Chapter 45: What is Life??? (2)

Chapter 45

Dwaine’s expression grew more serious.

"Eventually, everything would vanish."

He spoke slowly, making certain that Orion understood every word.

"Nothing would feel precious anymore. Nothing would feel special. Everything would become ordinary, and in the end, everything would become utterly and completely meaningless."

He paused.

"We humans are creatures of desire. We desire things we do not possess. We reach for things beyond our grasp. We struggle to obtain what we want, and sometimes, we spend our entire lives chasing a single dream."

His blue eyes remained fixed on Orion.

"And once that desire is stripped away from us..."

Dwaine shook his head.

"What remains would no longer truly be human."

He briefly considered his next words before continuing.

"We would become puppets."

A faint, humorless smile crossed his face.

"No... that would make us worse than puppets. At least a puppet can still be moved toward a destination by someone else. But what would we become if there were no destination left? Nothing to pursue, nothing to achieve, nothing to look forward to?"

He let out a quiet breath.

"Just empty shells. Existing without a purpose, living without a reason, and moving through eternity with absolutely nothing left to reach for."

His words were not loud.

They did not need to be, their weight alone was enough.

"Life itself is a constant struggle to survive, to strive, to desire, and to achieve those desires. It might be unfair. There might be days when you hate it. There might be moments when everything seems so painful that you begin to wonder whether any of it is worth the effort."

Dwaine’s expression softened again.

"But as long as there is something you desire, you will always have a reason to climb."

He raised one hand slightly, as though gesturing toward the endless galaxy stretching above them.

"And as long as you have a reason to keep moving, a reason to keep climbing, then you are alive."

He turned his head toward Orion one final time.

"Do you understand now, young friend?"

Orion did not answer immediately.

His gaze sank into deep contemplation as he tried to piece everything together.

Dwaine’s explanation had given him a great deal to think about, and the more he considered it, the more he began to realize just how much truth there was in those words.

He thought about the life he had lived.

The struggles he had endured.

The pain he had experienced, the failures he had suffered, and the countless times he had been forced to stand back up when everything seemed determined to keep him on the ground.

He thought about the things he had desired and the lengths he had been willing to go to obtain them.

Then he imagined a world where none of those things had ever been necessary.

A world where every obstacle disappeared before he could encounter it.

A world where every desire was fulfilled the instant it appeared in his mind.

A world where there was no need to struggle, no possibility of failure, and no reason to push himself beyond his current limits.

At first, the idea sounded wonderful.

But the longer he thought about it, the more unsettling it became.

What would he have to look forward to?

What would he have to fight for?

If every destination was reached before he even began the journey, what meaning would there be in taking the first step?

And if there was nothing left to achieve, nothing left to discover, and nothing left to desire...

What would remain of him?

An hour passed.

Orion remained lost in contemplation throughout that time, carefully examining every aspect of Dwaine’s explanation until the final pieces finally fell into place.

He understood and everything became clear to him.

Dwaine had been right about one thing, and perhaps it was one of the most important truths he had ever heard.

What made humans human was their desire.

Their endless yearning for something beyond what they already possessed.

Their determination to reach higher, to become stronger, to discover what lay beyond the limits of their current understanding.

Even their suffering, as terrible as it could be, was inseparable from that journey.

It was through struggle that they discovered their strength.

Through failure that they learned the meaning of perseverance.

Through loss that they learned to treasure what remained.

And through the possibility of defeat that victory acquired its value.

Take all of that away...

And what would remain?

Nothing.

No humanity, passion and ambition. What will remain is only emptiness, only an endless meaningless nothingness.

Orion’s grey eyes gleamed slightly.

A small smile curled at the corners of his lips as he slowly shook his head.

"I’ve been an idiot, haven’t I?"

He questioned himself quietly, the words carrying a mixture of self-mockery and realization.

As wonderful as a world where every desire was automatically fulfilled might sound, it would never truly be paradise.

Not when it robbed its inhabitants of the very things that gave their lives meaning.

Not when it extinguished the desire to move forward, to strive for something greater, and to discover what they could become.

Such a world would not be heaven.

It would be hell.

