[Xun]

Chapter 1

“Every person has their story to write out. Get ready to write yours…”
For years now, he has seen so many stories written that has either given glory or damnation to the hero. The storyline was always the same, even if it did have a plot twist. His fingers danced on the page of the book in hand, his dark blue eyes trailed through each word that was written down within the book.
“…And yet no matter how much he tried, he was unable to kill the dragon.” His voice silently spoke. He continued this just for a few more seconds before he closed the book in his hands and he placed it to his side. There he sat in what appeared to be a small library with bookshelves lining all of the walls and giving room for a window and 2 doors to take place. One door lead to the rest of his house while the other door lead to the outside world. In the middle of the whole room were his desk, chair, and numerous papers scattered all around. This was where he worked for all his days, making up stories as time went by. The man within the room was dressed with a dark blue tunic over his black and white coat and black pants.
“Ugh… another boring day…” The man said as he got up from his seat to go look out the window. Visually, this was the only thing that gave him access to the outside world. As much as he wanted to step out of his “office,” he just couldn’t feel his feet wanting to move. Why was it going to be a boring day for him? Because no matter how many days that have passed by, there he sat in his office, writing stories all day and trying to find the inspiration needed to create new stories. How does he eat? Well, someone passes by day by day and is willing to give him food to eat. He sucks at cooking and never thought about attempting to cook anything at all. Who is this? It’s some random fan girl who likes him or something. That was the scary thing. He never thought he would actually obtain a fan that was okay with providing him with food. The man always thought that it was a good enough idea to use the fan to his own advantage. It’s not as if the fan realizes that she’s being used, right?
A knock on the door was heard. If the man didn’t know any better, he would know who would always knock on his door. The outside appeared to be darkening a bit. Evening was well approaching. There he went and opened the door to find a girl with such long, light brown hair that was tied up in a ponytail. She wore a light blue tank-top and some pretty short shorts. A bright smile was on her face and in her hands was a plastic bag with some food in it. The man stared at her as if he has no idea who this girl was. She appeared to be around the age of 16—a high school student, perhaps?
“Hello there, Mr. Alavar, sir!” The girl happily announced as she attempted to push her way into Alavar’s office.
Alavar just stood his ground and kept the girl out. “Hello there, Candice.”
Candice stopped and gave a huge pout to Alavar. Upset, she threw a fit. “I told you to call me Shishima!”
“Does that even mean anything?” Alavar asked her.
Candice stared at Alavar with a very goofy smile on her face, appearing as if she has never heard his question. Alavar just made a small face palm and walked out of Candice’s way so that she can go in. He was on his way to some of the bookshelves in attempt to find something as Candice happily bounced inside. She placed the plastic bag with food on his desk and then went to go sit on his desk. “So Mr. Alavar, what are you working on right now?”
Alavar sighed in annoyance with a book in hand and appearing to look as if he’s trying to find something. “I thought I told you just yesterday that I was working on a story about--”
“Why don’t you write up a romantic story?” Candice interrupted Alavar.
Immediately, Alavar turned to look at Candice who had a light pink blush on her face as she fantasized about something. He strongly hoped with wasn’t something related to the both of them. “Candice--”
“IT’S SHISHIMA!” Candice exploded with rage, glaring at Alavar.
All he could do was look at Candice with such a disgusted look on his face. What really ticked him off was the fact that Candice wasn’t listening to him and the fact that she wanted him to call her by a random word that may not have a meaning just made him want to punch her so badly… regardless if she’s a girl or not.
“Candice, just get out of my office. I’m stressing out enough as it is.” Alavar finally said, putting the book away. He walked up to Candice, grabbed her and just led her out of his office. A look of concern overcame Candice and she looked up to Alavar, her face actually dark red over all this.
“W-Will you be alright, Mr. Alavar?” she asked him.
Alavar was lying. Of course he’ll be alright; he just threw that excuse out so that Candice would finally leave him alone. “…Yeah, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.”
