“You humans live boring lives, create, consume, and spawn until you die. All humans on the planet are guilty of trying to escape or outrun the bleakness of their lives by indulging in fiction. It comes in many forms, and so I offer you, pitiful humans, a bit of excitement in your lives. Let's have you play a game.” The being smirks revealing a row of blackened teeth covered with black trails of liquid that form from the separation of its lips.

“Let’s see which outcome, humankind can bring about.” The being snaps its gigantic fingers causing the sound to reverberate across the planet.

Raiah’s arm begins to shine brightly.

“Ahhhh!” She shouts. Creases of light begin forming a rectangular shape on her arm.

“Rai!” Velle shouts as her arm shines brightly completely engulfing them.

As the creases of light vanish, her arm has a distinct shape, as it opens like a book. It reveals a blank page, from which words begin to form on the pages.

“W-what is this?” Raiah questions.

After the words finish appearing on the page, the book closes and returns to her regular arm. The same happens for Velle as Raiah rushes down to check on her.

“A-are you okay?” She mumbles.

“I’m fine. It just looked like it hurt.” Velle says.

They turn their eyes to the sky, where the beings look down on them.

“From now on, the era of humans is over. You are all codexes. Living pieces of story, and fiction that live to gather more to strengthen their existences. I’ve unleashed all the fiction in the world, but it’d be a waste to have you overrun by things beyond your capabilities. So, you will be attacked in arcs. Each arc is comprised of two phases. The Prelude and the Climax. In the prelude, you will all work to gather Phrases, to fill your codex. This will occur by engaging with characters from varying kinds of fiction. When time runs out, you’ll be beset in the climax, exciting things happen here, so I can’t spoil the surprise. Go and amass your strength and show us that humanity has what it takes to triumph over its fiction.” It states.

The beings begin to evaporate into space as if they were never there. Not a trace remains of their presence. Raiah snaps back to reality and checks her arm. Sure enough, the pages open up, revealing a phrase to her.

“You’ve lived your entire life avoiding confrontation, trying to appear invisible to others, whether you like it or not, your social anxiety has impacted your life a lot, so now you can turn invisible at will?” Raiah repeats.

When she thinks about going invisible, she disappears.

“Rai?! You really, are invisible!” Velle exclaims.

Velle looks at her arm, too, as it transforms. Her expression sours as she looks up to see Raiah reappear.

“This is the perfect power for me! What about you, Vel?” Raiah questions.

“Uh…” She looks back down at her arm. “Y-your love of defending others is something you carried since you were… young. Being a defender is who you are... You are a beacon for the weak…You have a strong body?” She questions.

“A defender, eh? That sounds just like you.” Raiah smiles.

“Y-you know me…!” Velle exclaims.

“Hm… Hand me that rock over there.” Velle points out.

Raiah reaches down and tosses the rock to Velle. She puts it on her palm and squeezes her hand tightly. The sensation of the rock within her palm fades as she puts more pressure on it.

“Oh.” Velle opens her hand to find that the rock has been crushed.

“You’re super strong now!” Raiah exclaims.

“These powers are cool an’ all, but what do you think all that was?” Velle questions, letting the pieces of rock fall onto the pavement.

“I don’t know. He said we’re codexes now. Did we just become books?” Raiah turns to Velle.

“I dunno, but if what that guy said was right, we’d better go get Dante. What do you think is gonna happen if a bunch of people suddenly get superpowers?”

“I won’t have to pay back my student loans?” Raiah says with a sly grin. 

“Don’t count on that. There’s bound to be massive panic.” 

“Don’t worry, while you get him, I’ll make sure the house is secure.”

Velle puts her hands on her hips and stares at Raiah with a deadpan expression.

“D-do I have to?” She questions.

“Fiiiine, guess I’ll have to go it alone. Who knows if looters are gonna break in while I’m gone, then you’d have to fend for yourself.” Velle began to walk down the block. “Sayonara!” 

Raiah tries to stand her ground, her expression steadily slipping like her will. Velle disappears around the corner leaving Raiah standing there.

“She’s just being a bit extreme. There’s no way chaos could erupt that soon.” Raiah soon begins to doubt her own words. Looking down the block opposite of Velle, she notices people running about, someone who leaped into the air about twenty feet, before landing and creating a crater beneath them. A girl was freezing cars with her icy breath and a man was breakdancing, forcing others to dance with him.

“Mmhm… Who wouldn’t start acting up with new superpowers…” Raiah sighs and begins running after her as she turns the corner, Velle is leaning against the fence waiting for her.

“Not bad, that’s a new record for you,” Velle says.

