Deranged Writer's Afterword

Darkness had engulfed the sun and it was currently night time.

Silence presided over the gigantic Creed mansion.

At this time when nobody was watching nor paying attention, a commotion started in Creed\'s backyard.

A ball of pure white light rises from the ground, leaving no trace of its departure. It rises to an appropriate amount and then travels at a speed unimaginable to mere mortals.

The ball of light travels far and wide until it reaches a palace made of white marble.

It slows down now and enters the palace.

The ball of light floats around the palace passively until it reaches the throne room where a woman with an angelic appearance was dozing off.

As the light gets closer to her, her eyes slowly open.

" Finally here, huh ?", she says in a drowsy voice.

~~~~

Dina was in an extremely good mood.

Why wouldn\'t she be in a good mood?

She was going to get a major boost in power in a few minutes.

That\'s right, the shining orb of light was all the skills that Joe had gotten so far. The four skills that were given to him by the angels weren\'t EX Rank, at most, it was SS Rank. It was Joe\'s luck that helped him not get caught.

Imagine Dina\'s surprise when she learned that he managed to steal an SSS- Rank skill !. Moreover, it was from that mysterious boy as well.

Even the name of the skill was peculiar, [ The Author\'s Authority]

It was a skill that allowed the user to change the present to their whim, of course like all skills this one too had its drawbacks as well. It could only be used once a day and every time it was used, a little life force would be taken.

Still, in Dina\'s eyes, the skill had great value.

None of the other angels knew that Dina had the skills in her possession, they were lead to believe that everything regarding the \'weapon\' was lost. The architect of the system was the only person who knew that this wasn\'t the case.

The architect mentioned above is obviously Dina.

From the outside, the angels might look like a tight-knit group but the reality of the situation was that like any group, a lot of hidden politics and power plays were going on under the scenes.

That was why it was detrimental for Dina to become more powerful.

Dina slowly gets up from her throne and walks into her lab, the light followed her like a chick would follow its mother.

Inside her lab, in the middle, there was a long tube.

She gestures her hand at the orb and it obediently floats in. Upon going inside the tube, Dina presses a switch, and noise of many sorts comes to life in the previously quiet lab.

After a minute, a single skill book comes out through the other end of the tube.

Dina takes the skill book to the ground and reads the skill on it,

[Toxic Night].

A smile blooms on her face, she throws the skill book on the ground where the other skill books were also falling down.

She steps back and watches as more skill books fall and join the bundle.

After 5 minutes, 4 skill books had fallen down and the 5th one also fell down.... but something was wrong. Unlike the other skill books, this one was burning... literally.

Dina runs towards the fire and tries to put it out but the more she tried to extinguish the fire, the wilder it got.

The fire spread in her entire office and after some time it engulfed her entire palace. Dina watched her palace crumble down from a safe distance. Her mind was in turmoil.... she had seen it... the skill that burned down her entire palace was none other than [ The Author\'s Authority].

Normally she would have been angry....but strangely she wasn\'t.

Instead of being angry...she was fascinated.

Why would that skill be on fire?

Why couldn\'t she, an angel, put out the said fire?

Several questions plagued her mind.

She knew that no matter how much she thought about it she couldn\'t find an answer.

There was a person who could give her the answer though...

A certain boy studying at Unity...

A smirk appears on Dina\'s face...

As they say, everything happens for a reason.

~~~~

I woke up early today for a change.

Ever since coming into this world, it\'s quiet.... the silence was like music to my ears after what I went through on earth.

I was in the shower right now, usually, since I wake up at the last minute I don\'t get enough time to enjoy a proper shower. But today was different,

The feel of the cold water erased all the drowsiness I felt and refreshed me.

I get out of the bathroom after a long and relaxing shower and get dressed for school. I would train... but since I just achieved a milestone in my spear training, I decided to give myself a well-deserved break. This didn\'t mean that I was just lazing around. The plan was completely formulated... but I kept reassessing it to see if there were any holes in it since if we\'re caught,

We\'re as good as dead.

Apart from the plan, I also had to think about how to continue with my spear. I needed a spear technique that had immense growth potential. I did always have the option to use money from Diane to buy a technique from the market or something but I already had my eyes set on a technique.

Max had inherited his parent\'s techniques, he not only inherited them but fused both those techniques to make his original version of it, this one was better in all aspects compared to its previous form. I felt a little envious of Max.

I wish my mother had left me a technique of some form instead of this stupid necklace.

