DISCLAIMER: The author's imagination and passion are the only sources of inspiration for this novel, which is a work of dedication. Parallels between these pages and the past or present may be apparent to some readers, but they are completely coincidental. You are free to interpret this art anyway you see fit, and it is meant for your enjoyment.
Desperate magic and booming hooves blended during the journey to the Imperial Capital. The sky behind them was bruised purple, a portent of the anger of the Original Reinn. She was riding the "Editor's" script, leaping through space as the world reconfigured itself to enable her to reach them, rather than merely pursuing them with horses.
Giywon yelled, "She's gaining!" as he turned to see the clouds becoming the figure of a screaming face.
Dyierrean yelled, "The Vault is just ahead!" as his violet magic lashed out to form a barrier against the Villainess's gale-force winds.
They broke through the Imperial Palace's gates as runaways rather than as royalty. The palace guards halted in bewilderment, torn between their allegiance to the Crown and the frightening aura of the approaching Queen. Giywon didn't pause to clarify. He blasted open the thick iron doors of the Underground Vault, the Edryyion lineage's darkest sanctuary, using his royal power.
The Vault was a silent cathedral. The Imperial Seal, a hefty, golden disc that has approved every conflict and every peace for five centuries, rested in the middle on a white marble pedestal.
The air started to vibrate as they got closer. The diamond pendant in Giywon's pocket, the first half of the Key, began to glow with a frenetic, throbbing light.
Dyierrean whispered, "It knows its other half," as his hand lingered over his sword.
Giywon took hold of the Seal. The "disguise" broke as his skin came into contact with the gold. A sleek, silver rod with ancient inscriptions inscribed was revealed as the heavy disc melted away. This was the Silver Key's second half.
With a screech of rending metal, the huge vault doors were suddenly torn off their hinges. The Original Reinn stood there with her eyes flashing a terrible, flat scarlet and her hair hopelessly unkempt. The Sentinel, the mass of black, inky smoke behind her, writhed like a serpent.
"Give it to me," screamed the Original Reinn. "That key does not belong to a prince who plays at being a hero. It belongs to the author of this world. And right now, I am the only one holding the pen."
Giywon was pulled down when she raised her hand, and the stone floor beneath his feet changed into liquid mud. With its smoky claws, the Sentinel surged toward the silver rod.
"Giywon! The Key!" said Dyierrean.
Giywon held the diamond pendant and the silver rod together. A burst of pure white light erupted when the two parts came into contact. He felt the structure of reality, not just power. He perceived the narrative's "lines," or the words etched in the atmosphere that guided their actions.
And he noticed the "Edit" button for the first time.
"Wait," Giywon muttered. The silver rod was twisted by him.
TIME STOP.
The world became grayscale. A bead of perspiration hung motionless in the air as the Original Reinn froze in mid-scream. The Sentinel was a frozen smoke statue. Dyierrean's eyes widened as he was caught in a lunging stance.
Giywon's lungs burned as he gasped. The Key was vibrating so violently that it was causing his palms to bleed. He knew he was running out of time.
He didn't run throughout that period. He approached the frozen Original Reinn. The "Script" was floating for her, as he could see. It said: [Reinn Hylde gets the key and puts the traitors to death.]
Giywon extended his hand and used his thumb to "smear" the ink. He noticed a faint, shimmering layer of letters hiding beneath. Samantha wrote it.
[Giywon and Dyierrean discover the way to the mirror.]
"I see you, Samantha," Giywon muttered. He made another adjustment to the key.
STORY MODIFICATION.
The Vault folded, not just changed. The stone walls turned into glass walls. The floor turned into a lake of liquid silver.
Time began to move again.
When the Original Reinn stumbled, her magic struck a glass wall that had not existed moments before. "What? No! This isn't how the scene goes!"
"The scene is under new management," snarled Dyierrean. He didn't hold off. In the reflections of the glass walls, he saw the "Mirror Version" of the vault.
A pale, flickering figure was hammering on the glass in that mirror. It was Samantha. Her mouth moved in a mute plea, and she appeared weak, almost transparent.
"She's right there!" Giywon exclaimed while raising the Key. Now the diamond and the rod were combined to form a single, dazzling scepter. "Dyierrean, hold the Sentinel! I'm pulling her through!"
With a growl that sounded like parchment being torn, the Sentinel lunged at Giywon. However, Dyierrean was prepared. He unleashed the Mydril Wolf's full, forbidden might. In addition to using magic, he transformed into a shadow, a violet energy black hole that caught the Sentinel.
"You want a tragedy?" Dyierrean snarled as he grappled with the smoke-monster. "Then watch a Wolf tear your script to pieces!"
Samantha was standing behind a glass wall when Giywon slammed the Silver Key on it.
"Samantha! Take my hand!"
Instead of shattering, the glass softened like water. Samantha's hand extended through the silver, slender as a ghost's and as cold as ice.
As the "Reclamation" started to reverse, the Original Reinn let out a cry of pain. Samantha's soul was drawn into the light, and her soul began to be drawn toward the mirror.
The Original Reinn yelled, "NO!" and clawed at the air with her fingers. "I will not go back to the dark! I am the Queen! I am the—"
Giywon gave the Key one last twist with a last-ditch effort.
THE SWITCH.
The vault was engulfed in a dazzling burst of gold and silver.
The Sentinel vanished as the light dimmed. The Original Reinn has vanished. With the broken pieces of the Key on the ground, Giywon was on his knees, struggling to breathe.
With his cloak ripped to pieces and his breath strained, Dyierrean stood over him.
A woman stood in the middle of the space. She was dressed in the Villainess's gold-brocade gown, but the gentle green-gold light of a summer garden filled her eyes as she gazed up.
She examined her hands. She put her hand to her face. She turned to face the two men who had stood up to the cosmos on her behalf.
With a shaky voice, Giywon muttered, "Samantha?"
The woman remained silent. She just strolled over, knelt in the silver dust and dirt, and drew them both into an intense, tearful embrace.
She gasped out, "I forgot... I forgot the word for Rose," and her voice was finally heard. "But I never forgot the two of you."