Raiah sighs. “He’s at practice, right? So then he should still be at the school. The fastest way should be the 221 bus, right?”

“Rai we’re already at the stop for it.” She points to the sign near the street.

“Right…” Raiah murmurs, hunched over.

“Don’t let the anxiety swallow you up, okay? Just stay calm and see what’s in front of you.” Velle smiles.

“O-okay.” Raiah looks down, not noticing her hands shaking the entire time.

“Even if the world changes, I’m still just the same old me. What a joke.” She thinks.

While waiting for the bus to appear, they hear the familiar sound of a large vehicle.

“Sounds like the bus is near,” Velle walks over to the street.

“Get back!” Raiah shouts as she pushes Velle back against the wall and hovers over her.

Velle sees the bus flying down the street, swerving while bathed in flames, and swaps with Raiah, leaning over her as the bus kicks up all kinds of rocks and rubble at them as it drives past. It slams into a parked car, knocking it over and crashing into the house behind it. Seconds later, the entire bus explodes, causing a shockwave and a burst of flames to erupt.

“We need to hurry,” Velle mutters watching the sight of the burning bus.

Raiah silently watched the bus as it burned, her mouth hung open.

“Rai! Stay focused. Things are changing fast so we need to move!” Velle grabs her by the shoulders.

She silently nods as she looks her in the eyes.

“We’re gonna run to the school,” Velle states.

“Run…? Through town…?” She repeats, her heartbeat elevating.

“How else are we gonna get to the school, come on!” Velle takes off running and Raiah reluctantly follows after her. After speeding down two blocks, Velle was barely sweating and moving efficiently. Raiah’s back was hunched over, and her arms hung downward, swinging like noodles as she tried to keep pace.

Velle slows down to wait for Raiah as she slowly catches up.

“See, this is why I told you, you need to exercise!” Velle exclaimed.

“I-I know. I-I’m sorry.” She apologizes, she stops in front of Velle taking a moment to catch her breath. Resting her hands on her knees as she heaved. “Y-you g-go on ahead. I-I’ll catch up, I promise.”

“You’re not trying to slip away, back to the house are you?” Velle questions.

“N-no. I’d hate to be the reason we don’t make it in time. So you go on ahead.” She mutters. 

“Alright, then. I’ll see you there.” Velle waves before speeding off again.

“Damn, my lack of physical ability. It's like I can never show up when it counts.” Raiah thinks. “As much as I wanna go back home, I can’t leave Velle out here on her own.”

Raiah finally caught her breath, she stood up, took a step forward, and froze in place.

“Hm?!” She groaned.

Her limbs shook as she tried to move them, but it wouldn’t budge.

“What's the problem with my body now?!” She thought.

Footsteps rang in her ears as a man approached from the street. He wore a bright orange jacket, cap, and fingerless gloves. He smiled from ear to ear as he approached her. Her body forcibly turned to face him, and she stared at him in confusion.

“Our eyes met. So that means it’s on.” He says.

“W-what’s on?” Raiah says sheepishly.

“What normally happens, a battle!” He exclaims.

“I don’t think it works like that!” She thinks.

“By the way, the name’s Orange!” He says. “The best battleboy around these parts!”

The scene around her begins to warp and shift as Raiah finds something in the corner of her vision. A black square is divided into two segments each named: “Fight” and “Run”. Her name was displayed over a floating green bar with the numbers “20/20” within.

“This reminds me of that battleboys game I used to play. You amass a crew and battle with crews to become the top crew. Some of the toughest fights had you going up against people with weapons and one even had a gun!” Raiah’s expression turns fearful immediately.

She looks him up and down scanning for any presence of a weapon.

“It’s no good! I don’t even know what a hidden gun looks like!” She thinks. “Oh yeah, there’s usually a call function where you can call your boys for backup!”

She tried reaching into her pockets, but there was nothing there.

“I left my phone in the house!” Raiah thinks.

While she was internally screaming, her opponent grinned.

“Since you’re not gonna make the first move, I will!” He exclaims.

He chose the move “Brass Knuckle” allowing him to reach into his pocket and pull out a silver brass knuckle, he put it over his fist and winded his arm up.

“He did have a weapon! I’m screwed.” Her nails dig into her face as she panics. 

Raiah immediately begins hammering the run button with her index finger, a message appears over the box reading: “Can’t escape!” 

“Why the hell not?!” Raiah’s teeth begin chattering wildly. 

After her turn ended, her opponent ran over to her with a dogged stance, right fist raised as he struck Raiah across the cheek with a heavy blow.