Book Description

Phillipos finds portraits of Helen of Troy in an old book. He desires to find out which of these portraits is the real Helen of Troy. At the same time, an amnesiac man desires to save Helen from an impending war. He acknowledges that her beauty caused the war, but he fears that the war will forever erase her beauty. He drifts through the desert with Helen as he desires to find out more about his destination. He feels that looking into Helen's eyes helps him remember who he is and where he must go. "A thousand faces swirl, each following the other in a chaotic and yet rhythmic fashion before succumbing to beautiful disorder. Each pair of eyes peers through the void to glimpse his endeavor. One face is gracefully superimposed upon the other, a succession of bright roses that bloom against the remotest possibility of never blooming. His gaze narrows, intensifying. He steadies the dizzying array of faces, trying to see which of these faces belongs to the real Helen of Troy. Then he sees her. His hand is already reaching for her as her unparalleled beauty hits his retina. He reaches across the ghost-pale crowd of beauties to take her hand. Her face becomes clearer to him now. The pale radiance of her eyes gives her entire shape and form a celestial aura. He takes her hand and observes her eyes as they cast rays of light through the veiled depths of his heart. Her streaming blonde hair becomes still for a moment, and he grasps her hand firmly. A war is about to begin, but her beauty leads him out of the looming uncertainty of an impending battle. He is ready to save her. He believes that she has saved him. Within moments, he leads Helen out of the city walls of Troy and into the barren wasteland, where he turns and looks deeply into her eyes before saying to himself "I exist."