I didn't really think much when i started writing that Novel.
It was just a way to cope, with grieving loss and an aching pain in my chest that wouldn't go away.
For some reason, i just can't remember...
Why was i in pain again?
____________________
「Wake up.」
「Wake....」
「Adeli....」
....huh?
Nico opened his eyes as the flowing sound of waves made his ear twitch.
He was lying on what seemed like sand, made of sprakling particles and something that resembled crushed sea shells.
A dome of darkness covered his surroundings.
To his right, was an ocean the colour of space, that glowed luminescent everytime it rippled to the shore.
As he looked up, he saw orbs of different colours, each representing a radiant star.
Or atleast...he thought it was stars.
'Where....am i?'
A voice from the sea, Ethereal and soothing, made its way to him.
「Nowhere」
Nico turned to look at where the voice came from, but there was no one. Only the splashing of waves as it crashed on the 'sand'.
Usually, this is when he would panic, but the atmosphere made it almost impossible to do so.
It was just so...
Calming.
A feeling, that, he didn't have the strength to reject at the moment.
"Is–" Nico hesitated, then raised his voice,
"Is someone there?"
「Not 'someone'」
Although conflicted, for some reason, Nico didn't find this odd.
Or perhaps, he just didn't want to think about it anymore. He just wanted to wake up.
"What..are you?"
He was now standing up, as he answered to the sea, waiting for a response.
I'm going mad
Didn't i die...?
「You can't ●●●● in your own story」
"What...?"
Did it mean...die?
Was that what it called death?
Nico gazed at the hypnotic tranquil glow at the horizon, where the space-like ocean met the void-like sky.
In a slight ponder, he came to a conclusion.
'...who cares, actually?'
Seriously, where even was he?
"Where am i?!"
Nico voiced his question a bit louder, feeling noticibly distressed.
He has had better days.
'What is going on?'
「Inbetween」
The voice almost made him jump. Since it was so quiet, he thought it had gone elsewhere.
"Inbetween where?"
「Everywhere ≠ Nowhere」
'.....'
"Well...this certainly feels like it is getting nowhere." Nico muttered under his breath.
He couldn't respond to such an answer. He was utterely speechless.
This was the worst prank in history.
"...are you always going to speak in such a way?"
「. . . 」
'Hah....'
Damn it.
Nico brushed back his hair stressfully.
「Adelious」
...!?
「You are dreaming」
The voice was a bit louder now, giving the illusion that it was closer.
But still, no figured appeared.
Nico's eyes twitched, then a slight expression of relief.
"So, this really was all a dream...!"
「. . . 」
"Then, if i just wait for a bit, i will wake up, right?"
He walked along the shoreline, waiting for an answer from the unknown creature– who he presumed was in the ocean.
Or perhaps, was the ocean itself?
He couldn't tell.
「 You agreed on becoming a 'Creator'」
'...huh?'
He paused in his tracks. His footsetps behind him, washed away with the tide.
This wasn't the answer he was waiting for.
He was hoping for a simple "yes" or some instructions on how to wake up.
Not that.
「As a creator, take responsibility」
....wait, what?
Responsibility?
「Your creation. Your story」
"Wait..." Nico found it difficult to understand what was happening.
Was this about the competition?
The conditions of the competition?
Or something else entirely?
「An ending」
The waves suddenly pulled back, building up momentum as it gathered itself.
「Create an ending for your story」
「Then, choose」
Nico turned and watched as the waves suddenly stopped to pull back, and instead, pile itself to form a large wall made of liquid in the distance.
Slowly, Nico watched as the wall formed, and get bigger with every blink.
In a daze, he mumbled some words,
"Choose....what"?
Still staring in the distance.
「Yourself」
「Or」
「Everything else」
Upon hearing the words, Nico realised that the wall wasn't getting bigger.
It was getting closer.
But by the time he realised that fact, it was too late.
The wall curved foward, and crashed down. In an instant, Nico felt his entire body get engulfed by the flowing wave.
He tried to escape by swimming to the surface, but the liquid was too heavy, and his body dragged further down as a result.
'....help!!'
Thrashing, he moved his hands to push through the liquid, but his vision was dimming, and by the time the water started to subside, he lost all the air in his lungs....
「Let's meet again」
And fell back asleep.
_______________________
Hmph!!
Nico awoke facing a grey gloomy sky, while laying flat on the pavement of a school's walkway.
'I....'
Nico sprung up and looked above him, the raging winds seemed to give the illusion of the entire world swaying in one steady motion.
'I'm still here.'
I didn't wake up from the dream.
He glanced at the ledge above him, in which he had fell off from, and scoffed.
'I can't believe this.'
Am i actually inside my Novel?
