Chapter One

Chapter One- Green

For some time in my life, I thought that a day was going great.

This early on to the story, I often saw myself as the side character or the helpful ally who’d bring some comedic advances towards the story for a woman who I always assumed was the main character- Senna Smith. To say that she was ideal was an understatement, so she needs people like me to brighten her image up. However, as unfortunate as it sounds, she was unaware of that. So instead, I willingly stuck to her like glue and sucked the shadow up just so she can rise to the top.

Oh happy me.

Not that I’m complaining. I often did this to myself. Besides, she was good reference. See, I am a novice writer with some noticeable talent in me- not to brag, of course. Hell, even perfect princess Senna thought so as well. I practically need people like Senna to shape the actions of my main characters, because she herself was the practical, perfect, ideal model of what a main character should be.

She fits that archetype wonderfully.

But of course, being the princess that she was, she humbly declined and refused to be acknowledged as the main character she was. And also of course I also noted that down for my wonderful main character that I drafted in her name.

Pardon me, I haven’t introduced myself- I am Xi Lian. Yes, I am partially Chinese, and yes, I also speak fluent Chinese, and Korean, but that doesn’t matter because I am not the main character of the story- She was. Senna Smith.

Perhaps I’ve mentioned her before in my previous books? Of course I have, after all, this is an autobiography I plan on releasing after I finish my first book ‘Dawn in Spring’. But also of course, I have most probably written this way before I’ve finished writing that novel, so I might not be too sure.

Consider this as a boring life-story of mine.

Let me start with the beginning. As you may have noticed thus far, my main character closely resembles my best friend Senna. Well, as I’ve told you before, Senna is my best friend, and shockingly enough, she was also the main reason I even began writing in the first place.

It all began when I met her in fifth grade. At the time she was learning Violin, and it was interesting to me so I approached her. After that, we clicked, and I found out about her hundred thousand other skills that she’s acquired every summer.

So simply put, I was astonished with her ability to hone so much talent, while she seemed to be in awe of whatever small bud inside of me that she believed could bloom. Amazingly enough, it did.

Thus began my writing.

Right then and there, everything in my dull and boring life began to change. It shifted on an adventure, exaggerated with my main character as my avatar. I realized that everything was so big in comparison to me, and as a writer, it was my job to explore using my words and writing.

So from age eight, I started writing. I figured by then that I had a knack for fiction, specifically anything fantasy. Perhaps it was because that was the single genre that brought me out of my dull and boring life.

Unlike every stereotype for young authors like me, I never really had a story to tell. Like everyone else, I lead a mundane life which wasn’t really something to look forward to. I mean, I’m thankful that I had majority sorted out, but there was not really a point in which I can count as a climax other than the multiple times I was so close to toppling over with my face flat on the ground.

And so I continued with that mindset until I was sixteen- the age everything goes to s**t.

See, this is where I stop acting as if this is some autobiography with some boring texts and happenings in my life that I know will bore you eventually. Yes, I am aware that this is a damned book because I wrote it. Not only that, but I know I am stuck in one.

Sixteen, as I said, is when it all turns to s**t.

Let’s return to the first sentence, shall we? For once in my life, I thought things were going great for the day. To my luck’s despair, it was the utter opposite. It was the day when everything changed for the worse, thus creating multiple reasons as to why I should have post-traumatic-stress-disorder.

I began the day with amazing breakfast made by my mother. I love to think of her as some goddess who adopted me and put me in her mercy, but not everyone is perfect really. She has major mood swings, but really,what mother doesn’t have any of those? Like, at this point I’m pretty sure it comes with pregnancy.

Hell, at some point a main character of mine would eventually be a mother. I’d need to know- of course that’d be needing a ton of research, which means only one, single thing.

“Lian, I practically see what you’re about to do.” Sara said.

Readers, meet Sara. Quite evidently, she is a side-character with only some sentimental importance to me as the writer of the story. However, with the pace that I am writing, I don’t suppose that you’d like her as much as me. But I’ll spare a few paragraphs to her anyway since she’s my sister.

