Posts Tagged ‘Chapter’

The Winner Stands Alone by Paulo Coelho. Chapter 03

Fashion. Whatever can people be thinking? Do they think fashion is something that changes according to the season of the year? Did they really come from all corners of the world to show off their dresses, their jewellery and their collection of shoes? They don’t understand. ‘Fashion’ is merely a way of saying: ‘I belong to your world. I’m wearing the same uniform as your army, so don’t shoot.’

Ever since groups of men and women first started living together in caves, fashion has been the only language everyone can understand, even complete strangers. ‘We dress in the same way. I belong to your tribe. Let’s gang up on the weaklings as a way of surviving.’

But some people believe that ‘fashion’ is everything. Every six months, they spend a fortune changing some tiny detail in order to keep up their membership of the very exclusive tribe of the rich. If they were to visit Silicon Valley, where the billionaires of the IT industry wear plastic watches and beat-up jeans, they would understand that the world has changed; everyone now seems to belong to the same social class; no one cares any more about the size of a diamond or the make of a tie or a leather briefcase. In fact, ties and leather briefcases don’t even exist in that part of the world; nearby, however, is Hollywood, a relatively more powerful machine – albeit in decline – which still manages to convince the innocent to believe in haute-couture dresses, emerald necklaces and stretch limos. And since this is what still appears in all the magazines, who would dare destroy a billion-dollar industry involving advertisements, the sale of useless objects, the invention of entirely unnecessary new trends, and the creation of identical face creams all bearing different labels?

How ridiculous! Igor cannot conceal his loathing for those whose decisions affect the lives of millions of honest, hard-working men and women leading dignified lives and glad to have their health, a home and the love of their family.
How perverse! Just when everything seems to be in order and as families gather round the table to have supper, the phantom of the Superclass appears, selling impossible dreams: luxury, beauty, power. And the family falls apart.
The father works overtime to be able to buy his son the latest trainers because if his son doesn’t have a pair, he’ll be ostracised at school. The wife weeps in silence because her friends have designer clothes and she has no money. Their adolescent children, instead of learning the real values of faith and hope, dream only of becoming singers or movie stars. Girls in provincial towns lose any real sense of themselves and start to think of going to the big city, prepared to do anything, absolutely anything, to get a particular piece of jewellery. A world that should be directed towards justice begins instead to focus on material things, which, in six months’ time, will be worthless and have to be replaced, and that is how the whole circus ensures that the despicable creatures gathered together in Cannes remain at the top of the heap.

Igor is untouched by this destructive power, for he has one of the most enviable jobs in the world. He continues to earn more money in a day than he could spend in a year, even if he were to indulge in all possible pleasures, legal and illegal. He has no difficulty in finding women, regardless of whether they know how much money he has – he’s tested it out on more than one occasion and never failed yet. He has just turned 40, is in good physical shape and, according to his annual checkup, has no health problems. He has no debts either. He doesn’t have to wear a particular designer label, go to a particular restaurant, spend his holidays at a beach where ‘everyone’ goes or buy a watch just because some successful sportsman is promoting it. He can sign major contracts with a cheap ballpoint pen, wear comfortable, elegant jackets, hand-made by a tailor who has a small shop next to his office, and which carry no label at all. He can do as he likes and doesn’t have to prove to anyone that he’s rich; he has an interesting job and loves what he does.

Perhaps that’s the problem: he still loves what he does. He’s sure that this is why the woman who came into the bar some hours earlier is not sitting at his table with him.
He tries to keep thinking, to pass the time. He asks Kristelle for another drink – he knows the waitress’s name because an hour ago, when the bar was emptier (people were having supper), he asked for a glass of whisky, and she said that he looked sad and should eat something to cheer himself up. He thanked her for her concern, and was glad that someone should care about his state of mind.

He is perhaps the only one who knows the name of the waitress serving him, the others only want to know the names – and, if possible, the job title – of the people sitting at the tables and in the armchairs.

He tries to keep thinking, but it’s gone three o’clock in the morning, and the beautiful woman and her courteous companion – who, by the way, looks remarkably like him – have not reappeared. Maybe they went straight up to their room where they are now making love, or perhaps they’re still drinking champagne on one of the yachts where the parties only begin when the other parties are all coming to an end. Perhaps they’re lying in bed, reading magazines, ignoring each other.

Not that it matters. Igor is alone and tired and needs to sleep.

7.22 a.m.

He wakes up at 7:22 .am., much earlier than his body would like, but he hasn’t yet adapted to the time difference between Moscow and Paris. If he was at work, he would already have held two or three meetings with his subordinates and be preparing to have lunch with some new client.

He has another task to fulfil here: he must find someone he can sacrifice in the name of love. He needs a victim, so that Ewa will get his message that very morning.

He has a bath, goes downstairs to have a coffee in an almost deserted restaurant, then sets off along the Boulevard de la Croisette on which nearly all the major luxury hotels are located. There is no traffic because one lane is blocked off and only cars with official permission are being allowed through. The other lane is empty because even the people who live in the city are still only just getting ready to go to work.

He feels no resentment. He has passed the really difficult phase, when he couldn’t sleep because he was so filled with pain and hatred. Now he can understand Ewa’s feelings: after all, monogamy is a myth that has been rammed down people’s throats for far too long. He has read a lot on the subject. It isn’t just a matter of excess hormones or vanity, but, as all the research indicates, a genetic configuration found in almost all animals.

Paternity tests given to birds, monkeys and foxes revealed that simply because these species had developed a social relationship very similar to marriage did not necessarily mean that they had been faithful to each other. In 70 per cent of cases, their offspring turn out to have been fathered by males other than their partners. Igor remembered something written by David Barash, Professor of Psychology at University of Washington in Seattle, in which he said that the only species in nature that doesn’t commit adultery and in which there seems to be 100 per cent monogamy is a flatworm, Diplozoon paradoxum. The male and female worms meet as adolescents, and their bodies literally fuse together.

This is why he cannot accuse Ewa of anything; she was merely following her human instincts. However, she had been brought up to believe in those unnatural social conventions and must be feeling guilty, thinking that he doesn’t love her any more and will never forgive her.
He is, in fact, prepared to do anything, even to send messages that will mean he has destroyed someone’s world, just so that she’ll know that not only is he willing to welcome her back, he will gladly bury the past and ask no questions.

‘Are You God Or Just Gay?’ – Tenth Chapter The Winner Stands Alone

Even if he’d had his swimming things with him, he would have found it difficult to get anywhere near the sea shore. The big hotels had, it seems, acquired the rights to great swathes of beach which they had filled with their chairs, logos, waiters and bodyguards, who, at every entry point, demanded the guest’s room key or some other form of identification. Other areas were occupied by huge white marquees, where some production company, brewery or cosmetics firm was launching its latest product at a so-called â??lunch’. People here were dressed normally, if by â??normal’ you mean a baseball cap, bright shirt and light-coloured trousers for men, and jewellery, loose top, bermudas and low-heeled shoes for women.

Dark glasses were de rigueur for both sexes, and there was little bare flesh on show because members of the Superclass were too old for that now, and any such display would be considered ridiculous or, rather, pathetic.

Igor noticed one other thing: the mobile phone. The most important item of clothing.

It was essential to be receiving a constant stream of messages or calls, to be prepared to interrupt any conversation in order to answer a call that was not in the least urgent, to stand keying in endless texts via an SMS. They had all forgotten that these initials mean Short Message Service and instead used the key pad as if it were a typewriter. It was slow, awkward and could cause serious damage to the thumb, but what did it matter? At that very moment, not only in Cannes, but in the whole world, the ether was being filled with messages like â??Good morning, my love, I woke up thinking about you and I’m so glad to have you in my life’, â??I’ll be home in ten minutes, please have my lunch ready and check that my clothes were sent to the laundry’, or â??The party here is a real drag, but I haven’t got anywhere else to go, where are you?’ Things that take five minutes to be written down and only ten seconds to be spoken, but that’s the way the world is. Igor knows all about this because he has earned hundreds of millions of dollars thanks to the fact that the phone is no longer simply a method of communicating with others, but a thread of hope, a way of believing that you’re not alone, a way of showing others how important you are.

And it was leading the world into a state of utter madness. For a mere 5 euros a month, via an ingenious system created in London, a call centre would send you a standard message every three minutes. When you know you’re going to be talking to someone you want to impress, you just have to dial a particular number to activate the system. The phone rings, you pick it up, open the message, read it quickly and say â??Oh, that can wait’ (of course it can: it was written to order). This way, the person you’re talking to feels important, and things move along more quickly because he realises he’s in the presence of a very busy person. Three minutes later, the conversation is interrupted by another message, the pressure mounts, and the user of the service can decide whether it’s worth turning off his phone for a quarter of an hour or lying and saying that he really must take this call, and so rid himself of a disagreeable companion.

There is only one situation in which all mobile phones must be turned off. Not at formal suppers, in the middle of a play, during the key moment in a film or while an opera singer is attempting the most difficult of arias; we’ve all heard someone’s mobile phone go off in such circumstances. No, the only time when people are genuinely concerned that their phone might prove dangerous is when they get on a plane and hear the usual lie: â??All mobile phones must be switched off during the flight because they might interfere with the on-board systems.’ We all believe this and do as the flight attendants ask.

Igor knew when this myth had been created: for years now, airlines had been doing their best to convince passengers to use the phones attached to their seat. These cost ten dollars a minute and use the same transmission system as mobile phones. The strategy didn’t work, but the myth lingered on; they had simply forgotten to remove the warning from the list of dos and don’ts that the flight attendant has to read out before take-off. What no one knew was that on every flight, there were always at least two or three passengers who forgot to turn their phones off, and besides, laptops access the Internet using exactly the same system as mobiles. And no plane anywhere in the world has yet fallen out of the sky because of that.

Now they were trying to modify the warning without alarming the passengers too much and without dropping the price. You could use your mobile phone as long as it was one you could put into flight mode. Such phones cost four times as much. No one has ever explained what â??flight mode’ is, but if people choose to be taken in like this, that’s their problem.

He keeps walking. He’s troubled by the last look the girl had given him before she died, but prefers not to think about it.

More bodyguards, more dark glasses, more bikinis on the beach, more light-coloured clothes and jewellery attending â??lunches’, more people hurrying along as if they had something very important to do that morning, more photographers on every corner attempting the impossible task of snapping something unusual, more magazines and free newspapers about what’s happening at the Festival, more people handing out flyers to the poor mortals who haven’t been invited to lunch in one of the white marquees, flyers advertising restaurants on the top of the hill, far from everything, where little is heard of what goes on in Boulevard de la Croisette, up there where models rent apartments for the duration of the Festival, hoping they’ll be summoned to an audition that will change their lives for ever.

All so unsurprising. All so predictable. If he were to go into one of those marquees now, no one would dare ask for his identification because it’s still early and the promoters will be afraid that no one will come. In half an hour’s time, though, depending on how things go, the security guards will be given express orders to let in only pretty, unaccompanied girls.

Why not try it out?

He follows his impulse; after all, he’s on a mission. He goes down some steps, which lead not to the beach, but to a large white marquee with plastic windows, air-conditioning and white chairs and tables, largely empty. One of the security guards asks if he has an invitation, and he says that he does. He pretends to search his pockets. A receptionist dressed in red asks if she can help.

He offers her his business card, bearing the logo of his phone company and his name, Igor Vassilovich, President. He’s sure his name is on the list, he says, but he must have left his invitation at the hotel; he’s been at a series of meetings and forgot to bring it with him. The receptionist welcomes him and invites him in; she has learned to judge men and women by the way they dress, and â??President’ means the same thing worldwide. Besides, he’s the President of a Russian company! And everyone knows how rich Russians like to show off their wealth. There was no need to check the list.

Igor enters, heads straight for the bar – it’s a very well equipped marquee; there’s even a dance floor – and orders a pineapple juice because it suits the atmosphere and, more importantly, because the drink, decorated with a tiny, blue Japanese umbrella, comes complete with a black straw.

He sits down at one of the many empty tables. Among the few people present is a man in his fifties, with hennaed mahogany brown hair, fake tan and a body honed in one of those gyms that promise eternal youth. He’s wearing a torn T-shirt and is sitting with two other men, who are both dressed in impeccable designer suits. The two men turn to face Igor, and he immediately turns his head slightly, but continues to study them from behind his dark glasses. The men in suits try to work out who this new arrival is, then lose interest.

Igor’s interest, however, increases.

The man does not even have a mobile phone on the table, although his two assistants are constantly fielding calls.

Given that this badly dressed, arrogant fellow has been let into the marquee; given that he has his mobile phone turned off; given that the waiter keeps coming up to him and asking if he wants anything; given that he doesn’t even deign to respond, but merely waves him away, he is obviously someone very important.

Igor takes a fifty-euro note out of his pocket and gives it to the waiter who has just started laying the table.

â??Who’s the gentleman in the faded blue T-shirt?’ he asks, glancing in the direction of the other table.

â??Javits Wild. He’s a very important man.’

Excellent. After someone as insignificant as the girl at the beach, a figure like Javits Wild would be ideal – not famous, but important. One of the people who decides who should be in the spotlight and who feels no need to take much care over his own appearance because he knows exactly who he is. He’s in charge of pulling the strings, and the puppets feel themselves to be the most privileged and envied people on the planet, until one day, for whatever reason, the puppeteer decides to cut the strings, and the puppets fall down, lifeless and powerless.

He’s clearly a member of the Superclass, which means that he has false friends and many enemies.

â??One other question. Would it be acceptable to destroy a universe in the name of a greater love?’

The waiter laughs.

â??Are you God or just gay?’

â??Neither, but thank you for your answer.’

 

The 11th Chapter will be posted on Tuesday 3rd of March

Welcome to Share with Friends – Free Texts for a Free Internet

The Winner Stands Alone. Chapter 02

However, everyone knows that the bar in the Hotel Martinez is where the powerful people hang out, which means there’s always a chance of meeting them.

