2023-05-29 15:38:53Andrew only furrowed his brow and gave a cynical look to the man. His right hand continued pressing the old man's jaw, while his other hand now rubbed the chest.
The seemingly absurd action then brought about a miracle. The old man's eyes suddenly opened, and he began breathing rapidly.
"Hey, he did it! He saved the old man!"
Applause filled the air, directed at Andrew. Everyone seemed amazed by the miracle that had occurred for the old man. Andrew extended his hand before the old man and said, "Come on, Sir, let me help you stand, and we can find shelter over there."
The old man smiled and nodded. His frail hand reached out to grasp Andrew's hand. Andrew supported his body towards the bench where he had previously placed his belongings.
"Ah, please have a seat. How do you feel now, Sir?"
The old man looked at Andrew with teary eyes and said, "Thank you for saving me. I believe that if you weren't here, I might have met my ancestors in heck."
"Don't mention it. I just happened to be around, and when I saw you lying weak, I did my best to save you."
"My body feels much better now, I haven't felt this refreshed in a long time. You're amazing, young man."
The sound of a car horn then echoed. A luxurious car was parked by the side of the road in front of Andrew and the old man sitting on the bench.
"Ah, my car has arrived. By the way, what's your name?" the old man asked.
"Andrew, Sir."
"Okay, Andrew. I want you to accept this gift." The old man pulled out a check from his jacket and handed it to Andrew.
The amount of $500,000 was written on the white piece of paper, astonishing Andrew beyond belief.
"Is he crazy? This is not a small amount of money!" Andrew murmured to himself.
"Take it. Perhaps this amount is not equivalent to what you have done to save my life. "
Andrew shook his head and said, "Thank you, Sir, but that’s not necessary."
"You're kind, Andrew. Are you really can’t to accept this?"
Andrew picked up the box containing his belongings and stood up. "No, Sir. Perhaps you can keep it or give it to someone else who needs it more than I do. "
The old man's eyes filled with tears as he watched Andrew walk away. A suited man stepped out of the car and approached the old man.
The old man's expression, which had been weak and pleading, suddenly changed completely after Andrew left.
His gaze turned sharp, and his body and face tightened. He smiled and said to his guard, "I want you to find out all information of that man. "
His guard nodded. Afterward, he got back into the car and drove off quickly, passing by Andrew who was still walking on the sidewalk.
**
"Ah, it has been such a long and exhausting day."
Andrew flopped onto his bed as soon as he arrived home. His mind was still preoccupied with the check given by the old man earlier.
"Damn, if only I had the courage to accept it, I might be out of town on vacation by now."
Andrew's phone vibrated, indicating a low battery. The wallpaper displayed a cozy picture of himself and Nadine.
"I never expected her to leave too. So many things happened today."
Andrew reached for his neck, although the necklace was no longer visible, he could still feel something encircling his neck.
"Let me find out what it is first."
