It was a humid afternoon in Manila. It was the day of the Manila International Book Fair. Writers, readers and publishers all came to this place to meet and exchange ideas regarding literature. Tens of thousands of people have come to this annual fare.

  One of the writers coming to this fair was Lester Morales. A filipino man, 25, who writes novels on scifi fantasy. He's a friendly and outgoing person. He likes to troll his friends sometimes but loves them dearly. He also practices Filipino Weapon-based Martial Arts or Arnis which involves using weapons, knives and swords. He's won multiple competitions of Philippine Eskrima Kali Arnis Federation or PEKAF. He came along with his friends from college. Lester was wearing a casual outfit, a red shirt and some black cargo shorts with some sneakers. He parks his car in the parking lot of the SMX Convention Center. He steps out and gazes at the sky. "Haa its a sunny day today, hope i can have a good time here with the other writers" He then opens his smartphone and looks at his friend group chat on Messenger.

  "Wonder what theyre up to" Lester thinks to himself.

  One of them chatted "Kind of ran into trouble today, will be there in a while"

  Another chatter says "Yo what happened?"

  The man texts into the group chat "You alright man? Hope you can make it in time" and then proceeds to walk to the SMX Convention Center.

  Lesters buys some coffee and makes his way to the venue where all of the writers, publishers and readers are going to. "Hey! You got here early bro". One of his best friends in college Raynold Andres comes up behind him. Primarily writes scifi fantasy stories but also likes writing romance novels. He's a ladykiller, girls from his college would come up to him and ask for his number. Now that he's in the career of writing stories his fans are also interested in him. He's the type to make anyone laugh with his jokes and clumsiness. He's a gunmaster, excelling in every gun type, but his favorite is the shotgun. He's the national champion who won the Philippines Practical Shooting Nationals. He was wearing a denim jacket and some black jeans.

  "Took you a long while, what happened?" Lester asks.

  "Well, a papparazi was on my ass. Had to run off from them. They chased me through the SMX Convention Center. They were really persistent, even following me taking a piss in the bathroom."

  "While I was running away I also slipped and bumped into a woman, my face burrowed into her large cleavage. I backed off and the woman shreeked. I said "Oh my god I'm so sorry my body was gravitating towards you like a magnet because of your beauty". That made her chuckle a bit and then her mood changed, she said "Mind if my hand gravitates toward your face?" And then she gave me a hard slap. The papparazi caught all of that."

  (In the past) The papparazi was titling his photos "So the famous writer is a ladykiller but also a pervert!"

  "But eventually i lost them".

  "Wow if only i had an ounce of the fame and ladykiller skills you have right now. My books barely sell."

  "Well if you could write good books that is"

  "What?! You bitch"

  Raynold giggles and Lester grumbles.

  "I've even hooked up with some of my fans. We're gonna spend the night in the weekend"

  "You bastard womanizer" Lester sips his coffee. "Can you hook me up with one of them?"

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  "Well since they're my fans, it'd be weird if i recommended them to you"

  "Killjoy! Hey since it's been awhile since we've met, wanna have some of my coffee?"

  "Sure" Ray takes the coffee and proceeds to drink it. While drinking he started to feel a bump on his mouth. Lester turns away and covers his face, cringing. "Whats this?" He removes the cap from the coffee cup and to his horror, he finds a small cockroach in the drink.

  "It was the papparazi's and now a roach in my drink?! What the hell Lester?!"

  Lesters bursts out laughing alot. Ray then slowly starts to laugh as well and they share a laugh. "You've always liked trolling us man, screw you!"

  "Hey you guys!" A woman shouts from a distance.

  "Took you guys long enough". Ray remarks.

  The rest of Lester's friend group arrives. There was Annie Delacruz, Malyn Bautista, and Reyna Santos.

  "What was about that text earlier Ray?" Annie asks. "She's one of my college friends. The dream girl. Excellent in academics, a summa cam laude in fact and is good at sports, specifically in soccer in which she and her team have won the National Collegiate Athletic Association three times. Primarily writes scifi fantasy stories but has a bit of a quirky side where she like to write creepy and scary stories to either frighten or make us feel unnerved. She was wearing a cap, a blue hoodie and some black joggers. She also has a long high ponytail hairstyle.

  Raynold proceeds to explain the story in detail.

