Chapter 342

[The Black Saint|7 April -2019|Act 6|Scene 7|Take 1]

"Can I ask you a question?"

Kai asked without taking his eyes off the comic book that he was reading. It was early morning and there was no one else in the shop. It had just opened up 5 minutes ago. 

"Go on." The shop owner replied, feeling it a bit strange as Kai was often silent. He was one of those customers that won't talk much but would often buy comic books. 

"What is your purpose in life?"

"That's a strange question."

"I know it is."

Kai said as a matter of fact. The comic book store owner looked at him for a while and thought about the question. After a while, he opened his mouth. 

"Honestly, I used to think that it was taking care of my wife. But I am divorced now. Selling comics is not enough of an answer, is it?"

"No, it's not." Kai said, finally taking his eye from the panel where a villain had stabbed the main hero of the comic. "I feel like it's a bit redundant. I'm now wondering if humans are just purposeless. Just scraping by."

"They are scraping by."

The man laughed, walked close to Kai, so he could face him. The whole conversation felt very interesting to him, especially because he won't have people asking him these types of questions. 

"Everyone is scraping by. Do you think this is the middle ages where people could afford to think of a purpose like being a knight. Or is it the time of war when boys go to war for glory. We are in the age of consumerism. Smart people saw it in the 90s and got into tech. Now they are millionaires trying to sell us the dream to be like them. Even then, humans having money as a goal is just them wanting to live a certain lifestyle. Though, I doubt that's gonna satisfy you as a purpose."

"It won't. That sounds… pathetic. They won't know when money starts owning them."

Kai frowned. His eyes changed for a second as he thought about the state of humanity. The times they lived in and how comical it was. 

The comic book store owner seemed to agree with him. 

"Yes, you know that's why I like comic book characters. They are determined in whatever purpose they choose." The man pointed at the comic panel. "They devote themselves to an idea or an ideal. It makes their life large and it attracts people to them. No human in real life is capable of doing that. Maybe that's why, it's fiction."

The man laughed as he patted Kai's shoulders. Then, he turned back to stack up a pile of comics. 

Kai just stood there, thinking over the comic book store owner's words. His line of sight moved towards the comic book in his hand as a shout came out. 

"Cut!" Zavier's voice came out. "That was a good take."

It took a while for Aiden to break from the immersion and he shook his head after feeling like himself again. Though, these days, he feels like that less and less. 

Taking a deep breath, he talked to Zavier about the shot and he told him that there was no need for another. Then, he walked up to a chair and sat down.

Tom came up to him with a bottle of water and Aiden gulped it down whole before feeling a bit better. 

"How are you feeling now?" He asked and Aiden gave a smile which looked a bit scary to Tom but his smile was just becoming more like Kai, so he was already used to it. 

"Better. Thanks."

"I wonder if you can keep going like this. Wade said you have started having nightmares."

Aiden sheepishly nodded. It started a week ago. Nightmares where he would be running away from something. The worst ones were the one in which Kai would be standing in front of him, trying to kill him to take his place. 

It was clear that a lot was running in his mind. 

"It will be fine. Only half of the shoot is left."

"Yeah, but the character is harming you."

"It's my job."

Aiden said and that was enough for Tom to drop off whatever he wanted to say. Though, he didn't tell him one thing that was actively running in his mind. 

In front of him, he opened up his system and saw the affinity he had with Kai. 

[*Kai August

–99 percent affinity.]

'How to get to 100 percent?'

That was the question he was trying to get answered these days but there was no clear answer. 

He was giving his best as Kai but maybe, it was not enough. Not yet, at least. 

He had thought of ways to get to the 100 percent but he didn't know how he would do more. At the same time, he was extremely curious about the prospect of achieving the milestone. 

What would happen then? It was a serious question in his mind. Maybe his system would give him a gift. He didn't know for sure. 

'For now, I can only try to sustain myself.'

***

Kai hadn't survived the first part. That was thoroughly established at the start of the shooting. His surviving would have contradicted his purpose of becoming a god, so it was important for the director to show a world without Kai. 

The effects of his death and the aftermath of it. 

Cults, protest and a general sense of unease in the elites on whether he was really dead. Even after reports, they can't be sure. 

Moreover, there were attacks on public property and people claimed that it was done by Kai. 

All in all, it was a mess with him gaining a cult-like status on the internet. Websites of him popped up that caused even more chaos and anarchy. 

Ray Hardy's character Charlie Morgan decided to go on a personal quest to find out about Kai and his past where he saw clues that Kai himself had left for him. 

To tell him his past. 

More and more days went by as the shooting progressed with Aiden somehow handling his role as Kai. More rumours also spreaded about the movie and Aiden's spectacular acting as Kai. 

They also spreaded online. The crew was shooting a lot outdoors and people would get photos of the set and the actors because of that. Then they will upload it on the internet. 

A lot of articles about [The Black Saint] popped up like that. 

<[The Blank Saint> completes its second schedule. The movie is in the last phase of his shooting and the director have promised that it's going to be a dark tragedy that has been been seen before.>

<Photos of Aiden Silvereye as Kai as leaked from the set of [The Black Saint]. People have spotted a lot of blood on his t-shirt and the fans of the first movie are waiting for it with excitement.>

<[The Black Saint] could potentially earn twice as much as its predecessor if done right – Various Hollywood analyst predict.>

It wasn't like all of these leaks were only from the people who have accidentally stumbled upon the shooting. Some of it was also from the marketing team behind the movie who were leaking these things to keep people talking about it. 

At least, they wanted people to remember the movie with reports. If there's no news about the movie in a long time, then people could easily forget about it. 

Aiden's fan club was very excited about it as it was the movie that they were waiting for. A few of the members were actively keeping an eye on the news. 

[First female action star: There was another photo out of Kai from the movie in a white shirt splashed with blood. It looked extremely cool. I feel like it's going to be Aiden's best role till now.]

[Sparrow's Crazy Owner: Yeah, they took everything good from the first part and made it a movie, so obviously it was going to work. Though, I don't know how they are going to handle Kai's death. Other than that, it's almost eerie that a charismatic psychopath suits Aiden the most.]

[Skyneves: Nah, it's not. It's called acting.]

[Hollywood cynic: Yeah, but I feel like they're gonna ruin it in a way. I mean, good sequels are rare, especially when your main character died in the first movie. They are not even calling it a prequel and Ray Hardy is in it, so I don't know what type of route they will take. I would rather they not do the sequel but it's already happening.]

[Moaning Frodo: The director said that he made it because he found a story. Moreover, going by the director's personal life, I'm more interested in whether Kai is going to kill a married cheating wife in the movie or not. I have memes ready for it.]

[Hollywood Insider: In all seriousness, I personally feel the movie is either going to be the best movie of the year or the worst.]