Candice smiled as she stood on the outside of the house. She leaned in a bit towards Alavar. “Well then, have a good day, Mr. Alavar…”
“You too.” Alavar said, giving off a weak smile in attempt to look a bit relieved that she came by. Sadly, there were mostly times where he wished she would just shut up and bring him food. That’s it. As he grabbed onto the door knob, he noticed Candice leaning in and appearing as if she was expecting an unintentional kiss. He was always sickened by her. Immediately, he slammed the door in Candice’s face and went back to his desk to go get the food she brought him. If there was one thing he was forever grateful of, it was the fact she was still willing to visit him day by day with food just for him.
“How stupid can she be?” Alavar asked himself as he stared at the box full of food inside. There was some meat and rice in there along with a few vegetables. Picking up a fork that was provided along with the food, Alavar started eating some of the food. What impressed him was that Candice actually cooked all the food and as much as he would love to praise her for such an amazing skill, it would only add fuel to a fire he desired not to start. Alavar knew that Candice had a crush on him. How? It was the numerous signs that Candice obviously made every single day that gave off the idea that she had on crush on him. It was scary to him and he really didn’t want to think about wanting to get into a relationship with a child. He was a grown man; Alavar wasn’t going to sink so low as to go out with a child.
He eventually finished up his food and put the fork down, staring at the finished box. A sigh escaped his lips when he eventually stood up in place. “I need to get out more…” Alavar silently told himself. Silently, he walked to the other door that leads to the rest of his house and he opened it. Then, he closed it behind him and headed off to his room. He had a simple one-story house completely with a bedroom, a kitchen, a bathroom, the living-room—the works. He headed off to his bedroom and went to plop down onto it. Another day has finally passed by for him and he was ready to knock out. Carefully, he moved his head to look around his room. It was a simple room with a bed and his dresser there. Nothing more was there in his room. A yawn escaped his lips as he fixed himself so that he was starting to sit on the bed.
“All the stories I’ve written so far has been alright, but I want something new.” Alavar said, scratching his head and fixing the tie that held his long, black hair altogether. The tie came off and his hair fell down his back. It felt a bit heavy, but he didn’t mind one bit. A quick glace to his left and he found his pillow. Alavar snatched it and just started to fluff it up a bit. Finally, he laid himself down to rest, his hair just going anywhere it could fall on. As he closed his eyes, he took in a deep breath of the familiar scent of his room, but a strange odor forced him to quickly sit back up and stare around at what could be the cause of the unappealing scent. It was his hair.
He had to go take a bath. The smell was unbearable and he didn’t like sleeping in a room with a disgusting scent going in and out of his nostrils. He snatched a new set of clothes from his dresser and headed off to the bathroom to shower. After undressing himself, he entered into the shower and let the cool water hit against his warm skin. It felt refreshing to feel something other than his clothing against him. Alavar cleaned himself up and got out, thinking about what kind of new story he could write up. Earlier, Candice did mention to create a romantic story, but Alavar had to be honest and say he strongly despised romantic lovey-dovey stuff. It was odd and unnecessary to have to create a good story. As long as it had some kind of interesting plot with some good thought up characters, he always thought it would do very well. And it has done him very well in the past. Most of his stories so far were mostly fantasy, adventure, and action related. Not once in his stories have his characters actually fell in love with one another.
The reason why he has never done a romantic story is because he has never had a successful relationship in his whole entire life to help him write out a romance related story. It wasn’t because he wasn’t romantic enough, but it’s because he had this strange tendency to act indifferent when he’s around a woman. He sometimes gets nervous and it eventually leads up to him doing outrageous things in attempt to impress the woman he crushes on. Alavar always thought that was pretty sad and the women he has gone out with would agree with him. Wrapping himself up, he went to go pick up a light blue shirt, but his phone started ringing. “…If that’s Candice, I’m seriously going to tell her to shut up and never visit me again…” Alavar angrily told himself.
“Ruining my night after I take a shower…” He murmured under his breath as he went to pick up the phone in his kitchen. A male’s voice came over the phone.
“Hey Alavar! How’s it hangin’ bro?” The voice laughed.
“Ironically, I just came out of the shower.” Alavar answered.
“Woah man… too much information.” The laughter died down to an embarrassed chuckle.
Alavar sighed and leaned on the door post with telephone in hand. “What’s up, Sam? You got any kind of writing assignment for me?”
“How do you know?” Sam asked him.
