Chapter 343.Finished
The final leg of the shooting was always extremely important. No matter what movie it is, directors liked to give the most emphasis the last week of shooting.
There was a quote that said, “It doesn’t matter how you start, it matters how you end.”
And that was true for most movies. Even in the final cut. A movie could start slow or have a slow middle part but if you end it right, people are going to remember it.
Zavier was also taking care of the fact that [The Black Saint] ended well. Honestly, the climax was the hardest part for him to write.
After all, how to end a movie exactly anyway, knowing full well there won’t be any more sequels. Kai’s story has already come to an end in the first movie.
Though, in the end, he was able to do it, trying to keep it simple. As [The Black Saints] was just the journey of Kai becoming what he became, it should end just as that.
Him realising his purpose, the thing that he was looking for in the entire movie and then, embracing it.
On the final day of the shoot, the crew and cast came early, looking excited to end the journey they had started two months ago. It was also inevitable that they were a little sad.
Each movie was a chapter of an actor’s life and it was not easy to end a chapter to move onto the next.
It was the same for Aiden. Though, he was also glad that he would be able to get rid of Kai after today and at the same time, he was becoming worried about his performance.
“Do you think I did a good job?”
That was the question that he asked right before the first shot. Zavier looked at him like he was hearing a joke and laughed.
“Are you serious? And if you are, why are you asking it when we are at the end?”
“It’s just… there’s a weird feeling inside of me.”
“What?” Zavier raised an eyebrow.
“I feel like I can give more but no matter how much I try, I am not able to do it.”
At first, Zavier thought that it was a joke. After all, Aiden’s performance was scary in a good way. So much so that a few actors, especially those who have less experience would forget their lines when they act with him.
It was haunting like he was possessed. One of the best acting performances he has seen in recent years. And Aiden was saying that he felt like he could give more?
It felt comedic but looking at him, Zavier realised that Aiden was serious.
“I don’t know how you will give more. The performance looks almost perfect to me.”
“Almost is the word. I’m there but not exactly there.”
Aiden replied. His system was never wrong, so even if he felt like he couldn’t give more, it was not true. There was still that 1 percent to cover.
Zavier thought about his words then just sighed.
“I feel like you are thinking too much about it. In the first place, I’m more than satisfied by your performance. It was way better than my imagination of Kai in my head. Anything other than that is just you trying to give yourself more headache. Tell me why you think your performance is not at the level you want?”
‘System.’
Aiden muttered in his mind but he couldn’t speak it out loud.
“I just think I could do better.”
“Every actor thinks that but what I think is that you lack accepting the fact that your performance is good enough. Look, thinking that you could do better is good but do you think every great performance is the best of that actor? No, I’m pretty sure they also think they could do better but they also accept the fact that they did a good job. You should do that and stop worrying so much about only being almost there.”
Saying that, Zavier left to handle some lightning issues. Aiden just kept standing there, thinking of his words.
Was he really not satisfied? Maybe. It was like that because he wanted to get the affinity to be at 100 percent but it had just made him forget the fact that even without it, he was doing quite well.
He never had such affinity with any character of his and he even felt like he breathed like Kai. He was also getting better at reading people.
“Sigh, I should just let it be, especially because I don’t even have a way to do better. Let go. I have reached my limit.”
Aiden accepted that after thinking about it a bit and said it loud before taking a deep breath.
He had taken time to understand it but now that he did, he felt much better.
***
[The Black Saint|27 April -2019|Act 9|Scene 7|Take 1]
Kai took a deep breath and looked around at the chaos around the city. People were running away and smoke was coming out of everywhere. The sound of gunfire hitting his ears mixed with the screams of people.
Two gangs were fighting today and it had given another dent to the city. As usual, police was incompetent and he would even say that their hands were tired by the black money coming from the gangsters.
‘I really wonder if they could ever get used to it.’
Kai thought as he saw a man stumble out of his car, glass sticking out of his chest. A car had struck him when he was trying to get away from the chaos. A woman was already bleeding in the car. She seemed unconscious to Kai.
“Help me… please.”
The man saw Kai and tried to call him out. He turned around and tried to stand up but to no avail.
Kai just looked down on him and even in the dark with only the moonlight shining above them, he recognised the face of the man.
“You are Senator Blake.”
He was a part of the elites. The ones that have thrown the city into a situation where this was a monthly occurrence.
“You… you know me. Please help me out. My wife, she’s unconscious. Call an ambulance.”
“No ambulance will come. Don’t you see it? The city is in chaos. I thought you knew about it as you have talked about it in your speeches. There’s not enough ambulances for everyone.”
“Then, please save my wife somehow.”
Kai looked at the woman. She seemed like a simple woman. He let out a breath, his eyes meeting the senator.
“No.” He said. “Everyone needs a lesson. I have had them. Now, you should too.”
Kai lowered himself up to him saying that.
“You have eaten up the city, Senator. The things that you own end up owning you. It’s the same for power.”
Saying that, Kai walked away. Every step he took, the voice of the senator got lower and lower until it disappeared. Even if he survived, his wife won’t. Kai was sure of it and he saw it as the right thing.
Suddenly, he felt free as he looked around himself.
The scene around him was one of blood, screams, death and mayhem but he felt like he was at home. He felt like this is the environment he would strive in.
One where he could be himself. Though, he also knew that the city needed direction. It lacked vision and was filled with parasites.
In it, one needed to sacrifice to get anywhere.
“Even if I need to sacrifice myself.”
Kai said with a blank look that hid a vision that only he knew and it was at that moment, a voice came out.
“Cut! It’s a wrap!”
It was a very happy shout from Zavier who started congratulating the staff and crew that was next to him.
“It’s finally over! Good job everyone, well done!”
“Ah, this is one of the hardest shoots I’m a part of.”
“Yeah, it was hard but ultimately, it was worth it.”
“Let’s go celebrate today.”
“Yeah, drink on me. You all did a great job the whole shooting.”
Voices of the crew and cast came out and Aiden looked around with a light smile on his face. It was finally over. Another movie. A special character.
The good thing was that he felt satisfied. Satisfied with his work.
“I guess it’s time to finally get rid of Kai.”
As soon as he said that, his vision suddenly went blank.
System notifications appeared in front of him.
[You have achieved 100 percent affinity with the character ‘Kai August’.]
[You have achieved an unreal achievement.]
[You have become one with the character ‘Kai August’.]
[You have gained experience.]
[You have advanced to Intermediate Grade 8 from Intermediate Grade 7.]
[You have advanced in a small time.]
[A special perk has been activated.]
[Beginning Synchronisation with the character ‘Kai August’.]