It doesn’t even occur to the hopefuls that the Powerful only talk to the Powerful, that they need to get together now and then for lunches and suppers, to lend allure to the big festivals, to feed the fantasy that the world of luxury and glamour is accessible to all those with the courage to pursue an idea, to avoid any non-lucrative wars and to promote aggression between countries or companies where they feel this might bring them more power and more money, to pretend that they’re happy, even though they’re now hostage to their own success, to continue struggling to increase their wealth and influence, even when both those things are already vast, because the vanity of the Superclass consists in competing with itself to see who is the top of the tops.

In an ideal world, the Powerful would talk to the actors, directors, designers and writers who are now bleary-eyed with tiredness and thinking about going back to their rented rooms in distant towns, so that tomorrow they can begin again the marathon of making requests, fixing possible meetings, and being endlessly ready and available.

In the real world, the Powerful are, at this moment, locked in their rooms, checking their e-mails, complaining that these Festival parties are always the same, that their friend was wearing a bigger jewel than they were, and asking how come the yacht a competitor has just bought has a totally unique décor?

Igor has no one to talk to, nor does he want to talk. The winner stands alone.

Igor is the successful owner and president of a telephone company in Russia. A year ago, he reserved the best suite in the Martinez (which makes everyone pay up-front for at least twelve nights, regardless of how long they’ll be staying); he arrived this afternoon in his private jet, was driven to the hotel, where he took a bath and then went downstairs in the hope of witnessing one particular scene.

At first, he was pestered by actresses, actors and directors, until he came up with the perfect response for them all:

‘Don’t speak English, sorry. Polish.’

Or:

‘Don’t speak French, sorry. Mexican.’

When someone ventured a few words in Spanish, Igor tried another ploy. He started writing down numbers in a notebook so as to look neither like a journalist (because everyone wants to meet journalists) nor a movie mogul. Beside him lay a Russian economics magazine (most people can’t tell Russian from Polish or Spanish) with the photo of some boring executive on the cover.

The denizens of the bar, who pride themselves on their keen understanding of the human race, leave Igor in peace, thinking that he must be one of those millionaires who comes to Cannes in search of a new girlfriend. That, at least, is the rumour doing the rounds by the time the fifth person has sat down at his table and ordered a mineral water, alleging that there are no other free seats. Igor is duly relegated to the category of ‘perfume’.

‘Perfume’ is the slang term used by actresses (or ‘starlets’ as they’re called at the Festival) because, as with perfumes, it’s easy enough to change brands, but one of them might just turn out to be a real find. ‘Perfumes’ are sought out during the last two days of the Festival, if the actresses in question haven’t managed to pick up anything or anyone of interest in the movie industry. For the moment, then, this strange, apparently wealthy man can wait. Actresses know that it’s always best to leave the Festival with a new boyfriend (whom they might, later on, be able to transform into a film producer) than to move on to the next event and go through the same old ritual – drinking, smiling (must keep smiling), and pretending that you’re not looking at anyone, while your heart beats furiously, time ticks rapidly on, and there are still gala nights to which you haven’t yet been invited, but to which the ‘perfumes’ have.

They know what the ‘perfumes’ are going to say because they always say the same thing, but they pretend to believe them anyway.

(a) ‘I could change your life.’

(b) ‘A lot of women would like to be in your shoes.’

(c) ‘You’re young now, but what will become of you in a few years’ time. You need to think about making a longer-term investment.’

(d) ‘I’m married, but my wife…’ (this opening line can have various endings: ‘…is ill’, ‘…has threatened to commit suicide if I leave her’, etc.)

(e) ‘You’re a princess and deserve to be treated like one. I didn’t know it until now, but I’ve been waiting for you. I don’t believe in coincidences and I really think we ought to give this relationship a chance.’

It’s always the same old spiel. The only variable is how many presents you get (preferably jewellery, which can be sold), how many invites to yacht parties, how many visiting cards you collect, how many times you have to listen to the same chat-up lines, and whether you can wangle a ticket to the Formula 1 races where you’ll get to mingle with the same class of people and where your ‘big chance’ might be there waiting for you.

‘Perfume’ is also the word used by young actors to refer to elderly millionairesses, all plastic and botox, but who are, at least, more intelligent than their male counterparts. They never waste any time: they, too, arrive in the final days of the Festival, knowing that money provides their only pulling power.

The male ‘perfumes’ deceive themselves: they think that the long legs and youthful faces have genuinely fallen for them and can now be manipulated at will. The female ‘perfumes’ put all their trust in the power of their diamonds.

Igor knows nothing of all this. This is his first time at the Festival. And he has just realised that, much to his surprise, no one here seems very interested in films, except the people in that bar. He has leafed through a few magazines, opened the envelope in which his company has placed the invitations to the most prestigious parties, but not one of them is for a film première. Before travelling to France, he tried to find out which films were in the running, but had great difficulty in obtaining this information. Then a friend said:

‘Forget about films. Cannes is just a fashion show.’

Universe People, Second Chapter, Sword in the Night

Second Chapter Sword in the Night

Someone place do not, there is a small planet of Ganbao near Universe Star of G.I.M.E., the planet name is Leitibu, planet cubagea is a half of living star of D.S., there have plenty wood resource. Plain and forest are main earth surface character of Leitibu. And the ruler name is Windon, he’s one of 10 grand elders of G.I.M.E.he’s senator of parliament of empire too. Today, he’s talking a shaking-world thing with thousands of nobles and officers or others in the secret fortress himself. It’s concern that how to pull down empire, then establish new Galaxy Republic.

The secret fortress has builded on the barranca of canyon. Canyon outer was made up with black stones, they’re hardness. It’s cann’t arrived but flying and climbing. There is a long long stream Under canyon, clear stream always attract many wild-animal. Top of canyon have growing flourish forest, birds and beasts everywhere, some times guards of fortress are fear of fierce wild-animals forest. This day unlikeliness before, a dense mass of armored forces strong hold to entire forest, very enclosing the place, even a fly couldn’t escaped too. Heavy space-tanks have ruler to patrol. A lot of Leitibu special-force soldiers firmly watching every important pass. Difference group of fleet assigned to Sky of forest. Gentle swind blowed the canyon, then made a little swind sound, It’s looks like pouring out a hurricane is coming.

The center of fortress is magnificence meeting hall, there could contain thousands of people in a meeting. Black and gold powerful coat, he’s good speeching on audiences applause. Fiery eyes fast see to everyone, thousands of eyes watching himself. He’s heartened, exciting face bare with thinking. Face to 20 galaxies supporters, he’s clarity know today will become first day to change empire history. Tomorrow, he will become really leader in people eyes, great hero in people mind.

Windon had pressed show-button of rostrum with hand, screens of wonderful digital simulation pictures from top of high air. The rotund loud speech continuing,“I know this day is a special day, because Onhogo was born that time in 420 years ago. Empire have making a country celebration for him. Today is another special day too, it’s first day of open new the universe, stride forward with hands to hands.” Beforetime, some people have gotten welfare living underrule of Liyidan, but is only belong to a part of people! Because still have a lot pats of people living in deep water and heat fire. According to the example, empire are building 36 gunstars, so great projects, cost great manpower, material resources, you mightn’t know, Liyidan spending entire empire 25% tax income for those projects. Many families were destoried, many becautiful stars were throat cuted.” A support asked him,“Honor Windon, I want to ask you when time 36 gunstars will be done?” Windon answered,“This is good asked, according to their plan, possiblity will done after 5 centuries. But, I think that time limit will longer than the plan. Moreover empire isn’t good sleeping every day, because still have strength opponent S.Country. Once it’s have happened outburst affairs, the projects will no end in possible.”

Another supporter asked him again,“Acctully, are we only this reason to together gainst premier Liyidan? Honor Windon, could you explained more?”

Windon said a loud,“I just want to explain the question this time, please to invite project workers from Gunstars of Double Stars, then we can see.” Several workers having groan on the sickbeds, they were set and helped by nurses and doctors near the rostrum. Windon slowly bowed, and the camera lens fllowing him move to move. Audiences would clear watch dialogue from Windon and sick workers. In the lens, Windon healthy body and weaked bodies those form to a color contrasted clearly. Kindly asked,“How are you? Are you OK?” Workers one by one answered, all lying on the mobile sickbed. One of worker pale face and feeble breathing, he said to him,“O…OK.” When words end, his body began falter and falter moving, couldn’t controlled a twitch. Doctors and nurses quickly closed to help, the hall began to tumulting. Windon slowly standed up, and spoke,“Quiet, please to quiet. I throught that worker talking something to me, but I have no idea now. I think I should show some formerly face, let’s look!” The screen expressly show those workers basic information. Simply differend before, full of energy and sonsy people have became only skin and bone. Windon talking more,“They’re a few of billion patients.”

People started discussion, a supporter asked him,“Really? Why we don’t know?”

Windon had a smile, spoke,“Good, good qusestion. I didn’t believe theses thing in the first time, when I see the information, I have to believe.” The information showed in screen as soon as possible. They’ve watched that in coincide again. One supporter couldn’t controlled himself, and said,“I know this man, he’s my civilian of star, the empire promulgated his abscondence yesterday.” Windon again,“They’re may be your countrymen on rostrum, please to carefull see!” A supporter suddenly standed up, then go straight to rostrum. He careful surveied, more saw more angry. He’s strong will to control angry fire from himself, and talked to Windon,“I’m sure his my people of planet, I have little thinking he became this face, The empire have announced dead on list, Kapaph is one of them!”

Some people started to angry beat senator desks, and aloud abused.

Windon spoke,“Thank you, please go back your seat.” Windon turned to say people,“The fact in front of eyes, our premier having lie! He’s twiddle with us!” A supporter standed up and asked,“Honor Windon, Why didn’t stop the tragedy happend before? Why?” She’s an exciting. Windon answered, “Please calm down, this question very good asked! Those cases we should stopped to, but it’s weren’t know all people, When I knew the thing its too late, my power is very limited. Because the premier keep a firm hand on parliament, How get force to resist? This is one of main reason why I secretly meeting with you.” Another supporter asked him,“I want to ask Honor Windon, What’s proof Have you? How to prove the parliament was controlled? Would you explaint?” then a supporter suddently stand up and told the supporter that, “Do you think these cases can’t proved?”

“Right!” “He’s right.” Gabble talking from people.

Windon answered again,“Calm down, please, listen to me. Now that some people don’t believe, I want to do a small test with us. Two years ago, had a discussion meeting of great project building of G.I.M.E. right? We’re a member of ten thousand senators of empire? Good, please remember voteed that day, then watch the screen.” People suddenly likes jump heart out, a man angry shout,“What’s happened? I’m sure voted the nay, but why not!” An other man shout,“Why! It’s changed!” Windon spoked,“Do you discover a question too?” People dispatience. Windon asked them,“Ladys and gentlemen, Who knows these senators?” men and women shake an one’s head, some people exclamation.

“So bad! If I didn’t see the fact, I couldn’t dare believe this true.” “Real bastard!” “Darned.” People’s angry emotion more and more evidence.

Windon looked over everbody, then continued to say,“Are they proofs? Yes, they are. Our parliament such like those. Only 3000 people Really care parliament? Where’re others?” People angry cry and loud, Windon spoke again,“Please callmness, ladys and gentlmen, callmness.”

People controlled themself in difficulty.

Windon asked,“These years, how many additional money do you earn? Only know some parts of totall in possible. Don’t worry, I have collectied incomes of all senators since 100 years ago, including other income concern. Ladys and gentlemen, scrutiny action. The names were amended by me. But, If you are one of them, you surely understood! People began to read the smiluation information on hands, used finger to press information, or looking for others.” A supporter had a sigh, then said, “Premier is a cheat, he shouldn’t cheating me!” People reading and watch each other and face to face. The result have started in hearts.

Windon had a deep breath again, eyes glitter, speech aloud,“We exactly understanding Why together here. It’s certain that every effect must have a cause.” We need a brave leader to guidance us at future. Nowaday, Liyidan’s weak mind making many suffer to everyong. Our future needn’t him in service, the empire future must not hold in his hand! Remember at former, We have tried to use all kinds of peaceable method for future, but facts in eyes, we all know. For change the flesh and blood, the sword posibblity to final means. Let’s battle for future!”

Surge feelings of the massess in the hall. Some people bravely standed up on the rostrum, said aloud,“Liyidan! Down! Liyidan! Down!” People too, at a stretch, whole hall such deafening.

Windon suddently recalled a more impressible topic haven’t publiced,“But, It’s enough!” single depend on those proofes can prove Liyidan’s crimes.

A team of military officer walked out from rostrum back. The first that is a heavyweight battlecoat officer, his Lenton, Defence commander of Leitibu. He has serviced for Windon since 150 years ago, and one of favorite generals. At the fore part, he’s commanded great army to battle S army. The rich actual combat experiences were admired reason. Lenton had a salute for Windon, then spoke,“Battle-line have readied, please order!”

Angry people forget himself, cried war again and again.

Battle fleets were moving on the sky, billions of soldiers standing by, more twenty commanders of galaxies one by one requested dircetion of Windon from theirs demesnes. Windon looked into the distance, gentle have a tidy manteau, then stepped on battle spaceship in exclaiming, fly to sky. Followers stepped on other spaceship too as impatient to wait. Whole Leitibu were boiling, paraders hight cried, people were prayed, people were blessing, because they have families and friends joined the insurgence army. The main force had making up by 20 galaxies from original empire armies. They’re totalled to 3.1 billion soldiers and officer. Other armies were form by engage soldiers and voluntary army of empire, totalled to 4 billion or so. Military strength sum to 7.1 billion.

A sliver of meteor nicked Blueness night, with the romance colour in their light and warm.

