CHAPTER 28: CHAPTER 12: THE GHOST AUTHOR

Stories don’t just vanish.

They wait.

And sometimes, they return wearing a face you once loved...

but no longer remember.

Day Twelve.

Aren Kael walked through the eastern gardens, where the air shimmered with narrative calm.

But it didn’t last.

Because at the gates of Valkyrion stood a boy they all thought long gone.

Name: Jin Orel.

Student ID: Archived.

Status: Deceased — Final Collapse, Version 0.8

Record: "Lost in an inkfold."

And yet, there he was.

Laughing softly.

Smiling like he never left.

"I’m home," he said.

Kairen was the first to approach.

"You died."

Jin shrugged. "Maybe. But death is only a plot point."

Then he looked directly at Aren.

"I found the Author."

Aren felt the page in his chest tremble.

"Riven?" he asked.

Jin shook his head.

"No. The first one."

System Alert:

Entity: Jin Orel

Ink Signature: Unknown

Memory Trace: Conflicted

Threat Level: Unassessed

Jin was brought to the council chamber.

Kaela leaned against the wall, scowling.

Lysara stood still as stone.

Seria read every line of his re-entry scan.

Mira watched from the side—her hands twitching as if remembering something too early.

Jin sat calmly.

"I was rescued," he said. "Pulled from the Fold by someone who didn’t want to be forgotten. He called himself the First Author. He taught me how to survive between drafts."

Aren stepped forward.

"But no one survives the Fold."

Jin grinned.

"They do... if they rewrite themselves."

He pulled out a page.

Not blank.

Not silver.

It shimmered with colorless ink—shifting between versions, refusing to be defined.

It wrote itself in real-time, responding to emotions in the room.

And when Aren touched it—

He saw every moment Jin had lived after being forgotten.

A city built from discarded endings.

A library of unfinished characters.

A throne with no king—just a quill floating above it.

The First Author’s lair.

Data Upload: Unstable Archive Recovered

Access: Jin Orel

Title: Ghost Author

Permission Level: Parallel Construct

Seria stared at the page.

"That isn’t just a memory."

"No," Jin said. "It’s a new Chapter."

"One the system isn’t ready for."

Later, in private, Lysara met with Aren.

"This is dangerous," she said. "If he’s telling the truth, then the First Author never vanished. He just... moved."

"Moved where?"

"To the space between stories."

Lysara’s voice dropped.

"There were rumors that he created a backup world—one where he could test endings before releasing them."

Aren whispered: "A draft realm?"

She nodded. "A Ghostbook."

Jin stayed at the academy under observation.

But strange things began happening immediately.

Students remembered classes that never existed.

Entire days repeated and reversed.

One student began writing without lifting a pen.

And across the sky...

The system flickered.

Words began appearing in the clouds again:

"The Ghost Author offers a better story."

"He is coming back."

That night, Aren dreamed.

He stood at a desk in a colorless room.

The First Author stood behind him—faceless, tall, humming as he turned pages.

"You don’t trust Jin," Aren said.

"I trust stories," the Author replied. "Not storytellers."

Then he pushed a page forward.

And on it—

Was Aren’s death.

In three variations.

Each one... written by Jin.

Aren woke gasping.

Kairen beside him, worried.

He clutched his page.

New writing had appeared:

"Would you rather die in your own story... or live in someone else’s?"

The next morning, Jin addressed the academy.

He stood atop the Origin Tower.

And said only one thing:

"Your story is broken. Let me finish it."

The sky answered.

With applause.

System Anomaly Detected:

Ink Signature of Ghostbook: Merging with Active World Layer

Narrative Anchor Conflict Initiated

Lysara gathered the council.

"We need to prepare."

Kaela asked, "For war?"

"No," Lysara replied.

"For a rewrite."