The system's words echoed in my head long after the monsters had fallen.
[ Variation complete. ]
[ Result: Success. ]
[ Note: This test was not assigned to Kael Arathis. ]
[ The gods have written a separate script for you. ]
Separate script.
Not Kael's. Mine.
And I wasn't sure if that made me laugh, scream, or vomit.
✦
The plaza around us had gone quiet. Kael's forces, further down, were busy sharpening weapons, binding wounds, preparing for the next grand raid.
Over here, my group the broken, the limping, the forgotten were panting, bleeding, and staring at me with wide eyes.
The girl with the crowbar whispered first."They weren't supposed to attack us."
The boy with the crutch nodded quickly."The guilds said those things… they weren't dangerous. That's why no one helped us."
The old man spat blood onto the stone."Dangerous enough to kill me if you hadn't stopped them."
They all turned toward me. Not Kael. Not the guild envoys. Me.
Their Keeper.
✦
Dev finally broke the silence, rubbing his temples."Okay. Just checking… are we officially cursed now? Like, is this our thing? Getting side-quests nobody wants?"
"Not side-quests," I muttered, staring at the system's lingering glow. "Our script."
He stared. "Our what?"
Before I could explain, another line shimmered faintly.
[ The Keeper of the Forgotten has stepped off the Hero's path. ][ Divergence is permanent. ][ The gods watch eagerly. ]
The survivors flinched as the text seared across the air. Most of them couldn't read the system overlays, but they felt it—the weight of unseen eyes pressing down on us.
The mother clutched her child closer."Why… why us? Why him?"
I wanted to answer. I wanted to lie.
But the truth was simple.
Because the story hated me.
✦
Kael came striding across the plaza before I could breathe. His armor gleamed faintly in the false dawn, and his voice carried calm authority.
"Reed."
The crowd parted for him without being asked. Even my ragtag group shuffled back instinctively, as if light pushed shadows aside.
Kael's eyes swept over the blood, the corpses of the small monsters, the trembling survivors clutching inky weapons that shouldn't exist.
His jaw tightened. "What happened here?"
Dev laughed bitterly. "Oh, nothing much. Just a bunch of weaklings getting ambushed by a pack of things your scouts said were harmless. Totally fine."
Kael ignored him, gaze fixed on me. "The system intervened, didn't it?"
I didn't answer.
His eyes narrowed. "Reed. This isn't a game. You're pulling people into something you can't control."
I barked a laugh. "Control? You think I asked for this? I didn't write the damn script."
For a flicker of a moment, Kael's perfect composure cracked. Just a flicker. But I saw it—the same suspicion, the same unease the gods felt.
Because even he didn't know what my role was anymore.
✦
The survivors behind me shuffled uneasily, waiting for the Hero's verdict.
Kael turned away, his cloak catching the breeze.
"Keep them alive if you can. But don't drag the rest of us into your mess."
Then he walked back to his shining army, his spotlight, his story.
The cheers followed him.
And silence followed me.
✦
Later, as the camp settled, the whispers started again.
That group is cursed.The bug rewrites things.Stay away from him.
The forgotten huddled closer around me, not because they trusted me, but because no one else wanted them.
Dev sighed heavily. "Congratulations, Reed. You've officially become the patron saint of misfits."
I groaned. "Don't make it sound holy."
The ink pulsed faintly at my wrist. Almost amused.
[ Title Strengthened: Keeper of the Forgotten. ]
[ Your bond with the overlooked grows. ]
[ Warning: The stronger your divergence, the harsher the trials. ]
I muttered, "Great. Can't wait for the next cursed exam."
The old man chuckled dryly, lifting his broken pipe."Better cursed with you than dead alone."
The girl with the crowbar nodded fiercely."We'll follow you."
Their voices were quiet. But in the silence of the plaza, I heard them louder than Kael's army.
✦ Nightfall
We lit no torches. No banners. Just a fire guttering low in the corner of the ruins.
The others tried to sleep. Some shivered too hard. Some whispered prayers. A few stared at me as if I were both shield and executioner.
Dev leaned close."So, uh, when the gods said harsher trials… they didn't mean right now, right?"
The ground cracked.
Of course they meant right now.
✦ Ambush
Shadows slithered out from the cracks—not like before, not weak monsters. These were longer, faster, dripping with ink as if mocking mine.
[ Trial of Divergence: Survive the Midnight Test. ]
[ Failure condition: The Forgotten perish. ]
The mother screamed as one shadow lunged. I slashed, Rewrite sparking.
[ Sentence: The child was devoured. ] > [ Rewrite? Y/N ]
Y.
[ Sentence: The shadow's jaws snapped shut on nothing but smoke. ]
The ink lashed, ripping it apart.
The others rose. Crowbar. Crutch. Pipe. Even shaking hands could fight with shadows strengthening them.
But the shadows weren't ordinary mobs. They adapted—slipping past swings, aiming for the weakest, driving us apart.
Dev shouted, "They're targeting the survivors!"
"No," I snarled. "They're targeting me through them."
The Rewrite bled across my vision.
[ Sentence: The Forgotten broke under terror. ]
Y.
[ Sentence: The Forgotten fought with desperate fury, their shadows sharpening their strikes. ]
The girl's crowbar split a shadow in half. The old man's pipe crushed another's skull. Even the boy's crutch impaled one straight into stone.
The gods' chat flared:
"Amazing—he uplifts the weak!""Pathetic—he corrupts them!""Not hero. Not villain. A mistake."
✦ The Cost
Then the ink betrayed me.
One survivor's strike didn't stop when the monster died. The shadows writhed, making her crowbar twitch like a hungry fang. She stared in horror as it nearly swung into the boy beside her.
I shouted, ripping the ink away. The weapon fell, heavy and normal again.
She trembled."It… it wanted to keep going."
Dev hissed, "Reed. Your ink's not just protecting. It's feeding."
I didn't deny it. Couldn't.
✦
The last shadow lunged at me.
[ Sentence: Ishaan Reed was torn apart. ]
Not tonight.
[ Sentence: Ishaan Reed's ink rose like a blade, cutting the shadow in two. ]
The black surge split it apart, spraying darkness that evaporated into air.
Silence.
The Forgotten panted, shaking, alive.
[ Trial of Divergence complete. ][ Result: Success. ]
✦ Aftermath
The survivors collapsed by the fire, too exhausted to cheer. Too wary to rest.
I stayed awake. The ink pulsed, louder than my heartbeat.
And then the words appeared—not system, not gods.
Black smears across the stone.
YOU ARE NOT THE FIRST.
I froze. "What?"
The survivors stirred. "What does it say?"
I didn't answer.
The letters twisted again.
OTHERS TRIED TO BREAK THE SCRIPT.NONE SURVIVED.
Dev swallowed hard."Reed? Please tell me it's a joke."
I forced a smile. "Nothing. Just bad handwriting."
The ink pulsed harder. Mocking.
And then, the final smear:
YOUR STORY ISN'T WRITTEN.BUT IT ISN'T YOURS, EITHER.
✦
The words faded, leaving only silence.
The Forgotten looked to me again—not with trust, but with desperate hope.
Kael had an army.
I had this.
A cursed ink, survivors who clung to me, and a story that wanted to eat me alive.
I exhaled slowly, gripping my blade."Fine. Let's see how far we can push this script before it breaks."
The ink pulsed sharp and eager.
And somewhere far above, the gods laughed.