I adjust the chair, drop into it, and sigh as I pick up my authorship pencil.
Error404_: Aahh… (sigh) Everything still hurts. Alanai doesn't know how to measure her strength… —I look at the narrative, half-glitched, corrupted—. Anomaly is trying to get out, but it'll have to be patient… very patient… Let's see how I continue this plot.
My pencil touches the book.
Instantly, all the books around me begin to tremble. Their pages distort, the letters scatter, and the ink corrupts as if it were alive.
Error404_: Let's let Anomaly peek out a little.
The transition itself bends, as if reality folds over itself, dragging us into the chapter… taking us straight to Hell, right where Null and Heal are, just leaving the library.
Now let's continue this.
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Chapter 23: Surprise
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Heal and Null leave the library. Null is still processing everything he just saw: the creation of the human domain, Hakai, Abyssal… and the history of Hell.
Null: This is hard for me to understand… it's too much to keep in my head. (sigh) And then there's the warning from Ala— (coughs) I mean, "Hakai"… about not awakening her "pet"… that giant worm we saw not long ago.
Heal: Honestly, the only thing that surprises me is seeing Eterodivinitar himself and Hakai face to face. —She smiles, speaking in a cheerful tone— Something like that has to stay in my memory forever. (smiles) After all, Eterodivinitar is my idol because of all the rumors and stories about him.
Null: (looks at her) Is he that well known?
Heal: Yes… although no one has seen his true form. It's said that everything we see is just what our mind can process. —she looks at Null— Just like with Abyssal… it's so far beyond our understanding that our mind can only interpret it as "a giant worm."
Heal raises an eyebrow, watching him.
Null: (looks at her) What? Do I have something on my face?
Heal: I'm surprised you don't know these things. Even in your world they appear in many books and stories… not just ours. (sigh)
Null looks ahead, but his mind drifts to the past. He sighs , seemingly normal… but Heal notices it isn't.
Heal: (soft voice) How do you feel? —she says warmly— If you want to tell me, of course… I won't force you.
Null:—he watches the buildings stretching endlessly up and down— Let's say… it's complicated to process that the world I lived in was so big… and at the same time, so small for beings like you. Like the library… and the human domain.
He sighs.
Around them, the horizon is filled with all kinds of demons. Some wander aimlessly, others pass through dimensional walls that open like cracks in the air, connecting different realities and universes.
Fragments of dark leaves fall slowly from impossible structures, as if even the environment itself were in constant decay.
Heal watches him… and gently pats his shoulder.
Heal: Hey… just because where you lived is small to us doesn't mean it wasn't important. —she smiles, looking ahead— All your pain, your traumas, your happiness… all of that is part of you, and that doesn't depend on the place. —she turns to him and smiles sincerely— So don't be so bitter… or I'll slap you again.
She raises her hand.
Null flinches… but smiles (slightly scared) and nods.
Null: Alright… you're right. —he looks at her— Sometimes you remind me of someone.
Heal: Really?
Null: (nods) Yeah. She always tried to make me smile… even if she had to do it the hard way.
Heal looks ahead, as if something inside her drifts into a distant memory.
Heal: You remind me of someone too… not entirely, but there are things… small details.
Null: Him? Who?
Heal: (she smiles softly) A friend… I hope he's okay. Let's say… I was also part of the human domain. —she looks at him— In lower realities, like you.
Null is surprised.
Null: So… you were human too.
Heal: (nods) Let's just say I have reasons to be such a fan of Eterodivinitar.
Null smiles, thinking: What did Alcanor do…?
Null: Can you tell me?
Heal: I'd like to… but I feel a bit embarrassed with so many people around.
Heal looks around. A crowd of demons flows in every direction.
Null: (laughing) You can tell you were human. —he looks around and focuses on a peculiar forest— We can talk there.
Heal: (follows his gaze) Yeah… that place works.
The forest looks like it came from another world. Red leaves fall slowly, spinning in the air like fading embers. The trees have elegant yet strange shapes, with impossible fruits that emit sweet, unknown aromas. Some demons who taste them recover energy instantly and find them delicious.
Heal and Null enter, walking along a path covered in leaves that softly crunch under their feet.
Heal: Well… like I was saying… —she takes a deep breath— When I died… I was in a strange place.
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We enter Heal's story
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The last thing she remembers from her life are her parents' faces, being taken away by doctors. When they tried to treat her… it was already too late.
The accident had destroyed her body. Her ribs pierced her organs, slowly extinguishing her life.
Darkness.
Silence.
Until she opened her eyes.
There is no ground… or at least none her feet recognize. She walks on something like smoked glass, but beneath it there is no earth: only an infinite network of threads of light disappearing into a bottomless abyss.
The sky is not black.
It's pale yellow… like the pages of an ancient book that has kept too many secrets.
There is no sun.
Yet light is everywhere.
Then she notices the ash.
It falls slowly, like time-frozen snow. It isn't cold. When it touches her skin, it doesn't stain… it feels like a sigh, like a memory she almost grasps, but dissolves before she can.
She understands something… without knowing how.
Each particle of ash is something that ceased to exist in some universe… only to transform here.
Stardust.
Dust of finished stories.
She looks at her hands.
They don't feel like hers… but like the idea of what once was.
Time doesn't exist here. It doesn't move. It just floats… like a moment stretched endlessly between two heartbeats.
And then… she sees it.
First, the scythe.
Enormous. Unfathomable. An aberration of crystal and bluish energy, designed not for souls… but for entire worlds.
The air itself seems to freeze around it.
And then… at the foot of that impossible weapon… she stands.
Not a monstrous creature.
A girl.
She looks about 17. Soft features, almost fragile. Dark hair like the night, with a silver strand shining like the drifting ash.
Her gray eyes look at her with absolute calm.
A calm worse than any terror.
Because there is no anger… no compassion… only certainty.
The end.
She wears a pristine white kimono, like a shroud… and a black cloak that seems to devour light.
Broken clocks float silently around her.
Death: Your time has come… Elina.
———————————————————
Returning to the main story
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Null stops abruptly.
Null: E… Elina?
Heal: Yes… that was my name. What's wrong?
Suddenly, a glitch appears in Null's right eye.
Null: Ah!
He grabs his eye tightly.
Heal: Null!
She rushes over and moves his hand away… but the glitch is already gone.
Heal: Null! What's wrong? Are you okay?
Null breathes heavily… then looks at her.
Null: I think so… —he touches his eye— What the hell was that?
Heal: That's what I'd like to know… is this the first time it's happened or… has it happened before?
Null stares at her.
Null: It was when (tries to remember) after my death… in that void… there was a kind of… glitch similar to the one in my eye.
Heal: I see… —she sighs and touches the center of Null's chest— at least it didn't affect your organs apparently… by the way, what were you going to tell me?
Null looks at Heal intently.
Null: You said your name was Elina, right?
Heal: (raises an eyebrow) Uh… yeah. Why?
Null takes a deep breath.
Null: I… am Valker.
The world seems to fall silent.
Heal stands completely still. His eyes open slightly, as if his mind is trying to process something that shouldn't make sense.
He doesn't respond.
He can't.