He jerks awake, coughing and spluttering, heaving the water out of his lungs as he struggles to breathe.

“Beth-,” he chokes, trying to call for his sister, the world is a spinning mess of colors and his throat burns. There’s a ringing buzz in his ears, static and chiming.

He takes a few more lungfuls of breath, trying to concentrate on reining in his panic and fear, before blinking his eyes open again.

William freezes. He was just in the car, there was a crash, he heard it – he felt it – but, but where was he? Not a car or highway in sight, in fact, it seems he’s underground, the only light source being the strange glowing lotuses blooming atop the pond he’s currently standing in.

With a chiming ring, that isn’t in his head a small group of sparkling and glittering ’fireflies? Moths? Fairies?’ Appear. They’re small, no more than three inches, with vaguely human forms and large purple moth-like wings. Worry, fear, and relief, show on their little faces, as they circle around him humming and ringing like bells.

It was a dream, some weird defense response of his brain to trauma. How else to explain the strange chiming creatures and sudden scenery shift (oh and outfit shift, ‘is this robe made of silk?’ he thinks with the same horror any minimum wage worker would have at the thought of ruining something expensive). Not to mention the blinking video game text box floating in front of his face?

[Host!] the text box reads.

Once the floating box notices – ‘can floating textboxes notice? Doesn’t being able to notice imply its alive?’ – it glows a brighter green and a new message appears.

[It’s so nice to finally meet you! System has been waiting so long! You’re System’s first Host so please be understanding of System. System is still learning after all!]

His throat is still raw, and for a dream, the strange boggy taste of the water that lingers in his mouth feels very real. He manages to choke out a confused, “What?”

[Ah right! Sorry, System forgot to explain!]

And in between one blink and the next, there’s a new screen and confetti falling from the sky.

[Welcome Host to the world of "Bride of the God Emperor"! Host has been chosen for a very special mission!]

“Mission?” he asks, glancing between the floating text box and the strange little fairy creatures that swirl around him, tugging his robes back into place and picking off uprooted lilies and stray water grasses stuck to his form.

[The Creator of "Bride of the God Emperor" is having a hard time planning new ideas for her sequel, so Host and System have been employed to help the creator!]

So, his trauma dream is to live out the sequel of a popular romance book? He must have been reading too many webnovels, can his brain not be any more creative? ‘Well guess it’s best to play along for now, it will at least be a funny story to tell later.’ “Help how?”

[By reenacting the original plot!] ‘Wait, so this isn’t the sequel?’ he thinks, as a new window appears, [Your job- our job-] the System quickly corrects itself, [is to help the creator go over her work to find any plot holes or missing threads the creator can expand upon. And it was decided that you, Host, would be the best suited for the job!]

Okay, this dream is getting weirder and weirder, ‘Do dreams usually feel this real?’ he thinks, tugging at the edge of his water-soaked sleeve, “I don’t want to do this.”

[Uhh… uhmm.. well…]

He’s read enough of these stupid books to know where this is going, “Spit it out.”

[Uh... System does not believe Host has a choice. Should Host continue to not cooperate, Host will be removed from this world and return to the point in which Host was acquired from. According to System’s records that should be the moment Host died in Host’s original world.]

‘Wait died?’ he thinks as suddenly the thought of this being real strikes William, ‘that’s impossible,’ he reasons in his head. But all of his senses are telling him it's real, the cold water he’s standing in that's numbing his toes, the small fairy creatures chiming and chattering around his ears, the smell of damp earth and stone filling his nose. ‘This can’t… I’m really here? I’m really stuck in “Bride of the God Emperor?"'

William forces himself to breathe, looking away from the screen, ‘Even if this isn’t a dream,’ he thinks, reaching out and hauling himself out of the water, ‘just do it like we always do, one step at a time.’

[Host?] The System questions, popping its window right in front of his face.

“God-,” he catches himself before he goes tumbling back into the pond, the fairies rush forward, swirling around him quickly like a swarm of angry bees. “What?” he snaps, glaring at the text box.

[Does Host really want to go back?] it asks, text box dimming in color at his harsh tone, [if Host really wants to return even if it means death-]

He doesn’t even bother reading the rest, “I play along or I die,” he summarizes, shoving down every emotion that sentence conjures, “not much of a choice.”

[But!] The System says quickly, [If Host helps System, then both Host and System can get what they want!]

“And what do I want?” he asks, picking up the edge of his drenched and very heavy midnight blue robe and twisting it like a towel, trying to wring off some of the water. 

[To go back to Host's world and not die!]

He pauses, ‘This stupid cheery text box had the power to revive the dead and send him back? Isn’t that too good to be true?’ “Really?” he asks trying and failing to keep the hope out of his voice.

[Yes! The reward for following along with the plot and helping the creator review her story will be one wish! Host can use it to return to Host’s world. Host will arrive back the day before Host joined System.]

“And I just need to follow the plot?” he asks slowly, waiting for the other shoe to drop. 'It couldn't possibly be that easy could it?'

[Yes! And don’t worry Host, System will be here to help you settle into your new role as Asterius!]

“Wait who?” ‘Please, oh please tell me it didn’t just say who I think it did,’ he pleads in his thoughts as a new window appears.

[Asterius!] It reads crushing all his hopes of this being semi-easy. 'There's the other shoe,' he thinks with a twisted amusement, as the System continues on, [Astreius is the God of Stars and Fate. Dwells in the 1st ring of the heavens and-]

“Why am I the bad guy?!”

[It was determined by System’s superiors [Host may refer to them as Administrators] that the character Asterius possessed the most ability to unlock possible future content, therefore Host has merged with the character Asterius and will be expected to carry out the original plot.]

All of the original plot?! Sure Asterius was pretty tame as far as big bad villains go, he mostly pushed other gods into defying Solveig and Maria, never actually getting his own hands dirty till the very end, but he was still a big bad villain!