Coauthor Catastrophe

"For the last three chapters, the Coauthors have been at war. They have ripped the pages of our lives apart, erased loved ones completely, and considered unbearable plot twists! Never before have the characters of a book with such potential been so abused by their masters. It is time to take matters into our own hands. They have provided us with the means and the matter to change our story, to ensure our happy ending! We must take action, before they finish this final chapter, and stop the pen from pillaging our purpose!"

The crowd screamed out in agreement, inspired by Jacques, the main character of the book in which they existed.

On the fifteenth page of Chapter 12, the ideas of the Coauthors had clashed violently; one insisted on turning the people against Jacques, and the other wanted to kill him off mysteriously. Seeing as how they adamantly agreed against a sequel, the characters were distraught about their options. The people looked up to Jacques, and they couldn't bear the thought of an unhappy ending.

Sophie and Jacques stood around the crater that used to hold their civilization. "Jacques, I know they erased your sisters, but you can't possibly erase theirs. The real world doesn't work the same way," Jacques' best friend, tried to reason.

"I don't care. They shouldn't have the power to cause such misery. And it isn't just my sisters. It's your father, and Jude's wife and children, and Olive's grandparents. No one should ever be allowed to crack open the earth and destroy half of a civilization just because they can. We already lost too many people in the war they forced us to fight in Chapter 3. I don't know what the purpose of such a horrible conflict was, but it seems they only have evil motives. I won't let this story be resolved with more darkness and pain. They gave us the power to fight our enemies, and they are now the enemy. I refuse to let my people down. And we don't know for sure that it wouldn't work. We have not tried to change anything outside of our own story. What kind of universe would it be if the balance of power was shifted so far as to leave one world at the complete bidding of another?"

Sophie sighed. There was no reasoning with him once his mind was made up. That was part of what made him such a strong leader- his confidence made the people feel safe. But Sophie knew that the Coauthors had instilled a shortcoming in Jacques. She hoped they weren't planning to use his volatile temper against him, but the magnitude of her fear told her she wasn't imagining the possibility.

In Chapter 4, Jacques had discovered an ancient ritual which gave a specific type of ink the power to alter reality, much like the legendary speeches of a Silver Tongue. He had used it to stop the war and return peace to his world. Then, there was a clear misunderstanding that had caused the war, and he had been able to resolve it without letting his temper affect his actions. Now, though, he had seen enough cold-heartedness that Sophie could see his anger bubbling over.

Very early in the book, the characters discovered that when the authors stopped writing before the end of a chapter, they could move around and communicate with a small degree of free will and thought, which they took to calling Freedom Flash. At first, they didn't understand how to function without the direction of the authors, but after one particularly lengthy pause in the writing they had come together to form a unity the Authors never would have dared write into existence. The first thing they did was try to use the marvelous ink to bring back their lost ones many times, but it seemed they could only alter what had not yet been written. They divided time between mixing more of the ink and speculating on the intentions of the Authors for their future. After the catastrophic earthquake in Chapter 9, the Council devoted all of the time they came upon to discussing a way to stop the Authors.

Jacques had called an emergency meeting with what was left of the Council.

"We need to act now," a brooding Jude declared. "We can't lose anyone else."

"I agree. Do we have enough ink, Connor?"

"We should. We've been mixing it since the moment this Freedom Flash began."

"Good. Then after this meeting we will gather the people."

The Council surrounded Jacques, and the people surrounded the Coucil. He dipped his pen dramatically, and then began writing. As he penned the demise of their creators, he read aloud his revengeful scheme.

"In honor of the lost souls, and in protection of our remaining citizens, we declare war on the Authors. May everything they have put us through torment them in the real world. Burn their possessions in the flames of war; swallow their survivors into the blackness below the earth. Punish their violent, immoral imaginations! Strip them of their power to create destruction! Have no mercy!!"

An icy wind fluttered through the pages of the book. Jacques' people anxiously awaited the return of the dreaded pen, but it never came.

Instead, the smell of burning trees wafted through the air. The sky turned ash gray and the horizon blazed with the heat of a thousand suns. They saw no fire, nor did they feel it, but as the world of the Authors' came crashing down amidst war, the spiteful characters and the unfinished story were flung into the ruining of the real world.

Jacques realized what was happening, but he was so blinded by his fury that he refused to ammend his declaration.

"Jacques! We have to write peace back into the world, or it will destroy everything we have left!"

"Then they win, Sophie!" He screamed. "I won't allow you to stop this. They condemned themselves when they used their power to destroy what they created."

Sophie's red hot glare barely penetrated his consciousness. "And now you've condemned yourself and your people, because your thirst for revenge is blinding."

Jacques spun on his heel and trudged away. Moments later, as real as the splitting of the earth, the fires of catastrophe the people of the book had so recently and vigorously summoned, swallowed the book, turning to ash the only thing with the power to restore peace.

It never occurred to the Authors, completely baffled at their sudden tragic situation, that their creation of the mysterious ink had the slightest connection to their annihilation.