Before I could even say or do anything my vision went black, and it felt like forever before my consciousness returned to me.  The muffled voices around me grew louder and louder as the black spots in my vision began to fade.

“You sure this will work?”

“Without a doubt, just look. The evidence is overwhelmingly obvious.”

“Just think of the treasure that awaits boys, with riches of legend we’ll never have to play guard duty ever again.”

The other two guards snickered in agreement as I wrinkled my nose in disgust.

These guys again, I thought assessing my surroundings between my growing headache.  

From my vantage point, I was staring at a guard’s back, so I can safely assume I was being held over someone’s shoulder. Careful with my movements, I felt that both my wrists and ankles were tied up along with my arms tied together around my stomach. I tried to see where we were from my vantage point to understand what they were talking about, but I couldn’t see hardly anything but the ground and a few trees so it wasn’t really helpful.

Resigning myself to my current helpless state, I decided to listen into the guard’s conversation hoping I could maybe find a way to get myself out of this mess.

“So how do we open it?”

“With a key of course. After all, every lock must have a key.”

“This dungeon has been locked for a long time; you really think it will be that simple boss?”

“Who knows, only one way to find out.”

“Hey boss, if we only needed the key, then why did we need to lug in the extra baggage?” One guard muttered, nudging me harshly as I struggled to stay quiet.

“Two reasons my dear comrade; first, this key here seems to be connected to our precious friend here,” the “boss” guard spoke as he held up the so called “key.”

My eyes widened as I stared at the item held tightly within the guard’s grip, my book.

“Second, this book possesses a powerful magic seal preventing anyone from inscribing within its text. Almost anyone… isn’t that right, dear Liliya?” The guard grinned wickedly as his eyes locked with mine.

My eyes widened in shock. How does he know about the books seal? Does he know? Does he know who I am?

Fear flooded within me as I stared back at his wicked expression, the reality of my situation weighting down on me.

No, calm down Liliya. There’s no guarantee he knows everything, after all, if he knew who I was, if he realized the power of that book, he would quite literally have the world at his fingertips, and I would be helpless to stop him.

The guard holding me threw me harshly to the ground before his “boss” stepped over me.

“So miss Liliya, care to open the door for us?”

I looked up helplessly as I weighted my options.

I now know why the books rule was never to speak of the fact that I am the author of this world. Doing so would basically reveal power over the entire world.

Now think Liliya, think! How do you worm your way out of this mess?!

“What door? What are you talking about?” I asked with a heavy breath between my own panic.

Ask questions, figure it out, figure out what he does know, how he knows. He knows about the books seal, he knows I’m connected to the book or at least he assumes I am, but it doesn’t mean he knows everything. Besides what even is this door they’ve been talking about? We’re in the middle of nowhere? What door!?

The “boss” smirks grabbing me by the collar and yanking me off the ground. Honestly, all this tossing around was making me head dizzy. Propping me on my feet, the “boss” stood behind me and whispered creepily in my ear, “Look up.”

I glanced up, squinting against the reddening sky to see a large cavern seemingly coming up from the ground. At the top of the cavern, glowing bright gold, a magical chain crossed the cavern entrance horizontally, and at its center, drawn into the air was a golden lily. The same lily insignia as the one inscribed onto the cover of my book.

My eyes widened in surprise.

“Oh? Looks familiar, doesn’t it?”

Chills crawled down my spine at how close he was. I instinctively tried to move away, forgetting I was still bound. However, the “boss” caught me by my bound wrists, letting me dangle helplessly in front of him.

“Do you know what that is?” The “boss” asked staring forward.

“A dungeon, I presume?” I breathed.

I might as well go along with everything for now, and wait for an opportunity to act. After all, I’m helpless against them without the book.

“Correct, and you my dear are going to open it,” the “boss” spoke as his two lackies drew their swords.

I panicked squeezing my eyes shut. Within a matter of a second, all the ropes bounding me were sliced into pieces and the boss’s hand was around my throat.

Sweat dripped down my face as I let out a shaky breath. I won’t deny, I thought these guys would surely be weaklings, but in fact, in this very moment, they don’t seem very weak at all.

“Now, my dear, you’re going to open this dungeon for us and don’t think we won’t be watching your every move,” the boss spoke handling me the book.

I carefully took the book into my shaky hands as the boss’s hand was replaced by his sword at my throat.

What can I do? I thought opening the book and grabbing the quill that appeared before me.

If I write anything but what I was told to I will surely be killed. However, if I open this dungeon… something tells me…there’s no going back.

There’s a reason I explicitly crossed out dungeons from my story. Dungeons are like large scale natural disasters. They are magical mazes full of deadly monsters. The maze of the dungeon wasn’t just to trap outsiders it was to hold in the monsters inside, but every maze has its end. Which means any of those deadly monsters could escape and attack nearby civilians. The idea of adventurers clearing such disasters was an interesting idea, but the cost felt too great and too dark, that’s why I crossed out the idea in the first place.

If this dungeon, no all the dungeons I’m about to unleash are at all like what I had previously crossed out… Then this will put everyone in this world in danger. However, if I refuse to open this dungeon, I will die… but I, I will not put my live before another’s.

I will not unleash this dungeon, I thought determined, tears growing in my eyes.

Sorry mom, dad, my brothers, my friends, everyone. I looks like I won’t be coming home.

“Hurry up runt. I don’t have all day,” the boss growled pressing his sword tighter to my throat, drawing blood.

I wanted to turn to glare at him, to tell him to do his worst, to kill me, however my gaze turned immediately back to the book as blue glowing writing suddenly scribbled across the page.

For your eyes only:

If the author dies before the story is completed, the world and everything in it will disappear forever.

My eyes widened as I stared at the message now disappearing from the page.

If I die everything is just gone?! But that means I don’t have a choice. Either I doom the world or I destroy it!

“That’s it!” The boss yelled; his patience run thin.

“I-I’m sorry,” I whispered before I wrote the one sentence that would forever change this world.

With a swift flick of her quill, she ordered and watched as the dungeons seal was broken.

The guards gazed up as Liliya’s book glowed, the seal cracking before shattering before Liliya’s now dull eyes.