Chapter 262 - To Not Know

Each second passed made the uneasiness Jack felt even more unbearable.

The silence made for an uncomfortable situation, especially from Jack's point of view. While the magic array froze him in place, the man before him asked him something that dictated whether Jack would be left alive or not.

In a flash, the magic array's light grew dim. Which, consequently, allowed Jack to move, albeit still somewhat hindered. It was like there were heavy weights on all his limbs, but Jack could still run his mouth. At least, this way, Jack could answer the question.

But, it was much easier said than done.

Jack looked at the strange man, confused about what he should say. There might've been more than one way to answer. The open-ended question could warrant about a thousand responses.

Ultimately, however, Jack knew there was only one that would have the best chance for survival.

'Hold on,' Jack thought to himself as his eyes narrowed. 'If I'm as insignificant as he says I am, why bother keeping me alive? No, why even bother asking me this question?'

From the way Jack saw it, gods had both omnipotence and immortality. There was no reason for one of such power and brilliance to resort to Jack's treatment. Keeping a mortal, insignificant being hostage for an existential question was far from the doings of a god.

With that in mind, Jack gave the theory more thought. Thinking that he had some time to come up with an answer, Jack spared no time in concocting an explanation.

Unfortunately, the god's expression seemed to convey otherwise.

By the looks of things, time was nothing more than a luxury right now. Patience was running dry. The tension increased with every second passed. Jack had to think of an answer quickly.

So, in the spur of the moment, Jack decided to say something he would soon consider as the smartest thing he ever said.

"Is this really how you wanna play this out?" Jack asked, interrogatingly but with a strained voice, "You don't know what makes us relentless and enduring? That's the reason why you're sparing me?"

The man glared at Jack with an ominous aura emanating from him. He didn't care for Jack's rather blatant disregard of his threats. The whole situation made the man have a significant advantage over Jack. But, the latter didn't seem to care about it at all.

"I can tell you what I think, but I'm sure that's not really what you're looking for, right?" Jack instigated further as if playing jump rope with the line between life and death.

"I may be just guessing here. But. I'm sure that's not the question you wanted to ask. While I can give you some random answers that hopefully would be to your liking, I doubt it's the thing you actually want. So, are we still going to play games here?"

It was an assumption that was both baseless and completely out of the line. Jack was pushing it, even more so than any human the man had encountered before.

After saying that, the man considered killing Jack with one swipe of his arm. He even went so much as to appear before Jack in less than a second. With his hand raised high, the man would nearly strike Jack down but hesitated to finish the job.

The man then turned around, facing away from Jack. He walked steadily to where he was standing before, thinking along the way. And, as soon as he reached the same spot as before, he then turned to Jack and said, "Go on."

Jack swallowed, slightly becoming nervous that things had turned out this way. It was entirely his fault, of course. But Jack didn't necessarily think things through.

"Then, tell me," said Jack, having no choice but to proceed with the conversation, "What do you need me for, huh?"

Thinking that a conversation would be the most fitting for the situation, Jack hoped that a two-way communication would clear the air. Unfortunately, the other party didn't seem to cooperate, prompting Jack to continue by his lonesome.

"Don't wanna say anything, huh? Okay then. Uh..."

Jack took a moment, finding a point in what he was trying to say. He felt like he was at the cusp of the idea of bringing this whole thing up, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it just yet.

"You're sparing me because..."

Jack paused to think mid-way through the sentence. He dotted his eyes around as if visualizing the point. The gaze soon landed on the man as Jack spoke out of instinct.

"You don't know. That explains it. You do not know what makes us tick, that's for sure. But, I can tell that you have no idea what purpose you serve either."

Continuously eyeing the man, Jack watched for any subtle changes to his expression. In doing so, Jack would then know what to say next. Anything from a slight flinch of an eyebrow to a twitch of a finger, Jack would have to play it by ear.

Nevertheless, though, Jack kept talking. Doing so avoided suspicion. Or, at least, that was how Jack hoped it would be.

"There's this book in the library of my old place. I found it in sitting there, gathering dust, behind a bunch of neat-looking books the other kids used to read. And, seeing as how I had nothing better to do, I gave it a read."

Jack elaborated on a childhood story of his, testing how the man before him would react. However, contrary to his expectations, the same unbothered and indifferent look remained.

So, Jack continued.

"Stop me when you've heard this before," Jack joked as he proceeded with a passage he read from an old book, "What separates gods from mortals? Power? Immortality? Or the idea that they give reason to the unexplained? Perhaps, it is because they are so revered.

"While I cannot ascertain the existence of these beings, I can say this with the utmost certainty: Us, humans, have boundaries of death. While we cannot cross this gap, others perhaps have. And, to those beings, I say they are struggling more so than we could ever imagine. While death gives meaning to our lives, what gives meaning to those lives without it?"

Basing off of memory, Jack had to finesse himself through the sentiment. He could remember the passage's teachings, but he couldn't for the life of him remember the passage itself.

Nevertheless, Jack hoped it would have been enough to convince the man that Jack knew what he was saying. It was a hoax, for the most part, but Jack genuinely believed that the message of the passage came across to the strange man.

However, there was only silence.

An awkward atmosphere filled the air once more as the same indifferent gaze landed on Jack. No words spoken to each other, but Jack got the feeling that the message came across well. The question now was how the man would react.

Thump. Thump.

An irregular heartbeat sounded from Jack's chest as the seconds passed. Jack wondered how long it'd be until the man would have said something.

Jack went completely off-base, of course, so the silence wasn't entirely unexpected.

That said, the seconds ticked on. Until, at some point, Jack couldn't handle the silence anymore and once again said something.

"I don't think you and I are that much different," assumed Jack as he spoke without any indication of the truth, "I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not as powerful as you. And, at this point, I don't think you'd have embarrassed yourself like this either."

Referring to his frozen state, Jack found it hilarious now that he stood like that for some time.

"But, in all seriousness, I don't think you're such a bad guy. Well, not that there's anything pointing to that. What I'm guessing here is that you're lost. You know, lost in a sense that you have no idea what it is you're doing for the long game."

After saying that, Jack noticed the man's extremely subtle change in appearance. It might've been the cold talking, but Jack swore he saw the man's slight eyebrow twitch.

"Trust me," Jack added, going on with what he thought, "I'm no different. And, you know, considering how immortal and powerful you are, it might be much more prominent in your case. I mean, you've had your whole life doing things without a clear motive. That must've been hard."

Jack paused for a second and sighed, realizing he was doing the same thing.

"I know I can't hold a candle against what you've gone through. And I'm not trying to pity you, I swear. I don't think I could do something like that, with you being a god and all."

In that split second, the man's eyes lit up. He then dashed towards Jack and appeared just before his frozen body. With hand on the hilt of his sword, the man seemed like he was about to kill Jack.

"I am no god."