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4-49
The world reassembled without courtesy, snapping into place like bones set without anesthesia.Andrew hit solid ground hard, air tearing from his lungs as gravity reclaimed him with obvious irritation.He rolled instinctively, shoulders screaming as muscle memory compensated for power that no longer answered.Dust and ash coated his tongue, bitter and metallic, grounding him in harsh reality.When his vision cleared, he recognized the skyline immediately.They were back near the coastal ruins where the city had first fractured weeks ago.The sky here was wrong.Clouds hung unnaturally low, stretched thin like torn fabric, light bleeding through uneven seams.Every shadow felt sharper, more deliberate, as if cast by intention rather than physics.Andrew pushed himself upright slowly, careful not to provoke whatever invisible tolerance the world still extended.A faint warmth pulsed beneath his sternum, unfamiliar yet persistent.Not the Sapphire.Something else had taken root in its ab
4-48
Andrew woke to silence that felt artificially enforced rather than naturally earned.It pressed against his senses with an unnerving precision, like a system holding its breath.He lay unmoving for several long seconds, afraid that movement itself might trigger retaliation.The Sapphire beneath his sternum was inert, colder than it had ever been before.No pulse answered his cautious focus.No resonance acknowledged his existence.Panic threatened to rise, sharp and feral, but Andrew strangled it before it reached his throat.He had survived worse than emptiness.When he finally pushed himself onto an elbow, pain answered immediately and enthusiastically.Every joint protested as if resentful of being asked to function again.The chamber was gone.In its place stretched a vast plain of cracked obsidian, extending endlessly beneath a sky drained of color.No horizon was visible, only gradients of gray folding into one another.Andrew’s breath fogged faintly in the air, though there was
4-47
The throne did not activate immediately, and that delay unsettled Andrew more than sudden violence ever could.Silence pooled inside the chamber, thick and deliberate, pressing against his ears like an accusation waiting to be spoken.Noir straightened slowly, his movements stiff as if invisible restraints tugged at his joints.The cracks along his arms glowed brighter, leaking shadowed light that flickered with unstable rhythm.“You feel it,” Andrew said, forcing his voice steady despite the tremor in his legs.“This place isn’t choosing yet. It’s waiting.”Noir exhaled sharply, eyes never leaving the empty throne at the chamber’s center.“It’s verifying compatibility,” he replied. “Seeing which of us breaks first.”The walls began to shift almost imperceptibly, reliefs of shattered suns rearranging themselves.Stone groaned as ancient mechanisms awakened, responding to proximity rather than command.Andrew took one step forward, and the chamber reacted instantly.A wave of pressure
4-46
Andrew did not fall so much as he was unstitched from where he belonged.Space peeled away in layers, each one tearing loose with a sensation like breath being stolen mid-inhale.There was no up or down, only momentum without direction and time without patience.His body tumbled through overlapping fragments of places that never fully existed.He saw cities mid-construction and mid-collapse simultaneously, buildings flickering between futures.He saw oceans frozen in vertical walls, waves paused like indecisive thoughts.Pain arrived late, dragging itself behind awareness like an afterthought.Every nerve screamed out of sequence, confused about what it was supposed to protect.Andrew tried to summon the Sapphire instinctively, reaching inward the way he always had before.The response came delayed, distorted, like an echo bouncing through unfamiliar caverns.Light bled through his veins unevenly, blue-white pulses stuttering instead of flowing.It felt less like power now and more li
4-45
The first thing Andrew noticed when consciousness fully returned was the sound of breathing that was not his own.It was slow, deliberate, and layered beneath the ambient hum of fractured reality, creating an unsettling counterpoint.He opened his eyes cautiously, every muscle tense with the expectation of resistance.The world did not recoil this time, but it did not welcome him either.Andrew lay inside what appeared to be a circular chamber carved directly into black stone.The walls were smooth yet alive with faint, moving sigils that pulsed in irregular intervals.Each symbol carried a resonance disturbingly familiar to his Sapphire.Not identical, but close enough to feel like a distorted reflection.He pushed himself into a sitting position, jaw tightening as a dull ache rippled through his spine.The pain was manageable, but the absence of feedback from the Sapphire was not.“Still alive,” a voice said calmly from somewhere behind him.Andrew turned sharply, instincts flaring
4-44
The moment Andrew opened his eyes, the world felt heavier than it ever had before.Not physically crushing, not painfully oppressive, but fundamentally resistant, as if reality itself hesitated to acknowledge his existence.The sky above the fractured city trembled faintly, its color unstable, shifting between shades that should not logically coexist.Clouds froze mid-drift for a fraction of a second before resuming their motion, creating an unsettling rhythm that made Andrew’s chest tighten.He tried to sit up, and pain answered him immediately.It was not the sharp agony of broken bones or torn muscle, but something deeper and colder, radiating from beneath his sternum.The Sapphire pulsed weakly inside him, its once steady resonance now irregular, like a heart struggling to remember its purpose.Andrew clenched his jaw and forced himself upright anyway.His breath came slower than usual, measured not by exhaustion but by uncertainty, as if his lungs were negotiating with time itsel
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Reader Comments
the necklace was there but maybe invisible how interesting
this was a miracle indeed when one door closes the other one opens
spicy and interesting ...