In every man there is that which is seen, and that which is hidden. A battleground in shades of gray, as fiction and reality blur. This war is a wilderness of mirrors in which the truth is protected by a bodyguard of lies. The clatter of swords is clearly now heard. This is our war. We've kept our darkest parts hidden from each other and act like we are the only ones suffering. We hold up a telescope to our suffering, magnifying it indefinitely, until there is no room for any other than ours. Our suffering is everywhere, and everyone owes us, left and right.

But now it's time we were honest with ourselves. If we have promised to try for each other, we will have to fight every second we get to be together. We mustn't give that up. With a nervous look on my face, I place a hand on his shoulder. This is the time for honesty. Kai jumps in surprise and turns to look at me.

"I think we need to have a talk," I say softly, and he nods.

I take his hand and lead him to the living room where the first sunrays are already peeking through the big windows, as if to shed their own truth on us. I make him sit on the sofa and take the chair opposite him. For a moment we don't speak; we just stare at each other, me giving him the time to think, to feel comfortable enough to speak, and him slowly gathering the courage to open up to me.

"What I'm going to tell you, you cannot tell anyone. Understand me?" he says in a strict tone.

"Okay," I gulp nervously.

"You promise you won't tell anyone?"

"Yes, I promise."

He nods solemnly and averts his gaze from me. He leans forward, clasping his hands together in front of him, and starts speaking. "They had no houses; like ants, they all dug together in the earth and burrowed in the dark. When the frost covers the soil, when the tender sprouts come out and when the fruits grow, they didn't know. They had left their sad existence to chance, before I showed them the courses of the stars, the numbers, the writing. It was I who gave linen wings to their first ship. I ​​who cannot, after so many solutions to man's problem, find a way to break free from my curse," he smiles sadly, his eyes still fixed to the floor.

"What kind of curse?" I probe him further.

"With my help, the humans prospered," he goes on, as if he hasn't heard me. "So much that they forgot how life was before. So much that they forgot about me. And so, I punished them. During their brightest feast, when they were too drunk by their arrogance, I sent fire to burn their houses and famine to kill their boys."

I gasp in terror but quickly cover my mouth with my hands to muffle the noise. I need to hear it all, even though it scares me.

"When I returned to the great hall, the gods had already gathered around the table to judge me, as if their own crimes had never been committed. Now I know my wrongs, but at that time I...let's just say I was different. I burst in the hall in pride, and induced quarrelling among the gods and mixed their mead with malice. And I paid for it. My brother, Thor, bound me to a rock, a venomous snake over my head, and from it poison dripped: my nightmares every full moon. With every drop my body withered, leading to my death, until I was reborn to live the same torture all over again. I took the mantle of the earth, and every time one of my forms died."

I stare at him, too confused to speak. No matter how hard I try, I can't wrap my head around it. It's too surreal.

"Do you understand now?" Kai asks and lifts his gaze off the floor. He looks at me with a blank expression on his face, waiting for me to say something, but who am I kidding? My brain is a tangled mess. "Everything that you see that's new in this world, I've seen hundreds of thousands of times," he tries to explain. "I am born, I live, I die, but it never quite ends."

"I don't get it," I furrow my brows in confusion. "Then, what are you?"

"I am a god. The god of mischief."