Chapter 14: The One-Shot Between Two Worlds
The morning sun filtered through Abid's apartment window, bathing his room in a soft, golden light. He sat cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by pens, pages, and half-filled cups of tea that had long since gone cold. A faint breeze stirred the curtains, and with it came the scent of ink drying on fresh paper.
The new story was coming together.
Not a multi-chapter upload, not a massive franchise like Death Note or One Piece, but a single, original one-shot. A quiet tale about a young girl from a village who finds a mysterious page—something clearly not of her world—and sets off on a gentle journey to find its creator.
It was, in many ways, a letter.
A story written for Lina, for the children who hung his pages on the wall of the Golden Oak Library, for the readers whose interpretations turned Ryuk into a raven spirit and made L a candy alchemist.
It was a thank-you to a world he had never seen but was beginning to feel.
[System Notification: Featured One-Shot in progress. "The Wind from Between Realms" – Draft 72% complete.]
[Projected Market Compatibility: 93% – High interest detected in new, original content.]
Abid leaned back against the wall and exhaled slowly.
He'd rewritten the final scene three times already. In it, the girl finally meets the "Page Maker," a quiet, reclusive figure who lives on a mountaintop. He never speaks. Instead, he hands her a blank book and a brush. "Your turn," he writes.
Abid smiled at the simplicity of it. This was the first time in years that he'd written something not for a competition, not for survival, not to prove his worth—but just to connect.
The system chimed again.
[Optional System Prompt: Apply Explorer's Ink to selected panels for enhanced emotion and motion effect?]
He tapped 'Yes' and selected three pages: the one where the girl lifts the page from the wheat field, the one where she sees a vision of other worlds in a pond's reflection, and the final one where she begins writing her own story.
As he watched the ink blend and shift, creating a shimmer like wind in the lines, a quiet sense of satisfaction settled in his chest.
[Ink Effect Applied.]
[Visual Grade: A – Captures "Calm Wonder" emotion successfully.]
The deadline for the upcoming market event was in two days. Plenty of time, if he didn't rush.
But he didn't want to rush.
This one-shot deserved the same quiet care as a hand-written letter. And so, he took breaks. Brewed tea. Walked to the rooftop. Watched the neighbors hang laundry and the crows fight over food scraps. Listened to the sound of the mosque's evening azaan echoing over the buildings.
Everything fed into the story. The quiet moments, the silences between words.
By evening, he finished inking the last page.
[System Prompt: "The Wind from Between Realms" complete. Upload now?]
He hesitated.
Not from doubt. But from reverence. Like letting go of something precious.
Then he nodded.
[Confirmed.]
[Uploading…]
The pages disappeared into light, page by page, like leaves caught in a breeze. Then the system pulsed.
[Featured Entry Accepted.]
[Market Event Entry Confirmed: "The Wind from Between Realms" will appear in Stall 27, under Original Stories.]
[Reader Focus Boost Applied for 24 hours.]
Abid leaned back and let his head rest against the wall.
He didn't know what would happen next. Would people read it? Would they like it?
Maybe.
Maybe not.
But it had been written. And that, for now, was enough.
—
The following morning, the system woke him earlier than usual.
[Notification: Reader Responses Incoming.]
He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and sat up. A new icon blinked on the screen—an open book with fluttering pages.
He tapped it.
[Reader Comments – "The Wind from Between Realms"]
> "I cried when she looked into the pond and saw stars she didn't recognize. It reminded me of stories my grandmother used to tell."
> "It felt like the wind was whispering while I read. Soft and quiet and full of old magic."
> "Was the Page Maker based on you? Or someone you knew?"
And from Lina:
> "You wrote this for us, didn't you? It felt like your heart was on every panel. The Gallery of Distant Stars has a new centerpiece now."
Abid covered his mouth, trying to keep his breath steady. He hadn't realized how much it would mean—to be seen like this.
Another window opened.
[System Reward: "Echo Frame" Unlocked.]
[Item Description: Allows the creation of animated panels that play ambient sounds and subtle motion in alternate world displays.]
[Current Inventory: 1.]
He opened the package.
A frame formed on the table. Slim and rune-lined, with a space in the middle like a suspended panel.
[Select a panel to animate.]
He chose the scene of the girl walking into the golden field with the manga page clutched in her hand. The wind picked up softly in the frame. The page fluttered. The wheat shimmered.
It was… beautiful.
He packaged it using the system's virtual wrapping and tagged it: "To the Golden Oak Library – With thanks."
Then he sent it off.
One gift per week. One heartbeat at a time.
—
That evening, Abid went for a walk.
The streets of Dhaka were their usual chaos—rickshaws rattling by, vendors shouting prices, groups of students laughing too loudly on a narrow sidewalk.
But he felt something strange.
Light.
Not like the fantasy world's magic.
Just… lighter inside.
He bought a bag of peanuts from a street cart and sat on a broken cement bench by the lake. Ducks paddled by. Teenagers took selfies near the water's edge.
And Abid?
He just sat there.
Letting the city be loud around him. Letting the breeze tousle his hair.
And for the first time in a long while, he felt like he belonged. Not just in this city. But in a story he was writing—across worlds.
One page at a time.