He patted himself all around for any trace of broken bones or blood, but there was nothing.
Except, Nico felt an object in one of his blazer pockets and reached to grab it.
It was smooth to the touch, but sharp at the tip, and as he pulled it out of his blazer,
'....!'
An...ink pen?
With no ink.
Where did it come from?
It seemed like a custon pen, so he searched for a name, but it was blank all around.
Did this character just happen to have a random pen on himself?
That would make sense, since he seems to be a highschool kid.
Wait.
Am i still myself? Or am i borrowing a body from my novel?
Although i don't remember writing a side character named Adelious... then again, in a novel with over 6,832 chapters, who would?
Nico scratched the back of his head and sighed.
'I actually...dont remember much from the earlier chapters.'
How am i supposed to survive till the end when i died almost immediately at the beginning?!
Sure, i can't actually 'die'...but still. Not even an hour had passed before i met my novel's main protagonist and fell from the school's roof!
Damn it. Is there any way to leave this place instead of participating? I dont want to be pushed of a building again!
*Beeppp
'!'
'The wave, it's coming.'
The final one.
Nico ran inside the building and into the lower halls.
"Damn it! Think, think!"
What else?! What else could one do to hide from the waves in arc 𝐈 ?
No matter how i think about it,
No one except Elios was supposed to survive here.
Pause
Nico stopped in his tracks in front of a classroom and looked at his clothes. A glow was coming from his left pocket.
Like his own story wanted him to survive, it was giving a hint.
'The pen...'
It's glowing?
Nico took out the pen again and began to observe it carefully.
Where was this light coming from?
'Perhaps...'
Nico walked inside the classroom infront of him and stopped at the window.
The tip of the pen pressed against the glass, as he began to write a word.
『Exit』
'....'
Although no ink came out, Nico expected something to happen. Considering the events that occurred so far, surely this pen was magic, right?
...but nothing happened.
'???'
Why is this pen still glowing then?
He took a closer look at the pen again.
'!'
On the pen's golden gleaming surface, a signature started to carve itself onto the metalic material.
A signature, 'Adelious' was written.
Just as the signature fully appeared, the pen started to dissolve into his hand. The golden gleam traced the veins inside his skin, as it ran throughout his body. For a moment, it almost felt like his eyes were glowing too, his whole world started to shine like the surface of the sun.
But it faded as quickly as it came.
When the sudden glow dispersed, Nico's world immediately started to reveal its outlines.
Words started to appear on everything.
It was like witnessing the hidden parts of the world come to life. Its very foundation, the letters in which he had written on pages, was showing itself to him
The writtings were over-stimulating as they hovered in every direction.
'What is this...'
Words?
But...they seem too...narrative?
「The glass window started to crack under the winds pressure」
At the same time, In front of Nico, the glass window started to fracture, forming a root of lines trailing across.
'..!'
'It actually happened!'
'Is this because of that pen? Where did it come from?'
Before Nico could find an answer to his own questions, an urgent warning was issued.
*Beeeeppp
Nico grabbed hold of a chair as the building began to shake.
'Its here.'
I...can see the words forming, like phrases in a story.
'....'
Wait.
Since its my story, can't i make changes to it?
Although the pen disappeared, it felt like Nico could access it in some way.
What happens if the void actually engulfes this world? Would he actually die? Or would he wake up?
The 'void' to him, was a concept he utilised, but it wasn't uncommon for many other stories to use the very same concept. What if the same rules now, didn't apply once this world was gone?
Nico didn't want to find out.
For the first time in awhile, Nico felt a rush of adrenaline spike throughout his body.
'Was this what feeling alive felt like?'
It feels terrifying,
Like a sudden surge of power that is completely my responsibility.
Quickly, Nico turned to the classroom door and took a risk.
He could feel his consciousness accessing something that seemed to have been held dormant for a long time, like a large hand connected to his mind was holding the pen to this story.
Ready to write according to his whim.
『The classroom door formed a portal that led to safety from the ongoing catastrophe』
In that moment, a golden swirling portal began to visualise, darkness was seen inside it, but it felt soothing enough to offer comfort rather than to frighten.
'I can't believe it.'
It actually works!
I actually added something new to the story!
Is it because i am the stories author?
Doesn't that make me a creator?
Or...like a god?
Rumble
'No time to think, i guess i should go!'
Nico walked straight into the portal and didn't look back, bracing himself for what was to come.
...
'I'm falling'
'Or am i floating?'
I thought, it was just a really dark room on the other side...
After entering the portal, Nico's entire being started to feel heavy and light simultaneously, while being surrounded by a void-like darkness.