Sara is my younger sister who is an aspiring journalist. Her passion for fantasy just isn’t as strong as mine, and her grip on reality was way stronger. Of course she’s talented with her words, but there isn’t much creativity in the plot- hence why she sticks to reality. I love her and all, but sometimes I prefer to push her down for the sake of this sisterly relationship. What are sisters for anyway if not for lifelong torture?

Not only that, but she seems to have a way better social life than I do. Good for her.

Though I swear, everyone around me seems so perfect in comparison to me. They’re practically a bunch of collective goddesses. Even my younger sister at the age of ten had way better odds of getting a boyfriend than I had. Man, it sucks to be an introvert in a circle of extroverts connected due to familial reasons, or desperation for attention on my writings.

“Sara, of course you do.” I smiled and took a spoonful of food in my mouth. “You practically read me at this point.”

My little sister grimace in disgust as she watched me reply with a mouthful of bacon and homemade fish fingers which was crushed my my teeth and slowly being turned into bolus by my salivary enzymes. “You disgusting monster.” She groaned. “Anyway, I propose that you drop me off the club-meeting in the library today. You’ll be going there anyway, so it’d be efficient to do so.” The smaller girl grinned at me.

Look at her, taking advantage of her knowledge of me, her sister.

But I agree anyway. There wasn’t much that I can lose today, and we weren’t bickering like all the other mornings either, so I was fine with bringing her with me to the library. “Sure love, get ready and let’s go.” I told her after downing the remaining milk from the glass.

I guess now was a proper time to tell you that I was a light eater. A fine explanation to that is my fear of ever becoming fat. I don’t like being fat. It is a rather horrible thing to be when I have high potential for both diabetes and heart disease due to family genes. It was a risk I did not want to take, because I know I can die at any moment now just because of poor genetics.

Also, no to fat-shaming. Everyone is beautiful regardless of their body shape- I just did not want to bloody die, but if given the choice, I would have been careless of my weight.

“What? I’m not even done with my bacon!” Sara complained,

“If you’re not ready by the time I am putting my shoes on, you're going with mom.” I said while walking to my room, my voice intentionally echoing through the house’s hallways. Not a lot of people wanted to be alone in a car with mom. She was always casually conversing about topics you’d rather kept unspoken, and to her it was like asking about the weather. So using this threat was efficient for a ten year old who didn't know much about the cruel world other than what she’s already seen.

And so, it didn’t take long until she and I were actually in the library.

Timeskips. This is a handy tool for young writers who have no intention to bore their readers. I use it once in a while, and I’ll be using it for the sheer purpose of having to skip out the boring areas of my mundane life with no climax. Bewarned, though. Using it too often would result in making your chapter seem rushed, but of course it is unless the author has the intention to impersonate the idleness of the character’s current condition.

But let me get back to the story.

We were finally in the library. It wasn’t too large, but it wasn’t too small either. It held a ton of books, and I think that hundreds of the books here had lived longer than my mom and grandmother’s years combined. That was a feat since my grandmother is dead.

Sara ran off to see her club members, but she promised to keep the New Arrivals area in-check since I’ll always be there.

See, my favorite references always are the new ones. It shows me the evolution of writing, and it just proves that not two authors are exactly the same. Not only that, but I get to see what’s trendy with the new authors today and I also notice the things I have to avoid in writing.

Call me a stereotypical, Asian, nerd, but it is interesting once you get a hang of it.

But again, back to the story.

So I find myself in the New Arrivals corner of the library which was usually being arranged by Jocelyn- a librarian here that wasn’t exactly fond of me. However, since today was being awfully nice to me, she wasn’t there. Bless fate.

The thoughts on researching about pregnancy was long gone the moment I stepped into this specific area. Something caught my eye, and it was a new novel written by Gregory Reyes. He releases a book every year, and I was shocked at how the quality was always better than the last. A wonderful author he is, and I’d have loved to know who he really is and have a book signed by him. But unfortunately he prefers to stay anonymous with only his pen name reaching the light of fame.

