Atheline watched himself from a detached distance. Seeing himself was unsettling not because the memory was unfamiliar but because it was so painfully ordinary.
He had no significance here.
No destiny.
No importance.
Just a role that would disappear if the story removed it. This was probably an off-screen part of the novel that was glossed over in favor of the protagonist.
It was a real world with real people but only one person held destiny in the world and was favored by the world itself. Everyone else was just background characters.
Atheline watched as he ran around the court, moving further down the rings until he reached the lowered ring where every illegal activity took place. He turned to a lonely hallway unfazed by the darkness.
He walked to the end but then, he stopped the moment he stepped out into the light.
In front of him was a dried fountain, the stones having cracked around its edges.
Atheline's gaze widened just like the novel version of him.
