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it-happened-one-fic · 5 months

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Bias - Cyno

Author Notes: @milanka1604 So this is the high-fantasy adventure fic that goes with the book that has been lovingly recovered in sun-faded fabric. I helped myself out a bit with the writing by listening to “Legendary Lovers” by Katy Perry which most certainly affected how this story came together. I hope you enjoy!

Type: Gender-neutral reader/ 600 followers event request/ fluff/ high fantasy adventure in a book that has been lovingly re-covered in now sun-faded fabric/ isekai/ romance implied

Word count: 1652

I honestly didn’t know how long I’d been out before I’d woken up, staring straight up at a bright blue desert sky and wondering how I’d ended up here when, mere moments ago, I’d been right outside of my bookshop with Cyno.

What made it even worse was the fact that I also had someone else’s memories dancing around in my head.

Initially, after realizing that there was far more amiss than just my location due to the strange, foreign clothes I had woken up wearing and the odd memories, I’d tried to leave the oasis. But I’d been unable to leave the side of the cool, clear water, and had eventually given up. Opting to instead ponder my situation and try to figure out what, exactly, was going on.

And that was how Cyno had found me, as he’d appeared atop a dune and almost immediately looked my way, like he was somehow honed in on my presence.

I stared up at Cyno from where I sat in the golden sand around the oasis, relieved to see him and finding myself fascinated by the strange clothes he wore.

Dark robes that were wrapped around him, making him look like he was some hero out of some high fantasy story as he pulled down the mask that had concealed all of his face but his bright red eyes.

“So this is where you were… I’d wondered if you’d gotten dragged into this book as well.”

I felt myself smile at his words, nodding slightly as I watched him walk over and plop down next to me with an almost surprising degree of nonchalance. But then Cyno was more used to being in the desert than I was.

But his words told me almost everything I needed to know. He’d reached the same conclusion as I. That we were stuck inside of a book.

The book that he’d spoken of was, in fact, something he’d been investigating as the General Mahamatra and was also quite likely the sole reason we were in our current predicament.

From what Cyno had told me when he’d first received his mission, an Akademiya researcher had recently flooded the book market with some less-than-safe novels that quietly dragged the reader into the story.

Before we’d ended here, wherever here was, I’d been giving Cyno a suspicious looking book that had just recently turned up in my store.

After that, all I could remember was a brilliant flash of light and then waking up in the desert. Each of us in different locations.

At this point, it seemed clear that the book I’d been giving him was indeed one of the novels that was pulling people into it. This one, in particular, seemed to deal with some sort of high-fantasy story set in the desert, if the memories I’d been gifted with were anything to go by.

I could only assume the memories were, in actuality, the backstory of whatever character I’d been slotted into when I’d been pulled into this story. Unfortunately, though, my character hardly seemed to be a fun one.

Apparently, my role was that of someone who had mystical powers that allowed them, or rather, me, to cause oases to spring into existence.

Though such an ability ought to have been a hot commodity in a desert setting such as this one, my character’s memories told a very different story.

Afraid of the mystical oasis-giving powers, the locals of my character’s home village had kicked them out and abandoned them in the harsh desert.

After wandering for an extensive period, my character had then run into a group of power-hungry adventurers who wanted to use my character’s powers to create a corrupt government where all would serve them.

So my character had fled before reaching this place and hiding, and, so far as I could tell, that was around when I’d appeared.

I could only assume that, judging from his rather fantastical outfit and notable sword strapped to his back, Cyno was the hero of this story. No doubt a lost prince or some such character that was off on a great journey and had stumbled across both me and this oasis.

I gazed at him carefully, tilting my head in slight amusement as I realized that Cyno actually fit his role amusingly well. Not only did he look the part with his pale hair and red eyes, he could easily handle any action scenes this novel would throw at him.

That didn’t change the fact that neither of us seemed to know what to do in this situation, though, and I could tell just from looking at him that the young man next to me was tense.

But there was no telling what he’d encountered in this world already if this really was some sort of adventure story.

The heroes of such stories always seemed to lead a hard life, and I could only imagine what Cyno might have already dealt with.

I sat back, letting my hands press into the sand beneath me, “So... What’s your character’s backstory?”

At my words, he looked my way immediately. His eyebrows lifting slightly, almost like he could tell that I was trying to ease the tense atmosphere.

But then he twisted, facing me as he straightened slightly, “I am an adventurer who has been traveling the desert….”

He paused, and I waited patiently, watching as he seemingly came to a decision and slipped into his role, causing me to smile as I watched him play up the drama of his story, “Wandering, in search of some meaning to my existence.”

I snorted, shaking my head at exactly how run-of-the-mill and dramatic he made his character sound. But then, with my character’s backstory, I was hardly surprised.

