The hum of the metro echoed in the empty carriage, the only sound the steady clacking of the wheels against the rails. Kai sat near the window, his head resting against the cool glass, his fingers casually swiping across the screen of his phone. The train was completely empty it was eerily quiet. No passengers, no noise except for the metallic rattle of the train speeding down the tracks.

It was late no surprise that the carriage was empty, given how few people rode this route at this time of night. He preferred it that way. No one to disturb him. Just the quiet, and the story.

...

[Lord of Emptiness]

Synopsis: A tragic story about Mortis is burdened with a gift and a curse. Gifted with the power to see all possible futures, he is forever bound to the knowledge that every choice leads to the same tragic end...

Rating: 2.7 (1,069 reviews)

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...

Kai had read through the entire novel in just a few days, and now he found himself at the very last chapter. The air inside the metro carriage felt thick with the weight of the ending that was closing in. He knew how this would go. He knew exactly how it would go.

Mortis, the protagonist, cursed by his power to see every future, had explored every possibility, every decision, every branching path and yet, no matter what he did, it all led to one thing: the end. The end of everything. Not just his own demise.

But the death of all existence itself.

In one timeline, Mortis, driven mad by the endless visions, chose to kill all life just to prevent the void from descending yet, the Outer Gods still descended from beyond the void eldritch beings of unimaginable power who consumed reality itself, erasing not just life, but the very fabric of existence. No matter what Mortis tried, every future ended in destruction. There was no way to save anyone. No way to stop the inevitable.

Kai scrolled to the final chapter.

Chapter 858: The End of All Things

"Mortis stood on the edge of the world, staring into the void. He had seen it all, every possibility, every scenario… and in the end, none of it mattered. The future was already written."

Kai paused, shaking his head. There it was again. That same sense of futility. No heroism. No last minute saves. Just a slow walk toward the end.

"Not like the other novels…" he muttered to himself. "This is not like how it's supposed to be."

He swiped again, reading on.

"Mortis closed his eyes, knowing this would be his final moment. The stars above began to disappear, one by one, as the Outer Gods arrived, devouring the universe in their wake. He had seen this a thousand times before. He had tried a thousand ways to stop it. But in the end, all futures converged here. To this moment."

Kai felt a knot in his chest. This wasn't the kind of story he was used to reading. The kind where the hero saves the world. The kind where the protagonist finds the strength to defy fate. This was something else. Something darker. And that's what kept him coming back.

It wasn't normal. It wasn't like the others.

And that's what made it unique.

Kai continued reading, his fingers moving a little slower now, almost reluctant to finish. He knew what was coming, but something inside him didn't want it to end. He swiped to the last few lines, the screen glowing faintly in the dim light of the carriage.

"Mortis accepted his fate. The universe was ending. There was nothing left to do but let it happen."

Kai took a breath, his heart heavy as he prepared for the final sentence, the one that would close the book on Mortis's tragic journey.

But then, something strange happened.

The screen flickered.

The words flickered again, just for a split second. But this time, it felt deliberate. Like the story wasn't done with him.

A chill ran down his spine, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. He shook his head, dismissing it as a glitch. Just a random bug. It had to be.

But as he scrolled back to the end of the chapter, the air in the carriage seemed to shift.

Kai suddenly felt watched.

[You are the Catalyst. The world's fate is now yours to decide.]

Kai's blood ran cold. He stared at the screen, unblinking.

"What the…?"

His phone vibrated in his hand, the screen pulsing as if alive. The text glowed brighter, and for a second, the entire carriage seemed to shift. The air grew dense, almost suffocating, and the hum of the metro grew louder, like a deafening roar.

The world outside the window blurred, streaks of light and shadow twisting as the metro hurtled forward. Kai's pulse quickened, his breath catching in his throat. The phone screen pulsed again, the words shifting, rewriting themselves before his eyes.

[Do you wish to alter fate?]

The text glowed with an eerie light, casting a faint glow on his face. His mind raced. This had to be some kind of joke, right? Some weird, hidden Easter egg in the novel's code. A final twist, like those meta stories where the reader becomes part of the narrative.

But this felt different. Real. Too real.

Kai looked up from his phone, his heart pounding in his ears. The empty metro carriage wasn't just quiet anymore it was still. The clacking of the wheels had stopped, the lights overhead frozen mid-flicker. Even the world outside the windows had become an unmoving blur.

His breath came shallow now, panic creeping in. What was happening?

The phone vibrated in his hand once more, the screen dimming slightly, as if waiting for his response.

Kai hesitated, his thumb hovering over the screen.

"I don't want this," he muttered under his breath, his voice barely audible in the suffocating stillness.

But the screen pulsed again, insistent.

[You must choose.]

Suddenly, a sharp sound echoed through the carriage a low, resonant hum. Kai's eyes snapped to the far end of the car, where the outline of a figure began to materialize, emerging from the fog like something out of a dream… or a nightmare.

The figure stepped forward, cloaked in the fog, its form hazy and indistinct. As it moved closer, Kai could see that its features were familiar too familiar. His heart skipped a beat as he recognized the figure standing before him.

It was Mortis.

The character from the novel. The one doomed to see the end of all things.

But Mortis wasn't just a character now. He was real, standing mere feet away from Kai, his hollow eyes that resembled mirrors fixed on him with an intensity that made Kai's skin crawl.

