Allen breathed heavily. As soon as the quiz ends, he immediately sprinted out of the classroom. When he was about to head somewhere, a certain guy stands on his way. Since Allen was too spaced out, he bumped into him.
"Wha—" Allen gave out an annoyed sound. He looks up to see the person in front of him, his face suddenly turned into a frown. "Larence." he sneered as he mentions the guy's name. For some reason, this situation seems familiar...
As usual, Larence's face remains stoic as always. He gave Allen a threatening look.
"I'll give you one last chance." he says coldly, emitting a dark aura. "Stop your disgusting actions. If you dare to ignore this last warning—"
"You will expose me to Bella and put me into jail?" Allen guessed.
"I will expose you to Bella and put you into jail."
After saying their words in unison, both of them flinched. Between the two of them, Allen's the one who's more shocked. He could've sworn that he had read something like this before. For the second time, he was able to accurately guess a person's thoughts—on top of that, those were the same lines that he read in the story. This is insane, totally insane. Was that unknown object really able to predict the future!?
Allen just stood there, clearly surprised.
After a long pause, Larence quickly wipes off his stunned expression. "Yes." he says, being stoic again. "Good. It seems you understand the consequences. I guess you're not a moron after all."
After Allen heard the last sentence, he felt something hit his nerve. Out of irritation, he pushed past Larence. Right now, he's not in the mood for this. He needs to prioritize that thing he had found, it's been bothering him since yesterday.
As Allen walks away from Larence, he doesn't need a backward glance to know that the brunet was glaring—he could already feel it through his back.
Allen left Larence behind. He goes to a place where it was isolated, making sure no one's around to see him. He turns on the unknown object and reads the story.
Allen wasn't wrong at all, things that were written here, it's going exactly the same like what happened earlier. This thing could predict the future and show one's past. But the only question is, why does the story focus on Larence, Einz, and Bella?
Before Allen could read further, he decided to go to the beginning chapter. For some reason, he wondered why he was able to learn using this thing quickly. Usually, he's a slow learner—was he wrong all along?
Shoving those thoughts away, he reads the first page. His eyes shook when he read the character list. He discovered that Larence, Einz, and Ryan (suprisingly) are the male leads of the story. And Bella is the heroine. Somehow, things started to make sense. Now he knows why the story was focused on these three. On top of that, he was shocked when he found out that Larence is the protagonist. But Ryan being one of the male leads is more surprising.
Allen starts breathing heavily. Disbelief could be seen in his eyes. "What the hell... Is this some sort of divine object?..." he almost said in a faint voice. "So,...this isn't a prank pulled by someone?"
A lot of questions filled his mind. If this isn't a prank, is this thing a magical object? Like an otherwordly object that fell from another dimension!? Is he living in a novel? Is his world a novel? Or is this thing a heavenly object from God and he just witnessed a miracle?
Allen's head starts to ache. It seem he had discovered something unusual, something overwhelming to take in. Dear heavens, someone pray for this boy. Him having such IQ, he can't bear with too much thinking.
"Tsk. I don't know anymore. Judging on how I see this, it's like a novel!!!" Allen exclaimed.
Later on, his moment was suddenly interrupted by a cold voice.
"Unfortunately, it is."
The voice was unfamiliar. For some reason, this sends shivers through Allen's body, causing him to back away in alarm. He looks at the man behind him—bloodlust can be seen in his eyes. Allen let out a gulp, being cautious at the pale guy who's wearing a black cloak.
The stranger's hair color is weird—they're separated in half into two different colors—navy blue from the right side, and floral white from the left side. Also, he has heterochromia eyes—frosty grey color on the right and crimson red color on the left. The guy is so young, he seems around sixteen years old, same age as Allen.
"Who are you?" Allen asked, trying to hide his fear. The stranger ignores his question.
"How unfortunate, you aren't a villain yet... It would have been easier if you were." the guy gave out a disappointed look. "So, you're the one, huh?"
Allen was confused, he doesn't understand what the guy was saying. "You. What the hell are you talking about?" he asked.
The guy chuckled, ignoring again the redhead's question. He looks at him with an evil smile on his face. "Let me tell you one thing, kid. Don't take this personally. Blame yourself for reading that novel."
Allen's eyes widened. Though he couldn't understand most of it, he totally knows that the novel he's referring to is...
He eyed at the object on he's holding.
The stranger looked at Allen and smirked. "Yes. The novel coming from that phone." he says.
"Phone?" Allen asks, giving out a perplexed look. A moment later, he realizes that the stranger was talking about the unknown object.
"Yes. That phone." the stranger says, pointing at the object on Allen's hand.
Before Allen could even say anything, the stranger pulls out a sharp object and attacks him with a fast speed. Luckily, he was able to dodge it. Allen gave out a shocked look, there was a mixture of fear and confusion in his eyes. Part of him mostly, thinks that this is just some horrible nightmare. That's right, there's no way this is real. He must be dreaming.
When the stranger attacked again, Allen barely dodged it—the blade hits his skin, causing it to leave a scratch. Allen falls on the ground, his body starts shaking as he touches the wound on his face.
