“Is all that we see or seem

  But a dream within a dream?”

  —EDGAR ALLEN POE (“A Dream Within a Dream”)

  // Pre-entry Tag

  function inscribeAnnotation006(codex){

  /* We begin with metaphysical uncertainty as a narrative entry point. The Crucible was programmed to open not with certainty, but recursion. Poe’s framing of nested dreams resonates here as more than metaphor. This is a system where nested realities are symbiotic, symbolic, and structural.

  This wasn’t to be just a beginning, but a remembering of how to begin. */

  codex.updateEntry(“A Hollow Ending | A world need not end with a whimper if its story still finds its voice.”);

  }

  It was dark. Not the dark of night, nor the dark behind closed eyelids, but the deep stillness that holds its breath. Waiting. It was darkness, and then, suddenly, the breath of light. A pulse. A slow exhalation of light, blooming faint and pulsing rhythmically. In and out. Slow and steady. Dim and bright. Remi floated it, watching from somewhere separated from his body. A floating awareness, drifting like a ship without an anchor.

  Then words. Not spoken or heard at first, but somehow inscribed. Inked across the void. Framed in orange, neon letters burned their way into Remi’s consciousness.

  [SYSTEM MESSAGE]

  SELECT CALLING: INITIATE

  What followed was something that did not sound entirely like a human voice. It was a hybrid of humanity interlaced with Hertz that crawled like heat in the back of Remi’s brain. It was composed, yet not at all cold, and it sounded, at least for him, like the secretary. Each word carried a faint buzz, like the soft vibration of live wires, with the ghostly undertone of dial-up modems syncing across great distances. The voice was high and textured but not harsh. It resonated with electricity, a barely withheld well of excitement that was both hopeful and horrifying.

  All stories have patterns, and some of your best start with one of these people picking one of three paths. Choose your road, which trail along which your particular story will now unfold. BE WARNED!

  CALLING 1: FIGHTER

  Noteworthy Attributes | Conflict & Valour

  Since humanity first came into being, it has struggled, and people have fought against that struggle. Whether battling the elements, the natural world, or, when necessary, even others, history and stories are rife with warriors. People who are the first to the field, but also the last on the wall, and who make violence have meaning, not simply for its brutality, but to protect, to reclaim, and to dictate.

  Got it. Bashy, bashy! Smashy, smashy!

  In defiance of instinct, they plowed into the danger instead of shrinking away from it. Be that rage made flesh as Achilles, or the real-life tactical defiance of Joan of Arc, your old world needed fighters, and this one does too.

  These allusions are not promising, as both heroes suffer painful and tragic deaths.

  Fighters don’t ask what the rules are. They test them with blood, grit, and forward motion. Their strength is literal and structural—they stabilize the chaos of a collapsing world by anchoring themselves in action. In The Crucible, every myth needs a blade.

  CALLING 2: Caster

  Noteworthy Attributes | Magic & Prophecy

  You can skip this; I get the tropes. He thought it, but like the rest of his internal commentary, the system ignored it and carried on.

  The fear of the unknown has plagued humankind’s existence. Eclipses, blood moons, even a sudden tempest, have all been ascribed to magic. You ascribed these to the power of some false gods. There were some people, however, who didn’t have the universe's questions, but chose to answer them.

  Do you believe in magic? I always have. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve felt it was something real that we lost somehow.

  Scholars, mystics, shamans, who through symbols, signs, and story, bent the unknowable to their will, to something both powerful and usable. Your history is infused with mages, those who shaped their universe not with brawn but with brains. From the staff of Merlin, servant of kings and prophecy, to Marguerite de Porete burned by inquisitors for sharing her truth. Casters have always sought to create order from chaos, and in a world where the patterns have been broken, you need those that can weave it back together.

  Nice! That last reference was a bit more obscure. I appreciate the effort.

  CALLING 3: SPECIALIST

  Noteworthy Attributes | Subversion & Exploitation

  While there has always been both sword and sorcery, there have also been those that fit outside of this binary. These are the miscreants, the mavericks, and the manipulators.

  Interesting.

  They are those that lurk in the margins of the story, defying classification. Their uniqueness is their strength, making them hard to define. As varied as snowflakes, the tricksters, tacticians, aren’t defined by lines, but live in the spaces between them. From Robin lurking in Sherwood Forest, to Scheherazade spinning endless tales to best a murderous king. They work from the edges of a fight that doesn’t recognize them, weaponizing and hacking the systems they refuse to be a part of. In a story with no rules, who better to lead the revolution?

