The others couldn't see what Lloyd wrote as well as he could, but they noticed that it surpassed more than one paragraph — nothing less from a world-builder. True to his element, he was writing a full-blown scenario to unleash onto reality. His great story came to an end at last when he finished writing the last sentence.
As soon as he did, the scenario began to take place. The ground beneath their feet shook with great pressure, yet there was no sign of it rupturing anytime soon. Erina was certain the quivery roads she passed by earlier were down to the core by now. However, the several people right behind the barrier seemed unaffected by the earthquake. Lloyd had a semblance of common sense to keep the damage within. Still, he did not account for all those inside, and certainly not the passed out woman, leaving the job for Erina to hold the woman and keep her from any potential danger.
There was no telling what would happen next, the others still didn’t understand Lloyd’s plan. All they could do was watch in silence.
It was around the afternoon so the sun was sure to be setting soon, but something unexpected happened instead. The sky turned to a shade of grey as more clouds began to form and gather together, absolutely blocking the sun. Followed by that was the sudden change in weather, a strong gust of wind roared right through, almost lifting Zoe, who was quite light for a girl her age, off her feet.
“Woah Woah! L-Lloyd, what are you doing?” Zoe was alarmed.
The gusts of wind shifted around the entire district, creating a typhoon. But rather than the typhoon sweeping everything in its way, it formed only around the town’s boundaries, trapping whoever was still within the town and blocking out everyone on the outside. Nothing from the outside, not the barrier, not the buildings, and certainly not the people, could longer be seen. It was all covered by the constant stream of draught.
It was then that Erina realized, “This isn’t a summon scenario…,” she held her arm against her face to shield herself from the wind, “We’re being sucked into a folio. This is a Reality Shift!!!!”
[Reality Shift]
A Reality Shift enabled a writer to shift to their own parallel world or void within their own folio. This was the very conclusion of a Recto-Verso Expansion method, to take over the page (the territory around) completely and transform one’s folio into a separate dimension. Inside, the writer had the absolute freedom with their writing, to write whatever they want without risks.
Lloyd’s eyes lit with joy and resolve, the bright deranged smile still on his face.
“(Arise!)” He whispered.
Both Erina and Zoe backed away to the edge. Although the stream of wind was directly behind them, it was as tough as a brick wall, and it wasn’t going to draw them in either.
Just as they felt safe, a hand grabbed Zoe’s shoulder. She felt her entire body freeze at that moment, she was petrified. She could not turn and look behind her like she had been held back by some sort of force. She could only see Erina, who was beside her and seemed to be in the same situation. The rancid hand was relentlessly shaking, desperately trying to make her turn in its direction. She glanced over to her shoulder. There it was, the hand was entirely stained in blood, like something out of a horror movie. Somehow, the shock from her reaction was able to alleviate her paralyzed state, making her able to turn around to see what laid behind her. Zoe turned around, with the mindset of facing something terrifying, a monster or a disfigured creature, but instead, she was faced with something totally unexpected.
A girl drenched entirely in blood. She scarcely had any distinctive features.
Another girl of similar features hung onto Erina’s arms. Her legs were shaking continuously as if she were on the brink of collapse. It looked directly at Erina’s eyes, staring at her, peeking into her soul, almost terrifying her.
“This is…” Erina faltered in her words.
The girl had tried to open her mouth, possibly to speak, but instead, started coughing and hacking blood all over Erina’s clothes, who backed away immediately in disgust.
The two strange girls facing both Erina and Zoe eventually stood up properly, if you can call their broken backs proper. They began to walk along, passing the girls and moving forward.
What came after was shocking… several people, of similar disfigured features to the girls, began emerging from within the stream and walked forward in unison, heading toward Lloyd’s direction. Most of them varied in appearances, some were dressed in modern clothes and looked like average citizens, others seemed like knights from the middle ages. It truly was an army.
“You saw them, right?” Zoe uttered in complete disbelief.
“Yea… They’re all dead…” Erina remarked.
It didn’t take a smart person to piece everything together and figure out what those people were.
“Arise!” Lloyd said it again, this time aloud.
[Reality Shift: Chasm of the Undead]
Out of all possible scenarios to come up with, Lloyd chose to go with summoning hordes upon hordes of the undead, all under his control. It wasn’t anything dangerous as it was terrifying to the uninvolved. These undead people, zombies, were projections first and foremost, they had no effect on humans — that doesn’t mean the undead did not exist outside of Neverland, however.
Lloyd summoned these great masses of the undead with the sole purpose of enveloping and capturing the dragooun, like ants crawling together on an object to collectively carry it. Their number almost amounted to infinity, so there was no escape for the dragooun. Even if it knew how to fly, it was trapped within Lloyd’s folio, within the chasm filled with the undead. It would only be a matter of time for the dragooun.
“Set forth with my accursed blessing, my great army!” Lloyd cried out with great enthusiasm. The end of his jacket was flying in the direction of the wind, feeding into the dramatic ambiance. “Fight for us, and regain your honor. Fight for me, and I will hold your oaths fulfilled! Fight, and I shall release you from this living death! (I’ve always wanted to say that)”
“This? This is your great plan?!!” Erina shouted. The sound of the wind was too strong. “Seriously… What is wrong with that guy?”
With seemingly no end for them, the great army marched forward, setting their sights on the dragooun, which was on its way to the wide intersection (the designated location to corner it from all sides).
The girls felt lost among the crowd, even when they stood still in their places. Erina was thankful the woman on her back was not conscious to witness all of that; something worse than passing out could have happened to her if so.
Both of them abruptly found themselves being lifted off the ground and levitating until the marching army was right beneath their feet. Right in front of them was Lloyd, who had created this concealed surface similar to the one before to help them cross the road easily along with the army.
With his sly and confident smile still on his face, Lloyd swung his arm in the direction forward, prompting his friends to follow him. Erina and Zoe looked at each other, still in disbelief. They hesitantly followed right behind him, as they did not have much of a choice in the first place.
It was all utterly ridiculous, yet amazing all the same.
Even as he was above the army, Lloyd strode ahead of them, solidifying his truth as the army’s leader. He bore great courage. All he needed next was a cape and he would be befitting to that of the king of conquerors. With each step, he could see the rest of the army marching forward from each side of the town, all determined on the town’s square.
“When I said “zombies,” I didn’t mean it in a literal sense…” Erina figured Lloyd came to think of his plan because of what she said earlier.
She was still not convinced it might work. There was still the possibility for the dragooun to push on the offensive and take out the army with ease, but then again, there was no end to these… undead.
If only by a fraction of a possibility, this plan was going to work.
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