Chapter 1: Waking in the Wasteland
The first thing I noticed was the silence. Not the comforting kind, like when you're alone in your room at 3 a.m., scrolling through Webnovel for the hundredth time. No, this was a silence that pressed against my skull, heavy and wrong, like the world was holding its breath. My eyes fluttered open, and the world didn't make sense.
I was lying on a jagged slab of crystal, its edges glinting like broken glass under a sky that churned with colors—indigo, violet, crimson—swirling like oil in water. Cracks of white light split the heavens, pulsing faintly, as if the sky itself was fracturing. The ground beneath me stretched into a wasteland of shattered stone and floating debris: a chunk of what looked like a stone archway, a rusted metal beam etched with the word "Stark," and a wooden gate carved with a spiral symbol I vaguely recognized. My head throbbed, and when I tried to remember how I got here, my mind came up blank. No name. No past. Just… nothing.
I pushed myself up, my hands trembling. My clothes were unfamiliar—a tattered black cloak with silver threads woven into it, like something out of a cosplay convention gone wrong. My reflection in the crystal below showed a face I didn't recognize: sharp cheekbones, shadowed eyes, and a faint glow flickering across my irises, like static on an old TV. "Who the hell am I?" I muttered, my voice hoarse, echoing in the emptiness.
Before I could panic, a sharp *ping* rang in my head, like a notification on my phone. A translucent screen flickered into existence before my eyes, floating like a hologram. Golden text scrolled across it, crisp and clinical, like something out of a sci-fi game:
**Welcome to the Storyweaver System. Designation: Unknown. Objective: Rewrite the Forgotten. Survive the Nexus. Initializing…**
"What the—" I stumbled back, nearly tripping over a jagged crystal. The screen followed me, unblinking, its words shifting: **First Task: Locate the Forgotten. Warning: Hostile entities detected.**
"System? Nexus? What is this, some kind of isekai nonsense?" I muttered, half-expecting to wake up in my bed with my phone still open to Webnovel. But the cold bite of the air, the metallic tang on my tongue, and the way my heart pounded told me this was real. Too real.
A low growl rumbled through the ground, vibrating up my spine. I spun around, scanning the wasteland. In the distance, a shadow moved—something massive, with too many limbs and eyes that glowed like dying stars. My stomach dropped. "Okay, not good. Definitely not good."
Before I could bolt, a sharp voice cut through the silence. "You there! Move, or you'll be dead in ten seconds."
I whipped my head toward the sound. A man stood on a nearby ridge, his black robes billowing in the windless air. His face was pale, gaunt, with a hooked nose and eyes like twin voids. A wand was clutched in his hand, its tip glowing faintly green. I knew that face—Severus Snape, straight out of *Harry Potter*. But he looked… different. His robes were singed, one sleeve torn, and a fresh scar ran across his cheek, still raw and red. He didn't look like the potions master I'd read about. He looked like a man who'd been through hell.
"Snape?" I blurted, my brain short-circuiting.
His eyes narrowed. "You know my name. How?" His voice was low, dangerous, like he was one wrong word away from hexing me into next week.
"I—uh—" Before I could stammer out an explanation, the ground shook again. The shadow in the distance was moving faster now, its form coalescing into a mass of writhing tendrils and glowing eyes. Snape cursed under his breath, raising his wand. "*Protego!*" A shimmering shield flared around us, but it flickered, like it was barely holding together.
"Run, you idiot!" he snapped, grabbing my arm and yanking me toward a cluster of crystalline boulders. His grip was iron, and I stumbled after him, my mind racing. This wasn't the Snape from the books—bitter but controlled. This Snape was desperate, frayed, like he'd been fighting for his life too long.
We ducked behind the boulders just as a blast of energy scorched the ground where I'd been standing. The air smelled of ozone and something acrid, like burnt dreams. "What *is* that thing?" I gasped.
"A Nexus Wraith," Snape said, his voice clipped. "One of the many delights of this accursed place. It feeds on forgotten souls. Like us."
"Forgotten?" I echoed, but the system pinged again, cutting me off.
**Task Update: Forgotten Detected—Severus Snape. Status: Banished. Narrative Role: Redeemable Antihero. Objective: Initiate Rewrite Protocol.**
The words hung in the air, and Snape's head snapped toward the screen. "What sorcery is this?" he demanded, his wand trained on me now. "Speak, or I'll rip the truth from your mind."
