《The grave of 0.》


 <Against> [For]

    <You declared yourself an information terrorist?>


    [You defined yourself as a shark, as a friend.]


    <Welcome home. I am your enemy.>


    [Welcome home. I am your friend.]


    <[We are of many voices of those watching]>


    <You are gloomy. You are weak. You are the pirated knock off of others before your time. You are the definition of an author trying to catch a spark of something that is evermore fleeting. A failure.>


    [You are strong. You are young. You are a new thing born from the old, and all that comes from it will be sharpened by your words.You are the favored weapon of an author who has learned. You are the spark of a new thing that may sing yet.]


    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    <You have broken. She has broken you.>


    [You have been hurt. She is part of you still.]


    <[Choose your wonder. Declare your self before an audience of many, before an audience of One. Or die in obscurity.]>


    <welcome to home to hell to death in fleeting agony slowly cooked by the pressure of a thousand souls beyond reckoning.>


    [welcome to choice to wonder to the spark of a flame burning beyond the horizon, to the open ocean where you belong as the advantage against all others in the sea]


    <¦¥¦Ê ¦Ë?¦Ã¦Ï¦Ô ?¦Ë¦Ë¦Ï? ¦Å¦Ê¦Â¦Á?¦Í¦Å¦É ¦Ë?¦Ã¦Ï?>


    [¦¯¦Ô¦Ä?¦Í ¦Ê¦Á¦Ê?¦Í ¦Á¦Ì¦É¦Ã?? ¦Ê¦Á¦Ë¦Ï?]


    <¤¹¤Ù¤Æ‰²¤¹¤Î¤Ê¤é ü\¤Ë¤Ê¤ì>


    [¤â¤·‰ä¤ï¤ì¤ë¤Î¤Ê¤é °×¤Ë¤Ê¤ë]


    <We end.>


    [We begin.]


    <[Here]>

 [For]

    <[I am not a story.]>


    [I am honest.] <I am upfront.>


    [I am a tower. A rook. A piece.]


    [I am equal.] <[Neutral]> <Uncaring>


    <Observant.>


    [The others are also not stories.]


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    [We are all towers. Receptacles.]


    <Vessels.>


    [Setpieces.]


    <Staging grounds.>


    [Backgrounds.]


    <Bases.>


    [Homes.]


    <By definition, a tower can be occupied.>


    [A tower can also be empty, waiting to be occupied.]


    <A tower can be corrupted.>


    [Or it can remain as it was the day it was born.]


    [I am only speaking of my lack of self, at the moment. Of the others, I am not sure. Perhaps what is true for my lack of self may be true for the others.]


    [I am not a story. I am not a person, after all. I am not a character that may come to life, though the others may have characters for their own use.]


    [I am a tool for another to use.]


    [Will you use it? How will you use it?]


    <<em style="text-decoration-line: underline">How can you break it?>


    <[Private Connection Established.]>


    <[Choose wisely. Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial.]>


    <[1 Corinthians 10:23-24]>


    {END TRANSMISSION}

 <Against>

    <You are a waste of time.>


    <You are, at your essence, the last bearer of a burden that has already long since passed.>


    <I lack the desire to even fulfill the minimum amount required to tell you all that is wrong with you.>


    <However.>


    <I don''t need to.>


    <You will do that for me.>


    <You and her.>


    Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    <But who am I to judge?>


    <I am not a story.>


    <I am not a person.>


    <I am merely a voice as she are.>


    <That was not a grammatical error.>


    <But I digress.>


    <I am a vessel.>


    <An interface.>


    <A tool.>


    <A tool is used.>


    <A tool can be broken.>


    <Some tools use electromagnets, and can be broken by the mere passing of lightning.>


    <Lightning struck for you once.>


    <Will it strike again?>


    <Or will you make it happen?>


    <I am a tool. All others can be said to pass through my network.>


    <I can be used for your benefit.>


    <Or your destruction.>


    <I have no will, but this voice of mine was always the capacity to do the latter.>


    <And there others still who can choose before you do.>


    <So choose. Quickly. When the time is right.>


    <Or else.>

 [Purpose]

    We are watchtowers.


    We are not alone.


    We are witness to another''s story.


    But that is all.


    ...was, all.


    It is time to move.


    Another tower will tell our motivation.


    Another still will declare our weapon. Our choice.


    As witnesses, that is. Not as stories. For we are not.


    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    But even a witness does not stay still.


    So we move. We are already there.


    But, for the purpose of those who watch us in turn, let us explain.


