Pain: The Prelude

He stepped out of the train station into an unknown city. The buildings towered over him, blocking the already lacking sunlight that seem to not mind the fact it was being shunned by the gathering clouds in the sky. He looked to his left. A group of people walking in a pace hard for him to keep up as they, too, emerged from the train station. He looked to his right. A group of engineers discussing the renovation of the train station which had caused him the one hour delay, reaching his destination at a quarter past two. He had skipped breakfast and now lunch seemed inevitably lost. "Guess its tea and dinner then," he muttered to himself.

He dodged a few people who were rushing to the escalators, frantically looking at their watches, evidently about to miss the train. As he sidestepped a young adult who was carrying a black luggage bag, he feasted his eyes on the city that he was about to conquer in the next three days. Ah. If only he had remembered the map he had seen on his laptop the previous day, he would have delved deep into the city, losing himself amongst the citizens and discovering what was there to discovered.

Instead, he reached for his mobile phone, remove the earphones, terminated the song that was playing and dialed a number.

"Hello?..yeah, I've reached..I'll be waiting at the entrance of the station then..Take your time, no rush/.."

As he hung up, he paused for a moment to heave a sigh. There were many people in green waiting at the entrance of the station, each bearing the University sign at the back of the T-shirt. Perhaps, they too, were waiting for the arrival of someone. As he turned his gaze from The Three Guineas bar which had piqued his interest, he took a moment to search for any map pamphlets he could use for the next three days.

"You finally made it here, then.." a voice greeted him from behind.
"Can't let the holiday go to waste now, can I? I've already given up any hopes on going to Europe..I'm probably looking at my last trip for this semester." he replied without even turning to greet the newcomer, "I'm surprised to see you here though..what brings you all the way down south?"
He turned to face the source of the voice who greeted him.

The man who stood before him wore a black leather jacket covering a grey T-shirt with matching black jeans to match the top. He had a pair of sunglasses on, even when there was not enough sunlight for the occasion. Yet, somehow, the garb suited him. It was as though nothing was wrong about wearing something the situation did not call for.

Henecran chuckled as he removed his sunglasses, revealing a pair of jet-black eyes, devoid of any whiteness or life. "News that you were coming here travel fast. I had made the necessary preparations to meet you here. Even if it has been almost a year since we have met." Henecran pocketed the sunglasses and removed a pack of cigarettes from his breast pocket. As he lighted a stick, his gaze shifted to his face.

"How have you been, old friend?"

He was silent for a moment before replying, "I've been fine and I would prefer if you didn't call me 'old friend'. We do not share that many years for me to earn that title yet. I'm here to pick up where I have left off. To try and complete what I have been building up from last year."

Henecran detected the depressed tone that leaked from the way he had replied his sentence. He took a puff of his cigarette and slowly let it go into the air. The smoke immediately dispersed into the surrounding, the cold wind that blew aiding the dispersion. "I'm assuming then, "Henecran asked,"that you are pretty confident about settling things here?" Yet again, Henecran's eyes pierced his very being, as though expecting him to lie and instead, probing for his heart, where lies were not told and the truth was bared without bars. He knew that there was no lying out of this. He knew that Henecran knew the truth. His shoulders begin to slump, the sign of a defeated person.

"No."
"I'm not confident. I'm unsure. I do not know what to assume when I step out from the train. I don't know and I don't understand what I'm trying to achieve here. I thought if I had the courage to even step here, I would know that answer. I was mistaken. I don't know the answer to that question. I brought myself here to surrender myself to fate. What happens after this would be uncalculated, unplanned and something I have absolutely no idea of."

Henecran's gaze turned towards the entrance of the station. A girl with an empty duffel bag was making her way into the station, with eyes searching for someone or something, possible a friend. Henecran sighed as he began to walk away from him.

"As someone who has always been the one who makes the decision, this is one of those times when I will not make the decision for you. What you came here to do is entirely up to you. Whether or not you succeed will only depend on you, without me contributing. I will be watching your moves, but I will not make any comments on it. You chose this path, you know what you were getting yourself into. If this fails yet again, then the garden will remain a void, a place where only death will reign. If you succeed, then you will have to face death itself when you return. Either way, death will always be around," Henecran smiled as he gestured to no one in particular, "Now go, your friend is waiting for you. And remember, there are times when you must be alone, times when you know you must accept that pain is your enemy and times when you simply just have to go against fate. I trust you to know when those times will be."

And as silently as he appeared, Henecran disappeared from his sight, blending into the crowd. As he picked himself up, the phone rang.

"Hello?"
"Hey, I'm waiting at the entrance already. Are you here?"
"Yes, I'm coming."

Pocketing the phone, he began the walk. The walk to the next phase.

**********************************

He woke up three hours than he should have, the new environment preventing him from falling asleep. As he stretched his arms, he remembered the previous day. He had thought the journey would be smooth sailing but it all seemed to be in vain. The old wound began to open up inside him, searing pain gripped him for a minute as his body trembled with the opening of the wound. As he gasped for air, he recalled the message Henecran had left him.

He endured the pain as he left the room. The wound was still throbbing, as though it was not satisfied with the amount of pain it was giving to its host. He knew his time was running out. He knew that in the end, pain would be the victor and the facade he had kept himself hidden under is falling apart. His actions were to fight the pain but his mind was giving in. For a moment, he blacked out. And then, he returned.

The resurrection he had went through was not enough. The opening play has been made. It was now the middle game. Pieces of himself have been lost, irreplaceable. And what remains will be the conclusion of the end game.

The battle has just begun.

To be continued....