Mosaic of the evening

 #Hi_from_reality

Art&concept by Ol Albireo

Feel free to write your stories and give names to the artworks. Also, you're not limited to just writing stories; you can draw your own art, compose music, make toys, saw with a jigsaw, scratch with a nail, and translate into other languages for practice (and never simplify the text when translating!). And show us what you've created :)

The killer slumped comfortably into a chair, his relaxed pose deliberately showy. His hands, secured in electric handcuffs, rested along his body as if to shield his vital organs. Should he decide to strike the prisoner, he would simply fall back in one fluid motion. The chair wouldn't tip over, but the killer would undoubtedly slip and tumble into a somersault.

He waited for an attack.

Shan scrutinized the killer. Sunny and self-assured, he didn't fit the image of a murderer. His eyes were not the least bit malevolent; they were kind, mirthful, the color of turquoise skies or seas. Everything about him was elegant and radiant, even his smile. Indeed, his lips were poised as if he were on the verge of smiling.

"Why did you kill Arisia Kong?" Shan pressed.

The killer merely shrugged.

"The same as the others."

"And the others? Why them?"

Shan hadn't intended to ask; it seemed obvious. Yet the question slipped out. The killer looked surprised, then flashed a smile. Shan couldn't help but admire him. It was clear why the victims had been drawn to him. People with that wide, genuine, luminous smile didn't seem capable of evil. But he was capable.

"It was for the money," the man reminded him. "I'm a mercenary. Nothing personal."

"But you chose your contracts."

"I took the easier ones," the killer shrugged again.

"Arisia Kong was an easy target, right?" Shan probed, as he considered it.

"Much easier. A worthless parasite," the killer dismissed.

"Who hired you?" Shan asked, glancing at the wall where Arisia's inconsolable parents had wept, not now, but months before.

The killer smiled once more.

"I don't know my clients."

"That's not true," Shang countered softly. "You need insurance for cases like this."

The killer shook his head briefly. He was confident. He was sure of the love of indifferent Firokami. And he unafraid of prison, though the Firokami prison had the reason to fear it. He likely had several escape plans. Surely, some fool would mistake this graceful, handsome man for a mere slave and take him in. And he would escape.

Shan sighed and shook his head.

"You won't escape."

"You don't have time for me" - and others won't handle me - the killer didn't say the last, but Shan heard him.

"But I have someone who does."

The killer looked at Shan with a mix of emotion and pity.

Shan grinned, feigning a smile. The killer seemed genuinely impressed.

Shan walked to the door, opened it, and called into the corridor:

"Come in."

It was as if the newcomer hadn't entered the room, but appeared—a thin man with black hair, dazzlingly bright, with a dead, black gaze.

"Hello," he said, his voice crackling, with a predatory smoothness, spiderly,  he sat down across from the killer on the table.

The man let his smile fade, shook his head, and turned to face the newcomer.

"Hi, it's you, who helped me?"

"I am."

"Why did you turn on me?"

"I didn't betray you; he promised you to me," Roddon nodded at Shan. "It coincided with my own plans."

"I see," the killer regarded the newcomer as an old friend.

"I told you, you won't escape. You'll stay with us," Shan declared, standing by the window, gazing at the diamond Firokami where the City was matching the mosaic of the evening.

Khan nodded in agreement. Roddon deactivated the handcuffs and smiled a wickedly dazzling smile. The evening was indeed matching up nicely.

Extra puzzles. Smiling killer, AlbireoMKG