A novel and a barrier:
The novel, "Conflicts of the Worlds", was an artistic masterpiece, a colossal literary work comprising four books—not counting the mysterious fifth one. The events of the four books unfold within the same timeline but across diverse worlds, featuring fresh protagonists, stories, and characters. What truly made it a brilliant work was the author's clever style: in the third book, there were subtle, hidden hints about the characters of the fourth book.
There is no direct communication between them, but they relay news of the other parts via specialized carrier pigeons that carry only a single message.
To clarify, we can liken it to a giant cake divided into four sections. When we eat it or distribute it simultaneously, it doesn't mean the pieces no longer belong to the original cake; they have simply been divided.
The parts were geographically segregated:
Part One: The East.
Part Two: The West.
Part Three: The South.
Part Four: The North.
Part Five: Its fate remains mysterious, yet to be revealed.
Let's take the Eastern Part as an example: it is a complete world, consisting of continents, countries, isolated islands, and mad empires. The same applies to the rest of the parts.
A shiver ran down my spine just thinking that I was now in the Northern Part... It had always been my favourite part, and yet, I never imagined living in it one day. The characters here are insane... absolutely insane in every sense of the word.
I sighed deeply, feeling the weight of what awaited me.
I moved my eyes to look at the ring on my finger. Right, how does this ring work? Wasn't there supposed to be no tool connecting the worlds? Well, it's one of Ivan's crazy inventions, so let's put that aside for now.
"Are you going to stay this quiet?!" I delivered the sentence with a sarcastic tone, rolling my eyes as I inspected the ring. "I expected some drama, some screaming, some emotional breakdown, and some crying!"
I was trying to snap them back to the terrifying reality. I bitterly wondered internally: What happened to our world? What about our families? My heart tightened with a sharp sadness.
"We are currently in a state of cognitive shock... Oh... what about our world? Our families? What happened to them?" Luca's voice was exhausted, indicating complete depletion.
"We're truly in the novel... But how? Is this because of the experiment? And if so, does that mean we've been transferred? And if we've transferred, is time still moving in our world? I'm imagining the number of calls we'll get from Mom and Dad now!"
Liam spoke in a helpless, desperate tone. Yes, I bet they are worried sick about us right now...
Amid my scattered thoughts, something Liam said stopped me:
"Wait a minute, Liam, you said transferred, not reincarnated. Does that mean we aren't in the bodies of the novel's characters? Does this mean we came with our real bodies?" I asked in a surprised tone.
"Yes, we are, Louyan," I heard Yona say with astonishment. I wondered, what about me?
I didn't notice it at first, or maybe I didn't pay any attention amidst all this madness, but I touched my face and felt no strangeness. I approached the lake surface, whispering an urgent wish internally: "Please, please, just be a normal person, and not one of the main characters."
I continued forward, and when I opened my eyes and saw my reflection, I was surprised... It wasn't one of the main characters, nor even an obscure, ordinary one. It was my own face:
Dark black hair reaching the top of my shoulder, slightly twisted and unkempt due to my current exhaustion, and bright blue eyes that showed features of indescribable fatigue.
My face is nice, I think; my mother always said I inherited my grandmother's features.
"At least I wasn't one of the main characters," I told myself with a slight internal relief.
"Why are we here? Hasn't the author already finished his novel? And why us specifically?" I grumbled internally as I collapsed onto the ground, then continued with determination and resolve: "And can we go back? We must go back to our world... to our families!"
"Yes, we must. This isn't our world. But how? I just hope they are okay," Louis said in a faint voice, as if his energy was completely drained.
"I am psychologically and physically exhausted. I can't even think logically or handle the shocks or anything. If I don't rest now, I will break down in... hmm, maybe an hour... at least half an hour," Ivan said with an exhausted calmness, trying to hold on but unable to.
"Ivan is right, I can't even process it. But where will we sleep amidst all these giant insects and monsters?" Yona asked in a slack, worried tone, as if her last thread of energy had snapped.
"Yona, Ivan, it's night now, I think. But since you mentioned you are in a desert, sleep in the worm's tunnel tonight, as it won't return until it finishes its work... maybe after a day. But try not to touch or get close to the eggs."
