the darkness, the cave was alive. What once seemed boring and dull now began to intrigue him. Instead of hearing stones, he heard whispers. The wind, which he used to ignore, spoke to him in a soft voice. And the river, which he used to mock, seemed to have a story to tell.
Tayku realized that the darkness wasn’t empty. There was something there, something he couldn’t see but could feel. He started to understand that light didn’t always come from the sun or the stars. Sometimes, it was inside oneself. In the deepest darkness, the hidden light shone the brightest. But that light wasn’t seen with the eyes—it was felt in the heart. It was a light that didn’t illuminate the outside world but the inside.
The days in the cave turned into weeks. Tayku didn’t know exactly how much time had passed, but he knew he was no longer the same boy who had entered, running and complaining. Somewhere between the echo of his own thoughts and the whispers of the cave, he began to understand what it meant to be a mamo. It wasn’t about sitting and talking to stones or listening to the river because someone else told you to. It was about understanding that everything on Earth was connected, that even the wind blowing through the mountains had a purpose, just like him.
When he finally emerged from the cave, the mountain sun blinded him for a moment, but Tayku didn’t complain. There was something new in his gaze, a spark that hadn’t been there before. That light he had found in the darkness wouldn’t leave him, not even under the brightest sun.
Now, with every step he took, he felt the pulse of the Earth beneath his feet. He was no longer the boy who ran aimlessly, oblivious to the world around him. Tayku had discovered the hidden light, the one that guided him from within, and he knew that, even though the mamo’s path was long and often lonely, it was also full of mysteries that only he, with his new understanding, could uncover.
As he descended the mountain slopes, the wind blew softly around him, and for the first time in his life, Tayku truly listened.