The journey felt endless, the silence between them heavy. Sunny's mind was racing, trying to grasp the true essence of the stranger's cryptic words. What could make a person so bitter? So convinced that pain was the only path to change?
As the sun dipped behind a jagged mountain, casting long shadows over the land, the stranger finally spoke.
"You want to know my story, don't you?" The stranger's voice wasn't harsh, but there was a coldness to it that sent a shiver down Sunny's spine.
Sunny nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He wanted to understand, to see what had shaped this man into the person who seemed so intent on spreading pain as a form of salvation.
The stranger took a deep breath, the weight of his memories pressing down on him.
"I wasn't always like this. Once, I believed in something. I believed in love. I believed that if people could just care for one another, they could change the world. But the world doesn't work like that. I learned that the hard way."
Sunny listened intently, feeling the weight of the stranger's words. His own experiences with loss began to resurface—though they were nothing compared to what this man had endured.
The stranger's eyes grew distant, almost lost in thought. "I loved someone once. More than anyone could understand. They were my world. My reason for living. But love... love is fragile. It shatters in an instant. One moment, they were with me. The next, they were gone. Just like that."
Sunny could feel the raw pain in his voice. It echoed a familiar ache that he knew too well.
"But you know what? That loss, that pain, it woke me up. It made me see the truth. There's no justice in this world. There's no fairness. People like me, people who care, get trampled. The world doesn't give a damn about your feelings. It doesn't care if you suffer or die."
Sunny's throat tightened. He had lost his family, but hearing it like this—so raw, so bitter—made him wonder if he'd truly understood the depth of his own pain.
"I thought," the stranger continued, his voice now colder, "that if I could make others feel what I felt, they'd understand. They'd see the truth. They'd understand that only through suffering can change happen. Only through suffering can you realize what's truly important."
Sunny's eyes widened. "You think everyone should suffer... just so they can understand?"
The stranger's gaze was intense, unyielding. "Yes. You see, Sunny, the world doesn't change for the better unless people feel the pain. They need to feel what it's like to lose everything. Only then will they stop living in ignorance, pretending like everything's fine. People are weak because they've never known true loss. If they did... they'd have the strength to change this world."
Sunny swallowed hard, his mind racing. Could this be true? Could pain truly be the only way to create change? It sounded so dark, so cruel. But then again, was it any different from what he'd experienced? His life had been filled with loss and struggle, but it hadn't led to the clarity the stranger described.
"And what about you?" Sunny asked, his voice barely a whisper. "What happened after you learned this?"
The stranger's lips curled into a bitter smile. "I became what I had to be. I became the one who would show the world the truth. I became the one who would make them understand. Through pain, through destruction, through everything that breaks a person down until they have no choice but to see what's real."
Sunny couldn't respond. His mind was reeling, and the weight of the stranger's words pressed down on him like a heavy stone. Was this really the way? Was this the path he was meant to follow? A path where suffering was the only answer?
The air was thick with tension, and Sunny knew that what lay ahead of him would be a struggle—not just against the world, but against the philosophy this stranger was trying to instill in him.
But in that moment, something inside Sunny shifted. He couldn't deny the truth of what the stranger had said. Pain was inevitable. It was all around him. But was it truly the only way forward?