The ground cracked like thunder.
A shadow loomed over the plaza, blotting out even the dim, flickering light of broken lamps. Survivors froze mid-scream, the noise cut from their throats as if the air itself had been stolen.
The lesser hounds stopped in their tracks, hackles raised, jaws dripping blood but suddenly still. Even they knew their alpha had arrived.
And then, it stepped into the light.
✦
A wolf, if a wolf had been fed steroids, nightmares, and a steady diet of apocalypse fuel.
It stood twice the size of a truck, each muscle rippling beneath mangy, scar-scarred fur. Its eyes glowed a molten, hellfire red that seared into retinas, and its jaws dripped saliva that hissed when it splattered across the concrete. Every breath was smoke. Every growl was thunder.
The system responded in cold, glowing letters:
[Boss Monster: Dire Alpha Hound][Rank: B-Grade][Special Condition: Devours survivors to heal.]
The words alone broke people.
"No…""Oh god, oh god, oh god—""We're dead. We're all dead."
The Dire Alpha lifted its head and roared, a sound so deep it seemed to come from beneath the world itself. Glass shattered across the plaza. Knees buckled. Hope shattered like glass.
✦
But one man moved.
Kael Arathis.
No hesitation. No fear. His fists clenched until knuckles bled, his stance unshakable. The air itself seemed to coil tighter around him. His eyes—burning, impossibly certain—locked on the monster as though the rest of the world didn't exist.
"Stay back," he growled.
And impossibly, people listened. Survivors actually obeyed.
Then Kael moved.
He launched himself at the Dire Alpha like a bullet, every muscle amplified by the newborn system's gifts. His fist collided with the beast's jaw an explosion of force that snapped the monster's head sideways. The ground quaked under the impact.
The Alpha responded with a swipe of claws the size of scythes, tearing trenches into the pavement where Kael had stood an instant earlier.
Fists and claws clashed again and again. Every strike rattled the plaza. Every blow spilled blood.
✦
The survivors cheered. For a heartbeat, they believed.
Mirae's voice, bright as a game show host, boomed through the broadcast.
"OHHH, look at that, folks! Earth's Hero is putting up a fight! Punch for punch against a B-rank Boss at Level 1! Can you believe this?!"
The dimensional chat erupted like wildfire:
"What a beast!""Hero of Earth, baby!""This guy's stats are insane.""Textbook protagonist vibes love it!"
I ground my teeth. Because while Kael had everyone's attention, while he put on his grand spectacle, the rest of us were still surrounded. Still prey.
And me?
I had a pen.
✦
Another hound broke from the pack, lunging at a woman clutching her child. My gut screamed at me to run. To hide. But then, the familiar flicker.
A Rewrite window.
[Sentence: The hound tore into the mother and child.]
[ Rewrite? (Y/N) ]
My throat tightened.
This wasn't about me.
I slammed Y.
Sentence shifted: The hound stumbled on broken stone, missing its prey.
The beast collapsed mid-pounce, maw snapping shut a breath away from its victims. My blade-pen slashed across its exposed throat before I could second-guess myself.
Blood sprayed hot across my hand. The woman gasped, clutching her child tighter, staring at me as though I was something unreal.
The system agreed.
[Survivors whisper your name.][Ishaan Reed – Reputation +1.]
✦
And of course, Mirae noticed.
"Oooooooh! Viewers, did you catch that?! Our mysterious Lone Quill just pulled a clutch save! Did you see that timing? Smooth as ink on paper!"
The chat detonated with commentary:
"Lone Quill MVP??""Hero vs Quill, baby, let's gooo!""What's his power? Luck hacks?""Betting 100 credits on Quill. He's got underdog energy."
I groaned. "Don't hype me, you lunatics "
The system, merciless as ever, chimed in:
[The gods laugh at your suffering.]
✦
Meanwhile, Kael and the Dire Alpha tore chunks out of each other.
Kael's strikes cratered bone. The Alpha's claws shredded stone. Every blow shook the plaza. Every second painted the world in blood.
But the Boss had an advantage the system had warned us of. Every time it sank its jaws into a fallen survivor, its flesh healed. Torn muscles reknit. Bones snapped back into place.
Kael was strong. Terrifying, even. But he wasn't killing it fast enough.
