Chapter 36: (Extra chapter) IV

“Father! Father!” the kid got closer to her old father, who was calmly relaxing on a simple dark wooden chair while smoking his pipe and watching a random channel on tv. That was a really outdated piece of tech and only a few channels were still airing on its frequency.

He looked away from the TV and what was a sad look in his eyes, quickly became of pure happiness at the sight of his daughter. Her clothes were ruined and badly sewn back by herself. The father learned how to do it just to teach it to her since clothing was becoming impossible to find at the time.

The man didn’t know how many years both of them had. He only knew that the time for her daughter to be alone was coming closer. Was it a matter of years? Months? Days? He didn’t know and didn’t care. He just wanted to pass as much time as he could with her daughter.

“What is it, sweetie?” he asked.

“Can you read me my favourite book?” the daughter asked in joy.

“Mh…” he massaged his long grey beard while checking the clock on the wall, it was almost 11 p.m. It was something he found in the garbage bin, which was in front of a rich family’s house; the clock itself was still working but the glass covering it was broken. Who in their right mind would throw something that still works?

“I’ll do it if you go to tuck yourself in bed” the father said at the end while extending his hand towards the kid. “Deal?”

She immediately gave him a high five while saying “Deal!” and quickly went to her bedroom.

Meanwhile, the father gave a last smoke to his pipe and put it on the coffee table in front of him; another thing he found near the garbage. It was made of wood and was missing a leg, but he was able to retrieve a piece of wood and glue it to the table. The entire apartment was like that, a collection of things found in the garbage and restored to be somewhat functional. He enjoyed giving new life to those objects and considering how the economy was crashing, it was the only solution for them.

He slowly got up from the chair and walked towards a shelf with only 3 books on it, all ruined but still legible. He took the one completely light blue, the title was just on the spine and it was “The Sky”: Nothing else.

The man went to her daughter’s bedroom, which wasn’t decorated at all as there was just a bed, a chair and a desk with a lot of books on it. Even if the man couldn’t go to school as a child, he didn’t want her daughter to have a similar faith. There was just a wallpaper with animals on it but it was well glued as it was detaching from the wall, revealing the bricks it was made of.

The girl was patently waiting while tucking under her wool blanket. The father got closer and sat on the bed.

“Are you ready?” he asked and the daughter nodded joyfully. The father smiled while opening the book and started reading.

———

It was about a rich boy who wanted to see the world in its entirety and since he could afford it, he asked his parents to go somewhere every time he had an occasion. But once every place has been visited, there wasn’t anything else to see. Or at least that’s what his parents wanted him to believe. One night he looked up at the sky and saw the many brilliant stars illuminating that darkness and, with the moon, gazing upon the world population. The continent they lived in was greatly advanced technologically speaking, now capable of going down into the depths of the ocean(something he was able to see) and up beyond the sky, that’s when the guy had a realization. He never saw that. Thanks to school, he knew what was beyond the clouds, but what if there was an end to it? That was such a weird question that popped out of his mind and stuck in it. He was determined to find it. He asked his parents but they liquidated him by saying he was too big to think of these stupid things and started being preoccupied he should be studying more; that was the first time he was being denied something. In the next few days, he insisted so much that his parents closed him in his room for the entire day and without any food, all of this as a punishment.

Punishment.

Another thing he didn’t think could exist and it was already enough for him; if his parents didn’t want to please him then he had one thing left to do. The next night, instead of sleeping, he sneaked into his parent's bedroom to steal their money, then took a map of the Continent from the father’s studio, packed everything in a backpack with some food and escaped. From this very moment, his journey started. A journey where he would discover how harsh the world is, where money doesn’t always buy everything and made him understand how naive he was.

During those months, he would revisit many places he would have never thought to return to, enjoying even the slightest new thing while also encountering new people, with one of them becoming his first and only companion.

He was always wearing a yellow coat and hat, which was able to hide his face perfectly while also creating an aura of mystery around him. The guy decided to trust him from the start, only because the man knew how to reach his destination and he desperately needed a guide.

As the journey went on, the man would ask the guy the same questions every now and then.

“Do you feel different?”

“What did you learn so far?”

“Are you sure you want to go ahead?”

The guy wasn’t bothered by them since they weren’t so frequent, but it felt like he was being tested or something like that.

The journey continued and on the date (unreadable) they arrived at a village situated at the base of Mount Xadeka, the highest in the Continent, with its top being the guy’s destination and also the point where the man had to go somewhere else and when asked if they were going to meet again, he answered

“We’ll meet the day before the end.” and then went away.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

The guy was puzzled at first but decided to not think about it and start going up the mountain; it had a precise path to follow but it was so long that it could take up to 3 days, while the kid had food and water for four days, so it wouldn’t have been too bad…

Once on the top, he fell on the ground. It took him almost nine days to reach the summit, it was like the mountain was growing the more the kid was going up, which left him thirsty, hungry and tired, even tho he fell asleep in the middle of the walk multiple times.