Liyidan were enjoying to wonderful flame flower near the Sunshine fire stone in spirits. Moment forget worries of works and

put down busy, then to do some interested thing, that will help to relax stress from works. Liyidan has middle stature, like to dress civies. Aged face and silvery voice, heart with the best discernment. He’s fiddle with careful, but flame suddently changed colours, more and more weak, he’s woke up bad sign. It’s never thing such like that before, since the empire constituted. Strange, once G.I.M.E. had a great advancement, the Sunshine fire sure stronger flame, exactly direct proportion on empire rise and fall. Therefore when the Sunshine fire hight rising, liyidan will become very gladness. Because know every thing were controlled by himself. But he did make a serious mistake that result of happen crisis in the empire. He didn’t know the insurgence from the Windon’s Leitibu, who union 20 galaxies, above 7 billion soldiers against his empire still to after-uprising, public the speech, see the information. An information officer fluster submited a report,“Honor premier, Mr.Windon have mutinied 5 hours ago in the Leitibu, and company with 20 galaxies,7 billion soldiers!” Liyidan didn’t dare believe self-ears this time. Subconscious asked,“Why this time told me! 5 hours passed.” The officer reported,“I’m so sorry, because the rebellion force malice hide facts. Bring on right rate of information down, therefore…” Liyidan angry shouted,“Out! Get out here! I need calmness!” He’s sat down on the chair, put the unusual voice under chair in second, then thought about,“I didn’t know my old friend such treat to me. Windon, I misread you.”

A past event fast thought. When Liyidan was young and a colonel of empire, he’s knew Colonel.Windon, both same colonel. They’re graduated in Strategics Institution of Higher Learning of Empire (G.I.M.E.War College). They’re sent to survey of weapon pollution of Earth Start as soon as possible nominate.

Liyidan and Windon get off the spaceship, immediately went to the plloution area. Because the empire is battling years and years, months and months. Result to a series of weapon pollution day by day increasing. Human difficult living in the pollution area. But vicious circles again and again, many animals living in these places, bodies were unusual changed, also gave more and more black shadows to empire. Windon looked at the pollution hurst, stranger colors full dye a lot of piece jungle. Unknow animalcule overgrow on the useless well. Over ash forg and died trees on the hillside, big choked smell smoking over there, it’s couldn’t suffering. People appeared unlucky foreboding.

Liyidan busy worked to investigation with other staffs. A staff spoke,“Colonel Liyidan, Windon. I found many bad animal bodies in front of the swamp area. Evidence to show those animals were bitten by huge creature, there’s B.creatures territory places in sure.”

Windon gazed the huge feetprint, then feeling bad. He asked,“Conlonel Liyidan.What time will we finish the survey?”

Liyidan answered,“Conlonel Liyidan, don’t worry about that. We will finish sooner, please waiting for me.”

Windon going on,“You and me, add others, only 100 people, It’s not a good idear in this way,”

Suddently, terrible cry from the hursts, the voice resound hollow a long time. Windom firmly hold the laser pistol, said aloud,“Brave men, strengthen defensive! Pick up the plan!” Leaves of branch began to discomposure tingle, heavy stepps with the smash leaves sound far to near. It’s alike a huge form moving to outside from inside. Soldiers arranged groups per 5 or 7 people, round and round their conlonels.

Bit by bit clear, a monster. Liyidan had a surprise,“Wo, such huge B.creatures!”

The B.creatures are poison-wildlife, because of growing in weapon pollution area long time, then Multiply to unusual change creatures, extremity danger. Windon stared to the 6 meter high B.creature, crimson body growing colors of rainbow poison horn. Often blast stench throw off, Grotty long bola-tail draging behind back, leave over some long and twisted way of marks. Strong and vigorous claws stepping, deep footprint leaved behind. The B.creatures tingle standing tine-ear, purple light from covetous eyes, Saliva or liquid running from the mouth and sharp teeth. That time, its mouth spurt out the deep call,“Ao! Ao~!”

Liyidan said aloud,“The B.creature is calling companies, We must back here! Speed to ready!” The B.creature began fast running to groups. Empire soldiers had bend over backward to shoot. Numbers of flames foercely shoot to its body, but never delay B.creature speed. 100 meter, 90 meter, 80 meter, the distance was closing. Men’s will would be wobbling. Windon quickly take out the laser sword, and operated bomb-type, fierce threw to B.creature. It’s ate off the sword, everyone had a great surprise. This sword system very currently, abroad using. Becuae of high class security and strong function. Can closing combat and some distance shooting. Also can set up a part of repair. Also the especiall point is with safe password or other special code that start up explode system.

Windon was calmly standing, absolutely standing, and shouted,“Hold up! Listening to me, opening fire!”

Soldiers had all strength to trigger. The B.creature still rush running to them under big fire. heavy stepps were more and more coming, everybody’s heart speed up, but continued to shoot, shoot. 30 meter, 20 meter, 10 meter, Liyidan sweat was running on forehead. Sudden, B.creature had a cruel shouted, then weak down to groud,“BOMB!” from Its stomach, green blood was emiting from wound hole. Although B.creatures couldn’t move, but soldiers’s eyes still fling places, for fear second expressed.

Liyidan undestood the danger was coming, spoke, “Fall back to the base, get out here! Hurry up!”

They’re fast running out the bad places. The B.creatures called beyond…

In the battle tank, Windon slowly spoke to him,“Colonel Liyidan, if the thing in two minds, you and me will died here.”

Liyidan still had a little fear, but secretly felicitate the disaster.

Happy said in no time,“This B.creature have good nose, Where’s weapon pollution, they’re will be there!”

Windon “ah ah” smiled and talked,“Needn’t mind, I can master everything, no one closed us. I have a good idea, we’re going to the small bar tonight. Ah! Aha~ha~!”

They’re became good friends and companies since the case happened. Till to now, they’re depend unremitting will on works, overcome layer upon layer difficulties, finally climbed up the highest leader positions. He’s really unknew, Why the accompanier with him at the former blood fight, now instant changed, became a stumbling block of empire. Windon althought couldn’t cilmbed up his position, but great honour at same, It’s only under one man. The rather that go through fire and water many years, he’s actuality don’t believe why happened.

“Honour premier, honour premier.” An information officer broke his thinking, the officer continued to report,

“Emergencies meeting, senators waiting for you.” Liyidan slow standing, then went to Empire premier Meeting Hall.

In the palace of D.S. great birthday party still holding. People smile, both degustation, enjoy wonderful birthday programes. A young perrty lady gentle and cultivated walking on the bandstand, applause rose up. She’s glad speak,“Thank you, thanks for your support. I’ll offer a classical song for you.?Dream Land Story?” Sweetness and fair music along with her dancing, The story is… It’s said that long long ago, there’s ayoung preety songer feet on the Dream Land, She’s surprise discovered many fly creatures able to song. It’s very blessedness, very exciting to song, the voice so great. Suddently, a difference ray winged to her from sky. It’s a view as a distorted, indistinct shadow appearance of something, It’s a light door. A wing girl smile closing her, and kind talking. Then leaded her to the light door, the light as smaller to smaller, door closed finally. Two years ago, the songer go back to home, her song pleasanter to listen, inebriation. She became famer songer of G.I.M.E. 3 years late… The singing voice is so great, as the heroine of story.

Onhogo power said,“Good, very good!” Applause from audiences again, seens satisfaction full stop.

An officer stealth near Onhogo, low talked,“Honour Onhogo, generals waiting for you in the Universe-eye Info-center.”

He did a wrinkling brow, turn to speak sideward,“Beautiful Ms GianJing, I need a little time to meeting, would you help me to take a charge in my birthday celebration some?”

GianJing felt a surprise,“Honest Onhogo, It’s my pleasure, thanks for your regards. Please to reassurance.”

He’s departed from guesters, palace, to step on spaceship on the Universe-eye Infocenter way. A group of deffense fleet landing on, then tag along his ship flying.

Onhogo sat down the chair of Command module, tasteless asked aside,“Captain Sidink, take the meeting info to me.” Sidink strict answered that,“No problem, honour Onhogo.”

He’s careful reading the info, he’s more read most unclear, to look outer the fash fleet, silently thinking about. At this moment, outerlook weren’t important in his mind, he needs a result, the empire ending of future. He’s phoned to the premier,

Onhogo said,“Honour premier, I’m Onhogo, I understood in substance.”

Liyidan said,“I wouldn’t believe Honour Windom did this case, What’s good suggestion?”

Onhogo talked,“The cases is up to this condition, I thinking that if negotiation was broked, It’s doubt to arms.”

Liyidan said,“I absloute know this point, It’s useless, even we cut territory of country for peace. I very know Windon, such he’ll till to end!”

Onhogo lower voice,“We can continue to use old idea deal with this man, do you think so? Honour premier?”

Liyidan as same of him,“I allow you execute the T.S.M. plan in the occasion requires. But don’t forget,

We’re face to former-companies as Windon, I afraid the plan won’t done!”

Onhogo smile said,“Honour premier, many ways to done, But I thinking that is the suitable way.”

Liyidan thought in two minds. After a little, he again replied,“Nice! I’m allow to you use the plan again if Universe Star plunged in crisis! ”

Onhogo said,“Thanks my lord!”

Onhogo’s face showed a ghost of snaky. He’s recalling conquer former enemies one by one in the scenes, brought mind in the War-Competion, and how to defeat opponents one by one. Aslo looked back on the widely sky, amazingly speed destroy to tough enemies of recalcitrance. He still believe the war will be win without T.S.M. plan, it’s kill a chicken needn’t on an ox.

Sidink broke his mind, reported,“Honour Onhogo, its according to the new info, Windon have renunciated

to G.I.M.E. on the blazeing in the whole, also allianced with 20 galaxies, 7 billion soldiers, hundreds of billion battle

group of fleets dig up the hatchet to G.I.M.E., and the reason is, the reason…”

Onhogo asked him,“What’s the reason? Please talk.” Sidink replied,“Yes, my lord. The reason that is premier Liyidan has controlled parliament of empire such several hundred years ago, also listed to tens of serious accusals.”

Onhogo Knowing said,“I know, prepare to fleets at once. We must arrived to Mubu star, Flamemend star convoked units, then prepare to out for a battle!”

Sidink said aloud,“Yes, sir!” Spaceship dashed out the aerosphere of star. Exhibiting the ocean of universe on face. The Universeeye Information Center piece by piece to became big, became huge. There’s supper space info-port, 3 million square kilometer expanse. The importantest military base in D.S, Number of solar systems are involved in forces. Onhogo ran to the Second Battle Headquarter of D.S. when get off. Tens of empire higer generals were waiting for him in the Meeting Center. They’re standing up at once while he’s arriverd. Onhogo sited down as a draught, then had a wave to everyone, spoke,“Please sit down, don’t standing.”

A gerneal too impatient to wait,“Honour Onhogo, Windon has leaded the rebel army to break through first line of defence of Universe Empire Star. And general Gui Wu Guo is battling to S. invasion armies under fury. The Empire Star is attacked between S.Invasion and rebellion, They’re hold us under war predicament, it’s stared in face. In addition, General Mateph fleets are returning to the Empire Star on way.”

Onhogo had a pat with hand on council board. Then slow said,“Thanks for general Bianja, Who’s want to say more something? please.”

Gneral Peterhanla is near Bianja, he’s first talked,“Honour Onhogo, Because our armies are under bad war predicament, please listen to me.”

Onhogo wasn’t at all attented to their saying, and ferocious face became terror much more.

After moment, he’s asked,“When will Unbeatable GunStar done? Who can tell me that!?” They’re still just standing, no one replied. He’s crinkled, and talked,“I saw the information. It’s press hard on, Who dare to act wild in G.I.M.E., sure be can’t passed in any event! Take my order, the main armies going to the Empire Star in second, then battle to Windon egg! We will going meeting on way! ”

On the way, the meeting is continuing. General Peterhanla said,“According to the information form rebelon on screen, the emenies will use preponderance of soldiers power to pounce us in possibility without fail, It’s overpowering and total battle scheme. Undifficulty to look the attacking way of rebelon from the Empire Starschart, please pay attention to these places.”

Imitate screen showed some solid constellation. He’s talked more,“The rebelon have speed to attacking at present. It’s estimated to arrive there 24 hours later, and will make effective attack.”

Bianja asked,“Our starsfield armies would strengthen power to delay enemy attacking speed in ability or not?” Peterhanla replied that,“If have enough backup power, but our armies will be disastrous.”

Onhogo talked,“We need time. If only that have enough time, stick to victimization more in war.”

Peterhanla replied,“Yes, honour. I’ll execute in a minute.”

That time, other general Jamno asked him,“Excuse me, I want to ask another question.”

Onhogo answered,“Sure, talk please.”

Jamno spoke,“Enemy armies tend to mucilage-glue in battle, military strength whether withdraw to the universe Empire star about, and make time to fight of guard?”

Bianja replied,“This is a good idea. but total withdrawed, will enormously strike Dragons Battlestar armies’s morale, and there’re besieged now, I afraid the result very serious.”

Onhogo laugh,then talked “General Bianja is right with reason, once Twin Dragon Battlestars fell, It must be help to rebelon armies attacking force. And thereby work disbennifit to us. It’s make very disbennifit influence to other star places. G.I.M.E. can’t fell back, even one man with battle last time!”

General Dara was near Jamno, his asked,“Honour Onhogo, for armies can faster speed in battle, I hope we can transport troops and material of star to replace other that one by one circle in succession action. Is it right?”

Onhogo had a look to Dara, then replied,“Right, this’s way if suitable condition. Arrange now.”

Dara answer,“thank you, I’m execute it.”

Onhogo asked,“What about unite-armies everyplaces? General Bianja.”

He’s replied,“Honour Onhogo, they’re on the way. It’s estimate landing-time 10 hours late will be arrived. And our armies will be arrived at 7 hours late in succession.”

Onhogo talked,“Not bad! We must lead up speed than Mr. Windon step, otherwise dally over opportunity combat, unmanageable on blast.”

