2023-05-29 15:41:06"Mr. Andrew, I apologize, but we will soon arrive at Mr. William's residence."
The voice of the black-suited man who picked them up woke Andrew and Erica. They had fallen asleep after traveling for nearly an hour and a half.
"Where are we going, Andrew?" Erica asked.
"Shh, just be quiet. I don't know either, but one thing's for sure, you don't need to worry because I will always protect you."
Andrew chose to remain silent and not ask many questions to the black-suited man who was taking him. One thing he knew was that they were clearly far from the city center. In fact, they were surrounded by dense forests, and the quiet roads led Andrew to speculate that they were heading eastward.
"Look at that!" Erica nudged Andrew and pointed to the window beside her.
A magnificent mansion with towering black gates appeared among the trees. Andrew was quite amazed by the sight. Their car followed the road leading to the mansion.
Shortly after, the car came to a complete stop in front of the gate they had seen earlier. Andrew's heart raced, and a thousand questions popped into his mind.
"What do they want from me? Is there something that has made them angry? Whatever it is, I hope the power left by Grandma can help me."
The black-suited man got out of the car, but not long after, he reentered and the car continued to move.
The road leading to this house was previously just ordinary dirt, as it was located within the outskirts of the forest. However, when the gate opened, a smooth asphalt stretched all the way to the front of the classical-style mansion.
"We have arrived, Mr. Andrew, let's get out."
The black-suited man then stepped out and opened the door for Erica and Andrew. The siblings were in awe as their eyes perfectly captured the entire house in front of them.
"Come, Mr. Andrew, Mr. William is waiting inside."
They followed the steps of the black-suited man, walking through the undoubtedly more luxurious and classy interior of the house.
No words could express the grandeur of this white-colored building. Erica could only gape while occasionally swallowing her saliva.
"Miss Erica, as this meeting will be very private, you may wait in the living room. Rudolf will escort you."
The black-suited man pointed to a middle-aged man who appeared to bow his head to Erica.
Andrew nodded as a signal for Erica to quickly follow the middle-aged man named Rudolf. The two siblings parted ways, with Erica heading towards the corridor on the left side, while Andrew entered the elevator located not far from the grand staircase.
The elevator stopped on the third floor. When the elevator doors opened, they were immediately faced with a room with a door made of black wood carved with a tiger's face. The black-suited man opened the door and gestured for Andrew to enter.
"Please, Mr. Andrew."
The door closed as soon as Andrew was inside the room. The room appeared empty, with only abstract paintings hanging on the walls, and a luxurious carpet stretching towards a dimly lit small corridor.
"It seems I should go down that corridor," Andrew murmured.
He gathered his courage and took a step forward. Upon reaching the small corridor, Andrew heard the voice of a man pleading for forgiveness.
Andrew followed the source of the voice, which led him to a room on the right side of the corridor. As he peeked in, he saw Mr. William, who was none other than the old man, raising his head towards Andrew and gesturing for him to enter.
Andrew felt a sense of panic as the crying man appeared to be bowing before William.
"This is not good. Am I going to end up like him?" Andrew muttered.
His hesitation forced Andrew to cup his hands and intended to wait outside. However, William slammed the table and said, "Andrew, wait here!"
Andrew was startled by the echoing voice of William throughout the room. He reluctantly approached the chair pointed out by William.
"You, leave now. My time to hear your reasons has run out. Don't let yourself crumble in front of others, that's something you wouldn't want, right?" William said to the crying man.
Andrew swallowed his saliva. William truly appeared firm and terrifying, far from being a pitiful old man. The crying man prostrated himself before William. William, who stood beside Andrew, patted his shoulder with a wide smile.
"Thank you, Mr. William, for forgiving me."
The man repeatedly kissed William's feet. However, what happened next was unexpected. William kicked the man, causing blood to trickle from his nose.
"Who said I forgave you? I said, get out!"
The man finally ran away in a hurry. William took a deep breath while looking at Andrew. "That's life, Andrew. Don't mind him, he's just a foolish man who broke the rules. By the way, how was your journey here? Enjoyable?"
"To be honest, my sister and I fell asleep. Your car was comfortable enough to make us sleepy."
"Ah, you came with your sister? I would like to meet her after this," William said kindly.
"Yeah, she's on the first floor. By the way, Sir, how can I assist you? Surely you called me here for a reason, right?"
William smiled and sat on the table in front of Andrew. He nodded his head and said, "Of course, I didn't bring you to my mansion just for small talk. I want you to help me, I want you to heal me, Andrew."
"Heal you?" Andrew expressed skepticism about William's request, considering that he had just kicked someone, indicating that he was perfectly healthy. No sick person could kick that hard.
"Yes, like you did when I suddenly collapsed yesterday. I'm dying, Andrew. I want you to save my life. I may look very well and seemingly healthy, but that's not true. I can't hold on much longer, my time is running out..."
Andrew furrowed his brow, looking puzzled. Although he understood that he could do something with his powers, William's request made him worried about his abilities being discovered by William.
"Well, I'm still quite confused. But why do you have to ask for help from me? Don't people like you have personal doctors who have advanced tools to cure any illness?"
William stood up and changed his position to the chair behind the desk. He put his feet up on the table and lit a cigar. He seemed to savor the smoke as he inhaled and then said, "If a doctor could heal me, I wouldn't be lying on the street and being helped by an ordinary young man like you, Andrew. You know what I mean..."
Andrew smiled knowingly. The choice of words by William intrigued him, and he was interested in following what William wanted now.
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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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excellent story telling