Chapter 2: No way home

Next morning, Sky woke up and sat on a log. Last night's horrors were still fresh in her mind. She barely got any sleep last night. The moans of the undead, the screams of the pained. At least those screams weren't from Sky. But… If she told them her discovery… would those people still be alive? Why didn't she tell them? Why was there a pushing force telling her that no, she couldn't? Why did every story have to b a tragedy. Sky tried to push these thoughts away from her head. What happened, happened.

She ate her apple and was deep in thought. Her skill, Story Insight, seemed to be completely activated again. This time her mind went to her other skills.

Sky was able to activate Story Insight because she had an idea what it did. It gave her insight into how stories worked and what would most likely happen based on past stories. Therefore, Ink Alchemy was probably related to her being an author, writing with ink. Sky thought about it and concluded that Ink Alchemy probably allowed her to turn her words (ink part) into reality (alchemy part).

Sky took a piece of parchment out from her supply bag. She thought it was lucky that there was paper for her to write on and a pen to write with. She wondered whether it was coincidental.

[Skill: Ink Alchemy has been activated]

Sky wrote "an apple". Nothing happened. Sky thought, "maybe I have to be very descriptive for it to work?" Sky tried again and wrote:

An apple so sweet and juicy it would make my mouth water, so red it matched the color of blood, so fresh it feels like it just came out of ice.

However, as Sky wrote, she realized her writing wasn't staying on her paper. Her letters became the color of the sun, and sky realized it was the same "stuff" her other skill, Story Insight, showed during the fight between her and the boy. Her words floated up into the air in front of Sky, and when she finished, an apple fell from the sky onto the ground.

It seemed to be made of ink and nothing more than a 2-dimensional picture, but when Sky reached to grab it, her touch made the apple become a real physical object. Sky ate the second apple of her day. The apple indeed was delicious.

Sky played around for a while trying to create certain things, some foods, some tools, some small, some large, some ordinary, some rare. Sky found out that her current skill level allowed her to create small objects. It took a lot of energy to create one, and it required her to give very detailed descriptions to summon it. She couldn't create living things or very large things. She also had a capacity of around 3 small items she could create before overworking herself. When she tried to create something that her skill couldn't handle, small blue sparks appeared. They felt like they weren't from "the story". Story Insights seemed to warn her that if she created too many sparks at once, they would drag her to somewhere stories didn't exist. Even at such a small number, those sparks left her hand feeling cold and numb. They were the same sparks back yesterday when she wanted to tell everyone the loophole in the Trial.

Sky decided that she would set out for the first pillar now. She packed everything into the supply bag that she was going to reuse, and she went into the forest.

The forest smelled like what pages of an old book smell like, fresh and calming. Sky knew there were monsters in the forest as suggested by the sub trial menu, so she was cautious as she advanced into the forest

Sky knew there was a squirrel around. Just as expected, a few seconds later, a squirrel darted in front of her. Sky was going to try to somehow throw her dagger at the squirrel when:

[Skill: Nature's Penumbra has been activated]

A weed grasped onto the leg of the squirrel, and as it squirmed, Sky stabbed it and collected the squirrel to maybe eat later. Sky was interested at the fact that she could now activate all 3 of her skills. Sky wondered why sometimes she couldn't activate her skills; they would just activate themselves. They were able to tell when Sky was in trouble and would help her. Also, Sky felt as though there was something else about her profile that she had forgotten about…

[Skill: Story Insight smirks]

(w h at a bou tyo ur s ta ts?) A voice rang out from somewhere inside Sky's head. It was the same broken voice that told her not to save people. It was the voice that killed thousands, maybe tens of thousands. Now it was helping her? But Sky wasn't going to decline help from her own skill.

"Oh yeah. I wonder if now that I have coins would I be able to invest them in my stats." Sky thought. Guided by her skill, she decided to invest in Magic Proficiency and Agility since they seemed most in sync with her skills.