Peterhanla spoke again,“General GuiWuGuo has again suggested to add reinforcements at one minute ago. And prermier Liyidan wish to send parts of fleets for rescue action.”

He’s replied,“I know, I order General Dara lead 5 million soldiers, 50 million units of fleets to rescue in the twin Dragon Battlestars, assistance General GuiWuGuo clear up on precipice!”

“Yes, sir. I’ll go.” Dara replied.

Onhogo continued to talking prewar prepared with generals. Numberless of battle fleets hight speed to U.Empire Star in the widest space. They’re possibility saluted to glory of Empire, or humiliation.

The birthday celebration continued to open like a full swing. and that time, Sunshine continent has greeted

early morning. People couldn’t tire because of jubilation one night till a succession of fleet gunshots had

savage broken sweetdream at immersion.

There’re sent out message those millions of rebelon were leaded to casus belli by Windon in the info-Centers, station of Alleywayes and avenues. People started to alarm, and vied go home with each other. street people as broke moving hubs and pieces, complete quiet. A little mouse put out small head itself from hole, as a wonder sneak looking at running away people. An no body claim of chair was tumbled and ramed by a fit of strong wind. Immediately sweeping confused dust with great intensity. A lot of rubbish were presents of environmental after festival, as headless fly wallopped by wind action.

Some people watched news and hid in home;

some people prepared to go to constry side with family;

some people brave tried to communication far friends, pursue facts of war;

some people worried about families of military service.

Dead-drunk officers or soldiers as heard a bawl on head, tumbled and ramed went to battalion, some arranges of trains carried groups of soldiery, then return to the centralize of military affairs base.

All cities hang over uncomfortable emotions, likes a disorderly commotion or disturbance in whole land. People didn’t cry for Onhogo birthday who begin pray for friends or families. Miss.GianJing or wisdomer busy dealed with confusion happenings. Royalty-guarderTightly keep watch every corner of palace outside, fear sneak attacking of enemy.

Deco came to front door of palace with soldiers protection, then announced to everyone,“Ladys and gentlemen, I’m regularity E.soldier Captain of V.Family, my name’s Deco. Deep honour to meet you. Because of empire locating a civil war edge, Onhogo ordered me to defence palace. Please don’t frighten, and don’t worry about these. In aside, Charle.Guan ? couple or others should fast go back to the bedroom of palace. To ensure security, I’ll send 2 Royalty-armed escorts for His Royal Highness.”

It’s uncomplete saying, a sticked to crutch midlife-man walk out from guests, and asked,“Honour Deco, 2 Royalty-armed escorts may be too smaller, allow my family armed-escorts to join defend job. One of that I can try one’s best faith for master, two of that I can abate Honour Deco’s burden, Do you think so?” A young officer leaded a team of soldiers to here at front door of palace, he’s saluted,“Report to Grigadier Qu Qing, V.Family Universe Fleet Colonel JiaJianChun and units waiting for your orders in 20 kilometre distance of palace.”

Qu Qing was born in D.S. generations service for V.Family, he’s D.S. Universe Fleet Level 1 Grigadier.

Deco had a saw JiaJianChun, then smile spoke,“We’re same, It’s never mind, OK, OK.” People got a load of him at coincide. He’s young and handsome, remarkable, with Royal-warrior honor, show heroic bearing hair.

Qu Qing smile replied,“Hum, good, take order yourself! Never slow Protection responsibility.”

JiaJianChun replied,“Yes, Grigadier.”

Charle.Guan ? cuted argumentum, talked,“Thanks for your regard V.Family. In this condition, everyone should go back, and units allowed stay. Another, Grigadier Qu Qing go with me, I have important thing talk to you.” Deco knew somewhat, he’s thought,“That old fox crab my great, How should I report to my lord?”

Qu Qing understood, and talked,“It’s my pleasure.”

Then GianJing said,“Since the party have finished, I should go back headquarter too. I’m very glad and extrermely honoured meet everybody today. at the same time, I grateful to your fervor entertaining, and wish meet you next time.”

Guests said goodbye to Charle. Guan ? too, then one by one leaved for home.

Qu Qing followed after Charle. Guan ? came to King meetingroom. When sat down, he kneel down with a “Bu Ton”, then cried to apologize.

Charle. Guan ? promptly supported his up, and surprise asked,“Uncle Qu Qing, something slow talked. I wouldn’t receive this manner. standing up then say, please.”

Qu Qing excited to cry his tear out, and talked,“My force weake, many years couldn’t service for responsibility, have not good portection for V.Family.”

Charle. Guan ? slow talked,“Alas, V.Family under these conditions because that be forced.Onhogo having great power, influenc. We weren’t his opponent. It’s not blame and because of you. I only complain haven’t got enough experience and skills myself.”

He’s supported Qu Qing with hands, then sad down on chair, Qu Qing slow talked,“G.I.M.E. on the life and death line,V.Family should reflect on this time.”

Charle replied,“That’s right, Uncle. His anabasis action is bode ill rather than well, difficult divination. V.Family may be able to brace up royal hero way again, correctitude faith and statute. Thought… thought I still worry about the Gunstars power are mightiness in our mind, we’re whether…?”

Qu Qing letter smile, answered,“Don’t fear that Unbeatable Gunstars, one of them is only building near life star of D.S. It’s wasted of long time 200 years at least, then may be finished. The rather that the empire is diffence to former today. The complete day is no end time. And the furthest regret, Onhogo brought the great mass of armies elite of V.Family, but his some of all contract armies elite still defend in D.S. Even we can all right to thing, national power will tend to vacuum estate.”

Charle. Guan ? answerd,“Words with truth, He’s took the main armies elite, We also watch out for other against-force’s intrigues.” Onhogo had staied 3 contract armies, they’re very experiences in battle. Deco, ZuoGe, Pinorbarwi control them. Wisdomer Deco is noble of D.S. he’s called “Heaven-Wisdomer”. His unit called “Sky-dragon Warrior”, they’re good at sky battle. Wisdomer Zuo has called“Supernatural Speed Counsellor”, He’s controling the Different-armour Warriors, they’re difference nation hero engage-warriors, great ability to land battle. And Pinorbarwi has named “Steel General”, control aeroamphibious engage-armry “S.Army”. This is second to none elite unit in V.Family. We have to alert. I think in this conditions, We must unite friendship power to chart great plan.”

Charle.Guan ? supplemented,“I remember Minkim.Guan of V.Family this time again.”

Qu Qing asked,“Is he Sea nation Minkim?”

Charle answered,“Yes, he’s. Sea nation have source with V.Family 1000 years ago. For overlord position, not spare to down status. And marry sea nation. Nowaday, great elder Minkim.Guan has V.Family blood. Although power on hands, but has low-style, dislike to society study. So called the Silence Elder in his presidial.”

Qu Qing had a quiet considering, a few minutes late said,“Honour Charle. Guan ?, you’re right. Sea nation although had married with V.Family. But It’s not behave of real help us. We must call upon heroes everywhere for V.Family. I have a plan. Could I…? ”

He’s replied,“Please free talk, if this can help V.Family.” Qu Qing talked,“Three days late, V.Family will have an emergency meeting concerning civil war of empire, I will invite V.Family else heroes or famerperson at attendance. That day our can find faithful talent helpers. Add power of family. The first can fill up the vacuum of family power. The second can keep away Onhogo’s expansion power in effect.”

“That’s a good idea. I hope my family is real V.Family of D.S. this isn’t fiddle puppet!”

Charle continued to ask him,“What are they characters will attendance at time?”

Qu Qing thought a few minute, replied,“The meeting on the way, hundreds of person contacted, they’re occultfa of king warrior of Die-hard nation, Noble warrior Terrading of Apparition nation, General Bianja’s daughter Bianna, Emotion-master Farllow, Long nose Grandma of witch leader of Witch Organization, Adventurer Martin. Charle, famous speecher Zhuangpindin, come from the hale planet normal bussinesman Haletiti, juvenile detective Keone of D.S., Free businessman Quanding, land forces anomaly warrior captain PanZiNeng etc, superadd important member of V.Family 150 etc, they’re total 360…”

The Winner Stands Alone – Seventh Chapter By Paulo Coelho

He takes a few steps and his head begins to ache terribly. This is perfectly normal: the blood is flooding the brain, an understandable reaction in someone who has just been under extreme tension.

Despite the headache, he feels happy. Yes, he has done what he set out to do.
He can do it. And he’s happier still because he has freed the soul from that fragile body, freed a spirit incapable of defending herself against a bullying coward. If her relationship with her boyfriend had continued, the girl would have ended up depressed and anxious and devoid of all self-respect, and would have been even more under her boyfriend’s thumb.

This had never been the case with Ewa. She had always been capable of making her own decisions. He had given her both moral and financial support when she decided to open her haute-couture boutique; and she had been free to travel as much as she wanted. He had been an exemplary man and husband. And yet, she had made a mistake: she had been unable to understand his love or his forgiveness. He hoped, however, that she would receive these messages; after all, he had told her on the day she left that he would destroy whole worlds to get her back.

He picks up the throwaway mobile phone he has just bought and on which he has entered the smallest possible amount of credit. He sends a text message.

11.00 a.m.

It all began, they say, with an unknown 19-year-old posing in a bikini for photographers who had nothing better to do during the 1953 Cannes Festival. She immediately shot to stardom, and her name became legendary: Brigitte Bardot. And now everyone thinks they can do the same. No one understands the importance of being an actress; beauty is the only thing that counts.

That’s why women with long legs and dyed hair, the bottle blondes of this world, travel hundreds or even thousands of miles to be in Cannes, even if only to spend the whole day on the beach, hoping to be seen, photographed, discovered. They want to escape from the trap that awaits all women: becoming a housewife, who makes supper for her husband every evening, takes the children to school every day, and tries to dig up some dirt on her neighbours’ monotonous lives so as to have something to gossip about with her friends. What these women want is fame, glory and glamour, to be the envy of the other people who live in their town and of the boys and girls who always thought of them as ugly ducklings, unaware that they would one day grow up to be a swan or blossom into a flower coveted by everyone. They want a career in the world of dreams even if they have to borrow money to get silicone breast implants or to buy some newer, sexier outfits. Drama school? Forget it, good looks and the right contacts are all you need. The cinema can work miracles, always assuming, of course, you can ever break into that world. Anything to escape from the prison of the provincial city and the long, dreary, repetitive days. There are millions of people who don’t mind that kind of life, and they should be left to live their lives as they see fit. However, if you come to the Festival you must leave fear at home and be prepared for anything: making spur-of-the-moment decisions, telling lies if necessary, pretending to be younger than you are, smiling at people you loathe, feigning an interest in people who bore you, saying ‘I love you’ without a thought for the consequences, or stabbing in the back the friend who once helped you out, but who has now become an undesirable rival. Don’t let feelings of remorse or shame get in your way. The reward is worth any amount of sacrifice.

Fame. Glory. Glamour.

Gabriela finds these thoughts irritating. It’s definitely not the best way to start a new day. Worse, she has a hangover.

At least there’s one consolation. She hasn’t woken up in a five-star hotel next to a man telling her to put her clothes on and leave because he has important business to deal with, like buying or selling films.

She gets up and looks around to see if any of her friends are still in the apartment. Needless to say they’re not. They’ve long since left for the Boulevard de la Croisette, for the swimming pools, hotel bars, yachts, possible lunch dates and chance meetings on the beach. There are five fold-out mattresses on the floor of the small shared apartment, hired for the duration at an exorbitant rent. The mattresses are surrounded by a tangle of clothes, discarded shoes, and hangers that no one has taken the trouble to put back in the wardrobe.

‘The clothes take up more room here than the people,’ she thinks.

Not that any of them could even dream of wearing clothes designed by Elie Saab, Karl Lagerfeld, Versace or Galliano, but what they have nevertheless takes up most of apartment: bikins, miniskirts, T-shirts, platform shoes, and a vast amount of make-up.

‘One day I’ll wear what I like, but right now, I just need to be given a chance,’ she thinks.

And why does she want that chance?

Quite simple. Because she knows she’s the best, despite her experience at school – when she so disappointed her parents – and despite the challenges she’s faced since in order to prove to herself that she can overcome difficulties, frustrations and defeats. She was born to win and to shine, of that she has no doubt.

‘And when I get what I always wanted, I know I’ll have to ask myself: Do they love and admire me because I’m me or because I’m famous.’

She knows people who have achieved stardom on the stage and, contrary to her expectations, they’re not at peace with themselves; they’re insecure, full of doubts, unhappy as soon as they come off stage. They want to be actors so as not to have to be themselves, and they live in fear of making the one false step that could end their career.

‘I’m different, though. I’ve always been me.’

Is that true? Or does everyone in her position think the same?

She gets up and makes herself some coffee. The kitchen is a mess, and none of her friends has bothered to wash the dishes. She doesn’t know why she’s woken up in such a bad mood and with so many doubts. She knows her job, she’s devoted herself to it heart and soul, and yet it’s as if people refuse to recognise her talent. She knows what human beings are like too, especially men – future allies in a battle she needs to win soon, because she’s 25 already and nearly too old for the dream factory. She knows three things:

(a) that men are less treacherous than women;

(b) that they never notice what a woman is wearing because they’re always mentally undressing her;

(c) that as long as you’ve got breasts, thighs, buttocks and belly in good trim, you can conquer the world.

Because of those three things, and because she knows that all the other women she’s competing with try to emphasise their attributes, she pays attention only to item (c) on her list. She exercises and tries to keep fit, avoids diets and, illogical though it may seem, dresses very discreetly. This has worked well so far, and she can usually pass for younger than her age. She’s hoping that it’ll do the trick in Cannes too.

Breasts, buttocks, thighs. They can focus on those things now if they want to, but the day will come when they’ll see what she can really do.

The 8th Chapter will be posted on Friday 20th of February

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The Winner Stands Alone. First Chapter

3.17 a.m.

