The Author's Playground
Chapter 49: Is it gay to love your genderbend self? (1)

Chapter 49: Is it gay to love your genderbend self? (1)

’Cold... so cold...’

Elijah felt something slithering over his legs, thin, spindly fingers traced his skin. He couldn’t move. Couldn’t see a single thing.

His heartbeat pounded in his ears, erratic, uneven. The air felt thick, dense with something unseen yet ever-present, waiting. Watching.

’Is this... a dream?’

He knew it was. He had to. But knowing didn’t help. Knowing about it didn’t woke him up at all.

A flicker of movement in the void. A figure took shape before him.

Golden hair. Golden eyes. A face he once knew.

Dae-hyun.

Blood soaked his body, staining his skin and pooling at his feet.

A jagged, gaping hole marred his throat, the wound wet. The blood did not pour—it simply bubbled, like something still trying to live despite being torn apart.

Dae-hyun’s lips curled—not quite a smile, not quite anything at all.

"Hey... Eli..." The voice was broken, slipping through shredded vocal cords in a sickening gurgle. "Do you really... have to... kill me...?"

Elijah’s breath caught. His body tensed. The words pressed into his skull, wrapping around his mind like vines, squeezing.

He staggered back—only to collide with something soft. Something wrong.

A figure loomed behind him. A student. Or what remained of one.

Limbs hung in place but weren’t connected, as if held together by something unseen. His head lolled at an impossible angle, floating just above where a neck should be.

This time, it was Astra.

"How cruel... Why do you have to treat everything like a game?"

The voice didn’t sound like it belonged to a person. It seeped into Elijah’s bones, sinking deep, gnawing at something buried inside him.

His stomach twisted. He took a step back—then froze.

Something latched onto his ankle.

A hand. Cold. Wet.

Fingers curled around him with a grip like iron.

The face of a brunette student; Quasolium smiling at him as she caught him.

"Monster... You don’t deserve to live at all"

Then he fell.

The darkness should have caught him, but instead, he sank.

Through something soft. Something warm.

Something dead.

He landed on a mass of bodies. Not strangers. Not faceless corpses.

Himself.

Hundreds of him, twisted and broken, their lifeless eyes staring back at him.

His own face reflected back at him from every direction, some bloodied, some battered, some barely recognizable. Some mouths hung open in silent screams. While others simply moved trying to reach him.

"YoU cAn NOT eScaPe yoUr SIN."

The darkness cracked.

The whispers became screams.

And then—

-

"Gasp—"

Elijah’s eyes snapped open.

His breath came in ragged, uneven bursts. Cold sweat trailed down his face, clinging to his skin like remnants of something that refused to let go.

Even now, he swore he could still hear them.

This time a ceiling and a system interface greeted him.

[ Special Status Inflicted: Sleep Paralysis... ]

and then a female voice.

"Did you have a nightmare?"

Elijah stirred awake, the fog in his mind lifting just enough for him to process his surroundings. A soft bed. The scent of medicinal herbs. The distant murmurs of professors and nurses.

Ah yes, he’s in the infirmary.

He did remember he lost consciousness after using the Beelzebub skill. He couldn’t exactly remember who carried him over outside.

Oh well, not that it matters anymore.

Also Sleep paralysis? that’s a new status inflicted.

’Was it the result of using Beelzebub?’ he thought to himself.

His gaze shifted, landing on a familiar figure seated beside him.

Blonde hair, neatly braided. Sharp green eyes, and her delicate fingers slicing an apple into rabbit pieces.

A familiar system interface hovered above her head.

[ Victoria Elizabeth De Fleur || The Mc’s first ally ]

’hoh? the title changed? Perhaps Chapter 1 gave readers a new impression of her character. Oh yeah, I should definitely check my story progress later.’

Elijah blinked, then let out a small, amused sigh.

Seeing her made him relax a little, and managed to let out a small smile. Although he couldn’t understand why she still bothered visiting him after that incident.

"To be greeted by the Princess of this empire, I think I can die peacefully."

Victoria’s knife stopped mid-slice. Slowly, she turned her head toward him, with brows sunken into a frown.

"Is that so? You can die peacefully...? Oh really?"

Something in her tone sent a shiver down Elijah’s spine.

Was she mad?

Was she being sarcastic?

Was she worried?

Before he could react, she set her plate aside and reached for a nearby pillow laying down on the wooden ground—

And swung.

WHAM!

Elijah’s first instincts screamed, and he rolled off the bed just as the pillow slammed down with the force of a meteor.

There, a loud crack echoed through the room.

Still sprawled on the floor, Elijah turned his head toward the bed frame—which now bore a fresh fracture, steel dented, walls cracked, probably because of the pillow that had struck.

His breath hitched. "Holy shit. Did you put bricks in that thing?!"

Victoria stood, adjusting her grip on the pillow, her eyes alight with something dangerous as she stared back at him.

"Come on, bitch," she replied, rolling her shoulders. "Prove that you can die peacefully."

A second swing came down.

Elijah didn’t hesitate—he bolted toward the door, narrowly dodging the pillow as it struck the air where his head had been. He lunged for the handle, yanking it open—

THUNK.

Something heavy whizzed past his ear and slammed into the wooden door, leaving a deep crack.

At that moment, Elijah felt his soul leave his body for a second.

"If I catch you..." she announced, looking like a beast with that heavy set of breathing. "You’re dead."

Elijah let out a strangled laugh. "Haha, hey, Princess—how about we discuss this like civilized people?"

"Sure," she replied sweetly. Then, with a calm motion, she picked up a bow and a quiver of arrows from the side of the room. "On the hell perhaps."

Elijah took one look at her. One look at the arrows.

Then he ran.