“You have a tendency to do this every time you call me up. It’s nothing different.” Alavar replied.
“Well, today’s your lucky day, man! I found this interesting publishing company who’s looking for stories to throw out into the market. When I read up on it, I thought about you and decided to give you a call.”
Attempting to recall his past, Alavar remembers being able to publish at least 2 books. The sell went pretty well and it gave him enough money to buy this house. “Huh. Sam, you wouldn’t happen to have the name of the company, would you?”
“Uh… let me look at it.” Sam said with the sound of rustling papers. “…Traverse Two Words?”
Alavar thought of the name and started dissecting it. “Traverse means to move over or pass to. I’m assuming you mean “to” as in “to go TO” or “move TO”. Words are just… yeah, you get the idea.”
“No, Alavar. I mean “two” as in the number “two” rather than the other words that sound just like it.” Sam corrected in an angry tone.
“Whatever.” Alavar finished.
“In any case, you should go to their offices tomorrow and find out what you need in order to publish your books through them!”
“Sam, I’ve tried publishing books before. I have an idea of what needs to be done.”
“Just go to the offices, okay? I’m sure publishers and their business is just like all other businesses where they run things differently. What makes publisher offices any different?”
Alavar hated to admit Sam was right, but this was an interested turn of events. “…Fine, I’ll go check in their office and ask what needs to be done.”
“Awesome! Can’t wait to hear the result from you! The publishing company can be found in a city called Paige. Have fun, alright man?” Sam said and hung up the phone immediately.
There he stood, thinking about the name “Traverse Two Words.” It sounded a bit odd when he attempted saying it over and over again, but in the end, it was just another bunch of works attempting to represent something—in this case, a publishing company. Alavar hung up the phone, went back to the bathroom, and started putting on his clothes. After all that, he really needed some rest. So, he put his towel away after having to wrap himself up with it, walked all the way back to his room, and finally plopped down onto the bed until he finally was able to fall asleep, not realizing his hair was still wet.
The next day, he woke up with a strange headache and a cold. It wasn’t until he realized that he fell asleep with wet hair that Alavar had to go and just hit himself over and over again to remember that sleeping with wet hair will cause him to feel very sick. However, this didn’t stop him from visiting the Traverse Two Words office. His morning routine started with him changing into more suitable, but comfortable, clothing, eating cereal and milk, and getting into the car and drive out to the city Sam mentioned about, Paige. Once he finished driving around aimlessly in attempt to find the publisher’s building, he ended up in a parking garage and got out of his car. He went to the end of the parking garage and paid for his parking.
“There it is… Traverse Two Words.” Alavar silently said as he stood on the sidewalk and stared up at the building that held the publisher’s logo. When he looked to the entrance, Alavar noticed that people were going in and out of this building. It didn’t appear as if there were a lot of people, but comparing to how many people go in and out made it appear as if this company did more than publish books. Now that he thought about it, maybe Traverse Two Words was actually a company that helped out smaller businesses or something? It was a chance to take.
He went into the building and saw people walking around, talking about stuff he was unfamiliar with, and just minding their own business. Alavar’s eyes met up with the front desk that sat in the middle of the room. A young woman with light brown hair stood with her back turned towards Alavar. “Excuse me, ma’am. Do you have any idea if there’s a publishing company around here?”
“Of course, this is the publishing company itself.” The woman said. Her voice sounded shockingly familiar and once she turned around, Alavar’s eyes widened up a bit. The woman was Candice, but the way she dressed up just blown Alavar’s mind through the roof. Her hair wasn’t in pony tails, but her hair was straight and down all the way to her breast. She wore frameless glasses that revealed her light green eyes and she was wearing a dark pink business suit. She continued talking. “Welcome to Traverse Two Words, sir--”
“Candice, is that you?” Alavar rudely interrupted. It took Candice a few blinks before fixing her glasses and realizing who was in front of her. She blushed and she wanted to explode in happiness, but she did her best to calm herself down.
“Mr. Alavar? What are you doing here?” Candice asked before taking off her glasses and cleaning them.
“I’m here to ask about how I can get a book of mine published. What are YOU doing here?” Alavar asked.
