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# System prepended metadata

title: NO.

---

<center><h1>NO.</h1></center>

![](https://i.imgur.com/40UDq9r.png)
[Source](https://simplecapacity.com/2015/10/scientific-guide-to-saying-no-how-to-avoid-temptations-and-distractions/)

Cool afternoon breeze brushed Kopal lightly as he heavily sighed, his hands bound with sturdy ropes like christ and his neck placed on a guillotine lunette. Anytime soon the blade would strike him and free him of his misery.  He sighed again and tried to recall how he ended up here. 

Kopal was going to map the neighborhood to find a place scenic enough to draw. As he stood beside a jewelry store, a fat, short, bald man came out of the shop. 
"Ah, you're the merchant's son," he said hurriedly. You're late." And then the man handed him a pouch, and said, "Give this to your father and tell him my debt is paid." Upon saying this, the man returned to the shop in a similar hurried fashion.  

Kopal stood there silently, he wanted to correct the shopkeeper but no words came out of his mouth. From the weight of the pouch, it's clear the pouch had something heavy. Jewels? — he thought. He opened the pouch and tried spilling the items on his empty hand. Beads of small diamonds came out. He wondered how many slaves had to die to produce these.  

His train of thought crashed as he noticed three masked men entering the jewelry shop via the back door. There was a loud bang, some thuds, and a breaking of glasses. A week muffled cry could be heard. Probably the shopkeeper. Within 30 seconds those men came out of the shop. He tried to avoid their gazes. But perhaps the goddess of luck wasn't very keen on him. One of the robbers came to him, 
"What are you waiting for, you little runt? Run the car already. Aren't you supposed to be the gateway driver?" he hissed, then looking at the diamonds on his palm he cackled "Count the fucking stones at the hideout for christ's sake!" 

He looked behind and indeed there was a horsecart waiting to be board. Startled by the roughness and urgency in the man's voice, he meekly got up on the driver's seat and all the robbers followed suit, taking their places in the carriage. 

Within a few minutes, the city guard was on their tail and while Kopal could maneuver a horsecart, a chase on a mountain road was out of the question. He faintly remembers slamming into a rocky edge and crashing into a wall and a moment later flying from his seat, rolling down the mountain. 

He was surprisingly unhurt as his descend finally stopped. Looking around, he discovered himself in a neatly kept garden, a faint mixed aroma of flowers was in the air.  
"You're more handsome than I thought", a woman's voice greeted his ears. He turned around to find a giggling young maiden in her early 20s and blushed. "Come," she said, "I've been waiting for you."

For the rest of the day, Kopal slowly realized the young woman thought of him as her suitor, whom she had never seen before and the union was set up and approved by both families. Kopal wanted to tell her he's not the person she thinks him to be, but couldn't. Besides, the woman had a charm that allowed her to take control of any situation. But in the evening when he realized she in fact intended to bed him, he grew nervous. And when she was out of sight for a moment, he entered into the nearest closet in vain hopes to escape her imminent lustful venture. But the closet was a portal to another world and Kopal fell into a huge chamber that appeared to be a decorated tomb. 

He crawled out of the cave and couldn't believe his eyes! He was standing on a raised platform while thousands upon thousands of men were in front of him, chanting, 
"Hail the new king! Hail the new king!" 

Kopal was puzzled, to say the least. He looked around, but there was no one else but him on the platform. Soon a man with a heavily ornamented robe came to him, placed a crown on his head, and bowed down before him. 
"Your majesty has been named the 3379th king of Pututebashland." the man declared in a nonchalant manner. 

More perplexed than he ever was in his life, Kopal tried to mumble out some words in denial. Suddenly the chanting of the crowd changed, "Death to the king! Death to the king!"

Before he could utter a sound, two guards came and picked him up, hauled him to another part of the city, and then tied him to the guillotine. From the faint conversations all around among the spectators, he discovered this is the ritual of these people. Whoever comes out of the tomb is coronated as king and then gets sacrificed for the mercy of a just god. 

Kopal sighed again. He wondered what he'd ask his maker in the afterlife. Then he chuckled. As if he would!