From the sound of it, we were stuck in a particularly tropey adventure story.

I leaned forward, though, finding myself grinning as I knowingly encouraged Cyno’s rather ridiculous antics in favor of agonizing over our situation.

I’d done that enough already.

“And what have you found in your wanderings, oh great adventurer?” I matched his play-acting, but felt my smile spread as I noticed the gleam in his eyes.

His face remained a staunch mask of seriousness though, not unlike how he looked when he told one of his jokes as he gestured out to distant sand dunes, “Ruins taller than any modern city, though they have long been lost to the sands of time while people remain unchanged. They contain echoes of the time of heroes and monsters… Artifacts from the ages of gods.”

He trailed off slightly, his arm dropping as he held my gaze, “But only one oasis within all of these wonders. One oasis… And you.”

I shook my head, smiling all the while, though I was half-impressed with his play-acting, “That almost sounded like a real line from a campy adventure novel… I’m guessing you’ve been doing some late-night reading?”

He nodded, leaning back and tilting his head as he relaxed once more, “The books I bought from you, yeah.”

He paused, shifting and staring at me thoughtfully before he continued, “I’m guessing you are what my character has been searching for?”

I lifted one shoulder in a nonchalant half-shrug, “Well, my character, yes. Though that would make this a romantic, high-fantasy adventure story.”

Cyno nodded slightly, his expression not changing even as amusement rippled through his voice, “The best kind, then.”

I felt myself smile again, not bothering to comment on the fact that I was relieved by his presence or anything else that might break the now relaxed atmosphere, “I guess you really are getting to live out our favorite cover story of being an adventurer here.”

He nodded, “I even have you as a companion this time around.”

I blinked at him slightly, but didn’t respond. Instead silently watching as he stood, straightening fully so that he cast a shadow over me before he held out his hand to me in a silent offer.

I tilted my head though, looking from his tanned hand back up to his face, “How long do you think we’ll be stuck in this book?”

My voice came out surprisingly soft, giving away my slight nervousness with this entire situation, but Cyno only shook his head, “I don’t know. My best guess is that we’ll have to finish this story’s plot and go where this adventure takes us.”

Where this adventure took us…. At least I wouldn’t be alone. I could relax with the knowledge that Cyno would be by my side. A thought that had me wryly wondering if perhaps I was a better fit for the token character in need of assistance than I’d initially thought.

I nodded slightly at his words, quietly reaching up and slipping my hand into his. Letting him pull me to my feet easily.

He watched me silently, his red eyes holding my gaze as the wind blew the sand across the distant dune, and I wanted for him to say something.

At the very least, it was the perfect scene for the hero to say something.

But Cyno wasn’t the true hero of this story, and he turned, half disappointed me even though his hand was still gripping mine in a way that reassured me that no matter what, things would turn out okay, “Let’s go.”

He was allowed one step forward before the wind whipped the sand around us into a glittering shield that seemed to give way to a blinding light that soon consumed everything around us.

I opened my eyes hesitantly before blinking in surprise, registering the familiar surroundings before I spoke up, squeezing Cyno’s hand excitedly, “Cyno! We’re back!”

It took me a moment to register the slight smile that flickered across his face as he nodded at me, “So we are….”

He trailed off, though, his eyes narrowing at something behind me and causing me to turn as he let go of my hand and stepped around me.

But there, lying as innocently as could be on the floor behind me, was the book that had started our entire, short-lived adventure.

“And here is our perpetrator,” Cyno knelt as he spoke, picking up the strange book that had been recovered in sun-faded fabric before he straightened.

I stared at the book in his hands, quietly frowning before I glanced back at him, “Why do you think it let us out? Because we just completed an important scene or….?”

I trailed off as Cyno shook his head, “I don’t know, but I’ll take this book back to the Akademiya to be examined. Maybe then we’ll be able to catch its author.”

He looked back my way, and I managed a smile, “Just don’t open it on your way there. We don’t want you getting literally sucked back into the story.”

He snorted slightly, a soft sound, but nodded nonetheless, “Agreed. I’ll be back later, though. Our little adventure left me wanting more. Though I’m not sure you’ll have any stories with better characters than ours had.”

I blinked at him in surprise before snorting at his words, shaking my head in quiet amusement, “I might not be able to find a better hero, but a better secondary lead should be manageable.”

He tilted his head, his eyes glimmering slightly with unsaid words, before he bobbed his head slightly, “If you say so…. Either way, I’ll see you later.”

I nodded, finding myself waving in a fond farewell and watching him stroll down the busy street and away from me. Struck once more by exactly how well the role of a high-fantasy adventure hero actually suited him.

But then… that was possibly my own bias showing.

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