“go forth and leave me be, Chancellor Leonid.”

Grim Leonid knows what he meant by that. as the royal advisor, how can he not now what the mad king wants him to do or should i say, what the punishment is behind those words.

“questioning the order of the king, do you know how grave that sin is? did the title ‘Royal Advisor’ made you think that you are allowed to have doubts with how i deal with my subjects?”

grim kept his head down. listening to such words of the mad king made him despise him even more.

“go. i sentence you banishment from my kingdom. knights, escort this traitor out.”

grim bowed. he swore to himself that this will be the last time that he'll bow to such ridiculous person.

“Este imperio enfrentará su desaparición bajo tu gobierno. glory to our king and our kingdom.”

the king was enraged as soon as he heard those words. the remaining dukes that attended the meeting calmed him down, afraid of what he'll do to the chancellor. he's their last hope, they can't have him breathe his last here.

he didn't even turn back and beg for forgiveness. he wanted to satiate his curiosity.

—

he travelled alone... with nothing but food and water in his bag and a mind filled with curiosity about the edge of the world. he passed the barren woods, lush sceneries. got bitten by animals and insects.

he travelled for so long but the said edge is nowhere to be found. was it just a myth? after all, the people that the mad king ‘sent’ never returned. perhaps they all died in the wild.

his initial excitement turned into a crushed dream. it has been 2 days since he ran out of food and water. his wounds are bleeding.

he sat and leaned his back to a large tree. he intends to sleep... maybe this'll be his last sleep.

“is this my end? i—”

his words was never finished as his consciousness faded.

—

“chancellor is awake! Nabi, Seo, Ei, everyone! the chancellor is awake!”

grim opened his eyes when he heard the familiar voice.

“Fibi..”

“chancellor... you still know my name. it is an honor.” fibi said as he bent his knees, intending to kneel.

grim stood up and held his arms. “please. there is no need for you to kneel. i am no longer the chancellor. that mad king banished me.”

as soon as he finished, everyone have already crowded the room. seeing so many familiar faces made his eyes watery.

“Duke Nabi, Duke Ei..”

the two kneeled as soon as they heard grim.

“Count Fibi... Count Seo...”

“Chancellor.” both said the same and kneeled simultaneously.

“noble knights... knight Arian, knight Kale... the sergeants.. everyone is here.”

he looked up as soon as he saw everyone kneel, it would be a disgrace if they saw the chancellor crying, “i thought you guys are dead.”

“we were waiting for you, chancellor.” they said in unison.

he found out that they're planning to overthrow the kingdom and get rid of the mad king. they have an intel inside to which informed them about the chancellor's banishment. they rejoiced at such news. the chancellor who opposed the king everytime one of them gets this kind of punishment is now here and is now aware of their plan. they wanted the chancellor to lead the plan as he knows every bits of the king's habits.

“chancellor, welcome to derrocador.”

staring at the edge of the world and the thriving community near it, he stayed silent.

(this is impromptu and im sorry if i made a mistake.)

omg😭

a lil background, those names were my old pennames.

a door suddenly emerged.

“congratulations, Piqueros! you have found an exit to the simulation.”

a voice rang inside our head as we watch the people around us evaporate into nothingness. it has been a few decades since we entered this damned world, hoping that we would really find ourselves. they ran countless experiments with us as their subject, observing our morning routine down to how we interact with each person that we met. they eventually found out that Maria have 4 personas inside her—

“kuro, grim, trux and chinchin, please head to the exit and leave the simulation.”

we looked at ourselves and seemed to reach a tacit understanding.

at first, it was weird that we have the same faces but we eventually got used to it. each personality differs from each other even though we were ‘molded’ from one person.

we came into this world with nothing but our own personalities and a single sentence rooted down into our brain— work together and find the exit. we asked ourselves, why work together?

we spent decades together and now we understand— it was to fully find out who we are. we guess that triggered the exit prompt?

“so... who's gonna exit first?” chinchin said.

we looked at her. silence filled the air as no one wanted to answer her question.

“aah, fuck it. let me go first and test the waters. i have no will to live after all— alive or dead, i dont care. take this as my contribution to the group.” grim uttered as she stood up and walked towards the door. we all have suicide ideations but hers is the strongest. we saw her heave a sigh before entering.

grim vanished, just like how the people around us disappeared.

since we heard the word ‘simulation’ we never ruled out the possibility that we are also a bunch of data. it's just too shocking to see someone— or something that we've known for decades disappear in front of us.

“so grim was just a data.” trux chimed.

“yeah. now, should we go in together or one by one?” chinchin said.

“well, it's too painful to watch someone disappear in front of us.” kuro said.

we held hands and entered the door together.

we watched ourselves in horror as we saw us slowly dissipating into the air. shouldn't one of us the real Maria?

before disappearing completely, we have a thought that crossed our minds. perhaps Maria have no real personality that she completely own. all of us were the result of mirroring the personality of the people she met just so she could fit in and satisfy the people's desire and expectations. perhaps once there was— twas lost and finding it is now impossible.

we have the one thing in common, though. it was suicide ideation. perhaps... that's a glimpse of who we truly are.