The book was smaller than Alex remembered.
The Hollows of Eden lay on the park bench, its dragon-embossed cover frayed and water-stained. The pages, once crisp, now felt like dead leaves. Kairo picked it up, scar-light glinting off the title.
"You sure about this?"
Alex snatched the book. "It's a trap. Obviously. But it's my trap."
They opened it.
The pages were blank.
Not empty—blank. White voids humming with static. A sentence materialized:
"Welcome, Author. Let's play."
The world dissolved.
***
Alex stood in a forest of skeletal trees, their branches clawing at a bruise-purple sky. The air reeked of burnt sugar and regret. Somewhere, a dragon roared—but not their dragon. This one sounded… wrong.
Kairo materialized beside them, blades drawn. "The system's offline. No stats. No alerts. Just us."
"And them," Alex muttered.
Figures emerged from the shadows. Not NPCs. Not monsters. People. Readers.
They wore masks of smudged ink, their bodies flickering between solid and spectral. At their head stood a child in a paper crown, clutching a crayon like a dagger.
Name: The Reader
Trope: [Unwritten Audience]
Threat Level: ???
"You left us," The Reader said, their voice layered with whispers. "We stayed. We became the story."
Alex's cybernetic arm sparked. "Who the hell are you?"
The Reader's mask cracked into a smile. "The ones you forgot."
***
The forest erupted. The Readers melted into the trees, their whispers guiding the attack:
- Hollow Knights: Armored husks with swords forged from negative reviews ("Boring!", "Unoriginal!", "Delete this!").
- Echo Wraiths: Ghosts of abandoned subplots, wailing for resolution.
- The Dragon: A patchwork beast stitched from every draft Alex ever trashed.
Alex fought with raw, unscripted fury—no stats, no skills, just a dagger and decades of pent-up rage. Kairo moved like a glitch, his blades carving through Hollows in bursts of static.
"They're not real," he snarled, decapitating a knight. "Just echoes!"
"They're real enough!" Alex drove their dagger into the dragon's eye. It shrieked, dissolving into ash and orphaned commas.
The Reader watched from a distance, crayon glowing.
***
Alex cornered The Reader against a dead oak. "Talk. Now."
The child peeled off their mask.
Alex's breath hitched.
The girl from the foster home. The one who'd sneak them paper when the social workers weren't looking. The one who vanished one night, leaving only a doodle of a dragon.
"You… you're gone," Alex whispered.
The Reader smiled, ink tears streaking their cheeks. "You wrote me alive. Then you wrote me away."
The forest trembled. The Hollows froze mid-lunge.
Kairo grabbed Alex's arm. "We need to go. Now."
The Reader's crayon tore the sky open, revealing the Storyweaver's golden quill pulsating like a heart.
"Finish the story, Alex. Or I'll write you out."
***
They fled through the rift, the forest collapsing behind them. Back in the park, the book burst into flames.
Kairo stared at the ashes. "Was that…?"
"Yes." Alex's hands shook. "No. I don't know."
[System Alert (Corrupted)]
New Quest: [Confront the Dragon]
Location: [Memory Lane – Ch. 1]
Reward: [The Truth] (LOL)