"How do you plead, Orlo Archer?"
The Emperor's voice carried across the courtyard.
Orlo Archer stood at the center of the execution platform, wrists bound in iron, face bruised and streaked with blood and dirt. He did not look at the Emperor. He did not look at the crowd screaming for his death. He stared at the ground and said nothing.
"How do you plead?" the Emperor repeated harshly.
Orlo Archer's eyes filled with tears. He took a long breath.
"Guilty," he said.
The crowd erupted.
"Kill him!"
"Stone him!"
"Traitor!"
A guard hit his spear on the ground. The shouting stopped.
The Emperor spoke again. "For killing a noble Master of the Imperial Academy, the punishment you ought to receive is death."
The crowd cheered. They thought that was the punishment.
But the Emperor continued. "Orlo Archer does not deserve to live, but he does not deserve to die either."
The crowd fell silent.
"He served this kingdom for two decades. He defended our borders. He trained our soldiers. He has bled for us all. But he betrayed the kingdom. So he will not receive mercy. Death would be merciful. And mercy is more than he deserves."
The crowd slowly began to chant in agreement.
The Emperor turned back to Orlo Archer. "Your spiritual veins will be severed. Your power and rank will be stripped. Your name erased. You will leave this kingdom and never return. That is my order."
The Emperor motioned to the spiritualists who stood waiting and they stepped forward.
Then the Emperor sat down in his throne to watch after he had given them the go ahead to perform the rites that would sever Orlo's Spiritual veins.
The severing was fast and painful.
Orlo Archer was a weeping and vibrating mess by the time they were done.
Before he could recover, guards took him by the arms and led him out of the kingdom and left him there.
Orlo thought the worst was over and raised his head trying to get up, only to see three young men standing in front of him. He recognized them at once.
They wore the Academy crest. But he did not recognize them from the crest. He recognized them because they were the students of the Master of the Academy he had admitted to killing.
"If the Emperor would forgive you, we will not," the one on the left said.
"You deserve to die by the blade of our master, whom you killed unjustly," the one on the right added.
The third, in the middle, stepped closer to where Orlo lay on the ground.
"Any last words, murderer?"
Orlo opened his mouth. He tried to speak, but he didn't get the chance to breathe out before the third student struck the blade.
Orlo Archer was no more.
THE END.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Bullshit!" Marilyn shouted, slamming her Kindle on the coffee table. Suddenly remembering how much it had cost, she picked it back up and checked it carefully.
"You think all this is bullshit?" A voice spoke, making Marilyn look up.
She finally remembered her best friend, Billy. She had come here with him to grab a coffee, and had completely forgotten about him while reading her favorite comic on her Kindle.
She looked up, ready to tell him she wasn't talking to him but paused as she registered the scene before her.
A cake sat on the table with an inscription that read: Will you be my girlfriend?
And Billy, who sat opposite her, held a rose in his hand.
"I wasn't talking to you," she said finally, her eyes now fixed on the cake. "I was referring to the comic I was reading," she added… still not looking away from the cake.
"So you haven't been listening to anything I've been saying? Jesus Christ… Lyn. I actually practiced that speech all night. Are you even paying attention right now? Marilyn?" Billy snapped his fingers in front of her face.
Marilyn finally looked at him.
"Huh… yeah… I'm here. Can I have some of the cake? It looks yummy."
"Do you not see the inscription on the cake? Or are you purposely ignoring my proposal?"
Marilyn blinked. "You… want… to… date me?"
"Why else would I be holding a rose or get a cake that has that inscription?" he asked, sounding frustrated.
"I didn't know."
"Of course you didn't. You've been so busy with that damn comic to even notice me. And don't get me wrong, I love it when you tell me stories about o'great Orlo, who's powerful and all that…"
"Actually, he's dead now," Marilyn cut in with a flat, dejected tone.
"What?" Billy asked, genuinely perplexed, but at the same time… relieved. Finally, nothing was stopping him from getting her undivided attention.
Marilyn, misreading his expression for intrigue, continued. "Crazy right? This man has amazing powers. He is smart and strong. He is loyal and brave. And some nutjobs decided to kill him over a crime that he was manipulated to admit he did. Just like that. The least they could have done was left him alive. And the damn author! They didn't even try to at least… extend the novel so they can profit even more.."
"For fuck sake… Marilyn!" Billy snapped sharply, cutting her off. His voice echoed across the coffee shop, drawing glances from everyone nearby.
"I'm sorry I don't mean to raise my voice on you." He apologized a minute after a tense silence between them.
Marilyn scratched her head wearily. "Look, Billy… you know me. I don't fancy anyone romantically. But if you want to give it a try, sure, I can try for you."
Billy's eyes widened and he leaned closer. "Really? So does this mean…"
"Give me a minute though. I need to read updates about the comic. Maybe the author was drunk or depressed when he uploaded that damn episode." Marilyn reached for her phone.
Billy stared at her. "You know what? Forget this. Forget everything. Pretend this never happened."
"Okay." She responded without looking away from her phone.
Billy stood up and stared at her for a moment longer before finally walking away. Marilyn looked up from her phone just enough to acknowledge he was leaving, then went back to scrolling.
