Riche flipped open the book to where he had left a thin red bookmark. Instantly, he flipped to the 542nd page.
He slowly took the bookmark out and placed it on the desk, letting it glide across the top of the desk almost to the other side, then he exhaled deeply.
Continuing from the last point he left off, he started reading, and as he stopped thinking about his own life, he instantly became glued to the story's words.
[ As Dean stumbled up the hill, he recovered to see an alleyway full of the sun's glistening brightness at the end.
It was a beautiful sight to him, but he didn't stare for long. He had to find the man before it fell, or else the day would have been wasted.
With hints from the past Ellis, he knew the man often stared past the cliff and over Kortifall, so instantly he reached his way over to the side where the sun shone brightest, looking for the man.
As he approached the cliff, reaching just past the last houses before the edge, he suddenly spotted a young man to his left, sitting against the back of the last house with a blue book closed across his hands. He only seemed to stare at the cover, like he had no interest in its contents whatsoever.
The man noticed Dean, then quickly covered the title with his hands, as if to hide it from others, but Dean was able to read it, noticing:
'The Chaos That Was'
by The God
Though Dean was able to read it, he paid no mind to it, instead looking at the man's face.
The man smiled at him, then said:
"You must be Dean, you look exactly how Ellis described you."
Dean smiled in return.
"It's nice to meet you."
"Likewise. The name's Archivist, if you haven't heard so already from Ellis." ]
Archivist, huh… Such a coincidence, he has the same alias as me.
A thought jolted through Riche's mind; coincidentally, he shared the same nickname as the man in the story, and he also held a blue book.
He breathed, then continued reading.
[The Archivist was a very young but professional-looking man; his skin was as clear as can be, not a single wrinkle in sight. He wore a fully brown suit that made him look like a professional or a noble.
His brown hair hung just above his eyebrows on his forehead, the top of it, though, was a bit frizzy, like he had just taken off a hat or run his hand through his hair.]
That's almost how I look… it even mentions a hat… Is that me?
Riche felt his heart pound, something that seemed out of place in such a time. The book had nearly described him exactly. His clothes were similar, his face, and his hair were too.
"Did I read that right? Am I hallucinating or something? I mean, I don't wear my hair like that, but that's how it is when I don't put anything in it."
Riche quickly inserted the bookmark back inside the book, then quickly slammed it shut and opened it. He read the whole part again, but the words were the same; they were actually written in the book!
He continued reading, doing so for seconds, then minutes, and he couldn't get the book out of his mind. It was like he was peering into a future version of himself.
Subconsciously, he leaned back in the chair, causing its front legs to leave the ground and wobble with every rock he made back and forward.
"His powers are like my Detail!"
He just continued and continued, glued to the depth of the words, until his foot accidentally pushed against the desk, causing the chair to fall to the ground, bringing him with it.
Riche hit the floor hard, and a loud crash sounded through the store, followed by a small thud from the book that slipped away from his hands.
"Oww! That hurt."
Riche slowly stood up, scratching the back of his head and adjusting his clothes as he did.
He turned to where the book lay, and bent down reaching for it, but before he could grasp it, a chime sounded from the front of the store, and he popped above the desk after grabbing his hat, appearing above the desk with a greeting smile, expecting a customer to appear inside the store.
"Welco-…Huh?"
But there was nobody there. He thought he had just heard the sound of the door's bell, but by the sight of nobody, apparently, maybe it was just a false alarm.
Dumbfounded, he removed the fake smile from his face and charred a blank expression. As he stared blankly, the ring chimed again, but persisted, getting louder and louder with each passing second.
A pain started to form in his ears, causing him to shout.
"What is that sound?! It's so loud!"
His hands covered his ears, then he tried plugging them with his fingers to get the noise out of his head, but no matter what he did, the noise kept getting louder.
He complained and complained until he looked towards the window and noticed a strange green light shining through it.
He stared for a few seconds, awed, displaced by its brightness, then curiosity quickly hit him, and he ran to the other side of the desk and approached the window.
Instantly, his eyes veered to the sky, then widened with shock.
A giant slit had appeared in the sky, covering its width. It pulsated rapidly, releasing a mist that spread its eminence onto the surface. The whole city had turned green; it was like the sun, no, it was even brighter than the sun! It was like a god had suddenly just cut the sky, and now a different world was peering through!
Subconsciously, Riche let out a shallow utterance.
"what the hell…"
He couldn't believe his eyes; he thought he was dreaming, or hallucinating from stress. It didn't seem real!
He noticed the slit in the sky was growing, and after seconds, it had masked the entire sky, casting shadows on the road and across buildings. He couldn't take his eyes away from it; something was propelling them, keeping them in the sky. He tried, but couldn't even blink or twitch them, until after a moment, his body started to weaken, then his eyes slowly began to close on their own…
A pitch blackness slowly arose, then…
He fell unconscious…
***