Ruhtra sat on his throne, breathing through his nose as he looked at the serene environment around him, from the black ocean that spanned endlessly to a noir sky a shade fainter than the water. It gave him peace, lightening his mood because the endlessness of darkness allowed only one thing: more colors. He knew the darkness was seen as a way to scare, but he thought of it as a path to grow, a way to add colors to the blackness of nothing to create something. That's how he saw his world, yet someone infringed upon it.

A small child stood in front of him. The young boy wore a shirt with a man in a cape illustrated on it, and he held a superhero figure, and the child was crying. Clearly, the kid was distressed as he rubbed his orange-colored eyes, wiping his tears away.

"Shut up already," Ruhtra said. "You brought this upon yourself. You have no one to blame but yourself, so grow a pair and pipe down."

The boy gulped, managing to speak despite the hurt in his voice. "I don't know. Why am I like this?"

"You're ruining my enjoyment. A film should have a strong main character. One who's never afraid to kill, a person who's the strongest among deities, but you, Arthur... You're just a goldfish."

"I wanted to save them."

Ruhtra shook his head. "And look what you did. You played the superhero. No, you can't even call yourself a hero."

"Why can't I have my way?"

Ruhtra sat criss-cross on his throne and pointed to the child —Arthur. "You're ruining my enjoyment. Many people have their pet peeves, some don't want to see a series about a character turning their enemies into their friends. Some hate when the power of friendship magically allows characters to overcome what looked like their seamless defeat. But me? Well, I hate a weak character. In my eyes, you should win with no effort. Who the fuck are those mortals compared to you? So I wonder, why can't you kill anyone who comes in your way, why?"

"I'm not ruthless like you. I can't kill."

"You can't?" Ruhtra sarcastically asked. It was no problem for you to kill in the alleyway where Meth found you, or what about the forest where you were attacked? What difference was it this time? Why couldn't you have slain Fishman on your own initiative? You simply produced an inferior product of an arc. Do you think I enjoy seeing you waste efforts in saving a man you were supposed to kill? Or even letting a whore blow her blade into your face? No, no, no, no, no. No, I don't."

"So what the fuck do you want me to do?" Arthur asked, closing his eyes and gripping his tiny fists.

"Do your best not to be a shoddy product. You aren't a human, so stop trying to act like one. Stop trying to put yourself in their shoes. You're a fish, and you're in uncharted territory. Who cares about the rules that were placed on humans? Make your own. Nothing applies to you except for your goals. You let that whore stand in front of your goal."

"But… she's massive. She has to be the strongest and biggest opponent I've ever seen..."

"And that's why you're a bad product. Your name will be forgotten amongst the horizon of others. Tell me, if you're not worth mentioning, then how do you expect to put Lewis in a fishbowl?" He said, slamming his hand against his throne. "Do you think playing the hero this late into the game will help you? If so, you're dead wrong, dead wrong, I tell you."

"Oh," Arthur said, tears flowing down his face as he let go of the superhero toy and let it splash into the black water and vanish into nothingness. "So you don't want a hero? What about a villain?"

"Fuck no," Ruhtra said. "I want nothing else but you. Stop confining yourself to good or bad. You might just be a child exploring the world, but I lack the patience for that. I want to skip to the good parts where I can enjoy myself on this throne, simply glancing at your actions."

"If you want the real me, I think you're looking at it. This is me. I won't change for whatever you think is entertaining."

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"So be it. Good luck in obscurity and failure. Though... I will tell you this, out of all the shows I've watched, neither the hero nor the villain win. It's always the author. They're the ones that reap all the benefits, so let me become yours, and this time, we will change that dreaded notion by making you a victor."

"What do you want?"

"Oh wow, you were quick to assume I wanted something," Ruhtra said. "But funny enough, I actually do. I desire you to think about your situation and why I called upon you."

"What are you talking about?"

"I was the one who messed up the water system, and I let the water leak towards me. Who else would? But I want you to think about why."

"You want to take revenge?"

"Bingo! Don't you want the same thing? Don't you want to put Lewis in a fishbowl? So why are you letting small things interrupt your goal? Finish them without the care of the world, so you can complete your goal."

