Around him, a gigantic darkness, like an infinite void. In this void, only a luminous purple outline of gigantic bookshelves stood out from the endless nothingness.

Before he could comprehend what was around him, a large floating scroll unfurled before his eyes.

On this blank scroll, words began to appear as if by magic, with all the letters emanating a mystical purple glow. Reading each of the words, Evan saw the following phrase:

|!!!CONGRATULATIONS!!!|

|!!THE AUTHOR CHOOSES YOU AS THE PROTAGONIST OF THE STORY!!!|

Completely confused by the situation, Evan said aloud, making his words echo through that place – "W-WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE???" – The sound of his voice dissipating into the abyss, without receiving any response.

"Where... where am I?" – He wondered, until, unexpectedly, the scroll in front of his nose, which Evan had strangely neglected until now, began to alter its message.

|The author of the story greatly admires your actions, and because of this, offers you the opportunity to become the protagonist of the story.|

"What are you talking about??? What author?? OR BETTER!!! What story???" – Evan questioned intensely, while the words on the scroll made him even more anxious.

|The Story of the End of Humanity.|

Suddenly, upon reading those words, Evan, who had so far not cooperated with the situation due to how unusual that place was, fell silent and began to ponder what had been informed to him.

|The author says the end of humanity is something that will happen. Humans won't be able to withstand all the attacks and will eventually fall, unless a protagonist is chosen.| – The scroll continued, making each new piece of information replace the previous one, like a message on a computer, always referring to an author treated as a being different from whatever the scroll was.

"But this is madness! The RUNA agents and the Protectors would never let this happen." – Said Evan, refusing to accept what the scroll claimed.

|Only the protagonist has the power to change the course of the story. And the writer can only interfere in the story through the protagonist. Once again, the writer invites you to become the protagonist. Do you accept?|

Observing the scroll's request, still with his suspicions, Evan pushed it away from his face and questioned – "And what is so special about being the protagonist? How would that change anything in the current situation?"

The scroll began to glow more intensely, and the message started to change once more:

|The writer has the ability to offer special benefits and rewards for each arc or milestone reached by the protagonist, making him stronger and more capable of facing the unfolding story.|

Evan, observing this, began to analyze the situation. As strange and hard to believe as it was, just a minute ago he thought he was dead.

"Ha, ha! I must be going crazy..." – Said Evan, while scratching his head, trying to reason through the overload of information thrown at him.

|!!!Last Chance!!!|

|The writer offers you the opportunity to become a protagonist! Do you accept?|

Evan, after a few seconds in silence, grabbed tightly the unpredictable cord of fate and gave his answer – "You know what? Damn it! I accept! Show me what you're capable of, oh writer..." – Amidst the irony of his words, Evan, though he didn't realize it, hoped that, whatever this situation was, it would somehow give him the chance to change the current situation of the city and the world he lived in.

The books on the spectral shelves then began to float, with their pages moving at a tremendous speed in a spiral form.

Evan, in the middle of this event, lost his balance, falling onto the invisible ground of the void, while being overwhelmed by the experience in front of him.

The pages glowed with a purple energy and, from that energy, spectral words formed in front of Evan's eyes.

|Congratulations on becoming the Protagonist!| |Time to receive your first reward!|

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

|For your heroic act, sacrificing your own life to protect another, you receive the Writer's reward: PLOT ARMOR|

"What???" – Exclaimed Evan, extremely confused by the name of the reward. As if not even noticing Evan's reaction, the writing continued to alter.

|You will revert to the world of the living a few seconds before fainting and having your body devoured by the creature. Not only that, but you will also be revived every time you receive a fatal blow from the creature that killed you previously... This reward is unique to this specific situation. Once the creature is defeated, you will never have a reward like this again!|

"Wait!!! You're sending me back there unarmed??? And you still want me to defeat that thing?!" Evan desperately questioned the superior force governing that domain.

|The writer chose you for a reason. He believes in your potential.|

"Even so! I don't want to end up dying again to that monster!"

Almost as if mocking, the scriptures altered again into a message responding to Evan.

|The writer says that if this is your concern, then you should rest easy. After all, at least for THAT creature, you can't die anymore.|

"YOU SON OF A-" – And thus Evan suddenly woke up again in front of the bunker's metal door, sitting on the ground with his back against the door.

