Chapter Three: Echoes of Ash and Ink
It was dark.
Not the kind of darkness born from nightfall, but the thick, suffocating kind that felt like it had weight—like it could press against your skin and seep into your thoughts. Saito's breath trembled. His lips quivered as his wide eyes locked onto the nightmare before him: the grotesque form of a massive spider, its slick legs moving slowly, almost deliberately, across broken pavement drenched in blood and shattered glass.
His body refused to move. His voice caught in his throat. He wanted to scream, to run, but the moment was frozen in terror.
"This can't be real."
The scent of iron hit him — not just blood, but something more rancid, like burning meat. He turned and vomited to the cracked asphalt, unable to process the sight of the corpse — his own — sprawled just meters away. Torn. Broken. Discarded like a failed sketch.
His vision blurred from exhaustion, each step he took stumbling and uncertain. Shadows of twisted buildings loomed above him, their steel skeletons reaching into a sky smeared with crimson and violet clouds. No sound echoed around him, only silence. Empty windows gaped like eye sockets, watching him with apathy.
Then — a sound. The clicking of the spider's limbs.
Saito turned his head slightly. It had noticed him.
"AHHHHHH! SOMEONE! ANYONE! HELP!"
His voice cracked and echoed into nothingness. There was no one.
At first, the spider didn't move. It only stared, its glossy black eyes reflecting Saito's quivering form like a broken mirror. He blinked — and in that heartbeat, it was gone.
It was beside him.
Space had been ignored. Time had been mocked. Reality bent as the creature raised one leg.
Saito's body screamed before he could. A searing pain tore through his left arm, blood erupting into the air in slow motion. Pieces of flesh spiraled in the air like torn pages.
Before he could register the pain, something else struck him.
He flew. Shattered one wall. Then another. Concrete cracked like bones. Debris rained around him. Light flickered. His back hit metal. His body refused to move.
He coughed blood, his vision spinning. From his broken vantage point, he could just make out the spider... still eating the corpse.
Then it began to walk.
Or did it? Because no matter how slowly it seemed to move, it was suddenly there, again, beside him.
He didn't breathe. He didn't dare. Sweat poured down his brow as he gritted his teeth.
A sharp sound.
The spider's head burst open.
A hole, clean and deliberate.
It began to regenerate — no blood, no pain. But then came lightning. A pillar of divine energy carved down from the heavens and struck it. Ash and black wind spiraled outward. The ground quaked. Buildings screamed. Saito's body was untouched, though he felt the power rumbling through the stone beneath him.
Voices.
"It looks like someone got caught in the crossfire."
"We'll have to report this to her."
"What do we do with him?"
Saito tried to focus. The world spun. He saw two shadows — a woman and a man. But then darkness consumed him.
---
He woke to sunlight.
Warm light filtered through sheer white curtains. The room smelled faintly of citrus and paper. His body ached, but he was covered in soft blankets. The bed was too big. The sheets too white.
And there was his sister.
At least — the sister from that world.
She sat with legs crossed, wearing the Misugatashi school uniform, reading a light novel with her glasses on. Her presence felt oddly normal in a place so foreign.
"You're awake, Sai-kun."
"Y-Yeah…"
He tried to sit up.
"Uh… Sumi-san?"
She turned a page. "You want to ask: 'Where am I?' 'How did I survive?' 'What was that thing?' Am I right?"
She stood, walked to his bedside, and leaned down.
"But before all that…" she whispered near his ear, "...I'm not your sister in this world. So… is it really okay for me to see you like this?"
Saito blushed, face red with embarrassment.
She laughed. "I'm kidding! Wow, you really are easy to tease."
She smiled warmly and walked toward the door.
"I'll grab you some clothes."
He nodded.
She opened the door — and immediately walked back in, now holding clothes.
"No need to cover up. I've already seen it."
Saito froze. "Do you care about privacy?!"
Sumi tilted her head. "Nope."
A new voice entered the room.
"I know you're a doting sister, but this is a bit much."
A boy walked in, peach-colored hair and violet eyes, his face completely emotionless. He wore a white sweater and black joggers.
Sumi nodded. "Misuki. You're here."
She patted his shoulder as she passed him. "Saito, he'll explain everything."
Saito blinked. "Eh?"
"Put on your clothes first," Misuki said without emotion.
---
Once dressed, Saito sat on the edge of the bed.
"So… I'm dead?"
"Yup. Dead-boy confirmed."
"…That was unexpectedly blunt."
"Sorry. Just trying to make you feel better."
"You don't need to do that."
"Okay."
Saito took a deep breath. "But… how am I still breathing?"
Misuki shrugged. "Your old body was eaten. You were erased from that story — or… reality. Or existence. Take your pick."
Saito's face twisted in confusion.
Misuki sighed.
"I'll explain from the top."
---
"The world you knew? That was a metaphysical construct — a fiction built by your sister, Lady Sumi. She created it using her thoughts to protect you. A bubble of infinite existences we call 'Box of Existence.'"
Saito nodded slowly.
"Everything in that world — atoms, dreams, magic, even your blood — was fiction in this one. Here, stories are matter. Thought is creation."
A woman walked in silently with tea. Her eyes were red. She wore a black suit and glasses. She placed the tea carefully.
Saito sipped it. Familiar. Sweet.
"Mmm."
"You just drank a multiverse." Misuki said flatly.
Saito choked.
"Why am I alive again?"
"You were reincarnated into your real body. The one that belongs in this world."
"The corpse I saw?"
"Your original form. Some circumstances sent your soul into another story — but your fate caught up."
Saito went quiet.
Misuki stood.
"The spider? That's called a Shatron. A creature from an alternate plane — drawn in by human sin. It attacked both your worlds. Same entity, one hunger."
Saito swallowed. "And the lightning bolt?"
"Magic. Ki. Chi. Mana. Doesn't matter. Just power from this world."
"And the monsters?"
"They're born from the essence of life. When too much sin builds up, the stories twist. They slip through."
Misuki turned to the door.
"If you want to know more — about spells, schools, realms, or truths…"
He looked back at Saito.
"Ask. But just know… the world is dangerous now."
He closed the door.
Saito collapsed back into the bed. His hands trembled.
"…It's just too much."
--
To be continued