"You are a good man, Cecil."
The young prince, once as immaculate as a porcelain doll, though now aged by pain and suffering, looked up at the final boss. The one monster he could not defeat. The silence of the tower seemed to laugh at his failure. Two glowing, crimson eyes inspected him from the shadows of the 99th floor of the tower. Cecil sighed. His wish so close, yet still so far away.
"But this is not your time." the voice in the shadows said, beautiful, addictive, yet inherently lost.
"No...my Rosa...has...to live..."
He stood up, gripping his sword, muscles straining from the exertion, body drained of every ounce of magic he once had. His luminescent hair, silver in the eerie moonlight, was splattered with blood. His blood. Hands shaking, he raised his sword for one final swing...
But he never did.
Piercing pain erupted through his body before he could strike back. He had not seen it coming. Cecil collapsed to the floor, blood oozing from the massive hole in his midsection, as the red-striped barbed tail swung back into the darkness. There was blood everywhere, flowing from the thousands of cuts and slashes on his body. Cecil closed his eyes. His will to fight was broken. He just lay there, looking into the voracious shadows, waiting for the world to claim him.
"I'm sorry...Rosa." he said, raising his hand up to the sky, reaching for his lost love. "We'll meet again soon."
"Now, now, my dear prince. Now is not the time for you to die." the voice spoke once more from the shadows, a light, gentle voice.
A magic circle appeared. One Cecil had never seen before in his many years of magic education. And yet, it felt so familiar. It felt like home.
"The world still has many plans for you, Cecil. You will not remember your adventures, but there are those who will. Some may fear you, some could hate you, and some will love you. Who they are will be for you to find out."
The magic circle began to glow and spin, causing the tower to rattle uncontrollably. Painfully, Cecil turned his head to get a closer look at the runes carved into the stone below him, but he could only make out one of them: 回. The rune for return.
"We will meet again, princeling, but next time, you will be ready."
The magic circle flashed a blinding white light, and Cecil was gone.
***
Cleo sighed, closing her book and tossing it onto her pillow. She deflated onto her bed. No matter how many times she read the novel, she would still cry her eyes out until they were red and swollen. Somehow, it was still her favorite book.
Cleo's favorite book, A Song of Sorrow, was the best-selling novel written by a mysterious author under the pseudonym of Chelsea Reina. The story was about an illegitimate child, named Cecil, who was a prince, and a kind girl from the countryside, named Rosa. They fell in love at the Eldritch Academy of Magic, before Rosa met her tragic death. Following the loss of the love of his life, Cecil embarked on a journey to the Tower of Wishes, a legendary tower capable of granting the hero brave enough and capable enough to climb all 100 floors of it a wish. His goal was to complete the tower and claim the wish at the top. But he could not defeat the final boss after trying many times, using a magic resurrection item, and eventually also lost his life.
Cleo's phone rang. She picked it up.
"Hey, Cleo!"
"Hi, Ari."
Ariadne "Ari" Hawthorne was Cleo's best friend. They had been inseparable since their childhood, and she was the only friend who had stuck by Cleo through thick and thin, and her parents' death. Ari also happened to share a similar love for A Song of Sorrow.
"Are you gonna watch the livestream? Chelsea Reina is talking about your favorite book!"
"Wait, really?" Cleo hurriedly turned on her tv.
Chelsea was just finishing an answer to a question. She wore a black mask and sunglasses over her face, as well as a deep, black hood over her head, just like usual. Nobody knew who she was and what she looked like. But every now and then, Cleo was able to catch just a hint of long, silver hair peeking out from underneath Chelsea's disguise.
"I made it! Thanks, Ari!"
"No problem! It's what friends are for!"
Cleo turned back to the livestream.
"Ms. Reina! Ms. Reina! Will there be a sequel to A Song of Sorrow?" someone asked.
Chelsea paused for a moment, seemingly deep in thought. She plucked the sunglasses off her nose in one, graceful motion, revealing icy blue eyes.
"Unfortunately, there will not be a sequel to 'A Song of Sorrow'." she said, simply, nibbling on the end of the frame of her shades.
The crowd let out a sigh.
"Then is the story over, or will we be seeing more content on Cecil and Rosa?" another person asked.
"Who knows? A story is never finished, even after the final page." Chelsea poked a rouge strand of shimmery silver hair behind her ear, twirling her sunglasses thoughtfully. Her cold eyes gleamed with a certain mischief. "Even I don't know what lies in Cecil's future."
The crowd perked up once more.
Cleo drooped, releasing her head onto her pillow. Even the author didn't know what happened to Cecil? That couldn't be possible. Chelsea was just pulling her leg. She was the one who created the story herself. How could she not know? Cleo was lost in thought until a unique question popped up from the crowd.
"The witch prophesized that Cecil's wish would be used for 'the one he loves most', but he never reached the top of the tower to get his wish. Does that mean he doesn't love Rosa anymore?"
