THE LIFE'S WORK
BEFORE.
High above Odania...
far beyond
the clouds...
JHARAA waited.
...
The world beneath him
looked small.
Cities.
Mountains.
Roads.
People.
...
None of them
were why he was here.
...
JHARAA looked
into the distance.
...
Then...
for the first time...
there was something
almost resembling
anticipation
in his voice.
...
"Finally."
...
STEP.
...
"I have waited
an eternity for this."
...
His fingers moved.
Once.
Then again.
Exactly the same.
...
Perfect.
Practiced.
Repeated.
...
JHARAA:
"To finally put
my life's work..."
...
A pause.
...
"...as the Repeated Step..."
...
"...into practice."
...
Silence.
...
Then one name.
...
"Wait for me..."
...
"NAFSAN."
...
...
Something moved
below him.
...
JHARAA stopped.
...
Two people.
...
One was barely
holding himself together.
The other...
was helping him.
...
Jalatta.
Safsan.
...
JHARAA watched them
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from above.
...
Safsan looked exhausted.
Jalatta remained beside him.
Step after step.
...
JHARAA tilted his head.
...
Then...
something happened.
...
Jalatta disappeared.
...
No warning.
...
One moment...
ODANIA.
...
The next...
BAAČ.
...
JHARAA became still.
...
Then slowly...
he looked
toward the place
Jalatta had vanished from.
...
"Well..."
...
A pause.
...
"Look at that."
...
For the first time
in a very long time...
JHARAA changed
his attention.
...
Not his purpose.
Not his destination.
Not the name
he had been waiting for.
...
Only...
his curiosity.
...
JHARAA:
"I suppose..."
...
"...I can test
a little..."
...
His body shifted.
...
STEP.
...
"...of what
I have practiced."
...
STEP.
...
A movement.
...
Perfectly repeated.
...
Then another.
...
The same distance.
The same angle.
The same timing.
...
JHARAA watched.
...
Observed.
...
Practiced.
...
And somewhere
far beyond
everything happening below...
one thought remained.
...
NAFSAN.
...
...
NOW.
...
BAAČ.
THE MIST FOREST.
...
Silence.
...
Nollveil was gone.
JHARAA was gone.
...
Only the damage
remained.
...
Halkan tried
to move.
...
Her leg failed.
...
She fell
against a tree.
...
Her breathing
was shallow.
Her clothes
were stained
with blood.
...
But she was alive.
...
ORIGIN.
PART II.
...
She still didn't understand
everything
that had happened.
...
She didn't understand
what she had reached.
...
She didn't understand
why those creatures
were searching
for someone called
NAFSAN.
...
And right now...
none of that mattered.
...
Because footsteps
were approaching.
...
Halkan raised her head.
...
Jalatta.
...
He appeared
through the mist.
Exhausted.
Dirty.
Barely standing.
...
And beside him...
Safsan.
...
Or rather...
what remained
of Safsan's strength.
...
Jalatta stopped
when he saw Halkan.
...
For several seconds...
he said nothing.
...
Then:
"Oh..."
...
Halkan looked at him.
...
Jalatta looked at Safsan.
Then Halkan.
Then Safsan again.
...
He closed his eyes.
...
"You have got
to be kidding me."
...
Halkan:
"Where..."
...
Her voice broke.
...
"...did they go?"
...
Jalatta looked
around the forest.
...
"They left?"
...
Halkan nodded.
...
Jalatta stared
into the mist.
...
He didn't ask why.
Not yet.
...
He walked toward her.
...
Halkan tried
to stand.
...
"No."
...
Jalatta stopped her.
...
"I can walk."
...
"You can barely breathe."
...
Halkan glared at him.
...
Jalatta:
"Good."
...
"If you still have
enough strength
to look at me like that..."
...
"...you probably
won't die today."
...
Halkan almost responded.
...
Then her body gave out.
...
Jalatta caught her.
...
Silence.
...
He looked at Safsan.
...
Then at Halkan.
...
Then toward the path
ahead.
...
The Mist Forest
suddenly seemed
much larger.
...
Jalatta sighed.
...
"Of course."
...
...
There was no rescue.
No carriage.
No army.
No miracle.
...
Only Jalatta.
Safsan.
Halkan.
...
And somewhere
beyond the forest...
THE KARUUQS CITADEL.
...
So Jalatta carried them.
...
Sometimes one.
Sometimes the other.
Sometimes dragging
his own body forward
only because stopping
would mean
not starting again.
...
One day passed.
...
Then another.
...
Rain.
Mud.
Cold nights.
