"My life is sh*tty. My personality is trash," Keni muttered before opening his eyes to a crimson sky.
His last memories were updating his webnovel after procrastinating about the low number of readers, which hurt his ego.
He even resorted to swear words and curses, seemingly soothing his fragile heart.
"F*ck this..." He deleted another paragraph, bloodshot eyes staring intently at the monitor.
'How long will I keep this up?' He glanced at the views. It barely increased after he published his recent chapter.
He even started to remember an anime character getting stuck inside a novel through a rabbit hole. 'How I wish I could dream mine.'
In a sense, witnessing it firsthand was like a wet dream to a would-be writer.
And holy smoke, did it actually happen...
After retiring near midnight and praying fervently for help, his eyes opened to an unfamiliar environment far from his wildest imagination.
Words couldn't justify how vivid the puddles of blood painting the alley. The collection of corpses jutting on the walls even resembled installation art in a museum.
"W-wait... W-what the f*ck?!" Keni cursed, almost pissing himself.
A sudden realization hit him when he took a step forward. Looking down, he had accidentally stepped on a dismembered arm. It sprained his legs after noticing it was oddly soft and squishy under his loafers.
Moreover, the scene was so realistic that its odor irritated his nose, almost gagging him from just a whiff.
'Sh*t! This isn't what I wished for.'
Suddenly, a warm, intrusive liquid flooded Keni's pajamas. It was accompanied by a freezing wind that carried the stench of rotten eggs. Leaning around, the blood on the floor looked horribly surreal, rivaling triple-A graphics in gruesome detail.
"T-this.." His lips stuttered, "T-this can't be real...!"
Keni quickly pinched his cheek, attempting to wake himself up—his common sense dictated that if he hurt himself enough, he would forcibly wake from this nightmare.
"Wake-up! Wake-up!" Keni pinched and slapped his cheek.
Although he was already suffering from a painful sprain, it felt natural to perform this ritual of 'cheek-pinching.'
'Even film characters do this... right?' Keni convinced himself. Everything was already pushing him to the brink of insanity, constantly begging himself to—
"Wake the f*ck up, self!" Keni screamed. His hands were trembling from the cold wind blowing his groin.
Worse yet, he couldn't help but imagine if an author had put him on the wringer. The idea itself was crazy that he felt like punching himself for imagining it.
"What if my actions were recorded in a novel? What if someone's writing me now?" He croaked. 'What-if' indeed...
The idea caused a painful headache that made him string curses after curses like combos in a video game. "Sh*t! F*ck this!..."
Then, he grabbed a shard of broken glass and gestured it to cut his wrists. This time, his eyes resembled a madman, desperately seeking a way out of this crisis.
"Wake meee up!" Keni yelled, the shard an inch closer to his skin.
["Answer: You're already awake."]
"Motherf*cker..." A voice instantly made Keni drop the glass, shattering it on the pavement.
From his head, it sounded like an integrated speaker had boomed inside. Fortunately, it made him stop cutting his wrists. Else he would have seen his blood pouring like wine.
"Who said that?" Keni asked, his eyes dilating like an animal in shock.
Well, who wouldn't be? Even the distant screaming was soul-crushing to a man who had lived peacefully—practically war-free.
Further, he was only a twenty-year-old civil engineering student without regard for the world (except anime, manga, and novels). After waking up in the middle of a creepy alley that resembled ruins, it wouldn't be surprising that it almost broke his mind.
Damn, even the sight of a crumbling building in the distance was too much for him.
["Answer: Plot Locked."]
'What?' Keni blinked. He couldn't figure out if the voice was joking. The mention of something being locked had him scratching his hair, taking his focus out. Even the surrounding gore that made him insane earlier became a mere blur from his point of view.
"F*ck are you talking about?" He palmed his forehead.
Suddenly, something swept into the air just beyond his peripheral vision. It crossed the buildings covering the road from left to right, then crashed with a loud explosion. The noise beyond the exit forced Keni to sink his heart.
[Duck]
Immediately, his body rolled without consent. Despite his heart ramming out his chest like the king of cowards, his body exuded a burning confidence akin to a seasoned athlete.
There was no hesitation, no-f*ck-ups, or trembling; his body only moved in a snakelike reaction without Keni ever thinking. If he had thought, the sensation of something brushing past his hair would have cost him his neck.
("Answer: Paraphrasing offensive language.")
"Fudge, what's that?!" Keni's typical swears escaped his lips. His eyes were fixed on a fairy-faced girl biting deep into a man's neck. Logically, his earlier yells and screams had attracted her to the alley.
[Back step]
Keni kicked backward. It was the same snakelike reaction that controlled his body.
'W-what the fudge just happened?' His eyes were the only part of him that revealed a hint of fear and shock.
Suddenly, what stood from his place were obliterated air molecules. The space had also been warped, leaving behind scars and wounds that would have been seemingly impossible.
Upon close inspection, the man bitten by the girl had his hands turned into shadowy tendrils. These things were sharp enough to tear through space and rip apart atoms. The tendrils melded in the dim alley and swung sideways quickly, making dodging seemingly impossible.
Or it should have been...
"Nexus..." Keni whispered, his word sounding robotic like the voice in his head. The girl was a few meters away when her eyes cast red glares at him.
'What a useless puppet,' the girl cocked her head, revealing blood-soaked fangs as she faced the human in front of her. Almost appearing to smile.
