DOMINIC

That day, Aiden realized the true nature of the world. While other children boasted about black and white, Aiden was busy blending them into a beautiful shade of gray. So beautiful, painful, bitter, sorrowful—Aiden came to understand that this was the true color of the world. It turned out that adults were no different from those children, labeling things as black or white, erecting high fences around what is good and what is bad. It was a moment of isolation for Aiden, as he found himself in between, alone. As Aiden grew up, laws and norms began to attract his attention—two things that humans emulate from the divine. They label what is fair while redrawing the boundaries between black and white. Upon reflection, how arrogant it is for them to decide what is sinful when only God has the right to do so. Aiden, too, is part of this. Justice seems reserved for the gray areas, dismantling the fences that confine, freeing the desires of mankind. Then it reveals the truth—the true color of the world, the genuine nature of their lives. Does Aiden have a right to this? No, he admits. He is but a fool hiding behind the temple of the gods. A fool standing between two worlds, right on the edge of the abyss of hell. He is neither a priest nor a reincarnation of any deity, not as great as Achilles or Hercules, nor as wise as Athena. Aiden is nothing more than a prince cast into the sea. This story is not as complicated as my words above; it is simply about the wicked, the good, and the gray—the realistic characters of humanity. What is truly complicated is how life, the world, and humanity are interconnected.