'If you don't understand something…like the value of this rock cliff, if this rock cliff oppresses you, then try to climb up and see the rock cliff from an even higher perspective. There is no need to think this is the end. If you don't find your answer here, then scale this roof and earn your chance for a higher perspective. There is no need to be stuck here.
'There is a crack on your right that you can use to come up.'
Nate dropped a rope and a harness to Aniket and directed his path on the tough cliff wall. Aniket easily came up after a few minutes.
As he was panting on the surface like a drowned dog, Nate shook his head. He removed Aniket's equipment for him and mildly scolded, 'Why make things difficult for yourself Nikki? It's just one cliff.
'I know you don't like killing people. But you haven't seen the view from the top. Why be so foolhardy and risk your life over a small cliff? Why not just wear the rope?'
'Teach, is there a view on top of a pile of bodies?'
Nate heard that very masculine, but petulant voice. He sat next to Aniket and rubbed his shaggy head with a strong hand. It made all his sweat fly in every direction.
'Nikki, who are we?' he said, with an elbow draped on Aniket's neck.
'Timekeepers.'
'War orphans. Son, war has deprived us of the pod we are born in. We can hide and ignore the chaos we are born in, but any peace we build in life will be incomplete. It's a lie.
'Nikki, if you believe in me, try climbing that pile of bodies and see. The way the sun sees the cliff is not the same as you. It is a very safe, effortless and peaceful place for him. A place to rest his rays when the morning comes. Nothing like the dangerous, exhausting and unforgiving place it had been for you.'
Aniket was silent. Nate drank from a bottle of water and poured some over his head.
'I don't…understand…Nate.'
'Call me father.'
'Eh?'
'Call me dad.'
'Don't be ridiculous.'
'Niti told me what you said to her.'
'Mind your own business.'
'Sometimes stepdads and stepmoms are often very young. Why the hesitation?'
'Just the fact that your wife is my squeeze.'
Nate burst out laughing. He slapped Aniket on the side of his head. This brat always had the worst language and the worst set of ethics.
'Since when have you ever squeezed anything of your mom?'
'My mom he says…'
'You dad's wife is naturally your mom.'
'Whatever, Nate.'
Nate squeezed Aniket's neck tight and planted a large kiss on the side of his head. And then he gave him a long hug. Aniket didn't resist him, but he was very passive and limp in Nate's embrace.
'Nikki, you almost committed suicide. This isn't something we can gloss over.'
'It's not a big deal. I was–'
'Intoxicated. I understand. You haven't been doing missions for three years. You're stuck because of your guilt. But Nikki, who told you to do those missions?'
'...You?'
'Not me.'
'Level 5?'
'Wrong again.'
Aniket straightened up and looked at Nate in the blazing sun. 'Who then?'
Nate put a strong hand on Aniket's shoulder and looked him in the eye. 'Your father did.'
Aniket closed his eyes and opened them again. 'Nate…you…'
Nate slapped Aniket's cheek and held him very tight this time. He couldn't even wiggle.
'From the beginning…from the beginning you have always been my son. I have loved you so much…more than my own self. Why would I make you do anything wrong? You're the apple of my eye Nikki…You are…My heir!'
There was a silence in the forest as the birds and bees settled down for a while before dusk arrived. Then there will be a lot of social meetings, love confessions and so on.
Only two men on top of the cliff braved the hot afternoon sun.
Nate clapped Aniket's shoulder and stood up. Tall and white with blazing auburn hair, he was just as free and firm as the sun.
'Killing a few people makes you a demon? What of the people who raided our homes and took our moms? What of the people who shot the innocent villagers and kidnapped the children? Made them into militants at barely eight or nine years old? What of the politicians who ignored an entire land in famine, stole their food supplies and gave them to the army, let them all starve to death? What of the warlords who staked the hot, empty roads, stole from the refugees and threw their corpses in the desert?
'Nikki…these people, the villagers, the famine victims, the refugees…The raped women and the dismembered men, these are not some news reports. These are our parents! This is our root. Our origin. Our base. Our foundation.
'And that foundation had been shattered Nikki. Before we even started our lives.
'Nikki, if you really are a demon, I demand you know which kind of demon you are! Which one are you? The type to rape women and pillage villages, the type to starve a province to death, the type to steal from refugees…Oh, I don't mean there aren't other kinds of demons in the world…
'There is a demon that is too good at its job. A rifle, a gun, a knife, a rope, the demon can kill with anything. I heard he once stuffed a sock into a target's throat and choked him to death.
'They call him the Sleeping Demon. He always appears to be sleepy on the job. Turns out he was just hiding his dilated pupils. Oh he's definitely very high, but his trigger finger never misses the moment. His efficiency is always beyond target. He is additionally very good at analysing strategy. He has his own mysterious sources of information.
'Even with such damning substance abuse, he had only ever outperformed every mission he had ever been in. This is why people call him a demon. They are scared to think what massacre he will cause if he is sober and in full control of his faculties.'
Aniket's gaze was on the green and vibrant forest. Nate's hand rested on his head and pet him lightly.
'What a pity though. The demon also thinks the same way. That's why he's a demon.'
'Why?' Aniket looked up at Nate, sitting loosely with his hands on his knees.
Nate pat his head for Aniket to go back to watching his view.
'Because it is stupid.'
Nate said in low and strong voice, 'Because clearly, I'm the one doing the massacre.'
Seeing Aniket looking at him from sitting position, he looked just like the boy who was always in awe of 'big brother'. He had grown. His shoulders are wide, legs are long, jaws are sharp, eyebrows are serious. But his eyes were just as clear. Pure as a spring and effulgent like the moon's reflection.
Nate pat him and said with seriousness and curiosity, 'Since you were ready to kill yourself over this, Nikki, why didn't you ever ask who made you do this?