Fable.
One of the most hated works of fiction on the internet. There were many words to describe the webnovel novel: cliche, boring, trash, unimaginative, wish fulfilment...etc.
I smiled, eyes bleary, swiping up chapter 7568 of the infamous novel. It was 3am and I just barely finished the chapter.
Letting out a loud yawn, I felt his stomach grumble of hunger. I got up from my couch, making my way to the fridge, and pulled out a carton of apple juice.
The juice satiated my hunger as it made its way down my throat. I sighed out in satisfaction, eagerly scrolling to the next chapter.
||The Outworlder grinned, a simple glare enough to destroy the divine statuses of the High Gods. They started, shrinking at the caustic gaze.
Chaos energy ensued the entire continent. Potent and destructive, slowly corroding all life.
Edral clicked his tongue, he didn't expect much from beings that couldn't see beyond casuality... But, dammit, to fold this easily.
'I should just do it...' he thought ruefully, then frowned. So many laws shackled him... Like it or not, he needed them for now. "He's not even an Abstract One. Don't fold now you arrogant bastards."||
I sighed. Every time the narrative shifted to Edral's POV, I was left with a bad taste in my mouth. To think a single avatar of the Abyssal God of Ether would be this powerful. And it didn't even register on the Tier scale?
...What was the author thinking? Well, I knew but... wasn't this a little too ridiculous?
I shook my head and kept reading, the gods were roused by Edral's words and attacked the agglomeration of chaos, only to die off one by one. That was when...
A knock came at the door.
I frowned. A visitor? At this hour? For me?
I chose not to answer, looking through the peephole. There was a tall man in a black suit standing there, his face wasn't visible.
The man used his glove-fitted hand to knock again, this time more aggressively.
I gasped, falling firmly on my butt when I saw the purple sigil on the man's white glove. It was exactly as I imagined it... The Mark of the Puppets of the 0th Being.
Something deep within me writhed to life.
'...No,' I thought, moving back. I stared at the door fearfully. 'No way in hell.'
"Hello, Mr. Ash?" an eery voice came from behind the door, echoing ominously in his ears. "Shall I come in?"
"I shall take that silence as a yes."
'I shall take that silence as a yes.' Just as I thought the words it said them.
It was just like the novel describe. Puppets were beings with fixed behavioral patterns...that means... it's next action...
Ripples flowed from the door, a long arm pushed through, followed by a disproportionate body. The puppet straightened it's bend posture, it's face a pure white stump without eyes or a nose, only a mouth filled with rows of purple teeth.
"Candidate #3467895, you seem rather pale," the Puppet said, grinning wildly. "Oh. A creature in the seventh figures? Aren't you special?"
I was at a loss for words... No, what was I to say when confronting this bizarre alien? These things only had two goals, and unless you had an Authority of at least the eighth Tier, you would be unable to even bent their fingers.
"Let us see..." it mumbled, 'looking' around the house. "Hmm. Indeed. You are a sloth."
I slowly opened his mouth, "Why are you here, Observer?"
The Puppet's body contorted as it turned around, it hummed as if pleased. "You were expecting me, it seems..."
I wasn't. Not at all. But...if I'm going to survive this encounter with the 'white blood cells' of the Highest Most, I'd have to be glib. Stall… I licked my dry lips. "I have... been hoping for it."
The creature smiled. "Oh, really? That shouldn't be possible. Not in this realm, at least."
...Realm. Not universe?
"Well... let's just say, I've been waiting for the chance to be useful in the Great Game."
The air shook as the words left my mouth. "How...no, enough chat." That was expected. It looked down at his hand, causality was starting to eat away at its fingers. "I shall complete my task."
"To guide?" I asked, voice almost pleading.
A purple scythe materialized in the Puppet's hand, and with a fluid motion, it sliced off my head. "To eliminate."
My vision flipped, before it started fading to darkness.... 'Just how... No... Why?'
...
..
.
