Lire

*Reminder to self: Write an author note*

There is a spoiler tag in the chapter. It's not an actual spoiler. I just didn't want to clutter the thingy.

You can read it safely.

Also, there are parts in the spoiler that are obviously using the wrong grammar. This is intentional. Zayne was too lazy to write full sentences when he "wrote" that. He's pretty similar to me in that regard...

"Let's get the fuck out of here!"

Adrenaline pumped into Zayne's veins as he lifted Luna into his arms and kicked down the door to get out of the room.

However, before his foot could make contact with the door, it disappeared.

Or rather, the entire room did.

"What the fuck?" Zayne looked around, seeing only trees around them. Huge trees. The size of skyscrapers.

"Wh-what happened...?" Luna voiced anxiously. She then realized that she was still being held onto. "Hey, lemme down."

"Oh, sur--" Zayne was about to set Luna back to the ground, but then he noticed multiple abnormalities about her.

First, her hair — which was supposed to be light-brown — was now a glossy platinum silver.

Second, she was now wearing a tunic-like garment fastened to her waist with a belt. A very dirty tunic-like garment, if he might add. The yoga pants she wore was replaced by a pair of brown, cotton pants.

Third, she was noticeably younger and more attractive now. He was always well-aware of how beautiful she was, but it felt like she went from a 100/10 to a 1000/10 beauty (in his humble opinion). Her skin looked a bit silkier and smoother than before, her lips looked more kissable, and even her scent was more tantalizing.

Even though Zayne had gotten used to her over the years, he couldn't help but gulp when he saw her current look.

The last problem, was that even though Luna should've gotten shorter, she actually appeared a little taller than him.

Which is to say he got shorter too. Much shorter.

"What's up?" Luna tilted her head.

When her lover suddenly started gawking at her out of nowhere, Luna wondered if something was wrong. It reminded her of when they were younger, when he was being all cute and shy around her. Now, she'd only get these types of reactions if she surprised him with some cosplay.

'I'm just wearing ordinary stuff, though?'

Luna glanced at what should've been an oversized white hoodie but saw a tunic instead. Her eyes widened in shock.

"Huh? What happened to my clothes...?"

"Uh, yeah. Check out your hair."

"Hm?"

Luna reached out toward the back of her head to grasp her ponytail. She brought it in front of her and cried out in shock.

"I got old!?"

"No. You look younger, actually. Like, you're literally the fifteen-year-old version of yourself." Zayne shook his head, opting to not mention her increased hotness. "Just the hair color changed."

Luna heaved a sigh of relief.

"No, you're worried about the wrong things here..." Zayne sighed in exasperation as he eyed their surroundings. "Like, maybe you should worry about the previously stated fact that your and my age regressed? Or that we're not in our apartment anymore? Or the fact that we're in a literal fucking forest?"

"Oh, yeah. There's that too, I guess?" Luna giggled as she playfully bonked herself in the head. But then her brows wrinkled in worry as she gripped Zayne's shoulder. "What do we do...?"

Despite the unease she felt growing inside her, she wasn't actually that afraid. Zayne was with her after all. He'd somehow do something about it. Just as he did when they eloped at age sixteen, taking her away from her family's clutches.

She would just have to do her best to support him.

"Well, first things first, get off." Zayne unceremoniously let go of Luna. Just as he'd expected, in a very cat-like manner, she effortlessly regained footing

Luna straightened out her new(?) clothes and looked around her. Upon closer inspection, the tree's trunks were as black as the ground they were stepping on. The sky was completely covered by a roof of leaves, but the trace amounts of light that seeped through the gaps told her that the sun was still up.

"Ugh..." her nose wrinkled from the putrid smell rising from the dark soil.

"Geh. It smells like crap..." Zayne covered his nose in disgust as his nose was invaded by the stench too. He looked down at his clothes and discovered they'd also changed. Except that they barely looked like clothes at all.

"I've seen homeless people dressed better than you." Luna quipped, staring down at her lover's attire.

"Shuddup..." Zayne frowned as he tugged at the rags he was wearing. He was sporting what looked like a blood-stained cloth sack with holes for his head and arms to pass through. Because of the chilling wind he could feel passing through between his legs, he didn't need to look down to know that he wasn't wearing any pants at the moment.

He subconsciously covered Zayne Jr. with both hands.

"Hm?" Luna crouched and brought her face closer to his crotch, giving it a scrutinizing gaze.

"Wh-what?" Zayne shifted restlessly. Even though she'd seen it countless times, having it stared at in such a blatant manner made him uncomfortable.

After a few seconds, Luna's eyes widened as she covered her mouth in shock. "It got smaller!?"

"WHAT!?"

Zayne doubled over and inspected his third leg. His eyes narrowed as he fiddled with his thing, measuring it up against his hand. But then he remembered that his age had regressed. Naturally, his son would get smaller as well.

When Zayne looked back up in annoyance, he saw Luna...

"Pfft."

biting her finger to stop herself from laughing.

"You...!" Zayne tried to grab her out of anger but she swiftly moved out of the way.

"Ahaha! It was a joke!" Luna giggled. Once it looked like Zayne had settled down, she smiled and said, "Have you calmed down now?"

"..." Realizing his lover's true intentions in messing with him, Zayne felt his mind cool off. He nodded as he smiled wryly. "Yeah."

"Good." Luna sniffed in satisfaction.

'I wanted to tease him more but... meh. I guess now's not the time for that...' she thought.

"So, I'm still waiting for that plan." Luna gestured towards their surroundings. "Though, I won't hold it against you if you can't think of anything. Everything about this is so strange..."

