Half-step Purgatory

Durin stroked the black cat on the armrest of his chair, sitting on the black leather sofa. Through the glasses perched on his nose, his gaze passed over the long table in front of him and settled on the man kneeling on the carpet:
"I understand, you've made money in Naples, your business has been very successful, and you've led a happy life. You've had those secret police, friends in both the law and the underground, and even the Royal Family speaking on your behalf."
"You don't need a friend like me, I know that. You're afraid of owing me a favor, and you don't want to get involved in troubles."
"But now you come to me and say, 'I beg you, Mr. Durin of the Corleon family, please help me seek justice, so that my life and my family will not suffer and sink into despair.'
Yet, in your eyes, I was nothing more than a second-rate artist involved in movies and music. Even at the brink of death, you still show me such disrespect, not even willing to call me by my title... Keeper of Secrets."

Durin's Diary

The nap he took midday stretched into the night.


He dressed and began preparing dinner for himself, Kelsey, and Hemo.


"Hemo, you're coming with me tonight; I need your help," Durin gently patted Hemo's head. The latter grunted in response, acknowledging Durin's call.


After adjusting the weapons on the table for the last time, Durin sat by the stove to rest. When the clock on the wall struck ten, he stood up.


Kelsey poked her head out from her nest, howled once, and then withdrew.


Durin opened the back window of the small building and slipped out, snapping his fingers. The hedge in front of him opened up a pathway.


As he passed through the passage, Durin changed his form, and the figure that emerged on the other side was an old man dressed in a windbreaker with white hair.


Durin raised his hand, and Hemo quietly landed.


After caressing Hemo's head with a large hand, Durin lifted his hand, and Hemo flew into the air.


Chapter 36: The Future