A Friend's Tale

Two pairs of eyes were locked onto each other, an intense aura emanating from the look they were giving. It was almost as if they were shooting out sparks that crashed into one another, stuck in a battle of attrition. The owners of the pairs of eyes were standing merely a few meters apart, facing each other, refusing to move a muscle and budge. The autumn wind blew, sending their hair and loose garment of their clothes dancing about for a moment. Neither of them wanted to surrender.

'What is this, the wild west?' Magnus 2.0's remark broke his original out of the tense atmosphere.

Letting out a sigh, Magnus broke out of the staring contest. "I yield."

There was a victorious grin forming on TJ's sweaty face. "Spill it out, or these shoes will start eating dust, again," he threatened while pointing down at his own pair of sneakers.

Scratching his head, Magnus was trapped in a dilemma.

It had been almost two months since TJ first started his running routine. He had agreed to keep it up, but now that school had started, he could only exercise during the weekends. Not that it made much difference, since going for a run only three times a week had been the most he could tolerate before summer break ended.

TJ's stats had shown some improvement. Not a lot, but it was enough for now. The increases hadn't always come every time he finished his running session; they popped up a bit at random. So far, his Strength had increased by three and Stamina by seven since his first stat progress. Not quite surprisingly, his Agility also showed an increase by four points. Though, Magnus knew all this progress would come to an end and TJ's stats would stagnate after probably a few more running sessions. Which was why Magnus had planned to switch things up after Christmas.

Magnus had also enjoyed a little growth in his Divinity Points, raising them up by 140 points after the eighty points increase last time.

[…Divinity Level: 7

DP: 470/7000

AP: 700…]

Peeking at the current state of TJ's Status Window as well as his own, Magnus felt unsure. He couldn't tell if keeping up with the current routine was enough to prepare them to face the Prolog. He felt like it could've been more. And he really could push for more progress, but there was only one way to make it happen.

Magnus stole a glance at his best friend, who was wiping the sweats off his face using his shirt. He had just finished today's running session, taking a break at the checkpoint—Lincoln Park—when the guy suddenly demanded for Magnus to tell him what really had happened to him. Otherwise, he'd quit working out.

This was their deal in the first place. Magnus would spill his secrets if TJ could keep up his workout routine. They had agreed for a one-year deal.

However, perhaps after TJ experienced Magnus' occasional display of skills, such as [Rejuvenate] for alleviating TJ's fatigue and [Subtle] that allowed him to cut in lines and shout at TJ without garnering attention, the moody boy had had enough. He couldn't contain his curiosity any longer.

'I mean, telling him the truth will let us make progress faster, as awakening him could unlock the stat restrictions as well as the use of mana. Besides, I could start teaching him skills way ahead of time.'

Before an awakening, a person could only gain stats at a pace matching that of normal, unawakened people's. And for Magnus' standard, this was considered slow. In addition, an unawakened person's stats were capped at around thirty to forty, at least as far as he knew. They also were unable to tap into the flow of mana, preventing them to learn skills.

Letting TJ in on some things Magnus knew about the Prolog and how the world would come to be after that would enable him to not only awaken and lift those restrictions, but also to grow his own strength more willingly. Magnus wouldn't have to force him to train anymore.

'Nah, that's a terrible idea,' Magnus 2.0 quickly pointed out. 'Not the 'spilling the truth' part. But the 'explaining about the Prolog' part.'

'Right,' said Magnus, arriving at the same conclusion at the same time as his copy. 'Telling him about what's going to happen to the world would just sound like a lie. However, revealing about what happened to me and the things I've been through would feel more personal. He ought to believe that more.'

'We can tell that's really what he wanted to know, anyway.'

"Fine," Magnus finally spoke after a while. "I'll tell you everything."

TJ had plopped down on a bench nearby and rested in silence while giving his friend time to think. He then looked at him with a serious expression. "Well, go on then. Sit here and tell me your story."

Unexpectedly, that one command uttered by TJ sent some warmth into Magnus' heart. It was as if there was a locked door that had been containing all his emotions caused by all the things he'd been through. And with that simple sentence, the door slowly creaked open, allowing him to unburden some of those that been kept at bay.