And then the Rewrite window flickered again, glitching across my vision like a cracked screen.
[Sentence: The Dire Alpha's claw impaled Kael Arathis.]
[ Rewrite? (Y/N) ]
✦
My chest froze.
If I pressed N, Kael died. The protagonist of this nightmare, gone. The story might shift—to me.
If I pressed Y… I saved him. My rival. My obstacle.
My finger hovered.
The plaza howled with blood and chaos. Mirae's voice rang like a drumbeat. The gods whispered.
And against all logic, I slammed Y.
[Sentence: The Dire Alpha's claw scraped past Kael's ribs, leaving him staggering but alive.]
Reality bent. The claw shifted inches. Kael staggered, blood spraying—but still alive.
The system roared in warning:
[Warning: Excessive Rewrite detected.][Backlash imminent.]
✦
Pain detonated in my skull.
It felt like someone was carving words directly into my brain with knives dipped in static. My vision fractured into glitching text. Sentences crawled across the edges of reality.
[Rewrite overload.][Stability compromised.]
I collapsed to my knees, blood dripping from my nose, gasping. Sounds warped into jagged echoes. Screams bent into garbled syllables, like corrupted dialogue files.
This wasn't power.
This was pain.
✦
"Reed!"
The name cut through static.
I blinked. Dev Sharma—his face ghost-pale, eyes wild—stumbled toward me. Hands trembling, but still reaching. He grabbed my arm, hauling me up with desperate strength.
"You're bleeding—what's happening to you?!"
I couldn't answer. Could barely think. Somehow, I managed a broken laugh.
"Just… editing errors."
✦
Then came the whispers.
Not Mirae. Not the crowd. Not Kael.
The gods.
[A God of Battle sneers: 'Unworthy. Delete him.'][A Trickster God claps with glee: 'Ohhh, a bug in the story! How fun!'][A God of Stories leans in: 'The Quill bleeds ink already.']
Their voices pressed into me, heavy as tombstones. I wasn't supposed to exist. They knew it.
✦
Kael's eyes flicked toward me mid-strike. He saw me bleeding, trembling, clutching my pen-blade like it was the only tether I had left.
And his expression shifted.
Suspicion. Recognition.
"You," he muttered, even as he ducked under the Alpha's swipe. "You're not normal."
Great. Just what I needed. The protagonist noticing me.
✦
The Dire Alpha howled. Dark light pulsed across its body as it devoured another corpse. Its wounds vanished. It grew stronger.
Kael cursed, doubling his blows, but even he couldn't stop the tide.
Mirae's voice boomed through the cosmic broadcast, delighted beyond reason.
"Ohohoho! Viewers, this is juicy! Our Hero is barely holding on, the Lone Quill is bleeding out, and the Boss is regenerating faster than they can hurt it! Will Earth's first scenario end in a TPK? Place your bets!"
The chat became a frenzy of gambling and cruel jokes.
I spat blood onto the concrete. Forced myself to stand. Because if Kael fell, everyone did.
And if I fell… my story ended here.
✦
The Rewrite window flickered again.
[Sentence: Ishaan Reed collapsed, trampled by the hound.]
[ Rewrite? (Y/N) ]
My hands shook. Every cell screamed don't. Every Rewrite shredded me apart.
But I pressed Y.
[Sentence: Ishaan Reed staggered forward, still standing.]
Reality buckled. My body screamed. But I stayed upright.
Barely.
✦
Kael drove his fists into the Alpha, staggering it backward for the first time.
Our eyes locked across the chaos.
And for the first time—it wasn't rivalry. It wasn't jealousy.
It was recognition.
That we were both carrying burdens no one else here could see.
The crowd screamed Kael's name. Mirae hyped him like a sports star. The gods debated me like a glitch in their script.
And I, broken and bleeding, realized the truth.
This power wasn't free.
Every word I rewrote had a price.
And sooner or later… the bill would come due.
✦
[First Hour, 5 minutes remaining.]
The Dire Alpha reared back, jaws yawning wide enough to swallow a car. Its shadow swallowed both Kael and me whole.
And Mirae's voice rang out, bright, sing-song, cruel:
"Don't look away, folks! Because something tells me our little Lone Quill… might just surprise us."
The Alpha lunged.
The world shattered.