After a minute he found the strength to turn around and see how high he was, thinking he would have been able to see part of the continent, but all he could see were clouds. An endless sea of pure white clouds. That sight left him speechless and before his mind could even process that scene, his body was being wrapped by a warm light coming from behind and as he turned around, he started hearing a voice. The Gods were talking to him and what they were saying left him in tears…but no one knows what their words were. No one from the village saw him coming down from the mountain, but legends say, he took an alternative and dangerous route which lead him to death.

———

The old man slowly closed the book and looked at her daughter.

“You really love this book eh?”

The daughter nodded happily.

“And why is that?” the man asked curiously.

The kid looked at the ceiling while thinking.

“Because I want to find that end of the sky too!”

“Oh?” the father said, impèressed by her determination. “Are you that curious to know what the guy’s meeting with the Gods was like?”

The young girl nodded again.

“Even after knowing what happened to him?”

The young girl knew already about the concept of death. Like many other things in that apartment, she was also found between garbage bins years before. If it wasn’t for that old man, she would have died because of the many cuts on her body.

“Yes. I’m sure…he wasn’t actually dead.”

The father furrowed his eyebrows “And why d you think that?”

She shook her head “Just a random thought!”

The man’s face relaxed and patted the girl’s head “You shouldn’t be thinking of this story that much since it’s just one of the many legends without fundaments.”

“But Gods exist no? That means there is a chance that actually happened.”

The daughter’s statement caught him by surprise and it could be seen by his eyes, which widened for a brief moment. He caressed the girl’s hair with force and messed them up.

“You surely are too smart for a 13-year-old girl, don’t you think?”

The girl simply smiled brightly at that compliment and the man smiled back. From the moment he found her, he immediately understood that she would have been a great and intelligent woman in the future and he didn’t want to see that wonderful life to be wasted just like garbage.

As the girl started yawning, the man got up from the bed and tucked her more under the blanket, while doing that she quickly fell asleep.

“Sleep well.”

The man then went to the bedroom, which was even less furnished, with only the bed there. He sat on it and looked at the wall, thinking deeply while the smile he had, was slowly fading away.

“Before the end…so you meant this…”

He looked to his right. Someone wearing a yellow coat and hat, which was covering his entire face, was standing near him while pointing at his forehead with a revolver. He didn’t speak.

“So you were just their puppet right?”

Still no answer.

The man sighed and turned his head away, with the weapon pointing at his temple

“Will she be able to hear this?”

There were some seconds of silence before the intruder answered

“No.”

The man smiled sadly “Will she be fine?”

“She’ll be in good hands.”

The old man kept his back straight and looked at the wall “Was I useful?”

“...You’ll know soon.” the intruder answered, with no emotions in his tone.

The old man kept his smile and didn’t say anything else. Just the fact he knew the young girl would have been fine was enough.

The intruder pulled back the hammer* of the revolver and asked

“Do you feel different?”

The old man simply said “Yes.”

“What did you learn so far?”

“Too many things to list off…but the first things it comes to my mind are, giving love to others and being grateful for the love you receive.”

After some seconds the intruder asked the last question.

“Do you want to go ahead?”

The old man kept his smile and as a tear flowed down his right cheek, he answered “Yes.”

———

Translated piece of news from The Truth (dated 15th Zanger 607)

After over 50 years of disappearances, Thokozani Volnia, born in Caldarna to the famous Volnia family, was found dead in an apartment in the 7th District. His corpse was found by a neighbour who heard a gunshot coming from his apartment and decided to check if everything was alright; she found the body laying peacefully in the bed with a revolver right beside him and the guards concluded it was suicide.

Proofs were found that he was living with someone else, possibly taking care of a kid judging by the books found in the other bedroom and probably escaped after hearing the gunshot. The research will continue and we’ll keep you updated on any updates.

———

The young girl was standing there, looking at his father’s tomb. She wasn’t crying. She knew that it would have been useless and what that old man wanted was to see her happy. Someone from behind put a hand on her shoulder and she looked up to her right, it was him. The man with a yellow coat and hat from the book and there was something weird about him…it was like she already knew she couldn’t escape from him for some reason.

“Do you know what happened to my father?”

“I killed him.” he promptly said.

The girl’s emotions became a mix of anger and terror. The man that killed her father was near her and trying to revenge on him would have been pointless, especially because of the difference in size between them.

“Why…?” she looked at the killer with wide and incredulous eyes.

“He knew too much.” he kneeled in front of her “You’ll have to come with me, so forget him.”

The girl quickly shook her head.

“Why?” the yellow man said with a surprised tone.

“Because my father said that people will never truly die if you don’t forget them.”

The yellow man remained in silence for a second

“I see.” he got up.” I can’t stop you from that but you have to know that remembering won’t be any good for what you’ll have to do.”

“Do I have to do something?” the girl asked, a bit worried since those words were coming from a killer.

The yellow man nodded “But not for me.”

“And for who?”

At that question, he raised a finger towards the sky “For the Gods…”

“...and for yourself.”