“Oh, I work here! After work, I buy the food I get with my salary and bring it to you! It’s very sweet of me, right? I know it is!” Candice said, starting to act childish in front of Alavar.
No matter how much he looks at her, he can’t seem to wrap his mind around the idea of Candice dressing up so formally. But that was beside the point. “Candice, you really didn’t have to buy my food with—wait, I thought you MADE my food! Not buy it!”
Candice looked to Alavar and a face of offense came on. “I buy the ingredients, Mr. Alavar and then I cook the food that way.”
“...And you use the money you earned from this job?”
“Yup! I have enough left over for myself, so you shouldn’t worry so much!” Candice playfully said.
Alavar just shook his head and sighed. “Ah… anyways, I’m here to speak to some employers about how to get my book published as I have said before.”
Candice frowned. “But you should already know how to publish books! You’ve already written a few yourself, right?”
“Of course I have. A friend of mind phoned me up and thought it’d be good to just talk to the people and see if there is any difference in publishing with them. I don’t see why I need to do that, so instead, I’m just going to turn in my story and let them decide for themselves.”
“Oh… right…” Candice finally said, attempting to look professional in case someone would come by and see her acting the way she did. “Alright then, if you’ll follow me…”
Both of them started walking through a corridor to the right of the front desk. Just to pass the time, Alavar started conversing with Candice. It was completely new to him because he would be shredding himself inside for talking to her, but seeing Candice in a completely different environment other than his own home made him feel a bit more comfortable. Maybe because he knew she wasn’t going to act up? They eventually reached a door and they both stood in front of it. “Here you are, Mr. Alavar. If you need anything after your visit, you may come back to the front desk and inquire about anything regarding the company. Or you can just come back and visit little old me!”
Candice giggled at the thought as she happily walked away with a little spring in her step. Alavar just sighed, feeling relieved that he didn’t have to see Candice anymore. He opened the door and went inside to what appeared to be the office of a special representative. As soon as Alavar closed the door behind him, he felt a strange pain at the back of his head. He couldn’t see a thing in front of him and everything went black. The pain started rushing through the rest of his body for a few seconds, but it all faded away after a few minutes. Once he was able to get ahold of himself, Alavar sat up and attempted to fix his vision. For a few seconds, he saw green and blue in front of him. His vision became fixed and the sight before him just shocked him to the very core.
“What IS all this?” Alavar asked as he examined his new environment. Tropical trees around him, a waterfall in front of him, and he was standing before a cliff. Carefully, he went to the edge to see that at the bottom was a huge lake that the waterfall was creating. His eyes pulled up and he saw clouds rolling in the sky. The trees around the area were something he has never seen before. They appeared so exotic, beautiful, and oddly familiar. The way these trees appeared looked exactly as if he had pictured them.
“…wait…”
It wasn’t until Alavar finally came to that he found out something. This area was the exact image of a land he described in his most recent story. How was this even possible? Alavar had no idea how in the world he got into this place. The last thing he recalled was being in the Traverse Two Words building. If that’s the case, then how long has he been knocked out? But now that he thought about it, how in the world did he get into this place? His story was completely made up! There was no way in the world could these plants actually exist! He remembers the numerous hours of research about the different trees and plants in the world, and not once has he found an account of the vegetation he has made up in his stories!
Alavar took in the sight, but he slowly shook his head in disbelief. “There’s no way I could be in my own world… what is all this?”

Chapter 2

“In a story, there are settings and characters, but characters are what make the setting…”
There he stood in both awe and shock. He had to find a way back home, but no matter how many times he looks at the area he was in, Alavar was already far beyond finding hope because this place was nowhere near the Traverse Two Words building.
“How in hell am I going to get back home?” Alavar pondered as he watched the waterfall provide water to the earth below.
What he was concerned about was not how he got into the situation he was in, but how he was going to get out and back home. It made him worried, wondering how in the world he was going to survive. Figuring out how the heck he got here wasn’t going to help him one bit, so he had to let it go and concentrate on the things that are more important. One of those things so happen to be his very existence and even though all seems hopeless at that moment, he wasn’t going to give up his life just yet.