He always knows what is in, so I decided that I should check on that instead.

But to my dismay, this was merely a new copy of his novel released three years ago- his latest book too. This means that he’s been MIA for two years now, and counting. Shame, he must have lost interest in writing.

Next I found myself scanning on the trending plots. Ironically enough, they’re all romance with people meeting in such odd, too unrealistic, coincidences. Ah, chances and coincidence, my two most favorite things that never really favoured me. At this point I doubt that it’d lead me to a nice relationship in the near future.

And then I find Senna’s favorite book, “She.” I smiled. Senna often loved romance, but with her previous relationships, she never really wanted another one. She was just uncomfortable with intimacy that was directed to her, but the idea of it was pleasing. That was one thing we had in common, that’s for certain.

Despite the sentimental value my best friend had to this book, I returned it to the shelf. It was useless to me because I’ve already read this before.

Now what really piqued my interest in these new set of books is a specific red tinted spine with such worn-out edges. It must have been a donation from an old person who knew their books were in better hands in the youth.

Those books are treasure, in my opinion.

So thinking that it was a great idea to go check out with rather ominous, old, worn-out book, I took it from the shelf and stared at the cover.

Take note that by merely looking at the spine, I’d easily have noticed that it was old. It was the old that you just know was older than you. It’s seen better days long before you’ve seen your first- so imagine my surprise when I see my name, and my face in the front cover.

It was a painted picture, but it was easy to see that it was me. See, I have strong Asian blood- specifically Chinese. This means millions of other people will most probably look the same as me. So it was probably difficult to directly assume that this person in the front cover with squinty eyes, brown hair and pale pearly skin was.

But to be Asian, with a mole on the exact same spot I have, a scar on the side of my right eye, and dry lips- the odds were pretty low that anyone would be named Xi Lian, with those exact same features.

I looked closely into the painting and I saw some dried blood on what was my shoulder- not only that, but I was dressed rather ridiculously. It was as if I was a war hero staring right into an enemy. What kind of creep would imagine me as that woman I was looking at right now?

Despite the clear warning signs, I proceeded to opening it.

Yes, it may be the worst idea I can do right now, but what harm can a book do? If you’ve read or written books as much as I have at this age, you’d practically expect what this meant. It means that some creepy stalker has some epic foreshadowing powers in this town, and if I knew any better, this book would tell me what my future will be.

So with the overflowing amount of curiosity in me which was strongly influencing my actions, I opened the book, expecting a ton of words, and probably some author’s letter at the start.

To my dismay, there were no words on the browning pages of this odd book that I wished was magic.

Well that was disheartening. I was looking forward to some mind-blowing information on something, or at least some sort of original, brain-wracking plot. But nothing. Just blank pages filled with blank spaces. Was this creep trying to tell me that nothing was going to happen to me that was worth writing a story for? That feeling when a creep thinks he’s got more life than you. Unbelievable.

In annoyance, I slammed the book shut and returned it to the shelf.

As if the timing couldn’t have been any better, someone peeked out of the shelf. This someone highlighted the fact that I will forever just remain as a sassy, background character who has nothing to introduce for the first chapter because she is so bland. Sure, it’s been nice to support my best friend who acts as if I am the m.c., but something about today made me feel as if I am of less worth. Yes, despite the constant nice-happenings-streak, I felt like something is about to bite me back in the ass.

Oh wait, I digress.

Behind one of the shelves was Senna. See what I mean? Timing was perfect. “Lian, find a nice book there?” Senna asked cheerily, with her blonde hair flowing down her petite shoulders.

Senna Smith, as I said, was the closest thing someone can get to perfection. This meant shining blonde hair, eyes as clear as day, and skin that could put any Greek goddess to shame. Her eyes were of a stark baby blue, which seems to match well with her shining and close to pale blonde hair.

Not only that, but she has a rather wonderful sense of fashion.

“I found a rather disappointing one, but I’m moving on from that.” I answered.

