Only a Fool

Demon was momentarily surprised by Luke's words. Determination, ambition, hope — Demon felt all these unpleasant emotions surge along with the boy's invitation. That desire he had tried so hard to ignore and pretend didn't exist kept growing every time he looked into Luke's blue eyes, burning with determination. 

But at the same time, seventeen years of life surrounded by suffering, despair, and pain prevented that desire from taking over his mind. That was right, that strong and comforting feeling of acceptance — the feeling that had helped him survive in this hell since childhood — pushed away the useless and unpleasant emotions that came with Luke's invitation.

It was easier to stay here, surviving in this hell. After all, who said the outside would be any better? Who could guarantee that God's Path wasn't an even worse hell than this one?

For a man without dreams like Demon, there was nothing God's Path could offer him, even if he managed to reach the end.

Accepting his fate and calming his mind, Demon turned back toward the window. He rested both arms on the frame, leaning forward and staring at the same view he had seen a million times before, and spoke:

"Going to God's Path with you, huh? You're more naive than I expected, rookie... I'm not interested."

Almost instantly, Luke's response came in an agitated voice:

"Why? I know I don't look like it, but I'm really strong. Even the man who brought me here was impressed with me and said my mark was special! I..."

Demon sighed before cutting him off:

"It has nothing to do with your strength."

Again, Luke spoke quickly, still thinking he was the reason Demon refused his invitation:

"Then what's the problem? Is it me? I'll listen to you, if you have any complaints about me, I promise I'll improve! I promise! So..."

Before Luke could finish, Demon interrupted him again:

"It has nothing to do with you either."

This time, Luke needed a moment to process Demon's words. Unable to understand Demon's reasoning, he simply asked in a low voice:

"Then why?"

Demon listened to Luke's question in silence. He shifted his gaze away from the favelas and looked at his right hand — more specifically, at a small black mark on the back of it. That was his Path Mark. The reason he had survived in this hell for so long. But also the reason he had been brought to this hell in the first place.

People often said that those who awakened a Path Mark were being called by the Path. The chosen ones, who received superhuman abilities and were destined to walk its course. Demon was one of these so-called "chosen ones", so why didn't he want to escape this hell and step onto God's Path?

Well, Demon simply didn't believe in those things. After all, every person he had killed also had a Path Mark, yet none of them had entered the Path as they were "destined" to.

To him, these marks were nothing but curses. Unless you were born into a powerful family, awakening a Path Mark meant becoming a target. A target for the powerful, who sought to exploit one's abilities for their own gain.

It didn't matter how strong a person's Path Mark was — the strength of one could never match the combined strength of the many people controlled by the elite. In the end, even if he was the strongest, he was still here, trapped, risking his life just to fill his boss's pockets.

And the worst part? There was nothing he could do about it. Ever since he was brought here at just seven years old, there had never been anything he could do. That's why it was easier to accept his situation than to suffer over an unreachable "destiny".

Besides, there was another reason he had no desire to enter God's Path:

"There's nothing there for me."

Yeah, that was the biggest reason.

But… Demon had underestimated Luke's determination. Because soon, the boy spoke again:

"Nothing? There's always something! What about your parents? You could bring them back, just like I want to!"

Unwanted memories surfaced in Demon's mind when Luke asked about his parents. Normally, he wouldn't talk about this with anyone, but for some reason, he didn't want to lie to Luke. Demon felt that the least he could do was be honest — this was the only way he could face Luke's determination.

So, he spoke:

"My parents aren't dead. At least, not that I know of. They abandoned me when I was six and entered God's Path."

After that, even Luke fell silent for a while. The boy was beginning to understand that not everyone was like him, that not everyone had a family that loved them. Not everyone was willing to risk their life on an unknown path to bring back loved ones — after all, not everyone had loved ones.

But even so, Luke still couldn't accept this. He couldn't accept someone who was content with such a horrible fate. So he spoke in an agitated voice, almost shouting, as his emotions swirled within him:

"Then you can find them! I'm sure they had a reason for leaving you behind! You can—"

Demon just sighed as he listened to Luke's voice. He understood. He really understood why Luke was frustrated. He had felt all of those emotions before. When he first arrived in this hell, he also got frustrated with the negative people who had accepted their fate. He had also wanted to change his own fate! But… time had shown him the harsh reality.

Without bothering to look at Luke, Demon interrupted him with a calm voice and spoke a single sentence:

"Only a fool would follow those who left him behind..."

That was enough.

