Have you ever wondered what happens to the characters in a novel after you close the book? Probably not. You assume they are nothing more than dead words on paper.
You are wrong.
They have lives of their own. Their own emotions, desires, rivalries—and routines that continue long after the reader has stopped reading.
On an island surrounded by a sea that stretches all the way to the book’s covers, the Protagonist, the Antagonist, the Mistress, the Thief, and the Sailor go on living their eternal roles. They drink at Martin’s tavern, quarrel, scheme, pursue their own desires—and wait for someone to open their book again.
But no one does. Not for more than a year.
Then the Archivist summons them.
Every novel has one: the physical manifestation of its author’s subconscious, an unseen presence that keeps its sentences, pages, and characters together. And every Archivist has an owl—a messenger capable of flying between novels.
The owl has brought terrible news.
No book in the world has been opened for more than a year.
Something has happened to the world of readers. Something terrible.
The Archivist cuts through the cover of the novel and prepares his dirigible. The characters are leaving their book for the first time, venturing into the outside world to find their Creator—the writer who made them—and discover why literature itself has seemingly lost its purpose.
But they soon discover something even more disturbing.
They are not the only characters who have escaped their novels.
And that is when the story truly begins…
Genre: FICTION / Fantasy / Dark FantasyFor half an hour they drift through the realm of an unknown novel, gazing in silent wonder at the new world. Antagonist stands upon the terrace, scanning the landscape below with binoculars, when silence is broken by Thief:
“This winter, these clouds—they are depressing. What kind of novel is this?”
Sailor at the helm answers at once:
“The charts say we are above mountains called the Alps, somewhere in Italy!”
The characters draw back from the window, searching for the Archivist to explain these terms, but he is nowhere to be found. He has withdrawn into the cabin. Antagonist, without lifting his gaze from the telescope, cries out:
“Strangers! To the left, two hundred meters away, beside strange contraptions!”
Protagonist rushes to the terrace, Mistress close behind. She seizes the binoculars; her red hair whips in the icy wind. Then she explains:
“About ten of them, in strange garments—monastic, I believe. And those contraptions, they are catapults. They are preparing to strike us. Sailor, lift us higher, quickly!”
A blazing sphere hisses past the ship, leaving a trail of smoke. The characters, bewildered by a violent deed committed by figures from an unknown novel, gaze at Mistress in astonishment, unable to grasp her words. The dirigible’s pilot, sensing the danger, jerks the vessel upward and narrowly avoids another fiery sphere. Protagonist, steadying himself, asks:
“Who are these monks, and why do they strike us with such devices?
| Language | Status |
|---|---|
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German
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Unavailable for translation.
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