บท 1: Elias Roan

[The Heroes of the New Age]

A popular novel that recently emerged in the online literature space. It appeared like a dark star, instantly topping most of the rankings and charts at its start, surprising everyone.

Written by an amateur author with no prior experience, such instant resounding success was unexpected and shocking.

But after the readers, conquered by curiosity, read the novel, they only had one remark about it.

Amazing.

It was the type of novel that made one shed tears, laugh out loud, and act ecstatic and childish.

It was unique and special, an amazing work with well-written characters that the readers could relate to.

And it wasn't no surprise that with its spreading reputation, the novel quickly gained a sturdy fanbase, having the spotlight for a while in the online literature space.

To the readers or fans of the work, it wasn't merely a novel. The novel far surpassed that. It was a novel with the fun of web novels and hints of classics.

Although it wasn't safe from criticism as it was not perfect from all ends, the good it had far outweighed the bad it could have.

In short, it was a resounding success.

Therefore, it was entirely puzzling why the author suddenly messed the story up, badly ruining everything.

***

[Heavenly Sovereign God: Dogshit author! How come Lance reverted to his original personality???]

[Fallen Human: I've seen many authors messed up, but never this badly. You should be ashamed of yourself for existing.]

[FuckYouEroan: I made this account on how much I hate you. You ruined everything.]

[AliceLover12457: Even Alice wasn't safe from your clutches... I curse you...]

[...]

A young man garbed with black linen clothes and wearing a scarf on his neck silently read the comments.

"They're really angry."

Elias Roan chuckled. He was not surprised by the reactions of the others to the novel. No one in the world was more familiar than him with the novel.

Why? Because he was the amateur author of that novel.

Author: Eroan—The author who wrote [Heroes of The New Age].

When he wrote it, the popularity and trend it brought only made him widen his eyes and scoff in madness at the situation; it was a surprise, really.

An ironic twist of fate that a novel he created on a whim of sarcasm could amass him such popularity.

That was not him being arrogant, it was the truth.

Often he would browse through reviews of his own work and he would see fans praising it for being a work made from heartfelt emotions and passion, filled with nuance, complexity, and themes of human nature.

On that, he would laugh. Elias Roan would laugh without hesitation. There was no doubt that he made the novel with heartfelt emotions and passion; but not the emotions which they were thinking of.

It was a work written out of spite and rage. Out of malice, sorrow, rage, and spite—a way to vent his repressed emotions during the worst times of his life.

It had no nuance, complexity, or any other thing. It was just pure nonsense. There was no deeper thought to it. Just a pure, heap of bullshit.

And yet such a thing… It was regarded as a great novel?

"What a load of bullshit… what has the world gone to?"

Elias sighed self-deprecatingly.

That's why, during the last arc he decided to ruin everything. To throw away all character development and destroy every little good thing about the novel.

Back then, he was quite looking forward to the reaction that would spur when the novel got worse.

And he wasn't disappointed.

"Curse all you want, nothing is going to change."

Elias muttered to himself, stretching his hands lazily.

Looking at the time on the laptop, he realized it had been a while since he was writing.

He looked at the laptop screen, the smile on his face widening.

It had been three years since he made the novel, and now was the time for its final publication. After this, it would thoroughly end.

With little to no reluctance, Elias saved and uploaded the final chapter of the novel before standing up from his chair.

Before he left the room, he took a last glance at the laptop before chuckling self-deprecatingly. It's done and he finished it in the way he wanted.

Of course, the way he wanted—the opposite of what the readers wanted.

To elaborate, the last arc and the last chapter of the novel is a tragic ending.

It was the type of ending that would spur a fandom to curse the author, destroy what reputation remained of the work, and completely ruin the experience of every reader.

It was the horrible ending that every author should avoid, but one he purposely wrote.

He did it for one reason; out of damn spite. He already got everything out of it, might as well spite everyone in the process.

Childish? Yes. Immature? Yes.

Did he remotely care? No, not at all.

"Hahahahahahahaha."

Elias laughed with a hint of mockery as he exited the room. Soon, the lights turned off as silence descended the room, leaving the laptop on the desk.

[...]

After a while, since he left, the laptop suddenly vibrated. Its screen turned on under no one's influence, brightening a portion of the room.

[You really did that, huh?]

A sentence appeared on the screen before being wiped out as a new sentence formed again.

[Sigh, that was my favorite work, you know? What a nasty bastard… I should've seen that coming when the last arc started... the characters were getting twisted...]

[I've decided! I'll use you for that spot. Hmph.]

The text in the screen paused, as though contemplating.

[Maybe I shouldn't do that? Nah. It's his fault anyway. Technically. Yeah, that should be good.]

At that moment, the laptop turned off. The room once again descended in silence, overriden of darkness.

***

In a pitch-black room, the smell of blood and steel filled the small cell. At the back of the room, a young man with rough features groggily woke up.

The young man wore a matching uniform and leggings, with parallel stripes woven in hue of contrasting black and white.

He had messy black hair and a long scar beside his temple that accentuated the dangerous and threatening air surrounding him.

Slowly, the young man opened his eyes as the drowsiness that occupied his mind vanished with each second.

However, before the young man was confused, bewildered and before he could even react —he suddenly grabbed his head in panic as his body fell to the ground.

'What the hell?! Wha—!'

Elias Roan groaned as he felt a massive headache abruptly assault him. It pierced through his fragile soul.

"Arghhhh—!"

Elias eyes shouted uncontrollably.

At that moment, several scenes flashed through his mind. He didn't know how, but upon seeing them, he immediately recognized what they were—memories!

Under the assault of an intense headache, he couldn't think of anything other than to integrate the memories.

After a few seconds, the headache abruptly stopped as the memories that appeared finished engraving themselves on his mind.

Fragmented memories of the past mixed along his present memories, interweaving. In the end, he was lost in a daze.

Shortly after, Elias sobered up from his daze and displayed an expression of astounding disbelief.

"What the hell are these memories... my name is supposedly Elias Vito Castellano?"

Elias Vito Castellano, the fallen successor of the destroyed Castellano Family.

Due to a new ruler in the underworld, the Head of the Castellano, unwilling to surrender and swear subservience, was subjected to extermination as the entirety of the family was soon killed or jailed by the surrounding forces.

And it had been approximately a week since the caught Castellano remnants had been thrown into jail.

"I'm Elias Vito Castellano? No. I'm certain I'm me, Elias Roan... it seems I inherited the memories and emotions of Elias Vito Castellano."

Elias realized this all at once. He could also feel some foreign emotions erupting from within him.

Bottomless sorrow and infallible rage.

He calmed himself down for a moment and assessed his own situation. Then, like the wind blowing the fog, he grasped on to little clarity he possessed to think critically.

'A possession... no, more aptly. Transmigration or fusion of souls. I possessed this body and gained the memories and emotions of this person.'

'It could be said, although I am Elias Roan. I am also Elias Vito Castellano.'

Soon, the fog of confusion departed from Elias' mind. He groaned irritably as he had gotten an answer.

After a wave of calmness, he managed to slowly separate the confusion between his identity and fix the dissociation within him.

'I'm Elias Roan, not Elias Vito Castellano.'

At that moment, while he was thinking, a loud mechanical sound erupted in his mind.

[Have you woken up yet?]