A calm wind passed by, a light breeze to refresh the mind, and Noah decided to make do with the information he had just received. There were many things he wanted to say and if he had to be honest, he just wished to sit down now, and well… actually, he didn’t really know what he wanted to do.

However, he knew that it wasn’t the right time for an idle self-introspection. So, true to his nature… he did what he always did best in these types of existential-crisis situations.

“Pfft! I always wanted to be one with a Mecha, to be honest. I never thought I would become one myself.”

… He laughed it off to the best of his abilities. He pushed every bit of negative emotions he felt deep down, bar the ones he needed to survive, and closed off this page of his life, maybe to be opened another day, a more lenient day. A smile formed on his face and all the frustrations that were marring his face vanished altogether.

— … I am sorry.

“Don’t be. You made the right choice. I don’t have a death wish now, you know? Would be a bummer to die while being so close to getting answers, wouldn’t it?” He clapped his hands and continued, “First things first…”

Space started to ripple once again but this time the gate to the alternate space formed much faster than before. Whatever happened with his body had made his circulation of Dark Matter much more efficient and streamlined than it ever had been.

Once he pushed the remains of Ouroboros into the dimension, he closed it off and started walking towards a specific direction.

The place where the Scorched had landed.

— You are taking it far better than I imagined you would. The first time around, you nearly became insane and suicidal.

“Oh. I wanna scream so much right now. Like for real. But that isn’t important at the moment. I can deal with my feelings later. Not to mention, humans are creatures of adaptation, and adapting is my specialty.”

His stay on this planet had not been easy for him, it had taken its fair share of a toll on his mind. He had many incidents of involuntary blackouts where his mind would simply shut down because he could not support the increasing weight of time on his psyche.

But every time something like that happened, he would eventually wake up stronger, and the interval between his blackouts continued to grow shorter and shorter, until he was able to constantly remain in his awakened state. Even through the turmoil in his mind and the growing changes in his body.

“Anyway. With this issue out of the way, we can decide on what to do after we get out of this mess. But now, it’s finally time to finish what we started.”

He had yet to receive a notice about the end of this challenge. This could only mean one thing.

Omid was still alive.

“Well. He won’t be for long though.”

So finally being able to put down his target was a welcome change. Killing someone had always been the greatest distraction for him anyway.

***

Finding the wreckage of ‘The Scorched’ had been pretty easy, to say the least. Even with his small pudgy legs, it didn’t take him long to reach where Omid had landed.

The current state of the Mecha was drastically different from the majesty that it had once shown. The chest compartment had been brutally destroyed and it was missing one of its legs. In the destroyed cockpit was the silently seated Omid in all his muscular glory.

“So you survived. Though you seem a bit different than before.”

Omid was alive. Honestly, Noah was astonished that he was still alive and in a talking state. After all, Omid had a giant hole in his chest. The very fact that he could even speak was a miracle in itself.

His eyes finally focused on the armor Omid was wearing and understood that the nanites in the armor were working furiously to keep him alive. Sadly for Omid, unlike Noah, he couldn’t magically revive himself by absorbing external matter and energy from the atmosphere and his surroundings.

“Well, I am more surprised that you survived with that gaping hole in your chest. Though it seems like you will be meeting your end soon enough.”

“You are right.” Omid leaned back and looked up at the sky, “So my story ends like this, huh? What a shame.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Omid was tired, his body was heavy, and blood continuously poured out like a raging river. Already, his senses were slowly leaving him and he could barely see anything beyond a distant blur.

“Is it the part where I listen to your sad backstory and I learn that you weren’t born evil but became evil because of your circumstances?”

“Kukuh~!” Omid coughed out a bloody lump at his words, amused, “Don’t worry. I will not bore you with my past. I do need to seek your understanding nor do I wish for any pity from my enemy.”

“Huh. A shame then. I was wondering why someone as strong as you became a pirate in the first place. You don’t belong with these lowlifes.”

Omid closed his eyes, even keeping them open was becoming a strain for him. But he did not let the embrace of death take hold of him.

Not yet.

Not now.

There was still something he wished to know from his opponent.

