Depressed Sovereign: Do you really hate your own series that much?
GeniusJester34: What did any of you guys expect? I've been telling you all this series didn't deserve the top spot for years and now when the author goes on to do something like this you act surprised? LOL
FLLLLLLL: I need someone to dox this guy, ASAP! I'll pull up with pitchforks. You think you can get away with this?
MasochistDummy: This… this was an ending of all time.
ConfusedDunce: reply to @MasochistDummy Truly one of the endings of all time.
Beaniesbeans: This is the worst possible ending! How did you come up with something even worse than the original ending???
"What the hell, Alexi?!", Editor Wu Ming exclaimed over the phone.
"I was drunk. You can't blame me.", Alexi drowsily responded, slowly combing through the comment section of his latest chapter.
Astolfo's Toy: Why? Just WHY???
"In case you have forgotten, we own your novel. You can't just post chapters on a whim using your name!"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry. It won't happen again."
In truth, Alexi couldn't care less as to whether it happened again or not. If the readers didn't appreciate his original ending, surely after this terrible ending they'd learn to appreciate the genius of the original.
'Oh, this is a pretty nasty one.'
LastLoliLover: I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you!
"Sheesh. A nasty lolicon like you should be the one receiving these kinds of threats instead."
"Who are you talking to?", Wu Ming asked over the phone.
"Just going over some of the comments. Some of them are actually hilarious, this one for instance…"
Fala's Number 1 fan: How could you!? Why did you do this to my dear Fala? She didn't deserve this! She was such a sweet child.
"Fala? Sweet? These delusional readers, man."
"Alexi.", Wu Ming's voice came off as cold and callous, but Alexi pretended not to have felt it.
"Yes?"
"Shut up."
"Eh?"
"I'm working overtime to fix your stupid mess. You'll be making a public apology on your social media page today at 3pm. I will bring over a crew to take a video."
"Hm? Isn't that a bit much?"
"Do you even understand just how big of a mess this is?"
Alexi looked at his phone screen. There were easily over a thousand comments, but even then, he wasn't fazed at all. Such a thing was certainly unusual for his story, but he wasn't surprised that it could reach that number.
Besides, no one could harm him. No one even knew his real name, age and location. Going under the username SystemRejected, he'd written a novel that took the top spot of the web novel site in it's first year and half.
"Don't bother with the crew, I have a class around then."
That was right. After finishing his novel, Alexi chose to finish up school. In the first place, he never intended to become a full-time author. It was more like an unexpected hobby he picked up to prove a point. Now, he'd lost all interest and wanted to return to being a casual reader in the background.
"Alexi, this isn't just about you."
"Can't talk. I'll be late for my 10 am class."
"Alexi-!"
Cutting the call, Alexi walked over from his work desk to go get dressed up for school. Before he did though, he received a message.
An unknown account had contacted him on his private user account. Normally, he'd have ignored it as pointless spam messaging, but Alexi's head throbbed once he saw the username.
For some reason, it felt familiar to him.
Ah, that's right. The username belonged to the person who provoked him to make this new ending in the first place. If he remembered right, they said "How disappointing. A small-minded man of such pettiness wrote a book this interesting with such a pathetic conclusion. Rewrite this stupid ending or I will make you regret it, you useless fool."
Alexi was used to seeing such messages, but something about the audacity and sense of superiority the message gave off, sent his drunken stupor into a spiteful rage.
In the first place, if anyone should be getting flamed, it should have been this person.
'How did they get my private account?'
Alexi pondered, before shrugging. If he was compromised here, he'd simply get a new account. Fortunately, none of his IRL friends and family knew of this account either. It was for his more, obscene activities online.
Lazy God: You, a mere mortal, dare to defy my orders? You will pay for this!
"Huh?", Alexi could feel a vein popping in his head.
Slothful Savant: The hell? A shit like you just comes into my DMs and starts spouting bullshit? Get a life bro, LOL.
Having responded, Alexi put his phone down and heaved a heavy sigh. He then stretched and yawn, finally waking up from his morning tiredness. He smelled like alcohol and had the face of a parched old man.
BZZT!
He checked his phone, only to see another, even more outrageous text.
Lazy God: Watch your tone, boy. If I so wish, I could end your insignificant existence on the spot.
Slothful Savant: LOL, grow up loser. Go touch some grass and maybe a girl will look your way, fat freak.
Lazy God: With every word you type, my patience grows thin. Watch yourself, boy. Should your next message not be an apology with you sacrificing a limb or two in my honour, I shall take it upon myself to ruin you.
Slothful Savant: Oh dear, I apologise.
Lazy God: Good.
Slothful Savant: For me not giving two flying f*cks what you think. Go get a life lil bro, or you'll regret it. I'm guessing you're 13 or 14? Think about finishing junior high rather than doing this or you'll make your parents sadder, disappointed as they already are.
After delivering that, there was no more response.