A quiet hell.

And perhaps that was what made it so dangerous.

A hell of flames and blood would make people scream. It would make them fight, resist, and struggle to escape.

But a quiet hell?

A place where every desire was fulfilled, every obstacle removed, and every dream granted before it could even be pursued?

Such a place would make its inhabitants forget that they were trapped in hell at all.

They would smile. They would laugh. They would enjoy their perfect lives.

And all the while, their souls would slowly lose the very thing that made them human.

Their desire.

---

Back to the present.

Orion’s gaze remained locked on the locket resting in his grasp.

A small smile appeared on his face, the same expression of self-mockery that had once crossed his lips during that distant memory.

Yet this time, there was something else mixed into it.

A deep realization.

The forgotten words had returned to him at precisely the moment he needed them most, and as their meaning settled firmly into his heart, the slight haze clouding his thoughts finally disappeared.

His grey eyes cleared immediately.

He looked at the locket for another brief moment before slipping it into his pocket.

Then, he raised his head and turned his attention toward the two orbs floating before him.

The golden orb continued to radiate its brilliant, alluring light, its surface shimmering with a beauty that seemed almost impossible to resist.

It was beautiful.

Powerful.

And, judging by everything he had experienced so far, there was little doubt that whatever lay within it was extraordinary.

Yet Orion now understood something that he had nearly forgotten.

Not everything that looked wonderful was necessarily good.

And not everything that promised to fulfill his desires would bring him happiness.

Sometimes, the most tempting things were the ones that could take the most important things away from him.

"I can’t believe I almost fell for it..."

Orion cursed silently, a faint trace of disbelief lingering in his mind.

He had been so close.

Just one inch away from selecting the golden orb.

One more moment, and he might have thrown away everything he had learned, everything he had endured, and everything that made him who he was.

He might have willingly stepped into a paradise that would have slowly turned into his eternal prison.

Fortunately...

He had remembered.

"Dwaine... thanks."

The words escaped his lips in a whisper so faint that they barely disturbed the silence surrounding him.

His gaze softened slightly as he thought about the man who had once stood beside him.

His friend was long dead.

Time had passed, circumstances had changed, and the world they had once known might as well have belonged to another existence entirely.

Yet even after all those years, Dwaine’s words had found their way back to him.

And so had the locket.

Without those words, without the memory Dwaine had left behind, and without the locket that had remained with him through the passage of time, Orion might have become an eternal fool at that very moment.

He might have abandoned everything for the sake of an illusion.

A beautiful illusion.

One that would have cost him far more than he could ever hope to regain.

Orion took a quiet breath as his gaze sharpened.

The softness disappeared from his grey eyes, replaced by a cold, unwavering light that reflected his renewed determination.

He was done hesitating.

Without another moment of consideration, Orion raised his leg and kicked the golden orb to the side.

The orb shot away from him, its dazzling light briefly streaking across the white space before it drifted into the distance.

Orion did not even spare it another glance.

His hand moved toward the grey orb.

Unlike the golden orb, its appearance was far less alluring. It lacked that overwhelming brilliance, that irresistible beauty that had nearly ensnared his mind.

But Orion no longer cared about appearances.

He knew what he wanted and he had already made his decision.

With a single thought, he selected the grey orb.

The moment his intention registered, a blinding grey light erupted from its surface.

WHOOSH!

The light engulfed Orion completely.

It swept across his body, enveloping him from head to toe as an indescribable sensation surged through every part of his being.

It was not painful, it was quite the opposite.

The sensation was so profound that Orion could barely find the words to describe it.

It was as though something that had been missing from him for an eternity had suddenly returned.

His body felt lighter.

His mind felt clearer.

And an unfamiliar yet deeply satisfying vitality surged through his entire existence, revitalizing him in a way that made him feel truly, genuinely alive.

For the first time in what seemed like forever, Orion felt as though he had finally taken a breath after spending an eternity underwater.

Then...

Something changed, or perhaps nothing had changed at all.

The sensation came and went so quickly that Orion could not immediately determine what had happened.

One moment, he was standing in the white space.

The next, he felt as though the very nature of his existence had been shifted... He vanished.