He wasn't entirely sure if he was falling or floating, but he assumed it was falling, simply because his stomach immediately turned itself inside out, like how one would feel when a rollar coaster slid down from a very tall slope.
As more time passed, his body seemed to be suspended in the air stuck.
It didn't help that he couldn't seem to feel any walls around him, no matter how much he frantically waved his arms.
'Am i just going to die like this?'
It didn't feel like he was actively falling anymore, but it didn't seem like he was going to reach an end to his dark tunnel-like place either.
'Is this the void?'
Or is it like...a alternative recreation of it?
Something that replaced the actually void in the meantime, since I didn't specify where the portal led to?
Nico took his time to ponder in the unknown abyss, it felt like an ad break from everything that had just happened.
That is, until something peered into the very emptiness he was in.
「A creature from another world peaks into the artifical dome that had appeared in the void」
'!?'
What? What is this?
「More Other-world beings began to take interest in the unknown dome that appeared from nowehere, peering into its depts to see what being could have caused such a phenomenon」
!!
Uh...
I need to get out of here.
Whatever this was, Nico could feel his body jolt in terror.
In that moment, he felt the urge to look above him.
In the distance, twinkling bright lights began to unfold from the darkness, but the longer he stared, the more clearler they became – from dazzling distant stars to giant Luminous pupils, that formed the eyes of anonymous unknown beings.
In panic, he writes a prompt.
『Teleport to next novel arc!』
It didn't work. Again,
『The Novel Arc 𝐈𝐈 starts 』??
『Proceed with the next storyline !!』
Doesnt work. "...."
A hint disclossed itself in an attempt to help.
Like a rush, a wave of words flooded his head.
In order to change a story, you must write like it is apart of the story.
'....!'
Right. I can't write like an outsider.
Then...i should be specific with where i want to go.
But...
What...was it? The name of the place the 2nd arc took place....
Think Nico, Think!
Damn it, it's been years since i wrote it!
How am i supposed to....
Agh.
Like his mind was being compressed, he could feel a growing pressure wrap around his head.
Information was being loaded into his subconsciousness.
'Its painful...'
The information didn't wait for him to be ready, rather, it seemed to be in a hurry. Like multiple sharpened daggers, it had thrown and stuck itself on him and refuse to let go.
The pain felt like spikes, as it circulated his body.
Until finally, it slowly subsided, and with its disappearence, came a new found sense of enlightenment.
'I...can see it.'
Every chapter, every page, every line...every word.
Its all in my head.
I can see it clearly.
Then....
[Chapter 21, Novel arc 𝐈𝐈 – Proof of trust]
'Sigh...rereading it like this, my early writings sound so cringe.'
Having his entire novel in his head was overwhelming, but at the same time, it felt somewhat natural.
Ah.
Found it.
『The character whose name was Adelious, entered the portal and traveled to a place called, Sõvərne 』
...it worked.
In an instant, Nico disappeared, and the entire 'dome' vanished with him.
.
.
.
「As the unknown character left, the beings outside of his story watched with intent」
「Other-worldly beings have noticed a unqiue creator's existence and have begun to follow their story」
.
.
.
***
This was probably the third time my vision had blanked out today.
I was really starting to miss the comforts of my bed at this moment.
Then again...
What else did i really have in my world, other than my story and my small comforts?
Didn't i have someone i cared about?
I do...don't i?
Shinggg
'?!?!'
The sound of a metal sword being unsheathed made Nico regain himself as he quickly moved his head to the sound of the noise.
"Huh?"
"Esbem!"
".....what?"
「As Adelious spoke with confusion to the head advisor for the Kingdom of Sõvel, the words began to translate in his head」
"I said silence!"
'...!'
It translated.
Wait,
'Kingdom of Sõvel?' Didn't i say to transport me to the Sõvərne?
Was there an error?
Or....
Hold on.
Sõvel? That sounds a bit too familiar.
Wasn't that...
Nico begun to reread the entirety of his novel's 2nd arc again.
Did i miss something?
I am pretty sure i–
Oh?
I can read my previous drafts too?
「Chapter 2#, Novel arc 𝐈𝐈 – Proof of trust
[Background story – Draft]
--> After the the Kingdom of Apərne conquered the Kingdom of Sõvel, an Empire was introduced to unite the two large forces together. This Empire was named as, The empire of Sõvərne.
'.....'
If the Sõvərne Empire was only founded, after Sõvel was conquered, then...
Nico looked at the person who was pointing the sword at him. His silver hair was tied neatly in ponytail, he wore a custom-tailored suit, and had a single, circular lens worn in front of his left eye.
'This person shouldn't exist. Unless,'
... I'm in the past?
To before Sõvel or Apərne had a war....
