That face.
It was something he could never forget, no matter how many centuries he might live, no matter what dimension, universe, or nightmare he stumbled into.
For a terrifying second, He imagined if that was the way God stared at his own creation, because he made this face that somehow is looking back at him through that mirror.
It was his own creation.
"No… no, no, no!" Star muttered, his voice cracking. The mirror didn't lie. It wasn't just the face. His entire body had changed. He wasn't himself anymore, he was inside another body. The body he created.
"It wasn't just the face. It wasn't even just the eyes. It was the whole goddamn body."
The body of Steve Morris.
Steve Morris: the very character he'd told his secretary Isabel to delete from the movie. The boring, weak, overly righteous filler. And yet here he was, staring back at Star from the mirror like a cosmic joke.
"If I'm inside his body," Star whispered, panic rising, "that means… I'm inside the movie too."
The thought punched the air from his lungs.
"And… if I'm not in my body… then…" He froze, chest heaving, heart punching against his ribs like it wanted out.
"…that means I'm dead."
His pulse spiked. His palms were slick. His head spun so violently he had to grab the edge of the mirror.
"Oh no… oh no, no, no."
'How was this even possible? Argh...Impossible. Utterly impossible.'
Yes, he had written anime after anime about transmigration, reincarnation, and all sorts of supernatural body-jumping; but those were fiction. Paper. Ink. Imagination. Things that belonged to late-night brainstorming sessions and ramen-fuelled storyboards.
Never.... never, not in his wildest caffeine-addled dreams, did he imagine it could happen to him. And of all the cursed bodies he could have landed in… it had to be Steve Morris.
'Steve. Freaking. Morris.'
The weakest, most pathetic character he had ever made. A church-going, peace-preaching, fragile little lamb of a man.. No of a vampire.
Steve was supposed to be nothing but a suspense device... a pawn. He was the newest character he made in the last episode for suspense. And yes; he had hooked fans with cliff-hangers so brutal they wrote hate comments begging for more episodes.
But still… Steve was innocent. Too innocent. Boringly innocent.
Why couldn't he have landed in Jason Stone, the ruthless antihero, or even Jax Briggs, his tall, muscular, fan-favourite with abs sharp enough to slice cheese? No... Instead He had to wake up in Steve; the saintly fool he had nearly deleted from existence.
Fate, apparently, had a sense of humour.
'Oh God, Life is cruel. No.... scratch that. Life was a troll.'
His spiral of thoughts was shattered by a sudden...
Ding!
A sound chimed in the air, crisp and metallic, like someone had struck a glass bell directly in his skull. Floating right in front of him, at eye level, was a shimmering blue board. Glassy. Three-dimensional. Like some glowing, futuristic menu screen ripped out of a high-budget video game.
"What the hell..."
Before he could finish his statement, words began scribbling themselves across the surface, and he heard them in his head like a narrator speaking directly into his brain.
_________________________
[System processing… … …]
The glowing text flickered.
[System processed (●_●)]
_____________________
And just like that, a happy little smiley face appeared.
Star's eye twitched, as he raised a brow.
"A smiley? Really? What the hell is so funny?" He glared at the floating emoji.
"Stop looking at me like that."
What he saw now made realization hit him hard.
No way.
No bloody way.
"This is really happening…" His voice trailed off. His knees threatened to give way.
"So this is not a bad dream." The board in front of him, and what was happening, was part of how he had produced his movie. And happening to him now, it made him know, with a very disturbing fact, that this was his real reality now.
The panel continued, oblivious to his disbelief.
___________________________
[Name: Steve Morris]
[True name: Star Dracovich]
[Age: 23]
[Nickname: Un-prescribed]
____________________________
"Wrong!" Star barked at the screen. "I'm twenty-four, goddammit. Twenty-four! This guy here is a grown-ass man, not some rookie fresh outta college."
The board ignored him.
___________________________
[True self: A daylight-ringless vampire "exhibit"]
___________________________
Star froze. "…Daylight ringless?"
Star groaned.
"Of course. Of course, this douchebag version of me has no daylight ring. Great job, past me. How the hell am I supposed to go outside now without roasting like barbecue chicken?"
He didn't even bother to open the "exhibit" tab. He already knew what it meant.
The panel continued.
____________________________
[Power: Charm and Producer Pen/Movie's Rewrite "exhibit"]
___________________________
Star gawked. "Really? That's it? Not strength, not agility, not fireballs, not even damn mind-reading? Just charm?" He slapped his forehead.
"How am I supposed to fight anyone... flirt them to death?"
The board blinked back.
__________________
[(●_●)…]
__________________
Star nearly threw a punch at the glowing blue screen.
