The Only Way to Survive

Ian sighed after a long period of time and started examining his current situation.

He was an orphan and the orphanage he belonged to disappeared due to some some Coorporation's involvement which...removed the orphanage and in its place replaced a shopping complex.

After a few weeks of being homeless he started doing some part time jobs and studied with some scholarships and his savings.

A few years later...When Ian was in his high school he realised that it would not be possible to study anymore due to his lack of funds so he dropped out.

After dropping out of high school, he continued working in the part-time jobs while writing his novel in his spare time.

Unfortunately, The novel was rejected for publication due to its 'weird' concept and his amateur writing style. Aside from the odd concept, it isn't easy to follow the plot or understand what Ian wrote. preventing potential publishing companies from attempting to publish it.

They also 'advised' him that he isn't suited for writing and should search for jobs... So he stopped writing.

And after a period of job hunting, he found a full time job in a shady company and it was simply hell even for the tolerant ian.

So he used all of his earnings to study art, programming and game designing while eating just to barely satisfy his appetite.

He later quit his job due to the stress and decided to become an indie game designer.

He barely enjoyed life and saved most of the meagre sum of money he earned from games.

After a few successful games, he opened a small game studio with his savings and was finally able to escape his suffering ...

Although it was a life full of suffering and difficulties, he had learned from his failures and was able to stand on his own, but...

"Is that all a lie?" Ian was vexed. He's not sure if the memories in his head were just a dream or if they are something that really happened.It felt too realistic to be a dream.

"Sigh..whatever it is, if this is indeed the central realm I know, and what I wrote in that novel is something that was actually happening...". Before completing his sentence, Ian felt a chill in his heart.

He is aware of the fate that awaited ordinary people in that story. By the end of the novel most of them are dead... The number of casualties is nearly 99 percent of the total population. and the remaining 1 percent are people who are directly or indirectly involved in the main plot.

'i...don't want to die'. Ian felt fear for death.

'if the future I remember actually happens... then I already died once?'.

Ian was terrified of that darkness...He did not want to go through that pain again. He sighed after a moment and started thinking of a plan to survive.

"But the Central realm is really dangerous." Ian muttered. He knew that in order to survive that cruel place, he needs strength.

'Should I just go there?'...He felt conflicted. He didn't know whether he should get involved in the main plot or not.

The place where the first arc of his novel started. And the safest place for humans in the current central realm.

'Whatever it is, the protagonist is powerless to stop the destruction anyway.'

Ian knew the end of the world. Except for those related to this secretive part of world all normal humans are dead.

So he devised a plan to enter 'that' place; And if he wanted to enter that place considering his background, there is only one way to go there.

'I think I should go to that city then...' Ian decisively packed his belongings.

Fortunately, he only had cash and clothes at this period of time, so packing was simple.

He opened google maps and searched for his destination...

"Although it is far from here, it's still in the same country" Ian sighed in relief.

Since it was in the same country it won't cost a lot and he can manage with his current savings. more importantly he doesn't have to prepare a passport and visa.

He sighed while looking at the empty room, His face displayed the complicated emotions that he was feeling in his heart as he looked around the room where he stayed during his difficult times.

He didn't know whether he would come here again.

He stopped thinking about it and walked towards the train station. It is a bit far from his current location but it's better than wasting his savings on taxi...

______

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Ian cracked his back after getting off the train to relieve his back pain and sighed in relief as he walked down the city streets.

"Fortunately, it appears that this is indeed that place." He muttered cheerfully.

While writing, he didn't want to think of names for every city, country, and continent. So as a result, he used real-world names. He never expected that the story actually progressed at these locations

'So..this is the city of pax'..It would be a completely normal city if not for the existence of a mysterious spirit on the outskirts.

He then asked around about 'That' place and the locals said about it while warning him to not go towards it. He ignored their warnings and arrived at the location he was searching for...

This place is called the Ghost House of Libertas, and nobody in this city dared to enter it. It's because they all firmly believed that there was a ghost residing in that cottage.

"So it exists..". If Ian still had some doubts until now, this cottage completely resolved them all. This is indeed the central realm or the world he lived in all his life was the central realm all along.

The cottage looked abandoned for a long time and had the word 'Libertas' written on top of the main door...

"freedom..huh". The meaning of Libertas is freedom. It's a Latin word. it's this word that convinced him that this is the place where that spirit lives. The appearance of the building is entirely in line with the description he wrote in the novel.

..A cottage made of wood that looked like it was falling apart, a courtyard covered in weeds and plants ,and the word 'Libertas' that looked like it was written with blood on the top of the main door.

'From now on, I need to control my thoughts'... Ian stopped thinking about anything related to the central realm and opened the corroded main door.