The man stood up and started walking. The sword on his waist was attached with a very small strap, so every time he took a step, it loudly clanged with the steel armor on his legs. The very janky way in which he walked did not help with the noise at all, it just made it even more annoying due to the uneven nature of the clangs.

He came straight to me and held my neck. He did not have a lot of flesh on his hands, and I could feel his bones digging into my skin. He did seem to be very strong, because even with a very loose hold, it was already getting very hard to breathe.

“Hmm, quite a special one, aren’t you?” He spoke in his broken, barely comprehensible tone once more, “Actually, no.”

He took his hands off my neck, and once I started to breathe, his hands went for the top of my head, where they rested.

“It’s the people you met who were special.” He said, “Can’t remember their names, strange. I was angry at them just a moment ago. It doesn’t matter, I guess. They’re all dead, as they should be. It takes some time to get these stories done, you know? To break them is the most inhumane thing you could do.”

“Inhumane?” I asked, “Wait, who are you?”

“The one you were just fighting against. If you think I’m going to tell someone as insignificant as you my name, then you are mistaken.” His hands then went to his own chin and he started moving his head around as if he were his own puppet, “I guess I would have been him, generally. But I wanted to see you for myself, at least as long as I remember you. Won’t be that long, but still.”

“You’re…God?”

“Sure, whatever they call me.” He went and sat back down on the chair. He then gestured towards the stone slab, “Sit down, go ahead. Let’s have a nice conversation before I give you your role.”

I slowly moved to the slab, keeping my eyes on him at all times, and sat down.

“What do you want with me?” I asked.

“Huh?” He looked surprised, “Why would I want anything from you? What can you give me anyways? Actually, go ahead and tell me. What do you offer me?”

I didn’t know how to answer. The question had just naturally come out of my mouth. It was something I would have said in a situation like this. It’s just that I’d forgotten who I was talking to. He wouldn’t want anything from me. He had everything he ever wanted. All the pain and despair he needed, right at his fingertips. This one wanted nothing else.

“Do you refuse to give me anything, or are you unable to give me anything?” He suddenly spoke up, “Either way, why did you ask me that question, then? ‘What do you want with me?’ A strange question to ask, is it not? Quite pathetic that those two relied on someone like you to finish their goals.”

“Auria and Klaus. That’s their names.”

“Hmm, whatever.” He brushed it off and then held his chin again, bending his head down. He was thinking.

I could jump and start choking him, but I decided not to. The man was probably a vessel, and I couldn’t hurt him even if I wanted to. The only thing to do right now was to wait until he started speaking again.

I looked around the room once more, but there was nothing new I could notice. I was trapped in here with him. I knew what was going to happen. I had been put into the portal that was supposed to bring me to this world, and now the God that I had decided to help them rebel against was sitting right in front of me. He was apparently going to ‘give me a role’. It meant that I would be back in that world soon, as one of the actors that needed to abide by the instructions he gave.

I kept looking at him. There was no movement at all. His eyes were closed, and the only sound in the room was of both of our breaths.

My eyes did not leave him, but soon my body felt like it was fatigued. As if I had been sitting for far too long. I could swear it hadn’t been more than two minutes, but it felt like forever. I shuffled myself a bit, trying to find a place where I could be comfortable. But there was none. Every part of the slab was just as tiring as the next. There was no position that I could find, while still keeping my eyes on him, that made me feel better. Eventually, I decided on one that was the relative best.

Suddenly, he coughed and started meekly laughing, “Ah! Quite amusing, that one. Hahahaha.”

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

He turned his eyes up to me and suddenly spoke, “Oh, right! You were here. I was just taken over by the most wonderful story. Anyways, I apologize for the inconvenience. How many hours was that? Forty? Fifty? I am sure you wouldn’t mind. You’re just not that attention-grabbing.”

He sighed and brought his chair closer to me.

Then, he continued, “Actually, I’ll just let this one handle you anyways. It was nice to see you, but you are quite unremarkable, despite the circumstances you found yourself in. Let’s me do you one favor, however, since you will probably feel very bad if I did not pay at least some attention to you.”

“I don’t need your favors.” I found myself actually trying to stop him. It was a bit of a surprise. It felt like that sentence had just bypassed the part of my mind which would have stopped it due to fear.

“We all need a name. How else would you ever live?” He spoke.

“I have a name already.”

