12 Life of a stepping stone
Feeling the pain in his body disappear Ali opened his eyes slowly and looked around carefully at the unfamiliar surroundings.
"Where am I?" Ali said as he found himself standing in a grand hall, something which looked like a movie set for some period royal drama.
Everything was so grand and perfect and pretty in that place. The walls, the decoration, the chandelier, the carpets, the corners everything looked something straight out of a fairytale.
"It shouldn't be a hospital, so did Liv brought me here?" Ali doubted as the last thing he remembered was her.
'Was she crying at that time?' Ali thought after remembering something suddenly.
"Probably not, it doesn't suit her personality after all." He said, thinking he probably saw it wrong.
"But this isn't her house, and how much time did I pass out for?" Ali, feeling confused, looked at his watch on the wrist and noticed none of the needles were moving.
"Is anybody here? Hellloooo. I'm awake now? Where is this place?" Ali started shouting as he started looking around here and there.
But as he opened any door or window through that giant hall, he only became more surprised. Because all those things led him to something entirely different. One window showed him outer space, while the other showed an underwater kingdom. One showed a sci-fi themed outside world, while the other showed primitive huts and caves.
One door which showed a world fully filled with pretty girls while the one nearby it showed a world where an apocalypse wiped out all the females.
From one glass window he even saw dragons and phoenixes flying around, while from the other he saw beings as big as those celestials shown in that marvel movie, playing football with a planet. Kicking it around here and there, while using black holes at the edge of a galaxy as goal poles.
Ali nearly went insane just looking at them and closed everything once again.
"What is this place?"
"Am I high?" Ali doubted as he came back to the same place where he first woke up again.
"Wait, am I dead and this is some sort of afterlife or heaven thingy?" Ali said with an expression that was like he finally figured it out, but the joy of guessing came with the realization of death.
"So I died just like this huh?" Ali sighed and sat down.
[Stop overreacting, you're still alive.]
Hearing a sudden voice Ali jolted from his seat and looked around carefully, but didn't find anyone.
[I'm in your mind, stop looking around.]
The voice said again and this time Ali was sure that _ _ he finally went insane.
Maybe he lost too much blood and fell into a coma. He saw a movie with a similar context once.
[Sigh. Look human, I don't have much time to waste on your overly obvious false excuses, so just open your eyes and see everything yourself,]
As the voice finishes its words a surge of memories appeared in Ali's mind like a movie or a slideshow - Ali saw Kevin kicking that knife from the ground, and it moving straight for his heart and then he saw Liv taking him to the hospital and then …. a ray of red light which fell onto his head and… disappeared.
"What is that? Was that you? Are you a ghost?" Ali asked with an unbelievable expression.
[That ray of light was indeed me. But I'm no ghost or anything you can think of.]
[I am the system.]
"System?" Ali muttered again in confusion. "That system from novels?"
[Yes, something like that.] The voice said again, clearly not in the mood to explain the grand scheme of things and its real origins.
"What kind of system are you?"
[I'm the legendary great villain system 2.O]
"2.0 is that an update thing? Or are you on level 2 already?" Ali asked, failing to contain his curiosity and doubts.
As the one who's responsible for trying out various games and fixing their stories, loopholes and bugs before their release, he already had some idea about this new genre of binding systems which has been in the hype for recent years.
[It's none of those. It's just my name Great Villain system 2.0]
"What about the 1.0 or the first villain system?"
[That's another system.]
"So you're some new version of the original system, or a copy, or a child system, perhaps?"
[None of those. I'm me and the others are others.]
[Now stop asking useless things. You only have five minutes to ask me whatever you want, after that I'll fall asleep until you get me some luck and origins of this world to recover. So you better not waste any more time.]
"What? Fall asleep? Just five minutes? I knew you were some second grade cheaper version of the great original system. That's why it's in your name too."
System felt angry hearing the insult, but it really didn't have the mood and energy to handle this guy now, so it just showed him a transparent blue screen which had a timer on it. Constantly moving.
Ali saw the reducing time and got serious too. Though it all sounded unreasonable and unbelievable, he still didn't want to waste his time now, and then regret it later.
So he asked his main doubts one by one. First and foremost.
"Am I really alive and not dreaming, right now?"
[You're still alive. Your body's resting in a hospital bed right now. While your mind is with me, the system's mindscope.]
"But that knife pierced my heart, I could feel it? The trouble in breathing, the pain of losing life, it was all so real."
[Because it was real.]
[You did get stabbed in the heart, and you were going to die in that car with that villainess. But I found you just then, and saved you from your death.]
"Then the hospital …"
[That's just her. Don't worry about it and ask something else. You'll understand these things automatically when you wake up and ask a doctor.] System urged again to ask some real important questions, instead of useless things like where I was stabbed, which artery bled and how much blood I lost, that was all nonsensical waste of its precious time.
Ali too nodding his head in approval, calmed down and started thinking about something else to ask.
But just then he remembered something and said "Wait, you just said I was supposed to die near the villainess. Did you mean Liv?"
[Of course. Who else but her? According to her fate, the role this world had determined for her is of the villainess who'll fight against the chosen sons and daughters of destiny and later die in their path to progress.]
"Why?"
[There's no right answer for this question as there's no specific reason for her fate. It is what it is.] System said, explaining how the weak had no power to choose their own destiny. All their lives they can just be the puppets of fate, tied to a string of aura and luck which makes sure they play their fixed role.
"If Liv is a villainess then what am I? A villain?" Ali asked doubtful about his own life.
Now that he thinks back on it through this perspective he does fit the role of a villain quite perfectly. Rich family, single heir, handsome looks, dog licker reputation, and a villainess around him - isn't this the proper villain template.
"I really am a villain. And looking at my family's power and image, it should be a big villain boss role too." Ali thought and muttered.
But hearing his question and reading his thoughts, the system started laughing loudly as if it just heard a best joke and a funny joker.
[Villain? A boss? (Chuckles) You're just a stepping stone.]
[Destined to get insulted, face slapped, beaten into a cripple.]
[The most important role you ever play in the plans of destiny is to just fume the flame of hatred between the hero and the villainess.. And start the chain event of your family's destruction, so some other heroine's family can take their place and back the hero up even more in his growth.]
???
'A stepping stone'
'Just some useless cannon fodder like those arrogant young master meme guys.' Ali sighed and questioned it once again "Stepping stone, seriously?"
[Yupp. And what I told you just now is your fated future. The life of a stepping stone. Start, skip and the end - that's it.]
Hearing it again, Ali clenched his fists and cursed the fate in his heart.
'Well, fuck you fate. There's no way in hell I'm so incompetent.'
'Even Liv is a major villainess, and I'm just _ oh what an insult.'