After that, Luke finally fell silent. He realized that Demon was simply too different from him, and because of that, he accepted that it was impossible for Demon to join him. But that didn't make Luke give up on his ambitions. Even without Demon, the boy was still going to escape this place and go to God's Path! He would bring his family back and make them forget all the suffering they had endured!

After one last glance at Demon's back, Luke walked away. But his blue eyes burned with even more determination than before — if that was even possible.

Demon continued looking out the window as he listened to Luke's footsteps fading into the distance. In a few days, he would forget all about this conversation. He would forget all about Luke, so none of this mattered. Well, at least that's what he thought.

Neither of them knew yet, but their destinies were intertwined. They would be part of each other's lives — even beyond death.

***

Demon returned to his room after having dinner in the tower's dining hall. Thanks to his conversation with Luke, some unwanted thoughts still lingered in his mind, but he did his best to push them away. After all, he could finally enjoy the gift Giovanni had given him!

Wasting no time, Demon locked his door and walked toward his desk, where the fabric bag he had received from Giovanni rested. He then took out the two objects inside and placed them on the table.

One was a bit large and heavy — a book, the gift from Giovanni. The other was small and extremely light — a plain paper box with nothing written on it. But this was the object Demon truly needed, the one he had spent his entire salary to buy.

Demon first looked at the book with curiosity and excitement. It was quite thick, around 500 pages. The cover was made of leather, already showing signs of aging. And written in large letters across the cover was the title: [The History of the Roman Empire.]

A wonderful gift! Reading books was Demon's favorite pastime, especially history books that told stories of how the world was before the disasters and before God's Path appeared. But there was a problem — these books were incredibly difficult to find, especially for someone of low status like him. That's why he usually just reread the few books he had managed to collect over time.

So, a history book that Demon had never read before — and a very large one at that — was truly an amazing gift for him! A sign that Giovanni really knew and cared about him.

But as eager as he was to start reading the book, Demon still had one thing to do first. He picked up the small paper box he had bought and headed to the bathroom.

He placed the box on the sink — after all, he wouldn't be using what was inside until the next morning. Then, he looked at his reflection in the mirror. His handsome face and black eyes were still there, at least for now.

After staring at his reflection for a few moments, Demon looked up at the ceiling and widened his eyes. Carefully, he brought his right hand up to his right eye and gently touched his fingertip to his iris.

Then, he pulled his finger back, and along with it, his black iris came off. Huhh... well, what had come off wasn't exactly his iris, but rather what the rest of the world believed to be his iris.

He stared at the small black membrane now resting on his fingertip. It was a contact lens. Long ago, people used these to see better, but nowadays, these objects were extremely expensive due to how difficult they were to produce. That's why most people just wore old-fashioned glasses.

But Demon's reason for using contact lenses wasn't to improve his vision. In fact, his eyesight was practically perfect. These lenses had no prescription at all, but they did have one particular feature — a color. A black color that hid Demon's true eyes from the rest of the world.

Demon repeated the action and removed the lens from his left eye as well. He blinked a few times, adjusting to the change, then looked at his reflection again. His face was the same, but there was no denying it — his big, orange eyes, glowing like the sun, completely transformed his appearance.

However, it wasn't just their unusual color that he was hiding from the world. The real reason Demon wore contact lenses was to conceal the small white marks that stained the orange of his eyes. He had one mark in each eye, both positioned on the inner corners, facing each other, as if they had been separated by the bridge of his nose.

This was Demon's second Path Mark, a mark that no one else in the world knew existed.

Well… there had been two people who knew. But it had been over a decade since they were last in this world. And as he recalled their existence, an unwanted memory surfaced in Demon's mind.

...

A handsome man was looking at him with those big, orange eyes. Both of the man's hands were gripping his shoulders, and he wore a very serious yet affectionate expression on his face. Demon remembered that moment in detail, just as he remembered the words the man spoke next:

"Son, listen to me. No one can know that you have two Path Marks! No one! You are very special, but that might make some bad people want to take advantage of you. You need to hide this forever, do you understand?"

He obediently nodded and replied:

"Yes, Father."

...

Even though he didn't remember much about the man who had abandoned him, Demon had never forgotten that advice. Even when he was alone, he had always found a way to hide the mark in his eyes from others.

But well, even though he had successfully concealed his second mark, he was still stuck in this hell, living under the orders of the "bad people" his father had mentioned. Of course, he knew that if anyone ever found out he had two marks, his life would only get worse. After all, he had never heard of anyone who had awakened two Path Marks before.

But… none of that mattered right now!

Demon shook his head, pushing the memories of his father to the back of his mind, and lightly slapped both his cheeks.

'Yeah, yeah, forget about that stupid Father... It's reading time!'