The Legendary Actor - Chapter 29

The takes on the set were too long for them to have any other pastime, and the guitar that James had brought with him was the only option. Over the past few months, almost everyone had shown up to play it, but Renly had always just watched from the sidelines and never participated. Rami thought that Renly didn’t know how to play guitar at all.

Renly shrugged his shoulders lightly, “It’s just a hobby.”

With the guitar in his arms, Renly slightly adjusted his sitting posture to find a more comfortable position, and then his right hand gently struck on the strings, one string at a time, no particular melody, he just liked the sounds of different notes popping out.

When he was a child, he learned to play the piano, relying on his ears to recognize different notes and pitches, which were basic lessons. Those lessons were not only boring but also required talent, which was really a kind of constraint or even torture for children. The apparently glamorous aristocratic life or a child genius, however, the effort and hard work behind it was unimaginable to ordinary people.

Music is a wonderful thing. It is very different from performance, relying only on a finite number of notes that can be interpreted in different combinations to tell different emotions, meanings, and stories, and more interestingly, the same melody can be interpreted differently in different situations and by different ears.

The hard strings stimulated the fingertips, and the bright and pleasant notes jumped in the moonlight, exploring different aspects of the world in the darkness of the night, as Renly tried to find the bridge between him and Eugene, tried to remember the contemplation of the afternoon’s play, and tried to find answers to the questions about war, faith, and life.

At the beginning, the notes were scattered and fragmented, but gradually they became a series, melodious and quiet, soothing and peaceful, but within the melody there was a faint sense of loneliness and isolation, as if you could see an endless ice field, a vast expanse, without a trace of other colors, even the black and green were swallowed up by the endless white, the ground and the sky seemed to be indistinguishable from each other, and you could not tell the direction on the horizon, the whole world was one, leaving only endless white.

The cold that slowly penetrated into the very bones calmed all the noises, and it seemed that even his breathing had lost its meaning. He couldn’t help but close his eyes and feel the deep silence, as if he had jumped into the sea and given up the struggle, and then slowly sank – the moment of extreme silence, extreme darkness, and surreality.

Rami opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but afraid to break the beautiful silence, his eyes fell on Renly’s long, knobby fingers. It was hard to imagine that only a minute ago, that guitar was still in his hands, playing fragmented pop music, but now it was full of vitality, and just the collision of fingertips and strings actually created such a melody.

“What song is this?” The silence was broken by the sound of a voice next to them, and everyone seated around him looked over toward the source of the sound, casting angry gazes as if condemning the other for their lack of sensibility. Carl was overwhelmed by so many stares, holding a bottle of beer, he could only shrug his shoulders, “I haven’t heard the song, I’m just curious what it would look like if it had lyrics.”

Although he is a director, Carl has actually made guest appearances in many TV shows, so he has a close relationship with the actors. After hearing Carl’s question, everyone turned their attention to Renly again, because that was the question everyone was curious about, they never heard the melody before.

It easily caught everyone’s ear.

Renly’s lips curved up in a shallow curve, the faint smile with a trace of warmth, a faint light in the hazy and heavy night, the tip of the eyebrows dyed with a layer of milk yellow halo, slowly outlining the outline of the sparse eyebrows and eyes, quiet and beautiful.

The melody slowly flowed through along his thoughts, as if he could hear the sound of the wind whistling above the silent ice field.

As soon as he opened his mouth, goose bumps appeared on Rami’s arms, and the luscious, ethereal voice gently stirred his heartstrings, sending a shiver down his spine.

“Was there nothing but the hush of night?

Had a boat; don’t remember where.

Did you flee from what was said and seen?

Truth’s not true under the light of lies.

Raise your sword and shield”

The ethereal and unrestrained words like poetry collided between the melody with a dazzling light, true and warm to the depths of Rami’s heart, slowly, the cool air surrounded him, isolated, as if no one else existed, and there was no meaning, he was left alone in the whole world, only the lovely voice humming in his ears.