Again, he peered at the water falling from the waterfall and into the small lake at the bottom. Tempting as it appears to just let go of the cliff and drop into the water, Alavar wasn’t going to take the risk of just free falling from such a dangerous height. If he was to guess how high up he was, he would’ve guessed that he was at least around the same height of a 12 story building.
His dark blue eyes scanned for what could be an easy way to climb down without having to dive off and risk it all. Soon enough, his eyes so happen to find what appears to be a vine right next to the waterfall conveniently at his side. It was a good sign. What also caught his eyes was what appeared to be a small path for at least one person to walk on.
“I remember this in my story... There’s a small pathway that runs through the side of the cliffs and behind the waterfall...” Alavar silently recited word for word as he tries to recall what happens at the bottom. He carefully heads to the pathway and starts walking on it. It felt like a spiraling staircase and the view was breathtaking when one looks up from where they stand. Now that he was thinking about it, no matter where he stood on this pathway, the sight he has laid eyes on was amazing. Before he could get any more of this, he bumped into a wall that oddly has appeared before him. Alavar took a few looks around to see where he was.
He finally reached the bottom and he was standing next to the lake. During the time that his eyes examined the waterfall touching the lake, his mind started racing through in attempt to recall what happens within the story he wrote, but after a few seconds, he shook his head and just frowned.
“There’s no way I’ve jumped into my story!” Alavar said, starting to pace a bit. “That’s impossible!”
“WHAT… is impossible, my child?” An elderly woman’s voice asked Alavar.
Alavar’s body snapped towards the voice and he found himself face to face with a small elderly woman who wasn’t even half his size. She wore a dark blue cloak that covered her head and practically the rest of her body. He could barely make out what color her hair was.
“Ah…” He tried thinking of some kind of lie to tell her.
“I have never seen clothing like the ones you are wearing in my entire life!” The elderly woman laughed. “Tell me, child. Where have you come from?”
Alavar thought about the world he has written down in his story, but he never thought of adding any other places to the story. This story was about an animal that ran rampant and free with no cares until it met with an elderly woman. Was this the same elderly woman in his story?
“I’m from a place you’re not familiar with. The name of the place is Paige.” He answered.
“What an interesting name.” The elderly woman said as she weakly smiled under her hood as she turned to walk off. Alavar wasn’t paying attention.
“Uh… ma’am, I--” Alavar sounded before he realized she was walking away. This didn’t bother him, but what really bothered him was that she was leaving him with no idea as to where he was exactly. Well, he did have an idea of where he was, but he had to give the benefit of the doubt and hope this area was somewhere around the earth. Quickly, he followed after the elderly woman to wherever she was walking. Here’s to wishing that he was still on earth.
He finally caught up with the woman. “HEY--!!”
“You may call me Catherine… or Grandmother Cat if you’d like.” She said, interrupting Alavar. Before Alavar could move any further, she stopped in place and forced Alavar to tumble embarrassingly behind her.
“Grandmother Cat?” He questioned as he attempted to regain himself.
“Yes, Grandmother Cat! All the children love calling me ‘Grandmother Cat.’ I just think it’s because they can’t pronounce ‘Catherine’ yet.” Grandmother Cat chuckled.
“…Children?” Alavar asked her. If he was truly in his story, he would know about children. Sadly, he wasn’t familiar with any children running around in his story, so this eliminated the possibility that he was in his story world. He’s still on earth and that was a very good sign. They continued walking and it wasn’t until at this point that Alavar realized that they were inside a damp, moist cave. Stalagmites were everywhere and it was difficult for him to move around. Grandmother Cat appears to be content with moving around the stalagmites and she just walked through as if there was nothing in her way.
Alavar scratched his head and watched as Grandmother Cat moved around. “I swear I’ve seen this before, but I can’t recall where…”
Immediately, he got up and attempted to go after Grandmother Cat. She slipped into what appeared to be a hole in the cave wall and after what felt like a very long time, Alavar was finally able to reach the hole. The size of the hole was as tall as any doorway, but the width of the hole appeared too small for him to casually walk through. He had to turn to his side and squeeze himself just to get through. It felt as if the walls were closing in on him and pressing against his chest. His eyes refused to stay open and closed immediately; he didn’t want to see what was at the end of this strange passage that Grandmother Cat went through. Alavar hoped that this was going to end quickly and as soon as he finished with this thought, a reddish hue came into his eyes that he noticed. Finally, his eyes opened up and he found himself in a large town. Concrete bricks made the walls and the roads were full of dirt. Alavar felt as if he fell into the middle ages.
