Borders of Fiction

Chapter 7: Unnecessary Interlude: Trailing the Extraordinary

As the gust of wind cut through the stillness of the night, Claude's ears pricked up, attuned to the sudden disturbance.

"What on earth are you up to?" raked Claude's ears. As he gingerly removed his earpiece, his brows furrowed in confusion as he strained his eyes to discern the figure advancing towards him. The stranger's footsteps echoed through the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, adding to Claude's unease, yet he kept still. The dim light from the moon and the glittering metropolis, along with the bright glow from the rooftops of the other buildings, barely lit their features enough to recognize them.

"What are you doing here, Mr. Claude? Are you doing some illegal stuff or... doing your main character moment?" Claude's gaze shifted rapidly as he considered his reply, keenly conscious of the gravity of the moment. Despite the frigid gusts and the unanticipated nature of the situation, he managed to maintain a composed demeanor, all the while his mind raced as he sought a means of extricating himself from this perplexing confrontation.

"Maybe you are the one who's doing illegal stuff, wandering around, meddling with someone's business." Claude took a calculated breath before continuing. "Mr. Sarion Bosch Sawyer," the man greeted him with a smile that concealed his dark, intense pupils, which were soaking up all the light that entered them. He couldn't help but feel a twinge of unease, yet he was quite familiar with that inscrutable Cheshire cat grin.

"I find this event just interesting. The new Metro Fest will begin in a few moments. It's interesting to see folks come in from above." He strolled towards Claude, looking down at the sea of red carpet on the ground as press agencies flocked to its sides.

"Claude, have you heard this lore going around?" He ignored it yet his ears still kept hearing them. Something he can't just avoid. He forgot his earpiece to shut the sounds out.

"There's an arrogant man who has been looked upon by other people. He was nothing, a mere blank state, he had nothing about himself and nothing to present himself as. He progressed like others but when the time he had to know it he never missed anything when he had shot in whatever they did yet when he aims to miss it he does. Was it a sign of perfection? Or just him blending in the normalcy? Or Was it because of people's suggestive things they desire to see to him? He doesn't know. Other people took it as an achievement but he abhors it. That made the god who gifted this slate find it annoying that he was turned into a crocodile and opted to collect all items he could find as the epitome of beauty. He once thought that eating up. Laces and ribbons were just two of the things he found that satisfied the god. Then he met this girl who the man likes and he kept dragging those ribbons just to get her attention. The woman hated it. The man then pleaded to the god who punished him to bring himself back to being a human. He thought if he was punished for not acknowledging himself, not loving himself the god who punished him might be the god of love. He pleaded for days but until the god got tired and accepted it. Making him back to being a human and eventually getting the girl. But that god he talked to and the one who punished him isn't the god of love as he thought, it's the god of vanity." Sarion exhaled heavily. "On the wedding day, the god of vanity gave him a present still. Upon stepping at the altar he told him to open his gift. The man began unbuttoning his shirt. The girl even tried to joke about it but as soon as he pleaded to help him she started helplessly pulling his clothes but only was stopped by a flash of colorful light coming from his stomach as the color of laces shot out bursting the from him striking the girl together. Upon people looking at that, they thought, that those might be a gift from their god as the woman was running for the position of his dad in his government. And her dad ran all the sides of the government including things that are sensitive to talk about. As soon as it shot out, there was a flash flood that wiped off, and then something shot out."