The Antagonist's Full Moon

44. Ritualized

"What?! No, I don't want to! No!" Liv is crying again. This time, Dean could not calm down other than hug the girl again.

Reverend Torion recites the mantra on the podium. The large and small circle that was in the middle of the room suddenly shone. One by one, the phases of the moon depicted on the outer side of the large circle also began to glow. The ritual has begun. It was time for Liv to stand on one side of a large circle, stick her fingertips, then smear Dean's necklace with her blood.

"Come, it's time."

"City ... ."

"I don't have much time left .. " Dean said. Liv looked at the hand that was holding her to the side in the current circle. Not only the arms, even Dean's neck is just a line now. The man will disappear, sooner or later.

Arriving at the point where Liv was supposed to be standing, Dean stuffed the girl's fingertips into her mouth, then bit her to the point of spitting out greenish-white blood.

"I'm sorry, I'm" Dean said. Liv shook her head, she understood.

Suddenly, from the direction of the small stairs, there was the sound of Melian's scream, along with the appearance of a light-shaped portal appearing from within a small circle, sticking out three meters high.

"Wait on! Stop this! I don't want the story of this novel changed!!" shout Melian. The other priests quickly approached Melian and held her arms together, preventing Melian from further messing up.

At the same time, Liv smears Dean's necklace with his blood, dripping down the side in a spell loop. Reverend Torion quickly gave a cue, "Come in, the portal only opens for thirty seconds!"

"Stopnn!!" melian screamed hysterically and thrashed, as soon as Dean jumped through the portal, then his figure disappeared like it was swallowed by air.

Melian's body collapsed instantly. The girl recoiled, her eyes shedding tears as she muttered, "No ... my efforts .. everything .. not necessarily I could be Melian again after everything was repeated from the beginning ... why is my favorite author this cruel to me .. no ... ."

Liv's body also collapsed to the floor, while continuing to hold tightly the necklace of the last relic of a human man who has filled his days for some time. Her tears came back, hitting the surface of the necklace, mixed with her blood.

Suddenly, the whole room shook. Liv looked around. All the priests looked confused and frightened, except for Melian who seemed to have lost her mind and continued to mutter nonstop.

The air around Liv features obscure color strokes. Liv felt her own body shaken, simultaneously every time the air streak appeared.

Slowly, all the creatures in the basement disappeared. Even everyone in the world disappeared, leaving housing, streets, empty buildings.

All the living have disappeared, leaving Reverend Torion alone. The Great Priestess approached the point where Liv had vanished. The old man found Dean's necklace falling out of the elf girl's hands.

Reverend Torion grasped the necklace, and looked at it intently as he muttered something.

"Master Creator, do you leave me as the only being who will remember all? All right, I get what you mean."

Later, Reverend Torion put Dean's necklace in his cloak pocket. The old man went upstairs, back into the room room on the top floor of the temple. He knew he just had to keep quiet until everyone reappeared. The Great Priestess Torion would pretend as if nothing had happened, since Liv's birth into the world, as everything would be repeated from the beginning, from then on.

***

"Liv!"

Dean opened his eyes, wide open. Sweat pours heavily on the forehead and back. His breathing was breathless, as the man tried to observe the surroundings. A three-by-four-meter tenement room, and a computer whose screen is still on.

Dean got up from the floor where he had fallen before. His head was no longer dizzy. The man checked the clock and date on the computer calendar. Apparently, it has only been a day since he fainted, even though he has been for months in the novel world. Dean looked around, nothing changed.

"What was that just a dream?" ask Dean to himself. Dean felt his neck and felt something different. His father's necklace wasn't there. In fact, all this time the necklace was never released.

"My neck ... Did I actually meet Liv?!"

Dean gasps. He immediately sat down on the chair, facing the computer screen. It's time he made good on his promise to Liv and Frode to change the story of their lives.

"I'll change it so it won't be sad. At the very least, I'll give you a chance to change destiny."

Dean drives the mouse, hovering over the author's dashboard menu on an online platform where sustenance and popularity have been gaining ground.

The man opens the script "The Wasted Prince", especially in the chapters that have Liv's story, from her background to meeting Haldir. Dean deletes, adds posts, changes the conflict Haldir will face, writes the point ******* the others and everything he needs so that Liv and Frode's fate can change without creating a rough plot.

Every time Dean changes something and saves it, a chapter update notification appears in the readers library menu. Of course, this makes fans of Dean's work amazed, because it is known that "The Wasted Prince" should have been nearing completion.

Suddenly, their favorite authors posted changes in the previous chapters, a lot of them. This makes them go to fan chat groups and ask about it.

"Thor, why so many updates?"

"Something's changed, huh, the storyline?"

Dean looked at all the chat messages and answered them briefly. "Later I will announce in the last chapter."

Dean scrolled through the names of the exclusive fans who belonged to the group. His eyes were fixed on the name of Rika, whom he had appointed as the group leader.

At that instant, Dean recalled the Melian he had met before. Dean typed in a message, asking, "Where are you, huh? It wasn't seen yet."

The message was not answered until finally a fan named Kana spoke up. "I'm her schoolmate Rika, sorry to hear. I just got home from the service. Please pray, yes, friends, Rika is dead."

Reported by Kana, that Rika died in a car accident in front of the school. All the other fan members also expressed their condolences, not least Dean, although he was stunned for a moment.

Dean glanced back at the screenplay, then muttered, "I don't know if Rika could be Melian again after I've changed all the chapters of this script. But if not, hopefully he can be calm in nature there. If given the chance to live once more, may he be placed in a good world. Amen."

Dean finished all the edits, then re-uploaded the script, ending it. At the end of the story, Dean writes a chapter with an announcement of his editing actions.

"I realized my mistake, which could not accept the criticism and advice of all my friends. I apologize for all of that. As a symbol of apology, I have changed the script, especially in the storyline of the antagonist Liv.

Liv's position was turned into a co-starring role for Haldir and Melian. The conflict Haldir faced when he proposed Melian no longer had to deal with Liv, but Olrun, Melian's father. For more details, you can reread from chapter 23 onwards ... ."

***

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