  "That punk! If they were here i'd smack them!" Malyn exclaims in anger. Another one of my college friends. She's a rowdy and hot-headed girl. She practices martial arts, specifically taekwondo. She's extremely gifted and has a black belt in taekwondo. She writes scifi fantasy novels but also writes action novels. She was wearing denim shorts and a blue crop top with some trainer shoes. She also has a french bob hairstyle

  "Hmph! I would've taken a photo of them and made their life miserable in the face of social media. I'll post his face on the social media of our family owned university. Their life would never be the same!" Reyna pridefully remarks.

  Reyna is one of my college friends. Her family starting from her grandparents owns the university we go to. She's a bit of an arrogant and prideful person but due to some events, she somehow became friends with us. She's loyal to those she respects, even if she's still blunt towards her friends. She's a national level talent in fencing, scoring #1 in the Senior Fencing Age Group but sadly losing their first international competition. She writes scifi novels same as all of us but she also writes historical novels about royals, inspired by it due to her first name translating to 'Queen' in english. She was wearing a red summer dress and some high heels. She also has a layered bob hairstyle.

  "Now that would be going too far, calm down everybody" Annie responds to their comments.

  "But if it were me i'd cut them up into pieces, hehehe." Annie creepily giggles.

  "Now you're starting to sound like you'd do worse than all of us" Malyn and Reyna comment on Annie's creepy remarks.

  "Alright lets go to the writer's fair we might get late" Lester says.

  "Yeah" Everyone responds.

  "We're all here to present our work and see who'll be the most popular. We're all in college, we all attend the same class in literature and we all somehow became friends, story for another day. At first I was the only one who writes scifi fantasy novels, but due to some events, my other friends were inspired by me and started writing scifi fantasy as well, on top of their favorite genres. Story for yet another day. We're about to graduate from our courses in Creative Writing. We may all be friends but we're competing for fame and riches with our talents" Lester thought to himself as he and his friends were walking to the book fair venue.

  "Hey its Lester! Good to see you!" One of the regulars in the book fair convention was a publisher of one of the more popular fictional stories.

  "Pareng Andrei! (Pare means friend) Its been a while!" Lester sits down with him in a table.

  "You know if you came to our publishing company you'd be way more popular. We still have some free slots in our writing department. What do you say?" Andrei tempts Lester with an offer

  "I've always liked being an independent writer. I prefer to be a free spirit"

  "Well thats too bad. But if you're interested, we'll accomodate you, okay?"

  "Sure, sure"

  Reyna walks in overhearing the conversation. "Goodness Lester when will you realize that you'd be raking in more cash if you went to a publisher? I'm afraid we're all going to leave you in the dust if you don't follow our footsteps" Reyna comments.

  "It's just not my thing Reyna" Lester replies.

  "Hmph! You're such an idiot Lester!"

  Several other writers, publishers, and readers come to the venue. Lester and others go to their respective stands to sign signatures for their fans and even sell their newest books.

  A person came to Lester's stand, along with a small line of people behind him. "Oh my god its him, Lester Morales!" The man sticks out his hand to do a handshake, Lester shakes his hand. "I'm delighted to meet a fan".

  "Your book, 'Peer Into The Soul' is one of my favorite fantasy novels. I wish it'd gain more popularity since not alot of people buy it". The man says with enthusiam, and then with gloom.

  "Yeah, it's hard. Still, it's my passion to write. So I'll just have to go with a side gig to make ends meet."

  "I suppose so. The authors in the stands beside you, I saw you with them on my way in here. Are they your friends?"

  "Yeah they are"

  The man looks at them on the side "I wish you had the same ounce of fame they do" Lester hesitantly starts looking at the side and the lines they recieve dwarf his line.

  To Lester's right was Raynold, whom was having a good chat with a pair of girls. Lester and his fan overhear them exchanging numbers. Raynold turns to Lester and gives him a smirk and a thumbs up. Lester glares at him and gives the middle finger.

  Time was going slowly. Dozens came to the group's stands. But suddenly a white light begins to illuminate the entire floor.

  "What the hell is this?" Lester thinks in his mind.

  "Hey do you see this white light beneath us?!" Malyn questions the fans in front of her. "No we don't see anything". They reply. "What?!" Malyn says in shock.

  "(Are we getting isekai'd?!)" Annie thinks to herself.

  A silence hangs in the room. "Hey, where'd the authors go?!" A fan asks in bewilderment.