The rock found itself in the same position as the stones that had trapped him. The stone that he had replaced was nearby, frozen in fear due to an uncertain future after being replaced. Made as a jailor for the prison known as a fishing net, he was its pillar of support. All he had to do was move a bit and the prison would fall apart. But the gravity of this situation kept him in place, acting the part of a jailor even though he was no different from the prisoners.

The owner of the net desired a tribute of fish, yet the gaps were deliberately made small. Did the owner want to just make sure he caught every fish and didn’t give them a gap to wriggle through? Or was the old man too lazy to measure the gaps and just made them small enough to guarantee a net full of fish? Even worse, what if he was simply a sadist that enjoyed catching everything in the river big enough to be caught, just to throw them cruelly back into the water? Then again, there’s the possibility that someone else made the net for the old man. A secret enemy in the shadows, unknown and skilled in making traps; a worthy adversary for the rock.

But the old man and the adversary were not there, it was only the rock and a few stones holding up a net. Due to the recent melts in the mountains, the river was full of all sort of debris that got caught in the net, alongside the occasional fish. Not all the debris, or even the fish that was the aim of the net, got caught. Some debris and fish were small enough to pass through unhindered. Then there was the fish and debris large enough to be caught, but simply floated or jumped over the net. The rock was envious of the ones that passed through while sympathetic to those unlucky enough to be trapped. But its sympathy was responded to with spite and sarcasm as he was the one to keep them there.

It was a test of his willpower brought to him by the gods, to endure through this situation. A place where those he admired were indifferent to him and where those he wanted to help hated him. Thoughts of giving up might have appeared, if he wasn’t just a rock.