She laughed. “I said that about my last boyfriend.” She snorted. “A year has passed and look where we’re at.” Senna found humor in her failed relationships, and she wasn’t the type to get emotional when she felt down. One thing in had in common was that we had fine control over what emotions the world left us. We both find that sarcasm truly is the cure to anything- or was it laughter? I forgot. “Anyway, mind showing me-”

My dear friend was cut off by a rather loud thump on the floor, followed by a weaker sound that resembled a hardbound book cover being slammed on wood. I knew that sound too well, it was the sound of a frustrated reader being forced to read a six-hundred paged book that required hardbound covers to support the pages, so they slam it open in hopes of destroying it. Meet my first literary problem, Lincy Crew collections.

I rolled my eyes. Some i***t probably didn’t push the book right in the shelf. I turned around to pick it up, but I stopped midway due to Senna pulling me back just to not look at it. “Lian, what is that.” She whispered while looking at my eyes.

“Senna, it’s a book, what else would it be.”

“It has my face and name on it.”She muttered. Senna looked scared for some reason.

“What?” I turned my head, and I saw the exact same thing that has been infuriating me since the moment I opened it a while ago. “The bloody troll.” For the nth time today, I rolled my eyes and I reached to pick the book up.

But again, Senna refrained me from doing so. Man this was itching the OCD I didn't even have. “Lian, don’t go any closer to that book.” She warned.

And so, like any other sarcastic side character in a story, I scoffed. What harm can a book with empty pages do to a side character like me?

Won’t you look at that, famous last words of a side character who breaks the fourth wall.

With no suspicion on this book that I knew had my face and name on it, I took it into my hands and showed it off to Senna who dropped her hands at her side. Yes, this odd book did nothing.

But then again, I thought too soon.

In less than a second after giving Senna (who was looking at me with wide scared, and suspiciously knowing eyes) a pointed look saying that it was harmless, this thing that I assumed was harmless suddenly slammed shut without my aid then slammed open again.

Except this time, there were a multitude of words jumbled up in senseless sentences. ‘Okay’, I had thought back then, ‘Maybe I was just seeing things.’ But I wasn’t seeing things. The fact that Senna was slowly walking backwards in fear made it certain that these words were actually on the pages- that, or we were both insane.

Then as if it weren’t creepy enough, the book slammed shut again, and something resembling a loud creaking sound that a door usually makes resounded from the insides of the book. I didn’t think that was possible.

By now, this book was on the floor. Senna was at the opposite side of me, and standing between me and my best friend was this creepy book which was doing things I know no normal book usually does. “Lian, run!” Senna shouted, breaking the top one rule of the library- of course in a situation like this, I shouldn’t care.

I planned to do exactly what she told me to, except I can’t, because I was surrounded by shelves and the only way out was to jump over the book as to avoid whatever crazy it was radiating. And knowing that it was quite possibly the only way I can survive whatever is going on, I did exactly just that.

But you know by now that not a lot of things go to plan for a side character who suddenly has the spotlight of the main character.

The book slammed open, and this time the words were flying out of the pages. Literally. It was legit just flying out. It was as if some incantation from some Greek or Latin witch person just flew out of a spell book- except this was written in English. Around this time I was in mid air, flying towards my best friend, avoiding this eerie hardbound book.

And so these words pulled me into the book while I was jumping toward my friend who was just waiting for the right moment to say ‘I told you so'.

I am not kidding.

It literally pulled me in. I don’t think I even fit well into it, but I know I was in the pages. How? Well, imagine waking up to an unimaginably beautiful sky, with a man who was absolutely dashing looking at you in concern, while the background was just filled with tons of gore. Dead bodies were all over the canvas of beauty which looked like nature, and mother earth seemed to have been attacking these poor people.

Yes. I am pretty sure I am in another dimension all together. As a young author, I can certify that this is the world that an author can create, specifically under the genre of a Dystopian novel.

***

If I were to call the shots, I’ll call this specific day Christmas. No, not because I gained a lot of gifts- I didn’t even get gifts; No, not because I witnessed the birth of baby Jesus, but rather because of the color scheme of the environment once I woke up. I saw a lot of reds, and a lot of greens.

