The Last Fragment Of The End

Somewhere unknown.

A space and dimension that has no celestial bodies and is only illuminated by a shining throne. There was an unidentified humanoid entity sitting on it. Above its left palm were two hourglass-fragment shards, shining and floating. And in the palm of its right hand was a fragment shaped like an hourglass that began to shine brighter than the other two shards in its left hand.

The throne was not particularly high or wide, but the distance between the creatures eyes and the ground was far too great for it to stand upright. But the most distinctive feature about this creature was the fact that it had no mouth.

”Ah, the last fragment has shone. Now, the time has come. Have fun while you
e still sitting on the throne of the almighty, Supreme God! Because very soon, your seat will be filled by my own divine presence! ” The entity stood up, and as it did, the hourglass fragments in its hands started to glow brightly.

The voice sounded as though it came from everywhere at once. It was filled with joyous laughter. The voice seemed to have grown larger until his voice echoed in the place and caused the millions of non-shining fragments beneath his throne to shatter. All the shattered fragments let out something that aimed at the person and then entered his body.

That was the moment when the entitys eyes were suddenly filled with light. It was not the light of the sun or moon. It was a light that had been formed by the thousands of shards of glass. It was the light of the fragments that had been turned into an endless chain of lights.

The entitys face was contorted in agony.

It raised its head, and it looked at the sky. There was no moon or sun in the sky. The stars were also absent. The sky was empty of everything that should exist there, and the air was devoid of all forms of life.

However, the entity did not stop staring at the sky. It began to tremble. And even more pain and agony than before filled its entire being. The entity felt like it was dying from within. Then it started to scream in a voice so loud that the air trembled and all of existence shook with it. It yelled for the universe to end and die, and at the same time, it cried out that this was all a dream and that nothing real was going on here at all.

Then, the entity stopped yelling. A single word escaped from its mouth.

”Haaaaahhh! ”

Its cry was so great that it could not be measured with the greatest scales and the highest of mountains. And at the same time, the entitys body vanished without a trace, leaving only a few wisps of smoke in the empty space where it had once stood.

***

Metropolis, the year 2040

”Hello everyone, congratulations on your grade promotion. Now you are a 3rd-grade high school student and I am your homeroom teacher in this 3rd grade. You can call me Miss Lisa. Alright, lets start our class with introductions, starting with you. ”

Lisa, the newly appointed teacher, spoke these words and looked at her students faces. She noticed that their expressions were blank, like they hadn heard anything she had just said.

The students were all wearing uniforms with white gloves and white shoes. Some of them were looking down, others were looking at each other, and some were talking to themselves quietly. They were a mixture of boys and girls ranging from fifteen years old to seventeen years old.

The homeroom teacher pointed to a student in the far right front row, who looked out the window with the appearance of a student wearing his hoodie that covered his head and twirling his pen. He then opened his hoodie and revealed his messy brown hair.

”Hi everyone. My name is Artham Lanis. Im seventeen years old, and my hobby is reading fiction novels and playing games. If you want to know more about me, just ask. ”

Artham said this and sat back down in his seat. His classmates all looked at him. However, none of them showed any signs of interest.

”Alright, next please… ” Lisa said and continued pointing to other students one after another. She noticed that none of the students seemed interested in answering what she had asked. Even if they knew it, it appeared like no one wanted to say it out loud.

The silence persisted for several minutes until Lisa finally sighed and thought to herself: ”What an uninteresting group of people, I guess Ill have to find something else to make fun of them for. Oh, maybe Ill take their grades in the first week and tell everyone how bad they are! ”

Her mind was suddenly flooded with various ideas that would be funny to her students. But as she looked at them again, she realized that she was wrong.

They were just normal kids.

None of them was particularly bright or particularly dumb.

They weren special because they were born or not smart.

All that mattered to them was whether they were able to get out of their homes and go to school, and that was about it.

After the class ended, Artham left the classroom. On his way, he overheard a lot of students telling news called [Genius Boy] which was currently popular.

[Genius Boy] is an international media show that shows a young man who can imitate the abilities of anyone he sees in a short time. But what the students were talking about was stopping the international program because the actor called [Genius Boy] wanted to end it for some unknown reason.

Artham felt a little annoying hearing that. He walked down the corridor swiftly and arrived at the library, where he started looking through the shelves for books that he could read. He needed something to keep him occupied.

As he was walking, he noticed that he had become so used to going to school that he no longer felt any kind of excitement or joy when he came to the place. He thought to himself: ”I wonder if Ill ever feel like this again. Im sure that it will come back eventually, but right now, it doesn seem like it. ”

He sat on a chair and took out a book. After flipping through its pages, he decided to start reading it. It was the first fiction novel he had ever read, and it was about a boy who traveled to another world to rescue his friend. He enjoyed reading it, and it kept him entertained for some time.