Lighting flashed in front of me, I convulsed. Yellow bolts of energy twisting from his right eye. It hurt, God, it hurt.
Then it stopped.
My muscles cramped severely and my eyes watered from the pain. I blinked a few times, then I heard a clear voice resonate in his head.
'I'm sorry to abandon you, Keiran... But I must... I hope you find your Way.'
[Eye of the Blindest Old One assimilated.]
[Finite probabilities calculated.]
[Tier-1 Authority, Meta Lord, recognized as a result.]
[Fractal Fragment, Eye of the Blindest Old One, exhausted.]
'Argh...these words? These screens?' I stood up, my head pounding. I looked down at my small, calloused hands, confused.
I blinked, soon realizing I could only see out one eye.
Groaning, I looked around. My surroundings were utterly inhabitable. What looked like discarded pieces of computer hardware littered around everywhere. Plastic, wires, broken screens, motherboards of all colours...
...Wait...
"...Did someone call me 'Keiran'?"
[Meta commentary triggered.]
{The air was particularly stale that night. Veshar looked down at his pupil, his eyes solemn. 'I'm sorry to abandon you, Keiran... But I must... I hope you find your Way.'
He turned to leave, his work in this world was finished and more Celestials were noticing his presence. Perhaps, if causality allowed it, they would meet again.
Veshar shook his head. An impossibility.}
Blood trickled from my nose, and I saw pale blue footmarks spark to life on the ground.
I followed them unconsciously, treading through the garbage site. I walked for a few minutes before stumbling in front of a man, the steps vanishing.
The man stood still at his presence. His bright orange eyes showing a complicated expression, his absurdly handsome facial features hardening. "...Kei."
My throat constricted. I was confused, scared, and a third emotion that didn't quite belong to me surfaced. The memories of Keiran came to him. A tale of a child abandoned by his relatives and a god abandoned by reality itself. A tale of loneliness.
"...You're throwing me away," Ash found himself saying, the words burning his throat.
Veshar's eyes shook, a red triangular sigil forming in his irises. "I can't stay," he said, turning to pool of bubbling darkness at his feet. "Nor can you follow."
I knew that better than most, but so what? This guy was the main character in a world filled with beings that could blow up planets on a whim. I had to follow him. If not for Keiran, then for my own sake.
Just as I was about to open his mouth in protest, Veshar glanced at me, the symbols within his eyes growing more complex with multiple dimensions. "...For your own sake, leave. Whatever it is you saw, it is insignificant… Trust me."
Space began twisting at impossible angles, wrapping around my body. For a brief moment, I felt disjointed from everything.
[Tier-4 Authority, Echo of Eternity, active.]
Echo of Eternity.
One of the most broken and versatile hex abilities in the novel now bound my body. The surreal experience put me in a dazed state for a moment.
Veshar smiled. "Don't worry. You have my most analytical 'Eye'. You'll survive as long as you try."
I groaned, the world flipping, spinning and warping at my nose. Then silence. The absurd motion disappeared. "...That prick."
I slowly stood, looking at the cityscape in the horizon. If memory serves right, that was New City, Ahrlich.
Ah... Wait. Now that I think about it... This is how the original plotline went, right?
My head throbbed. The arc between Veshar and Keiran was wrapped up during the first two hundred chapters...so that was about sixteen years ago. I simply couldn't remember the plot well.
If only I had one reread….
[Command: Meta Bible triggered.]
A dull burst of light spilled in front of me, swaying my black hair in all directions. The blue energy coalesced into a cyan book, the words: 'Fable Book 1: Ancient Celestial's Heart,' weaved onto its cover.
I grabbed the book midair tentatively. It had a light, leathery texture. Staring at the title for a while, I opened the book and read the glossary.
Then I found what I was looking for.
||Epilogue: Sun of the Cult
[Sub-authority Primordial Echo Between Space terminated.]
Veshar watched the ground where his pupil…no. His son stood for a brief moment, then turned away with faint smile on his face. 'I leave him in your care, Seiraph.
