Novels by Ola Mick

The black ink swallowed everything in a single, roaring wave.Director Jade vanished beneath the swirling flood of letters, his screams cut short as the master book disintegrated into white ash. I stood alone in the center of the collapsing archive, the heavy armor of dark ink cooling around my right arm. The platform beneath my boots broke apart into floating fragments, dropping down into an endless void where millions of stories had once been stored.My chest felt completely hollow."Aminata!" I shouted, my voice echoing across the empty white space.There was no answer. Only the quiet hiss of dissolving code and the steady, rhythmic pulse of the silver pen in my hand. Director Jade had deleted her character file and pulled her into the core master book before he fell. She was gone, trapped somewhere inside the unwritten pages of a database that was currently tearing itself to pieces.I wasn't going to let her stay there.I gripped the silver pen tight, pointing the glowing tip stra

The air turned ice-cold the second the steel chair rose into view.I gripped the silver pen tight in my hand, my boots planted firmly on the glowing white floor. Beside me, Aminata raised her crystal gun, her eyes narrowed as she stared at the figure sitting on the throne. The golden crown on the stranger's head gleamed with a harsh, blinding light that cut right through the red text flashing across the sky."I thought Master Vance was at the top," I said, keeping my voice low and steady."Master Vance was just a regional editor," Aminata replied, her fingers resting lightly on the trigger. "This is the core archive. Whoever sits in that chair controls every single book on the platform."The figure in the steel chair slowly leaned forward. The heavy golden crown shifted, and a face emerged from the shadows, younger than Master Vance, with sharp features and a cold, calculating smile that made my stomach turn."Welcome to the main office, Kofi Vance," the figure said. His voice was smo

The fall felt like dropping through an endless sea of cold glass.I kept my hand locked around Aminata's wrist, holding on with every ounce of strength I had left while the silver pen in my other hand burned like hot iron. The bright glowing portal we had jumped through closed behind us with a loud crack, cutting off Master Vance's office and the crumbling platform of Sector 4 entirely.Then, the wind stopped.We hit the ground hard, rolling across a smooth, endless floor made of pure, shining white light.I pushed myself up to my hands and knees, coughing as a cloud of fine white dust settled around us. My arms ached, and my shins throbbed where the heavy chain had slammed against them back in the office, but the pain felt distant. I looked down at my hand. The silver pen was still there, its tip pulsing with a steady, quiet light."Are you okay?" I asked, looking over at Aminata.She was already sitting up, brushing a speck of dust off her black tactical jacket. She looked around th

A heavy chain wrapped around my ankles before I could stand up.Chibuzo jerked the chain hard, sending me crashing back down against the broken wooden floor. Pain shot up my shins, but I didn't have time to think about it. The dozen armed guards in black armor moved in fast, their stun-rifles pointed straight at my head, blocking every possible way out of Master Vance's office.I looked up from the floor. Aminata stood a few feet away, her arms resting loosely at her sides. Her eyes were completely blank. The silver pen in Master Vance's hand had stripped away everything that made her real, turning her back into a mindless weapon of the publishing system."You fought hard, Kofi," Master Vance said, walking slowly around his large desk. He held the silver pen up, watching the white light flicker at the tip. "Most main characters break down and accept their roles by Chapter 4. You made it to Chapter 7. That is impressive for a street runner from Sector 4.""Let her go," I said, spitting

The silver pen in the old man's hand stopped moving.He did not look surprised to see us standing in the middle of his office. He sat back in his leather chair, his sharp eyes looking us over with total calm. The desk in front of him was covered in thick stacks of paper, each one labeled with a different title, a different sector, and a different life that people like me were forced to live out for virtual coins."You broke through four security walls and deleted a core enforcer," the old man said. His voice was smooth, quiet, and carried the weight of someone who owned the air we breathed. "That is a new record for Sector 4. I expected you to reset at Chapter 2, Kofi."I stepped forward, keeping my fists clenched at my sides. The dark cosmic ink beneath my skin pulsed with a hot, steady heat. "Who are you? Are you the one writing our lives?""I am the Senior Editor," the old man answered, setting the silver pen down on the desk. "My name is Master Vance. And yes, every word, every al

My fingers slipped on her wet skin, and for a terrifying second, I thought I was going to lose her to the dark void below."Don't let go, Kofi!" Aminata shouted.Her voice cut through the roaring storm of white static and falling letters. I dug my boots hard into a tilting slab of metal, planted my feet, and pulled upward with every last bit of strength in my arms. With a sharp grunt, I hauled her over the edge and pulled her down flat onto the tilting floor beside me.We both lay there for a moment, panting heavily, as the world around us continued to break apart into swirling pieces of white paper."That was too close," I managed to say, wiping sweat from my forehead."We aren't safe yet," Aminata said, quickly pushing herself up to her feet. She looked around at the chaos consuming the server room. The walls, the screens, and the towering machinery were completely gone now, replaced by a blinding white vortex that spun in every direction. "The system is erasing the entire level bec