To say that it was a joyful sight to see is actually wrong. Dead wrong, and definitely the opposite of that.

The first thing I saw was the sunset. The sky was going orange, but it was leaning so much towards the red side that it resembled healthy dried blood. Fortunately, it wasn’t blood

But I know that despite the beautiful sight from up above, I am not supposed to be here. Why? Well, the last of my memories tell me that I was sucked into a mysterious book that originally did not have text, but when I opened it next, not only did it suddenly have content, but it literally sucked me in.

Now if I were the main character, what would I do?

One thing’s for sure, I will not disclose information to this new world that I came from somewhere that doesn’t exist in this universe. So unless someone else has shown signs that they also came from my world, and that someone else is stuck in this book, I will not utter a word.

Of course that’s if I am not in a life-or-death situation.

“Hello.” A male voice suddenly said. I turned my head towards the direction of this voice, and I saw a dashing young man who had such bright emerald green eyes that shone fantastically. He looked handsome, and if he wasn’t my definition of a man I’d want to get married to, then I have no idea what was. “My name is Militon.” He said with a smile.

I’d only noticed that I was actually lying down on the ground, probably filthy. Militon gave me a hand, and he offered to pull me up.

In the short span of time that he met me, I caught the opportunity to observe what he was wearing. Things would be easier if I knew earlier on of what era this takes place in, that way I’d at least know how stupid I should act.

“Uhm, my name is…” Wait, am I supposed to even say my name? Screw it, I’d rather be called as some thing I’m familiar with. “I’m Lian.”

“Nice to meet you Lian.” He smiled, making my heart flutter. I smiled back, hoping that at least that this looked pretty to him. “You look dashing when you smile.” Well, there goes my heart. He just stole it. I was about to take his hand. I don’t think being on the ground with tons of dirt on me was considered as something that’ll make me look nice.

However, in every book there is a plot-twist, and this one was… odd. Before I can even touch Militon’s hand, his head exploded.

Let me reiterate that. Some sort of glowing ball was thrown towards his head, causing it to suddenly go everywhere into smithereens. His blood was all over the place, and luckily enough, I had enough time to cover my face from little organs. Unfortunately, my body cannot be saved from the disgusting flesh and blood that came from Militon.

“What the f-”

“Dave! Clean the girl up. The hivemind won’t realize they’ve lost her unless she’s free from whatever virus that Green had!” I heard a woman’s shout echo in my ears as I stared at the headless, limp body of Militon. I couldn’t process what she was saying, because literally the first beautiful thing I have seen ever since I entered the book exploded.

Before I knew it, I was being drenched in water. “What the hell!” I screamed, but that was immediately muffled down by a hand. I was crying. Someone was killed in front of me. Oh my sweet heavens. Someone was straight out murdered, and I don’t even know why.

“Shut up. We don’t need anymore Greens coming in here.” A male voice whispered in my ear. At this point I was sobbing. Take note that I am a sixteen year old going on seventeen, and I haven’t experience much of the physical violence that the world has to offer. It was just straight out gore.

“Holy s**t. You killed him. He’s dead.” I said, crying.

Someone stepped over Milton's corpse just to get a clear view of my face. “Based on how she speaks, she doesn’t seem like a Green.” Another woman stated, and she gently grabbed my face. She was a ginger haired girl with matching green eyes and freckles. Her lashes were long, and she had a petite frame and rather feminine features. But despite being such a small framed woman, she seemed old. There was a motherly feel around her, and she seemed to be in her twenties.

Regardless. She aided in Militon’s murder.

“Why did you kill him?”

“Her eyes are clear too, and she’s an Oriental- What’s your name sweetie?”

“Oh my god he’s dead.”

“Yeah, we’ll need Teodolia for this.” The redhead sighed, and she stepped aside to reveal a brunette with sunkissed skin. “Don’t go too hard on her honey.”

Why did she make me feel nervous all of a sudden? “Name?” Teodolia asked.

