The Unwritten Grove was quiet—a rarity. Sunlight filtered through leaves made of crumpled notebook pages, and the air hummed with the static of half-formed ideas. Alex sat cross-legged in the grass, sharpening their dagger on a rock. Kairo stood nearby, staring at the scar on his palm, now glowing faintly like a buried ember.
Between them lay a small, makeshift memorial: Elias's tattered trench coat, his crayon sketch of a dragon, and a dented tin lunchbox filled with his "treasures" (a rusted pocketknife, a faded concert ticket, a lock of hair from his first pet).
"He deserved better," Kairo said finally, voice rough.
Alex tossed a pebble into the grove's shimmering pond. "We all do."
The water rippled, reflecting not their faces, but memories: Elias as a kid sketching swords in the dirt, Elias as Edgelord screaming "I'll make you remember me!", Elias as a fading whisper in Kairo's arms.
***
A Moment of Silence
The grove held its breath. Even the Storyweaver's static dimmed, as if the curse itself paused to mourn.
Alex stood, brushing grass off their jeans. "We'll name something stupid after him. A skill. A sword. A—"
The memorial exploded.
Pages from The Hollows of Eden erupted like shrapnel, ink splattering the trees. From the debris rose a figure—glitching, pixelated, but unmistakable.
Ms. Harlow, her cardigan now stitched from live code and her glasses cracked into fractal patterns.
"Did you really think," she hissed, "a little fire could delete me? I'm a beta reader, child. I thrive on revisions."
---
Her form flickered between solid and spectral, a corrupted file refusing to be trashed. The grove warped around her: trees became bookshelves, the pond a bubbling cauldron of red ink.
"You can't kill a perfected draft," Ms. Harlow sneered, snapping her fingers. The memorial's lunchbox levitated, morphing into a weapon—a quill-gun loaded with Elias's hair. "But you can try."
Kairo lunged. The quill-gun fired.
[Elias's Memory: Hair Trigger]
The shot wasn't a bullet—it was a flashback: Elias laughing, Elias crying, Elias begging Kairo to run.
Kairo froze, blade trembling.
Alex tackled him sideways. "Snap out of it!"
"Oh, this is rich," Ms. Harlow crooned, reloading. "The brother who lived. The brother who died. The author who failed them both. Let's see how this drafts—"
***
The grove shook. A shadow blotted out the sun—Ignis, the reborn dragon from The Hollows of Eden, dive-bombing with a roar that split the sky.
Ms. Harlow snarled. "You."
"Me," Ignis rumbled, landing between them. His scales glowed with Alex's revised prose. "And I'm overdue."
The beta reader vanished in a swirl of ink, but her laughter lingered: "This isn't an ending, Alexandra… It's a cliffhanger."
***
The grove settled. Elias's memorial was ash, but his crayon dragon sketch survived, clutched in Kairo's fist.
Alex glared at Ignis. "Why help us?"
The dragon snorted, smoke curling from his nostrils. "You gave me a better story. Now finish his."
He took off, wingbeats scattering pages like autumn leaves. One stuck to Alex's boot:
[System Alert: Hidden Quest Activated – Elias's Legacy]
Objective: Forge the Blade of Forgotten Drafts.
Reward: [Elias's Resolve] – Allies deal +25% damage to corrupted tropes.
Failure: [Plot Demotion] – Become a footnote in your own story.