Nexus Awakened (An Isekai LitRPG Gender Bender Story)

New Years 2024 Special Chapter: The Door of Wrath Creaks

“Sinder was always busy. He carried the weight of the world on his shoulders all alone. I thought I was doing everything I could to help him, but in hindsight, I should have tried to reach out to him.”

Anna monologued as she scribbled down on various documents pertaining to the Nexus’ internal affairs. They were to be completed within the next few days, but she finished them in only hours.

“Would that have changed anything? I like to think that the future can be changed in a meaningful way. That rewriting the past isn’t a matter of erasing and writing your own series of events into an already completed tale.”

She was in the company of the Hired Arm and the Taleor, who were two different variations of Sinder. The Pre-Book Burnings Era Sinder (The Taleor/White Frost), and Post-Book Burnings Era Sinder (The Hired Arm/Big Frost).

“I can look at all the futures I think I want, but the act of observing them changes it. It doesn’t make much sense, does it?”

The Hired Arm shook her head. The Taleor shrugged. Stacks of paper piled on top of Anna’s table. Soon, it sprawled everywhere. The Hired Arm and the Taleor leisurely moved them to a different part of the Eternal Library where the new Bookkeepers would sort them out.

The Bookkeepers were Ex-Librarians who had been cleansed of their Impuritas title. They were Puritas beings, like that of the Objet D’ Art. It wasn’t until the Arbiter returned to her Floor of Judgement that they were able to be cleansed of their impurities.

It was an ability of the Floor of Judgement, like how the Floor of Civilization was able to observe anywhere Anna had visited around the world in real time. She hadn’t put it to good use aside from mapping out the Nex Megalopolis.

The biggest hurdle was moving safely.

But if she was afraid, then she never would have managed to map out 4% of the Nex Megalopolis already. It didn’t seem like much, but one had to remember just how massive it was.

More than a thousand, if not thousands of kilometers worth of wall ran from one end of the Nex Megalopolis to the other. Each Sector had its own major city and many smaller ones. Then, there were towns in between them. Following the towns were countless villages, not to mention the vast amount of arable land between these places.

Then, there was even an underground portion of the Nex Megalopolis that needed to be mapped. Atelier cities were another behemoth, and so on. Anna had a lot on her plate, but she had help from her Bookkeepers.

They were responsible for two things; organizing compiled books and being able to retrieve information from more obscure books. Frost had a Skill that was directly tied to this. The more she could learn from a creature, the more a book could be filled. This even included Corrupted.

Anna suspected that it may even allow for Archiving Corrupted by simply learning about them and using Light to bring them out. Of course, it was always easier to just bring it into the Nexus.

But the possibility was there at least.

“But then the futures I do look at aren’t even the right ones.” Anna walked from hallway to hallway, bookshelf to bookshelf.

The world twisted and turned around her. Any normal being would have had their mind reduced to mush, but she treated it like it was just bad weather.

“Infinite possibilities? Can that be right? I saw a million different kinds of Cer thanks to the Blue Dahlia, but none of them were real aside from the one here.”

Anna spoke as if she was speaking to an invisible friend. That was because the Hired Arm and the Taleor would occasionally answer back.

“Aside from using the Advent of Attachment.” The Hired Arm responded, whilst the Taleor said:

“Tales and make belief can become a reality with enough conviction. Your tales are another’s reality. One’s history is their present. The problem with infinite tales in a world like ours is that they are an infinite number of possibilities.”

Anna led them across a bridge that dropped off. She walked, knowing well that she would not fall. And she was correct. She walked along the vertical bridge, throwing pieces of paper at various books to compile to fill in their missing pages.

The stacks of paper held by the Hired Arms and the Taleor magically sorted themselves out. Sparks of magic trailed behind the sheets of paper like the sparks of a firework. Finally, Anna spoke as reality normalized.

“Phantasia draws on imagination rather than what’s written. I feel like that’s more dangerous. Imagine if you two were to turn into Sinder? Haha~ Just kidding~” Anna clasped onto the mantle given to her by the Crowned and scurred down a red, carpeted path.

