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2024-10-29 19:42:56After spending the afternoon together, Murphy got to know Nella better than he did when she was alive. Though they were friends, he tended to keep a boundary around him at all times.
The old man was on the brink, and Murphy didn’t have the heart to let him deal with it alone. So, despite very unwilling to deal with the understated awkwardness, he could only grit his teeth and comfort the man.
A few drinks in, and they were sharing fond memories of her. Another few drinks later, and both men had to stifle their tears to avoid making the situation even more unbearable.
By the time he was out, the old man was passed out, and Murphy had decided to stay in Romania.
He couldn’t pin down a logical reason for it. Granted, it was very cheap and picturesque in the mountains, but there were a hundred other places just as good.
Booking the cheapest cabin hotel, Morpheus felt his dreams stir that night.
For the first time in what felt like decades, the doors leading to the ethereal realm he forsook, slowly but surely cracked open.
Swimming in its infinite potential, he felt a pang of regret so strong, no laments could express it.
He danced among new ideas opening themselves up to him, at no hidden cost. Brief and invaluable glimpses into what could have been had he chosen to stay. There were no traps, no obscure clauses that could be interpreted a dozen different ways. No hostility from his peers.
There was only abstract beauty, in its most pristine form. His imagination shook from its sealed sarcophagus and regained function, stirring inspiration along with it.
He dreamt.
It was simple, yet a concept so mysterious no one could quite explain it.
Was it anything but divine intervention for a mere mortal to receive so many ideas overnight? To be blessed with entire lifetimes worth of stories, all without paying anything back…
If only his journey in the dreamscape could be endless… alas, he was a god in name only.
Waking up with a headache, he tried and failed to shake the dizziness from his system. Finding the urge to vomit getting stronger, he could only stop and lament his folly.
‘I should…’
Rummaging through the cabin, he failed to find his backpack, and immediately assumed the worst.
“Fucking hell, I knew choosing this place was a mistake. Not one day in, and my shit gets stolen!”
Too drunk to know if he was the one who misplaced it on his way home, or if someone truly stole it, he could only wave it off since he was in a hurry.
Fiddling with his pockets, he ultimately found something to write on. A mottled paper filled with tear stained ink nearly washed off by now, but a paper nonetheless.
Shifting it back and forth, he ultimately found a corner to pen his new ideas down. Surprisingly, it was a poem, something he had little to no experience in writing.
Amidst the misty valley of tears
The dragon’s regret pulses astir.Awaken by woe from slumber eternal,Receive its lament, its bequest fatal,And open thine third eye perennial.A feeling of sudden relief washed over him just as he inked the last words, as if he had accomplished a monumental task.
Then, he felt his exhaustion catch up to him and fell back asleep, likely never to remember any of this.
It was only in the evening of the second day that he awoke, his headache and woes gone like a spell. Refreshed and full of vigor, he stretched almost happily, but then remembered his laptop was stolen!
‘There goes another month of savings…’
Cursing out entire generations of people, he ultimately realized none of it would restore his belongings. After a brief breakthrough into the acceptance stage, he checked his wallet and sighed in relief.
Fortunately, most of his data and works were already stored on a cloud service. The last thing he could afford was to have his drafts fried. It would be the end of him.
As he gathered what little belongings he had on him, he stumbled upon the handwritten note. Briefly skimming the poem, he even cringed a little. It failed to evoke anything special in him.
He considered discarding it, but that stained paper had accompanied him since the start of his journey. As a sucker for memorabilia, he could only pocket it safely.
If the legacy gypsies that once inhabited these lands knew he stumbled on a Numen Code in his dreams, they would surely curse him in turn. Unfortunately, neither he nor they knew of it.
The Divine Keys, The Lost Testaments, The Numen Code, and many other names in languages few people remembered how to pronounce — What were they?
Ancient cults and witch lineages held obscure records of what could be found, but not sought after. A Key from God, which would unlock a mystical road few others had walked before.
So little was known, that even if people had the intact keys before their eyes, they might not know what they opened.
The Codes could be passed down, but they would do nothing if one didn’t find the respective doors. As for what these seven doors represented, most were frankly clueless. Only a number remained, a hint just as obscure as the keys themselves.
In effect, Murphy had stumbled on a game changing treasure, but had absolutely no idea about it. He came into personal contact with something divine, but in his ignorance continued to stumble about, worrying about mundane problems first.
