sparrow and lion

The temple door was unlocked. The stranger had known it would be, but that didn't make it less disappointing. They had begun to feel suspicious of ease. What was life, after all, if not a game of chess. And one could not claim to be truly good at the game if there was no challenge in it. One could only attribute such easy victory to not having found worthy opponents.

The stranger had been so sure that the sage was the adversary who would challenge them most. But the door was unlocked and the interior of the temple was abandoned. The sage sat alone at the foot of the altar. He looked as though he had been waiting for the stranger.

It may have startled another, but the stranger was not like other people. They did not linger by the door. They didn't pretend positive intentions. The stranger walked purposefully to the old man and stopped. The knife was in the stranger's hand. The sage's death was in the stranger's eyes.

The sage saw it all. He met the stranger's gaze. "It has come to this," the sage said. He did not seem afraid or even resigned. In fact, he showed no emotion at all.

"Yes," the stranger said. The sage's words had not been a question, but the sage himself was worthy of a response and the stranger did not want to be rude. The stranger was a civilized member of society after all.

"You are here to kill me, then," the sage said. It wasn't a question. The sage was stating a fact.

"Yes," the stranger replied anyway.

The sage nodded. "Yes," he repeated. "You must walk a path and this is the path that you chose."

The stranger's head cocked. The gentle hold on the blade tightened. "Chose?" The stranger took a step closer to the sage. "No," the stranger said. "This is the only path."

The sage blinked. His eyes were suddenly sad. "There is never only one path," the sage said. "There is light and dark and all the shadows in between." He still did not move from his spot on the altar. "This path you walk is the blackest option."

The stranger seemed to consider this for a moment. They wore stillness like a mask. The sage searched the stranger's eyes for a soul. All he saw inside was darkness. And then the stranger spoke, "One cannot see another path when all is dark."

"Ah." The sage nodded his understanding. "So that is why."

"That is why," the stranger said.

The sage nodded his head and accepted this.

There was more blood than one would expect from such a small man. It pooled beneath him. It ran in rivulets across the floor. It smeared the bottom of the stranger's shoes.

The door swung shut. The stranger was grateful. It had been such a long time since the stranger had had such a friendly conversation. Sages clearly were wise. It was too bad the two could not chat again sometime. But there was so much still to do.

Nonetheless, the stranger turned back to the door and patted it fondly.

A job well done.