“Xi Lian.” I didn’t want to answer, but I did. Something felt off. It felt as if there was an invasion of privacy all over my head, so with basic knowledge of potential telepaths, I overthought things in Chinese.

The brunette smirked at me. “This girl caught on easily. Also, she’s an Oriental alright. Can’t understand what language she’s thinking in right now.” My hunch was correct. This was some sort of fantasy novel then. If there was a mind reader in my midst, and if a glowing ball can float and cause a mind to be literally blown, it was a sign that I was in some sort of fantasy world.

“Okay, so you’re a telepath?” I asked.

Redhead lightly shoved the brunette from my center of attention. “Telepath?” She tilted her head. “I’m afraid you might be wrong, but then again, I’ve got no idea what you mean.” The girl looked confused, but she seemed to try her best to wipe that expression off her face and she just smiled instead. “I’m Apolonia, but you can call me Nina.”

Their names sound so old. Teodolia, Apolonia, Militon? It sounds like it comes from the 18th century, but they all dress as if it was the 21st.

“Call me Lian. Now, mind telling me why you killed a man right in front of me?”

The male whistled from wherever he was. “She’s quick. The girl has her priorities straight.” He chuckled lightly. “I’m Dave, by the way.” He grinned at me. Oh, so he was the one who drenched me in whatever liquid that immediately expelled all signs of that poor man’s blood.

By the way they were treating me, it didn’t look like they were about to kill me.

“Nice to meet you Dave, now answer my question.” Now that I think of it, Dave doesn’t really sound like an oldie name. Maybe Teodolia and Apolonia’s mothers weren’t really youthful with their name making. Dave was a latin man who seemed to be fourteen years old without a single breakout. What was this sorcery?

“That was no man. It’s a Green.” Apolonia answered for me. “Geez, how do you not know of this? You could have died a while ago.”

That didn’t really answer a lot. “What exactly is a Green?” I asked. This is a fantastical world, which meant that there were different rules and different culture in here. I just really hope that the author wasn’t much of a d**k to its characters.

“Wait what?” Teodolia snapped. “Dude, were you just born a second ago or something? How can you not know of these things?” Maybe I shouldn’t have asked. Suspicions are bad.

“A hivemind that claim to be fairies.” Dave answered. Shockingly, he wasn’t entirely in disbelief of my lack of knowledge. “To me, they seem like tree-loving hippies that leveled up to a boss monster.” He laughed.

Okay, so they use the term hippies. Maybe the year isn’t that far off.

“So you legitimately have no clue on what that was?” Nina pointed at the corpse as if it was nothing. “How did you even get this far from the border without falling prey to those things, nor their army?”

Well, you see, I just came out of the sky. Okay yeah, I agree. Now is not the time for sarcasm. I need a convincing lie- wait, of course. The typical lie.

“I… I don’t remember.” I muttered.

“Shit.” Teodolia cursed. “She’s fallen prey to a Siren most likely.”

“Or she could have just had a major concussion.”

“No sign of head injuries, so that’s a no.” Nina sighed. “What’s your last memory?”

Okay, decide. I need to decide. What do I not tell them, and what do I tell them? I hate lying, but to survive, I guess I’d have to. Never did I think that my thoughts as an author would help, because right now, of these characters fit certain archetypes, then I’ll know how to act around them. “I guess now.” I said softly. “I just woke up here, and this guy,” I pointed at the corpse. I’ve gotten over that already. I never really knew why it affected me much in the first place. “was the first person I saw.” I continued.

“Probably the Queen’s fruit.” Dave whispered.

“We found a Siren on our way here, it’s most likely that.”

“Maybe a Green that’s been casted out?”

“No, her eyes aren’t infested.” Nina corrected. “And Queen’s fruit only affects people who has even the slightest smidge of royal blood in their veins.”

Dave clapped his hands together. “Let’s do that when we have less company, shall we?” He coughed, pointing at a row of trees. Dozens of glowing green eyes were seen in the shadows of the trees, and the sun in the red sky was long gone, replacing it was the faint moonlight and some shining stars.