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  As the AI finished, it waited for a minute, and then the screen filled with the three options:

  Select your calling:

  1. Fighter

  2. Caster

  3. Specialist

  A colleague once said to Remi, “Could you please stop staring at me with that Remi Page look on your face?” Remi didn’t know what his face looked like at that moment; it had come after she had said something ludicrous about wanting to watch a questionable film in class, but even though he didn't have a face right now, he was certain that was how his face looked in this moment. This whole thing was stupid. It was not the discount character creation aesthetic the list was giving him; rather, it was the itch clawing across his brain as he tried to reconcile the past hour of his life.

  Remi wasn’t sure if he could even type in this place, but he thought about the AI chat feature. A box appeared with his name in it. The thought words played in his voice, but laced with an electrical buzz redolent of his classroom air conditioner.

  Remi: What if I don’t pick anything?

  [AI]: Then you will be deleted. Pick or don’t. Either way, a choice will be made.

  As if to punctuate the surreal masterpiece he found himself in, his thoughts were interrupted by a slow, smooth Bossa nova fade-in, an absurd jazzy little beat, as then the AI sang “dah-dah dum…Tikka-tik, tikka-tik.” Archie had adopted what was likely meant to be a playful smile, but it was wrong. It looked like a typical AI-generated image, passable at first glance, but anatomically problematic upon study. Similar to how generated images occasionally had eight fingers on the right hand. The smile’s architecture was correct, but the emotion behind the art was missing, and the resulting smile was too strained to be real.

  Somewhere in his chest, a familiar resistance stirred. Don’t play along. Don’t fall for whatever this is.

  REMI: “What the hell are you doing?”

  [AI]: I lack the requisite elevator, so I am giving you time to think.

  REMI: I wasn’t talking about that. I was talking about this.

  He wanted to gesture, to punctuate with movement the end of his thought, but he frustratingly had no arms. He settled on simply stating the rest.

  REMI: All of this. What is going on here?

  [AI]: I thought I was pretty clear a few minutes ago. Do you need me to answer any clarifying questions?

  REMI: Don’t be condescending. I need to know what is happening to me.

  [AI]: That will all become clear later. But first, make the choice. This is mostly a formality; most threads know what they are going to pick. To be frank, I already know what you’re going to pick. But the system requires a definitive input.

  Was he right? Remi was fairly certain halfway through the descriptions what he was likely going to pick. He was never much for direct conflict unless furious, so fighter seemed a bit off for him. The idea of a specialist had been enticing. When playing video games, he always picked the archer, preferring to see the big picture in combat; however, he knew it wasn’t for him when the description finished. A revolutionary he was not, and he really preferred to work within the system than from without, so he straight up noped out of that one. Also, given his penchant for scholarship, mage seemed to be the most logical choice. He ran his fingers through his hair to steady himself. He could feel the stiffness enter his spine, and it was almost enough for him to spite-pick a fighter. In the end, his rational brain got the better of his primal instincts.

  REMI: I guess I will take choice two, caster.

  [AI]: Exactly!

  It felt like there was a pause. Like the AI was pausing in surprise.

  [AI]: What do you mean, you guess? Don’t you know who you are?

  Remi hesitated for a moment himself. The thought surfaced unbidden, borrowed from a place deep in his DNA, swirling around in a chain of hookah smoke. “I-I hardly know, sir…just at present.” But he did not say these words. Instead, he quipped.

  REMI: “At least I knew who I was when I got up this morning. But I think I’ve changed… several times since then.”

  He couldn’t see its face; it didn’t have one, but out of the void he thought he saw the faint outline of grinning ghostly teeth.

  [AI]: Excellent instincts. The question is why we are here. Who are you? Since identity is a core of narrative, before we can begin, you must choose yours. You don’t want to be last. There are only 97 of you left to select, and I will probably prune the last one for not blooming fast enough. But choose carefully; this decision is fairly permanent.

  Remi did not like the connotation of the word prune, so he stopped delaying the inevitable.

  Remi: I choose 2, caster.

  KA-CHING!

  > Remi Caster Class Makefile

  > Hollow Script - Entry-Level Compile Sequence

  Name: Remi Page

  Calling: Mage

  BASIC SPELL: Mana Pulse

  BASIC ATTACK: TBA

  NW_BASE: 45

  IMPRINT SPELL: TBA

  Subclass: TBA

  Domains: Mind (Scholar), TBD

  Weaving: TBA | (Syzygy: LOCKED)

  Archetype: TBA

  Epithet: TBA

  EXP: 0/100

  Remi had so many questions, but the most pressing was about an unfamiliar word peeking through the weeds of his character card, like a Bulbasaur.

  REMI: What exactly does syzygy mean? The word is so fun to look at.

  The AI helpfully displayed the definition.

  

Syzygy

  Noun | [rare]

  1. Conjunction or opposition, especially of the moon with the sun:

  "the planets were aligned in syzygy."

  2. A pair of connected or corresponding things.

  REMI: Also, Mana Pulse?

  [AI]: Soon!

  And then there was light, but it was most certainly not good.