DISCLAIMER: The author's imagination and passion are the only sources of inspiration for this novel, which is a work of dedication. Parallels between these pages and the past or present may be apparent to some readers, but they are completely coincidental. You are free to interpret this art anyway you see fit, and it is meant for your enjoyment.
The Narrative Auditor's gray light persisted. The view from the Hylde Manor balcony was terrifying: a flat, untextured white vacuum was gradually replacing the verdant valley. The estate's devoted knights were flickering, their armor turning into crude charcoal drawings and losing its gleaming brilliance.
Leo shouted, his fingers flying across his tablet, "He's using a Total System Format!" over the sound of artificial wind. "He's not just deleting the characters; he's deleting the ground they stand on!"
The Sun and the Frost, Giywon and Dyierrean, stood beside each other at the ramparts. While Dyierrean's violet frost produced a transient crystalline barrier, Giywon's golden aura struck out at the approaching grey, but they were losing ground. Despite the strength of the "Royal Ancestry" magic, the Auditor was still attempting to wrap up the narrative.
A voice said, "We need to get off the page," from above.
The Gilded Banshee appeared as a huge, ethereal anchor that crashed into the stone courtyard. The ghost ship rode the extreme edge of the "Genre-Bleed." It translucently sails, sparkling with every hue the Auditor was attempting to remove, rather than sailing on water.
In the face of destruction, Killian Thorne was utterly magnificent as he stood on the bowsprit. "You boys done playing in the dirt? The sea is calling, and I've got a ship that can sail right through a legal loophole!"
Killian didn't wait for approval. He held out a phantom ladder of rope. "Samantha! If you want to save your home, you have to see the world from the outside! Come with me!"
Reinn turned to face the others. Giywon yelled, "Go!" as his blade struck a grey, faceless "Enforcer" that had materialized out of thin air. "We'll hold the foundation! Find a way to sink that Auditor's ship!"
Reinn reached for the ladder. The world altered when she got on the Banshee. Killian's promised "Date" was now a high-stakes heist on the high seas of the Multiverse rather than a calm supper.
Killian smiled and took the wheel. "Welcome to the In-Between, Lioness," he said. "Where the laws of physics are suggestions and copyright doesn't exist!"
Gravity started to fail as the ship accelerated. An inch off the deck, Reinn felt herself floating. As the ship crested a wave of pure code, Killian seized her waist and spun her around.
Over the thunder of the cosmic wind, Killian said, "This is my love, Reinn! The others want to give you a castle or a company. I want to give you the Horizon. I am the only man who can take you to the places the Author forgot to draw!"
A familiar, desperate voice emerged from the crow's nest, breaking the amorous tension.
Ji-Hoon yelled, "This is a direct violation of maritime law!" while desperately holding onto a rope. Apparently, he had "snuck" on board to make sure his possessions were safe. "And I'm getting sea-sick in four different dimensions simultaneously!"
Killian yelled, "Drink some rum, Gentleman!" and hurled a bottle in his direction. "It helps with the rendering lag!"
Ji-Hoon screamed back, "I don't want rum! I want a stable floor and a non-spectral bathroom!" as his glasses dropped off his nose.
Reinn murmured, recovering her balance, "He's right about one thing, Killian," as she turned to face the horizon. "The Auditor's flagship is right there."
A huge grey ship composed of enormous legal scrolls and inkwells rested in the middle of the emptiness in the distance. This was the origin of the erasure, the Auditor's Command.
As the low-gravity silence descended over them, Killian halted the ship. Reinn turned to look at him. Normally full of humor, his eyes were suddenly dark with a sense of desperate seriousness.
Killian traced the line of her jaw and said, "They're going to tell you that you have to settle down. That you have to pick the Prince and become the Future Empress, pick the Duke and you'll be a Future Duchess, or pick the CEO and be a Socialite. But I see the way you look at the stars, Sam. You're a traveler. You're a breach in the system. Don't let them cage you in a 'Happy Ending' that has walls."
This was the pirate's mature romance—a love that sought companionship in the unknown rather than ownership. He was her escape, not her "Hero."
"I'm not running away, Killian," Reinn leaned in to tell him. "I'm taking the whole manor with me. If we're going to be a 'Franchise,' we're going to be a lawless one."
"That's my girl," Killian said with a smile. He extracted an emerald cannonball that glowed from a chest. "Ji-Hoon! Stop puking and aim the stabilizers! Leo! Tell the boys on the ground to get ready! We're about to board the Legal Department!"
The Auditor's spacecraft fired abruptly. It was a giant red stamp made of light, not a cannonball. A loud voice resounded across the emptiness as it crashed into the Banshee's side:
"PROPERTY OF THE SOURCE WORLD. UNAUTHORIZED SEQUEL DETECTED. PREPARE FOR PERMANENT DELETION."
"Not today, you ink-stained bureaucrat!" yelled Killian.
However, the Banshee's deck started to turn into paper as they got ready to charge. The "Pirate Romance" was being replaced by a "Legal Drama."
"Sam!" Leo said in a scared, crackling voice. "The Auditor isn't fighting the ship—he's changing the Genre! He's turning the battle into a Courtroom Scene! If you don't find a 'Defense Attorney' in the next ten seconds, we're all going to jail!"