The words hit me like cold water. He checked his watch again. "I have more two minutes," he murmured, then walked toward the small stage in the center of the park, surrounded by a ring of tall trees.
He climbed onto the stage and began shifting into various postures. After each one, he asked if he looked good in that posture. Out of all the poses he made, one stood out, something dignified and strangely fitting for him. I told him so, and he nodded, satisfied.
I still remember it clearly. He stood there in that posture I had chosen for him, and something about it suited him so perfectly that I smiled without even knowing why. He smiled back, wide and bright, like someone who had finally reached the end of a long journey.
Then his fingers began to turn to stone.
It happened so fast. The rock crept up his hands and legs, swallowing even the clothes he wore. While I watched, frozen and helpless, he said, "I never made a decision in my life that I regretted, so let it be like that. And think of it as this old man's dying wish."
He smiled warmly as the transformation climbed his neck. His lips turned to stone mid-smile, then his whole face hardened, and finally even his pupils froze in place.
He became a statue right in front of me.
For a long moment I just stood there, unable to understand what I had seen. But the smile carved onto his stone face made me believe he truly died in peace. That thought alone kept guilt from crawling into my heart.
I left the park immediately. Dozens of people in black suits were rushing in from expensive cars, but I didn't look back.
The whole time, I still had no idea what the "realm" he spoke of truly was. In my mind it was just an expensive institute, maybe worth a quad or two, especially since they owned luxury cars. Nothing more.
Once I slipped away from the chaos and returned to the quiet streets, I didn't know what to do with myself. It was still early night. I didn't have the heart to flirt with anyone, didn't have the mind for wandering thoughts, so I just walked. I walked under the streetlights, flipping through the papers they had shoved into my hands.
A while later, I stumbled across a library. The doors were still open. Without thinking twice, I rushed inside and searched for the name I could barely remember.
And when I finally found it, the truth nearly knocked the breath out of me.
The more I read, the more impossible everything became. Page after page, line after line, it all felt unreal, like something my tired brain had invented to cope with a long, strange night. But then I remembered him turning to stone, remembered the crackling sound of rock swallowing flesh, remembered his smile frozen into eternity.
That memory anchored everything.
This was real.
I had purchased a realm worth more than a thousand quads with a single silver.
Pure shock turned into pure joy. I actually thought my heart might burst. But right in the middle of my happiness, another thought crashed into me, something I had meant to do before the old man ever sat beside me.
I wanted to meet Sophia and Ind.
The moment I remembered that, I bolted out of the library and ran toward the city. The bitter irony was that I now owned something worth more than I could imagine, yet I didn't have money for a train ticket.
So I ran. I ran for an hour straight until I reached our flat. But it was empty. Neither Sophia nor Ind had returned. Their date wasn't over yet.
I sprinted toward the movie theater, the last stop on their plans. Halfway there, in the corner of my eye, I noticed a girl standing in a narrow alley. She was wearing a dress that looked exactly like Sophia's.
I slowed, squinting into the dark. The alley was tight and dim, tall buildings trapping what little light came from the lone streetlamp. As I stepped closer, I realized it really was Sophia.
Then I noticed Ind beside her… and three men in front of them with their backs turned to me.
Ind's face twisted with rage. He lunged at one of the men but the other two grabbed him, pinning his arms. He struggled, desperate to break free.
The third man stepped toward Sophia, raising a knife.
The moment the metal glinted under the streetlamp, something inside me snapped. I sprinted toward him, ignoring how my legs burned, how my vision blurred. I reached him and punched him hard enough to send him crashing to the ground.
I turned to help Ind. I kicked one of the men between the legs and he collapsed, gasping. I was fighting all of them, too outnumbered to think, too frantic to care. And because of that, I didn't notice the fourth man hiding deeper in the shadows.
He struck me from behind with something heavy, something like a metal rod. Pain exploded through my skull. I fell instantly. Maybe I fainted.
When I regained my senses, I was on the ground. One of the attackers, running away, tripped right over me. As he stumbled, I caught a glimpse of his badge. A polis officer.
I reached for him, tried to grab his collar, but he shoved me hard and fled. The other three were already disappearing down the alley's entrance.
I started to chase them, but then… I froze.
Someone had called me. Or maybe I only felt it. But something pulled me back.
I turned instinctively, and a horrible realization clenched my chest. None of the men running away carried the knife they had earlier. And the silence behind me was absolute, a suffocating quiet that made my bones tremble.
I turned slowly, unwillingly, terrified of what I would see.
Nothing in my imagination could have prepared me for the scene waiting there.
When I saw it, I wished my eyes had gone blind before witnessing that scene. I wished it had been me sitting there instead of Sophia.
Right in front of me, the missing knife was buried in her throat. And the person holding it was Ind. As I stared, refusing to believe what I was seeing, Sophia's hand, which had been resting gently on his cheek, slipped down like a cut string.
"My heart was finally shattered—" He stopped speaking as sobs tore out of him. Isha quietly placed her hand on his head, and he fell silent, as if her touch pulled him back together.
A moment later he wiped the tears from his cheeks and continued, "I cried so much while sitting beside her. I don't even remember when I fell asleep on her shoulder. And when I woke up… there were polis officers everywhere, people crowding around us. But in that entire crowd, Ind was gone.
"After that… I don't remember everything. My memories from that time are broken pieces. I remember sleeping in the middle of busy roads. I remember punching anyone, including polis officers, if they looked even slightly like those four from that night.
Then I got arrested. And the attorney, the one who was with the old man in the car, bailed me out. He brought me here and told me to take over this realm, to fulfill the old man's dying wish."
"I was like a lost kite drifting in the wind, and the old man's wish… it became the wind that kept me from falling and tearing apart. Managing this society, doing what he asked, trying to keep it safe from the board members, it was difficult. But it kept me busy. And when I wasn't busy with that, the pretty women here kept me busy enough.
And when there was nothing else to distract me… I would sit in front of the main doors, hoping Sophia might walk in one day, the same way she walked in when she was in high school. I used to fall asleep there waiting for her. Eventually it became the only place in the whole world where I could sleep even a little."
He stopped and let his body relax into the bed. After shifting to get comfortable, he said softly, "That is my tale so far. And it is yet to be seen whether the kite will rip apart or keep flying forever."
Isha looked sad for a moment. Then she leaned over, kissed his forehead, and asked, "Did your sister do it like this?"
He chuckled. "No. Hers had enough love to fill the world."
She looked briefly displeased but then smiled with him.
After a few moments, she checked the time, five past four, and hurried off the bed to get dressed. "It was longer than I expected," she said while pulling on her clothes.
"It wasn't just the tale of one," he replied. "It was the tale of three."
She paused, taken aback. Then she reached into her bag and pulled out something that looked like a crystal chess piece, a rook. Bending over him, she looked straight into his eyes and asked, "Do you have a wish that can only be granted by the one who created everything?"
He blinked slowly, as if answering yes without words.
Immediately, she placed the rook in his hand. "Keep this close to you. You will get a chance to wish."
As he stared at the mysterious piece, which glowed softly the moment he touched it, Isha left the room with a warm smile, mumbling, "Sleep well, for at least once."
He didn't hear her. He only yawned, still staring at the chess piece. A moment later he placed it beside his pillow and murmured, "It has been a long day."
He closed his eyes, and in an instant, he slipped into a deep, loud sleep.
End of Piece