There are lines of sentences that come from a part of the novel that makes Artham always wonder about himself.

[Are you satisfied with your life?]

A question that has no answer. But a question that will never stop asking itself.

That question makes him out of his own world.

He thought about how his life would change if he didn have the feeling of boredom that always followed him.

Am I satisfied with my life? This is not the first time I realize I live as a human being who is considered a genius by many people, but in reality, I live like a machine that always does what others said to make them feel happy but I never find my own happiness again. I feel like Ive lost something very important to me and I don know what is it.

Here I am, as people say, I am a genius. Because of my talent, whatever I learn in theory or practice, I will quickly understand. It can be assumed that if I just watch someone play an instrument, I can easily imitate all their movements in a little time.

My memory is also amazing. I can remember almost everything I learned or experienced perfectly.

When I was young, I already knew what I wanted to do and where I should go. In order to achieve my goal, I worked hard in all possible ways to study as much as I could. I studied harder than the most diligent student in my school, memorizing and analyzing every single fact until I could recite them backward and forwards.

Even though I spent countless hours studying, I never felt like I accomplished anything.

At age 6 months, I could speak perfectly even though the voice of the sentence was still messy because the babys body was not yet fully perfect.

Then when I was 4 years old, I often watched classical music performances because the camera view always focused on the movements of the musicians so I could analyze all their movements and Immediately I asked my parents to buy me a piano instrument and when my parents saw me playing the piano, they amazed at how well I played like a pro.

Every time I play an instrument, they always record me and upload it to social media until one day a video of me playing an instrument professionally at 4 was so viral that even viewers from other countries saw it.

Day after day, every video uploaded by my parents on social media is always the major topic of conversation and the time comes when journalists come to my house and see my show live.

After that, they asked me to come to their event as a special guest and of course, they will give refund and money service for coming to their event.

Because I only cared about what my parents said and well, they also received an invitation as a special guest at the event and thats where the story of a genius child was born who was not only good at one musical instrument but he also showed his unusual talent in front of the live audiences.

A few years later, when I was in school, I got many awards and always continuously took the top position in several competitions.

It was only in the 1st grade of high school; I realized I was never satisfied with what I was doing until I stopped taking part in existing competitions and just became an ordinary student and a lover of games, novels, and comics.

I have lived this life with my own rules that I made for myself.

Until now, it seems Ive been following the rule of making others happy so much that I forgot to find my own happiness.

What am I trying to accomplish by becoming a 3rd-grade high school student? Do I have something else that I want to do or is there someone else that I want to meet? If I keep asking those questions to myself, will I discover my real dream? Or will I just continue living this way forever?

Im even tired of doing normal things more than once, like falling in love, betrayal, friendship, separation, and abnormal things like committing murder.

Yap, I killed 2 people.

Artham Lanis suddenly felt tired. He took out his phone and checked the time. It was almost two oclock in the afternoon. The time reminds him of that accident 5 years ago.

–

5 years ago.

”Dad, can I see what kind of work you do? ”

A boy talking to his father who is wearing his work uniform.

”You can . You know that fathers work is not good to see for a child your age. ”

The boy who heard these words felt a little annoyed.

”Dad, you know Im not the same as a normal kid my age. Please, please, let Artham come with you. ”

”I know, but you are still a 12-year-old child, in my eyes. ”

The boy looked unhappy but he accepted his fathers refusal because the only way he could see his father is when he comes home late at night.

”Please, dad… let me see you do your work. ”

Artham looks down and away. And when he was about to leave his fathers room, he let out a big sigh. Seeing Artham sad made his father feel guilty.

”Fine, but you promise not to do anything and just look around. ”

Artham stopped and grinned. He then turn around and looked at his father with happiness then hugged him.

”Thank you! Dad! ” said Artham while hugging his father.

”Okay then, get ready. We will go to the metropolis prison. ”

”Mhm. ” Artham nodded.

Artham, with a cheerful smile, goes out of his fathers room to get ready to go outside.

The father smiled brightly while he held his sons hand and walked towards his workplace. At this moment, Arthams father noticed his sons interest in his job and felt proud because of that.

Metropolis Prison is the most dangerous prison known to the people of the metropolis because the metropolis prison is a class 5 prison or the highest rank and the most dangerous prison where most of the prisoners are people who will be executed or imprisoned for life for their crimes.

Because of its high-security level, there is no public access to the metropolis prison.

The father and son went inside the prison through an underground tunnel. Inside the tunnel, they walked until they arrived at the main gate of the metropolis prison.

The father took out his ID card and showed it to the guard on duty. The guard opened the gate and let them pass.

Arthams father is the chief warden at the prison and used to work writing reports to his superiors, overseeing some executions of prisoners, and training the others guards. However, after he became a chief warden, he started to do his main duty which was to oversee the security of all the prisons within the metropolis. It seemed that his boss liked him because he is very reliable and he is a good worker so they gave him such an important position.