[60 coins have been invested in Magic Proficiency. Magic Proficiency Lv. 2 — Lv. 3. "A new type of strength flows through your body"]

[60 coins have been invested in Agility. Agility Lv. 1 — Lv. 2. "Movement becomes like it never has been before"]

Sky didn't feel particularly different, but she did notice her aura that fueled her skills seemed freer, and she was able to move better with the air currents. The messages that came with her increasing her stats were probably because it was the first time she did it.

Sky continued with her journey, and she continued to the pillar. As she walked, her thoughts, augmented by her skill, kept unraveling.

Sky thought about stats. Stats seemed to be one of the major influences of this world, other than skills and whatever a celestial was. And stats were funded by coins. If Sky could get coins, then she would have a huge advantage. Sky knew there were other ways to get coins other than the main and sub trials. This was because readers always liked conflicts and good guys and bad guys to root in. Therefore, if everyone was on a similar footing when it came down to coins, readers would get bored because then it would just be a tiresome never-ending fight. Because of this, Sky needed to find a "hidden" trial to do so.

[Y ou s e em l ik e ams ma r t on e. S o eag e ref or a fi gh t. H e re yo ugo t hen.]

The voice that Sky never wanted to hear again. The voice that started all this.

[Hidden Trial]: Monster hunter

Pass requirements: Kill at least 30 monsters before midnight today. You may use any means to do so.

Time limit: Until midnight

Penalty: 200 coins (else death)

Reward: 10 coins per monster, chance to choose a celestial patron

Sky had mixed feelings. The fact that the guy who started all this was watching her… was chilling. However, now she had a chance to get ahead of the other people in Yorun and increase her survival odds. She also could also choose a patron who would probably help her become stronger. It was late afternoon right now, so she would have to complete this task in around 7 hours. She hadn't even seen a monster yet.

Sky knew if she was going to kill something, she would need a proper weapon. A small dagger wouldn't do. Just then, perhaps because of the guy who did this, the strand of light that granted me information last time came again.

{celestials powerful beings beyond entities trials. They are sponsors that hold many coins. watch trials for fun, they part a much higher trial. They donate coins interesting entities. vary in power could . They and buy helping them the trials in Vantusi Shop. Vantusis storytellers create trials.}

It granted Sky a lot more information this time, and Sky was grateful. She now knew what made this torture happen. She now knew what a celestial was. She should try to get on the good side of them in hopes of donations. In a way, they were a lot like humans. They would use other's stories to make them feel good about their own. I couldn't afford to reject them though.

[Celestial Watcher of the Great Abyss smiles in interest.]

[Celestial Enemy of the Story shows his curiosity. 50 coins were donated.]

[Celestial Terror to the Demon World wonders about you.]

[Celestial One of the End has his eyes on you. 100 coins were donated.]

Sky had shivers down her spine just from their gaze. She couldn't guess how strong the Celestials were. The fact that 4 of them were interested in her was crazy. Sky knew she had to put on a good show.

Sky had managed to open Vantusi Shop. She was browsing the weapons section, but then she decided not to. "I'm a writer. I'm not a protagonist. Instead of trying to take his spot, I should get a writer's tool." She thought. She saw that the prices for any writer-related items were extremely high, mostly in the thousands.

Sky had an idea. From the first trial, she got an item called the Eye of Hell's Demon, and maybe a Celestial somewhere wanted it. She placed it on sale for the highest bidder, and hoped her item was valuable for some coins. To her surprise, after a few minutes, there were already many bids on it, already reaching 3 thousand coins. When everything finally settled down, she ended up getting 11 thousand coins for the demon eye. Very satisfied, Sky brought the things she needed.

[Some celestials question the fairness of your coin usage.]

Sky brought those items from Vantusi Shop. It was a huge expense, but Sky hoped it would pay off. Sky decided to get started with her hidden trial.