Things he wanted to hear.

“I… have a question.”

Noah ignored the struggling man and jumped on the Mecha, going up until he reached the chest compartment where Omid was seated and had now become a sordid mess. At this distance, all he would need would be one blow to end his life If Omid had begged for his life, Noah would have swiftly ended him without a second thought.

Now though, he was more curious about what this man wanted to ask him.

“Speak.”

“Why do you fight?”

“Hah? You gave your all to stay alive… only to ask such a boring question? Come on, you can do better…”

“Answer… me.”

Noah looked up at the distant sky. Why did he fight, he asked? A truly interesting question, worthy of deep contemplation. However, it was all too simple for Noah to answer. He didn’t need to contemplate as he knew all along why he fought. And the reason was far simpler than anything Omid could imagine.

“I fight because I like to win.” He grinned, “I started fighting because I was born for that very reason, created for the sole purpose of fighting and winning. I knew about nothing else. But then I realized… fighting is really fun. And winning was an addictive exhilaration.”

A chuckle escaped his lips at the thought, “That’s why I am continuing on this journey. Standing at the very top makes me feel good, feel alive. Saving people makes me feel awesome. Being called a hero makes me feel appreciated. In the end, perhaps I am just a junky in search of a constant new high.”

“So it’s that simple…”

Omid laughed through the blood that leaked out. A laughter full of mockery. A laughter full of regret.

“So you wish to stand at the top. Even knowing that your enemies will be as numerous as the stars in the sky? You know nothing of the horrors awaiting you.”

“You are right. Fighting you, I realized that I am not who I once was. I am not the top dog. I am weak and alone. But then… So what?”

Noah’s eyes shone with golden splendor as he gazed down at Omid, “All my life I have fought. Fought for survival. Fought to win. Fought to see the next day. Even as I lost nearly all my loved ones I kept on fighting. Even as the world pushed its expectations on me, I stood proud. I am no stranger to despair. Even less so to loneliness.”

He took one more step, nearly shoving his face against Omid’s.

“If all the stars in the sky are my enemies then so be it. I will just have to rise above the sky. This is what I have always done. I will fight. I will thrive. And I will rise. Until one day… I will once again stand at the very top.”

“Then what? What will you do once you are the strongest? To whom would you turn to when you have no one else to fight?”

“...”

“You are a very shallow man.”

“...”

Omid heaved out more blood. The nanites had stopped working; his time was now near.

“I… I have one request…”

“... Go on.”

“If you ever meet Queen Scheherazade… Tell her that I am sorry I could not save her.”

Omid’s hand trembled as he pushed the black box and took out the reward he had received from the last challenge.

“This will be… my payment.”

Noah stood in silence for a few seconds before finally taking the core from his hand. And once the box was taken, it was as if that had been the last thing the muscular man wanted to convey as his arms fell powerlessly to the ground.

The light in his eyes had already vanished, but he had a feeling he could still see the brilliantly radiant suns of his homeland. Omid had once been a man with many ambitions but as he felt the embrace of death finally take hold of him… He realized that all those ambitions were nothing but a front he put up to hide the hollowness inside.

If he understood the hypocrisy in his actions sooner then… perhaps, he could have lived a better life than the wretched one he subjected himself to. However, no one could answer if that would have been the case or not.

“Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust…”

He muttered and his body started breaking down into ashes, as he muttered in his dying breath. Fissures appeared all over his skin and finally, it finally crumbled in itself and turned into dust and ash.

Djinn did not leave a body when they died.

They simply became the remains of a brilliant and dazzling fire at the end of its journey. A fitting ending.

“What a shameless man. Paying me with my spoils of war.”

Noah laughed quietly as he witnessed the end of his enemy. He felt no pity. Omid had not been a good man in his life. As a pirate, he certainly destroyed the lives of many people.

Even so… As his first true enemy in this world, he would forever exist in Noah’s mind and as long as Noah was alive, like Omid so dearly wished, he would never be forgotten.

This too was a form of immortality.

The Queen meanwhile had different worries in her mind. She had no care for Omid as a person, she just had one question that concerned her.

— I wonder how dust tastes.