DISCLAIMER: The author's imagination and passion are the only sources of inspiration for this novel, which is a work of dedication. Parallels between these pages and the past or present may be apparent to some readers, but they are completely coincidental. You are free to interpret this art anyway you see fit, and it is meant for your enjoyment.
On the summit of the Isle of Echoes, the temperature dropped. Leo was holding an ivory compass, and the golden light that had earlier enveloped the gathering was now being drawn into its center. An intense neon-blue light, the hue of the "Other World," started to shine through the ivory.
Giywon ordered, "Leo, put it back," lowering his voice to that deadly, imperial register. "You've been our friend. You helped us destroy the Editor. Don't tell me you're just another pawn in the script."
Leo remained glued to his tablet. A holographic torrent of red code was twirling around his arm as his fingers flew across the screen. "I'm not a pawn, Giywon. I'm the janitor. And the trash is overflowing."
"You called us trash?" Dyierrean snarled, gripping his dagger's hilt more tightly.
"No," Leo said, looking up at last with tired eyes and a heavy, mature grief. "The situation is trash. Look at the sky!"
The group raised their heads. The "Genre Storm" was tearing apart the bruised violet clouds, exposing raw, unrendered white nothingness instead of stars. Like glaciers, enormous, angular slabs of digital static were plunging into the water. In the distance, the port of Edryyion was starting to malfunction; the spires of the palace were bending and stretching like wax melting.
"When Samantha broke the Silver Key, she stopped the story, but she left the engine running," Leo said in a desperate tone. "The Nexus is drawing in too much data. CEO, Pirate-man... they weren't supposed to be here. This world is a 100-gigabyte file trying to fit into a 1-gigabyte drive. It's going to crash, and when it does, everyone in it—Giywon, Dyierrean, Eyldion—gets deleted forever."
Ji-Hoon's analytical mind sprang into action as he adjusted his glasses. "So the Compass isn't a heart-seeker. It's a stabilizer. You take that back, the 'Other World' regains control, and this dimension is sealed off?"
"Exactly," Leo replied. "I take the Compass, I close the door, and the 'leak' stops. Edryyion survives, but the Nexus is gone. No more crossovers. No more unexpected visitors. And Samantha..." He turned to her, and his voice softened. "You come back with me. You go back to being Samantha Lim in Seoul. You leave this mess behind before it burns you up."
The ensuing hush was overwhelming.
Giywon and Dyierrean turned to face Samantha. The primary question of mature romance was whether love was about clinging to the other person or letting go so they might live.
"Go," Dyierrean uttered in a broken voice. "If staying here means we all vanish... if staying here means you vanish... then take the Compass, Leo. Take her home."
Giywon retorted, "No," and moved in Leo's direction. "We don't accept a 'Safe' ending if it means losing our choice. Leo, there has to be another way. You're a 'Fixer.' Fix it without taking her!"
Killian Thorne yawned loudly and dramatically in the midst of this high-stakes emotional drama.
"You 'Other World' types are so gloomy," the Pirate King remarked as he leaned on the pedestal. "All this talk of 'Giga-bytes' and 'Deletions.' It's very unromantic."
"This is a systemic collapse, you flamboyant idiot!" Leo yelled.
"Is it?" Killian asked with his flawless white smile. "Or is it just a ship that's overloaded? On the Gilded Banshee, when we have too much plunder, we don't throw the crew overboard. We just built a bigger ship."
Killian turned to face Reinn. "You have the Ink of Free Will, don't you, Lioness? And the Chairman over there has 'Capital'—whatever that is. And the Prince and the Duke have the 'Land.' Why are we letting this guy in a leather jacket tell us the story is over?"
Reinn moved to the front. She glanced at Leo, who was shaking as he hovered his finger over the tablet's "Enter" key, which would initiate the last extraction.
"Leo," she murmured. "You love this world, don't you? That's why you've stayed. You weren't just fixing it for the Author. You were fixing it for us."
Leo's roguish facade broke completely as he bit his lip. "If I don't do this, Sam... I lose you. The Author will wipe everything. I'm trying to save at least you."
"Then don't save me," Reinn replied, extending her hand. "Save Us. Use the Compass not to seal the door, but to expand the Server. If we're a crossover event, then let's make it the biggest one in history. Merge the dimensions. Give the 'Other World' a reason to keep us running—not as a single story, but as a Hub."
Ji-Hoon took a step forward, a sudden corporate exhilaration shining in his eyes. "A Hub... a shared universe. The ROI on a shared universe is infinitely higher than a standalone romance. Leo, if you can bridge the data, I can provide the 'Software' to manage the empire."
With their hands resting on Reinn's shoulders, Giywon and Dyierrean stood on either side of her. "We provide the soul," Giywon declared.
Leo glanced first at the Compass and then at the colorful family in front of him. With a deep, trembling breath, he began typing "Patch" instead of "Delete."
Leo murmured, "This is going to violate every contract I have," and his smile eventually came back. "The Editor is going to kill me. But hey... I always liked a good sequel."
His hand crashed into the Compass.
Instead of white space, a rainbow of hues flooded the scene as the neon-blue light exploded. A new type of firmament emerged from the sky's static, with the moon resembling a pirate's gold doubloon and the stars resembling Seoul's lights.
However, a new doorway opened as the realms started to blend—not from Leo's tablet, but from the ground itself.
A pale man in a white suit emerged. He looks at Samantha's eyes, but his face is expressionless and cold.
The man said, "The Editor sent a Fixer," with a thousand voices. "And you've been sent a Groom. Samantha... your 'Ex' didn't want the manuscript back. He wanted the Ending."
The man in the white suit looked at the four suitors. "I am the Final Male Lead. And I've come to claim my bride."