Chapter 6
He wanted to prove something.
Not for revenge, but to affirm the difference between purity and corruption in a world that had long lost the line between reality and the game.
And for Theo, every time he heard that offer, there was a feeling of fear mixed with disgust—not because he was afraid of facing Erietta's power, but because he knew it meant he would have to face someone else's creation, one more pure and true than himself.
That was why Theo hated this girl.
Not because Erietta was cruel, nor because she kept challenging him relentlessly.
He hated Erietta because she was a mirror.
A mirror reflecting the rot he once wrote for others, but which now turned back, gazing upon him with clarity—without flaw, without pity.
From within Erietta's frozen eyes, Theo saw his own reflection—a writer attempting to deny his responsibility for the world inspired by his creation.
That world now demanded a debt from its origin, from every word once embedded in the novel long before it became the reference for writing Flo Viva Mythology, a universe of a game so mesmerizing.
'Alright, I should stop talking to myself like a lunatic.
This world doesn't need my words, let alone my lamentations.'
"Erietta, what I mean is just one thing—Ilux, is he—"
"Don't you dare mention Ilux's name.
That's not why I came here."
Whoooosh!
"My arrival is only to fulfill the part of the agreement we made a few days ago."
Back to the present, in a moment steeped in the scent of metal, dust, and the faint light piercing through the cracks of an old warehouse roof, Theo managed to open his mouth.
Just slightly—only to ask one simple thing.
'How is Ilux Rediona, the orphan boy he once viewed as the heart of Flo Viva Mythology, now a figure living in the same world as him?'
But that intention never became a sound.
Before him, Erietta Bathee stood upright, silent like a statue sculpted not from stone, but from will—unyielding and absolute.
With just one light gesture and a cold, hollow gaze, the girl silenced Theo completely, freezing the air between them like glass ready to shatter with a single breath.
Theo swallowed a breath heavier than before.
In the stillness, time refused to move.
Erietta didn't say much—she never did—but her gesture was clear enough.
'Do not mention Ilux's name, do not mention the past, do not mention anything tied to feelings that should have long been dead.'
The girl, with her slender body bathed in faint light, seemed like the embodiment of this world itself.
Untouched beauty, and cruelty beyond negotiation.
Theo, though he knew words were his only weapon, was now forced to surrender to silence, swallowing his curiosity like poison dripping slowly at the root of his tongue.
Erietta then moved.
Her steps were nearly soundless, as though they didn't belong to the same world as Theo's.
In her hand was something—not a sword, not a weapon, but a small object wrapped in white cloth layered with incantations.
Soft green light leaked from the seams of the cloth, dancing briefly in the air before vanishing like dust of light.
It was neither a gift nor a punishment.
It was the result of a pact Theo had nearly forgotten he'd made.
And now, with eyes reflecting eternal emptiness, Erietta handed it over—wordless, emotionless—as though the object was merely part of a ritual that had to be completed so the world would not collapse any further.
'It's funny, isn't it? The world I once knew and called real is now nearly gone.
And of all that perished in this chaos, only this book has remained loyal to me.You're the only one who still admits I exist, who still believes I'm real?'
Fuuuuh!
'Then, I began to record.
Every memory that lingered—the vital parts, the characters that would appear, and the critical moments that the protagonist, Ilux Rediona, would experience.
I analyzed them all, seeking patterns within this world's narrative, trying to rewrite the story so I could survive the bloody, grief-laden plot that might already be waiting.
And by my calculation, we are now at the end of episode three, the first arc.This is the point where Ilux is destined to defeat Ar'tushamth.'
A few days before that meeting, the world Theo once knew as home had completely vanished.
The sky, once soft blue, was now an emerald dome, and every breath of wind felt coded—not oxygen, but algorithm.
Buildings that once stood tall in the city had fallen, replaced by sacred towers of stone radiating Lu energy, while asphalt roads transformed into earthen paths inscribed with ancient symbols pulsing as if alive.
The real world had been swallowed, reconstructed, and stitched back together by the unseen hands of Flo Viva Mythology's realm.
And amidst that transformation, Theo could only scream within.
He called names that no longer answered, prayed to a God that might no longer exist or had been erased from this new reality's code.
But no sound came.
No response.
Only a mute echo that swallowed him whole, confirming that he was truly alone in the world he once thought was just a game.
Among the remnants of fear he still tried to tame, Theo began to do the most logical thing he could think of—mapping the world.
He knew this game's plot by heart, memorized every key event that shaped its story.
With the remnants of his instincts as both writer and veteran player, he drew, noted, and marked locations of significance.
He knew where Ilux Rediona was supposed to be born, where the first battle would take place, even where a supporting character like Erietta Bathee first appeared.
But something was off.
This world wasn't just mimicking the game.
It lived.
It breathed.
It evolved beyond its narrative.
And that was what made Theo tremble each time he looked at his map—a map that now felt like the scripture of a prophet who had lost control over his own prophecy.
But the greatest shock came when Theo recalculated the timeline of events that should have occurred at this point.
According to the narrative schedule he knew, the world was supposed to be at the end of the first arc, episode three—when Ilux Rediona, the protagonist, faced the fallen holy being named Ar'tushamth.
In the game, this scene was one of the most iconic moments—a brutal battle symbolizing the rise of the once-weak orphan into a hero marking the dawn of history.
Theo could still remember its cinematic animation.
Red light splitting the sky again and again, blood falling slowly like rain, and Ilux's empty gaze after the fight ended.
'If I remember correctly, the story after this should descend into chaos.
It all begins from one small mistake—a student of the Star Academy, a foolish boy craving forbidden knowledge, accidentally distributing an unholy artifact named AY.
The item was poisonous and infused with cosmic energy, serving as a gate—a bridge between universes that should never be touched by human hands.
And through that rift, Ar'tushamth appeared.
An entity described in Flo Viva Mythology as both "spiritual and non-spiritual"—a being questioning its own nature while laughing at the meaning of both traits.'
To be continued…