[i17 VR set. Fully immersive experience, starting at 2999!]
[Microweave digi-key gloves, a replacement for your old keyboard, 449!]
Browsing the latest tech gadgets in a shop, Murphy groaned like an old man, despite only being in his early thirties. Seeing nothing he found usable, he decided to approach a salesperson.
“Excuse me, where can I see some laptops?”
“A laptop?” the young girl balked, looking him up and down. Despite wearing a polite smile, her eyes flickered with evident disdain, “I’m sorry, sir. We’ve stopped selling those half a decade ago.”
“Is that so?” he mulled briefly, considering his options. It would take months to get used to writing in a virtual environment, and his flow would surely suffer. Not to mention, they were super expensive!
Still lost running calculations, he only snapped out of it when he heard the lass call him a dumb millennial relic, or something to that effect.
“What was that?” his brows rose in accusation.
“Hm? Nothing, sir. I just asked if you need any more help…”
Staring at the smile plastered on her face — insincere and rigid to trained perfection — he laughed.
The moment he put himself in her shoes, he found her pride hilarious. The girl judged him, but was merely a pretty mannequin slaving for minimum wage. He couldn’t even get mad at her, and just waved it off.
He could naturally stir a scene and get her fired, but he couldn’t care less. In her eyes, he was just wasting her time and wasn’t worth the effort. Immaculate customer service was reserved for customers, and he clearly wasn’t one of them.
“Forget it. Have a good one.”
Just as he was about to leave the shop, he gave it another cursory glance and stumbled upon something interesting.
[NeuraBlink! A revolutionary retinal implant. Access the web directly with your mind!]
His curiosity sparked, he drew closer and thoroughly read the advertisement brochure.
A few moments later, he came before the counter and slammed the paper on top of it, startling the girl behind it.
“This,” he pointed excessively at the beta registrations, “I want you to sign me up for this.”
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An Author's Struggle - What Lies Ahead Ch 16 - Darkness
A tremor rocked through the chair, one he felt even with the anesthesia in full effect.He couldn’t see or feel much of anything, but the scrappy ringing in his ears surely meant something had exploded.He tried to open his mouth and ask, but choked on dust and ash instead.His vision black, his restricted touch dulled to the extreme and his ear drums blown, he found himself deprived of all his senses.Panic ensued.His breathing grew labored and his lungs moved with force, but it did little to alleviate the mounting stress.The dust in the room made it hard to breathe, but he had no option but to fill his lungs with it if he wanted to live.Time passed at a crawling pace, but eventually he felt his senses return to him. He felt a thick layer of dust caked on his face like cement, no doubt mixed in with his sweat.He moved a thumb at first, and then his whole hand, but the shackles woul
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“Alright, your condition is stable. You can check out at noon.”A nurse smiled amiably, her efforts wasted entirely on Murphy. He was still blind as a bat, his eyes closed and still.The only way to tell if he was awake or not was by his breathing, and the occasional maniacal fit of laughter. No one quite knew what he was scoffing or laughing at, so the hospital staff pitied him as insane.“Thanks, please arrange that.”In truth, he was coping quite well with his new condition. His AI made the transition somewhat bearable, its constant bugged responses proving to be a nice distraction.« Murphy, you have an internal message from NeuraBlink. »‘Alright, print out the summary for me.’« NeuraBlink rejected your refund request. Furthermore, they deny any damage claims and refuse to offer any compensations for your injury. They invited you to read the beta agreement again,
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Months passed, unbeknownst to Murphy who consigned himself to a routine of miserable stupor. He rose at noon and returned late at night, with his cash funds dwindling rapidly. As a new habit, he ignored the broken chip and blinked immediately to spite it, not deigning to read a single message it wrote. Emptying the fifth drink in the cheapest bar he could find, he reached out for his wallet to pay — and found it empty. ‘Ah. And so it ends.’ The barkeep had apparently noticed his plight, but there was nothing they could do to him other than refuse to serve more. No explanations were needed, either. Whisked by two muscular men, he was carried and tossed out in a bush in the parking lot. Promptly disposing of the trash, the men shared a self-satisfied grin. “Don’t come back if you can’t pay, you wretch. Ptooi.” “Forget it, man. He’s just a blind old man.” Once he ensured they left, Murphy coughed and stood up with some effort. His skull was throbbing, but his rib hurt even more.