“Come now, child! You shouldn’t keep your elders waiting!” Grandmother Cat cried out to Alavar from afar. He noticed her waving to him and leaving him behind. It did annoy him, but it did get him to wonder even more about his situation. Finally, he caught up with her and by the time he did, they reached a small hut within the outskirts of the town. Into the hut they went and then Grandmother Cat pointed to a chair in front of what appeared to be a table. “Sit down, child.”
Alavar sat and he then let his eyes travel around the room. There were so many things around the hut that it appeared to be like any regular hut that supplied a person with anything and everything he or she needed. He felt content, even if it was a pretty small space for just one person.
“So tell me child, why have you come from another place to this place here?” Grandmother Cat asked Alavar.
Immediately, Alavar looked to her with a surprised look, as if her question stumped him. “Um… to be honest, Grandmother Cat, I have no idea how I got here in the first place. It was as if I was forced here by my own will.”
Grandmother Cat just nodded. “I see. The people who sent you are not who you think they are.”
“…A publishing company?” Alavar questioned her.
“Whatever you desire to call them.” She replied.
“What to call them? They were called “Traverse Two Words”.”
“Oh? Traverse Towards?”
“No… Traverse--”
Before he could finish, he stared at Grandmother Cat, trying to recall what she just said. “…What did you just say?”
“I said, “Traverse Towards”, child. Please be more mindful of your words.” Grandmother Cat said.
“…Y-Yes ma’am. Sorry about that.” Alavar answered. He went back to pondering about the words “Traverse Towards.”
“Traverse Two Words… Traverse Twoooo-waards… Traverse Towards?” He snapped in realization. “So that’s what it sounded like, “Traverse towards!” …but what’s the significance of it and why am I here in the first place?”
All Grandmother Cat could do was pull out a few things and set it out on the table in front of them. On the table sat what appeared to be a papyrus scroll and a small pen. “Not much you can do now, can you? Why don’t you use these items to go around town and learn what you can?”
Alavar stared at the instruments and frowned. “I can remember what I hear around the place. No sweat.”
Grandmother Cat just weakly smiled. “You’ll need these. Take them.”
“I guess…” He said as he took the scroll and pen. Then, he stood up and looked to Grandmother Cat. “What I don’t understand is why you’re helping me when we’ve barely met?”
She just nodded. “Just go and learn what you can learn about the city, alright?”
“How will this help me get out of my situation?”
“You will see soon enough, child. You will see soon enough.”
Alavar sighed in disbelief, but he was told what to do. What really surprised him was that he was listening to what Grandmother Cat told him to do. Was it because he felt that he was responsible and liable for his actions? He really couldn’t tell because before, he would just ignore the words of others and let himself go do whatever he desired. But now, he’s actually doing something someone is telling him to do. So he went around town, writing down the information he thought was important.
“Maybe it’s for some kind of training? Or maybe it’s for some kind of test? Either way, I better do good or I won’t be able to get back home…” Alavar told himself as he started writing down a description of the town. As he was writing down the information, a man came up to him. “Excuse me, but are you a scholar?”
Alavar looked to the man and just weakly smiled. “Ah-- oh no, I’m not a scholar. I’m just trying to see if I can get information about the town.”
“About the town? I can tell you loads about the town! In fact, I built this town with my own two hands!” The man proudly said.
It sounded suspicious, but Alavar couldn’t help but feel his hand writing this stuff down. “Really now? How did you make this town in the first place?”
“Well, aren’t you interested? Here’s how it went down…” The man started telling the tale of how the town was made within years. It was his idea of creating it in order to keep enemies out of the place. As the man continued telling his story, some people heard it and started listening in until someone spoke up.
“You think that was pretty interesting? Let me let you in on a little secret about this town after it was built by this guy…” A woman said.
Story after story started piling up. Alavar was amazed by each story that was poured out by each person. So much stories filled his mind that he couldn’t help but continue writing down about it. Each story was just as unique as the next one. It wasn’t until Alavar realized that the papyrus scroll was all filled up that all the stories he heard were already finished. “Are there more stories?”