But Billy came back. "Actually, realizing you're the type of person who would never chase someone or apologize… I'll just tell you what I have to say. You are selfish! Self-centered…"
"But you know that." she said calmly, looking up at him again. "You've known that since high school and you told me you like me the way I am. So why is my personality a problem to you now, Billy?"
His mouth opened. Closed. Opened again.
She waited.
"And also," she added, "I really do need to check what's going on with Orlo's death. So if you could summarize your feelings, that would be great."
Billy stared at her, looking offended and hurt. "Do you even hear yourself? Do you know how impossible you make it to care about you?"
"What do you mean impossible? I offered to date you like you wanted and you chose to walk away. Shouldn't I be offended? And again… can you wrap this up soon? I really need to check the…"
"The comic. Always the fucking comic. You might as well crawl into that comic and stay there."
"You made that sound like it's a bad thing." Marilyn snorted.
That was when Billy realized nothing he said would ever have an effect on her like she had on him. Unless it has to do with the novel she was obsessed with.
Marilyn reached for the cake to taste it while Billy stared at her fuming silently. But he reached for it before she could, gave her one last look, and walked away with it.
"Rude," she muttered as she watched him go. She sighed and leaned back in her seat.
It wasn't news to Marilyn that Billy had a crush on her. Yet she didn't let the realization ruin her friendship with him.
Partly because she genuinely had no idea what Billy saw in her. So she figured whatever he felt towards her was real from his end. Because she couldn't understand why anyone would like someone like her.
Marilyn was the most nonchalant, socially invisible, fiction-obsessed person on campus. While Bily was everything she wasn't.
Marilyn could break down fictional novel paths and magic like she invented them, but hand her algebra and her brain shut down. Meanwhile, Billy could solve any schoolwork thrown at them but didn't care about fantasy at all.
So Marilyn never really understood why he would like her when there were hundreds of prettier girls in College he could choose from.
She knew she would talk to him later. She owed him a conversation at least. But for now… she would leave him to cool off..
Just then, the barista called out, "We're closing soon! If you need anything else, last call!"
Marilyn decided that was her cue to leave. She grabbed her bag and slid her chair back.
Just as she stepped outside, her phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw the notification.
Her eyes widened. "Oh my god… yes! Yes! Yes!" she shouted, ignoring the stares from people on the street. The notification said there would be a Part 2 of the comic. Her fingers fumbled over the screen, tapping it eagerly.
As it loaded, she hurried to the curb to flag a taxi so she she could go home and read the content properly.
One finally slowed, and she practically threw herself inside, her bag half slipping from her shoulder.
The first episode of Part 2 was already live.
She tapped it immediately, thumb trembling with excitement as the cab pulled into traffic.
The loading screen flickered… then opened.
At first glance, it looked normal. Clean panel lines. Dramatic art. But then her eyes narrowed.
It wasn't Orlo… or any character from the first Novel.
It was…her
Drawn in that same art style she had admired for years, down to the subtle slouch of her shoulders and the way her hair always curled slightly at her jaw.
Marilyn stared.
In the panel, the drawn-her sat in the backseat of a cab.
Phone in hand.
Bag on her lap.
Head slightly angled the same way she was tilting it now.
"…No way," Marilyn whispered.
She raised her free hand slowly while watching the screen. She waited for the next panel to load.
The new panel showed her in the cab, raising her free hand in the same angle.
Same sleeve.
Same chipped nail polish.
Same small scar on her knuckle.
Her mind immediately went to Billy.
He knows this was the only way to have my full attention so he must be the one messing with me. She thought.
Billy was a computer freak after all, so her thoughts seemed plausible.
She lowered her hand. The panel updated.
The updated panel showed her lowering her hand and also included text describing her exact thoughts about Billy.
The phone fell out of her hands in fright. There was no way Billy could read her thoughts too.
What the actual fuck is going on?
She picked up the phone again. The next panels showed drawings of her dropping the phone, her expression and thoughts after too. But there was more this time.
A truck.
Marilyn relaxed a little. She thought the strange mirroring had ended.
She scrolled.
The next panel showed a driver leaning forward, inhaling a white substance from his hand. The illustration updated again. It showed the comic version of Marilyn shouting for him to look out. The next panel was the collision.
Marilyn closed her phone. She did not want to see any more.
Her chest felt tight. She tried to clear her mind and focus on anything else. The cab seat. The street lights passing outside. Her breathing.
She looked up.
The taxi driver was bent forward, inhaling something in the same position she had just seen in the panels. Same yellow shirt.
Her eyes widened.
She turned to her left. A truck was heading toward them at full speed.
She turned back to the driver.
"Look out."
The truck hit the cab hard.
Marilyn shut her eyes and waited for the pain and broken bones, but she felt nothing.
She slowly opened her eyes and all she saw was… white?
She tried to move but her body did not respond. For a moment she wondered if she was dead and if this was the afterlife.
Then a woman leaned over her.
"Arin?"
Marilyn simply blinked not sure of what was going on. She did not know this woman.
The woman began to cry. "You are alive. My child is alive."
Marilyn stared at her weirdly.
This woman was not her mother.