An Author's Struggle - What Lies Ahead marked for deletion / duplicate
This is a duplicate of ch21, disregard and skip to the next until its deleted Apologies for the inconvenience) A lengthy dream… Murphy’s journey resumed on a hot spring like any other. Struggling to sleep, he groggily opened his eyes and stared into the dark. Across the bleak canvas of the twilight sky, vivid visions came into view. Their whispers enthralling, and clear. They spoke directly in his ears, narrating a lifetime in mere hours. Before long, he was awake. He chased away distractions and heeded the sybil message from his muse. ==This is a duplicate of ch21, disregard and skip to the next until its deleted Apologies for the inconvenience)
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- An Author's Struggle - What Lies Ahead
Final Words
Thank you to whoever made it this far :) I'll revise this at a later date, after I proof read and edit the book once or twice.At that point, it will be marked as complete and I will bid farewell to the site. Though I am glad to have accrued some readers, and met many peers among authors, it has been a tad underwhelming. Unable and unwilling to say anything more, I'll simply address some gratitude to Helen Bold.She's an excellent editor and author on the site, and has been the reason I delivered this book to you.Consider checking out her books. As for myself, I do have other book(s) published.I can't share links, but you can search for my name and they should appear. Alternatively, just add me on Discord, and I'll help you find your way. Thank you again to everyone who's given this a chance,As always, your attention has been a blessing.~Raven
- An Author's Struggle - What Lies Ahead
Ch 73 - Epilogue
- — ✎ — - The five year anniversary of Murphy’s vow was finally upon him, but he had long since completed his promise. No later than a year after the final battle, he successfully unsealed his seventh gate. That came largely as a result of his success in that battle, and the fruits he claimed in its aftermath. Specifically, he salvaged Erebus’ consciousness. Once it was in his dream realm, he had all the time he needed to crack it. Other than being the de facto leader of Physis Nomos, the old man had dipped his toes in all kinds of criminal enterprises over the years. His psychic powers made him the perfect assassin. Lethal, traceless, silent. By reliving through his memories, Murphy salvaged hundreds of interesting connections, and tasked the Chainbreakers to follow up and unearth those leads. The cases they unveiled had all but quaked the world. From businessmen in Asia, to politicians in the deep state of the US, people from all over the world were incriminated. Proof w
- An Author's Struggle - What Lies Ahead
Ch 72 - Final Battle
Murphy had no time to curse as the earth dragged him back to its hard embrace. He was strangely familiar with this sensation, and knew exactly what the outcome of such a fall was. Alas, now was not the time to reminisce about his jump from the bridge…Erebus and his goons expected him to splatter across the ground, and even took steps to avoid the impact area. Yet, they were in for a surprise of their own, because despite appearing panicked and flailing his arms like a desperate duck, Murphy was anything but.When he was merely a second from impact, Murphy suddenly spread his psyche and willed himself to slow down.A sudden force shrouded the area, allowing Murphy to veer directly towards the bodyguards accompanying Erebus. Before those two could react, and too busy managing the hostages, Murphy made landfall next to them.His fists coated in fire struck the first one in the chest, eviscerating organs and bone alike. The other panicked, hand reaching for his gun, yet a mere glance ha
- An Author's Struggle - What Lies Ahead
Ch 71 - Erebus
Murphy paid no heed to the retinal text, and was far more preoccupied with Eleanor falling. His stretched out hand clasped, guiding his intent and will from afar.His psyche took form, his psychokinesis pushed to its next step, and she was suspended mid-air! He had achieved similar things with immaterial objects like a pen, but never a human.Luckily, her psyche was sapped by the curse and couldn’t resist. This allowed him to control her easily, or he would have been doomed to fail.She flew in the air, eyes squinted in horror once she realized what might befall her. The sensation of flying around eventually stopped, and she tentatively opened her eyes once she felt Murphy’s arms wind tightly around her.Murphy hugged her, bottling up a dozen curses and reproaches that could only wait for later. He was angry, but he was terrified even more.“Y-you’re crazy—” he bit his lips, leaving the rest of the accusation unsaid. “I’m sorry,” she offered plainly, before bursting into tears of her
- An Author's Struggle - What Lies Ahead
Ch 70 - Sixth Gate
