A thunderous crash echoed through the sky, as rain drummed against the earth. It was day time but the city was shrouded with darkness as the storm raged on.
The flashes of lightening that followed illuminated Hero's small, cluttered room, momentarily highlighting the books and papers scattered across his desk.
"Ah." Hero sighed as he looked out the window. "I'm so bored."
It was the weekend, and he had plans with the guys. They were supposed to watch a movie, visit a PlayStation and basically just have fun, but it seemed the skies weren't in favour of their outing.
The rain had begun since the wee hours of the morning and had continued to fall endlessly.
Hero's eyes strayed to the wall clock whose ticking had been swallowed up by the patter of the rain. The time read 9:08AM, yet the rain showed no signs of stopping soon.
Beep! Beep! The screen of Hero's phone lit up when a notification came in from the discord app.
"Oh, it's from webnovel's inkstone server." Hero sat up immediately as he had only turn on notifications for the contest updates channel where only contest related stuff were posted.
He had written an awesome story—at least to him, it was—but he didn't want to publish it without entering a contest. He waited for months for the right theme which would fall perfectly in line with the story he had drafted, but it never came.
Hero eagerly tapped on the notification icon, and it led him to the post on the contest channel.
His shoulders immediately deflated at the sight. His disappointment was palpable as he read through, "Starting from November 1st, we will launch a new round of fanfic writing contest!"
A fanfic? Really?
Despite his growing disappointment, he read on.
"$800?!!!" He suddenly blurted with his eyes wide in surprise. "That's... unexpected."
With his interest piqued, he tapped on the link below the update which then took him to the contest page where there were more information about the fanfic contest. The themes, rules and of course, the prizes.
"Goodluck to the winners. Fanfic isn't my thing." Hero muttered as he lay his phone down after going through everything there was to know about the contest.
Thud! The sound of something falling to the ground startled Hero.
Whipping his head to the direction of the sound, he found out it was a book that had fallen from his mini-bookshelf.
Feeling lazy, he decided to ignore it, but then...
"Wait a minute." Hero jolted up from his seat and quickly rushed to pick up the book that had fallen after realising which book it was.
His eyes gleamed as he scanned the book's cover. "Hellbound with you." He said, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. "Yes! That's it!"
It was one of the best novels he had ever read, and now an idea had brewed in his head.
It won't hurt to try, right?
He could already feel his creative juices flowing—his brain already coming up with a million and one scenes that he could write about.
That's right! He had decided to join the contest, and what better book to write about if not one that he had been so immersed in that he almost could literary feel the joy, pain and tension which the characters were portrayed to feel.
ZERES!!!
Hero's favourite character in the novel.
"I'm going to rewrite the tides. I'm going to give you the befitting ending that I and so many other 'Hellbound with you' readers think you deserve."
But first things first, he had to refresh his memory. It's been two years since finished the novel, and he had forgotten some of the things that transpired in the novel that could probably be of use to him in the course of writing the fanfic.
Settling comfortably on his bed, Hero began flipping the pages of the book, his heart thumping in excitement as he visited a world that used to be a comfort place at one point.
Bang! Bang! Bang! A loud insistent knock echoed through the house, immediately putting Hero on the alert. He sat up straight on the bed, eyes wide as he strained his ears to listen in.
The knock had come from the main door downstairs, but who could it be? During a storm at that!
The sound of the knock didn't come again, and it had Hero beginning to think he was imagining things. Heaving a sigh, he decided to lay back down, and continue...
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Hero jumped out of bed, clutching the book to his chest. "The helll?" He muttered.
Just then, his phone also rang as a call came in. With his heart beating loudly in his ears, he slowly walked over to the desk to peak at the caller's ID, praying for it to not be an unknown number.
Daniel
"Ah, it's just Daniel." He heaved a sigh of relief, "I should have known he'd be the only one who would knock like that. "Oh, when I get my hands on him!" He cracked his knuckles, and left his room, heading downstairs for the main door while still holding the book.
"Daniel, you idi-" Hero opened the door and froze, his words coming to an abrupt stop.
There was no one at the door.
Huh?
"Daniel?!" Hero called out in confusion. The rain was still falling very heavily, and the skies continue to rumble ragingly.
Tucking the book under his shirt, he decided to step outside for a bit to look around. "Daniel? It's not funny. I know you are here."
As Hero stepped outside, the rain-soaked him instantly. He squinted through the downpour, calling out to Daniel, but his voice was drowned out by the thunder.
His eyes scanned the empty porch, and he took a step forward, his foot landing on a wet step. In his haste, his hand brushed against the iron rod supporting the porch roof.
Another loud rumble rippled through the sky, and a blinding flash of light was all Hero could see—his body jolting violently.
Electricity coursed through him, his muscles contracting in shock. The book tucked under his shirt seemed to burn against his skin as though it were absorbing the lightning's energy.
The book fell from underneath his shirt to the wet ground, the pages glowing softly, and invitingly.
Hero felt the world around him begin to distort and blur, colors bleeding into each other. His vision tunneled, and he felt himself being pulled towards the book.
The iron rod slipped from his grasp, and he stumbled forward, the book's glow intensifying until it was all he could see.
As the light enveloped him, Hero's consciousness began to fade. His molecules tore apart, everyone of them drawn into the book's pages.
The storm raged on, but Hero was gone, absorbed into the world of "Hellbound with You"