"Hah... Haha.. Hahaha... Hahahahaha... Hahahahaha.. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
All around me was burning fire. Because of the curse I possessed, the fire that burned this entire world did not harm me in the slightest. I created hell. And I laughed alone over the corpses that had turned to ash.
Not a single tree remained, no color but fiery red and gray sky. Black earth and scorched rocks.
Even the bones I stepped on now turned to ash. It felt like stepping on fragile charcoal.
"How long... have I been unconscious?"
I looked around me, hoping there was at least one living creature left in this world that had been turned into hell by my hands.
A sword with a demon's eye on its hilt was in my right hand. In my left hand, I held something tightly. It was a necklace, a green jade carved with a 'crane' hanging from its string.
"Did I... wipe out all humans on this earth?"
I gripped the jade in my left hand tightly. My knees fell to the ground. Ash billowed high. Blown by the fiery wind.
"It seems I failed to keep my promise. No, I did fail to keep my promise. But why?"
I saw my face in the iron mirror of my sword. Red blood had dried and turned to dust. I looked into my eyes and I didn't look sad at all.
"I lost my best friend, my wife, my old friends by my own hands. But why do I feel nothing inside me? Am I... no longer human?"
"You are still a human."
Whoosh! The fire around me suddenly extinguished. Using a flash step technique, I immediately drew my sword to the neck of the person who appeared without any presence.
It felt like seeing a ghost. It felt unreal. It felt like discovering something new.
"I have killed all humans on the face of this earth. I walked for months to the west and east to burn life. To destroy hope. Why are you still alive? Who are you?"
He, something that resembled a human. I'm not sure if he was a human like me. He seemed like just a pile of Qi that had manifested into a human.
He had a face. A face like an ordinary young man with thick brown hair, a man's cut. Wearing clothes I recognized from the West. A white shirt and belted pants if I remember correctly.
He had eyes that contained all emotions within them. His eyes were shaped like sleepy eyes, or angry eyes, or friendly eyes, or fearful eyes, or deary eyes, or dead eyes.
Strange, he smiled while opening his eyes wide.
"Do you want to go back to the past? Do you want to rewrite the past and fix all your mistakes so you don't have to kill all humans on the earth? So you can save everyone you love?"
I slashed at his neck. But my sword passed through his neck as if cutting smoke.
"I am not a living creature. I am merely an embodiment of *mana* that has gathered and formed me. This world is a storybook, Long Yi. This world is separate from the real world."
"Who are you really?"
I stood one step in front of him. He closed his eyes and still smiled without opening his mouth.
"I am The Reader. The Writer in this world has died in the outside world. Long Yi. The world you are currently standing on is just a small island that we hid from enemies in the outside world. There are five overlapping stories. And in each of these five stories, we destined a hero to save the outside world from darkness. Among the five stories, the hero who was created first is your story, Long Yi."
I snorted, sheathing my sword into its scabbard at my waist.
"A hero? I am a demon. If you are truly The Reader, you must know what I have done."
He nodded. "Long Yi. Born to a mother whose head was severed by Devil Cult. At the age of 18, he managed to escape the Devil Cult and lived as a fugitive. Meeting a companion and a teacher on a remote mountain. Together with your companion, you both hunted down the Devil Cult and successfully defeated the Devil Cult leader. After that, right after you defeated the Devil Cult leader, you killed your own companion with the sword in your hand. Then you—"
"Tell me what your goal is."
I was tired of hearing his words. I looked into his eyes, which were smiling widely like a child excitedly telling his favorite tale to his friend.
To him, this was just a story. To him, I was just an actor in the story.
He gave a small smirk.
"Answer my previous question. Do you want to go back to past, Long Yi? In the outside world, a world full of boundless mysteries. Like the creation of five overlapping stories on this island. There is a storybook. You can erase this story and rewrite your own tale, Long Yi."
"Just tell me how?"
The brown-haired young man smiled. He waved his hand. The air seemed to tear, creating a door to the outside world. The real world. The world outside the storybook.
"Welcome, The Crazy Demon."
***