The following day, as dusk was coming to an end and dawn was breaking, Arthur checked the time and got out of bed. He put on his work clothes and hurried to meet his head, Sankhin Pa, the Chief of the Priest of Ghansa, the nation where Nuse is located, without giving a prayer.
In the hallway, a man in his late fifties was sitting on a chair, playing with his beard, and petting his cat while wearing silver-colored robes and a silver chain on his neck.
He then grinned and turned to face the entrance, whispering to Arthur, "You are late."
Arthur knelt down and said to the chief, "I apologize, Chief. I was careless and did not offer any sacrifices or pray to the gods."
With a loud smile, the Chief lifted one hand and gave Arthur a head pat, saying, "You little fool, doing something bad is wrong; missing is not wrong."
Arthur halted. He thought the chief was insane for a moment, but then he calmed himself by pressing his hand against his chest.
They then discussed the general operations of the holy site and ways to make it even better.
Arthur then abruptly shared the dream with the chief.
The chief smiled and said, "You're under a lot of stress." You will return to normal after enjoying a satisfying meal and getting enough sleep.
That night, Arthur dreamt again.
Not of chaos, not of darkness. A smile, however, as calm and unrestricted as a dead sea.
A smile so serene it chilled him to the bone.
But none of his previous dreams were the same.
He woke up from his sleep.
Every time he naps, Arthur gets a glimpse of the smile, and he gets shivers.
As the time passed by, he did not get glimpses of his smile.
Weeks passed. Arthur and Sankhin Pa resumed their daily duties in Nuse.
But Arthur... changed.
He is no longer the calm man he was. He was having a foreboding feeling that something big would happen.
He sat in silence, contemplating that smile, its subtlety, and the person who wore that eerily lifeless smile.
And he started to pulse a little in his silence as the dusk approached, always wearing his blue robe and recited
"A painted curve on lips that are silent,
where genuine joy and emotion are unaffected.
An arc that is frozen in empty space,
That frightens the soul and haunts the place."