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.
The earth was being washed clean; it was no longer a kingdom of stone and sky.
The sound of hooves striking the pavement became muffled and eventually silent as Giywon's horse thundered away from the marketplace. The cobblestones were vanishing, to be replaced by an endless expanse of flat, dazzling white. The bright banners of the city, the lively vendors, and the aroma of roasted nuts were all being engulfed by an absolute nothingness that made Samantha's head spin.
Giywon shouted, "Don't look back, Samantha!" His voice sounded thin, as though the air itself was becoming less dense.
His golden aura flared to its fullest as he rode with one hand on the reins and the other on Samantha's waist. The only thing preventing the "void" was the Dragon's light; wherever his light touched, the world stayed solid for a brief period of time.
Dyierrean was a shadow in a shadowless universe behind them. He was up against three more Faceless Erasers in a losing battle. His sword became lighter each time it went through them, the steel becoming a translucent gray.
"The script is being erased!" exclaimed Dyierrean as he leaped over a fountain that vanished. "Giywon! The Academy! It's the only place with a foundation she built herself! Go!"
The Hylde Academy was located outside of the city. It served as a blind spot for the Editor because it was an institution that had not been in the "Original Script" and was solely Samantha's will.
The white emptiness crashed like a tangible wave against the Academy walls as they broke through the gates, but it was unable to go inside. A gentle green-gold light flowed through the Academy's stones, the energy of the "Anomaly."
In the courtyard, Giywon came to a stop, dropped off the horse, and caught Samantha as she fell. In an instant, Dyierrean sprang over the wall, his sword cracking at the edges and like a chunk of charcoal.
Samantha looked back at the gate and gasped, "Is everyone... are we the only ones?" There was nothing beyond the bars. No mountains, no cities. Only a buzzing, white quiet.
"Not everyone," someone yelled.
Twelve students trailed behind Eyldion as he bolted from the main hall. They were scared, but they were armed with the magical instruments Samantha had given them: shields with defensive runes engraved on them and pens that sparkled with magical ink.
Eyldion stated, "The students were practicing the new wards when the sky turned white," with a pale but resolute expression. "The moment the void touched the walls, it stopped. It's like this place doesn't exist on the map he's trying to delete."
The three of them gathered inside the Academy library's security. Outside, the silence seemed oppressive, like a weight crushing against the windows.
Samantha's hands shaking, she sat on a rug. The emptiness was causing the "Body's Memory" from the previous chapter to react violently. Samantha's physical form was flickering due to the erasure of the world because the Original Reinn was a creature of the Script.
She looked at her palm and said, "I'm disappearing, aren't I?" She briefly had a glimpse of the fabric through her palm.
Dyierrean yelled, "No," as he knelt before her. He grasped her fluttering hand and placed it directly over his heart. "You are more real than the world he's building. He's deleting the setting because he can't delete the character."
Giywon continued, "He's trying to starve us out," while pacing the room. "He's turned the world into a blank page so he can start over. If we stay here, we're safe, but we're trapped. Eventually, the Academy's energy will run out."
Samantha responded, "Then we have to stop him," her voice becoming stronger in spite of her transparent complexion. "He's an Editor, right? Editors don't create; they refine. He needs a 'source text' to work with."
She got up and moved toward a big, blank map that was hanging on the wall of the library. She extended her hand to touch the parchment.
"When I was in the Mirror World, I saw the 'Lines.' They weren't just in the palace; they were everywhere. If the world is being deleted, the 'Original Manuscript' must be exposed somewhere."
The Academy was suddenly rocked by a huge boom. The windows just disappeared, leaving open squares of white light instead of breaking.
The white emptiness in the middle of the courtyard started to whirl, creating a massive, dark cyclone. The Editor, the guy in the void-robes, emerged from the middle of the storm.
He didn't appear to be a god. He appeared to be a weary bureaucrat. His eyes were icy, critical slits, and he gripped a phoenix feather quill.
"Samantha Lim," the Editor said, his voice echoing through their bones. "You have been a very difficult sub-plot. You have turned a perfectly good tragedy into a messy, sentimental farce. I have spent a week trying to clean up your mess."
With his sword shining like a dying star, Giywon moved in front of Samantha. "You're the one who's a mess. You're so afraid of a little change that you'd rather have a dead world than a happy one."
With a sigh, the editor flicked his quill. Giywon's blade broke in half like a dried twig as an unseen force threw him back, and a line of golden ink sliced through the air.
The Editor stated, "I do not care about happy," as he approached Samantha. "I care about narrative consistency. In this world, the Lioness dies. The Dragon mourns. The Wolf wanders. That is the poetry of the Edryyion Empire. You... you are prose. Mundane, middle-class prose."
He lifted his quill and aimed it toward Samantha's heart.
"Return to the void, Samantha. Let the ink dry."
However, Dyierrean leaped from the darkness before the quill could reach her. He did not wield a weapon. Wreathed in the forbidden violet flames of the Mydril line, he used his bare hands. The sound of sizzling magic filled the air as he grasped the Editor's wrist.
"She isn't prose," Dyierrean growled, a horrible, savage light shining in his eyes. "She's the only true thing in this entire god-forsaken book."
"Dyierrean, no!" exclaimed Samantha.
Dyierrean's own body started to malfunction as he touched the Editor. The fire changed from violet to white. Real-time erasure was taking place because he had touched the "Editor."
Dyierrean gasped, "Run, Samantha!" as his legs began to disappear under the ground. "Find the Archive! Change the ending!"
Giywon screamed in fury and sprang back in, snatching the Editor's other arm. The Editor was pinned to the ground by the two men, the Dragon and the Wolf, who used their entire lives as a physical anchor.
Giywon yelled, "GO!" as his silver hair transformed into white light. "Rewrite us, Samantha! Rewrite everything!"
Samantha turned to face the two men who were giving their lives for her. She refrained from crying. She didn't think twice. She pivoted and sprinted in the direction of the Forbidden Author's Tomb, the hidden door she had found in the "Body's Memory" at the rear of the library.
The Academy started to fall apart behind her. The White Void was in the lead.