The Beretta Px4 compact pistol is slightly larger than a mobile phone, weighs around 700 grams and can fire ten shots. Small, light, invisible when carried in a pocket, its small calibre has one enormous advantage: instead of passing through the victim’s body, the bullet hits bones and smashes everything in its path.

Obviously the chances of surviving a shot of that calibre are fairly high; there are thousands of cases in which no vital artery was severed and the victim had time to react and disarm his attacker. However, if the person firing the pistol is experienced enough, he can opt either for a quick death – by aiming at the point between the eyes or at the heart – or a slower one – by placing the barrel at a certain angle close to the ribs and squeezing the trigger. The person shot takes a while to realise that he has been mortally wounded and tries to fight back, run away or call for help. The great advantage of this is that the victim has time to see his killer’s face, while his strength ebbs slowly away and he falls to the ground, with little external loss of blood, still not fully understanding why this is happening to him.

It is far from being the ideal weapon for experts. ‘Nice and light – in a lady’s handbag. No stopping power though,’ someone in the British Secret Service tells James Bond in the first film in the series, meanwhile confiscating Bond’s old pistol and handing him a new model. However, that advice applied only to professionals, and for what he now had in mind it was perfect.

He had bought the Beretta on the black market so that it would be impossible to trace. There are five bullets in the magazine, although he intends to use only one, the tip of which he has marked with an ‘X’, using a nail file. That way, when it’s fired and hits something solid, it will break into four pieces.

He will only use the Beretta as a last resort. There are other ways of extinguishing a world, of destroying a universe, and she will probably understand the message as soon as the first victim is found. She will know that he did it in the name of love, and that he feels no resentment, but will take her back and ask no questions about her life during these past two years.

He hopes that six months of careful planning will produce results, but he will only know for sure tomorrow morning. His plan is to allow the Furies, those ancient figures from Greek mythology, to descend on their black wings to that blue-and-white landscape full of diamonds, botox and high-speed cars of no use to anyone because they carry only two passengers. With the little artifacts he has brought with him, all those dreams of power, success, fame and money could be punctured in an instant.

He could have gone up to his room because the scene he had been waiting to witness occurred at 11.11 p.m., although he would have been prepared to wait for even longer. The man and his beautiful companion arrived – both of them in full evening dress – for yet another of those gala events that take place each night after every important supper, and which attracted more people than any film première at the Festival.

Igor ignored the woman. He shielded his face behind a French newspaper (a Russian newspaper would have aroused suspicions) so that she wouldn’t see him. An unnecessary precaution: like all women who feel themselves to be queen of the world, she never looked at anyone else. Such women are there in order to shine and always avoid looking at what other people are wearing because, even if their own clothes and accessories have cost them a fortune, the number of diamonds or a particularly exclusive outfit worn by someone else might make them feel depressed or bad-tempered or inferior.

Her elegant, silver-haired companion went over to the bar and ordered champagne, a necessary aperitif for a night that promised new contacts, good music and a fine view of the beach and the yachts moored in the harbour.

He noticed how extremely polite the man was, thanking the waitress when she brought their drinks and giving her a large tip.

The three of them knew each other. Igor felt a great wave of happiness as the adrenaline began to mingle with his blood. The following day he would make her fully aware of his presence there and, at some point, they would meet.

God alone knew what would come of that meeting. Igor, an orthodox Catholic, had made a promise and sworn an oath in a church in Moscow before the relics of St Mary Magdalene (which were in the Russian capital for a week, so that the faithful could worship them). He had queued for nearly five hours and, when he finally saw them, had felt sure that the whole thing was something dreamed up by the priests. He did not, however, want to run the risk of breaking his word, and so he had asked for her protection and help in achieving his goal without too much sacrifice. And he had promised, too, that when it was all over and he could at last return to his native land, he would commission a golden icon from a well-known artist who lived in a monastery in Novosibirsk.

At three in the morning, the bar of the Hotel Martinez smells of cigarettes and sweat. By then, Jimmy (who always wears different coloured shoes) has stopped playing the piano, and the waitress is exhausted, but the people who are still there refuse to leave. They want to stay in that lobby for at least another hour or even all night until something happens!

They’re already four days into the Cannes Film Festival and still nothing has happened. Every guest at every table is interested in but one thing: meeting the people with Power. Pretty women are waiting for a producer to fall in love with them and give them a major role in their next movie. A few actors are talking amongst themselves, laughing and pretending that the whole business is a matter of complete indifference to them – but they always keep one eye on the door.

Someone is about to arrive. Someone must arrive. Young directors, full of ideas and with CVs listing the videos they made at university, and who have read everything ever written about photography and scriptwriting, are hoping for a stroke of luck; perhaps meeting someone just back from a party who is looking for an empty table where he’ll order a coffee and light a cigarette, someone who’s tired of going to the same old places all the time and feels ready for a new adventure.

How naïve!

If that did happen, the last thing such a person would want to hear about is some ‘really fresh angle’ on a hackneyed subject; but despair can deceive the desperate. The people with power who do occasionally enter merely glance around, then go up to their rooms. They’re not worried. They have nothing to fear. The Superclass does not forgive betrayals and they know their limitations – whatever the legend may say, they didn’t get where they are by trampling on others. On the other hand, if there is some important new discovery to be made – be it in the world of cinema, music or fashion – it will emerge only after much research and not in some hotel bar.

The Superclass are now making love to the girl who managed to gatecrash the party and who is game for anything. They’re taking off their make-up, studying the lines on their faces and thinking that it’s time for more plastic surgery. They’re looking at the on-line news to see if the announcement they made earlier that day has been picked up by the media. They’re taking the inevitable sleeping pill and drinking the tea that promises easy weight-loss. They’re ticking the boxes on the menu for their room service breakfast and hanging it on the door handle along with the sign saying ‘Do not disturb’. The Superclass are closing their eyes and thinking: ‘I hope I get to sleep quickly. I’ve got a meeting tomorrow at ten.’

The Winner Stands Alone : Chapter Ix By Paulo Coelho

Her mobile phone rang.

…none at all.

It continued to ring.

She was still travelling back in time as she gazed out at the tobacconist’s and at the little girl eating chocolate, then she finally emerged from her reverie, realised what was happening and answered the phone.

A voice at the other end was saying that she had an audition in two hours’ time.

She had an audition!

In Cannes!

So it had been worth crossing the ocean, arriving in a city where all the hotels were full, meeting up at the airport with other young women in exactly the same position as her (a Pole, two Russians and a Brazilian), and going round knocking on doors until they found that shared, exorbitantly priced apartment. After all those years of trying her luck in Chicago and travelling now and then to Los Angeles in search of more agents, more adverts, more rejections, it turned out that her future lies in Europe!

In two hours’ time?

She couldn’t catch a bus because she didn’t know the routes. She was staying high up on a steep hill and had only been down it twice so far – to distribute copies of her book and to go to that stupid party last night. On both occasions, when she reached the bottom of hill, she had hitched a lift from complete strangers, usually single men in magnificent convertibles. Everyone knew Cannes to be a safe place, and all women know that good looks help when trying to get a ride, but she couldn’t leave anything to chance this time, she would have to resolve the problem herself. Auditions follow a rigorous timetable, that was one of the first things you learn at any acting agency. She had noticed on her first day in Cannes that the traffic was almost permanently gridlocked, and so all she could do was get dressed and leave at once. She would be there in an hour and a half; she remembered the hotel where the producer was staying because it was on the ‘pilgrimage route’ she had followed yesterday, in search of some opportunity, some opening.

Now the problem was what to wear.

She fell upon the suitcase she had brought with her, chose some Armani jeans made in China and bought on the black market in Chicago for a fifth of the real price. No one could say they were fake because they weren’t: everyone knew that the Chinese manufacturers sent 80 per cent of what they produced to the original stores, with the remaining 20 per cent being sold off by employees on the side. It was, shall we say, excess stock, surplus to requirements.

She was wearing a white DKNY T-shirt, which had cost more than the jeans. Faithful to her principles, she knew that the more discreet the clothes, the better. No short skirts, no plunging necklines, because if other women had been invited to the audition, that is what they would be wearing.

She wasn’t sure about her make-up. In the end, she opted for a very light foundation and an even lighter application of lip liner. She had already lost a precious fifteen minutes.
11.45 a.m.

People are never satisfied. If they have a little, they want more. If they have a lot, they want still more. Once they have more, they wish they could be happy with little, but are incapable of making the slightest effort in that direction.

Is it just that they don’t understand how simple happiness is? What can she want, that girl in the jeans and white T-shirt who just came running past? What could be so urgent that it stopped her taking time to contemplate the lovely sunny day, the blue sea, the babies in their prams, the palms fringing the beach?

‘Don’t run, child! You’ll never escape the two most important presences in the life of any human being: God and death. God accompanies your every step and will be annoyed because he can see that you’re not paying attention to the miracle of life. Or indeed death. You just ran past a corpse and didn’t even notice.’

Igor has walked past the scene of the crime several times now. At one point, he realised that his comings and goings might arouse suspicion and so decided to remain a prudent two hundred yards from the scene, leaning on the balustrade that looked out over the beach. He’s wearing dark glasses, but there’s nothing suspicious about that, not only because it’s a sunny day, but because in a celebrity town like Cannes, dark glasses are synonymous with status.

He’s surprised to see that it’s almost midday, and yet no one has realised that there’s a person lying dead on the main street of a city which, at this time of year, is the focus of the world’s attention.

A couple are approaching the bench now, visibly irritated. They start shouting at the Sleeping Beauty; they’re the girl’s parents, angry because she isn’t working. The man shakes her almost violently. Then the woman bends over, obscuring Igor’s field of vision.

Igor knows what will happen next.

The mother screams. The father takes his mobile phone from his pocket and moves away, clearly agitated. The mother is shaking her daughter’s unresponsive body. Passers-by stop, and now he can remove his dark glasses and join them as one more curious on-looker.

The mother is crying, clinging to her daughter. A young man gently pushes her away and attempts mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but soon gives up; Olivia’s face already has a slight purple tinge to it.

‘Someone call an ambulance!’

Several people dial the same number, all of them feeling useful, important, caring. He can already hear the sound of the siren in the distance. The mother’s screams are growing louder. A young woman tries to put a comforting arm around her, but the mother pushes her away. Someone attempts to sit the body up, and someone else tells them to lay her down again because it’s too late to do anything.

‘It’s probably a drug overdose,’ the person next to him says. ‘Young people today are a lost cause.’

Those who hear the comment nod sagely. Igor remains impassive while he watches the paramedics unload their equipment from the ambulance, apply electric shocks to Olivia’s heart, while a more experienced doctor stands by, not saying a word, because although he knows there’s nothing to be done, he doesn’t want his colleagues to be accused of negligence. They place Olivia’s body on the stretcher and put it in the ambulance, the mother still clinging to her daughter. After a brief discussion, they allow the mother to get in too, and the ambulance speeds away.

No more than five minutes have passed between the couple discovering the body and the ambulance leaving. The father is still standing there, stunned, not knowing where to go or what to do. Forgetting who he’s speaking to, the same person who made the comment about a drug overdose, goes over to the father and gives him his version of the facts:

‘Don’t worry sir. This kind of thing happens every day around here.’

The father does not respond. He’s stilling holding his mobile phone and staring into space. He either doesn’t understand the remark or has no idea what it is that happens every day, or else he’s in a state of shock that has sent him immediately into some unknown dimension where pain does not exist.

The crowd disperses as quickly as it appeared. Only two people remain: the father still clutching his phone and the man who has now taken off his dark glasses and is holding them in his hand.

‘Did you know the girl?’ Igor asks.

There is no reply.

It’s best to do as everyone else has done, keep walking along the Boulevard de la Croisette and see what else is happening on this sunny morning in Cannes. Like the girl’s father, he doesn’t know quite what he is feeling: he has destroyed a world he will never be able to rebuild, even if he had all the power in the world. Did Ewa deserve that? From the womb of that young woman, Olivia – the fact that he knows her name troubles him greatly because that means she’s no longer just a face in the crowd – might have sprung a genius who would have gone on to discover a cure for cancer or drafted an agreement that would ensure that the world could finally live in peace. He has destroyed not just one person, but all the future generations that might have sprung from her. What has he done? Was love, however great and however intense, sufficient justification for that?

He had chosen the wrong person as his first victim. Her death will never make the news and Ewa won’t understand the message.

Don’t think about it, it’s done now. You have prepared yourself to go much further than this, so carry on. The girl will understand that her death was not in vain, but was a sacrifice in the name of a greater love. Look around you, see what’s happening in the city, behave like a normal citizen. You’ve already had your fair share of suffering in this life; now you deserve a little peace and comfort.

Enjoy the Festival. This is what you have been preparing yourself for.