The witch was a character who only appeared briefly to deliver a prophecy about the main protagonist. She was also the one who sold Cecil the magical resurrection item called Rewind Nine, which allowed him to face the undefeatable floor 99 boss multiple times. She had appeared before him in a cloud of black smoke, initially seeming like an enemy, but the community soon grew to love the witch for the help and advice that she gave to Cecil about climbing the Tower of Wishes. Her prophecy was a common debate topic amongst the members of the novel community, some arguing that the prophecy told of how Cecil was going to fail, while others argued that Rosa was in fact alive, and Cecil's efforts had no purpose.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that. Maybe 'the one he loves most' has not shown herself yet. Rosa may love Cecil, and Cecil may have loved Rosa, but I can't be sure that she's the person he will use his wish for."
Cleo looked up at the television screen, and met Chelsea's eyes. It could not have been a coincidence. Blue eyes cut through the screen and bored into Cleo's soul. She had the sinking feeling that Chelsea knew exactly who she was looking at, and why she was doing so too. Cleo shook her head and blinked. Chelsea was answering other questions now. Her eyes had not been watching her through the screen...
Or had they?
***
"I can't believe you were able to memorize all of the monsters of the Tower of Wishes! There's, what—100 different names in there. That's insane! Cleo, is this what you do with your life?" Ari asked over the phone after the trivia section of the Chelsea's interview was over.
"No...?" Cleo answered.
"I know you probably spent I don't know...weeks trying to memorize exactly which monsters resided on each floor of that tower. I bet you even know how to defeat them all by heart!"
"I don't know it all that well..."
Ari laughed. "Anyways, see you at school tomorrow! Make sure you don't stay up too late reading!"
"I promise I won't!" Cleo smiled. "Bye, Ari."
"Bye-bye!" Ari said, hanging up.
Cleo set down her phone.
She walked over to her bookshelf. Her hand swiftly wiped away a layer of dust that had accumulated on the shelf. She picked up a picture frame. Softly, she blew the dust off the glass. It was a fairly old photo. Though it had been well cared-for, the edges of the picture were beginning to crumble. Cleo looked at the photograph. There was a beautiful woman with dark, obsidian-black hair just like hers. She had kind, brown eyes, and her smile was warm enough to melt the coldest of hearts. Standing next to her was a taller man with dark-brown hair, and red eyes. Between the two, there was a little girl, with obsidian-black hair like the woman and red eyes like the man. She was holding a book.
Cleo remembered that day better than any other. She had been seven years old. Her parents had taken her to the bookstore to buy the book that she had been begging them for: A Song of Sorrow. Later, her parents had taken her to Ari's house for a playdate, but when it was time for Cleo's parents to pick her up, they never came. Hours later, policemen showed up at Ari's house to deliver the bad news. Cleo's parents had died in a terrible car accident on their way to pick her up. She was so shocked she could barely breathe. Only days later did she realize the true meaning of the situation. Her beloved parents were gone. Her mom was never going to read her a story again before bed, and her father could no longer pick her up and sit her on his shoulders again. Seven year old Cleo had cried for days, until her entire face bloated red. She had refused to read that book for so many years.
Eventually, Cleo read the book. The last book her parents had bought her. She read A Song of Sorrow many times, and she never stopped. Whenever she missed her parents, she read the book again. She read the whole book so many times, she could practically recite the whole story from memory. And still, she kept reading. The faster she could read, the more times she read it. Soon, she was reading the entire book once through each night.
Cleo set the picture frame back on the shelf, throwing up another wave of dust. She picked up her book, and she sat down to read.
***
Cleo was on her way to school. The sky was blue, with not a cloud in sight. She was only a few streets away from her destination, when, as she was crossing a street, a truck came speeding towards her. Cleo was almost all the way across the street. She hurried over to the other side, but the truck swerved to continue going in her direction. The driver was drunk. Cleo finally made it to the other side of the street. She let out a sigh of relief. But it seemed that the world was intent on her dying that day. The truck swerved onto the sidewalk, two wheels driving on the pavement, two wheels still on the street. Cleo tried to avoid the truck, but the drunk driver spun the wheel as he laughed unsteadily. Suddenly, Cleo remembered how her parents had died, and she froze. Was this how her loving family was torn apart so many years ago? She could just die. Then she would be with her family again. That was a nice idea. But Ari...Cleo thought of her best friend, who had helped her through the hardest part of her life. How would she feel if she lost her best friend?
Cleo blinked. The truck was getting closer. She ran. She ran with all her might. She was almost at the gate of her school. Just one more step-
The truck slammed into her. Cleo felt empty for a second, before the pain hit her. The truck kept on driving down the sidewalk, eventually swerving back onto the street. Cleo heard the truck driver cackling, as if he were laughing at her. She blinked. Her eyelids felt heavy. If she were to just sleep for a little bit. Just a little...
"Cleo! Cleo! Cleo, look at me!"
It was Ari. Ari was here. Everything was going to be fine. Cleo closed her eyes, letting herself fall into the endless darkness.