From an onlooker, it was pure annoyance bubbling on her face. It was probably from seeing a human wearing pajamas in these streets despite the warrant for caution and fear.
With a swift motion, she shook the man, now drained of blood, and carelessly discarded him on the floor. The lifeless corpse instantly turned to ash before it absorbed the rotten scent of blood and trash that permeated the air.
Then, it pounced on the frail-looking human before her.
'Die!' her eyes screamed, extending dark claws aimed at her prey's naked neck. A thick line of drool slid beneath her lips as she imagined sucking the human dry through its squishy carotid arteries.
In less than a second, her claws met human skin. However, instead of blood spraying from the slash—tiny sparks flew like fireflies on Keni's skin.
'Grahhh!' She growled. The skin was wrapped in a faint, jelly-like glow, barely visible to the naked eye. Then, a sudden fist shot towards her face almost instantly, launching her a few meters before a hollow bang echoed in the alley.
It sent her reeling on the pavement until her back cornered a wall. Bloodshot eyes widened in surprise at how this human followed her movement. In fact, she was supposed to be invisible—her speed beyond the limits of a human.
Suddenly, the air between them tensed like a living being. A large fracture in the air shattered the space like a mirror, swirling everything: rubble, trash, and corpses in the air. In an instant, a single palm reached the girl's face...!
Keni hurled the girl straight down the pavement; the impact was strong enough to crush the bricks into dust.
However, a thousand-pound force was weak to crush a witch's skull. Instead, the hand he used to bash the girl sustained heavy fractures and bruises, almost cracking his wrist.
'The hell!' Eyes from blood-dappled sockets glared at Keni. She slapped the arm that forced her down before swiftly kicking Keni's abdomen, releasing her from the heavy grip.
That single kick pushed Keni a few feet, sending him skidding on the pavement like a bicycle. Moreover, the kick was enough to turn his pajamas threadbare from this intense battle between witch and kid.
If not for the glowing aura covering his body, the hole on his shirt would have included his torso—turning him into a human donut.
"You're just a human!" The witch shrieked, releasing shockwaves in every direction. It was filled with an enormous intent enough to drain a human's will, a perfect crowd-control skill befitting a witch.
"The end has come," Keni whispered, but his words echoed in the alley.
It flinched the witch from the vibrations entering her eardrums. Suddenly, the human disappeared from her sight. 'Impossible' escaped her lips.
"Our selves return."
A loud bang behind her sent her rolling, breaking a rib or two that forced her to cough black fluid. Those moments made the world a little dimmer from her perspective.
"The final stage," the phrase rang in her ears. It was like an alarm that compelled her to lock eyes with the human.
"N-no... T-those eyes aren't the eyes of a human." Her hands—claws cracked and broken—were trembling at the sight.
"Where all worlds burn."
Without wasting a moment, her hands started to fidget in the air. Dark, shadowy glows floated like a magical halo before her, forming runes that produced shrieks and cries from hell—a desperate escape spell.
"Nexus..." Keni muttered.
The witch had finally finished the rushed runes that glowed a shadowy crimson hue. It also brought her smiling, lips nearly stretching from ear to ear. However...
["You're weak."]
Her eyes met a blank world. Her senses screamed pain as it started coursing through her body. It felt like her soul was being dragged along the floor.
"They're here..." was her last whisper.
***
["Nexus..."]
Keni blinked his eyes after the surrounding chaos faded into black walls. It was eerily quiet, similar to his experience of being locked inside a closet.
["Ma..."]
A voice echoed in the darkness. Keni's hair stood on end like blades as anxiety crept up his neck. Memories began flooding his head like a broken dam. The voice was too familiar, so he huddled in the darkness like a child locked behind doors.
["Pa..."]
Ten years ago, before Keni started to write journals, life was too unkind.
["K-kuya?"]
Ever seen videos that were hidden beneath the deep web?
["W-why are you—"]
The kind of video that makes you want to vomit. Clips that haunt you, just like scenes from a horror movie?
[The crunch of delicate bones continued.]
Now, imagine seeing them personally...
[Loud thuds broke the eery noises in the darkness.]
Keni huddled his knee close to his chest. Despite being twenty years old, he didn't care if he looked like a scared pussy. He could hear screams in the darkness, the sound of the loud banging on the door. Even when he covered his ears, the noisy bangs never ceased.
["K-kuya—why were you..."]
Cuts and bruises started to appear on his body. His tattered pajamas were torn with numerous rips, and a large hole gaped on his shirt. His right arm was bleeding profusely from the cuts, while his wrist threatened to break at any moment.
["W-why were you eating Mama and Papa?"]...
Suddenly, Keni found himself standing atop a corpse. His body was still shivering, and his eyes dilated from shock.
'I write to escape this cruel world.'
Keni whispered to himself. It was like a mantra long ago that he told himself before the swearing and cursing became his weapons.
He only wanted to write positive memories: happy ones and cheerful things that seemed elusive.
After writing his journal, detailing half his life's story (a journal absent of pain and suffering), he wrote a webnovel—a slice-of-life theme.
[You're weak...]
A voice echoed in the darkness. It coursed like a shockwave entering Keni's chest. And, a few moments later, Keni blinked. His eyes were swollen from tears, and his chapped lips were bare from holding back memories.
A twenty-year-old stood quietly in an eery alley, with a city burning in the background. His skin that clung tightly to bones made him look like a skeleton wearing pajamas.
He glanced up towards a billboard barely standing on a burning building.
'2012 Christmas sale!'