The sun was beginning to set, and by now Sky had finished off about 40 or so monsters. She should be able to keep making coins the more monsters she killed, but something just seemed off about the forest just then. Sky could feel that someone was watching her. She couldn't feel a killing intention though, which was a good thing. He, she was certain it was he, seemed to be just as curious of her as she was of him. Sky decided to play the waiting game, and she set up camp near a tree. Placing all of her valuable items into her infinity bag, then shrinking the bag to fit in her pocket, Sky called out, "Um, hello." Sky knew she was just as insecure in this new world as she was in the old world. No way back now.

To Sky's surprise, the person did come out. He looked slightly younger than her, maybe 25 or 26, and has tousled dark hair that falls just above his eyes, which are a striking shade of green, sparkling with curiosity. He seemed familiar, yet Sky was sure she…

I was sure I…

What?

I am what? What? It was the same feeling I had right before this all started. I changed. No. I didn't change. It was the story that changed. Now I realized what happened that day. At that moment, the story left my hands. The role of a narrator shifted to someone else. So why was it mine again. As my head whirled with confusion, I noticed the person who just came out of the forest was staring at me.

"Hi. Sorry about my confusion. Something changed inside me when I looked at you. Like my story's narrator… never mind I'm probably just being confusing…" I mumbled.

However, instead of looking at me strangely, the man said something I would have never expected. "By the way, have we met? I feel like I've talked to you before." He replied.

I knew we hadn't met before— I barely go out, and because I'm an introvert, I can barely have a conversation with someone. Yet he was correct. I felt familiar with him and felt at ease with him.

"What's your name?" I asked him.

"Oh. My name is Liam. I like reading webnovels. I'm 26 years old and live in district 34. Lived." He says to me.

"My name is Skylani. Sky for short. I also lived in district 34. Hey, maybe we have met before…?" I say to him.

Then it hit me. A guy living in district 34 who I felt like I've met before… reads webnovels… he must be… no.

"Have you by any chance read the webnovel called Echoes of the Sylvan Verse before?" I asked, hoping for something I couldn't figure out. A shiver went down my spine.

"Yes, I have. It's my favorite these days. It's a shame barely anyone reads it… wait you've read it too?" He answers me.

No. No. No. What are the chances? I have a dilemma in my head. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Is this why my narrative changed? Because I met my sole reader? I must tell him, but I can't. I can't because somehow, I feel that both worlds I've lived in would crash. Doing so would deny my life.

"Kind of. I saw it online in the past before but never really read it. Don't know why it came to my mind." I state.

I am lying. In my head my voice is shaking, but I force it to be streaky on the outside. This isn't a game; this is a world where I must show strength to appeal to others, to gain support and to reach the end of this world.

I tell him, "This new world has new dangers. I want to team up with you. We would have better odds this way."

I have trust in Liam. Not in the way you'd expect. Only the most patient people would have read a 2639 chapter long novel. But I trust Liam in the way that he'd be talented in any world we are in.

"Yes, I agree with you. Teaming up would be a great idea." he tells me.

I suggest, "Well, it's getting dark out now, let's set up camp and go to sleep."

He agrees with me, so we set up a fire, and as the sun sets, I ask him in the smallest whisper just as a passing thought, "Do you think the world would ever go back to the way it was? Wouldn't that be nice?"

There is silence. Liam sighs and says, "That, that would be nice. But after all we done to get here, all humanity must suffer because of the so called Vantusis… this proves how easy it is for us to slip into darkness and forget our morals. Maybe this doom is because of how many sins we as humans have made. Maybe this is the restart, and the new universe would be born without the guilt we carry today. Maybe they would be born in a new, better era. Regardless, there's no way back now." His voice wavered as if this was partly his fault. This definitely wasn't his fault. It was all because of the stupid vantusis.

Restart. That was the word that wouldn't stop lingering in my head though. I tried to think straight about it. Didn't something like this happen before? Like 200 years ago? However, my thoughts kept tangling in each other because of the censoring that for some reason was firing up again. Irritated at the fact I couldn't even hear my own thoughts anymore; I heard one voice. It wasn't Liam's.

{Please. Lead your people like I did and defeat the system that made happen. Start the Celestials. Don't choose , greater power become one and end my blessing no way home }

There was no way home now.

No way home fin.