The Dark Spring snarled at him, engulfing his tired figure.||
An ominous premonition flashed through my mind as I recalled the end of this arc, and just as my finger tapped on the beginning of the next chapter, a strange feeling pricked down my neck.
"Oh, Fragment of Eternity, I have come as your aid," an impossibly eloquent voice called out.
I looked up at the owner of the voice. It was a woman with silky and curly silver hair that flowed down to her back in ripples, her golden eyes stared down at me, subtly demanding reverence.
She opened her mouth again. "As is the will of my beloved, Vesh."
I silently gulped as she reached out her slender hand.
Eater of Old Chaos, the Celestial Seiraph stared at me through the eyes of her Proxy Mannequin.
She was Veshar's lover in this universe.
I grabbed her soft, cool hand.
And the one responsible for Keiran's death.
A powerful god that by the end of this story, devoured everything to try and accomplish an impossible goal.
"...It is?"
Smiling warmly, Seiraph helped me climb onto the hovering vehicle behind her. "Indeed. You have great fate on your shoulders, Keiran." She hopped in the driver's seat and started the flying car.
Right about now was when the old Keiran would involuntarily trigger 'Eye of the Blindest Old One,' but…
[Fractal Fragment recovering.]
I gnashed my teeth, then looked down at the Meta Bible. "...Alright. I'll trust you."
"Thank you."
***
We said nothing to each other on the way to the New City. Seiraph stole glances at me every other moment nervously. It would be cute if I didn't know what I knew…
'No,' I thought, calming down.
I was definitely exaggerating. She had her reasons, also she was influenced by 'that.'
Sighing, I looked out the window. The barren landscape alien to me. 'Just how am I here…'
Multiple theories popped in my head if I purely based my experience until now on Fable's lore.
However…
I tightly held the Meta Bible. 'Nothing could explain the origin of my Authority.'
Except for the '0th Being.'
I shivered as a ghastly chill ran down my spine.
Anything would be better than that.
Anything at all.
"Are you doing alright?" Seiraph suddenly asked, slowing down as we entered Ahrlich. A sensor within the gate to the city scanned the vehicle for traces of a Celestial's power.
Of course it came out negative.
Most humans still didn't know about the gods' innovation of the Proxy Mannequin.
"I'm fine."
Her face showed genuine worry, then she glanced at the book in my hand. She tried to force a cheerful smile. "Oh, so you like to read? Me too!" She said in an overly bright tone of voice. "Is that one interesting?"
"Not really." I lied. It was the tale that immediately made me fall in love with Fable. "It's just a forgotten story."
That made her go silent. She looked ahead, slowly breaking out of an intersection and joining the 'skyroad' by joining the elevating traffic.
I looked out the window. A real New City. It was honestly breathtaking. The neon lights, the pedestrians dressed in different unique aesthetics, the absurdly tall skyscrapers and the insanity of the complex traffic.
It was overwhelming…
We cruised into a parking lot, finally arriving at the destination.
Seiraph got out and so did I. She guided me to her apartment. "First, go take a shower. Then we will go meet your followers."
I stopped admiring the luxurious abode, and subconsciously muttered, "...Followers?"
"Of course," she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You are the successor of the most ancient Celestial, the Trillion Winged Exotica."
"...Veshar." I mumbled, slowly making way to the bathroom. "He mentioned something like this…"
Seiraph's eyes twitched subtly. "He did?"
"Not much, though. Mostly, he gave me two pieces of advice." I looked at her as I entered the bathroom. "The first one was to always trust you."
"Nhn? Ah."
She trembled softly, blushing. It wasn't something you would pick up easily.
I closed the door and left her to her imagination.
Looking in the mirror, I saw the face of an unfamiliar yet familiar child. His future was a bleak one.
But I wasn't Keiran.
"I'll survive."
The Fable multiverse was described to be a continuum of infinite games and stories for the 0th Being.
Still, just a few hours ago, wasn't that the same for me?