You’re probably wondering how I started my new life as a useless side character in the world of Evelyn. This is how it began.

–

Leon XXXX is my name.

A sophomore in high school, in Texas! The beginning of the second semester began as my friends met back up after winter break had passed.

Sometime during break, I don’t remember when, but a popular series began floating around my school. A trendy one at that, it's just that I had never heard of it before.

With multiple books, adaptions, and fans, the media piece was called ‘Evelyn.’ To be more specific,

[ Evelyn: The Realm of Magic. ]

Evelyn is super long… It is a story about the main character who fights evil in the magical world of Evelyn, a continent in the Pacific Ocean.

My friends at school began getting into it suddenly, and I needed to keep up with them. So I bought the physical copy of the novel to read– three to be precise. There were about 10 books in the main series, and a lot more in the side stories.

Sitting alone after school in the bleachers, I sat a bit dumbfounded at the new trend among my classmates.

Semester two started and I totally felt like an alien, like I had just transferred to a new school. Even my best buddy, Blake, got into Evelyn over the break and was obsessed with it, and Blake was a total musclehead!

A stereotypical jock-sport kid with brown hair and brown eyes, a grown out buzzcut and some moles speckled everywhere. Everywhere he went, he smelled like sweat. He certainly didn’t belong in a library reading books, let alone ones about fantasy creatures and magic bologna.

I was sulking. I didn’t actually like reading. I didn’t really like reading pieces of literature, I was only into stuff like the few Transforming Kid series, but that was about it.

Absentmindedly staring off into the horizon of the outer field, a hand came to and tousled my blonde locks, hair falling over my eyes and disturbing my moment of peace.

“What’re you doing?”

Staring like an alien, I slowly craned my neck around to face Blake’s. My best friend, who had left me in the dark over the break!!!

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“Thinking about the whole trend thing,” I grumbled, Blake laughed and took a seat beside me in the bleachers.

“I don’t want to be left out, but I don’t wanna step outta what I usually do.”

Blake only listened for a moment, staring at me intently while I complained. I rambled off about the things I didn’t like, the trends at the school I had to comply with to stay trendy, and all my woes… Which now that I was talking about, felt really stupid.

I stopped venting my frustrations soon after the embarrassment built up though.

“Leon, you don’t have to get onto the Evelyn train if you’d like,” He assured me as I stared at him with a face. Are you crazy? Were you listening?

“But, If you really wanna get into it like everyone else, I think you’d like it.” Blake grinned and bumped me in the shoulder.

“Not like I have a choice anyway… Where do you think I should start?”

Thinking for a moment, Blake looked like he had the best solution of all time. Like he was about to tell me I could inject all the information from the books into my brain with a simple prick…

Only for trash to come out of his mouth.

“Start with the books!” He cheerfully suggested, ignoring the very obvious scowl I had on my face.

“Don’t fret, I think you’ll like it.” I didn’t buy it.

“Have you seen the books? They’re like an inch and a half thick! Each book! There are ten or more books total in the series and a mountain of side stories! Are you out of your mind!” I exclaimed very loudly.

“Aye-aye, your big baby blues are killing me.” He snorted and pushed my head back with two fingers pressed on my forehead.

“I said the books first because when you get past the third book, you’ll be good to start playing the games or watch the animated adaption without getting lost. You’ll thank me!”

Blake was using all these big words to sound smart, but I could tell he was still the same idiot I knew. I suppose by now, it was really getting to me.

“Okay, m’ gonna go home then. I’ll see you tomorrow.” I cut off his next sentence and picked myself off the bleachers, throwing my book back over my shoulder and hauling myself off the field as the sky turned orange.

Kicking a rock along the school sidewalks, I changed my usual course from home to the local street, taking a turn into the library.

Reluctantly, I went and rented three of the first books to [ Evelyn: The Realm of Magic ].

It was late at night on a Friday evening sometime in January, exactly a week after I had returned from winter break and a week into the new semester. I finished two of the three books I read and was now onto the third.

Drowsy, my eyes began to droop as the room darkened with time. It hit midnight before I knew it. Hastily, I turned on the desk light to keep reading, despite my exhausted body protesting against consuming more words.

My sleepy needs weighed against my wants to complete the last book, or at least the chapter I was on… But it felt like the most impossible task in the world. I was tempted to dial Blake and ask him about what happened the rest of the chapter so I didn’t have to read it, but it felt like cheating.

“Must… Finish…..” A worn, old croaky voice called out. It was my own pleas echoing about my head.

Resonating throughout, even more so than usual…

…Before I heard a loud bang, my eyes drooped closed.

I experienced a surreal dream where I was falling through a long hole. A bright tunnel of rainbow lights flew past me. Staining my clothes as the colors quickly shifted. Seemed as if I were floating. If you could count tumbling down a never-ending pit as being afloat that is.

The reading caught my attention, as I was seeing the events prescribed in the first and second books as I fell, I just didn’t understand why. It felt clear to me, clearer than any dream would be.

So life-like, with the wind blowing strands of my hair back. It made me think I was running alongst the pages of the story myself.

But, all of a sudden, it just stopped.

At once, the images disperse. And I come to an awakening in the middle of nowhere.