"You're the Catalyst," Mortis spoke, his voice low and deep, echoing through the stillness. "You've seen fate of reality. Now… you decide."

Kai's mind whirled. This wasn't happening. It couldn't be. But every second that passed made it harder to deny the impossible reality unfolding before him.

Mortis took another step forward, his presence heavy, oppressive. "All of creation is ending, Kai. Not just in the novel. Everywhere. Every timeline, every version of reality it's all collapsing."

Kai stared, frozen, unable to process what was being said. "What… What do you mean? I'm not… I can't change anything."

"But you can." Mortis's eyes gleamed with a strange intensity. "You have the power now. The power to alter fate. To stop the end."

Kai shook his head, backing away. "No. I'm just a reader. This is just a story. I'm not..."

"It's more than a story," Mortis interrupted, his voice like a harsh whisper. "It's all connected. Every story, every reality they all lead to the same end. Unless you stop it."

Kai swallowed hard, his pulse racing. "And how am I supposed to do that?"

Mortis's gaze darkened. "By making a choice."

Suddenly, the phone in Kai's hand vibrated violently, the screen flashing with new text.

[Rewrite fate? Yes / No]

His mind was racing. This wasn't a game anymore—it felt far too real. But could it be? Could this actually be happening? He had read the story a hundred times, lived inside its pages, but never imagined he'd be part of it. And now, it was asking him to decide the fate of reality itself.

Kai's fingers trembled, his thumb hovering over the screen. He felt a surge of conflicting emotions. It was all too much. He wasn't a hero, not like Mortis, or any of the other tragic figures in the stories he'd read. He was just a reader, an observer. How could he be expected to make this kind of choice?

As the carriage remained unnervingly still, he glanced up at Mortis, who stood with an air of cold certainty. Mortis had spent his entire existence witnessing the inevitable doom of all realities. Kai wasn't even sure how he'd wound up here. But the weight of what Mortis had said hit him harder than anything else:

"All of creation is ending... unless you stop it."

He looked at the phone again, its screen flickering between dim and bright as if urging him to respond. But Kai wasn't like Mortis. He didn't have the weight of infinite futures crushing him. He was just... there. Watching from the sidelines.

Suddenly, a realization struck him. That was it. He wasn't the hero. He wasn't Mortis. And maybe, just maybe, that was the point. He wasn't burdened by the knowledge of every possible outcome. He was free from the crushing despair that came with seeing the end of everything.

Mortis had become too much a part of the story—too deep into it to see the other possibilities. But Kai, as an outsider, could see something Mortis couldn't: there were paths outside the pages, beyond the limits of the narrative itself.

Kai swallowed hard, his voice barely more than a whisper. "I don't have to become you, Mortis."

Mortis's hollow eyes gleamed with something between confusion and intrigue. "What are you saying?"

Kai straightened his back, clutching the phone tighter, as his resolve hardened. "I'm not the protagonist. I'm not here to take your place. I'm not here to repeat your cycle." He took a deep breath. "I'm an extra a wildcard. And that's why I can choose something different."

Mortis tilted his head, the oppressive aura around him pulsing like a dying star. "There are no other paths, no other outcomes"

"That's where you're wrong." Kai's voice was steady now, confidence growing. "You've been trapped in this endless loop, seeing every version of reality collapse. But I haven't. I'm not bound by the same rules. I don't need to rewrite fate to stop the end. I just need to step outside of it."

The screen on his phone flickered again, the words shifting as if responding to his thoughts.

[You are not bound by fate.]

A low rumble echoed through the carriage, as if the very fabric of reality was trembling at the edges. Mortis's form flickered, his once imposing figure seeming less solid, more vulnerable.

"You don't understand," Mortis muttered, his voice strained. "I've seen it all. Every choice leads to the same conclusion. You can't escape it."

Kai shook his head. "Maybe you've seen every possibility in the story. But that's the thing stories have boundaries. And I'm not inside yours." He held up the phone, staring at the pulsing question one last time.

With a steady hand, he pressed No.

The world around him shook violently, the lights in the carriage flickering as the entire metro seemed to lurch off its tracks. Mortis's form began to waver, as though he was struggling to maintain his existence. The weight of countless realities pressed down, fighting to force the same ending, the same collapse.

But Kai remained still, his eyes locked onto Mortis. "You were never meant to carry this burden alone. That's why you lost hope. But I'm not bound by your fate."

The train screeched to a halt, and for a moment, everything went silent. The oppressive stillness lifted, the carriage returning to its regular hum. The world outside the window resumed its normal blur of night lights and cityscape.

Mortis's eyes softened, his expression unreadable as his form began to fade. "You... found a way out."

Kai nodded. "Maybe it's not about rewriting fate. Maybe it's about realizing you don't have to follow it."

With that, Mortis disappeared how ever just before he disappeared it seemed like he had a amused smile on his face, his presence dissolving into the air like a faint memory, leaving Kai alone once again in the empty metro.

The phone in his hand buzzed one last time, the screen dimming until only one final message remained.

[You have chosen. The story continues.]

The metro rolled on through the quiet night, but now, there was not single human inside inside all there was nothing but a single phone glowing

[New Story Unlocked: Extra: Chronicles of the Void]