-Three months ago-

Two in the morning. On the roof of the tallest building in the city, sat a figure with a white hood.

The hoody completely covered its head and face, and slightly its shoulders. The hoodie-like design had two black stripes, one for each shoulder, and on the top, coarse stitching with a green thread. Under it, was a black suit all over its body. Surrounded by its Energia particles, it suddenly recognized something and with tremendous speed, it disappeared.

An unknown man with long hair was standing on the edge of a high cliff. It overlooked the landscape of the nearby city separated by a deep sea and a long bridge over it.

Riff, 31 years old. Quit his job after his wife left him.

Part of his foot was on the edge of the cliff, and part of it in the air. Small stone particles detached from the cliff and fell downhill slowly. The height of the cliff left no room for doubt. If he jumped, his death would be short and quick.

"I've been in your situation before." said the hooded figure.

"Huh?!" startled Riff, almost tripping off the cliff by mistake. "W-what? Wait, what?! Who-?!" he stammered, surprised at how the figure sat on the high cliff next to him without him noticing.

"I'm not here to hurt you. I'm not here to stop you either. It's your choice how to live your life, and how to end it. However, I'd appreciate it if you reconsider your steps." said the figure.

"Who are you?! How did you get here?! What do you want from me?!" Riff asked stressed and panicked. The hooded figure was silent.

"Answer me!" Riff demanded frightened and confused, "Are you good or bad?!".

"Good? What is good?" asked the figure as it continued looking at the horizon, avoiding looking at Riff. "Who am I? Nobody. What do I want from you? To help you." The figure answered calmly, looking towards the wide sea spread out in front.

"Help me? Who are you? A soldier in an elite police unit or something?" Riff asked confused. "Are you even a man? Your voice doesn't sound like a female voice, but I heard you guys have all sorts of voice distortions. The wonders of technology, eh?" Riff questioned indifferently. The figure didn't answer back. Riff stared along with it to the horizon. His long hair flutters in the cold, open air.

"Thanks, but you can't help me. You won't understand my pain." Riff said with a depressed look in his eyes, "I've lost everything I ever had. There's no reason for me to live anymore." he claimed confidently.

"I was in your shoes. I also lost everything I had." replied the figure. Riff looked at it in surprise, trying hard to detect any small hint of its identity, but its long hood covered everything grossly.

"I lost my meaning and became lost. But, if I jumped to my death, I would not only end my present, but also my future. And the future - is unknown." The hooded figure said.

"Will I find a new meaning? A reason to live? Sometimes, everything seems so empty. But my inner feeling tells me that there's still a chance. There is still hope." claimed the figure as it held its hoody its right hand, disrupting the wind from fluttering it around.

"You are naive." Riff stated, looking back at the horizon. "Your life won't get better. It never does." He shook his head in denial. "Our reality... is suffering. What do we even live for? We put all our effort into building something. Hoping to find someone to love, until it all comes crashing down before our eyes. And the circle turns again.

If she won't leave by her own choice-" Riff said in despondency, remembering his partner in the dark street corridor. A suitcase to her hand. She left without even take a look back at him for the last time. "-Time will take her away." He whispered, imagining himself in another reality, separating from her aging body as they held hands at deathbed.

"Nothing lasts forever. I'm sick of it. I can't take it anymore.

I'd rather end my life on my own terms, with my hand as the upper hand." Riff looked towards the figure who continued to sit motionlessly and indifferently on the edge of the cliff. "At least once in my life. For the first and last time." he concluded firmly.

"It's your choice." said the figure back as it bent one of its legs to hold its knee in its lap. "It's your view of reality. But, time shouldn't be a factor in why you choose to give up in the first place. Most of us try to steer our lives in a certain direction. Will we end up where we're aiming? I don't know. I ask myself the same question. But, if I don't try, how will I know?" the figure asked Riff as it slightly looked in his direction.

Riff watched the small gap that existed between the wide hood and the figure's face beneath it, but the darkness of the night prevented his plan. He quickly looked back towards the sea and the lights of the nearby city. "Ha! You speak like someone with confidence!" He opened his eyes wide with a loud cry. "Like someone strong! However, you choose to hide your face! What are you so afraid of?" he asked the figure with a pointed look.