I started explaining with a rapid flow, feeling my head heat up under the strain of recalling all that information.
"As for Melis and Liam, the situation is completely the opposite. Sleep up in the trees; the trees there are large and offer safety from the monsters that rest at night.
Spiders rarely climb trees, especially if the height is significant. And Liam will have to carry you, Melis, because of your injured foot." I sighed, realizing how wonderful it was to have this strong memory now.
"So the situation is getting worse for me!" Liam said in a tone heavy with exhaustion and bitter acceptance.
"Hey! What do you mean? I can climb with one foot even if my second foot is injured!" Melis protested with slight sharpness, but her tone was not without weariness.
I laughed with faint exhaustion at their quick argument, then continued: "As for Luca and Louis, well..."
Luca interrupted me, his voice composedly calm, unlike his usual self: "It's fine, I know a safe place to sleep."
"Really? Are you sure?" Louis said with a tone of doubt mixed with the relief he was seeking.
"Definitely," Luca confirmed calmly and confidently.
"What about you, Louyan?" Yona said in a slightly worried tone, as if she had just remembered me.
"That's right, what about you? Do you have a place to sleep?" Ivan insisted, his voice carrying clear concern.
"Don't worry, the place here is deserted, so I can sleep," I told them, trying to ease their worry by hiding the fact that I could barely stand anymore.
"Alright. Goodbye for now. Don't forget to call when you wake up," Luca said, his voice faint and exhausted, to the point of almost whispering.
"Haaai..." I uttered, the sound pained and incomplete, as the sharp pain was still tearing through my body, and my mind was on the verge of exploding from all these developments. Suddenly, the call ended.
I lay down on the ground and fell asleep right where I was, finding my only solace in this place: that it was deserted of people and monsters.
"Mom, Enrin ate my candy!" My words came out with distress and frustration, as I pointed my fingers at my unapologetic sister standing in front of me.
"But he ate mine, so that's why I'm eating his!" Enrin responded with a similar complaint, puffing out her little cheeks in an attempt to show feigned anger.
"Enrin, Louyan, stop eating candy, it's bad for children who haven't passed the age of six." I turned to see my older brother standing a distance away, speaking in a wise tone unsuited for his age while continuing to look at his book.
"Mom, candy, candy, candy! I want candy... Don't listen to Yuot!!" I insisted with childish persistence, holding onto my mother's gentle hand.
She laughed softly as she looked at me, then knelt down to my height and said in a very quiet voice that flowed like a whisper: "Oh dear, how many times have I told you not to take Enrin's candy?
Everyone has their share, and no one has the right to take it without telling the other. Didn't you see now? Enrin took your candy because you took hers." She said this while gently patting my head.
"But Mom..." I tried to resist.
"No buts... Mmmm, if you don't cause any trouble today, I'll give you candy as a reward." She said, laughing and nodding her head at me, her eyes sparkling with love.
"I don't get into trouble! She's the one who follows me! Besides... Besides, I won't leave anyone in need of help without helping them!" I insisted, looking at her, and finding her laughing again at my childish enthusiasm.
My mother stood up and said to the others: "The reward applies to everyone, just so you know!" Then she said very gently, with an excited voice and a beautiful, sincere smile as she turned to everyone, who looked enthusiastic about the idea.
But as soon as she turned her face back to me, I saw something strange: her face was melting.
"Mom... Mom! Mom!" I screamed in panic, holding onto her, while the entire environment around me began to melt and vanish. Suddenly, she knelt down to me, holding my face with her gentle hands, and her words still echoed in my ears:
"My dear, my little child... I know you don't like to see your friends in trouble, but I'm extremely worried about you. So, be careful when you get into trouble. Don't just use force, use your mind too, try to understand and read emotions well, and try to understand your surroundings and don't rush your decisions... But if you feel someone is wronged, always stand with them. Mom will always stand by you, no matter your mistakes." Then she hugged me very gently as I trembled in her arms while everything around us melted...
.
.
.
.
.