Or atleast, the world before the 2nd arc started.
...But didn't i say to bring me to Sõvərne? I didn't even write about the backstory of the two kingdoms in my novel, it was just saved as a passing thought on a draft!
Why am i here?
What am i supposed to do?
I have no idea what happens during the war before Sõvərne's founding?!
Nico started to sweat profusely as his face turned bright red.
The person wielding the sword gave a puzzling stare before sending a signal to two guards that waited beside him.
"Stand." He instructed.
"Ah...yes!"
Nico immediately stood up and kept his hands to his sides, as he watched two guards from the many walk away.
'...where are they going?'
Although curious, he didn't move.
Even if he couldn't die in his novel, he could still feel pain, and that sword looked a bit too sharp for his confidence to kick in.
"What is the origin of your identity?"
"...sorry?"
"You speak our language, but you do not wear our clothes, nor do you seem to understand where you are or who you are talking to at the moment."
'He is right, i have no idea where i am.'
Nico discreetly took small glances to identify where he had ended up, only to realise that he was in a large decorated room, with a long line of people gathered behind him.
'...?'
Is this a throne room?
its huge.
I think they were in the middle of a event where people would have an audience with their ruler.
"Answer me!"
"Ah– my apologise!" Realising that he was being too distracted with the sudden change of environment, Nico did a deep bow out of instinct.
The advisor let out a sigh of frustration.
"It is quite alright, now answer my questions." The voice had calmed down, but their tone stayed stern.
Nico straightened himself. 'So this person must be...the head royal advisor?'
Damn it, what should i even say?
Oh, i was actually planning to arrive here after your kingdom was conquered??
"I...."
"Thats enough now, Sir Adelf." A deep voice coming from the elevated structure in front of Nico spoke.
「Sitting on a throne decorated in a deep blue hue, adorned with pearls and sparkling white gems, was the king of Sõvel」
'The king!'
He was here?! He was so quiet.
But why is it so dark over there? I can barely see his face...
"We still have plenty more people to acknowledge." The king tilted his head as a slight gesture to peer at all the people standing behind Nico.
'!'
He...is letting me go?
"Sir Adelf, bring our guest to one of the private meeting rooms. I will have a chat with him later." The voice commanded as the guards started to surround nico.
'Oh...he just wants to deal with me privately...'
"Yes, your Majesty." The head advisor with silver hair flicked the sword with a slight gesture, and as he did the sword in his hand dissolved into thin air.
"!"
"Follow me." He didn't break eye contact.
Nico gave a swift nod.
'Was that magic?'
As they were walking, Nico couldn't help but analyse everything he had seen and heard. Strange places, fictional people, and impossible events had happened right before his eges.
"...."
'Alright. Lets say i am in my novel now, and that i am in it's 2nd arc.
Nico took a quick glance at the man infront of him.
'So his name is Adelf?'
I have never heard of him before.
Why are random characters appearing..?
What am i supposed to do? Nothing is clear. Is there really no way to go back to my world?
As nico was led from one huge hall into another, there were many times when he had caught a guard or two staring at him.
'..what is it?'
Is it my clothes?
Nico scanned his outfit.
'I guess...its true that my attire is odd, since everyone seems to be wearing...something else.'
"Do you have a name?"
A sudden question was asked by the man with silver hair.
"Ah..yes! My name is..."
Is it wise to say my real name in a novel?
...probably not.
"Adelious." Nico responded.
"Very well, Mr Adelious. I would like to remind you that the king has extended his mercy and has decided to let you live...for now. Please do well to appreciate it, for even i do not know how long it may last."
'...is that a warning or a threat?'
Nico bit his lip.
'I can't tell.'
"..yes, thank you."
Suddenly, the man with silver hair abruptly stopped walking foward and turned to face him.
"We are here." He held the door open to a waiting room with one hand, while the other was tucked neatly behind his back.
"Thank you."
As Nico took a few steps inside, he could hear the room doors suddenly shut to a close.
'...i guess i'm stuck here.'
But..is every room in a palace so fancy?
The room in question, was large enough to be noble's living room or an extremely large bedroom. It was filled with paintings that hung on the walls, beautiful ornaments placed in sealed glass cases, and multiple couches arranged all across.
Nico took a seat on one of the couches placed in the very middle of the room. It had a table infront of it, and plenty of sunlight peered at the location.
"Its freezing."
He turned to the dormant fireplace near him.
'Clearly, they don't want me to live for too long.'
A weary sigh escaped his lips. Nico slouched back as he let his muscles relax.
Today had been hectic, but considering how the sun was still high in the sky here, it didn't seem like it was going to end anytime soon.
Unknowingly, Nico fell asleep admist the exhaustion.