I felt myself shiver, knowing that some of those orbs were directed at me. Fortunately enough, though, majority were at Apolonia who had flaming arrows in her hands- wait, flaming arrows?

Teodolia cracked her knuckles, and they sparked all of a sudden. It was as if a clap of thunder went over her fists, and all of a sudden I see metal gloves with some runes incrested on the joints on her hands. They looked awfully intimidating, and I was quivering in fear just looking at them.

“Lian, I recommend that you stand back for now.” Dave said, and he shoved me behind him in an attempt to protect me. Now with his hands free, they started glowing. All of a sudden, his entire being was glowing in a blue hue. “Also, try not to get into trouble while we kick them off the ground.”

In less than I found myself in the midst of a three-on-hundred battle.

I’ve only just arrived here a second ago, but already I found myself running for my life from a fairy who was chasing me with a sword twice my size. What did I do to deserve this fate? I was kind to the characters I created in my novels, but why did I get sucked into this world where there was an infested amount of magic all over? I was sixteen (going on seventeen, but shush). I didn’t do a lot of things that any god would have punished me for.

“Lian duck!” I heard Nina shout, and immediately, I did.

Apolonia shot a flaming arrow at the thing which was chasing after me, and now it was lying dead on the floor. Now that the Green was dead, I decided to take the sword that he had dropped. He had easily picked it up while running at me, so maybe, just maybe it was as light as he made it seem.

However, before I can even get close to it, the sword shrunk, and now it was merely the size of a shortsword- not that I knew how short it’d be. Regardless, I took it anyway for self-defense. The problem was, it was quite a hefty little thing. What else can one expect from something made out of metal?

Another Green was chasing after me, but this time, it was chasing me with a mace. I looked over towards the other people that I knew weren’t Greens, but I figured that they were quite occupied with their own set of freaks. This meant that I was going to die. So instead of doing self-defense like I wanted to, I ran away with the sword in my hand.

Man, what a wuss I was.

But for some sort of reason, something pushed me into turning around and swinging my short sword to attack the creature with now freakishly green eyes. Wow, legitimately just a while ago, those green eyes were what I considered mesmerizing. Now they were just plain creepy since they were basically glowing in the dark leaving traces of light everywhere.

With my sword in hand, I twisted my body, my hands leading the twist. The unsuspecting Green that was actually so close to me was also midway through swinging that mace to my head, and luckily enough, I swung back at the right time. Now we were clashing metal against metal.

Take note that I was fighting one out of a hundred- which hopefully the other ninety plus were being taken care of by the other three who I also hope were faring well. However, also take note that in a real fight, if four people were fighting a hundred, the likeliness of one person fighting just a single enemy was also low.

So right behind me, as I was screaming inside, was a Green planning on striking me with a sword.

I didn’t even know of it until I turned at the perfect moment. As I was at a clash with the Green with a mace, somehow my body slid the sword down as I ducked to the right. I tilted the sword so that the mace that had so much force on it that it slid down to the side, bringing the Green with it.

And at this point, it was his life or mine. So once he was on the ground, I stabbed him with the sword I have in my hand. After that, I was facing another fellow with a sword that was as large as the one the Green I first faced owned.

Before I can even flinch, someone appeared right in front of me, and ran towards the Green. “Hey!” He said in a cheerful voice that felt out of place in this place filled with so much gore. In less than a second the Green was on the floor. “Hi nice to meet you, I’m Eujene.” He greeted. “You can call me Jin in short- especially in cases like these where we need more time.”

He threw a knife at multiple Greens as he was speaking to me. “Also, just keep around me. Go too far and you’ll lose those newly acquired skills.” He winked.

Oh, so no wonder I suddenly turned into a badass. “Thanks, I guess?” He didn’t look like a Green. From what I‘ve observed so far, Greens had green eyes and unrealistically clean skin.

