Chapter 8 Failure?

As he waited for her to leave, he didn't know what to think. Or, to be honest, a lot of things passed through his mind, but he didn't want to follow them up.

But she simply stood there in front of him without moving. She only looked at him without saying a word. He could see she had red eyes, probably because of crying, and her lips were quivering. She probably wanted to say something but didn't know how to start.

"What is it you wanted to say? Be fast, because I don't have neither the time, nor the patience to listen. So don't waste the time by saying nothing. You won't have another chance to do it."

Indeed he was starting to lose interest in everything she could bring him. If this is the life of a couple, than he could do without. At least he wouldn't be frustrated about his life then because he was the one who decided on the course of his life. Not like earlier when he was ignored and left on his own even if he had people around him that he thought could be counted on. She betrayed his trust and that hurt him more than anything else, she ignored him after bringing him to a foreign place with people who meant nothing to him, to be honest.

"I'm sorry!"

She barely made herself speak those words, when she saw his face grow darker while looking at her face.

"You're sorry? What are you sorry about? Please let me know, because after today, apparently I was clueless about how life and relationships work."

He leaned forward in the chair, making her shrink back seeing his face. There was nothing there that reminded her of his earlier behavior. There was no more banter, no fake fear, no more human feeling of warmth. Only a conflict of rage and indifference. A moment he was feeling indifferent toward the person in front of him, followed by the rage caused by her ignoring him and treating him as nonexistent earlier.

He let out the breath slowly, trying to calm himself down, even though he felt like his insides were churning over a small fire.

She encouraged herself to come forward with what she wanted to say, but upon seeing his shifting disposition, she didn't dare. So she only sighed, lowering her head. He chortle seeing her like that and sneered in derision.

"So that's it, huh? You're sorry, but you don't even know what you did wrong. Or even worse! You know what you did wrong, but don't have the courage to admit it. If it's the first thing, then you're not as intelligent as I initially gave you the credit for. If it's the latter, then it means you're too coward to admit that you have shortcomings and I guess trying to get a backbone is useless at this point. Either way, you've disappointed me. You're free to leave!"

He leaned back and closed his eyes.

.....

In the chair, the red light coming from inside the skeleton stopped abruptly, turning into black mist, further corroding them, making the skeleton twitch and tremble , unable to scream in pain.

The chubby man stared at the skeleton and started trembling seeing it start to dissipate slowly.

"Fuck! What happened? Why is it like this when everything started going so well? And I can't do anything about it after the process has started! Fuck my life! He's going to be so pissed when he finds out!"

He was almost jumping on the walls due to his fear. All the plans his master made, gone just like that due to a miscalculation.

He looked at the fading skeleton still in the chair and decided to face the punishment directly than wait for his master to find out on his own about the debacle he had made.

"Fuck! Just my luck!"

With that he vanished into thin air.

The skeleton started to disappear faster as the concentration of the black mist grew until it melted into nothingness.

All that remained of him was the speck of black mist that continued to float above the chair.

Suddenly everything stopped. The flickering mist stopped moving as if it was caught in a picture.

An old lady showed up out of nowhere, looking around until her eyes stopped on the floating mist. She closed her eyes and when she opened them again, their color changed. They were different. One eye was completely white, the other was completely black. The white one was sparkling on her face, while the black one seemed to be able to swallow every last shred of life warmth.

She smiled looking at the mist, but her expression looked twisted due to the eyes.

"So here you are! What a pityful sight! What was your promise to her? If the one who wronged you was a man of God, you'll barge into heavens and slaughter him in front of God? If he followed the devil, you'll tear down the gates of hell to get your hands on him? Apparently you weren't able to achieve anything! Pathetic you and your pedantic words! Just get lost in the river of time, so nobody can ever acquainted with you ever again!"

The old lady's eyes flared, lashing out a beam of dual light that started twisting around itself faster and faster until it resembled a cord. It fell in her reaching palm and she took out a pair of scissors and cut it in half, making it dissipate back into the void. The mist in front of her started trembling faster by the moment until it exploded with a muffled bang. She watched the entire process in silence. Once the mist disappeared, she closed her eyes and when she opened them again, they reverted to their natural blue color. Then her entire being faded from this place as if it didn't exist in the first place.

.....

Two men were talking in a room. A middle aged man was sitting on a chair on a raised platform that had about ten steps leading up to it. The chubby man was bent in half as he explained in a low voice what happened earlier. When he finished, he waited for the punishment to arrive, but after waiting for a minute without anything happening to him, he slowly lifted his head and noticed that the man up in front of him not only didn't look displeased at hearing about the news, but he even saw a smile on his face. That made him feel confused.

"Master, aren't you disappointed that our plans failed? All the preparations we made just disappeared in smoke, literally."

"What makes you think they failed?"

The man in front of him raised an eyebrow. The chubby man was even more confused now. If they haven't failed, then what happened to that person?

"He died!"

As if reading his mind, which the chubby man wouldn't put it beyond his abilities, the man said in a tranquil tone of voice.

He died? Wasn't he already dead when he arrived here? The answer grew even more complicated for him to understand. Apparently he grew more of an idiot with the passing of time, because he couldn't wrap his head around what his master's real plan was. Apparently, it wasn't what he expected it to be. But at least he escaped the punishment for failure. That was a silver lining in the current situation.

"I'll leave now! Don't look for me! Everything here I'll leave it in your hands! If something happens, I'll hold you directly responsible for it when I return!"

The middle aged man stood up and stretched after saying these words.

"But, where are you going? Lately you are coming and going without me being able to find you when your presence is necessary!"

The man only shrugged as he vanished into the nothingness.

The chubby man sighed as he shook his head.

"Apparently everything is up to me, again! Abaddon, do this! Yes, milord. What should I do? Guard that little boy! Abaddon do that! Yes, milord. What is your wish? Make him fall in love with that girl! Is there a reward? Yes, do some more work!"

The dispirited chubby man gathered his wits for a while and then started looking around the room to see where to start. After seeing the dust covering the floor, he sighed and grabbed a broom and started slowly driving it across the floor. As he worked, his appearance started to change slowly, until it became the original one.

"I barely had some freedom a few years and now that I am back, back to work! I really miss that little asshole! It was fun playing jokes on him!"

He sighed as he turned and walked up the stairs leading to the throne. He slowly sat down and closed his eyes. He was an old man now, with a deadpan expression on his face, with a twinkle of mischief at the back of his eyes. He used to have another name not so long ago.