In front of him, that great beast remained staring at him, with drops of saliva dripping from its sharp, twisted teeth.

"Ha... ha... So it wasn't a dream then?" – Said Evan, swallowing hard in the midst of that terrifying situation in which he once again found himself.

Before he could react, the creature charged at him and drove its huge claws into his chest, killing him.

|The protagonist cannot die... His story is not over yet!|

After a second of darkness, Evan woke up again, just as before, with his back against the large metal door of the bunker and the creature staring at him hungrily.

"MY GOD, WHAT AM I DOING!!!" – Said Evan, a few seconds before the creature again charged at him to pierce his chest.

This time, Evan rolled to the side before being hit, causing the creature to hit the bunker door instead of his body.

Evan quickly realized that this moment was not ideal for having an existential crisis, much less for wasting precious moments, sitting in fear of acting.

Although he could revive, the pain was still felt, and, unlike true protagonists of books and comics, Evan didn't like the idea of feeling pain or even had the ability to get used to it.

Evan ran towards a small cane left by the old man he had saved before. The cane had been left behind during the movement of people and now Evan held it as a kind of means of defense against the large creature.

The great being detached its claws from the door and turned to attack Evan once again.

Evan tried to use the cane to block the attack, but the creature's claws cut through the piece of wood like butter, and the same happened to Evan's neck... who ended up dying.

|The protagonist cannot die... His story is not over yet!|

Once again the cycle repeated...

Evan dodged the first blow and, at the second strike, jumped back twice, getting out of the reach of the creature's arms.

"Okay... I think I understand!" – Evan realized that the only way to win that fight, without any skill other than the one given to him by the Writer, would be to try to go as far as possible with each failure, optimizing each movement until he could get a perfect moment to attack!

While he came to this realization, the creature attacked him with its fangs, killing him instantly once again.

|The protagonist cannot di-|

While the message passed in front of him once again, Evan accepted his share of the blame for his last death by not paying attention.

Evan then died countless times...

He tried to run from the creature to lose it, but the monster was much faster and ended up catching him.

He tried to find a better weapon among the debris, but there was no place with such an item for miles around.

He even tried to set traps for the creature, but there was little he could do with the few seconds of life he could save.

However, after several dozen deaths...

Evan revived again and dodged the initial attacks masterfully.

He continued to grab the old man's cane and began dodging the incessant attacks of the great beast, taking small steps back that kept him 2 centimeters away from its claws.

Evan continued to dodge while making precise movements that guided the monster and its bloodlust to a dead-end alley blocked by a grate.

Evan had died twice in that alley trying to hide from the creature in the trash can, but these last experiences gave him an idea...

"Just a little closer..." – Said Evan, while drawing the monster closer to the grate.

The creature, after a great roar, joined its fingers to create a stake with its claws aiming to pierce Evan's chest. However, as it did this, Evan jumped to the side, causing the creature's arm to go through the grate.

Evan moved behind the creature and began to run out of the alley.

The beast, even with its arm stuck, ran after the boy, ripping the large grate from the wall.

Evan, upon reaching the end of the alley, used all his strength to push a large metal trash can a little further towards the alley's entrance. As he did this, Evan couldn't stop feeling his heart race at the sight of that demon with orange eyes coming towards him with a thirst for blood.

The creature then reached Evan and opened its great mouth to devour the head of its helpless victim... but!

Evan managed to move the trash can just enough so that the grate stuck to the creature's arm couldn't pass through the alley's exit.

Thus, the creature, in its attack, ended up biting the air as all its momentum was lost, leaving its face at the same height as Evan's hands, which, luckily, were holding the cane he had picked up from the ground multiple times before dying.

The cane was wooden with a thin metal tip at the end, which Evan did not hesitate to thrust directly into the creature's left eye, deep enough to pierce its skull.

"CONSIDER YOURSELF LUCKY TO ONLY HAVE TO GO THROUGH THIS ONCE!!!" – Said Evan, consumed with rage from having died countless times to that monster.

The creature then thrashed and growled in pain... until it stopped moving and fell to the ground, with orange blood dripping from its skull.

Evan, panting from exhaustion, celebrated by raising the cane and shouting:

"I WON!!!"