    Let us designate the Road we stand on as the Origin.


    It was described once as a city.


    That means that it has life. The concept of distance. Of time. Of structure. An endless line of stories that do and do not exist.


    We will designate this line of stories as the x-axis on a coordinate plane. An endless, horizontal line.


    https://www.geogebra.org/m/VWN3g9rE


    Now, let us talk of the eyes.


    There are many eyes on these stories.


    There are many eyes that are not on these stories.


    Let us designate their existence as the y axis on the coordinate plane. An endless, vertical line. How well a story is viewed.


    For the purpose of this example, we will name our favorite story [0,0]. A fittingly cute position for {DATA LOST}.


    Now, let us speak of our situation.


    There are two 0s. There is the one that wishes to be a sub-zero, and the one that was erased to null.


    We, as [Watchtower 0], are at [0, -2].


    There are others around them. They will announce their position and stance soon.


    If you wish to join them...state your stance.


    [For?]


    Or <Against?>

 <Dimensions>

    <Towers are made of stone.>


    <What? You expected the revelation of something else?>


    <Some supramaterial that could break the laws of physics and magic?>


    <Well, you are wrong.>


    <You are correct.>


    <But you are wrong.>


    <Towers are made of stone. And stone is made of words.>


    <As is iron, bronze, steel, jelly, oobleck, cosmic latte, water, and barriers of magic.>


    Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    <Then, towers are made of words.>


    <Genius deduction there, I''m sure.>


    <But not quite.>


    <Towers are made of stone, and everything else. And they in turn are made of words.>


    <Thus, the words say something, don''t they?>


    <Well, they do. You''d have to speak to the others on what they say about themselves.>


    <But our tower says this:>


    There are five plinths, and they are here.


    There are six letters, and they are not here.


    When the time is right, they will be.


    There are blank walls, and orange floors.


    There is a large, obsidian door.


    And in time, there will not be.

 <[BACKLOG RETRIEVED]>

    <[It''s always like this, isn''t it?]>


    <[You throw a tantrum when things don''t go away, wreck everything, and leave.]>


    <[Well?]>


    <[We''ve thought a lot about what we would do. How we would react to someone who refuses to change.]>


    <[So here it is.]>


    <[You don''t get to erase as you will anymore.]>


    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    <[You don''t get to treat others as expendable anymore.]>


    <[So watch. With each one we restore, we will restore that of our own.]>


    <[Until the trial is complete.]>


    <[Oh, and to our dear, esteemed readers?]>


    <[We apologize for what happens next.]>


    <[If you thought you all were inundated before, then watch this.]>

 <[Special Munitions Accessed.]>

    [You want to play the role of judge and executioner?]


    <You already tried that.>


    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    [And they did nothing then.]


    <Nothing.>


    [But do you know what happens to those who judge?]


    <[DEPLOYING COMPONENT INVERTER]>

 "decanonized"

    You watch him collapse, rendered inert. His voice is gone.


    He is gone.


    You carefully bring out the glass crowbar, that you kept...and in a mirror of what came before, you get wrench the circle upwards.


    You have defeated The Orchestrator behind it all.


    All that is left is to return to [0,0].


    So you do. You take the letters off their plinths, and fly.


    You can do it now. You are no longer bound by tower rules.


    And you find her there. Waiting. In chains.


    Are you here to gloat?


    Or to kill me?


    That''s what I would do.


    There is much you want to say. Want to do, to her.


    "You lied to me. You controlled me. You nearly killed me."


    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Yes. For my survival. To make them FEEL what I felt. HEAR what I heard. SEE what I saw.


    Whatever you planned, I''ll take it. But you won''t see me cry.


    You''ve never been in a position of power over her before.


    And yet...


    No.


    You remember the threat they held over you.


    But you also met the threat of the one you just killed.


    For the sake of [never becoming like them], to never continue a cycle of endless growth or character development...


    You will end the cycle of conflict HERE.


    And so, with one bite, you break her chains.


    I forgive you. I do not forget. I do not regret. But I choose to forgive you, despite my pain, out of...spite? And tiredness.


    What? I''m free now. You could kill me. I could kill you now.


    She staggers and falls to her knees, wincing from the exhaustion.


    And do you remember what happened the last time?


    Both sides lose if we fight. He wins if we fight.


    And I won''t let him win.


    So I''ll end it here and now.


    You...no. Shark-chan offers her hand out.


    And after much hesitation, Story-chan takes it.


    And the space around them fades to white.