“Why do I have this?”

  A watch-like thing is stuck on his arm. As if it is a part of him, it can feel, and it feels like skin.

  In front of him is a crossroad, reading “Blue or Green” on the log.

  Gazing past the lonely mountain separating the two paths, on one side, there’s an O so solitary sea, devoid of any company but teeming with freedom and potential. On the contrary, there’s the eternal forest, lush and veiling its contents as though it’s too shy to properly express itself.

  “Why does it ask me to move on?”

  “Because the heavenly design wants you to.”

  Everything behind him is not but a colorless void. But there is a woman in a light gown, glowing through the involuntary darkness, tucking her arms behind her back as she walks towards him. His question isn’t answered, though—why does it ask him?

  “The heavenly design, you say. That means I’m in heaven, doesn't it? Am I dead?”

  “In another world, maybe, but here, no.”

  There are only so many things that the human mind defaults to understanding. But the simplest questions like “What is life?” and “What is death?” are among those incomprehensibilities. People waste away their lives chasing the answer to what life is and what lies beyond death, but all their attempts, their valiant sacrifices, end up fruitless and in their demise.

  It would be sad if you got to live a long life only for the resentments you held for so long to die with you unresolved. It’s a real problem, especially if you’re insistent on continuing to ride the high of life. That’s who Lish is…or was, as he wanted his life to be as easy as ever, yet he chose the hardest path to reach what he wished. Everything he knows and could do is simply the byproduct of such endeavors; he is the textbook example of a masochist; he is a freelancer.

  In this common age, everyone wants to author a book and drink wine all day. No-one is fulfilling their duties, and society has halted in progress. This, however, is a lie, told in every era to celebrate the greats of the past as... well… The Greats. Everything has its tempo and moment. Humans just so happened to find the exact instances that are ideal for a significant shift. We are creatures of change, and it’s our law to leave behind those who cannot change.

  Opposites attract—if you pair an idiot with a genius, they’d conquer the world and all its faults. If there is a void, particles must fill such empty space to maintain equilibrium. The status quo must remain, lest society falter after a hundred years. However, it’s also true that everything falls, and as hard as it soared, so we must change and evolve, adapt to hardships as fast as we possibly can.

  “I’m Lish, and who may you be?”

  “I neither have a name nor was I supposed to. I am only here to guide the named ones through their opening shock, confusion, and frustration.”

  “Where even am I? Where am I going?”

  “Right now, you are in Nowhere. In front of you are the paths to the Hushye Sea and the Unava Forest.”

  As she explains it, the one on the right—the green one—is for those who need a kind of guidance through life; a preload, if you will. If he takes this “forest route”, he’d be subject to labor and labor alone, without any hindrance of problems or any difficult solutions to fallacies. However, if he takes the blue one—the “sea route”—he'd be free to do anything he wants, whichever way he likes it: sail the seas, build a city, whatever he wants—but he'd do it by himself and himself alone.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  “Either get honed to perfection or sharpen the areas prone to dulling yourself and exceed the edge of singularity; that is your choice.”

  Lish is not the person to blindly follow orders. Even though his conscience yelled at him to just follow along, he couldn’t help but ask:

  “Why?”

  The last thing he could remember at the time was that he fell from a place. It was a tall, open space, with a metal or some kind of solid surface. He hadn’t the idea of why he was there in the first place—he just couldn’t remember.

  “Because… the design wills you to choose.”

  “Just what is this heavenly design you speak so fondly of?”

  “I cannot answer that as I myself do not know the answer.”

  “Why?”

  “…You should look at it this way: You are here because the design wanted you to be here. And it wanted me to guide you through the process because it knew you would believe me. It also knows what path you ought to choose, but it cannot force it onto you. It governs existence and everything in it, yet it cannot control any of it. That is why I, and every one of the helpers, exist.”

  It sounded to him as if the heavenly design was just another religious idol, said to govern the world. But something was off about this; it’s said that it didn’t fully puppeteer the feeble beings as though it was playing with their fates. Instead, it only observed the outcomes and guided them toward the more favorable, more fun ones.

  “You said I’m one of the named ones, so who are the others?”

  “There are another four that I can remember the names of: Alim, Citrine, Shiro, and Boris, but you should not trouble yourself with who or where they may be; the chances are, you will not see them in your travels. This world is a marvelous canvas, created by the heavenly design, spanning over millions of dushes.”

  “If I were to traverse those ‘millions of dushes’, what would be the reason? Has the design assigned—no—predicted my fate that I would die in a ditch, searching for something impossible?”

  “That is a good question. And a mind that can come up with that can easily figure out the solution, no? You can!”

  People often confuse kindness with righteousness. Then again, “why are they acting kind if their action is not right”, eh? Lish believes those two are separate but closely related concepts, often intertwined in the kindhearted. But when one is missing from someone's actions, the person acting with such effort can seem a bit strange. Lish classifies them as “anti-social,” opposing the norms of balance and the status quo.

  The same kind of anti-socialness can be felt in her. She appears helpful but distant, as if she’s intentionally hiding something from him.

  “I wouldn’t mind if you guided me to the solution, as you promised.”

  “…that meter on your wrist—that will help you more than I will ever be allowed to. Now, choose your path; you have stayed here long enough.”

  A decision as important as one’s future isn't made on a whim. However, if you leave it to chance, it often ends up okay. But is it luck that made your journey smooth, or were both of the paths equally easy for you?

  “If you wouldn’t mind, hold my hand for a moment.”

  “Why?”

  “Just cause. Come on~ Hold my hand”.

  As fate would have it, she held Lish’s left hand.

  He grabs her hand, gently places it on his cheek, and says, “Good job. I choose whichever side your hand is on.

  He chose the “sea route”, the left one.

  As he set sights upon the sea abroad, his body started to move on its own. As if a mystic force were guiding him through the mountain pass, he could only appraise the surrounding cliffs.

  “Hello world!”

  In Lish’s head, through his spine, a never-before-heard voice spoke to him.

  The meter, once on his wrist, has now made its way up to his vertebrae.

  “Wha- who- what was that?”

  "I’m as you as you are me. I can talk, I may have opinions, but beyond that, you’re on your own. I may also appraise your actions. I cannot, however, do the dishes for you."

  …

  A true schizophrenic experience.

  the design’s proposed conclusion.