I look down at the * Onyx necklace hanging on my neck, I never took it off even during bathing. But I\'ve learned that I can\'t take a good shit with it dangling around on my neck, so that was the only time when I took it off.

If basics were the cement, then the technique would be the bricks. Techniques had five levels and the level 1 technique was the strongest of them. Breakthroughs in technique also slowly increase our job level as well. It\'s best to be careful when choosing a technique as a technique could also determine what kind of evolution your job goes through.

I already had a technique in my mind but the owner would need some convincing to impart his knowledge. But that\'s for another time... now I\'m putting all my focus on a single thing.... namely,

To break out the princess out of her prison.

The plan in my mind had solidified and I was ready to discuss it with my comrades.

We had decided to meet up in my room today, after class.

After changing into my uniform, Eric and I quiz each other for the history quiz that was scheduled for today. I got almost all of my answers correct. I was proud of answering all these questions without the help of \'it\'.

Heh.

Seems like my hard work was paying off.

As it was time for class to start, both of us get up and start to leave for class. On our way, Eric makes me wait for him as he had to go to the toilet.

Looking at the public bathroom bought back some bad memories, but I was calm since the cause of those bad memories was currently being used as manure.

As I was reminiscing about past events, I didn\'t notice a middle-aged woman running toward me, she bumps into me and falls to the ground with a \'thump\'. I would have fallen as well if not for my strength.

" Watch where you\'re going lady.", I said raising her.

" I\'m s-sorry.", the woman said timidly.

I observe the woman, she didn\'t seem to be a teacher, her eyes were sunken and she smelled... like not good, her hair was all messed up as well.

Beggars weren\'t allowed on campus grounds but she might be one since she looks the part.

My eyes were drawn to the stack of paper in her hands, it was a missing person\'s poster. Seeing the man on the poster I gasp and say,

" Joe ?", hearing me the woman widens her eyes.

" You know my son ?!", the woman asks.

Shit.

That bastard did say something about his mother...

Was this her?

" Well not really... what happened to him ?", I said taking one of the posters in her hand.

Tears start falling from her eyes at the mention of her son and she starts to sob and starts speaking, but all I heard was gibberish. But I got the gist of it nonetheless, she was looking for her missing son....who I had killed.

Well.. this is awkward, to say the least.

I do feel sorry for her, she seems like a delightful woman but her son wasn\'t near as delightful.

I pat her on the shoulder, trying to calm her even though I knew deep down that I had no right to do such a thing.

" I\'m sorry for... your loss but I\'m running late so uh-", I said wanting to get away from her as fast as possible. I felt uncomfortable standing next to her... I\'m the reason her son is dead.

...

Eh, forget about it. Feeling guilty doesn\'t fit my aesthetic.

By now, the woman had managed to stop crying.. and she was glaring at me?

" How are you so sure ?..", the woman asks, her glare still on me.

" Excuse me ?", I ask back confused.

" How are you so sure that my son is dead..."

Well...

That is a reasonable question.

" I\'m sorry, I just-", I start to explain but stop as I see Eric walking towards us.

This was bad.

Eric can\'t meet with Joe\'s mother... a softie like him would probably tell her the truth.

" I\'m sorry, I\'m late so I\'ll be going now..", I excuse myself before she can say anything else.

I run towards Eric and drag him away to class.

" Who was that ?", Eric asked

" Nobody.", I reply.

Some things don\'t have to be said.

~~~~

Helen Hopkins, Joe\'s mother had lost count of the days.

At first, they didn\'t think that this was something serious... they thought Joe would be back soon... but he never came back.

The police had opened an investigation but it didn\'t lead anywhere. They hired private investigators and did everything imaginable to learn something about their son\'s abrupt disappearance.

All their effort yielded no results... it was as if her son had vanished from the surface of the earth.

All their finances were exhausted and they were inching closer to bankruptcy every single day.

It was when Helen was grasping at straws that she met him.

That boy... who seemed sure that her son was dead.

She felt that he was hiding something...

She knew that she was being delusional but she was desperate.

If that boy is hiding something... then she\'ll get it out of him even if she has to take drastic measures...

~~~~

Liam Wood was walking toward the principal\'s office to meet with Principal Gordon.

He was worried about him, he knew that the past few weeks were tough on him. His daughter\'s death, the pressure from management...

Liam knocks on the door of the principal\'s office, but he received no reply.

Liam knocks yet again and again.....and again.

Feeling that something was amiss, Liam opens the door and gasps at the sight before him.

Liam could see Principal Gordon... but he wasn\'t alive.

Principal Gordon had hanged himself.

~~~~