“We’re…free?”

“All of our stage directions need to be prepared by the morning, so that we get them on time. The directions of the over three billion people in this world. Can you imagine just how much power it takes? God is strong enough to control people, but because such a situation wouldn’t have ideally arisen, he is not strong enough to control all of us at once for very long.”

“What are you even saying?” I tried not to fall for it. I wasn’t going to take those names so obviously, out in the open. But then again, even he probably couldn’t do it. So, why?

“That’s why he needs to collect all of his power by resting for a short period of time. Twenty-three minutes, every night, at two o’clock.”

“You mean that during that time…?”

“We can do whatever we want. Because he closes his eyes and refuses to look at us.” Olbert smiled, “For example, for me to say that I do not like the name Olbert one bit, is completely acceptable. Or to tell you that I have all the information about the history of this hospital, and I’m supposed to slowly reveal it to you over time.”

“You can’t be serious?” I laughed, “I can, we can actually do that? This is insane.”

“Insane, indeed. That’s why I said,” He raised one of his hands towards me, “As much as I hate it, my name is Olbert. It is really nice to meet you.”

I took it in a hurry and shook his hand, “I-I’m Ryworn.” I couldn’t stop myself from laughing.

“So even you don’t remember your real name?” Olbert sat on my bed, “I thought I was going to hear a new one.”

“Oh, there’s a quite a story behind that.” I said, “Even the one I told you earlier, it isn’t true. Not completely, anyways.”

“No, no,” He shook his head, “I do not wish to hear it, not right now anyways. I feel like I’ve had enough stories for today.” He smiled.

“I can understand.” I sighed, “All of that stuff about your great-great aunt. How did they tell you that you needed to say that?”

“That is real.” His smile was still maintained, but for some reason, it seemed much more genuine, “The reason I was chosen to tell you information is because I know it. I was forced into this hospital after being forced to get injured. I’m guessing it was all to make me meet you.”

“You mean your great-great aunt really…?”

“Was a serial killer, yes.” He confirmed, “The only difference is that I would never speak of those stories with the same excitement and confidence as I did before. I do not wish to kill people. I agree with my father. But because God wants it, I must want it too. And that is how we survive.”

“I’m sorry.” I whispered.

He laughed, “There’s nothing to be sorry about. You did not do anything to us. He did. And we all sincerely hope that he shall suffer for it one day too. But that day is not today, and all we can do is persevere.”

“I could have done something.” I hesitated, and looked at him for permission. He sighed and nodded,

"Fine. Go on, tell me."

I told him about what had happened with those three. I told him everything, without any lies. And once it was over, he was still smiling. Knowing that I had messed up the best chance this world had had to be saved, he still did not get angry at me.

“Well, that was a fool’s errand anyways,” Olbert put his hand on my shoulder, “You couldn’t have made it far, not under his watch. Don’t beat yourself up about something that was an impossible mission.”

“But they died for me, believing in me. And I did nothing in return.” I said,

“The fact that you aren’t confused out of your mind and dead in the first two days is more than enough. They succeeded in making sure you lived. Pay them back by continuing to.” Olbert said some nice things when he wasn’t being forced to dump apparent exposition on me.

He continued, “And anyways, don’t you have some valuable information already?”

“What?”

“Somewhere in an inn in Euphrasia, is a map that can lead us to people who are fighting back against God.”

I…hadn’t thought about that. Yes.

Euphrasia hadn’t vanished. It was still there. And Auria’s map was still there. Getting there would probably be difficult, considering that every single one of my movements was determined by God, but if I ever found myself in that city again, I knew exactly where to look. The compartment in the clock of the room Auria had stayed in that night. It contained a map which could lead us to a place where we could help out.

“But don’t let it get to your head. It isn’t like that’s an easy job to do.” Olbert said and stood back up.

“Yeah.” I nodded.

“Anyways, it was nice to meet you. Now, I must go and greet some more people I know.” He said, “But hopefully from now on, I will find you awake during this time. Look all around you, Ryworn. Only in these twenty-three minutes, does our world live.”

He smiled and left without waiting for any replies.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I looked around the room, as he had asked. And it made me smile. It made me feel warm. The old, wrinkled men, the dying friends and family. Even the doctors. They didn’t look any better. They were very much on the verge of death. But they were laughing, and talking, and smiling with each other. Some doctors were crying in front of people they had treated badly, as they apologized.

This was the real side of this world. One of happiness and comradery. One that was suppressed by he who wished for entertainment.

For some reason, I felt a bit angry. At him. Much more than I had before. Maybe, hopefully, I hadn’t really felt as indifferent as I thought. Because right now, all I wanted was to see him fall to the ground, and pay for everything he had done to these people.

Current Story – The Hospital

Character – Ryworn

Role – Major

Stage Directions (Day 3) –

Explore the Hospital with Olbert

The stage directions seemed much lazier than I had expected them to be. The ones which flashed before my eyes in the morning were just a mix of the first two, I had gotten. It was almost like Olbert was a key item that I had missed before exploring a dungeon in a game, and now I was coming back with him. It seemed a bit disrespectful to both of us. I sighed. I shouldn't be surprised at something so obviously expected.