The 10th Chapter will be posted on Friday 27th of February

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The Winner Stands Alone by Paulo Coelho. Chapter 04

He sees a young woman setting out her wares on the pavement – various bits of craftwork and jewellery of rather dubious taste.
Yes, she will be the sacrifice. She is the message he must send, a message that will be understood as soon as it reaches its destination. Before going over to her, he observes her tenderly; she doesn’t know that in a little while, if all goes well, her soul will be wandering the clouds, free for ever from an idiotic job that will never take her where her dreams would like her to go.
‘How much?’ he asks in perfect French.
‘Which piece do you want, sir?’
‘All of them.’
The young woman – who must be twenty at most – smiles.
‘This isn’t the first time someone has asked to buy everything. The next step is usually: “Would you like to go for a walk? You’re far too pretty to be here selling these things. I’m…”’
‘No, I’m not. I don’t work in the movies, nor am I going to make you an actress and change your life. I’m not interested in the things you’re selling either. I just need to talk, and we can do that right here.’
The young woman averts her gaze.
‘My parents make these things, and I’m proud of what I do. One day, someone will come along who’ll recognise their value. Please, go away. I’m sure you can find someone else to listen to what you have to say.’
Igor takes a bundle of notes out of his pocket and puts them gently down beside her.
‘Forgive my rudeness. I only said I wasn’t interested in buying anything to see if you would lower the price. Anyway, my name is Igor Malev. I flew in from Moscow yesterday, and I’m still a little jet-lagged.’
‘My name’s Olivia,’ says the young woman, pretending to believe his lie.
Without asking her permission, he sits down on the bench beside her. She shifts up an inch or so.
‘What do you want to talk about?’
‘First, take the money.’
Olivia hesitates, then, looking around, realises that she has no reason to be afraid. Cars are now driving down the one available lane, young people are heading for the beach, and an elderly couple are coming towards them down the pavement. She puts the money in her pocket, not even bothering to count it; she has enough experience of life to know that it’s more than enough.
‘Thank you for accepting my offer,’ says the Russian. ‘You asked me what I want to talk about? Well, nothing very important.’
‘You must be here for a reason. You need a reason to visit Cannes at this time of year when the city is as unbearable for the people who live here as it is for the tourists.’
Igor is looking at the sea. He lights a cigarette.
‘Smoking’s bad for your health,’ she says.
He ignores this remark.
‘What, for you, is the meaning of life?’ he asks.
‘Love.’
Olivia smiles. This really is an excellent way to start the day, talking about deeper things than the price of each piece of handiwork or the clothes people are wearing.
‘And for you?’
‘Yes, love too. But for me it was also important to earn enough money to show my parents that I was capable of succeeding. I did that, and now they’re proud of me. I met the perfect woman, we married, and I would like to have had children, to honour and fear God. The children, alas, never came.’
Olivia doesn’t like to ask why. The man, in his forties continues in his perfect French:
‘We thought of adopting a child. Indeed, we spent two or three years thinking about it, but then life began to get too busy what with business trips and parties, meetings and deals.’
‘When you sat down here to talk, I thought you were just another eccentric millionaire in search of an adventure, but I’m enjoying talking about these things.’
‘Do you think about the future?’
‘Yes, I do, and I think my dreams are much the same as yours. Obviously, I’d like to have children as well…’
She pauses. She doesn’t want to hurt the feelings of this unexpected new companion.
‘…if, of course, I can. Sometimes, God has other plans.’
He appears not to have heard her answer.
‘Do only millionaires come to the Festival?’
‘Millionaires and people who think they’re millionaires or want to become millionaires. While the Festival is on, this part of the city is like a madhouse. Everyone behaves as if they were terribly important, apart from the people who really are important; they’re much politer; they don’t need to prove anything to anyone. They don’t always buy what I have to sell, but at least they smile, make some pleasant remark and treat me with respect. What are you doing here?’
‘God made the world in six days, but what is the world? It’s what you or I see. Whenever someone dies, a part of the universe dies too. Everything a person felt, experienced and saw dies with them, like tears in the rain.’
‘“Like tears in the rain”… I saw a film once that used that phrase. I can’t remember now what it was.’
‘I didn’t come here to cry. I came to send messages to the woman I love, and in order to do that, I need to destroy a few universes or worlds.’
Instead of feeling alarmed by this last statement, Olivia laughs. This handsome, well-dressed man, speaking fluent French, doesn’t seem like a madman at all.
She was fed up with always hearing the same things: you’re very pretty, you could be doing better for yourself, how much is this, how much is that, it’s awfully expensive, I’ll go away and think about and come back later (which they never do, of course), etc. At least this Russian has a sense of humour.
‘Why do you need to destroy the world?’
‘So that I can rebuild my own world.’

Olivia would like to try and console him, but she’s afraid of hearing the famous words: ‘I think you could give meaning to my life,’ at which point the conversation would come to an abrupt halt because she has other plans for her future. Besides, it would be absurd on her part to try and teach someone older and more successful how to overcome his difficulties.

One way out would be to learn more about his life. After all, he’s paid her – and paid her well – for her time.
‘How do you intend to do that?’
‘Do you know anything about frogs?’
‘Frogs?’
‘Yes, various biological studies have shown that if a frog is placed in a container along with water from its own pond, it will remain there, utterly still, while the water is slowly heated up. The frog doesn’t react to the gradual increase in temperature, to the changes in its environment, and when the water reaches boiling point, the frog dies, fat and happy.
‘On the other hand, if a frog is thrown into a container full of already boiling water, it will jump straight out again, scalded, but alive!’
Olivia doesn’t quite see what this has to do with the destruction of the world.

Igor goes on:
‘I was like that boiled frog. I didn’t notice the changes. I thought everything was fine, that the bad things would just go away, that it was just a matter of time. I was ready to die because I lost the most important thing in my life but, instead of reacting, I sat there bobbing apathetically about in water that was getting hotter by the minute.’

Olivia plucks up the courage to ask:
‘What did you lose?’
‘The truth is I didn’t lose anything. Life sometimes separates people so that they can realise how much they mean to each other. For example, last night, I saw my wife with another man. I know she wants to come back to me, that she still loves me, but she’s not brave enough to take the first step. Some boiled frogs still think it’s obedience that counts, not ability: those who can, lead, and those with any sense, obey. So where’s the truth in all this? It’s better to emerge from a situation slightly scalded, but alive and ready to act. And I think you can help me in that task.’

Olivia tries to imagine what is going through the mind of the man beside her. How could anyone leave such an interesting person, someone who can talk about things she has never even thought about? Then again, there’s no logic to love. Despite her youth, she knows that. Her boyfriend, for example, can be quite brutal and sometimes hits her for no reason, and yet she can’t bear to be apart from him even for a day.

What exactly were they talking about? About frogs and about how she could help him. She can’t help him, of course, so she’d better change the subject.
‘And how do you intend to set about destroying the world?’

‘Even When He Was Surrounded By Other People, He Was Absolutely Alone In The World.’ Chapter 11 The Winner Stands Alone By Paulo Coelho

He realises he should not have asked that question. Firstly, because he doesn’t need anyone’s support to justify what he’s doing; he’s convinced that since everyone will die one day, some must do so in the name of something greater. That’s how it’s been since the beginning of time, when men sacrificed themselves in order to feed their tribe, when virgins were handed over to the priests to placate the wrath of dragons and gods. The second reason is because he has now drawn attention to himself and indicated an interest in the man on the next table.

The waiter’s sure to forget, but there’s no need to take unnecessary risks. He tells himself that at a Festival such as this, it’s only normal that people should want to know about other people, and even more normal that such information should be rewarded. He himself has done the same thing hundreds of times in restaurants all over the world, and others had doubtless done the same with him. Waiters aren’t just accustomed to being given money to supply a name or a better table or to send a discreet message, they almost expect it.

No, the waiter wouldn’t remember anything. Igor knows that his next victim is there before him. If he succeeds, and if the waiter is questioned, he’ll say that the only odd thing to happen that day was a man asking him if he thought it was acceptable to destroy a universe in the name of a greater love. He might not even remember that much. The police will ask: ‘What did he look like?’ and the waiter will reply: ‘I didn’t pay much attention, to be honest, but I know he said he wasn’t gay.’ The police – accustomed to the kind of French intellectual who sits in bars and comes up with weird theories and complicated analyses of, for example, the sociology of film festivals – would quietly let the matter drop.

Something else was bothering Igor though.

The name or names.

He had killed before – with weapons and the blessing of his country. He didn’t know how many people he had killed, but he had rarely seen their faces and certainly never asked their names. Knowing someone’s name meant knowing that the other person was a human being and not ‘the enemy’. Knowing someone’s name transformed them into a unique and special individual, with a past and a future, with ancestors and possibly descendants, a person who has known triumphs and failures. People are their names; they’re proud of them; they repeat them thousands of times in their lifetime and identify with them. It’s the first word they learn after ‘Daddy’ and ‘Mummy’.

Olivia. Javits. Igor. Ewa.

Someone’s spirit, however, has no name, it is pure truth and inhabits a particular body for a certain period of time, and will, one day, leave it, and God won’t bother asking ‘What’s your name?’ when the soul arrives at the final judgement. God will ask only: ‘Did you love while you were alive?’ For that is the essence of life: the ability to love, not the name we carry around on our passport, business card and identity card. The great mystics changed their names, and sometimes abandoned them altogether. When John the Baptist was asked who he was, he said only: ‘I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness.’ When Jesus found the man on whom he would build his church, he ignored the fact that the man in question had spent his entire life answering to the name of Simon and called him Peter. When Moses asked God his name, back came the reply: ‘I am who I am.’

Perhaps he should look for another victim, one named victim was enough: Olivia. At this precise moment, however, he feels that he cannot turn back, but he decides that he will not ask the name of the next world he destroys. He can’t turn back because he wants to do justice to the poor, vulnerable girl on the bench by the beach – such a sweet, easy victim. This new challenge – this sweaty, pseudo-athletic, henna-haired man with the bored expression and who is clearly someone very powerful – is much more difficult. The two men in suits are not just assistants; he notices that every now and then, they look around the tent, watching everything that’s going on nearby. If he is to be worthy of Ewa and fair to Olivia, he must be brave.

He leaves the straw in the pineapple juice. People are beginning to arrive. He has to wait for the place to fill up, but not too long. He hadn’t planned to destroy a world in broad daylight, in the middle of the Boulevard in Cannes, and he doesn’t know exactly how to carry out this next project. Something tells him, though, that he has chosen the perfect place.

His thoughts are no longer with the poor young woman at the beach; adrenaline is filling his blood, his heart is beating faster, he’s excited and happy.

Javits Wild wouldn’t be wasting his time here just to get a free meal at one of the thousands of parties to which he must be invited every year. He must be here for some specific reason or to meet a particular person. That reason or person would doubtless be Igor’s best alibi.

12.26 p.m.

Javits watches the other guests arriving. The place is getting crowded, and he thinks what he always thinks:

‘What am I doing here? I don’t need this. In fact, I need very little from anyone – I have all I want. I’m a big name in the movie world, I can have any woman I desire, even though I dress badly. In fact, I make a point of being badly dressed. Long gone are the days when I had only one suit, and, on the rare occasions when I received an invitation from the Superclass (after much crawling, begging and making promises), I would prepare myself for a lunch like this as if it were the most important occasion of my life. Now I know that the only thing that changes are the cities these lunches are held in; otherwise, it’s all utterly boring and predictable.

‘People will come up to me and tell me they adore my work. Others will call me a hero and thank me for giving movie mavericks a chance. Pretty, intelligent women, who are not taken in by appearances, will notice the people gathering round my table and ask the waiter who I am and immediately find some way of approaching me, certain that the only thing I’m interested in is sex. Every single one of them has some favour to ask of me. That’s why they praise and flatter me and offer me what they think I need. But all I want is to be left alone.

‘I’ve been to thousands of parties like this, and I’m not here in this marquee for any particular reason, except that I can’t sleep, even though I flew to France in my private jet, a technological marvel capable of flying at an altitude of over 36,000 feet from California all the way to Cannes without having to make a refuelling stop. I changed the original configuration of the cabin. It can comfortably carry eighteen passengers, but I reduced the number of seats to six and kept the cabin separate for the four crew members. Someone’s always sure to ask: “May I come with you?” And now I have the perfect excuse: “Sorry, there’s no room.”‘

Javits had equipped his new toy, which cost around 40 million dollars, with two beds, a conference table, a shower, a Miranda sound system (Bang & Olufsen had an excellent design and a good PR campaign, but they were now a thing of the past), two coffee machines, a microwave oven for the crew and an electric oven for him (because he’s hates re-heated food). Javits only drinks champagne, and whoever wishes to was more than welcome to share a bottle of Moët & Chandon 1961 with him. However, the ‘cellar’ on the plane had every drink any guest might conceivably want. And then there were the two 21-inch LCD screens ready to show the most recent films, even those that hadn’t yet made it into the cinemas.

The jet was one of the most advanced in the world (although the French insisted that the Dassault Falcon was even better), but regardless of how much money he had, he couldn’t change the clocks in Europe. It was now 3:43 a.m. in Los Angeles, and he was just beginning to feel really tired. He had been awake all night, going from one party to the next, answering the same two idiotic questions that began every conversation:

‘How was your flight?’

To which Javits always responded with a question:

‘Why?’

People didn’t know quite what to say and so they smiled awkwardly and moved on to the next question on the list:

‘Are you staying here long?’

And Javits would again ask: ‘Why?’ Then he would pretend he had to answer his mobile phone, make his excuses and move on with his two inseparable besuited friends in tow.

He met no one interesting. But then who would a man who has almost everything money can buy find interesting? He had tried to change his friends and meet people who had nothing to do with the world of cinema: philosophers, writers, jugglers, executives of food-manufacturing companies. At first, it all went swimmingly, until the inevitable question: ‘Would you like to read a script I’ve written?’ Or the second most inevitable question: ‘I have a friend who has always wanted to be an actor/actress. Would you mind meeting him/her?’

Yes, he would. He had other things to do in life apart from work. He used to fly once a month to Alaska, go into the first bar, get drunk, eat pizza, wander about in the wild, and talk to the people who lived in the small towns up there. He worked out for two hours a day at his private gym, but the doctors had warned him he could still end up with heart problems. He didn’t care that much about being physically fit, what he really wanted was to off-load a little of the constant tension that seemed to weigh on him every second of the day, to do some meditation and heal the wounds to his soul. When he was in the country, he always asked the people he chanced to meet what ‘normal life’ was like, because he had forgotten. The answers varied, and he gradually came to realise that, even when he was surrounded by other people, he was absolutely alone in the world.

Universe People, Twilight Spirit’s Sinfonia, First Chapter Birthday Party

The story completeness fiction, itâ??s completeness coincidence if same.