Empty stomachs.
...
Safsan barely spoke.
Halkan drifted
between consciousness
and darkness.
...
Jalatta kept moving.
...
STEP.
...
STEP.
...
STEP.
...
Days.
...
Days that felt
like punishment.
...
Days that felt
like the road itself
was asking:
HOW MUCH MORE
CAN YOU CARRY?
...
Jalatta never answered.
...
He simply carried.
...
After days
of hell...
the landscape changed.
...
Through exhaustion...
through pain...
through a world
that seemed determined
to make every step heavier...
something finally appeared
in the distance.
...
Walls.
...
Towers.
...
A citadel.
...
Jalatta stopped.
...
His knees nearly collapsed.
...
Halkan slowly
opened her eyes.
...
Safsan raised his head.
...
And there...
waiting beyond
the final stretch
of their journey...
stood
THE KARUUQS CITADEL.
...
Jalatta breathed out.
...
"Finally."
...
...
ELSEWHERE.
...
SCRATCH.
...
GAAFATAA had not
stopped thinking.
...
That was usually
everyone else's problem.
...
Today...
it was his.
...
He paced.
Left.
Right.
Left.
Right.
...
SEENEE watched him.
...
GAAFATAA:
"He cracked something."
...
SEENEE:
"You've said that
seventeen times."
...
"He said..."
...
GAAFATAA stopped.
...
Then perfectly imitated
the Author's voice.
...
"How would you react
if I said
I cracked
?????"
...
SEENEE:
"That was terrible."
...
"My impression?"
...
"Yes."
...
GAAFATAA:
"Focus."
...
SEENEE sighed.
...
GAAFATAA started
walking again.
...
"He said
the paradox
isn't the paradox
we know."
...
SEENEE:
"I heard you."
...
"So what does that mean?"
...
"I don't know."
...
GAAFATAA immediately
pointed at him.
...
"SEE?"
...
SEENEE:
"What?"
...
"THIS."
...
"What?"
...
"YOU KEEP SAYING
YOU DON'T KNOW."
...
SEENEE stared.
...
GAAFATAA:
"You're the Narrator."
...
"Not the Author."
...
"Exactly."
...
GAAFATAA froze.
...
SEENEE realized
immediately
that he had made
a mistake.
...
GAAFATAA slowly turned.
...
"Say that again."
...
"No."
...
"SEENEE."
...
"No."
...
GAAFATAA walked closer.
...
"You're not the Author."
...
"Obviously."
...
"So the Author
knows something..."
...
"Yes."
...
"...that the Narrator
doesn't know."
...
"That is generally
how authors work."
...
GAAFATAA ignored him.
...
"And the Author says
he cracked something..."
...
SEENEE:
"?????"
...
"YES."
...
GAAFATAA grabbed
his own head.
...
"What did he crack?!"
...
SEENEE:
"Why are you asking me?"
...
GAAFATAA stopped.
...
Silence.
...
SEENEE smiled.
...
GAAFATAA:
"Don't."
...
SEENEE:
"You're the one
who asks questions."
...
GAAFATAA stared
at him.
...
SEENEE's smile grew.
...
GAAFATAA:
"I hate you."
...
SEENEE:
"Now you're beginning
to understand readers."
...
Silence.
...
GAAFATAA sat down.
...
Then suddenly...
"Wait."
...
SEENEE:
"No."
...
"What if we're looking
at the paradox
from the wrong direction?"
...
SEENEE stopped.
...
GAAFATAA:
"What if..."
...
SCRATCH.
...
He picked up his pen.
...
"...the problem isn't
that we don't know
the answer?"
...
SEENEE looked
at the page.
...
GAAFATAA wrote:
THE PARADOX.
...
Then beneath it:
THE ANSWER.
...
Then beneath that:
THE QUESTION.
...
GAAFATAA:
"What if we don't even know..."
...
His pen stopped.
...
"...what we're supposed
to be asking?"
...
...
SEENEE said nothing.
...
For once...
neither did GAAFATAA.
...
SCRATCH.
...
CHAPTER 39
THE LIFE'S WORK
JHARAA WAITED
FOR NAFSAN.
...
BUT BEFORE
HE FOUND HIM...
HE SAW
SAFSAN.
...
THE KARUUQS CITADEL
AWAITS.
...
AND SOMEWHERE
BEHIND THE STORY...
THE QUESTIONER
HAS FINALLY REALIZED:
MAYBE THE MISSING PIECE
ISN'T THE ANSWER.
...
MAYBE IT'S
THE QUESTION.
...
END.