"Where am I?"
The girl's voice was soft, but there was a clear note of fear hidden beneath it. Elsha, who had been sitting quietly on the old wooden chair beside the bed, slowly lifted his head. Her eyes were now open, and for a few seconds, neither of them said anything.
She looked around the small room, her eyes moving from the rusty iron-sheet walls to the small table in the corner and finally to the man sitting beside the bed. Her expression changed as the realization slowly settled in.
"This isn't my house."
"No," Elsha replied calmly.
She immediately sat upright and looked around again. "Then where am I?"
"My house."
The girl stared at him for a moment before looking around the room once more. "This is your house?"
"Yes."
A long silence followed. She looked at the bed beneath her, then at Elsha, and then back at the room as if she was trying to understand how someone could actually live in a place like this.
"You live here?"
"Yes."
She stared at him for another moment before shaking her head slightly. "You're joking."
Elsha frowned. "Do I look like I'm joking?"
She almost smiled. "No."
She pulled the blanket closer around herself and looked at him suspiciously. "How did I get here?"
"You fainted."
"I know that."
"Then you already know how you got here."
She shook her head. "No. I mean, how did I end up here?"
Elsha leaned back in the chair. "You fainted after the men disappeared. I carried you here."
Her eyes widened.
"The men…"
She stopped speaking as something seemed to return to her memory. She remembered running through the streets, the men behind her, and the fear that had filled her body. She remembered hiding behind Elsha and looking at him with desperate eyes. After that, there was nothing.
Her eyes returned to him.
"What happened to them?"
"They left."
"Just like that?"
"Yes."
She studied his face carefully, waiting for something more. Elsha remained expressionless. He could tell that she was expecting a better explanation, but there wasn't going to be one.
She eventually looked away.
"Okay."
Elsha raised an eyebrow. That was easier than he had expected. He had been prepared for questions. How did the men disappear? Why had they turned into smoke? Who was he? Why had he been able to do something like that?
But she asked none of those things.
Instead, she looked around the room again.
"Do you always live like this?"
Elsha glanced around as if seeing the room for the first time. "Like what?"
"Like…" She searched for the right word before finally saying, "this."
"This is enough for me."
She turned toward him and gave him a strange look. "You're weird."
"So I've been told."
A small smile appeared on her face. For the first time since waking up, the fear seemed to disappear from her expression.
"My name is Jasmine."
Elsha nodded. "Okay."
She waited, but he said nothing else. Her smile disappeared.
"That is all you're going to say?"
"What else should I say?"
"You're supposed to tell me your name too."
"Elsha."
"Just Elsha?"
"Yes."
She narrowed her eyes. "You don't talk much, do you?"
"Not when I don't have anything to say."
Jasmine laughed quietly. It was a surprisingly bright laugh, completely different from the frightened girl who had been running through the streets the previous night. Elsha watched her for a moment. There was something unusual about her. She had clearly been frightened by what had happened, yet she had quickly returned to being playful. He wondered whether that was simply her nature or whether it was her way of hiding her fear.
"How old are you?" she asked.
Elsha looked at her. "Why?"
"I'm asking."
"Old enough."
"That isn't an answer."
"It is the answer you're getting."
Jasmine shook her head. "You're really strange." She leaned back against the wall before adding, "I'm nineteen, by the way."
Elsha nodded.
"So?"
"So nothing."
"I thought you should know."
"Why?"
She shrugged. "I don't know."
Elsha almost smiled.
"What were you doing out there?" he asked.
Jasmine's smile faded slightly. "I went to a party."
Elsha waited for her to continue.
"There was a fight," she said. "Things got out of control, and I left."
"And the men?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know?"
She shook her head. "I just found myself being chased."
There was a pause.
Elsha noticed the hesitation in her voice. Her explanation had holes, and he could see them clearly. There was something she wasn't telling him. But he had no interest in forcing an explanation out of her. Whatever had happened before she met him was her business.
"Fine," he said.
Jasmine looked surprised. "That's it?"
"Yes."
"You don't want to know anything else?"
"No."
She smiled again. "You're definitely weird."
Elsha stood up and looked toward the door. "You can leave in the morning."
"Tomorrow?"
"Yes."
Jasmine looked toward the small window. It was still dark outside.
"And where am I supposed to go tonight?"
"You can stay here."
She looked at him in surprise. "Seriously?"
"Yes."
"Thank you."
Elsha walked toward the corner of the room. "I'll sleep outside."
"Outside?"
"On the floor."
She looked at the bed and then back at him. "You're giving me your bed?"
"Yes."
"You don't have to."
"I know."
He took an old piece of cloth and placed it on the floor. Jasmine watched him quietly.
"You really are strange."
Elsha ignored her.
After a few minutes, the room became quiet. Jasmine lay on the old bed while Elsha rested on the floor. The night passed without either of them saying much, but sleep did not come easily to Elsha.
He stared into the darkness as the events of the previous night continued returning to his mind. He had promised himself that he would never use that power again. Yet when those men had appeared, he had used it without hesitation.
One word.
One command.
And the men had ceased to exist.
He closed his eyes, but he could still feel it. That ancient presence deep inside him. It was sleeping, waiting, buried beneath everything he had tried to forget.
Elsha had spent too much of his existence surrounded by people who desired power. People who cultivated for centuries, fought over insignificant treasures, and destroyed entire places simply because they believed they were entitled to something. He had seen what power could do to people. He had seen the greed, the betrayal, and the endless battles that came with it.
