[BOOOM! The skies rent open, a massive beast with wings that clouded the sun flew out, its terrifying roar shook the heavens, its glowing red eyes locked on the top of a mountain where three figures stood about to fight this beast.
A young man, black hair, eyes burning with passion, a great sword in his hands as his cape flew in the wind.
A woman, red haired, a stunning beauty, with a staff in hand, ready to cast spells that could shatter worlds.
And a dude holding a book, wait, what? A book? What the hell was happening, this creature was about to destroy them and the mountain, why they hell was this blue eyed man holding a book and having a wide grin on his face? ]
They say books are the gateway to other worlds, the ability to live in the lives of people before us and people that never really existed.
Stories, biographies, archives, all of them hold a story, and a well, written story is worth more than gold. The experience that we get from letters set on a page is something that can’t be replicated elsewhere.
No form of media has ever told a story like letters on a page, at least to me that’s what I think. The building of suspense, the cliffhangers at the end of every page, all that is what I live for.
There is no greater ecstasy beyond that which comes from the pages of a book.
This is the law I lived by, the way I saw the world. Books were my all, my everything. It didn’t matter the genre, if I could find a story behind it, I’d read it.
My obsession, my addiction. It is something I love. But sometimes the love we have for something can blind our view to what is happening around us.
When I dive down that rabbit hole of a new book, it doesn’t matter where I am, my head is down, invested in a context, drawn into a world built on those pages.
If only I had lifted my head at that moment, sigh.
But the book was too good, a light novel, I had just gotten it from a store and I was invested. Many people dislike light novels, complaining about how it isn’t real literature.
But to me, whatever had a story is literature, and after days of reading massive books, a volume of a light novel is my way of unwinding.
It was the final volume of a light novel, it was called "Darkness of a Hero." Fresh chapters posted on noᴠelfire.net
It followed a hero that desired to save the world from the seven demon beasts that had ravaged their world for thousands of years.
His father and mother were ripped apart right before him, and a darkness was born in his soul. Despite being chosen as the hero, the more he faced the world and saw the darkness, the more the darkness in him grew until it got to the point that the darkness was fighting the light.
It was a concept that drew me in, the story of a man with a responsibility and a dark past, fighting for justice and for vengeance.
How could one not love such a story, but I guess I loved it a bit too much, because while I was engrossed and walking down the street, a man had been robbing the store next to me, he burst out as the alarm bells rang.
A tall lanky man, a small plastic mask covered his face, dressed in casuals and with a dagger in his hands. He rushed in my direction slamming into me from behind.
My book was tossed from my hand, flipping in the air, I looked at it, trying to run and catch it, but my feet gave out, why?
I slammed into the ground hard, and then I heard a scream, a lady standing by my side and looking at me. That was when the cold hit, and the pain spread, I had been stabbed.
The man, seeing what he had done, got on his feet, his fingers shaking. He looked around frantically, sirens could be heard in the distance. He darted, not looking back even once.
I lay on the floor, cold, my life leaving me. I couldn’t believe it, I didn’t want to. At that moment fear gripped me, the colder it got, the more scared I got.
"I don’t want to die, I want to live."
Those were my final thoughts before it all went dark, the end of Peter Orion.
Light shined on the face of Peter, he opened his eyes slowly, not sure of what was happening. A few seconds ago he had been dying, yet now he had a sense of calm.
There was no panic, no fear, nothing. He looked around and he was standing inside a void, there was nothing except darkness.
Then suddenly a being appeared, a lady dressed in black, her face was covered by a veil. Peter looked at her.
"Am I hallucinating or something?" he asked.
"No, you are not. I am the being that stands between life and death," she said.
"Oh, so you are here to take my soul?" he asked, his tone was calm.
"You don’t seem scared or worried," she said.
"Scared? Worried?" He looked at her. "Of course I am, I don’t want to die, I want to live, I want to continue experiencing stories," he spoke, tears already pouring from his eyes.
"I don’t want to die," he said, then looked at her. He wiped the tears. "But that has come to an end, I’m dead," he said.
"Hmm, I see your desire to live, and I have something to tell you, Peter. You lived a simple life guided by stories. You didn’t commit evil, nor did you do anything much beyond reading.
You lived, but didn’t live, only experiencing the lives of others and never your own. And because of that, you’ll be getting a second chance, a chance to live," she said.
Immediately those words reached his ears, he looked at her, eyes shining. "You mean you’ll send me back?" he asked.
"No, that’s not possible. You’ll be going to a new world, and I know the perfect world for you. You’ll become a side character in the last story that you experienced.
But that isn’t all, you’ll become a side character fated for death in this story. If you so desire to live, then make sure you live. If you don’t live, you’ll die as it is supposed to be," she said.
"Wait what?" Peter asked, genuinely confused.
"You desire to live right?" She asked.
"Yes, I do." He replied.
"Then this is your path to life, an opportunity, if you take it now, you’ll get to live again. Are you willing to take that chance?" She asked.
Peter looked at her, he didn’t really understand, but he understood one thing, and that was she was offering him a chance to live, and in another world.
He took a deep breath and spoke, "yes, I want to live. " He said. He couldn’t see it well, but he could swear that he saw a smile under the veil.