"And then the Hero drew upon the strength of his friends to hold his blade up high towards the mighty demon!" Garrett nodded along as his friend gushed about the latest episode of Crimson Fantasy Star that had aired the other day. "But then the demon revealed that this has all been part of their plan, then..." The words fell upon deaf ears as Garrett sighed and stared up at the ceiling.

"Don't you ever get tired of this?" Garrett asked, pausing his friend mid-sentence.

"What are you talking about?"

"Look, every series is the exact same. It just follows the simple Hero's Journey." Garrett waved his hand dismissively in the air. "People go on the journey, get new powers and meet new people, fight something tough, learn some lesson about friendship or some crap like that, then uses that to defeat what was in their way. Rinse and repeat until people get sick of telling the story." Garrett cracked open a soda, listening to the relaxing hiss of a fresh can, and took a sip. "How hard is it for someone to come up with something original?"

"And when was the last time you wrote something," his friend responded, glaring at him. "And further more, what's wrong with a tried and true method? You know what they say, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it.'"

"People say lots of things all the time, it doesn't mean that it's right," Garrett said, taking another sip. "I just wish someone would do something to shake up all the monotony. Last thing we need is to keep stagnant."

"Look, you do have a point, but you don't have to act like that, Garrett." His friend crossed his arms and stood up. "Anyways, you heading over to Marquet? The newest book of Winter Elf just dropped."

"Yeah," Garrett said, finishing his soda and tossing the can into a nearby recycling can. "Let's head over before the sun gets too low."

The drive over was pretty bland. Garrett's mind wandered as his friend drove, still talking about his theories for where Crimson Fantasy Star might go. The lights on the streets passed by as the radio softly played the latest pop song for the fourteenth time today. As usual, Marquet was busy around this time of the afternoon, as the sun was setting and everyone was trying to get in their last-minute shopping before everything closed down for the day. After a bit of time passed, Garrett and his friend walked out with the new Winter Elf book, a copy of Captain Sunrise, and a few snacks for later tonight.

"Oh man, I can't wait to watch this. I've been waiting for so long to find a copy of this. The bootleg version I got online doesn't do this movie justice," his friend said as he unlocked the car door.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Yeah, let's get back and get to watching," Garrett said, sitting down in the passenger seat as he looked over the box. "Apparently this comes with never before seen scenes. I couldn't even find people who uploaded them." The car hummed to life as his friend began to pull out of the parking lot.

"Wait, seriously? Man, these bonus features are getting cooler and cooler," his friend said as he plugged in his phone and began to play his personal playlist of music. He mumbled most of the words, but at least managed to sing out the chorus. Within a few minutes of listening, Garrett joined in.

"So, what do you think happens in the new book of Winter Elf?" Garrett asked as one of the songs that came on wasn't one that he recognized.

"Oh, so suddenly now someone isn't tired of the Hero's Journey? I thought you knew everything that would happen to Juliet," his friend said, giving him a smug look.

"Look, just because I can predict the overall events doesn't mean that I can figure out the fine details," Garrett replied. "Besides, the author has been doing a great job throwing curveballs left and right."

"I know, right! Like the time when the Dragon of Eldor was revealed to have been the Master of Prade?"

"Or the time that Gar and Juliet both tried to sacrifice each other so that Paulis could survive the Frutu Plague?"

"Or what about when Juliet's father was revealed to be the soul of her uncle trapped in his brother's body?"

"Oh, you can't forget the time that Gar rotated the moon to stop the ritual of Chu'Chus."

"I think the best one was when Juliet had just- Hey, why is it so- LOOK OUT!"

In an instant, the air was filled with the sickening crunch of metal on metal, brakes squealing in vain, and glass shattering. Lifted into the air was a 3 ton cage of metal containing two vulnerable humans, tossed by another 3 ton cage of metal going the opposite direction. The hideous screech of metal ripped from metal echoed in Garrett's ears as he felt his seatbelt snap from its holding. The next sensation was his body rolling and sliding across asphalt. His body screamed in pain, but nothing escaped his mouth except for blood pooling near his face. Garrett's vision blurred as he tried to look around, focusing on the car that had hit them. He could see skid marks behind the car where it had crossed the line on the street and the sounds of glass bottles hitting the road as a door opened up.

'...I can't... I can't die...' Garrett thought as his vision began to fade from his reality... 'I don't... want...'

Everything went to black and the world around him went silent. His body was numb, and at this point, he wasn't even certain he was one anymore. Just a consciousness floating in a void of nothingness but himself. Time was meaningless and Garrett's mind drifted towards nothing, and soon began to decay.

"Ah, a fresh new one."

Garrett's eyes opened to a white void. He took a gasp, but there was no air that filled his lungs, yet he didn't feel a struggle to breath. Slowly, he looked down and saw his chest, his legs, his lefts, his rights. He saw his body and an endless white void beyond it.

"Over here."

Garrett turned his head towards the source of the voice. Behind a desk was, what he could only describe as, the concept of a being.

"Come and have a seat, unless you'd prefer the void."