"You think you can break free from the chain you made? NEVER! You will never be free. I won't let you, I won't let you!" Ugo said, his face set as if a beast had finally captured its long-sought prey, both hands gripping the blind man's neck.
"I'm sorry... Forgive me," the blind man replied, his breath laboring due to the lack of air inside his lungs caused by the man above him.
"You're so unfair, Pue. Why did you abandon me... I thought you'd died, I thought... ANSWER ME!"
Pue flinches at Ugo's rage and shuddering tone of voice, his brain racing with ideas of what to say, but what should he say?
"I..."
A man who was born with everything, including talents, wisdom, and unfathomable privilege, is not worth it for someone who only has dignity, a disgraced body, sins, and dreams to have you selfishly by his side...
"It hurts... I don't know why you're doing this to me," Ugo said, his hands gradually weakening as he let his tears fall shamelessly from his eyes.
"There are some things that are meant to be buried until death; it was a blessing to be a part of your life, your majesty, but this blind man could no longer serve you," Pue said, smiling.
Then, as quickly as lightning, he took the dagger he'd been carrying in his back and slit his throat deeply as if he'd planned it from the beginning and was fully prepared.
Ugo's face immediately turned pale, his expression filled with horror and disbelief.
His brain temporarily stopped working due to the shock of what his best friend had done to himself. It took half an incense stick for him to return to himself and notice his best friend turning whiter than before.
Ugo immediately uses his shivering hands to staunch the flow of blood from Pue's injured neck.
"Pue... I can still save you, Pue, I won't let you abandon me like this... I won't let you! I order you to stay alive!"
"It's not your fault, your Majesty; this is my last wish; please let me rest,"
"I can't, I can't... Pue? Pue! No, NO!"
Gasp!
A startled shivering breath rang inside the dark but comfortable room of a 22-year-old adult man with black long hair, white pale skin, a face and height that resembled the peerless immortal cultivator, almost ethereally perfect if not for the burn birthmark that was shown on his left cheeks.
The unnamed man forced himself to sit up in his bed, his body drenched in sweat and fatigued all over, his face appearing to have not yet recovered from his dream, his heart still thumping from shock and fear...
His dream was so real to him that he felt he was one of the men who committed suicide.
"That dream again..." He uttered to himself, his voice dry and tired, he'd been dreaming the same dream since he was eighteen years old, till now, and every night, he awoke from the dream full of sweat, no strength all over his body, and tears in his eyes.
He didn't know why, how, or who caused him to have such a dream.
But he was certain that he wanted to know why, every time he awoke, he forgot the two-man face that was present inside the dream, as well as their names, but the lingering feeling that the dream gave him remained.
It enraged and irritated him to the point where he sought the advice of a psychologist and spent nearly half of his savings on medicine, but there has been no improvement as of yet.
Strolling over through the kitchen, the man came to a halt in front of the refrigerator and took the cold water battled inside, drinking some to calm the still tense nerve within him.
Gulping down all of his feelings at the time, the man closes his eyes and exercises his breathing to get his heart rate back to normal. He eventually relaxed after a while.
Now staring at the empty hall, the man's eyes were drawn to something intriguing, which caused his mood to soften and become completely calm.
He walked over to the kitchen table and noticed family photos. Remembering something, he smiled, took the photos from the table, and caressed the frame with his right thumb.
"March 21, I almost forgot again," he said, his mind completely forgetting what had just happened and what he had just experienced as he reminded himself of his parent's death anniversary and his upcoming 23rd birthday.
The unnamed man scoff out a mocking breath, but it was genuinely his usual expression whenever he almost forgot something, especially when he remembered something painful, such as what happened on his tenth birthday.
A 15.5 magnitude earthquake shook their entire city, causing the building floor where he and his parents lived to crumble, leaving him without parents at a young age, forcing him to spend 18 years of his life in an orphanage home and learning to be a well-adjusted adult in this mysterious world.
The man's eyes glistened, almost in tears, but he was just a little disappointed and sad because he had almost forgotten his parent's death anniversary and his birthday.
Putting the family photo back on the table, the man drinks cold water from the water bottle once again as an unintentional thought passes through him, making his face serious and frowning in uneasiness.
He placed the water bottle on the table, returned to his room, and took the black suit he'd just worn earlier that he'd placed onto the couch inside his room, searching for something inside the pocket.
Until his hand picked up something resembling a card, which the man took out and intently read what was written inside his mind.
Zefu store... A store? What kind of store?
Earlier, while he was taking a break on a bench next to a tree, smoking a cigarette outside the company for which he was working as an assistant, a strange and mysterious-looking old woman wearing a loose black dress suddenly went over to sit beside him and tell him.
"Youngman, I can help you..." She then took something from his white black yarn bag, which had a medium size dream catcher design in white and black.
Is this woman some kind of so-called witch?
The man finds it funny; he admits he didn't believe in such things, but what does this woman mean when she says she can help me?
The man became intrigued and unconsciously took the card that the woman had handed him.
He didn't mean to accept it, but his body was strangely moving on its own at the time.
Following that, the old woman asks him his name; he was about to respond, but the old woman beat him to it, and that's when he realized something was wrong; his body began to feel cold all over.
Then, as if the old lady sensed his fear of her, she abruptly said.
"Don't worry, Pue; this old lady has come to help, not to harm; take care now, and don't hesitate to come by; I'll be waiting,"
She then stood up and walked away, leaving Pue terrified and shaken.
He didn't know what had just happened, but after meeting that woman earlier, his body, which had been fatigued from lack of sleep for five years, suddenly became light and he felt very relaxed inside, leaving him feeling creep all over.
"Perhaps she can truly help me," Pue muttered, clutching the color white and black medium size card tightly in his hand, planning to visit the location where the old woman lived after visiting his parent's grave tomorrow.
To be continued.