Universe People

Twilight Spiritâ??s Sinfonia

First Chapter Birthday Party

Great universe, light and dark both life. On the sky, flying comet seems sword through out of darkness space, then bring flash. History looks like a huge wheel drive step of future. Glitter starts talk heroes stories again and again. From long standing Milky Way galaxy, to gestate a seven colors bright jewel, itâ??s earth. Long ages onrush, cold face to calamities and catastrophes, even callosity comet baptism. But still strong to life day and day, rise head and stick heart in progress continuly. Numbers of brave scientists and explorers research universe mysteries with almost time in life. One hundred centuries were passed, seek out thirty door of worlds finally. To page new worlds for human, for universe.

Galaxy Interstellar Map Empire was born in the earth. Histories recorder strongly stand and never laxation in second. G.I.M.E. having expansion lands, also rule ten thousands of stars. Giant spaceships, fleets come and go in firmament shuttlely. Under sunshine, mapping great grandness. Long upon ages historical G.I.M.E. ten thousands of refulgencing in the Universe, initiator of empire although became historical dust, but he has kept back mightness kingdom still influence to development of future world forever. The empire had begun to invade spaces Ancient age, self-domain expand very very far stars. Other countries step by step fell down by empire iron-hoof. Until encounter S.S.U.K. (Specialties element Solar system Union Kingdom). A mystery and unknown and higher prosperity and full-ambition country.

Herefrom, ceaseless war couldnâ??t stop, overspreaded on the sky. Universe become happy battlefield themselves.

G.I.M.E. Empire premier is Liyidan. He unprecedented expending total tax 25% of empire each year, to build 36 invincibility stars that over empire places concern tens of solar systems, because strongthen to status standing gigantic. In spited of against power from inside and outside of empire. For future of G.I.M.E., for overcome S.country, agreed to build 36 stars plan. Invincibility stars so huge, projects of construction have passed three centuries, only 20% finished in whole plan. 30,000,000,000 workers with responsibility for per one, the premier self-choose to consturct objects of planet. One side that he was discussing about plan with ministers and senators, One side thought about where are suitable places. That time, two flashing stars showed in the eyes. Liyidan held gravitation pen with left hand, then reached out light hand decisionly, sovereign pointed Double Stars(D.S.) on the space map in construct directionâ?¦

Horizon without end, a planet gestate billions of life that still along special orbit peaceful. Thereâ??s Life Star of Double Stars. Undifficult discover with overlook, none but one half of earth, she also much beautiful and affecting. Double Stars is beautiful twin planets. Seems dazzle precious stones emitting different colors and rays and light. Sky-bule sea cover 50% of surface of D.S., no-end land have lived all kind of organism. Flourish forest have happyness animal song. Swind softly blowing to green-field and plain. People bright ride on animals without sad. Double Stars both beautiful and joyful lands, age-old legends. Cry oneâ??s hearts out of DinDa Sea, drawing poem of TreeSigh Sea, booming energy of Sunshine Continent, gold way of singer of Dream Land, to proof humanstic in the Darkness Land, Sky Col stories move everyone to praise and tear, Survival Ocean dead-hard hero legends, full of cunning and strange Order-Pin Ocean, Starship Land warrior fames, unbelieveable AncientInsect Land, colors mountain, ground in Colours Land, life and death contest at Flame Islands, explorers travel of Ice Islands, inferno exercise in the Great Gravitation Islands, nature pavilion of Shield Land, pirates cave both Survival Island and Wallop Island. God animal legend flying on OusideSky Lake, waterfull are high up in the air of SkyIland, whole and all are creating by nature.

Moon light flash to First SunShine content, apparent quiet at all. A couple of lover closed one another on the soft green sidehill, both quietly gaze the eyes of night, environment does a little thing. One love and archness white dog was playing beside, jumped and ran. Suddently, a group of busy persons broke silent. Theyâ??re smile and happy and song, Itâ??s looks like celebrate feast. Young girlâ??s face further closed to boy, Slowly asked boyfriend whatâ??s happened.

Boy finger touched up girlâ??s chin, deep kissed little mouth, smile spoke to her,â??Today is Onhogoâ??s birthday.â?

Sheâ??s shy and shrinked into oneself, body seems model â??Sâ??, a few anger hit boyfriendâ??s breast, and asked him,â??Is he big mustache ironsmith?â?

Man kaka smile answered,â??Impossibility, I mean said he is top commander of life star, M.G.I.E. Shield of Universe.â?

An embraced a grip, girl touched boyâ??s shoulder with hair,â??I see.â? She said.

Moon-color unclear, busy sound more and more great. Whether village and small town, or big street and alleyway, happyness at the same.

One of corner of pub, a young man drinked beer. He has dressed a silver gown, and unhappy. Expression in him eyes with different. A Long hair soldier came in the pub , he want to seek out someone and look around. In the end, he found silver man, soldier laugh mouth in second.

Approaching and spoke,â??Brother Shuda, you have a good time with drink here. Decorate with lanterns and streamers in everyplace of palace, so beautiful! Come on! Follow me to enjoy everthing.â?

Shuda is standard-businessman of Double stars from far Universe Empire Star, and thereâ??s hometown himself. When heâ??s boy, tall Shuda like to play society life and go to everywhere. But this time dumbness than before. Shuda glanced soldier,

Coldly answered,â??Iâ??m so sorry, Zuode. I donâ??t want to go.â? Zuode is belong to a regular army of Double Stars, to server border station of trade all the year around. To meet trader Sunda by a chance.

Zuode said again,â??Brother, you are a G.businessman. Could drinking alone here? OK, nothing. Iâ??ll have a drink with accompany.â?

Great music into Sundaâ??s ears, who big drink with rush,â??Fine brother, let us drink.â? He talked.

Pub were increasing noize, and busy. Hurry steps more and more sounder. A team of soldiers walked into this place. Captain of soldiers blowly obeisance and said to other table man near Shuda,

â??Nice to meet you, honor Mr. Luohu. Our commander Kue invite you talk about something at palace, for celebration.â?

2 meter tall Louhu waved to waiter of pub, To make a demand of firewater, then answered â??Yes, no problem.â?

Had a great drink, wish because not enough satisfaction and was licking leavings mouth besides.

Slowly rose up, giant body suddenly more light at the pub, armor piece of coat flashing in body light. Fiery, quadrel face always show sly smile. He joined normal army of D.S., but finally quit, because his aforetime commander ordered him to do hate thing, everything. He became Reward Hunter late, he had used hands to capture 72 affray guys without weapon in the hotel. also Louhu besieged by number of terrorists, whole fell down by he just fast-shoot in five minutes of short time. Also more hardly combated with Dake of Flame Astro-Robber three days and nights on the wide star-space, no winner at last. People happened to coincide this super muscles man with looking, all knew famous Reward Hunter of D.S. Nobody escaped his FivefingerMountain as long as he promised arrest.

Luohu patted dust from coat, and did a stretch. Then Say,â??I have accomplished a mission, now another deal coming. Good, very good, hum~.â?

He had a turn about, One black, luxury car stopped, waiting him nearly. Heâ??s surveyed it, the car is 4.5 meter long, jet black and bright, Nobleness and feeling line sense. Thereâ??s V. Family symbol of havey crystal metal in front and center on the car bodyï¼?four small force systems under carriager besides. Perfect drive and information system, driver can easy master everything on way.

Luohu light smile, then talked,â??Hum-hum, better than rubbish car. OPEN!â? he got on, itâ??s back car slow flight to palace.

Shuda still quiet sitting and drinking, thought about something. Zuode continued to talking about interesting feast at celebration from palace.â??Do you remember fool-bird ZhangSan? When heâ??s drunk, allways hold a pillar of building and Wu,Wu, also thinking that is a bigger beer-cup himself. As a result, new little holes will express on pillar. Are you remember LiSi? Unnormal man, dizzy got into women bathroom. Angry person threw him out, to use the nails or claws to dig, scrap, or wound, then his coat become tatter. My aunt Zhang of neighbourhood, everyone know sheâ??s bad tamper. Husband did a lose in the gambling, and lost many money, discourage back home and tell wife something. He said sheâ??s sold by him, because no more money pay. Guess whatâ??s action from aunt Zhang? She gorgeously dressed, went to gambling place. Make a lot of troubles to gambling place, thereâ??s no guest during a week. The gambling place boss is forced to set free them. Oh, Theyâ??re reunited again. So happy , haâ?¦haâ?¦â?

Female drawer near his table, sheâ??s Tongliang, always hat a branch tine cap, usually say to people that cap is beloved man gift. Sheâ??s drawing tights of sport, needle nose, stream eyes. Little mouth likes half moon when smile. Tongliang like to drawing. Whenever drawing speed very fast, because having good insight. Beautiful pictures are created by her hands, every one likes writing, theyâ??re popular and vivid. Tongliang is silently drawed image of Shuda. Young and handsome on picture, big gaunt eyes. Heâ??s forehead, chain had transistor jewelry of tattoo, crystal cuff and gold, glitter leather shoes. He glanced sideways, then continued to drink.

The paintress closed mouth and smile, then asked to him,â??Would you tell me where are you from? Handsome brother. I making a trouble from your chin, this place have jet-black goatee. Especially earring on your ears, but looks like rare.â?

Zuode got a load of her with spin eyes, little dander spoke,â??Hi, great painter. Why donâ??t you go to palace? There are very jollification.â?

Zhuda a looked on the palette, asked her,â??Why are you usually like to paint Nature and Human?â? Then said that, â??Nothing, earring here you are.â? Picked off earring and gave to her.

She hold it by hands at once, then smile replied,â??Shuda brother, thanks a lot.â? then had a little frug, and standed away.

â??Hey, Whatâ??s wrong with you? Got thing and fast run?â? She runing and answered,â??Iâ??m going to palace, I have a beautiful earring, They will admire me. Bye-bye.â?swiftly, rode on small car and going to palace on way.

Shuda had a wave and said,â??Does nothing, nothing, let her go.â? Zuodeâ??s flat nose made a hum,â??Hummâ?¦â? then talked,â??She very easy got a good thing.â?

Thereâ??re still jollification at street, hubbub, singing, cheers, etc. whole interweaved, all seem pleasant-listen and jolliness march those increasing happy atmosphere for feast.

An elder had on feast costume, dancing with a group of junior. Theyâ??re were surrounding stone statuary, the calvous statuary is Onhogo. Powerful hands and feet, order backbone needle as growing along to coccyx, Itâ??s alive as a huge dinosaur. The elderâ??s wife had a rhythm patted below a window curtain, and looking them.

Onhogo has astro-king of engage-soldier name in G.I.M.E. He was born in the Double Stars. Three hundred years ago, heâ??s one of military major In G.I.M.E. UniverseFleet, no more than. Itâ??s said that because of heâ??s showed up excellent combated action to S.Country army. Itâ??s Nominated by V.Family, to join â??War Proof Competitionâ?? in the G.I.M.E. per 50 years. Onhogo has depended on oustanding action at the combat test, also got a well appreciation from Empire Premier. On the long and far astro-battle career, he gradually become a very importance character in the army. Countless history people were crushed under his iron-fist without retrieval, To bring G.I.M.E. in the highnest fashion for a period, itâ??s so called the Shield Centuries. Nowaday, heâ??s Territory Defense Minister, Military four-star general, Itâ??s command 60 percent military strength of G.I.M.E, great power on hand. Bace on excatly great effort from him, Double stars are bcoming prosperity and rich and popular. Some areas of people have living in the carefree life. Moreover V.Family has climbed up and counted as one of the best family because his full power hands in the Great Ten Family of Empire.

Today, Double Stars high spirts, exciting everywhere. Because the day is Onhogoâ??s birth day. V.Family are celebrateing great banquet for birthday.

Field of countryside, fencing flame are swing or waving, Villagers arm in arm a circle at a heap of the flame, and have some chats. One child ravenously devoured savory. Childâ??s mother stealth smiled beside because of his action. Old elders lifted cups with cheerful, full of young spirits boys and girls were having joy games, sometimes secretly making an ogle for adoration.

At corner of town square, many citizen looking on the great performer evening. audiences degustating festal snack and seeing wounderful action from stages at the same time. Children slyly climbed on fatherâ??s shoulder, curiously looked around exciting act at the play.

Tradespeople together and celebrate for big harvest.

Even artists were instant made a drawing or writing for follow this day, conceive vision to flourish tomorrow.

Soldiers and officers got allow of commander who enjoying to a long vacation. Workers have stoped routine, to busy celebrate feast. People smile and laugh, people singing and cry. Because gread leader bring fine living, bring sumless hopes too. In the religion meeting of cities, thousands upon thousands followers together pray for D.S. future, also for great Onhogo. Countless smoke-flowers set free on the sky, feastal gifts dancing and flying on the wind.

But these looking canâ??t behave everything of Double Stars. Straight Oppressived nations still catching breath, heavy gasp. Theyâ??re still waiting for a chance coming, and then hate bite to Onhogo. Serveal Hundred of years has passed, some of Human, Never succumbed Natureism, irreconcilable Dark nation, capricious Die-hard nation, all silently waiting, itâ??s for the day will be come.

One child of Natureism had shrinking into oneself at the shadow and wet corner, closing smelly garbage bin. Thereâ??s some bats smells and dirtiness. The child hadnâ??t eaten food or water since three days ago, suffering hunger and cold. His parents were forced to bond service during bondage labor, even donâ??t give them a breath or a fresh air, Still theyâ??re hurtly die under feet. The Child only living alone in the world. Little boy often pray parents of heaven for guardianship. Tire and looseness eyesight gazed to wonder action from other people, ignorance full him mind, He such baby. One spareness and pitiful cat lamely came to child. He tightly carried and held it on breast. Carefully wrapped its little bad foot with rag. Lightly said,â??Donâ??t cry, loving cat.â? â??Meow, meowâ?poor cat understood. One builder of Greats had passing the alleyway, then discovered him. Builder had seen and slow said,â??Itâ??s so pity baby.â? Giant builder soft asked,â??A little friend, whereâ??s your mother?â? Child opened big eyes as horror, shaked head again and again, and answered,â??uncle, uncle, father said he going to heaven with mother, late will be back.â? Gaint builder had a shaked head,let out a sigh, it couldnâ??t bared in heart, a few cheat said,â??You dad is my good friend, he may be late to go back home. He told me to care you, we can go to eat some test good beef. Is it good?â? Childishly answered from childâ??s mouth,â??Yes, yes, gaint uncle. Thank you, thank you.â?

