So it is done

The day you realize the difference...

"What did you want to talk about, Jonathan?" The Old Man said these words to me, with his back turned, but it would be silly to reproach him for that. Right now, he was trying to wash his hands off of some greasy crap stuck on them during another ritual. Putting his hands under the water running down the sink, the Old Man was rubbing his hands vigorously."Huh, good thing I installed a faucet... separate taps for hot and cold water are a little too backward even for me."

"About the conversation we had..." I tried to find something to look at without feeling uncomfortable just standing around doing nothing. A half-faded pentagram on the floor, a flask of something greasy in the corner, some half-melted candles already packed in cellophane bags and lying inside a suitcase with a small knife with a crooked bone handle beside it...

"We've had many conversations, Jonathan." The Old Man replied, clearly with a slight smile on his face, judging by the tone of his voice. "Maybe some specifics?"

"The one we had yesterday. You know which one, Old Man." I waffled in place, unsure whether I should have made my way to the nearest small cushioned couch beside me, the only furniture in the already empty cold concrete box. "About right and good..."

"Ah, that," The Old Man finally rinsed everything off his hands before reaching for the towel previously placed on the sink. "What questions, Jonathan?"

"Yes." I sighed as I watched the Old Man wipe his hands dry. "I... I still don't understand, how exactly do you tell what's good apart from what's right?"

"Hmm?" The Old Man finally turned to me, and as expected, he was smiling a little under his glasses. "Okay, Jonathan, why are you confused?"

"I..." I was a little uncomfortable, asking perhaps a stupid question. Noticing my discomfort, the Old Man nodded to the cushioned couch next to me.

"I thought about it... So, for me, doing something 'Good' means good for me and my condition, and doing something 'Right' is doing something that is good for others... maybe." I answered as I took a seat

At these words, the Old Man thought for a moment and then nodded, "That's an interesting thought, Jonathan. Maybe you could explain how you came to that conclusion to me?"

I hesitated for a second, but the Old Man sent me a reassuring smile, allowing me to speak anyway. "You see... for example, say a group of people were attacking someone, like some gang were trying to take money from an old man..."

"Me?" The Old Man smirked, to which I just shook my head. "No, not you..."

The Old Man just nodded, glad for the levity, before I continued talking. "I mean, what do I do when faced with that situation? If I call the police, I would be committing a good act wouldn't I? But if instead of that, I intervened myself, I could have easily dispersed such a gang, or even just gotten the old man out of there, that would be the right thing to do, wouldn't it?"

Having expressed my thought, I looked up at the Old Man, expecting some kind of approval, even a simple nod, but... it was not there.

"Hmm, is that so?" The Old Man just looked at me thoughtfully. "That's the conclusion you came to..."

Instantly panic arose in my mind as I tried to say something, anything to justify my thinking, but the Old Man only shook his head a little. "Don't worry, it's quite a complicated dichotomy. Hmm, Jonathan... No, in your case, hmm if we were to use your criteria, isn't the right decision the same as the good one?" The Old Man half-smiled, tilting his head slightly so that his glasses slid down his nose.

"Hm? What do you mean, Old Man." I looked up at the Old Man, confused.

"Just, using the criteria you used, saving an old man from the clutches of a gang might be a bit of an issue, but you can do it without any trouble for yourself, can't you? You know how to teleport, don't you?" I nodded slowly, not seeing what the Old Man was alluding.