Before Adam could form a single coherent thought about his new reflection a blinding pain erupted inside his skull. It was not a slow ache. It was a sudden violent spike of agony. It felt like his brain was being torn apart from the inside.
A strangled cry escaped his lips. He clamped both hands to the sides of his head squeezing his eyes shut as if that could somehow stop the assault. His legs gave way. He collapsed to the plush carpet his body curling into a tight ball against the floor. The pain was all-consuming a white-hot nova of pure sensation.
Then just as suddenly as it began it vanished.
The agony receded completely. It left no lingering throb no echo of its presence. It was simply gone. Adam remained on the floor for a few seconds his breath coming in ragged gasps. He slowly uncurled his body. He was drenched in a cold sweat. His eyes opened wide with shock and utter surprise.
And then the flood began.
Memories that were not his own poured into his mind. They were not faint impressions. They were vivid crystal-clear experiences. He saw through the eyes of a young boy with wealthy parents. He felt the sting of his father's cold expectations.
He experienced the quiet satisfaction of using those family contacts manipulating his way into the country's most prestigious school. He lived a lifetime in a matter of seconds. A childhood a
dolescence a complete history. The owner of this body had a name. It was Eric.
Eric. The name struck Adam like a physical blow. He knew that name. He created that name. He was inside a character from his own web novel. Eric was not just any character. He was the hero's best friend. He was also the story's ultimate villain.
As Eric's life settled into his mind Adam's own memories of the story he wrote surged forward to meet them. The entire plot laid itself bare in his consciousness. The story was a romance. The hero was a man named Bryan. Bryan was a regressor. He had traveled back in time from the future.
Adam remembered why Bryan came back. He came back because in the original timeline Eric murders him.
Eric does not just kill his best friend. He systematically destroys his life. He manipulates the story's heroine a gentle girl named Sophia. He poisons her mind with lies and half-truths until she believes she loves Eric not Bryan. In the end Sophia marries Eric.
But Eric's victory was hollow. His web of deceit eventually unraveled. Sophia discovered the truth. She realized the depth of Bryan's devotion. She learned that even in the future when Bryan was thirty years old he had never married. He had spent his entire life loving only her.
That realization made her feelings for Bryan return with overwhelming force. Eric discovered this. He found out that the woman he had stolen despised him.
How did Eric find out? He had a secret. It was a secret only two people in the entire universe knew. Eric himself and his creator Adam. Eric possessed a superpower. Clairvoyance. He could sit in one place and see anyone anywhere within a five-kilometer radius. It was a psychic power of immense scope. It was the tool he used to orchestrate his entire manipulative scheme. Not even Bryan the story's hero ever knew about it.
Adam lay on the floor his mind reeling from the dual influx of memories. He was in Eric's body. He was the villain. He knew the entire story from beginning to end.
Something clicked in his mind. A piece of the timeline. He scrambled to his feet. He frantically looked around the luxurious room. His eyes landed on a sleek desk in the corner. A laptop sat on its polished surface. He rushed over to it his heart hammering in his chest. He flipped open the lid. The screen came to life revealing the desktop. His eyes shot to the bottom right corner. He needed to see the date.
He found it.
A cold dread washed over him. It was worse than he thought.
"No" he breathed the word a soft puff of air. The main event of the web comic was not coming. It was not in a week. It was not tomorrow. It started today. Today was the first day of classes at U-Academy. The place where everything was set in motion. The place where Bryan and Sophia would meet. The place where Eric's plan would begin.
A wave of panic should have consumed him. He was trapped in the body of a villain whose death he had personally written. The hero Bryan was here in this timeline. He was armed with the knowledge of the future. He knew Eric was his enemy. Bryan's sole purpose for returning to the past was to protect Sophia and to destroy him. Adam should be terrified. He should be scrambling for a way out for a way to hide.
But he felt nothing.
He looked down at his new hands. They were steady. His heartbeat was even. His mind was clear. He felt a profound and unsettling calm.
What is happening to me? he thought. I should be scared. Bryan is out there right now hunting for me. He knows what I'm going to do. He has every advantage. So why do I feel no anxiety? There is no fear inside me.
He stood there in the silent room wrestling with this strange emotional disconnect. The knowledge of his impending doom was a fact in his mind. It was not a terrifying reality. It was just a piece of information.
Then he understood.
It was not his calm. It was Eric's.
He had designed this character with meticulous care. Eric was not a simple thug. He was a genius. He was brilliant calculating and preternaturally manipulative. He was a master of planning. He always had a contingency for every situation. Adam had written him to be the ultimate predator a villain who thrived in the shadows.
His defining trait was his complete emotional control. He never showed his hand. He never let fear cloud his judgment. That was precisely why in the original story Bryan never suspected his best friend. He never saw the knife until it was already in his back.
Adam was now inside that perfect villainous shell. The body's inherent nature was overriding his own panic. Eric's personality his icy composure his strategic mind was asserting itself.
Adam the terrified author was being suppressed by Eric the flawless antagonist. He was in mortal danger. Yet he felt disturbingly and dangerously in control.