Gaint builder carried him in the center of palm with great care, then put child on shoulder oneself, child held the little cat as well, theyâ??re disappeared in crowds at the street. Thereâ??s a pub near garbage bin, Itâ??s Although 200 square meter small, but very popular. The pub have a beautiful landlady, and sheâ??s Zhunhua. Sheâ??s a survivalist human from war, has rescued by military officer in a calamity, then the officer became her husband also help to build a pub. She has good speech, not only beauty, but also well cooking. Therefore the pub so popular, many soldiers or officers like to dinner and play at pub. Today is the highest commanderâ??s birthday of Double Stars. Itâ??s good reason saying that will have a lot of armymen come to. Zhunhua and waiters so busy, because many customers, because everybody have a good time.

A guest amusedly called,â??Beautiful landlady! I want to like 5 k.g.(kilogram) fire beef, a good barrel of sweet beer. I demand these to great drink for my brothers!â? Zhunhua fast answered,â??Soldier brother, donâ??t hurry up, will be come.â? Two waiters immediately exerted strength to hold food and beer from kitchen for guests. Another officer called her at one side,â??Hey, I like to a cole. Thereâ??s almost nothing, come on!â? Zhunhua acted up and replied,â??Donâ??t impatience, give you soon.â? Hubbub, drinking, cheers sounds from guests in the inside and outside.

An astro shuttleship going to Double Stars. Itâ??s became a little spark in second.

A luxury black car flying to the great palace in the evening. The palace above 500 kilometre wide, there is the widest and biggest building in the Double Stars.

Thereâ??s regionalized Outer City, Middle City, Inner City, and Inner Castle.

Outer City belong to Royalty-guarder section. Many D.S.battalion establishment can find in this area. Thereâ??s a huge army garrison in the Outer City of Palace, military strength totall above 3.5 million. Every morning, 50 kilometre, citizen all can hear practice sound in the outside. Strict military discipline Royalty-guarder are guarding the palace every day and night. Whole making better than regular army. All guarders adorn regalia of V.Family: an ancient silvery-white dragon made a freely flying pose for great area, daedal V is good supported by its back. On the background, a symbol of starschart of D.S., itâ??s show to scan universe, and pround flying on the sky with vigour. That regalia reflecting great nobleness, and intense enterprising spirit family style.

Middle City of Palace living V.wisdomers and ministers, theyâ??re neednâ??t uniform coat, because this manner can standing out special personality, and V.Familyâ??s flexible and variety idea. Thereâ??s at the same honour, noble dignity for living peopleâ??s identity, status. Their every action or moving influence to development and future of Double Stars.

Inner City of Palace are belong to royal family and noble family, there is one of living places too. Theyâ??re also many way to assist and guide D.S. to prosperisty, rich and powerful. Inner Castle belong to V.Family King. magnificence palaces were builded by environment metal, those the best firm material, itâ??s can following a king desire to change building form, obvious feature of Double Stars. Insider place have royalguard units, theyâ??re duty for defense, everyone is outstanding and faithfulness in the ten thousand of armymen. V.wisdomer elder GongGu is commander of royalguard, very important minister of V. Family. Heâ??s living in the Double Stars since 1000 years ago. Three eras were passed, but still loyal, devoted control royalguard army and participate afraid for 3 kings day after night. GongGu have four very excellent warriors, SpringBroadsword, SummerAx, AutumnSword, WinterGun, theyâ??re together commanding to 70,000 the best royalguards. SpringBroadsword was a hobo, worked at killer job in the gangsterdom. lof of victims are very difficulty counted in dead, theyâ??re died by his broadsword therefore people call him â??B.S.overlordâ??. Afterward heâ??s discovered by GongGu in an assassination course. He quickly became a captain of 4 royalguard captains in a night.

SummerAx is a blood and iron warrior, have excellent physical strength, because GongGu bring up him. Although heâ??s 1.6 meter short, but hold up 3 ton weight ax each hand. When he every time use huge axes to practice, line upon line heat wave blowing on peopleâ??s body, and form to immense air-vortex, therefore people call him â??SummerAxâ??.

AutumnSwordâ??s real name is EaSuit, because he like Autumn, therefore call AutumnSword himself. heâ??s a warrior from Biochemistry people, fame nameâ??s â??SwordMonsterâ??.

WinterGun is Diamond Contract-soldier of Double Stars. He is good at shoot skill. In his career, nobody defeated him on face. He had a decisive battle to 5000 dark mercenaries upon jokul. Even the flying snow all over the sky and a lot of killers , but he still safetly walked out battle during a day fight action. therefore people call â??WinterGunâ??. of course four warriors have guard responsibility for the legality king, and king name is Charle. Guan â?£., heâ??s 200 ages, strong and young. Heâ??s father was the best general of G.I.M.E. and father name is Charle. Guan â?¢. But Charle. Guan â?£ looks like an everyman. This is second main reason why Charle. Guan â?¢ died with a grievance regret. However, Chare.Guan â?£ yet have many brothers and sisters. They have a same father, but different mother. Theyâ??re living other Planets, master to local power and force in some definite degree, these form to Firmness offspring strength of V.Family. Chare.Guan â?£â??s wife is R. Czesua, from literary R.Family, Sheâ??s award to Quiet Queen name by G.I.M.E. Sheâ??s son is Dak. Guanâ?¤, just two years.

Skyey EmperySwordTower is power symbol in the Double Stars. Itâ??s seems greatness skysword straight insert to First Sunshine Continent. The structure of building is very complexity. SwordTower have four very very hard towers of defense around, have ability to withstand enemy army from sea, continent, and sky. Many spaceflight military bases on the outer wall of E.S.T., ten thousands of empery battleplanes can easy flying-off and landing or make a total war. Inner of E.S.T. is floating office block, 100 hundreds of officers deal with numerous affairs everyday. Chare.Guaâ?£ and ministers often together for important meetings in this place. Top of E.S.T. is a floating structure overlooking an extensive view, whole Little Sea in the eyes.

Maze palace corridor like a China dragon, threatening appearance of something, as through fog or darkness, itâ??s wreathing all palaces. Check station seted per 150 meter in the palace corridor, 5 or 10 royalguards defending. If uninvited guest come to, they wonâ??t easy escaped even equipped wings. Many hight speed running defence-barbette on the Top of corridor, theyâ??re capable of ground to air or ground to ground long distance attack. Both sides of corridor have intelligentized shield. If enemy army pounce palace, the shield will encase corridor everywhere, avoid to enemy shellfire. Also effectively use attack tactics and defence tactics to combat with D.Barbette .

Crystal art building give daze feeling to some people, theseâ??re V.Family had robbed rich prize from Colours Land. 1500 years ago, V.Family had a decisive battle to Apparition nation, and the war started in the Colours Land, near Wisedomer Ocean. Whether V.Family or Apparition, both cruel and losing. Apparition king thought that the war have no end. Therefore, A.king have give â??heartâ?? to V.Family for peace forever. Under different ray effection, crystal building can mapping different texture of colours. Different kind crystal building have different effection, people can full body feeling to sense and human nature or physical existence, including weaknesses. For example, Itâ??s can clear up some diseases, can improve peopleâ??s blood pressure, can speed to manbodyâ??s metabolism. Can enhance some special nation skills in the crowd or so.

Full of emperor vigour in the luxury hall, usually give guests agape and exclamation. Luxury hall seems vehicle that can operate both on land and in water. Not only ability to move or rise up, but also dive Little Sea for enjoying outlook of seabed, even view and admire to sunup, ground sea on the surfy offing, countless rare treasures are exhibited: Fire Sword of farmer warrior, mystery words chisel, the one and only power and beautiful sword in the galaxy, the first military uniform from â??twelve constellation commanderâ?? of G.I.M.E. invaluable dimand crown, bad fist system from Onhogo. Carved crystal hammock, little silver dragonâ??s bone, beautiful empire space chart of double stars, 350 G.I.M.E. honour medals of Onhogo, etc, hogs will very thirstied.

At the moment, there is center of luxury hall, ten thousands of guests enjoying and dancing in the beautiful music from worlds. Guests have empire royal, have famer heroes, great positional wisdom elder, have well know warriors, have very rich businessman, have good name noble of world. Some Number guests happy having a chat, some piquant children have fun with robots, one of child suddenly run to crowd of guests from someone croner of hall. â??baby sitter robotâ??say to him back again and again,â??Dear,dear, come back, come back, do.â? The child get into and out dancing crowd againg, Such as though a love bee play in fresh flowers. The child continue to straight along,

no wariness sliped up on the floor, big cry at once. Guests arenâ??t attention him, because they know why. The child ask,â??Why no people care me? Waul! Waul! I need mom! I need father! Wol!â? At moment, huge shadow cover him. A meter 7 tall giant gently hold the boy on the hand back, and ask him,â??Hi, little elfin, did you want to find father?â? The child turn big eyes, and tear long and strong eyebrow from giant. Answered that,â??Ha, his in my apple.â? Giant ha ha smile spoke,â??How bigger apple in your home?â? Little boy akimbo and sip,â??Wuâ?¦ my father and my mother said me like that apple in the eyes, of course theyâ??re my apples.â? Guests smiling surrounding. A â??baby sitter robotâ?? and a couple close gaint, and honour have a salute, man spoke,â??Honour Mr. Onhogo, Iâ??m so sorry, my boy donâ??t listen to me, and gave you worry.â? Onhogo have a little act to big eyebrow himself, smile explain say,â??Nothing, nothing.â? The child fast run to parents, Onhogo show the whiteness teeth, laugh said,â??Today is my birthday, we only need happyness. Ho~ha~.â? A wisdom of elder quiet tell him,â??Itâ??s time to make a speech, please master say some words on the dais.â? His understood answered,â??Yes, right.â? Turn to dais. rich sound immediately over the hall, â??Iâ??m so happy, because my friends came to here, celebration for my birthday. I great thanks for everyoneâ??s support. In the G.I.M.E. history onrush, weâ??ve branded good legend forever. Today, weâ??re together here, Itâ??s godâ??s arrange of mind. Also solidarity power lead me and you. I remember Empire premier Liyidan said that,â??Power is not express on the unbreakable armor, Itâ??s good faith, solidarity, and cooperation spirit.â? When I think about this words, I will affected. I hope , I believe too, even weâ??ve difficulty a great gulf fixed, as long as make solidarity power for G.I.M.E. for our society, for future ourself! Whether V.Family in the anyplace, your support and help, certainty increasing strong to stronger. If have V.Family, we will become the most power family in the universe!â? When the speech is end, applause and cheering sound immediately in the hall. All guests gladly blessed for speecher.

A small group of Formalization orderly came to hall with good-listening music.

G.I.M.E.F. are differend to regular army. Formalization are behavior of empire oustanding. Theyâ??re best and best. Both wisedom and brave or others, Formalization better than regular soldier. Theyâ??re responsibility for foreign mission, theyâ??ve commander power in some degree too. A beautiful girl close to Onhogo, and the Formalization company with her. All guests attented to this young girl. Sheâ??s dressing one-piece of empire symbol ensign, glitter starlight matel coat cannâ??t cover her flowery. Girl suddenly become focus. Sheâ??s honour spoke,â??Honor Onhogo, allow me to introduce myself. My name is GianJing, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of G.I.M.E. We proundly bring birthday gift for you. Whole empire people blessing, happy birthday.â? GianJing continuing,â??Honorific, dignity Onhogo. The gift will full of devoir and glory, please.â? Birthday slow open upon everyone eyes. A gout of warmmer airflow overflow from gift box. Whole hall full of harmoniousness, people suddenly feeling good. Guests came into gaze the gift. Greenery fresh flower emiting aroma underfire, leaves colours soon flowing in pistil inside or outside. Sightly down flash grain, audiences seem seeing countless bright eyes along with greeneryâ??s dancing, blink and blink. GianJing keep up say,â??The fresh flower has grown in empire national treasure, Sunshine fire stone, 5000 years per blossom out, only 10,000 years per one of flowers seared, theyâ??re G.I.M.E. invaluable dignity symbol. Whole empire only existing 9, a fireflowers belong to Empire premier Liyidan, nowaday, one of fireflowers will present for honor Onhogo.â? Guests open big eyes, they have never seen this since was born, everybody admire and admire. Soldiers shout in order,â??Honor Onhogo, happy birthday! Honor Onhogo, happy birthday!â? Congratulation again and again whole palace. Onhogo had a wave, and spoke,â??Everbody continue to dancing , merrymaking.â? Renew in hall. Flower smoke and salutes slow open on sky, astro-fleet low level flying. An officer closing and make a salute, then reported,â??Honor captain Onhogo, the army will congratulation for you, please to Top of E.S.T.â? Onhogo answered,â??Good!â? with the direct, guests go to Top of E.S.T. outlooking building installed on the top of E.S.T. Itâ??s float limited feature. Dazzling man-made skylight guide the people to top of E.S.T. m.m. skylight likes KongMing light of ancientry in China. Ablity to specifically blaze land on hight without others. A variety of delicacy pictures complect up and down and show in the hight air. To look down, inspect armies as sumless ant, a lot of armies like changing grids with rule in the land. To look into the distance, many gold glitter spacecrafts arrange in order. To look up, countless guide missile of feast company great singing over air, then theyâ??re such fresh flower happy blossom out. Soldiers shout in order again, â??Honor Onhogo, happy birthday! Honor Onhogo, happy birthday!â? Congratulation still again and again whole palace. Onhogo shout to land,â??Thanks, thanks!â?

D.S. people are raptureing, may be whole empire.