Magnus couldn't help but let free a relieved smile as he sat down beside TJ. He took a deep breath before starting his tale. "First of all, I don't know if you would believe anything I'm about to tell you. But I have a feeling that you will, considering your trust in me and your outlandish way of thinking."

---

Magnus began telling his friend about the day the Prolog happened in the original Universe, and about how he hadn't felt much care regarding the state the world had arrived at. After all, Magnus had never had any clear goal in life prior to that. So he went about his days after the Prolog mostly in his house, looking out the window and seeing people running around trying to loot stores and finding ways to survive the onslaught of monsters crossing over from The Abyss.

That was, until he was dragged by his father to a nearby Arc Tower, where he could find out about his element affinities. After the jaw-dropping view of the Element Orb showing four different colors, Markus was starting to doubt his decision to bring his son along. The man had thought that he needed to make his son powerful so he could fend for himself in the changed world. After all, he never knew what could happen in future. Should he or his wife died, who would take care of their son?

However, the four colors floating and glowing in the Element Orb forced Markus to alter his plans. He knew, after asking around, that most people only had one element affinity, while a few had two. But four? That was an entirely different story. Glancing around the Tower, he could see a lot of people eyeing Magnus like a pack of hyenas targeting a prey. And this predatory behavior was mostly fueled by fear of what kind of monster Magnus could possibly become in the future if they let him grow in power.

The teenage boy could threaten the entire nation. Besides, how much XP could they gain by defeating him, someone who had a massive potential?

Without hesitating, Markus grabbed his son's hand and dragged him back home as fast as possible. After debating with himself and his wife, Markus decided to let his son make his own decision. As much as the doctor wanted to protect his son, the boy needed to start being responsible of his own life, after all. And he needed to start doing that soon, preferably right then and there, before all kinds of predators set their paws in front of the family's front door.

Little had the three of them known, the biggest predator had locked his eyes on Magnus right after witnessing the colorful Element Orb. With ocean blue being the predominant color, this predator licked his lips and his eyes flickered with a glint of greed.

Magnus had been his the moment the boy touched the Orb.

That night, sleeping soundly in his bed while his parents were on the lookout, Magnus had a dream. This was the dream that would change his life forever. In that dream, he walked in a daze across a barren land, lured in by a floating yellow light. After a while, he arrived at a marsh, where the light had stopped above the murky body of water. There was a part of his mind that warned him not to proceed further, but another part pushed his feet onward. This was the curiosity rising in his mind.

That was his 'dreaming' self, according to the word of The Oracle he'd eventually encountered years later. The Oracle said that there was always a little dreamer boy sleeping in his heart that made the seed of curiosity grow.

After discovering how Atlantis used manual narration to influence his curiosity, Magnus theorized that although the god was to blame, he hadn't been completely responsible. The Alias he had given Magnus was 'Dreamer', but the god had only based the name on the 'yellow light' dream he gave Magnus through the [Dream Painting] skill cast by another one of his Protagonists. He had never actually figured out about the dreaming nature existing within Magnus' subconscious mind.

In conclusion, the dream hadn't made the curiosity seed sprout out of nowhere. It was just accelerating the growth of the seed that had always been present in Magnus' mind.

Following the yellow light in the dream, he was swallowed by the water and suddenly reappeared on a lush green hill. After walking for a while, he arrived at a place Magnus could only describe as paradise. That was the spark that made the curiosity seed grow into a fully blooming tree. He started dreaming of a prosperous life in that place with his family.

And so, the next morning he told his father his decision. He'd made up his mind to start leveling up, enough to fulfill the requirement to open up a portal in the Arc Tower and cross over to the next Realm. He was sure the paradise was somewhere in one of the many Realms, based on the words by the Dream Painter who had given him the dream in the first place. And Magnus just needed to grow powerful enough to reach that Realm.

