Scene: Earth – Scorched Alleyways, Two Days After Vault IX
Syra moved through the abandoned sectors like a ghost. Her boots cracked burnt glass beneath them, her senses taut. Every alley she turned into reeked of silence—not emptiness, but silence, the kind that follows a hidden presence.
She had questions.
Too many.
Who was the woman who attacked her?
Why did that broken blade bear her name, written in the old celestial tongue?
And why did he keep watching?
But the worst question…
Syra (thinking):Why do I feel like I'm remembering something I've never lived?
She stopped before a sealed wall, burned halfway by the Vault IX explosion. Embedded in it was a symbol.
Not a sigil. A sentence.
Burned into metal.
"CHAPTER FOUR BEGINS HERE."
Syra backed up instinctively.
Syra: "What the hell…"
The wall shimmered—and fell apart.
Scene Shift: Inside the Forgotten Passage
It wasn't just a wall.
It was a veil.
On the other side, she stepped into an underground corridor. Wires dangled. The air smelled of ink and old pages. She followed the tunnel until it opened into a chamber lit by pulsing light.
Inside were seven pedestals. Empty.
Except one.
A single quill, hovering in midair.
Syra: "Is this... a trap?"
She reached for it. The air vibrated.
And then she heard it—
A page turning.
Meanwhile: Realm Between Time – Author's Chamber
Author stood over a table. Maps of existence lay beneath his fingers—each kingdom a chapter, every soul a word.
He paused.
The quill had moved.
Author: "She found the Passage of Beginnings."
He closed his eyes.
Author (quietly): "But you were never meant to hold the pen."
He waved a hand.
A shimmer tore through the room—
Revealing a shattered mirror.
Inside it, seven reflections of Syra stared back. In each one, she was different.
A queen.
A tyrant.
A godslayer.
A martyr.
A ghost.
Author: "Which version are you becoming now?"
Scene Return: Syra – The Passage of Beginnings
The moment Syra touched the quill, memories surged into her—
But they weren't hers.
Battlefields.
A throne of ash.
A voice whispering, "This isn't your story anymore."
She screamed and dropped the quill. But it floated midair, writing on invisible parchment.
The words it wrote glowed:
"You are being edited."
The chamber began to collapse.
From the shadows, a figure emerged.
Riven. Or… something like him.
But this version's eyes glowed with static.
Syra (raising a blade): "You're not him."
Riven-Shadow: "No. I'm what gets written when reality breaks down."
Syra: "What do you want?"
Riven-Shadow: "You. Or the pen."
They fought.
Metal clanged against dreamstuff. Syra's arm bled, but she pushed through the pain.
Then she realized—the shadow wasn't aiming to kill her. It was trying to erase her.
Every time it struck, part of the world turned blank.
Scene Shift: Council of Remaining Gods – Outer Void
The four gods remained in debate. The higher one, the Fifth, paced.
Third God: "She's destabilizing."
Fourth God: "Let her fall. She's not meant to exist in the margins."
Fifth God (firm): "No. She's becoming something new."
Second God: "A new character?"
Fifth God: "No."
He looked upward.
Fifth God: "A new writer."
Scene Return: Syra – Collapse Point
Bleeding, gasping, Syra slammed the broken blade she'd kept—into the quill.
A shockwave burst outward.
The Shadow-Riven screamed—and dissolved into static.
Everything around her paused.
She stood in a field of white nothing.
A voice whispered:
???: "The Author isn't your enemy. Not yet."
Syra: "Then who is?"
Silence.
Then another whisper:
???: "You."
She woke up outside the passage.
No chamber.
No quill.
Just Riven—the real one—kneeling beside her.
Riven: "You were out cold. What the hell happened?"
Syra (still dazed): "I think... I read my own rewrite."
She looked down.
A new scar traced across her hand.
It formed a single character.
In celestial script:
Begin.
Scene End: Author – Walking Between Falling Stars
Author stood at the edge of a timeline that didn't yet exist.
He watched her scar form.
He didn't smile.
But he whispered:
Author: "And so, the next rewrite begins."
End of Chapter 4