Chapter 29 Deletion #2
Polo just lay down, making a sand angel and humming carefree to himself.
Ming, Sasha, and Roden, though—their glares could’ve killed Marley moments ago if Em hadn’t deleted the ghost.
“What in Novella was that?” Sasha exploded. She marched up to Em and smacked her clean across the face. The dryad’s backhand sent stars flashing across her vision. “What did you do, sweetheart?”
“I…” Em rubbed her smarting cheek. “I saved us?”
“Saved us?” Sasha scoffed, crossing her arms. “Is that what you’d call terra-forming an entire region to your preferences? Safe?”
Em blinked, taking in the rolling sands around them: the sagebrush, the mirages, the dry winds, and crystal-clear skies. She worked her stinging jaw and wiped the last of her snot away. “Yeah?”
“You deleted an entire realm!” Sasha shouted, veins bulging along her forehead as she gestured to the desert again as if Em couldn’t already see it.
“I got rid of Kriqir’s outpost in the Dinniman Dungeon and killed Marley before he could hurt you all… and any of the other ghosts that were going to hunt us… and the orcs…” Em listed.
“But Em,” Ming spoke up, raising a meek finger. “As your intern mentor, I do have to reprimand your choice to—” the Tiefling girl flinched— “delete everything.”
“So, I changed the shitty cliché region, who fucking cares?” Em huffed. “We already planned on eliminating the orcs in the dungeon to break Kriqir’s control over the outpost. The ghosts would keep harassing us—”
“Did you stop and think maybe other species lived in the Shelley Ghostly Swamps?” Sasha demanded.
“Well…” Em coughed, ears warming. “No?”
“The swamps were haunted,” Gair spoke up, and Em was never more grateful for his support. “They weren’t a good region.”
“To us, maybe.” Sasha’s nostrils flared. “But what about the Fresh Water Kelpie colony along the eastern region of the swamp? What about the Wil-O-the-Wisps that used to guide the lost spirit souls there away from any of the liches?”
Gair’s jaw audibly clamped shut.
“I…I didn’t know any of that was there,” Em said.
“Well, you, um, deleted them all,” Ming squeaked in Sasha’s enraged shadow.
Shit shit shit. Em’s stomach somersaulted.
“No, you didn’t know, sweetheart. And that’s the whole problem!
” Sasha exclaimed. “Which means you didn’t stop and consider what your actions might’ve done to affect anyone in the local area other than us.
Which means you once again acted before thinking.
You chose for yourself without maybe considering what we know and can offer and help you with. ”
“I could write it all back again,” Em offered, pulse racing.
“No, you can’t,” Roden growled, breaking his silence.
“You could barely remember what clothes we wore this morning, or which party members to summon for help in the dungeon. There’s no way in all of Novella you will be able to rewrite an entire region with all the ghosts, souls, wisps, or anything that was there before you messed it up. ”
“Which is technically genocide,” Ming whimpered, tugging at her horns.
“Inky could help me…” Em tried.
“Don’t!” Sasha snapped a finger in her face, seething between bared teeth. “Don’t use that cursed pen again! Because of it, you’ve turned into the very thing you swore to stop…” the dryad jabbed at Em’s nose. “A Great Author.”
Em couldn’t breathe. Their glares drilled into her mind, and their accusations brewed a frothy storm of panic deep in her gut. She hugged her journal to her chest, the harsh words of her friends curling into existence across the pages beneath her arms, staining her story.
The story she had been trying so desperately to save and change.
And failed.
It was like the whole damned existence of Novella was against her.
“You told me you wanted to see a Main Character take their story into their own hands,” Em protested to Sasha. “That’s what I’ve been trying to do!”
“Yeah, sure. But not turn into one of the heartless Great Authors in the process,” the dryad retorted. “Not wipe an entire region out because it was a minor inconvenience for not paying attention to your own limitations!”
Genocide. Oh, fuck, she’d committed genocide.
Your fault. Her heart sank deeper, hammering against her ribs. Your fault. Your fault.
Ming muttered something under her breath to the other interns. Roden shifted closer toward Em, each step cautious like he was approaching a wild animal.
“You gonna explain yourself, sweetheart?” Sasha demanded.
“I didn’t mean to,” Em said.
“Okay,” Ming let out a long sigh. Her strained eyes darted between Roden and Em, but she kept a thin smile on her face.
“I think we need to reassess your current character development, Em, before you ruin too much… which, I know you want to ruin your story… that’s great, we love an independent, fierce Main Character…
but as your current mentor-in-training, maybe we need to take a step back and talk through a few things… ”
“Are you trying to give me therapy?” Em’s blood boiled. She almost didn’t notice how close Roden now stood, how his shadow crept over her.
“Um, well…” Ming hugged herself, lips curling in. “I’m not a professional, but that’s honestly not a bad idea.”
“I’m fine.” Em spit. “I just made one mistake.”
“Actually, that’s your fourth today,” Ming said.
“And killed thousands,” Sasha snapped.
Roden lunged before Em could process. She yelped, but his strong arms swept her up. In a single motion, he had pinned her to the ground, one hand gripping the back of her neck, the other elbow hooked about her collarbone. His warmth and sweat washed over her senses.
“What the fuck?” Em tugged at her head, but he had her locked in place. “Let me go!”
She fought to slap at him, but his thick arm wrapped over her limited her motion. In the tightness of his grasp, Em couldn’t even struggle. So, she screamed. It was all she could do.
“Now, Ming!” Roden ordered over Em’s head.
The Tiefling’s long fingers began to twist and glow over her. Ming chanted a ward under her breath. A purplish shimmer rose and wisped about the air as she wove her charms.
“Don’t touch me!” Em screamed at the intern, but the other girl paid no mind.
“Quit panicking, you’ll only make this worse,” Roden growled in her ear.
“Go to hell!” Em shrieked back. She jerked, yanked, and wiggled, but the half-elf was too strong. She was trapped.
“Take a deep breath, Em,” Gair said somewhere out of sight. “It’ll do you some good.”
With a swish and a hum, Ming unleashed the pent-up ball of magic at Em. Heat flooded over her, sticky-sweet air burning through her nasal cavities, down her throat, penetrating her stomach…
Then darkness swallowed Em whole.