"Stop with the damn faces!"
Then, new words etched themselves.
__________________
[You have unlocked your system, Steve Morris. Your mission awaits.]
_________________
Star narrowed his eyes.
"Hang on... wait. This isn't how it goes!" Star barked at the floating words.
"No, no, no, no, no. In the movie, this board wasn't supposed to assign missions. It was just for stats.... for the audience to understand character rankings. That's it! I never wrote this!.... OOOOOOH!... Let it not be that Someone... or something, has tampered with my creation."
In his movie, the boards were never supposed to assign missions. They were just rank guides for the audience to understand the world's hierarchy.
The board carried on.
_____________________
[Star Dracovich AKA Steve Morris, you must complete your missions if you wish to leave the world of your creation.]
_____________________
His blood ran cold. "No… This isn't scripted. This was never in the film."
His throat went dry.
"Is this… some kind of trick? A bug? Did my anime glitch into reality? This was never scripted! This was NEVER..."
The words flickered again, drowning him out. Not interested in his breakdown.
____________________
[Core Mission: Continue your movie.]
[Hint: Every action you take is the continuation from where your movie stopped. People are watching. Anything that drops the fanbase or displeases your audience will result in punishment.]
_____________________
His throat dried instantly. He swallowed nothing but dust.
"…Punished? By who? The fans? The company? My enemies?"
He thought of his studio. His empire. Could someone already have taken over in the real world while he lay dead? and changed everything he had built?
The board kept going.
______________________
[Missions]:
[Double the wealth your father left you.]
[Through: Smartness "Outsmart a Joker"]
[Theft "Steal from a crime lord"]
[Mystery "Find out the danger surrounding you"]
[Seduction "Seduce the Red Queen"]
_______________________
Star barked a bitter laugh. "Ha! Oh, that's rich."
Not like they were talking about his real father. No.. But...
Steve's father. His real one had died when he was just a kid. But Steve's? Steve had inherited money, a mansion, and a legacy drenched in bitterness. And now Star had access to those memories; a cursed "gift" for inheriting the host body.
"And what a humiliating way that body died. Killed by two wh... no. One whore. One. God, this guy is too pathetic."
His temples throbbed at the flood of Steve's memories; every sour detail of his father's presence enough to make his skull ache.
The glowing text lingered in front of him, daring him to argue.
"Outsmart a joker? Steal from a crime lord? Seduce the Red Queen? Are you kidding me?!"
The Red Queen was the deadliest woman in his entire creation; the femme fatale, the nightmare of kings. And they wanted him; in Steve's flimsy body, to seduce her? with charm as my only power... to play gigolo?" No way in hell.
Unless… unless this was done to him. Maybe by an obsessed fan? Someone who couldn't wait for the next instalment... who couldn't wait for him to create the nest episode, and decided to force him into his own story, to complete it there himself. "I thought they only wanted to sue me?
He slapped his forehead.
"This has to be the work of an obsessed fan. Someone hacked my anime, dragged me inside, and said, 'Here, buddy, go fuck with the Red Queen.'"
His stomach twisted.
Then the board flashed one more warning, the glowing words pulsing, almost mockingly.
____________________
[Punishment for failure: The Editor's Curse]
____________________
Star flinched. "Editor's what?!" He looked around as if his editor might jump out from the shadows.
"Is this your doing? Dear Editor." He thought despite himself.
No. Impossible. His editor was one of his five closest friends... the very people who helped him build his empire from scratch. They would never betray him… right?
The final lines etched themselves in glowing ink.
________________
[Level up and change the phase of your creation.]
[Become the MC.]
_________________
Star's jaw went slack. The words burned into his mind like a brand.
"Become… the MC?" he whispered. His throat tightened like he'd swallowed a stone.
"How the hell am I supposed to do that in Steve's body? He's the most pathetic character in this entire world, and according to my movie the MC is meant to change and restore the world. And how am I going to do that inside this Steve slot?"
But then again, Steve might be pathetic, but Star wasn't. He clenched his fists, steadying his breath. If the only way out was to turn Steve into the main character, then so be it. And also that means he has a lot of upgrading to do
He straightened, dragging in a deep, shaky breath.
"I have to do this," he said, voice low but resolute.
At least Steve wasn't ugly. He had designed him attractive for the suspense factor. But behind that handsome shell, Steve was still pathetic.
It was up to Star to fix that.
His gaze slid down to the body lying on the floor, the girl he had snapped to death earlier.
Her bare skin was pale, lifeless, and poisoned.
Star grimaced. "God… what type of person poisons someone and then fucks them to death?"
He rubbed his temple, shaking his head.
"What do I even call this? Death by… fucking?"