Code of the Red Threads

"Thank you for going through the trouble, Eli," Leah chimed in after Eli finished her talk with Carla.

"No worries. I'm glad I can help," she replied with a smile.

Eli thought it's the least she could do for her. She's also glad that she didn't have a hard time refusing her invitation again.

This is one of the few moments she could actually spend time with her without their nosy classmates bothering them, so bearing an obligation wasn't really a problem.

As Eli thought of obligations, she suddenly felt like she forgot something she had to do.

"Oh, Hal!" she blurted out all of the sudden, much to Leah's surprise.

"Hal?" she repeated, dumbfounded.

"U-Umm... It's nothing. It's just that... I need to go now."

"Eh? Already?"

As Eli was about to saunter away, she felt a strange presence out of nowhere.

She couldn't describe the feeling well, but it somehow gave a foreboding vibe. In the corner of her eyes, she could see shadows lurking in the dim corners of the stage.

She then started sweatdropping at the feeling of being watched. What's more, this entity doesn't seem to be that far from them. As time ticked by, without anyone else noticing, their imperceptible company sauntered nearer and nearer.

Like a palpable portent, she discerned an approaching presence – someone inhuman.

"Eli, are you alright? You look pale," Leah asked, voice laced with concern.

Then, she saw them.

Bright scarlet threads suddenly appeared on Leah's shoulders.

The glinting silky fibers beam at her with malice and mischief, making the perplexed ash-haired girl recoil. Not too long, loud thuds of something solid hitting marble replaced the sounds of chatters.

In the blink of an eye, everyone was lying on the floor like a sea of lifeless bodies, flamboyant red cords layering them menacingly.

Petrified, Eli shuddered with horror at the ghastly sight.

All the club members were suddenly knocked unconscious at the appearance of the mysterious webs. She then noticed how their wrists in particular were tied, leaving out the rest.

All of the sudden, a dark cloud of mist enveloped the entire stage, making her shriek compulsively.

"What a pleasant surprise. I never thought a day like this would come. This is, indeed, destiny!" a husky, male voice chimed in, flummoxing her even more.

All of the sudden, Leah, along with everybody else, was being hauled upward by the threads entangling her wrists. Like human-sized marionettes, their unmoving bodies dangled above the ground and staggered as if being forced to move.

All Eli could do at that moment is to watch in perturbation while they continued lurching their bodies around.

Then, gears started turning in her head.

This implausible situation could only be a villain's doing.

"A powerful presence like yours can never go unnoticed. Despite your disguise that seemed to have seen better days, I discern that you're a lady of high status, perhaps, of nobility..."

Eli had to double take at that. She knew an insult when she heard one.

"...Say, why don't we join forces together? Let's defeat the Champions."

Now, Eli completely lost it.

Both triggered by the offensive remark and puzzled at the incoherent offer, the ash-haired girl stared in space, dumbfounded. The way this person spoke as well as the all-too familiar haze of black mist somehow reminded her of Venus.

Hal's revelation about having more Venuses out there also supported her prediction that this was indeed a villain.

Now, if this is a baddie, it's expected that he'd be after the good guys, which are the Champions.

What's befuddling her, though, is his offer for her to team up with him. He's also able to distinguish that she's sharing a body with a villainess even without any prior contact with her.

To sum it up, this villainous creature has persuaded her, the human vessel of a fellow fictional villainess, to take Hal and the others down.

"I don't know who you are, but I do know what you want, and it's a no! They're my friends and I could never hurt them!" she hollered, a bit surprised at her newly-found intrepidity and boldness.

The vicious creature just roared in laughter at this, much to her bewilderment. The fog then hoisted Eli's body up and wrapped itself around her, making her screech in fright.

"How laughable! You're foolish to call them friends! Even more so, as a villainess!" he mocked, voice furious and vehement.

"What are you talking about?" Eli managed to ask despite her uncomfortable position.

"Didn't you realize? We're fictional. We have certain roles to play. The story can't move forward if we neglect them. Therefore, as antagonists, we're meant to make enemies of those goody-two-shoes. That's the code of fate. That's our fates!"

With that, Eli drifted in disquietude, head abruptly bombarded by a new revelation.

She wanted to deem the notion as unworthy to take note of, yet for some reason, it felt like something finally fell into place. It felt like a new page had been unfolded. After all, what he just said makes sense.

They're book characters with different roles to play.

Their endings had already been determined even before they debuted in the story.

Their futures had already been written, and so were everything else about them. Like how Venus was meant to commit suicide, Hal was destined to be king in her place.

The Book of Metis itself was an example of how fate was the main maneuvering factor of the characters' growth, making it a vital component for the plot's progression.

Because of this, Hal had to experience many grueling situations and Venus had to suffer many losses.

Like mere puppets of a play, they had no power to change their fates. Everything took place in accordance to a prewritten script.

Then again, talks about destiny were often present in fiction. Whether it was subtly hinted or not, it's irrefutable that it's a common concept that is repetitively implied to be inseparable from the story's essence.

Even after coming to the real world, they're made to believe that all was predetermined.

And with that, the scale of good and evil remained -

As if cursing them for all their lifetimes.