"This is not where I though I would end up" When I woke up I found myself seated on quite a comfortable guest seat, inside a decently large sized office room, like a manager's office.
Infront of me was an average office desk with everything an employee would need, and behind that desk was an employee it seemed.
"Welcome to the Tower of stories, if you have any questions please ask them now" The lady said, with a smile. She wore a formal black business suit, and genuinely looked like she was about to give me an entire presentation.
Ignoring that, she offered me to ask some questions, so I'll have to go off what I know for now. Thankfully she didn't mention I had any limit to my questions, so I'll use that to my advantage.
"Specifically, where are we in the tower right now?" Talos was nowhere to be seen, so I need to confirm where I am first.
"This is the first floor of the tower, more commonly known as the Tower hub. It's where all other Guardians gather and shop for new items,trade, or gather information" She explained.
'Guardians' she used that term to describe the people who are trapped here. So are the people here meant to protect something?
"You called the people here guardians, why is that?" I asked, respectfully.
"Each Guardian here, has been chosen as their story's protector" She explained. So this means there is a large threat out there then.
But if all the people who have these specials powers are supposed to protect their story, Why are the Guardians of from my story like Aegius just destroying it? I needed an answer for that.
"Is it possible for a Guardian to go rogue?" She nodded.
"Yes, its not rare at all. Guardians will eventually give in to their power and use it for selfish reasons, Thus making them antagonists" She replied.
"What do you mean by 'Antagonist'? " I asked.
"Antagonists are a rank you can aqquire after surpassing the rank of 'Main side character' all details of ranks can be accessed via your System once you leave this room" She explained.
System? So everyone here has a system? I mean I understand why, it is quite convinient afterall.
Ignoring that, I wanted to know something else. I wanted to know who in thw world we are protecting our story from.
"You say we have to protect our story, but from who?" I asked.
"The Author, a powerful being who was once defeated in the past, but will return stronger in the future" She replied. I did not sign up to get killed in battle, I just wanted to live peacefully but now I'm dragged into this mess.
"Powers, do I get any special powers?" I asked. If I can get some OP power, then It shouldn't be that much of a problem.
"Of course, once you leave the room, Your System will give you the full details of your special ability" She said. With all this, I think I can jnderstand the gist of it.
Besides, Talos should be here somewhere, so I'll ask him for more details.
"Thank you for your assistance, I'll be leaving now" I said, getting up from my seat and instantly feeling the pain from my arms.
"Your welcome! If you need anymore help, feel free to ask me or any other helper!" She responded. I walked to the door, and slowly opened the door with my right hand, the scars from the chains, still hurting badly.
As I opened the door, I was met with a surprising sight. This entire floor, looked like an EXTREMELY large modern shopping mall. So many people, so many shops, and I think I even saw some type of place to sleep at in the distance.
"So were your questions answered?" I jumped to the right before facing the left, and saw Talos just sitting down on a metal bench.
I wanted to hit him so badly now, but because of my arms being injured I really cant.
"Can't you help me with my arms?" I asked, hoping he had some sort of magic or power to heal me.
"Yeah here, drink this" He replied, tossing a potion he summoned using his system. But it ended up just splashing me in the face since my arms can barely move without hurting.
Did it heal my arms? Yes, do I want to hit him? Absolutely. Too bad I can't since he would probably just dodge it all anyway.
"Ohhh, I forgot about your arms. My bad" I was just annoyed at this point, and he definitely knew that since he was just nervously chuckling.
"Sooo, I'll show you where we will stay from now on, We can deal with your clothes later" I think he means 'Our' clothes. He's still wearing his pyjamas in public.
"Just hurry up" I grumbled. He smiled while doing a thumbs-up and summomed a shard that looked to be the exact same as the one he used previously to open the portal.
So I think he summoned it using his system, since I saw a panel appear infront of him and he just clicked somerhing and the shard spawned on his hand.
So all this time when I assumed he was crazy since when he tried to pay for groceries he started to poke the air like he was insane. But it was actually because he was summoning the money onto his hands??? Guess I do owe him an apology later.
He threw the shard behind him again, and another portal opened.
"Follow me" He said, excited. He hopped into the portal, and I just dragged myself inside while wondering where he was about to take me now.
"Welcome to the city of Elzia!" He said, while pointing at the surroundings.
It was a complete fantasy city, I saw elfs, magic, an arena, an academy, and all of that good cool fantasy stuff, I was actually quite excited to be living here.
"I can tell by your face that you seem to like this story" He grinned.
"I am, but can you just show me where we will stay? Cause people are staring at us y'know" I said. We weren't surrounded but I could definitely feel the stares.
But in a novel, people usually look at newcomers with disgust, wanting them to leave and never come back. But I swear, These stares felt like desperation, but I had no idea why.
"Of course! Let's gooooo!" He said cheerfully, while grabbing me by the arm and dragging me somewhere.
