"What in the world is happening?" Alvin's voice quivered with uncertainty, his gaze fixed upon the mesmerizing book.
"First, you scared me to the point of nearly peeing in my pants, and then I gone through torture as though every fiber in my body was being plucked one by one. And at last, you are showing that it is all to create this weird book."
His frustration escalated, his words turning into curses that echoed through the empty space. Alvin cursed with the seasoned vocabulary he had acquired growing up in the slums. "Am I a joke to you? Do you think anyone can bully me?"
The golden book, seemingly indifferent to his outburst, continued to radiate its luminous glow.
But as he ranted and cursed, the golden glow of the book flickered, sending a shiver down Alvin's spine. Instantly, his fear overpowered his bravado. "Oh, great book god, I know I should not have cursed you. Please spare me," he pleaded.
"Damn... what if it heard me cursing? Will it kill me?"
As Alvin quivered in nervous anticipation, the book gradually dimmed its radiance, and a magnificent golden book hovered in front of him.
"Who in the world is this?" Alvin's voice echoed in the darkness. It was not the book itself that left him stunned, but rather the face carved upon its cover.
A demonically handsome man adorned the book's cover. He had eyes of two different colors: one deep blue and the other crimson red. The right eye held the allure to shape worlds, while the left exuded an aura of destruction. Cascading midnight-black hair framed a face that possessed an ethereal beauty, enchanting both goddesses and mortals alike.
"Who is this dude? Well, his face isn't bad; he could be a perfect gigolo," Alvin mused.
Just then he noticed the uncanny resemblance between himself and the enigmatic figure on the book's cover.
"Nah, I'm overthinking it. How could I possibly look like this gigolo?" Alvin denied his own thought's.
Before he could contemplate further, suddenly, with a start, the book opened, revealing only a single page.
Alvin's eyes strained against the darkness as he peered at the elusive page before him, his heart pounding with anticipation. Yet, before he could see anything, the book slammed shut with a resounding thud.
"Darn it, at least let me have a look!" Alvin shouted.
But his protests were futile as the golden book transformed into a blinding ray of light, piercing through the darkness and hurtling towards him.
"Holy moly... not again!" Alvin's cry was drowned out by the overwhelming agony that engulfed him, rendering him powerless and speechless.
Time seemed to lose its meaning as waves of torment washed over him, leaving him battered and broken.
As the pain subsided, Alvin's mind teetered on the brink of madness. "Kill me... whoever you are, you bastard! Are you treating me as a plaything?"
Lost in a haze of torment, Alvin descended into madness, his curses echoing in the emptiness around him. Suddenly, a sharp crack shattered the silence, jolting Alvin from his despair.
"I know it will be a new type of torture, right? Hahahaha... bring it on, who is afraid of who?" Alvin laughed like a lunatic.
But as the crack expanded like a spider's web, the suffocating darkness gave way to blinding light.
Alvin squinted against the sudden brightness, feeling as though he was being pulled through the vast expanse of time itself.
"now what?" he was really going crazy with the sudden turn of events.
After what felt like an eternity lost in the cosmic void, Alvin was suddenly snapped back to reality, as if jolted awake from a never-ending dream.
........
In the real world.
As Alvin's soul returned to his body, his eyes transitioned from ghostly white to their usual state, returning to normal.
Time, which had previously seemed suspended around him like a broken clock, suddenly resumed its natural flow, as if the universe had pressed play on a paused film. It was as though nothing extraordinary had occurred.
Alvin blinked, his senses gradually coming back to him. .
His gaze shifted to his little sister Mia, who remained absorbed in her attempt to manipulate shadows. Her childish face, filled with concentration, momentarily distracted Alvin from the torment he had recently endured.
"Whatever, it's not like everything happening to me makes any sense. But fortunately, now I am certain about one thing: either I am crazy or I will become one very soon," Alvin thought to himself.
"Mia, it's okay, you can stop..." his sentence was left unfinished as he was abruptly interrupted by the sudden intrusion of thoughts in his mind. It was as if his consciousness was opening up to a realm of possibilities he had never imagined.
As Alvin delved deeper into the thoughts swirling in his mind, the mysterious book from earlier appeared before him, its pages flipping open in his mental landscape.
He saw the first page clearly, revealing a shadowy figure, formless and enigmatic, as if embodying darkness itself.
"Who the hell is this dark creature, and why in the world is this idiot shown on the first page of this golden book?" Alvin's frustration bubbled over once more, his confusion mounting with each passing moment. "Just now you had shown me a handsome gigolo; at least he is pleasing to the eye. What is this weird creature? Is it human or a ghost?" Alvin's complaints echoed in the recesses of his mind.
Suddenly, Alvin's attention was drawn to strange text that appeared below the dark shadow. "What language is this? Forget it... anyway, it's not like I can read," Alvin comforted himself.
he was a high-grade illiterate, having never set foot inside a school or learned to read or write.
But as he looked closer, Alvin subconsciously read aloud the words that appeared before him:
"Dark Talent +5"
"Dark Talent +3"
"Dark Talent +2"
Shock coursed through him like a bolt of lightning. "How the heck can I read?" Alvin was stunned to the point that he was speechless.