Of course, that was all before he found out about Atlantis manipulating his mind, before he lost his parents and years later, his wife. As for the paradise? He'd given up on it after deciding to settle down with his wife.

---

"So then, what happened to her?" asked TJ, fully immersed in his friend's story. Without them realizing, Magnus' tale had carried them well past lunch time. "Why are you here right now and not with her?"

Magnus sighed deeply, his sad eyes looking into the distance. "She…died. At that time, I had to choose between two options: run after the enemy that has invaded our home or stay by her side. Atlantis, of course, made me go after the enemy."

"Let me guess. The enemy got to her while you were away," said TJ.

Magnus nodded solemnly.

"I'm sorry to hear that. And then, somehow, you went back in time."

Upon hearing that, Magnus could only scratch his head. "Yeah, about that…" he sighed again. "That's a whole nother story. One of the gods wasn't happy with how Atlantis plotted Alana's death. She was a goddess that enjoyed romance stories, after all. Besides, her death had also indirectly caused her some 'deficit', whatever that means. Add to that her long hidden resentment toward Atlantis, and you get one vengeful goddess.

"So then she sent one of her Protagonists to me, who then relayed a message about a proposal for a possible alliance. She would agree to help me sneak into their residence, otherwise known as The Hall of Gods, to assassinate Atlantis. But after arriving there, something else caught my attention. It was the source of the gods' storytelling powers. And like the thieving snake that I am, I ended up stealing it instead of killing Atlantis. But then I got killed as a result."

"But not before that source of power got into your hands," TJ assumed. "And somehow you were brought back to life, and you were able to use that power to turn back time."

"Well, not exactly." Magnus took a few seconds to consider his next words, careful to avoid mentioning anything that had to do with The Viewers. "Listen. I've told you all about Authors, Protagonists, and Supporting Characters, right?"

"Right," TJ answered, bobbing his head slightly.

"Well, the thing that I stole from the gods happened to be the very power that controls the whole dynamics between the three parties. It turned me into an Author, just like the gods. Using that, I immediately appointed myself as my own first Protagonist."

"Before you used it to turn back time," TJ still insisted.

"…something like that," Magnus finally said. "Also, I made you my second Protagonist, just saying."

TJ narrowed his eyes. "And why is that?"

"Obviously, because I don't want the gods to mess with your mind, ruin your life, et cetera. And, well, you're my best friend. I don't want those I care about to fall into the mercy of the gods."

"If you're the Author now, how come the gods still have the power to choose Protagonists?"

"'Cause they have a copy of this power."

"Do I even wanna know how that's possible?"

"Nope."

TJ was seen considering Magnus' answers for a moment, but Magnus could still feel doubt creeping on his friend's mind. "Doesn't make it feel any less wrong. You basically have me in the palm of your hand," said TJ.

Magnus sighed. "Do you not trust me at all? Or do you prefer to have some jerk of a god make you their puppet and control your thoughts and emotions for their own entertainment instead?"

"So you're saying you would never do that to me?"

Magnus looked at TJ as if he was an idiot. "Duh!"

With that, TJ shrugged, and his expression suddenly shifted. The doubt vanished as if it had been flushed out by a torrent of trust. "I kinda already knew. You must have promised yourself to never pull any of that shit on me. But I just had to make myself feel doubtful in order to trick you. 'Cause otherwise you'd see through my emotion."

Magnus' jaw dropped, his eyes showing a mixture of surprise and annoyance.

"That's what you get for hiding all that from me," TJ added. "Also, you don't have to worry about me not believing your story. Just like how you're able to read my emotions, I can also see when you're being honest. I may not be able to truly feel what you feel, but the expressions you've showed me when you told me your story were genuine. I can at least tell that much."

"Right. Thanks, bud," replied Magnus with a relieved smile coloring his face. Turns out he had never needed to worry whether his friend would believe him or not. This was TJ, after all. The very person who, despite being another Protagonist's Supporting Character in the original Universe, still had got Magnus' back. Always. "And I guess, even though I've got a little over seven years of life experiences on you, I still appear as the same ol' Magnus to you."

"You got that right," agreed TJ.