The wind from the force was making me feel even colder because my face and upper front torso were juat soaked because of the potion, but I just stayed silent, knowing I would be able to relax soon enough.
"You're kidding right?" I saw, while staring at the rundown, beat-up small shop that has holes on the walls, and tbe flooring was breaking.
I walked inside, and everything was genuinely destroyed, as if it had been abandoned for so long. But behind the counter of the shop was a doorframe.
Going through the doorframe led me to the 'House' part of the place. One decently sized room, wirh 2 beds, a mini kitchen near the doorframe, some nightstands next to both beds, two wardrobes next to eatch other, and a mirror hanging on the wall.
"This is where you will be staying from now on" He said.
"Woah, woah, woah. You mean 'we' right?" I turned to look at him in disbelief, was he just about to leave me?
"You can contact me using your system, just message me if anything goes wrong" He said,calmly while walking away and opening another portal up using a shard.
I followed him outside, and just stared at him in disbelief.
"I'll be back in 5 months, Your job as a guardian is to protect this city. But don't go overboard, if a big problem arises just contact me" He said before walking into the portal.
As the portal closed, I wanted held back my tears...tears of joy of course. I couldn't beleive it, my brother is letting me live the life I want.
I've always wanted to live in a fantasy world and he gave me the chance to do so! He even trusts me to protect it!
I ran back into the rudown shop, or rather my home now, and jumoed onto the bed on the left side.
"Man that is soft" This mattress was acfually better than the one from my story.
But its time to get serious again, I still don't know much about being a guardian, and have have to protect this city.
I do understand why my brother didn't make me protect our own story instead since I would get killed instantly by someone like Aegius.
So I plan to focus on getting adjusted here for now. Also I don't actually know how to access my system, I should probably have asked Talos before he left but I'm sure its fine.
Talos never used a word or phrase to call out his system, so I think he just thinks of it and then it appears infront of him.
So with that in mind, I just though of the system and it actually worked. The blue panel appeared infront of my face.
[PROFILE]
NAME: BAEL OVANOAH
RACE: HUMAN
STORY ID: 847
AGE: 16
RANK: BACKGROUND CHARACTER
SPECIAL ABILITY: WRITER'S EYE
GOLD: 10000
" 'Writer's eye'? What is that?" I asked myself. I tapped on the 'Special ability' text and saw an option to see details, so I clicked it.
[WRITER'S EYE]
TRAIT 1:
"Allows the user to easily dodge any incoming attacks by forcing the user to instantly dodge any incoming regardless if the user notices or not"
TRAIT 2:
LOCKED
TRAIT 3:
LOCKED
TRAIT 4:
LOCKED
TRAIT 5:
LOCKED
That is quite literally overpowered, I can dodge attacks I don't even notice that is going to be usefull for sure.
"Man its cold" the air became colder, and my wet clothes were not helping at all. I got off and decided to go check out the wardrobe for some old clothes.
This is only temporary, I just need something to wear for now, so I don't get too cold.
"A brown t-shirt and black pants...Nice I also got a cloak!" I took my old clothes off and placed them on the nearby bed, and then changed into the clothes I found before looking at the mirror on the wall.
"Not bad at all" The white cloak really makes it look good, but since I don't really need the hood I just pulled it down.
"Oh right, the cards" When Aegius attacked me I was able to understand how to use the cards properly.
I needed to have a clear idea on how the cards would be aligned and then I just use my finger to move it around.
So I just imagined that the cards were aligned in the shape of a rectangle, and then pointed my index finger up.
In an instant, the cards flew up, despite still being inside the pocket of the pants I wore previously. But when it try to align themselves in the air, it comoletely ripped my pants apart.
"...okay well I don't need them anymore" I said, trying to cope with the fact that those were my favourite pair.
After finally getting over the fact that those pants are no more, I moved the cards around my new home with ease, until I noticed the cards formation slowly start to break.
While using the cards it seems like ir forcefully tries to destroy the image in my head, resulting in the cards breaking formation.
I suppose that makes sense since the cards seems to be imbued with some sort of magic, most likely to prevent anyone from being able to use it.
So I'll just have practice everyday from now on, so that I can protect this city, and get much stronger.
I turned to the doorframe, planning to go and look around the city, and then I see a girl, presumably the same age as me or younger, she was wearing some sort of student uniform that looks like it came from a top academy because it looks so expensive.
"Uh excuse me this is a private property" I said, is she trying to rob me? I don't want to hurt her, but I will strike first if she does anything suspicious.
She ignored me completely, I couldn't tell what she was planning to do, her face was just blank, her eyes looked dead.
"This is the last time I'm warning you, stay back!" All the 10 cards floated around, and with one flick of a finger, they would go flying staright at her.
But she ignored it, and just continued getting closer to me, until, she stopped right infront of me.
"H-help...Me"