Safsan was walking home.
The mountain was already behind him.
The words Safuu had spoken were still somewhere in his mind.
The black snake.
The first step.
The darkness.
He was thinking about it when he noticed something in the distance.
People.
Several of them.
They were fighting.
They were far enough away that Safsan could only see their movements, but close enough that anyone passing through the area could notice something was wrong.
Safsan stopped.
Then he ran.
As fast as he could.
His footsteps struck the ground harder with every second.
He didn't know who they were.
He didn't know what had happened.
But something inside him told him to hurry.
He ran harder.
Then he arrived.
Too late.
Two bodies were lying on the ground.
Neither of them moved.
A third person was still alive.
Barely.
Safsan froze.
His eyes moved across the scene.
Then he heard it.
Breathing.
Heavy.
Uneven.
A sound caught somewhere between shock and excitement.
Someone was still standing.
Safsan slowly looked up.
It was Saad.
His chest was rising and falling.
His clothes were marked by the fight.
But his face...
His face was smiling.
Not the nervous smile Safsan had seen before.
Not the smile he used when pretending something was a joke.
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This one was different.
It was the smile of someone who had finally done something he had thought about for a long time.
And succeeded.
Saad looked at the bodies.
Then at Safsan.
He almost seemed proud.
Safsan's expression changed.
“Saad...”
Saad laughed quietly.
“You finally came.”
Safsan stared at him.
For a moment, neither of them moved.
Then Saad smiled wider.
“You know what's funny?”
He stepped forward.
“You were always the one person I couldn't control.”
Safsan said nothing.
“I tried.”
Saad's voice was calm.
“I tried to scare you.”
Another step.
“I tried to make you uncomfortable.”
Another.
“I even tried to make you look at me like everyone else does.”
He stopped.
“But you never did.”
Safsan's eyes remained fixed on him.
“You always looked at me like you could see exactly what I was.”
Saad's smile disappeared for a moment.
“That annoyed me.”
Then it returned.
“But now...”
He looked at the bodies behind him.
“I finally know what it feels like to be the one standing above someone.”
Safsan looked at him.
And something inside him broke.
Not because Saad was stronger.
Not because of the words.
But because there were two dead people lying on the ground.
And another person was dying.
Safsan's breathing changed.
His hands tightened.
Saad noticed.
For the first time, his confidence became genuine.
“You're angry.”
Safsan didn't answer.
Saad smiled.
“Good.”
He had waited for this.
The only person he could never influence.
The only person who never seemed afraid of him.
The only person who looked through the act.
Now that person was standing in front of him.
And Saad believed he had finally found the way to break him.
He was wrong.
Safsan moved.
The fight was over before Saad understood what had happened.
Saad attacked first.
Safsan avoided it.
One movement.
One counter.
Saad tried again.
Another mistake.
Safsan didn't fight like someone trying to prove he was stronger.
He fought like someone who had already decided the outcome.
Saad fell.
He tried to get back up.
Safsan stopped him.
Saad looked up.
His confidence was gone.
For the first time, there was fear in his eyes.
Safsan stared down at him.
The same calm expression he had always had.
The same expression Saad had hated.
Except now...
there was something else behind it.
“Don't ever mistake my silence for weakness.”
Saad said nothing.
Safsan turned away.
He had no interest in him anymore.
There was someone else who needed him.
The dying person.
Safsan immediately ran toward them.
He dropped to his knees.
“Stay with me.”
The person struggled to breathe.
Safsan looked around.
He needed help.
He needed someone.
And then he remembered.
Safuu.
She had seen what happened.
She should have been here.
Safsan looked toward the mountain.
Nothing.
No Safuu.
No fire.
No old woman.
Nothing.
“Where is she...?”
He looked back at the dying person.
He couldn't think about it now.
He couldn't leave them.
But another thought hit him.
The police.
He couldn't call them.
Not after what had happened.
Not after Saad.
Not after seeing the bodies.
He didn't know what would happen if the police arrived.
He felt trapped between doing something and knowing that anything he did could make everything worse.
Then—
something caught his eye.
Safsan looked up.
For only a moment...
he saw Safuu.
She was standing in the distance.
But she wasn't alone.
Three men stood behind her.
Their clothes were unlike anything Safsan had seen in modern Odania.
They looked...
royal.
And beside them were horses.
Behind the horses stood a carriage.
Safsan stared.
The carriage looked impossible.
It was made of what appeared to be pure gold.
Safuu walked toward it.
She didn't look back.
She stepped inside.
Safsan blinked.
And then—
they were gone.
All of them.
The horses.
The men.
The carriage.
Safuu.
Everything.
As if none of them had ever been there.
Safsan stood completely still.
“What...?”
He looked around.
Nothing.
Then he saw something else.
A flash.
A shape in the air.
For only a few seconds.
A portal.
Safsan's eyes widened.
He had seen portals before.
In movies.
In anime.
In stories.
Not in real life.
The opening remained for only a moment.
But behind it...
Safsan saw something.
Something he recognized.
His heart stopped for a second.
He had seen it before.
Not in reality.
In a history book.
A picture.
A place most people in modern Odania knew only as something from the past.
The other half of Odania.
Safsan stared until the portal disappeared.
Silence returned.
He stood there trying to understand what he had just witnessed.
Safuu.
Three men.
Royal clothing.
Golden carriage.
Horses.
A portal.
And the other half of Odania.
None of it made sense.
Then he heard people approaching from a distance.
More people were coming.
Safsan looked toward them.
Maybe they could help.
Maybe they could save the dying person.
He stood up.
He looked once more at Saad.
Saad was still on the ground.
Safsan said nothing.
Then he ran.
He ran home.
Not because he was afraid.
Because his mind had reached its limit.
Too many things had happened.
Too quickly.
The fight.
The bodies.
The dying person.
Saad.
Safuu.
The three men.
The golden carriage.
The portal.
The other half of Odania.
Everything collided inside his head.
By the time he reached home, he barely knew what he was thinking anymore.
He lay down.
Closed his eyes.
And fell asleep.
But his mind did not rest.
The events of the day continued moving through his thoughts.
Saad.
The bodies.
Safuu.
The golden carriage.
The portal.
The other half of Odania.
Everything appeared at once.
One image after another.
One question after another.
And somewhere inside all of it...
the words Safuu had spoken remained.
The black snake is waiting.
Safsan's breathing slowly became calmer.
His eyes remained closed.
And the night continued.