“Really, what is it? Do you know your name?”

“Of course, I do. I’ve known it for the last…many years. It’s my name, the one my parents gave me. It’s….”

I didn’t know. I didn’t know my own name.

That was when the head holding made sense. He had been making me forget my name. But that would not be enough. I could figure it out somehow. Context clues were more than enough. He couldn’t have wiped out every single part of-

“Do you even remember anything that happened before you came to my world?”

I couldn’t.

I knew nothing. The only thing I knew, was that I had forgotten it all. My first memory was the tree. Meeting Auria, Klaus and Tyber.

“Be grateful I did not wipe theirs too. But I thought it would be better to leave it. When memories like those chew you up from the inside, it creates the most wonderful reactions to my stories.” He smiled.

“Why…why are you doing this?” I whispered.

“Hmm, that’s a good question. Entertainment, I suppose. There’s quite a lack of it these days. Everyone got so caught up in their dreams and goals and beliefs, that they have forgotten such a simple pleasure.” He said, “Anyways, I do not have time to waste here. I had thought of giving you a grand speech, but I guess I’ll just tell you. From now on, your name shall be Ryworn.”

The word flashed before my eyes, as if being written in front of them. But when I put my hand up to interact, nothing happened. They weren’t actually there. They were just in my eyes. This is what Auria must have been talking about.

“What if I don’t do what you want? Yeah, I know. I’ll just break the very first rule and then let myself die. What would you feel if I wasted all of the energy you put into bringing me here?”

He laughed, “Very amusing. I guess it would tickle a bit. A mishap to remember, it would be. But you still seem to think you matter to me, you see. I have billions of people to care about. You’re no one. Go ahead and do it. The only person you hurt is yourself.”

I could not believe this guy. He was the most egoistic, self-centered person I had ever seen. He had been making all those people suffer, for entertainment. His own pleasure. Something which was above their dreams, and goals and beliefs. Something which mattered more than anything else, apparently.

For some reason, I shouted and stood up with my hands raised towards his neck. He had his head turned, so I thought I stood a chance. But I should have known.

I felt my hands vanish before my eyes went dark. I heard the loud thump of a body.

When my eyes regained sight again, his head was large. His massive eyes stared at me with pity. His mouth sighed. All I could see was his face, that’s how close I was. In fact, I couldn’t even feel anything. The only sense I had was sight.

“Very rough.” He sighed.

The entire world started turning. I panicked, unable to understand what was happening, until my sight became clear again. Right in front of my eyes was my body. Both of its hands and legs were missing, and it was lying on the ground. In its eye sockets…nothing.

Just out of the corner of my eye, I could make out the edges of a finger. He was holding my eyes in his hand, and making me see my own body.

“Very old body, this one. I find myself hating it.” He whispered.

He tossed my eyes up, and I was completely disoriented until I started falling down, giving me a good aerial view of the room. I could see his the top of his head as he moved back to the chair and sat down. Then, before I knew it, both of my hands and legs reappeared on my body. But that wasn’t stopping my eyes from falling faster. They gained momentum and the floor came ever closer. There was no way to close them, so I kept staring at the floor until it came right in front-

I shot up straight and my hands went straight to my face. I stood up and looked at the man, who had his hand on his chin again.

No, he wasn’t going to leave again. Last time, it had apparently been fifty hours. I hadn’t felt any of it, but the pain in my body made sense now. Somehow, I had been awake for all of that time, staring at his face as he went and enjoyed one of his sadistic stories. I went to him and shook his shoulder.

The man who turned and looked me in the eyes…was not the same. The way he moved, the way he saw, the way he started to speak. Whoever this was, was not the one I had been talking to. God had given over the body to whoever originally owned it. I slowly walked and sat back down on the slab of stone as I stared at him.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“Sinarius Melhorn. The Legendary Hero who defeated the Demon Lord once and for all.” He spoke with no emotion, compared to God.

“What…are you doing here?”

“Every morning at five, you shall be told what part your character has to play in the story that day.” He said, “If you happen to wake up before that, then you shall follow the previously given stage directions.”

“Do not go against the directions. Do not try to say things you are not supposed to say. You shall ruin the sanctity of the story, and all emotional effect if you do so. To be a good actor, is to not be yourself. If you decide to break these rules anyways, then you shall be fired from the troupe.” He said and put his hands on my head.

The entire world went dark.