A few people looked to each other, trying to recall if they had more to say. Alavar’s face brightened up and he couldn’t help but try and calm the townsfolk down. “Alright, alright! Settle down! You know what? Let me get more paper and I’ll be right back!”
He fixed the papyrus scroll and dashed back to Grandmother Cat’s house. She was relaxing in the same chair she sat in all this time. Alavar went up to Grandmother Cat and smiled.
“This is amazing! So much people with so many stories!” He held out the scroll to her. “Is this what you wanted me to do as a test? I’m sure I got enough information you wanted!”
Grandmother Cat read through the scroll and a smile continued to brighten her face after she read each story. “Yes… you got more than enough information for me. Thank you for helping.”
“Don’t mention it. But do you have anymore paper I can use so I can continue writing down the stories? I mean… this will be for me…”
She shook her head. “It appears that all stories have been stored. No one will be there when you return to the town.”
Alavar’s smile faded away and he stared at Grandmother Cat, confused. “...what? Of course there will be! There‘s no way that much people can leave the town! Come on!”
He tried to get Grandmother Cat out of her seat and into the town. After he was successful, he ran through the streets, trying to find the people, but it felt like it was a deserted ghost town. It made a sinking, embarrassing feeling dive into his stomach. “I… I don’t get it. Where did everyone go?”
“Child, you’ve recorded their stories because you were willing to listen to them all. And because they have been able to tell their story, they were all able to rest in peace.” Grandmother Cat said.
“…Tell their stories? Wait… so they were all… ghosts?” Alavar said in fear.
Grandmother Cat nodded and walked to Alavar’s side. “Yes. Did you know this place is all of the townsfolk’s burial ground?”
He gasped in shock. His eyes trailed around to see that there was still sign of life. “That… that can’t be… This town is still standing! It appears to be in perfect condition!”
“It was made so in hopes that one day someone would come and listen to their stories. No one would dare take least one step into a cemetery to hear a ghost’s life story. Would YOU do that?”
Alavar had to admit that he wouldn’t do such a thing. “…N-no…”
“Exactly. Now that you’ve listened and written their stories down, they are able to finally rest in peace.”
“…W-wow…” Alavar said to himself. Then, he turned to Grandmother Cat and thought for a bit. “Are you in the same situation?”
She nodded and looked back to Alavar. “Yes… But I won’t force you to listen in on my story if you don’t want to.”
He shook his head. “No, I want to listen to your story and hear what you have to say.”
Grandmother Cat smiled and started speaking her story. As she spoke her life, Alavar’s eyes widened. This story was the first story he wrote long ago. The story was about a woman who lived the life of a necromancer and revived people to life to guard her and help her survive. But no matter where she went, she met people she believed should not have died so early in life after hearing their stories. As time went on, she revived numerous people and built the town they now stood in and let the people who’ve died live.
Alavar weakly nodded. “…Then why was I brought here? And why did I have to record all the stories of those people?”
“Because if I were to do all that, I would not be able to pass them on to a newer generation.” Grandmother Cat said.
“Does that mean that you too are…?!” He snapped and looked to Grandmother Cat, putting his hands on her shoulders and getting on his knees. “No! Don’t tell me you’re going to fade out, too! I‘ll be lost and alone in this world with no direction, whatsoever!”
She took his hands, placed the scroll with the written stories in them, and then clasped his hands together. Alavar couldn’t believe what was going to happen. He was watching her fade right in front of him. “I’ve already told you my story. My powers will be unable to keep me alive any longer. Please keep all the stories you’ve written down safe and sound for others to read…”
With that, she finally faded away and left Alavar all alone in that town. He took deep breaths, wondering how in the world he was going to take all this in. Slowly, but surely, he crawled towards the nearest wall and pushed his back against it. He felt himself slide down and sat on the dirt ground he once walked on.
“They’re gone… they’re all gone…” Alavar said. There was nothing left for him to do there except close his eyes and rest. It felt like a few seconds of silence has overcome the area. He finally got his rest, but when he opened his eyes, he wasn’t in the town any longer.
…He was in another world.