I went down to the underground floors, and found Olbert in room number 14. He seemed happy to see me, and I was too. Yesterday’s conversation had certainly did wonders for something like this to happen.

As soon as we met, all he did was slightly nod his head. It seemed like both of us had gotten the same directions.

“Oh, Ryworn! Nice to meet you today. What are your plans?” He spoke up in the most artificial manner possible.

Right. We were actors, after all. We needed to set the scene before actually taking any action.

“Hello, Olbert.” I tried to control my laughter, “I thought of exploring the hospital today, and asking people about different treatments. I am really interested in medicine, so asking about it to the doctors will help me a lot.”

Olbert smiled. He raised his hand and was about to put it on my shoulder.

I yelped. My right hand ringed with pain. I held it up and saw that the top of my index finger had been bent and broken.

Punishment.

Maybe I wasn’t interested in medicine? That was true. It had been a lie that I had spoken in the moment because of the excitement and happiness. And for that, I had been shown my place. An actor was not supposed to break character on stage. It made everyone look bad, after all.

Olbert looked at the finger for a second before looking away and saying, “Well then, what are we waiting for? Let’s go and meet these people. Maybe one of the doctors actually remembers my great-great aunt and her legendary bout of this room. Perhaps they also know of the hero of the hospital!”

He laughed and started walking out of the room, making sure not to acknowledge the finger in any way. I nodded and tried to forget about it. My hand kept paining as I followed him out, but I wasn’t going to react to it anymore. I needed to get back into character, and fulfill the directions for the day.

We went up and started talking to different people about the hospital. Most told us the same thing, which they were probably directed to.

One. The hospital was the closest to their town, which was a sentence which was accurate for almost thirty-five different places, according to Olbert. Two. It had the best facilities available, which made me question the other hospitals in this world. And most importantly, this was the only place which people trusted due to the amount and quality of doctors. I highly doubted that one being real, but then images from last night popped up in my mind. The doctors probably were actually good at their job. Just forced to not do what they needed to.

As we walked, Olbert also told me more about the story of the hero of the hospital, the one who had secretly snuck up on his great-great aunt and uncle, and sedated them. Apparently, he had ended up saving more than two dozen lives due to that. That’s how many weaker guards had been present in the building during that time.

Eventually, the hero of the hospital became really famous, and was called to different places to recount the story of his bravery and courage. So much so, that after that incident, he treated just a total of three patients over the next two years. Two of those were royals who just happened to fall sick when he was visiting their kingdom for merrymaking.

In the end, he had returned to this room for a recreation of the incident, on its tenth anniversary. A painter had wanted to ‘immortalize’ the event. During that recreation, the doctor who was acting as the uncle, had refused to act like he was supposed to, and stabbed the hero. According to that doctor, the hero had ‘lost all sense and ideals.’

I’m guessing that the ‘hero’, whoever he was, had been doing everything according to the directions he got from God. Of course, everyone else there had been doing the same thing too.

Almost as soon as he finished his story, I spotted her again. The brown-haired girl who had helped me find the underground levels yesterday. It would be nice to get to know her in reality.

Thinking that, I went towards her and greeted her.

She turned back in shock and spoke, “Oh, it’s you.”

Then, she looked at Olbert, who made his grand introduction. Then, she turned back and continued, “I guess you found your friend.”

“All because of you. Thanks.” I spoke.

She nodded, “Alright, whatever. Did you want something else? I’m a bit busy.”

She turned back and continued to stare down the corridor. It sure did not seem like she was doing anything important.

“What are you busy with?” I asked. This had to count as exploration, surely. None of my fingers broke, so I guess it did.

“Work.” She said, skirting around the answer.

“You’re a patient, aren’t you?” She was wearing a patient’s clothes, so it was obvious, but I still stated it.

As expected, she looked down at her dress, and then back at me, as if that was enough of an answer. But because I kept quiet, she eventually continued, “Yes, I am a patient. Do you have anything else you want to ask me?”

“Oh, yeah.” Olbert interjected, “We were just going around asking people why they chose to come to this hospital? I guess we’ll ask the same thing to you.”

She sighed and crossed her arms, “I’m part of a mercenary band who was hired by someone who thinks there’s something up with this place. So, I’ve snuck in to act as a spy before my main group arrives.”

Ok.

Fair enough answer. It matched with the others. Nothing different.

“What?”

“Please, I need to get to the bottom of this thing, ok?” She turned around again, “Don’t bother me and let me do my work.”

“Wow.” Olbert said and started walking away from her. I kept looking at him, deciding if I wanted to leave already or not.

In the end, I just ended up asking, “What’s your name?”

“Huh?” She said, “Sylvia.”

“Ryworn.”

She nodded, “Alright.”

I picked up the pace and caught up to Olbert, who was scowling.

“What happened?”

“How can she possibly think there’s something wrong with this hospital?” He asked, “I mean, my aunt was here for so long, and she turned out well. Even the medicine they have given me has been causing so much pain, that I’m sure I’ll be well in a few days.”

“Hmm.” I decided to give him as much leeway as possible.

“Even the people like that shouting man in my room yesterday create such a bad name for this place!”

He shouted before angrily picking up the pace and leaving the area.

No wonder he had been doing this for so long. Despite the odds being stacked against us, he had probably given Sylvia a good clue.