Scripted Emotions

Seeing the Status Window floating in front of him gave him a bitter taste in his mouth. It was a reminder of bad memories. He might never have heard the system's mechanical voice before, but these floating screens were definitely not a stranger to him.

For an ex-Protagonist like him, however, his Status Window had been a little special—it had this one additional feature called Objectives. It was basically a list of things he had to accomplish, under the order of Atlantis.

Ever since the Prolog—the historical event that basically kickstarted the gods' storyline—other people, as in those fortunate enough not to be chosen by an Author, might find the progress they made displayed in numbers and levels on their Status Window almost exhilarating.

Magnus, on the other hand, had never welcomed those darn floating screens.

Well, 'never' was probably not the right word. Initially, he had been just like everybody else, enjoying the feeling of getting stronger despite knowing that it had all been by the design of some invisible powerful beings. He hadn't minded the presence of the line that said [Author: Atlantis] under his name every time he opened his Status Window. After a time, he realized that he had been one of the few 'chosen ones', called Protagonists, fighting to entertain these Authors. He had been willing to complete the Objectives given by his Author in exchange for leveling up and raising his stats.

Over time, though, he began feeling more and more like he'd lost control of his own mind and, most importantly, his free will. How did he know this?

Ever since he was a child, Magnus had always been an emotionally sensitive boy. Looking at someone in the eyes would make him feel what that person felt, times two. He was even able to feel the slightest changes in the air around someone even without looking directly at them. Before he had figured out a way to regulate these emotions, Magnus was known to cry a lot. Bottom line, he was naturally overly empathetic.

This 'affliction' of his had ended up being the key to him noticing the changes in his thoughts and emotional pattern over the course of months he was adventuring as Atlantis' Protagonist. He noticed that sometimes, the emotion that came over him was not what he would normally feel. Plus, these emotions were often one-dimensional. For example, after winning a fight, he would feel victorious. Happy. Joyful. But that was it. Nothing more. He would even forget what the fight had been all about, and who his opponent was as a person. His thoughts would be totally focused on the rewards he would obtain, and away from the consequences of his victory.

He would forget he had just fought against a human being, a father who was trying to protect his daughter.

Now, one might think Magnus was just adapting to the apocalyptic nature of the world ever since the Prolog. He might have been a little desensitized from all the killings he'd done trying to survive. But then it finally dawned on him, after a long night of contemplation, that this remorseless layer of emotions he felt had not been his own. They were what Magnus would later dub as Scripted Emotions.

Atlantis had been dictating how he felt and thought. Not always, since he still had partial ownership of his mind. But sometimes, often at important moments, he could tell that his mind had been taken over by The Script. Basically, he couldn't trust his own mind anymore. It even got to the point where the words coming out of his mouth had not been his own.

Though Magnus hated to admit it, he was a little fortunate that Atlantis' personality could be considered mild, compared to other gods. He would rather have his Protagonists' thoughts and emotions drive their actions than to have to directly move them. Which was why Magnus had never had his actions being fully controlled, unlike what had happened to some super unlucky Protagonists he encountered.

Whether all of this was because Atlantis wanted to conserve his Divinity or because he found it more entertaining that way, Magnus didn't know. Nor did he care.

After this realization about his Scripted Emotions, he started learning how to regain control of his mind by 'anchoring' his emotions to the people around him. He would carefully analyze what he was feeling at that moment, and then search for other people's emotions to get a sense of reality. His empathy would then help him readjust his emotions as Magnus and not as Atlantis' Protagonist, therefore straying off The Script. Though he purposefully hid this ability of his from Atlantis' ever-vigilant eyes. Until his rebellion, that is.

He was probably the only Protagonist who was able to pull this off.

[Would the host like to redesign the system?]

The system's repeated question pulled Magnus back to the present. The floating screen in front him was still displaying Protagonist #1's Status Window and POV. He then noticed another window beneath the other two. This one spanned across the whole width of the Protagonist's screen. It was empty, apart from a single blinking text cursor at the top left.

'Is that what I think it is?'

"System, what's that blank window called?" Magnus asked, ignoring the system's question about redesigning it.

[It does not have an official name. However, based on how the previous hosts addressed it, it may be called a Protagonist's Script, or a Script for short.]

"Is that where an Author narrates a Protagonist's story?"

[Correct.]

'So it's basically just a word processor.'

[However, the host will find that a fully manual narration may be difficult to do, especially considering the host's level of Divinity.]

Magnus frowned, feeling like operating the system may be a bit more complicated than he'd expected. "Is that why Atlantis could not fully narrate my thoughts and feelings?"

[Correct. Although the gods' Divinity level was much higher than the host's, they had to divide it between many Protagonists. Therefore, they did not have enough Divinity to fully narrate each and every one of their Protagonists' thoughts and actions. Most of the time, each Script would automatically fill itself according to what the Protagonist thinks and does. The gods would only manually narrate the Script during Key Moments.]

'I guess these Key Moments were when I would lose control of my feelings.'

Taking a deep breath, Magnus reminded himself of his main goal—to write his own story. So obviously, he would select himself as Protagonist #1. And then, depending on the system's answers to his next questions, he might have an idea on who Protagonist #2 and Protagonist #3 might be.

'But I'll definitely leave their Scripts alone. I swear I won't ever touch it.'

Magnus remembered how repulsive it felt to have his own thoughts and feelings dictated. Despite now having the power to do the same, he would never influence the mind of any of those he cared about. At least not by using the system.

[Would the host like to redesign—]

"Remove the Objectives window," Magnus cut the system off after seeing the small window at the bottom corner of the screen, like a tiny space for footnotes. As soon as he said that, the Objectives window disappeared, leaving the Script window to fill the bottom-most section on the Protagonist screen. "Other than that, the current design is simple enough. Although, I might add some stats in the future. I can do that, right?"

[Yes. The host can modify the system's interface at any point in time.]

"Great. Now, there's just some things I'd like to know. And it has nothing to do with the design of the system." Magnus took a couple of deep breaths and mentally prepared himself to ask the next question.

"Tell me, do you know where my wife, Alana's soul ended up after she died?"