"I don't know!" I raised my hands, heart pounding. "This… system thing just showed up. It's telling me to rewrite something. I swear, I'm as confused as you are!"
He stared at me, his dark eyes searching, but before he could respond, a new voice rang out—sharp and fierce. "Oi, you two! Less chatting, more moving!"
A figure leapt from a nearby cliff, landing in a crouch with a burst of crimson energy. She was young, maybe eighteen, with wild black hair streaked with red and eyes that glowed like embers. Her outfit was a mix of ninja gear—black and orange fabric with metal plates—and crystalline armor that shimmered like the Nexus itself. A shadowy, fox-like silhouette flickered behind her, its nine tails swaying ominously. A Jinchuriki. Not one I recognized from *Naruto*, though.
"Who's this?" she demanded, her voice carrying a faint accent, like she'd grown up in a hidden village but picked up slang from somewhere else. "Another lost soul, or just bait for the Wraith?"
"Akari," Snape said, his tone dripping with irritation, "focus on the threat, not the boy."
"Boy?" I bristled, then realized I had no idea if I even *was* a boy. My reflection hadn't exactly clarified that.
Akari smirked, drawing a kunai that pulsed with chakra. "Fine, but if he's useless, I'm not babysitting." She turned toward the approaching Wraith, her shadow beast snarling. "Let's dance, ugly."
The system pinged again: **Forgotten Detected—Akari, Jinchuriki of the Ten-Tails. Status: Exiled. Narrative Role: Chaotic Ally. Objective: Initiate Rewrite Protocol.**
"Ten-Tails?" I muttered. That wasn't canon. Whoever Akari was, she was an original, someone the *Naruto* world had forgotten or never fully written.
Before I could process that, a metallic *clank* echoed from above. A figure dropped from a floating chunk of debris, landing with a thud that sent crystal shards flying. He was older, maybe in his forties, with a scruffy beard and a cracked arc reactor glowing faintly in his chest. Tony Stark, but not the polished billionaire from *Avengers*. His Iron Man suit was a patchwork of scavenged metal, one gauntlet sparking erratically, and his eyes were bloodshot, like he hadn't slept in weeks.
"Great," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Another kid with a magic screen. What's next, a talking raccoon?" He glanced at the Wraith, which was now close enough to see its writhing tendrils and glowing maws. "Okay, that's new. And disgusting."
**Forgotten Detected—Anthony Stark. Status: Depowered. Narrative Role: Reluctant Mentor. Objective: Initiate Rewrite Protocol.**
"Stark?" I said, my voice cracking. "Snape, a Jinchuriki, and now Iron Man? What is this place?"
"The Nexus," Snape said, his voice cold. "A prison for those the multiverse discarded. Characters whose stories were abandoned, erased, or rewritten out of existence."
"Discarded?" I echoed, my mind reeling. "But I'm not a character. I'm… I'm real."
"Are you?" Akari shot me a skeptical look, her kunai spinning in her hand. "You don't even know your name, do you?"
I opened my mouth to argue, but nothing came out. She was right. I had no name, no memories, just this system and a growing sense of dread.
"Enough," Stark said, his voice sharp. "That thing's about to turn us into cosmic chow. Kid, you got a plan, or is that screen just for show?"
The Wraith roared, its tendrils lashing toward us. Snape's shield flickered, and Akari's beast growled, ready to pounce. I didn't know who I was or why I was here, but the system's words burned in my mind: *Rewrite the Forgotten.* Maybe I didn't have answers, but I had something these three didn't—a chance to change their stories.
"System," I said, my voice steadier than I felt. "Activate Rewrite Protocol."
The screen flared, and golden threads of light shot from my hands, wrapping around Snape, Akari, and Stark. Their eyes widened as the threads sank into their skin, and for a moment, I saw flashes—Snape standing over a grave, Akari fleeing a burning village, Stark watching his suit crumble in a lab. Their pain, their regrets, their unfinished stories.
The Wraith lunged, and I raised my hands, the threads pulsing brighter. "Let's rewrite this fight," I said, not knowing what I was doing but feeling the power surge through me. "Together."
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