"I-It hurts... S-so this isn't a dream?..." he stuttered, looking at the tiny blood on his hand. Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted when he heard the stranger's footsteps.
"Sorry, dude. Hate to break it to you, but this isn't a dream." the stranger smiled sadistically. "Now, stay still."
Allen gulped, there's no way he would stay still. He needs to run.
The maniac notices the boy's expression, he almost felt sorry for him—almost. "I know, I know. You're scared. But don't worry, I'll make sure to end this quickly." he sighed.
He started chanting a spell that Allen couldn't understand. A ball of magenta light appears from his hand, then he directs it toward the redhead.
Allen panicked as he sees the light that's about to attack him. He finally moves his body and picks up sand from the ground. He throws it onto the enemy's face, earning a yelp from him. He quickly ran away, taking advantage of the temporarily blinded enemy.
Panic filled Allen's thoughts. Judging by the enemy's moves, he could see that guy was no ordinary human. There's only one thing he could identify him as, a mage. Allen wondered why a mage is in a place like this. Usually, they are supposed to be in their own realm. Only high class mages could go to muggle territories. It is almost impossible to meet them because they are very few.
Judging by the boy's appearance, he seems to be a teenager. In that age, whether you're a genius or not, it's impossible to reach high class at an early stage. A boy like him must be a student in some magic academy. Did he sneak out or something?
'Wait. Why does he want to kill me? Is he after this thing?' Allen thought, looking at the phone he's holding. Now that he had come to think of it, the guy mentioned about the novel in this thing.
Suddenly, Allen's thoughts were interrupted by a loud sound. It took him for a while to realize that the mage almost hit him with magic.
"Sh*t!" Allen cursed. Right now, this isn't the time to dilly-dally, he needs to escape first.
The redhead wasted no time for a backward glance, he ran as fast as he could. He goes towards the garden, immediately looking for a place to hide—but before he could even do so, he bumps onto two people.
"Wha—" Allen reacts. He looks up and recognizes the two people in front of him. "S-Sir Neil? Ryan?" he shuttered.
He didn't need to ask why Ryan's with Sir Neil, he could guess that they're talking about the upcoming math contest. As expected of Ryan Sullivan, the genius student of this school.
"Allen? What are you doing here?" Sir Neil asked. A moment later, his surprise turn into concern. "You're supposed to be in class right now. If Ms. Lian finds out you're skipping, you'll get in trouble."
Allen breathes heavily, ignoring the teacher's question. He walks away from them, about to run again. Unfortunately, Ryan grabs his arm, causing him turn.
"Hey, wait. Where are you going? Are you okay? You look pale." Ryan asked.
As Allen was about to tell him to let go, he saw the stranger from afar. He could see him curse and go away in retreat. Even so, it still doesn't put him at ease.
"Hands off." Allen glared at Ryan, slapping his hand away. It may sound rude, but right now, his gut tells him to get away from this place.
Ever since Allen found that object yesterday, weird things have been happening to him recently. He now starts to wonder what's happening. Just what on earth is this world? And this object called phone? Just what the hell is going on?
Allen furrowed his eyebrows. He runs off, leaving his friend and his teacher behind.
-----
When school was over, Allen never dared to go out from where he was hiding. Since he was too panicked, the only hiding place he could think of, is the library. Right now, he's under the table and he's shivering in fear. He knows he should move his ass now and report about the attack, but his body disobeys him.
By remembering the maniac mage from earlier, thoughts were swirling around Allen's brain like a roller coaster, it's driving him insane. He couldn't help but wonder even more. Just what on earth did he mean by blaming himself for reading that novel? Why does he have to die because he read the novel?
Allen couldn't believe on what's happening right now. He somehow starts to understand about Larence being the protagonist and Bella being the heroine. Especially on how everything in this world goes exactly the same in that novel. A moment later, Allen paused. Another pile of thoughts go through his brain, which gives him a headache. Is this world really a novel? Still, that doesn't make any sense—no, it does make sense. It's just—it sounds so unrealistic. His logical brain says it's impossible, but why does it feel like it's possible at the same time?
If this world is really a novel—Larence is the protagonist, Einz is like the sidekick of the story/protagonist's love rival, Ryan is also a love rival, and Bella is the heroine..... So what does that make Allen and the others? What are their roles then?
Other than that, Ryan Sullivan likes Bella? Allen has been friends with him for five years, but he didn't even notice?
Allen's head started to ache more. A moment later, he decides to pull out this object called, the phone—after all, that's what the crazy mage calls it. First, he needs to understand more about the situation. Learning more information is better, otherwise he won't be able to explain his situation properly once he reports this to the officials.
For now, Allen is safe. All he could do now is stay where he is. Who knows if that crazy mage is still roaming around school? Allen wouldn't take the chance of running into him. He should wait for a while until that mage thinks he's not here anymore.
When Allen could finally think straight, he binge reads the novel. Then he started to skip some chapters. Sooner or later, there was a chapter title that caught his attention.
It reads:
'The End of Allen Coldwell'