He wanted none of it anymore.
He wanted this.
A small house.
A simple business.
A quiet life.
Perhaps that was the greatest luxury he had ever known.
Beside him, Jasmine shifted in her sleep. Elsha opened his eyes and looked at her for a moment. There was something strangely familiar about the peacefulness on her face. It reminded him of a time he could barely remember, a time before everything had changed.
Before betrayal.
Before the endless struggle.
Before he had learned that immortality was not the blessing people imagined it to be.
He quickly turned his face away. Those memories were better left buried.
Morning came slowly.
The first sounds of Nairobi began creeping into the neighborhood. Engines started in the distance. Voices rose from outside. Footsteps moved along the roads, and the occasional shout of someone already beginning the day's work broke through the morning air.
Elsha woke before Jasmine. He sat up and looked toward the bed, only to find that she was already awake. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, fixing her hair with her fingers.
"Morning," she said.
"Morning."
She stood up. "I should go."
"Yes."
She looked at him. "That sounded very eager."
"You said you were leaving."
"I was expecting you to say something like, 'Be careful.'"
Elsha looked at her for a moment.
"Be careful."
She smiled. "Much better."
Elsha walked toward the door and opened it. The morning air entered the room as Jasmine stepped outside, but after a few steps she stopped and turned around.
"Wait."
Elsha looked at her.
"Do you have a phone?"
"No."
Her mouth fell open. "No phone?"
"No."
She stared at him as if he had just told her that he lived on the moon.
"How do you survive?"
"I manage."
"I need your number."
"You can't have it."
"Why?"
"I don't have one."
She placed a hand on her forehead. "This is unbelievable."
Elsha simply shrugged.
Jasmine looked at him for a few seconds. "Then how am I supposed to contact you?"
"You don't."
She smiled.
"I'll find you."
Elsha didn't take the statement seriously. "You don't even know where I work."
"I'll find out."
She turned and started walking away. After a few steps, she looked back.
"Elsha!"
He raised his head.
"Don't forget me."
Then she smiled and disappeared into the morning crowd.
Elsha stood at the doorway for a moment. There was something about the girl that made him feel she was not simply passing through his life. He couldn't explain why. Eventually, he closed the door and continued with his day.
By the time Elsha reached his meat stall, Nairobi was already awake. The city had a way of beginning its day before most people were ready for it. People moved along the streets with purpose, some hurrying to work while others searched for transport. Matatus filled the roads, competing for space as conductors called out destinations, and the smell of roasted meat soon mixed with the ordinary smell of the city.
Elsha lit the fire and began preparing the stall. His hands moved naturally now. He had learned the routine quickly.
Cut.
Season.
Roast.
Serve.
Collect.
Repeat.
"Karibu," he called whenever someone approached. "Karibu nyama choma."
A few customers stopped while others passed. Some returned because they liked the meat. It was a simple existence, and Elsha liked it.
There was something strangely peaceful about working with his hands. No cultivation. No battles. No enemies. No one kneeling before him. No one trying to kill him.
Just meat on a grill and people asking how much.
As he worked, his mind briefly wandered back to another place and another time. A place where the air itself seemed heavier, where people could sit in meditation for days without moving, and where the strongest beings could destroy mountains as casually as a man kicking aside a stone.
He remembered standing among them.
He remembered being feared.
He remembered being respected.
He remembered being betrayed.
His hand stopped for a moment, and the piece of meat on the grill began to burn. Elsha immediately turned it over and frowned.
"Focus."
He returned to work.
That life was over.
At least for now.
The day moved quickly. By afternoon, the heat had settled over the city, and Elsha remained behind the stall, serving customers and occasionally wiping sweat from his forehead. For someone who had once possessed power beyond the understanding of ordinary men, his current concerns were almost laughable.
The price of meat.
Charcoal.
Rent.
Whether enough customers would come before evening.
Yet he preferred these problems. They were real. They were simple. And most importantly, they did not involve death.
As evening approached, Elsha began preparing to close. He looked down the road and, for a brief moment, thought he saw a familiar face among the people.
A young woman.
Long hair.
Bright eyes.
Jasmine.
He blinked.
The figure disappeared behind a group of pedestrians.
Elsha frowned and looked again, but there was nothing. He shook his head. Perhaps he was imagining things.
He finished closing the stall and made his way toward the transport stage. The journey back reminded him of the previous night. The same city. The same roads. But tonight there was no screaming, no group of armed men, and no reason to use his power.
He arrived home later in the evening. The neighborhood had quieted considerably. Elsha entered his small house and placed his things down before sitting on the bed for a while.
The room felt unusually quiet.
His eyes fell on the spot where Jasmine had slept.
He didn't know why he was thinking about her. She had only been in his life for one night, and yet he had a strange feeling that she would not remain a stranger for long.
Outside, footsteps passed his door.
Elsha ignored them.
He had just begun to settle down when he heard something.
A soft sound.
Knock.
He looked toward the door.
Silence.
Then again.
Knock.
Knock.
Elsha slowly stood.
His expression changed. There was something about those knocks. They were calm and deliberate. Whoever stood outside wasn't in a hurry.
Elsha walked toward the door and stopped a few steps away. For some reason, the air in the room suddenly felt different. His senses sharpened, and his eyes narrowed.
Then came another knock.
Knock.
Elsha reached for the door.
And for the first time that night, he wondered who could be standing on the other side.