It was impossible. The Taleor wanted to say this out loud, but the Hired Arm swiftly cupped her mouth. Sinder was dead. The existence of his past and future versions was evident of this. Plus, the Crowned was killed and Archived so there was no possibility of Sinder existing.

Anna knew this as well. It just pained her to admit this out loud. Many of her current regrets came from not being able to save Sinder. The reason why she was asking about possibilities was because it may be possible to bring Sinder back if they tapped into its power.

But Anna knew better than to tinker with the Light.

“Do you remember how Sinder felt? He didn’t… hate me, did he?” Anna gathered one particular stack of paper.

These were instructions written in braille and were to be given to Stella. A Star, Moon or Receptionist could easily do the job for her. However, Anna felt like going for a walk around the Nexus.

As she left, the Hired Arm answered with:

“Sinder never had a problem with you. It was more accurate to say that he was more frustrated with himself.”

“He must have taken a liking to you from the moment you met to take you in. That, or he saw a part of himself inside of you. I’m gonna be honest with you – it really could’ve been anyone that night.”

“So why me, is the question.” Anna couldn’t think of a reason why Sinder saved her in particular.

She eventually giggled, realizing that it was a nonsensical question.

“Do you need a reason to save someone?” The Hired Arm asked rhetorically in the same cadence as Sinder once did. Although, the Alter Frost rubbed her fingers together, indicating that she only worked for money.

“It depends. If they’re going to die anyway, then you might as well give them the silver bullet.”

What the Taleor meant was a mercy kill. Silver was described to be a medicine of sorts against evil monsters, when in actuality it was no different from lead. Bullets were bullets. Whether it killed a monster, or an innocent soul didn’t matter.

What mattered to the Taleor – and Sinder by extension – was the intention of the bullet.

“Would Sinder say the same thing if he was here?” Anna enjoyed talking about hypothetical situations, especially when it was related to Sinder.

They passed by the Floor of Desire and waved at a Star Child who roamed the halls with the Little Frost.

Then, they made it to the pristine halls of the Floor of Wrath. Immediately, the pleasant air became heavy. Soon, it became unbearable the moment they walked in front of the hall where the Door of the Floor of Wrath resided.

“It depends on if he decides to love this world, I feel.” The Taleor answered.

“Or, if you were to be honest with yourself.” The Hired Arm stated.

Both struggled to speak. All but Anna noticed that something awry was happening on this floor.

“Yeah. I won’t make that mistake again. Are you two stopping here?” Anna paused.

“Something came up.” The Hired Arm answered, hiding the anomaly from the oblivious Archivist.

“Alright. Cya then~!”

They waved at her until her body completely disappeared. At once, the pressure they felt emanating from the Floor of Wrath disappeared, allowing the two to turn to its direction.

“Did you feel it?” The Taleor asked. “That pressure?”

“I did. It’s nostalgic in a terrifying way.”

Tension immediately filled their lungs. The two knew precisely what was happening behind those doors…

No, they knew much more than that.

“Soon.” The Hired Arm uttered. “Soon, your regrets will disappear along with your worries.”

A loud bang came from behind the gargantuan, lattice doors afar.

That bang only ever echoed through the halls of this place whenever Anna passed by, unbeknownst to the poor girl. But that was because neither she nor anyone else in the Nexus could detect it other than for the these two Alter Frosts.

The duo stared unblinkingly at the doors like a pair of statues.

Then, with one last breath, the Hired Arm chanted:

“Do not let go of their hand this time. We have a lot of work ahead of us.”

“First the old lady with the mark of the Exiled One, and now this? Give me a break.”

The mannerisms of the Taleor broke down now that Anna was not here. Her crude way of speaking returned in full force as she spung her old-world firearm like a baton.

“This whole world of superpositions, propagating thoughts and twisted ideals is in dire need of a new shooter. Too bad we’re bound by the Original. At least they’re doing what Sinder was never good at.”

She walked away with the Hired Arm, but not without sending one last gaze at the door.

“How about it? Are you going to be our ideal shooter?”

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