Jewel in the Mist (BL)

Time and change were like refined grains of golden sand on a beach, the future that slipped from his grasp the moment he didn hold on tightly enough.

Jule won more awards than he could remember, received more praise than he could count. The pride that grew from his success nearly reached the skies and couldve been raised higher if all chances to fulfill it hadn been lost. The portraits and sketches he drew that he planned to frame laid messily in the back of a dusty storage in a small, narrow apartment. The villa he grew up in on mortgage, his family detached and broken.

Sometimes, he dreamt of turning back time, and then reality hits and Jule realized that all those thoughts were but hopeless hope. Other times, he looked into the past and noticed all the mistakes that should have been prevented at all costs.

Most of the time, Jule wished that he was born a little earlier and knew this would have happened because then he could have stopped it.

A long time ago, before he turned 13, he boasted about his talents, confident in his abilities to become successful. Now, his 15-year-old self could only complain in silence because what could he do now?

He doubted everyone; he doubted everything; he doubted himself. The future Jule saw and attempted to write for himself was merely a facade that could never happen.

Though all hope and dreams were lost, Jules pockets had more than enough money for a train to the nearest countryside area.

The railway was probably as old as his grandparents, originally built by colonists a century ago with the intent of extending it further into a neighboring nation. It was abandoned after the war, before being reconstructed a decade after. Though not a central tourist location, the train was popular amongst locals who didn care whether it was dangerous or not.

He leaned against the door of the train, watching as it passed, surroundings changing.

[Ding!]

[Ding!]

He ignored it.

[Ding!] [Ding!] [Ding!]

Jule irritatingly reached inside his pockets and squinted at the bright screen. It was a notification from his web novel reading app. His face lit up, his gloom slowly dissipating.

[Clash of an Independent Sword has a new update!]

”Oh? Theres a new update on Clash of an Independent Sword? Well, at least I still have you in the world with me. ” Jule sighed aloud to himself. If all hope and ambitions were lost, happiness wasn because he still had a novel to continue reading.

Clash of an Independent Sword was an uncompleted web novel written and published on a famous web novel site by an anonymous author. In recent years, the series has become extremely popular, attracting millions of fans worldwide. In short; Clash of an Independent Sword was the perfect masterpiece for someone with a bland life with no romance and joy.

To Jule, the ending of this uncompleted novel was one of his motivations to continue reading. The day the novel ended would be the day hed give up on life and finally surrender to helplessness. Clash of an Independent Sword deserved to have its title engraved on every stone and pebble, to be present on billboards worldwide and earn so much glory the greatest of novels and authors would pale in comparison.

He opened the app and clicked on the novel icon, scrolling down to where the next chapter should be, when he saw a small sign that said
otice.

[Clash of an Independent Sword by Elysium]

A messa