Xephos looked me straight in the eyes."Lalna."He put his hands on my shoulders."We have to go."

"But where? If the world is ending, they'll be nowhere to hide!"

"I have..."Xephos paused."A Laboratory. Underground. We can hide away there and-"

"But what about Kim! I mean- the other people."

"They will be with us. In different forms."

Xephos grasped my wrist and tugged me to a run, passing the yellowing grass and lifeless trees. The world was dying. Splotches of black void everywhere.

"What is your lab called?"I asked, not sure if I should make conversation.

"If you must know,"Xephos looked blankly at me."It's YogLabs."

"YogLabs..."I muttered as Xephos picks up the pace to... Psyranelle?!"Why are we going here?!"

Xephos just ignored me and tread to the once magnificent stone castle. The stained glass windows were cracked and the carved stone crumbled. Xephos took me to my room and swiftly descended down the secret stair case, of which seemed to be undamaged. Xephos just pulled me down into the sets of complicated machinery and I didn't have time to notice the secret door from another secret door that Xephos opened. It was a colossal door. And I mean colossal, it looked around 100 by 100 by 100. Like a manhole cover that's vertical. In massive writing, spelt 'YOGLABS'. I breathe slowly.

"Are you going to stand there gawking or go inside?"Xephos tappen his foot impatiently.

"Sorry."I stared my feet.

Xephos sighed and beckoned me into the Labs."Come. Before it's too late."

At that moment blackness enswirled the secret room, and high alarm rose on Xephos' face."Come on!"He shouted."Into the labs!"

I stand there in shock. My home world. Gone.

Xephos growled and hauled me by the back of my jacket into some portal, I couldn't sense anything. All I knew was that I was falling. Falling, and that Xephos was next to me, falling too, but not screaming as much as me. Xephos looked a little shaken, but his natural instinct to be a calm and collective type.

We both landed, and Xephos sighed, in what I hoped was relief.

"We're here."

It was like something I had never seen before, endless white corridors sprout from where Xephos and I were standing.

"This, my dear Lalna,"Xephos turned to me."Is YogLabs."

Though the long corridors were harrowing, the labs felt somewhat safe. Somewhat. There was only one smell in the air, the scent of blood.

"Xephos... Where do we go... Now? Is my world gone? Destroyed?"

Xephos sighed and made eye contact."Your world is utterly gone. As if it didn't exist in the first place. The Void is our rubbish bin; and it's decimated your world."

"Wha-? But Xephos-"

"Please call me Lewis here, only in your world was I 'Xephos of Elipsia.' And you, Duncan?"

"Dun...Can? Okay! Duncan it is."

"Follow me, Duncan."Lewis turned and walked to a corridor.

"Okay Lewis."I smiled.

He led me down the hallway, and it seemed to get wider and wider. Suddenly there were doors. So many doors, all with a bronze plate, stating the employee number and name.

"Lewis? What is this?"

"This, Duncan,"Lewis turned around again."Is what makes worlds. Weaves time and space, creates fantasies and scenarios. For reference,"Lewis points to a door."This is employee number 427, CwJhunt . A talented worker, for sure."

"What are these people?"

Lewis grinned."They're authors."

***

"Authors... As in the book-writers?"

"Yes... And no. These are much more complicated. These 'authors' write universes, and really what we are saying right now is probably being written by one of these authors. These employees create worlds, send out clones, and tell stories. And here,"Lewis opened a door,"Is a fine example as well. Meet eunoia-metanoia too, ah, hello!"

It was a girl. A girl at a mahogany desk with a laptop, lots of paper and pens and... Chocolate.

"Hiya Lewis! I see you brought visitors? Oh... Um... Lalna? Duncan Lalna?" The girl quickly scrabbled at her desk and hid some papers.

"Yeah, I'm Lalna. Are you... Writing something?"

"Possibly."

"What is it about?"

"A heart-wrenching tragedy, where a man is torn between a resurrected girl and a post-lover, in a fatal lab. Escaping the talons of fate, a gripping mature theme novel that catches all eyes..."The girl seemed to have sparks in her eyes and she smiled in deep ambition.

"Who are the characters?"

"Oh! Yes! We have Kim, my own character, Aspen, Xephos, Rythian, Zoey and er... You."

Xephos coughed loudly as he dragged me out of the girl's room, ignoring my protests and the tinge of cluelessness in her eyes.

"They write stuff about... Us?"

"Um... Yeah... There is a reason behind this, Duncan."

"And what is that?"

"I'm sure millions of people out there need these stories to survive, but that's really just the cheesy cover for the truth. The government gave us these authors and we exploit an test the limits of moulding universes. Its a dangerous thing, but the authors are skilled people. They can create tears in a split second, create time skips of 1,000,000 years, and to complain about spelling and grammar. This is one of YogLabs' most dangerous weapons."

"If the cities of Psyranelle and Fluxia were a separate universe, who made it?"

"Here, at the end of the corridor."Lewis tugged my jacket lightly and the seam broke, from his constant pulling."Duncan Lalna Lividcoffee, it's time to meet your maker."

***

Lewis pushed open employee number 266, YogscastPikachu. A door opened to a small, poster-filled room with a girl on a spinning chair, in front of the desk. She had short jet-black hair and had Bidoof-brown eyes.

"Ah, Lalna."She said."I was expecting you."