"Gasp!" I gasped loudly, the cold invading my limbs. A dream? No, it was a very old memory. I sighed heavily, my mother's words still swirling in my head as if they had just been spoken.
I let out a slight, pain-tinged laugh: "Ah... I miss her." Even though I will only be gone for... how long have I been here?
I wondered to myself as I searched my pockets for my watch, hoping it had survived. When I felt something round and solid, I felt a slight joy and pulled it out. It was still the same: black, solid, only slightly damp. I opened it hopefully to check the time, but I discovered something strange: the clock hands were stopped.
But that's not the truly strange thing. The strange thing is that they were stopped at the time immediately following the start of our experiment. I remember seeing it right before we began. Does this mean it recorded the time of our transfer? Why? And why did it specifically stop while the ring was unaffected?
I wondered deeply, looking at the hands pointing to 6:15.
I wonder, what happened to our world? Did we truly vanish?...
I sat quietly, thinking deeply.
Then I spotted that bag, it was my bag, the travel bag for our trip in two days. I approached it and slowly opened it, wondering if all the things I had put in were still there.
As soon as I opened it, a familiar, intricately decorated book inside the bag caught my attention.
I had also noticed it when I took the bandages. I picked it up and took it out, feeling that I knew this texture well. As soon as I saw its cover, my feeling was confirmed. This book, this book was Part Four of the novel "Conflicts of the Worlds"!
But how did it get into the bag?
I am sure I didn't put it in. My hands trembled as I held the book; for the first time, I felt its weight upon me. I wondered if it would be empty like the Fifth Part.
This thought terrified me, so I took a deep breath and opened it, and fortunately, it was as it should be, not a single word deleted. I sighed happily, looking at the book.
"Conflicts of the Worlds." A childish name, true, but it was chosen ten years ago, so it's okay.
I held the novel tightly, remembering the events of Part Four. I hadn't read it myself;
I recall that Melis had read it aloud to all of us at the time, but I remember it was the most tragic and insane part. I always felt that the characters in this part had eaten a large bag of coffee beans without grinding or brewing them.
They were so active it made me wonder if their adrenaline was running twenty-four hours a day... Hmmm. Let's see.
The story begins with our hero, whose parents died defending him and his sister against monsters. They left him alone when he was only five, leaving his infant sister with him. Taking care of a child was a difficult task, so imagine a child taking care of a baby?
But he was strong-willed and determined. So one day, when he turned ten and his sister five, his sister went into the forest alone without telling him and got lost.
While searching for her, he found her being swallowed by a strange, powerful, shifting mud pit. When he tried to pull her out, he couldn't, and in the meantime, a group of monsters gathered around him.
While trying to protect himself and save his sister, whom he ultimately couldn't save as the pit swallowed her, he ended up hearing his only sister's screams for help, and the laughter of the other monsters.
His mind broke at that moment; he lost his sanity. He managed to defeat all the monsters around him in a brutal manner for a child.
When he finished, he ran to the pit and kept digging for two weeks, but to no avail. Every time he dug, the pit returned to normal. He tried everything and failed, and thus he decides to become stronger because he hasn't lost hope of finding his sister.
So our journey with him begins. Well, his story is tragic for a character who will become insane in the future... That character was the embodiment of mad determination. He was brilliant, crazy, and one of my favourite characters.
I sighed, thinking about the ending. These parts were separate.
But the part that connects them is the Fifth, the one where the barrier is supposed to break. How? I don't know. The author himself suddenly said the barrier was broken. How, when, and why? No one knows. Maybe the readers know now. Maybe that's why I said the story got out of the author's control.
I remember that occasionally there was a mistake in the page order, but it was strange. Suddenly, the scene jumps from page 245 to 247, as if the missing scene is happening but we don't see it. But the author always said it was just an error in page arrangement.
I sighed, continuing to look at it. The characters in this part... I can say it was the strangest part ever in terms of character composition. It included characters readers loved insanely, whether they were heroes or villains, and this is precisely what propelled the novel to wide fame and popularity.
Another thing that distinguishes them is that they are stubborn, arrogant, foolish, intelligent, reclusive, and brilliant. Yes, a mixture of good and bad.