"Sure," Arthur said sarcastically as his smile widened. He held his right eye as pain coursed through his face, and he felt like his brain was being melted, but despite the agony, he looked up towards the throne. "I'll be the heartless character that you, oh sooo, want to see. But you won't be the author, I will."

"Yeah, no can do. That will end up boring. A film that I'd probably leave halfway through."

Grasping onto his right eyelid, he clenched his teeth. "My life is entertainment for you, I understand that." He pressed his lips together, his forehead wrinkled as his facial muscles clenched. "I wonder, what's your life?"

"What?"

"You couldn't hear me?" Arthur asked as he let go of his eye and focused on Ruhtra. His right pupil shined a blue light, and he deepened his voice as he spoke. "I said, didn't you hear me?"

Ruhtra tilted his head and smiled, his white teeth showing. He was surprised. Something about Arthur's behavior made him ecstatic.

"Do you want a character who achieves his goals without the care of others? A man who doesn't align with society and those in it? Someone who kills without mercy? Well, I won't be that person."

"We don't have time for your pubescent phase. Listen to me and do."

"I'll do what you say, but on my terms. My rules. What I want."

"Arthur!" He stood up from his throne and walked forward. "You don't decide, shit. You run through my favor. I'm the crowd, and I desire a certain niche. Did you not say you wanted to be the author? If so, curate for your audience, and don't deviate from what you started. That's never wise."

The black water wrapped around Arthur's legs, but he didn't even glance at it, instead staring in front of him. "You're right. I may be a flawed product, but that's because I haven't shown who I truly am."

"Then who are you?"

"I am Arthur Penfish, a goldfish."

Ruhtra opened his mouth and released a deep breath. "You've learned nothing. Changed nothing. In fact, you're nothing."

"You're probably right," Arthur said. "But for some reason. I'm so angry right now. Oh, sooo angry. To be honest, I'm not sure if it's because of you wasting my time over here. Or the fact my head probably looks like a grandma's asshole, widened to fucking-" He was forced to stop talking because the black water covered his chest, and his limbs were tightly encased in darkness. He couldn't move, even if he tried.

"I tried warning you, Arthur. You should have-"

Arthur cut him off and laughed. "You know what's funny. I think you know this too! Whenever a reader gives an author an idea, ten out of ten times, it's probably shitty."

Ruhtra clenched his right hand. The darkness that encompassed Arthur began tightening and squishing him to death.

Kid Arthur was going to die. He closed his eyes and quickly opened them, another shine of blue light radiating off his right eye, but he closed them and shook his head in pain as he gasped for air, almost like he was suffocating underwater.

"Arthur...?"

"Arthur?"

"Yo, are you?"

He didn't respond. The darkness that covered him was lifted, yet he still shook in agony. So his concerning actions weren't a result of Ruhtra's powers. However, it came from within: something suffocating.

Ruhtra tilted his head as his eyes widened, looking at the kid in front of him.

Arthur shouted, opening his right eye as a beam of clear water blazed from it and sliced Ruhtra in half.

His torso leaned towards the left half of his body, but he somehow spoke. "You gotta be kidding me… He has heat vision?" Before his body could fully separate, he held his torso in place with his hands, reconnecting them through his powers. He watched Arthur shoot his beam at the sky. "I don't even have that. But damn, what a basic ass move. If I was a critic, that'd be minus points."

The child version of Arthur closed his eyelids and screamed as the right one turned a bright blue. "I want to murder her. She made me kill Fishman. She's planning to kill my companions. She embarrassed me. And she ruined your show." In an almost tearful voice, he pleaded. "Ruhtra, please let me kill her."

"Your wish is my command." He walked back to his throne and sat criss-cross on it. He smiled and leaned his head against his palm, relaxing on his front-row seat as he stared at the sky, eager to watch the movie that would soon unfold.

Arthur kept his eyes closed as the black ocean extended hundreds of hands, pulling him into the abyss.

To Ruhtra, internal thoughts were a novel, while the action was a movie, and he was ready for the spicy combination. His chin raised, and his gaze deliberately sought the noir sky of nothing. Soon, the spice would begin.

Arthur sank to the bottom of the depths and disappeared.