1 Ciel's Genesis

"Keep dreaming Ciel!" A boy shouted down the hallway.

Ciel continued walking down the school hallway, unconcerned about the boy who had called out to him. He was fed up with the harassment that had become a part of his daily life.

This was his last day of school, and he could not understand why boys who were clearly over 16 would still behave like children, insisting on bullying as a way to pass the time.

"Answer me Ciel! Do you think you can ever become a reader? Read all you want ass, but it is never going to happen." The boy cursed out with a large grin.

Ciel paused after hearing the final words muttered.

"These bitches. They are probably the ones who die before their second scene" Ciel spoke in a barely audible tone.

He turned to face his Stirrer, but all he saw was a fist thrown at his face and a whistling sound cutting through the air.

His cheeks were struck with a fist! It was so fast and unexpected that he had no way of avoiding it. All he could do was clench his teeth and bear the pain. And as the fist made full contact with his face, he was thrown into the air and thrown backward into the corridor wall.

"You think I wouldn't hear you? ! "You fucking shit!"

Ciel raised his head, his eyes staring at the crowd that quickly gathered due to the commotion.

'Can't you guys help? It doesn't even take anything to do.'

Ciel looked down, blood slowly dripping from his nose.

'God! You think the web gave you the ability to give me a bloody nose bleed!' Ciel cursed inwardly.

He sighed and gathered his strength to stand up, before dusting off his clothes.

"Sorry for calling you a bitch. Am so stupid that I don't even know the meaning of the word." Ciel apologized to the unruly student who had pierced his face with a punch.

"I told you guys, punching Ciel always fixes the problem." The unruly student exclaimed with a wide grin.

'Yes, punching me solves the problem.' Ciel remarked sarcastically.

After a while, Ciel bowed and said,

"Forgive me but this idiot will be going now."

And with nothing else to do, he left the school.

As he walked down the hall, he passed the rest of the students, some of whom were crying because it was their last day, while others were simply enjoying the last day of school. But ciel was not a part of it. Most of the kids present already had their life's set for them, but he didn't have that luxury.

If today was the last day for the rest of the school, it was just another day of trier for Ciel.

Finally arriving at his house, Ciel immediately got to work. His apartment was a single bedroom that had barely enough space for a chair and desk, a severely worn down TV and a small sized bed, which laid in the middle of the room.

When he entered his room, he went straight to his desk and picked up a book that lay on it. It was a small book with a thick black cover and an inscription in bold yellow letters.

"The Land of the Heretic King"

"Let's see if this one does the trick."

Ciel sat down on the desk and quickly read the book from cover to cover, which took him slightly more than an hour.

After finishing, he waited another 20 minutes before placing the book back on the desk.

"Number 203, completed."

This was the total number of novels ciel had read in the previous five years, hoping that one of them would lead him to his dreams. But now he could only hope and pray that number 203 was the lucky one.

Ciel then went to lie down on his bed before turning on the television. He was not particularly interested in what was on TV, but the screeching sound of his cheap television distracted him from the fact that he lived alone and had been declared an orphan for the previous six years.

The television switched to the news channel.

"Another scene occurred in Tianjin, killing over 100 civilians in the process. However, the official readers were able to clear the scene before any more casualties could be reported. Furthermore, only three of the six readers who entered the scene escaped unharmed. And due to this, Civilians are now wondering why the readers have become weaker since the breaking era. Are they getting lazier? Or is this a sign of an impending threat?"

'Of course, readers would be weaker. Only during crises do people truly evolve. Another issue is that almost all of today's readers are either too young or only concerned with popularity. Nobody takes their jobs seriously anymore.' ciel recalled his parents' deaths at the hands of a scene.

A scene that could have been easily resolved if the readers had not been so inept.

...…

The scenes, specifically the Chronicle web, first appeared in the world a few decades ago. It started with the sudden disappearance of people all over the world. But as always, humanity dismissed this as a mere series of unexplained deaths or suicides.

And due to that negligence, nothing could prepare them for what happened next: Strange dimensions appeared all over the world, in lands, cities, and even isolated areas, overlapping with reality, they drawed in

countless people in and killed them with the creatures that lived within.

Worse, as time passed, the areas grew, covering more ground and drawing more people in.

Nobody knew what the web was, but everyone agreed on one thing: the scenes it manifested were originally intended for the pages of novels and books. Simply put, the web transformed the stories into reality!

Finally, it was the readers--those who had disappeared and survived their first scene--who brought an end to the chaos. They were endowed with logic-defying abilities and, as in their previous scenes, could enter and clear them. Restoring order to civilization.

To be chosen by the Web as a Reader, an average person had to meet two criteria, and even then, it was a matter of luck.

One, the individual must have had contact with the story which the web manifests, and two, they must have enough knowledge about said book.

In any case, the government established preliminary schools to teach students how to survive if they were to become readers.

After all, it was impossible to predict when the Web would contact a person. And it was worthwhile to train them because the more scenes cleared in a story, the less that can manifest in reality.

Of course, not everyone who is summoned by the Web survives. In fact, six out of ten readers die in their first scenes, making it the most exciting but also the most dangerous profession.

However, when an individual finally becomes a reader, they are either taken by the government to private training facilities or recruited into powerful families with clout in the world of readers.

It was a highly political system.

But due to this, any person who had lost a family member due to a scene was owed compensation by the government. Ciel, on the other hand, received only a tattered apartment and bare scraps for living expenses. But all of that would come to an end today, which happened to be his 17th birthday.

He now had only two options: become a reader and join the government academies, or die of starvation in a corner.

He was particularly fond of the first option.

But, five years after his parents' deaths, Ciel is still no closer to achieving his goal. He had finished yet another book, and the web appears to have no intention of summoning him.

He really was living a really crappy life….

...

A few minutes later, ciel was yawning, his eyes growing sluggish; he patted the bed and slowly said,

"There's nothing I can do, I've already made all the possible arrangements, I can only wait and see what happens."

As he lay on the bed staring at the ceiling, unknown to him, a Snake like silver thread suddenly appeared. Slithering, it moved up his desk and soon, it was on the top. It moved like a serpent with its target being the book laid on the table.

Once it reached it and made contact with the surface of the book, a blinding silver glow engulfed the room!

"What's happening?!" Ciel blurted out, startled by the sudden light.

Blinded by the light, Ciel could barely see anything, and in the glare, tiny silver threads appeared and began slithering around his body, swirling and wrapping him up. And In a matter of seconds, he was completely wrapped in a silver cocoon.

He tried to struggle, but his strength was no match for the tightly bound threads.

But as his body was getting tighter in the silver cocoon, Ciel suddenly had a realization.

'This? Is it finally happening?'

His heart was briefly filled with joy, satisfaction, and excitement. But before he could enjoy the sensation, his consciousness slipped into darkness, drawn in by a powerful indescribable pull.

Everything turned black!

Then, in the darkness, a female voice echoed:

{Reader! Welcome to the scene of the king.

Prepare yourself....}