It was too much to bear. The death of his only two friends had been bad enough, bringing him close to his limit, but seeing his only family, his little sister, about to marry that evil bastard was more than his mind could take. There was nothing left for him to do. He had tried and failed. For the next fifteen minutes, Kael just knelt there, on the black and white marble floor, soulless eyes watching the proceedings. Why was nothing he did ever good enough? Didn’t he suffer enough? If only I had done more. “Pretty narcissistic thinking there, boy. I did not think you had it in you but color me impressed.” Strange, Kael thought, I know that voice, but from where? His eyes were still staring forward, unblinking. He needed to watch this. It was, after all, what his actions had resulted in. Kael was just about to write the voice off as some form of a joke his mind was playing on him when he heard it again. “Not even gonna give this old man a response? Damn, I thought you had better manners.” Somehow, some detached part of Kaels mind responded to the voice, making him answer without thinking about his words much. “Oh? And what is the use of polite speach going to accomplish? Everything is already ruind. Tell me, voice from behind, what else can life throw at me that manners would fix?” - “Mhh, you’re not wrong, but not right either. Maybe it can’t help in most cases. BUT even if it can’t help, it’s also not going to hurt either, and chances are that there will be moments where rudeness will make the situation much worse. Anyway, since I can see that you want to be left alone, I will wait until this play is over.” - “Oh? And then what? Going to lecture me some more?” There was no response from the voice. Maybe he should turn and look? The thought was quickly discarded again as he watched Jason pull out rings that looked almost like miniature shackles and put them on his sister, sealing their marriage with a kiss.

Soon the processions came to a close. The guests left in droves, after the freshly married spouses exited the church. Somehow everyone just moved around his kneeling form, never acknowledging his existence. He felt… empty inside. Just like this enormous building, once there was no life left inside, all of the decorations and artwork did not matter anymore. There was this philosophical question he had heard once. If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? Logic dictates that, of course, it does make a sound. But did it matter? If there is no one to hear it, does it matter if there is sound? Does it matter if the tree or even the entire forest falls? No, it does not. That was how he felt right now, Kael realized as he thought about his situation. He was the tree, and no matter what he does, no one is there to listen to him anymore. What was the point of crying out, raging at the world for the unfairness of it all? There was no one to hear him anymore.

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That was how Kael stood up. His emotions locked behind the gate of reason. He looked around. For the first time since he came here did he think about where ‘here’ actually was. The cathedral was surprisingly empty if one discounted the central nave and high altar. The doors on both ends of the side naves were locked and didn’t budge at all when he tried to force them. There were no murals, no art, nothing but pews there. The room felt almost like a stage to Kael. Someone had prepared the building for the spectacle that he had witnessed, leaving everything that was out of sight bare. Kael explored the building for a few more minutes before he was sure that there was nothing else to find. The only door he had not tried yet was the one leading outside, the doors that the wedding party had left through. Would there be another play when he passed through those doors? “Well, staying here does not seem to accomplish anything anyway. Might as well see what this place has in store for me next.” There was no shaking, no doubts when he put his hands on the wooden double-door. Kael even felt a little excited as he pressed against the wood.

Kael was sitting in the empty courtroom, sipping on a cup of water. “That was quite the ride.” The last hour or so had been interesting to say the least. The wooden doors had, just as expected, led him to another stage. This time it was the street outside of the Feathery Delight. A huge crowd of people had gathered outside of the police barrier placed there for exactly that purpose. There was nothing gruesome happening this time, but from the hushed voices of the people in his surroundings, he got a pretty good idea of what this scene was about. His arrest and subsequent running away had landed Barbara and by extension the restaurant, in hot waters. Most of the staff had been taken into custody, and the business was shut down. Right now they were collecting evidence. The story continued by showing him how all of his former colleagues were found guilty and sent to prison. The courtroom he was sitting in right now was just the latest edition of that theme. Still, this one had been tough. It had been Barbara's turn, and the prosecutor, for some reason played by Jason, was relentless in using Kael’s prior actions to slander her, just for taking a chance with him.

“I wonder what is next…” Kael said when he had finished his drink. “maybe its them getting killed in prison? Or something else entirely?” - “Well, I wouldn’t know, but I can tell you that you have been here for far too long already. Don’t you think it is time to go home?”