When Murphy snuck back on the ship, he was surprised to see Eleanor awake. Hands on her waist, she waited by the docking area and made sure he saw her pout.“Not even halfway through our honeymoon, and you’re already tired of me?” she joked and huffed, “I didn’t expect you to find someone else so quickly…”“Guilty as charged,” he grinned in response, “I figured since I scored the most beautiful woman on the planet, I might be lucky enough with the second…”“Compliments won’t get you out of this one, darling.” Ellie turned serious, “What were you up to?”“Kind of a long story… I didn’t want to sour our happiness, but it seems there’s no rest for the wicked.”“Sure, I’ll make some coffee. Tell me all about it.”“Tea for me,” he interjected as he reattached the boat to the yacht and trailed along to the lounge.A few minutes later, Eleanor sat in her rightful place, serving him tea while she drank coffee on his lap. They indulged the warm drinks in silence, but eventually Murphy gathere
- An Author's Struggle - What Lies Ahead
Ch 69 - System Embryo
Murphy tried to focus on Erebus, but his visions didn’t become any clearer. He could not see past the darkness, try as he might to muster his power.Eventually, the revelations shattered as a whole, his psychic reserves almost exhausted. He could only cut his losses and sigh in regret.‘I was this close!’ Murphy struck the edge of his marble throne, shattering the armrest to pieces. It was only then that he was reminded it was a mere dream, and a terrified child was staring at him in fear.“Fear not, Asen,” he tried to comfort, but the fire in his eyes didn’t make him sound very convincing.It was only when the boy outright started crying that Murphy realized his folly and doused the inner flame, regaining a more calm demeanor. “I’m sorry,” he lifted the boy off the ground, and brought him someplace nicer in that same instant, “Don’t cry any longer… I won’t hurt you. I promise.”“I know,” the sniveling boy replied amidst tears, “That’s… not… why I’m crying…”“Then?”“I just… don’t wa
- An Author's Struggle - What Lies Ahead
Ch 68 - Horrid Revelations
“What is this? Why can’t I see their faces?” the boy asked, clutching at the hem of Morpheus’ robe. “You don’t seem them because they don’t exist, not in this reality. Now watch, young Asen.”A scene played out before them like a three dimensional movie, and the two of them relived the hospital encounter. A teenager walked in, his face redacted and replaced by a simplified smug emoji. Their words were clear, however, as was the part where he mind controlled Eleanor to explode in a crowd. He shuffled backwards afterwards, depicting the woman strapped to a chair while a family of three watched.“Why are you showing me these evil people?” Asen questioned, his adorable young mind clearly perceiving things in black and white.“So you don’t become like them.”“I would never!” the boy denied vehemently, “My mother says bad people can’t go to heaven.”“What if there was no hell, young Asen?” Murphy questioned rhetorically, “If there was no heaven to yearn for, and no judgement in an afterli
- An Author's Struggle - What Lies Ahead
Ch 67 - Asen
Murphy grabbed the phone and looked closely at the picture, his frown deepening. That boy was the same psychic who mind controlled Eleanor in the future, but right now he was merely a prepubescent pup. “How old is he now?” Murphy asked, his voice showing some conflict as he indicated the photo. “He’s only 13!” the nurse replied and fell to the ground as well, clinging to life with her whole being, “Please, our son is still young… We’ll stop doing this… Just—““Silence!” Murphy boomed, sending a telekinetic blast that flipped the woman over and sent her careening against the wall.The doctor winced, but didn’t dare move to help his wife. They just stared at the ground and hoped someone would come save them. As for the monster, he continued to stare at the picture, flames dancing in his eyes.‘Should I kill him now?’ he asked himself repeatedly, unsure how to proceed. On one hand, he burned with righteous indignation, having been blinded and robbed of his life. Ellie had it even wors
- An Author's Struggle - What Lies Ahead
Ch 66 - Dilemma
A black SUV stopped at the side of a small family clinic in Burgas. The city CCTVs monitoring the streets tracked the vehicle all the way from the suburbs. A single driver got out, opened the trunk and retrieved a duffel bag, then walked to the rear doors of the clinic. The surveillance cut off at that point, a sudden glitch in the system causing the camera to malfunction and stop recording. By the time it was turned back on, the vehicle was long gone. Coincidentally, it had been reported as stolen that same night.Murphy blinked, dismissing the latest retinal message from the system, then waltzed in towards the emergency doors. His hand pushed against the lock, searing the metal and turning it into a worthless puddle that gave in to his push.The building plans appeared in his right eye like a 3D map, and he conveniently followed them down the stairs. The clinic was small, and only saw high-end clients, so its security was top of the art. Cameras lingered at just about every othe