Jin was a pale looking man with a scar on his right cheek. He had such wide shoulders, and if it weren’t for the fact that he had a scar, he was practically flawless. He had dark brown hair, and brown eyes. He had a rather playful glint in his eyes as he looked at me. Hell, I even thought that his head was the next to explode right after my experience with Militon. I shuddered. The sight of a head exploding was… terrifying.

“Jin! Where were you?” Dave said, hovering towards us. Wait, hovering? This entire fantasy writing thing was just trippy.

The boy smiled. “Sorry, I got too immersed with the Andivosia leaves.” He said while laughing sheepishly. “Oh, by the way, you guys found an Oriental?” Jin said, referring to me.

“Yeah, while you were reading the damned journal, we were saving this fair maiden from a Green.” He grinned, and Dave winked at me.

Damn you cheeks and hormonal imbalances, you made me blush. Stop making me feel embarrassed and flustered over a person you’ve just met. Not only that, but they are fictional too. Jin sighed. “Go back to your formation, Dave.” He said. “Mages go to the front lines, right beside the Archer.”

Formation? I looked around, and now that he’s mentioned it, there was some sort of triangle formation. It didn’t seem like a great formation, but it seemed to be one of the only reasons why there were so few coming to attack me. Teodolia was in the front, the tip of the triangle. Behind her initially had been Dave and Apolonia- Dave being closer to the source of the attack than Apolonia probably because Dave can work with defending in close range better than Nina.

If that was the case, then Jin was most probably the support. Wow, the more I look at this, the more I realize that this was more of an action rpg game than a novel, but I guess this is how fights would really go.

“Keep going Lian, we still have at least 25 of the Greens left.” Jin had said. Only that much left? I’ve only faced around three so far. This formation was awesome for protecting something.

At first look, it felt as if Jin was the most useless of them all. But the thing was, it only looked like that because he was only raising his hands at the entire time that we were in battle. I figured that this sudden thing where I suddenly knew how to fight was all because of this. So in some way or another, he was the most usable person in the group for me.

Eventually this entire thing continued on, and I found myself bloody with Green’s blood. The fight was over, and all that remains are us, the corpses, and a bunch of swords piled up on the ground.

Dave snapped his fingers, and we were all drenched in that water he used on me a while ago to get rid of the blood. “Done. Now we scavenge.” He said.

“Hey, at least dry us up.” Teodolia snapped, making the boy sigh.

“Fine, but this is wasting time.” He said. In less than an instant, there was a circle of wind going all over me. It dried up my clothes and I was finally dry. “Done. Now can we scavenge?’

Apolonia grinned and raised her thumbs. Jin laughed and pointed at the girl. “She’s speechless again!” He exclaimed, grinning.

Teodolia had her eyebrows furrowed, and she out a defensive arm over Nina’s shoulders. “Hey, that’s just because you took too long. She could only keep enchantments for so long.” Enchantments? She was shooting arrows. What was there to enchant?

“In my defense, I was on my way when you guys ran all of a sudden.” Jin said.

“That was because we sensed someone being seduced by a Green.” She retorted. Teodolia looked at me, and she shifted her gaze away almost immediately. Was something wrong?

Dave slung an arm over my shoulders. “Enough’s enough you guys. You’re making Lian uncomfortable here.” He said, scolding at the two. “Let’s just get to scavenging these weapons. Green enchantments are expensive on the markets.”

“I agree.” Jin nodded, and he turned to me, tilting his head a little. He continued to look at me, and I was starting to feel uncomfortable. “What year is it?” He asked all of a sudden.

Oh crap. I don’t know. What do I answer?

Oh, wait, I forgot. I was in an accident that made me forget a handful of things. So instead, I answered with the most normal thing for me to answer. “I… I have no idea.”

The other three looked at me in shock. “This can’t be Queen’s fruit nor a Siren then.” Teodolia muttered. “This has gotta be something else then.”

“Maybe it’s a comatose?” I asked. “I literally have no clue, I’m sorry.” I lied. Man, isn’t this a rather big bummer for them. Besides, can’t really tell them to break the fourth wall now can I? I need to test the waters out first.

Internally, I sighed. This was a problematic situation to be in right now.