Now, the father and son entered the prisons main gate. There were several guards standing near the gate.

”Good morning, chief warden! ” greeted one of the guards.

”Good morning, Gavriel. ”

The father and son walked towards the office building where the chief warden works. When they arrived at the door of the building, the father knocked on it and after a few seconds, the door was opened by the secretary.

”Good morning, chief warden. ”

”Good morning, Diana. ”

They both smiled and nodded at each other.

The father and son entered the building.

Arriving at the prison Artham began to observe the events that were there one by one. There were people with tattoos, people who had been locked in a cage and chains, and others who were not handcuffed and chained. All these things make Artham curious about why his father was working here.

Starting from seeing the activities of the prison guards who were on guard, some of the guards practiced shooting, training, and exercising, observing the movements of the prisoners during the day while walking inside their cell blocks. Artham saw how the prisoners life is, including the things they are allowed to do like watching television or reading books in the library while others have nothing but spend their time on thinking about how to escape or do something violent.

And lastly, there were some inmates who were fighting, then there was a strange incident that he saw in one of the inmates who walked away from the fight. while the others were watching the fight but the prisoners Artham saw were entering several other holding rooms one after another.

Also after the inmate that Artham noticed stopped going into the other inmates room. the prisoner realized if he was noticed by Artham and their eyes met then this prisoner gave a big smile and waved at Artham. But Artham just ignored him and just thought that maybe the prisoner was crazy.

Artham suddenly turned around when he heard something that he couldn ignore and that was his father calling for him. He follows his fathers call and they went to a room named Execution Watcher Room

Inside the execution watcher room, Artham and his father sit down on chairs.

”Well, what did you think? ” asked the father.

”Im sorry, I didn really understand what we
e doing here. ”

”Oh, its okay. Ill explain it. ”

The father takes out a notebook and opens it. He begins to write something on the page.

”This is the list of prisoners that will be executed today. ”

He continued to write more names on the paper and handed it to his son. ”Here, read all of them. ”

Artham reads the name of all the prisoners who would be executed that day. After finishing the entire list, he looked up to his father.

”So, what do you think? ”

Artham answers with a question of his own: ”Is there any prisoner that you don want to execute? ”

His father laughed loudly. ”No, I have no such intention. These criminals must be punished. They committed terrible crimes and deserve to die. ”

Artham nodded in agreement.

”But… I wonder… ” Artham paused. ”If you are going to kill them anyway, why do you need me here? Why not just send me back home? ”

His father smiled. ”Of course, I could do that but then I won be able to watch your face when you see all of those executions. Don worry, I wouldn let you see anything that is too gory or disgusting. You said that first experience is important, right? So, I decided to make this your first time witnessing an execution. ”

Artham nods in understanding. His father smiled again.

”By the way, I have something else to tell you. ”

Artham looked at his father curiously.

”When I told you about the execution of those criminals, I mentioned that I wanted to talk about something else. This is about the reason why Im doing this job. ”

Arthams eyebrows raised.

”You know that the government wants us to increase the number of executions, right? To make sure that our country is safe from crime, we should do what they say. But Im not like them. I believe that killing people is wrong. ”

Artham was surprised. He has never seen his father like this before.

”Im not saying that I don agree with what the government says. Im just saying that Im against it. Killing someone is a sin. God will punish those who commit sins. Im not afraid of the punishment that I might receive for not executing these criminals. What Im scared of is being judged by God for not doing my job properly. ”

Artham was shocked.

”Im not perfect. Im not a saint. But I am trying my best to do whats right. ”

Artham was speechless. He never expected to hear these words from his father. He knew that his father doesn approve of violence. He knows that his father is not a murderer. He just didn expect to hear these words from him.

Artham looks away. He can help but think that his father is not the same as he used to be. He looks back at his father and sees him smiling.

”I know that you are not happy about this but I hope that you will forgive me someday. Just remember that I love you. ”

Artham nodded.

”Okay, dad. ”

There was a square window in that room where the father and son were sitting. From there, they can see the execution site.

”Are you ready? ” asked his father.

”Yes, ” answered Artham.

”Then, lets do this. ”

Arthams father stood up and walks towards the window. He looks outside and saw several guards standing at attention. Then he turns around to his son and smiles.

”Remember, you are not to do anything except to watch. If you see something that you don like, just close your eyes and pretend that you are asleep. ”

Artham nods.

”Okay. ”

His father then closes his eyes and sits on the chair beside Artham.

From there, they watched a prisoner who was brought to the execution site.

The prisoner looks old because of his white beard. Artham saw that old prisoner smiling while he is about to be executed.

”Dad, why is he smiling? ” asks Artham.

”That man is very lucky because he gets to die instead of living without freedom for the rest of his life. He got what he