"Yeah... wait." Zayne's eyes caught sight of a sack placed on the ground by their feet. He hadn't noticed it before, perhaps because he was too worried about the state of his dick. He crouched down and opened it up to find a small box the size of a baseball, a sheathed knife, two small pouches filled with something metallic, and a thick black book.

A very familiar thick black book.

"Isn't that..." Luna's eyes furrowed. "The book Archiver sent you?"

"Yeah. At least, I think so. I mean, that book didn't really have a lot of decorations on it." Zayne took out the book and opened it...

Only for it to explode, becoming a thick plume of black smoke.

"What the—!"

Before Zayne could back off, the smoke surged toward him and entered his body through his orifices.

"Zayne!" Luna called out in alarm. But as she stepped forward to try to grab Zayne, some of the black smoke rushed toward her as well, entering her body in the same way it did to Zayne's.

The smoke continued to get sucked into the two's bodies as if their apertures were vacuums. As streams of smoke flooded into their bodies, something else was doing so to their minds.

"Ack!" Zayne bit his lip as he tried to endure the ache in his head. Memories that weren't his were flowing into his mind.

Memories of being the only son of a lord. Of being surrounded by maids and butlers, awaiting his orders.

Memories of being abducted by men in dark robes. Of being brought to an underground facility in the middle of a forest, where the trees towered into the heavens. Of the horrible things the people in those facilities did to him. Of the potions they made him drink, causing strange things to happen to him. Of the things he had to do just to sate his hunger. Of the way they used various tools to open up his body, put things inside, heal him, then take the things out in some other way or through some other hole.

Of how every day, he felt like he was losing himself.

Memories of how they trained him to be an unfeeling soldier, that would kill whenever they asked.

Memories of how many comrades he had to slay, just to test out how sharp a blade was. Of the things he had to do to their bodies after. Of how they tasted.

Memories of that orb, that reeked of absolute evil, being implanted into his body, causing him insufferable amounts of pain.

Memories of how they whispered to him.

And finally, memories of how he found a chance to escape that place, after who-knows-how-many years of captivity, barely able to maintain his sanity. Of how he'd almost forgotten his own name.

When the pain finally subsided, Zayne muttered the owner of the memories' name.

"Grant...?"

"Ahh!!" Luna clutched her head as she tried to persist through the agony she felt. She felt as if countless needles were being plunged into her skull as memories that weren't hers poured into her mind.

Memories of being born into a happy family of six, in an ordinary hamlet one could find just about anywhere in the empire of Viridan.

Memories of how she grew up to be known as the most beautiful girl in their community.

Memories of how a passing noble had taken an interest in her, asking her to marry him. Of how she'd refused, saying that her heart already belonged to another. Of how the noble had stormed off in anger.

Memories of how she came home from foraging in the forest to find houses set on fire. Of how the men and elderly were beheaded. Of how the women were defiled. Of how she'd ran away in fear, despite her family still being there.

Memories of how soldiers dressed up as bandits pursued her through the forest. Of how she'd fallen into a cliff, plunging into the river below. Of how she was swept away for days.

Memories of how she'd found a cave and of how it changed her fate. Of how after turning into what she was now, she'd gone back to her village and murdered all her enemies using the power and knowledge she'd inherited from the dead man. Of how she'd ran away after finding everyone she knew was dead.

Of how, in her despair, the vampiric instincts took over. Everyday, she lost a part of herself, until one day, she could no longer tell where the vampire's memories began and where they ended.

And finally, memories of how the scent of blood, blood that smelled incredibly appetizing, had led her into this forest.

When the tormenting agony Luna felt finally ended, an unfortunate young woman's name couldn't help but escape her lips.

"Ilya..."

"Ugh..." Zayne groaned as he knelt on the ground, stroking the back of his head. Even though the pain was gone, his brain still felt a bit sore. He couldn't give his brain a massage so he settled for the part he could rub instead.

Despite the ache he felt, his eyes were glued to the semi-transparent screen in front of him.

"Zayne... can you see this?" Luna pointed towards her own screen.

"Yep." Zayne chuckled, since he didn't really know how else to react in this situation.

"Are we..." Frowning, she looked toward Zayne for clarification.

"I know," he interjected. Zayne heaved a long sigh as he said, "We got trucked into my novel..."

Lire

Well, there it is. MC and FML are now well and truly trucked. (Get it? I switched it up with 'fucked'... no? okay, sorry...)

I don't know if I ever explained this, but is anybody curious about why I do these word count thingies?

Well, here it is:

Spoiler

It's because as a reader, I'm always pretty curious about how long the chapter I just read was. But was too lazy to run it through a word counter or something.

So, now that I'm on the writing side of things, I want to sate the curiosities of anyone similar to me!

That's the only reason, really. There isn't some deeper motivation for it.

Are you underwhelmed? Well, that's just life. Sometimes, things are actually really simple.

That girl you've been eyeing is just waiting for you to come talk to her! So go and do it!

[collapse]

Also, about the tables...

Spoiler

I'm sorry if they look a little weird. When I pasted them over to Scribblehub's chapter editor, the colors and all sorts of other stuff got fucked up.

I am too busy and lazy to research how to fix this, so I'm just gonna let it pass.

Well, it looks presentable enough after all, as long as you don't scrutinize it. It also kinda looks okay on mobile if you read it while you're phone is positioned horizontally.

How does it look to you? Tell me about your thoughts by dropping a comment!

[collapse]

Anyway, that's the chapter. I hope you enjoyed it! If you found this enjoyable, give it a heart!

See you next chapter! Stick around why doncha!

*bows*