“Was there more than just the prose of night?

Had a grave; don’t remember where.

Beaten down awhile I lift up my prayer.

Broken promises have set the snare; both sincere and not.”

Lies and truth, trust and betrayal, vows and parting, birth and death, … has nothing to do with sincerity, they are two sides of the same coin, eternally dependent on each other, the boundary between illusion and reality is indistinguishable, as if sailing in the middle of the night, quietly moving forward, blind, trying to find a lighthouse to guide you, but stumbling into an iceberg instead. Bruised and battered, and finally, forgetting where you are.

“Was there nothing but the blessed night?

Had some gold but don’t remember where.

When does faith lift up its head so high?

Oh, my Lord, won’t you please tell me why faith bestows power?”

Closing my eyes, he watered his cold cheeks with hot tears. Pursuing God’s footsteps and following the guidance of faith, he resolutely walked forward, still not regretting the thorny stumbles along the way. But when he looked at the world full of devastation, corpses littering everywhere, he suddenly began to feel at a loss. The memories, the friends, the blood, the perseverance, and the … faith that he had once had were nowhere to be found to the ends of the earth.

He finally understood Renly’s inner cry, a silent cry for help from Eugene, but also from the depths of his own soul. In the midst of a war that had no winners or losers, no goals, and no justice, everything that they had believed in so steadfastly had come crashing down. Now looking at their bloodied hands, dragging their heavy, clumsy feet, not knowing where they should go, or where they could reach.

“Was there nothing but the hush of night?”

It was a whisper from the depths of the soul. Was there nothing but the hush of night? Is war nothing but death? Is faith nothing but a self-deception? Is persistence nothing but a solitary struggle? Is the world nothing but a cold soil?

The endless loneliness permeated every note, making it impossible for Rami to escape. Open his eyes, he saw the sky full of stars with a cold and soft melody spilling down from it, the loneliness in the sound dragging his feet down, falling, and falling, and falling into the bottomless abyss, no end in sight.

“Was there nothing but the hush of night?

Had a treasure but I don’t know where.

Did you flee from what was said and seen?

Yes, the good was not without the bad.

Raise your sword and shield.”

A part of his soul seemed to be left behind, forever on the battlefield, forever on the blood-soaked ground, forever in the world permeated by meaningless death.

Turning his head, Rami truly read the significance of Renly’s performance this afternoon. It was a farewell, a tender farewell, and Eugene left a fragment of his soul there forever, and with that woman’s eternal sleep, he could never be whole again, even if he survived the battlefield, even if he escaped from the maladies, after all, Eugene would never be the same Eugene again.

“Yes, the good was not without the bad.

Raise up your sword and shield.”

“Ernest Hemingway once wrote, “The world is a fine place and worth fighting for.” I agree with the second part.” This line, from the classic movie “Seven” popped into Langley’s mind. Perhaps this is the motivation for Eugene to continue to live, and at the same time, the motivation for Eugene to escape the nightmare.

Like Tim, Eugene may have spent his entire life not understanding what war really is, or even what faith really is, but he still fought for it. Even if there was no end in sight.

Renly’s fingers stopped, letting the afterglow vibrate gently in the air, enjoying the moment of peace, as if the whisper of the wind could be heard clearly, even the playfulness of the stars. Such moments are pure and beautiful.

Rami did not feel shy at all, wiping the tears from his cheeks, for he was not alone, and the embarrassed face next to him was in a much worse state than he was, and even Karl, who was standing beside him, turned away. It was the second time in one day.

“Renly, what was the name of that song just now?” Rami involuntarily softens his voice, as if a feather had fallen.

“”Was There Nothing?” “Renly thought about it, then said the name.

But since the end of the sentence was a question mark, Rami was stunned and confirmed it once, “”Was There Nothing?””

Renly nodded and gave an affirmative response, “”Was There Nothing?””

Note: Was-There-Nothing–Asgeir