Alexi waited for 5 minutes, but there was nothing more. He just shrugged then went to take a bath. He quickly got himself ready for his class. When he checked his phone again, all he saw was 2 missed calls from Wu Ming, which he chose to ignore.
He locked his door and in no time, he was on the train to his school. While on the train, he received a voice call request from Lazy God.
"Hm? What's he want now?"
Alexi stared at the phone for a few seconds. Originally, he wanted to simply block the account and be done with it all, but something told him not to.
"This should be interesting, at least.", He muttered, picking up the call. "What do you want?"
"This is Alexi Arthur, right?", A feminine voice, asked, surprising Alexi.
"L-Lazy God?", He was stunned. He wasn't expecting a girl to have been this aggressive about his novel.
"I warned you, Alexi."
"What?"
"I have set the stage for you to rectify your mistakes. Come, let me witness how you struggle to provide me a good conclusion this time about."
"Oi, what the hell are you talking about?"
All Alexi could hear from the other side of the phone was maniacal laughter. He would be lying if he said it didn't concern him a tad bit, but the voice was soon drowned out by static as the train entered a tunnel.
Alexi clicked his tongue and quickly blocked the account.
This was bad. The crazy fan actually found out his real name.
Alexi looked all around the train, trying to get a read on the people, but none of them were looking his way. Paranoia started to set in, fear of just what might happen creeping up.
"Crap.", He cursed under his breath, then took out his phone, going quickly to Wu Ming's contact.
He called his editor several times, but got no response.
"The hell is that guy doing at this ti-oh?"
A child bumped into Alexi, chasing after a ball he was playing with. The child backed away and stared at Alexi with eyes of what one could only call admiration, before quickly turning into eyes of fear. Beads of water quickly turned into a flood of terrified tears, as the child stood there, wailing.
"What?"
A woman who appeared to be in her late twenties rushed over and grabbed the boy in a hug, steadily shushing him.
"P-Please forgive him. It was an accident.", She said, as she cradled him gently.
Alexi's lips curved upwards in a gentle smile.
"Don't cry, kid.", Alexi went down on one knee and reached out a hand to pat the kid's head, but the mother slapped his hand away with a glint of distrust in her eyes, before assuming fearful eyes once again.
"I-I'm so sorry. I… I didn't mean to…"
"Calm down.", I said, slowly backing up. "It's not like I'm going to eat you two or anything."
The woman took her son and backed away. He looked around, expecting to have been the point of everyone's attention, but felt little to no gazes on him. There was almost no one in the passenger car he was in, which was odd since it was full mere moments ago.
Certainly, all of this was odd, but Alexi chose to not focus on it.
"Come on, pick up the fucking phone, Wu Ming."
The doors leading to the passenger car slid wide open from both sides and 2 pairs of men in white suits came in, all of them pointing bows with brightly coloured arrows at him.
"What the hell is going on?"
"Sir, please remain calm and comply or we will be forced to take drastic measures.", A burly man walked into the car from behind one of the pairs. In his hand, he held what appeared to be a rather massive plastic sword. Like those toy light sabers sold at toy shops, but bigger.
"Um, is there some sort of LARP event going on?"
The man furrowed his brows at Alexi's question, but still maintained his original stance.
"Please put your hands behind your back and follow us quietly."
"I don't have time for this, I have class in a few minutes."
The train had taken its sweet time today.
"May we see your student identification?"
"What are you going on abou- HUH?"
The men flinched at his sudden shout, but still did not release their arrows. Alexi on the other hand looked around, eventually catching a reflection of himself in the mirror, which led to him screaming.
Rather than the shirt and pants he'd picked up earlier, he was currently wearing a grey coat over a white shirt, with a black necktie and grey pants. But that was the least of his surprises.
His facial features had drastically changed. He looked younger, almost like back when he was a teenager starting high school. His hair was still honey blonde, but now had streaks of black mixed in with it, and leaking out from his bangs with two short white horns.
"What the hell is happening-AH?!"
He jumped back as a massive shadow blurred past his vision. Cautiously, he approached the window once more and his jaw dropped once he took a look outside the train's windows. The train he was on was soaring through the air. They flew past multiple clouds and came out onto a clear view of the blue sky.
Something else came into view. A beast, with the head of an eagle and a body thrice the size of a lion, was soaring alongside the train. On it's back, a man wearing protective gear was straddled, like a horse rider. The blurry shadow from before was caused by this beast.
'A gryphon?', He thought, still in disbelief.
The gryphon flew faster, and his gaze trailed after, leading him to see it – the massive structure of awe. Both a magical and technological marvel, the floating Sky Dome came into full view. A piece of land, the size of at least 4 major cities, floating high above the sky, far from view of those down below.
The sight had completely taken Alexi out.
"This is Sergeant Thrax coming in, suspect is acting erratic. Commencing subduction."
"Wait, wait!"
The archers behind the sergeant fired off their arrows, sticks of raw energy that struck Alexi's body with pinpoint accuracy, paralysing him and knocking him to the ground.