The figure remained silent.

"I knew it." Riff hasten to determine as he looked away from the figure. "I'm not a stupid person myself so I know how to detect a smart one. You're lying." he claimed with a sad gaze in his eyes, looking at the hard ground lit by the streetlamp at the bottom of the cliff in front of him.

"You also know that there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Life is a race nowhere. One way or another, we will all end up in the same place. I'm just taking a shortcut.

Don't hate me for that.

Not everyone is born strong. Some of us are born weak, and that's okay to be weak. It's okay, to let go..." Riff said as he closed his eyes when a moment later, his eyes' tears flowed up his forehead and cut off into the air. His hair flew wildly from side to side.

He falls fast.

The figure grumbled tiredly. It got up from the edge of the cliff slowly, looking at Riff rapidly descending. Suddenly, a powerful thump was heard from the bottom of the cliff.

The figure held Riff on its back. Breaking the fall caused a heavy gasp from Riff's lungs, which he himself was unaware he was capable of producing. Slowly, the figure crouched down with Riff on its back. Riff could feel the pressure concentrated in its thighs, like a cannon shot whose short fuse was about to release the shell at any moment. A huge pound was heard as in one jump, the figure returned to the spot at the edge of the cliff where it had been standing a moment ago. As a result of the shock Riff was in, the figure dropped him off its back itself. Riff looked at the view stunned.

"What... happened here…?" he asked himself, confused. "You... you saved me...?" he questioned shocked.

The figure didn't answer once more, avoiding direct gaze.

"You..." said Riff with a soft voice, which changed quickly. "You piece of scum! Until I was finally ready! Why did you do that?!" he asked gasping, boiling from anger.

"Being strong is a choice." said the figure. Riff was astonished as his line of thought was interrupted.

"Being strong is not a born given gift, it's a path you choose to take. A path you choose to take by choice.

In our lowest moments, we can see reality in its clearest form. So, I gave you a glimpse." The figure said, looking in Riff's direction but holding its hoodie in its hand so its face stayed hidden.

Riff's eyes opened wide as his body was frozen in place.

This was the first moment he noticed that there was truth in the character's words before him. Truth he didn't have time to digest yet.

"In your last moments, what did you see? The significant moments of your life? Your biggest disappointments? Childhood memories? Maybe you didn't see but felt?" The figure asked in interest, "Did you feel desperate? Scared? Happy? Maybe even, love?" The figure wondered.

Surprisingly, Riff was silent. He concentrated on the vision of him embracing his wife in an empty space that was only theirs.

"In these moments, we are able to learn the most about ourselves. To test what we really believe. I don't have all the answers to give you. I don't know enough myself. But, I have faith that no matter what happens in the future, I will do my best. And in the end, it will be better. As hard as it is for me to believe it right now, this is what I want to choose to believe in. Even if today, it seems almost impossible to me." said the figure and turned its gaze to the front, to the great sea.

"I want to believe-" he said as it looked up at the sky, watching the moon and the stars illuminate the night. "-The future will be bright.".

Immediately after, the figure lowered its gaze to the ground and advanced to the edge of the cliff. "You are welcome to go for it. This time, I won't stop you. If you still want to jump, it's in your hands. You will land on the hard ground and that will be the end. Or, you will choose to live one more day and try to see beyond what you see from your perspective today. If you choose not to jump, in the race of time, you may find that you made the right choice not to jump.

Or, you may find that you didn't.

What will you choose? The choice is yours only." said the figure as it jumped off the edge of the cliff. It held its hoody in its right hand so that it doesn't fly off in the swift air. With the sound of a tremendous bombardment, the figure landed on its feet at the bottom of the cliff again.

Riff looked at it from the top of it.

"A.. amazing." he looked at him in admiration, which quickly turned depressed.

"But… it just shows how different we are... I don't believe that I can ever be like you...".

A powerful impact was heard behind the white hooded figure. Splashes of Riff blood flew everywhere as they are almost hitting it.