Will It Work?

Jurie's knees trembled as she climbed on the stage. She hated being in the public eye, as well as standing in front of an audience.

They made her wear a lion tamer's outfit. She wore the costume on top of her clothes, although they demanded she take her clothes off. She didn't obey them in fear of them finding the  crystal ball in her pocket. While on stage, she saw Bulio inside the same cage, roaring with excitement. She ran to him and petted him once more.

The audience gasped in silence upon seeing how tamed the king of the jungle was. He behaved like an enormous cat, licking Jurie's arm. 

"No one has ever tamed Bulio," the Ringmaster said. "Those I assigned to make him perform died when he devoured them. You are indeed his creator!" He faced the awed crowd. "This is the first time an author has graced our stage since I constructed this venue, ladies and gentlemen. What should we do to her?"

Jurie squinted against the blinding lights as she looked at the horde, trying to read their dialogues.

"Execute her! She abandoned her characters here!"

"We should let her finish our stories!"

"Maybe she came to rescue her story characters. I wish my author would do the same!"

The crowds' reaction brought tears to her eyes due to mixed emotions. Her life was on the line. She badly wanted to escape and be back in her real world. She wanted to rescue all the citizens in Sicirus.

She scanned the crowd once more to see what the reactions of Rinari and Amethyst would be. She found them at a corner, hugging each other. Their expressions were a mix of feeling sorry for her and being somber for their miserable situation. When their eyes met hers, she mouthed the words "I'm sorry. I promise to set you free."

The mother and daughter's eyes brightened with hope.

The Ringmaster mistreated the characters in Sicirus, and Jurie learned about this from the tiny voice in the crystal ball. Since he made the world and was bored, he made the lost characters perform for him. And since most of them complained about it, he stole their voices with the help of the machine invented by a sci-fi novel character; he forced her to create one. He extracted Jurie's voice using the same machine. He fed on the voice he encapsulated in a crystal ball, one by one. And those whose voices were consumed instantly died.

He would pick a citizen to amuse him in whatever way he liked. He would tell them to perform dangerous stunts at the cost of their existence. He would beat them if they failed to entertain him.

Jurie clenched her fist, remembering that. Right then and there she wanted to strangle the Ringmaster, but he was too tall for her. Her fury made her make a decision, not to entertain the greedy master, but to set the characters free. She rubbed Bulio's mane once more and winked at him. The lion seemed to know what she was thinking.

Taking the stage, she boldly declared, "I'm an author. That's true. I apologize on behalf of the other creatives who failed your expectations as characters in their stories. Some of them are going through a lot in life; some lost their loved ones, and others are battling serious and lethal health conditions." She swallowed the emotional pain lumping in her throat. She refrained from crying. She didn't want to be perceived as vulnerable or asking for apathy. "Believe me, there is no author who abandons the stories they started. It's just that life not only throws them lemons, but they also have to take the bull by the horns to survive."

The pause she took was agonizing. Everyone held their breath, anticipating the next move. "Do you want to see me perform?"

The Siciruans cheered. They had never seen an author perform for them.

She started, "All right, listen. Without your assistance, this performance wouldn't be complete." "Since the Ringmaster always wants to be entertained, we'll just let him watch while we all perform." She snapped her fingers, and Mackee and Jabee appeared from behind her. They guided the master to a high chair at the center of the crowd. The performance was outdoors, so there was more than enough space for all the activities.

"Let's have two groups of five," she said. "Who would like to be the leader of the other group?"

Rinari raised her hand. "I'll choose my teammates," she said.

Jurie smiled and nodded. "Alright. We'll play tug-of-war!" she announced. She smirked when various expressions from the audience welcomed her suggestion. "Confused? I'll explain the mechanics."

As she spoke, the two monkeys handed her a long rope with a ribbon in the middle.

After explaining the mechanics, she walked among the crowd to choose her teammates. Unbeknownst to the Ringmaster's knowledge, she was conversing in sign language with the other citizens, discussing her plan—the plan she had while she was left alone with the crystal. She was informed by the voice in the crystal as to which citizens were proficient in sign language and who was aware of the locations of the other crystals.

Rinari did the same, gathering her selected team. But with Jurie's further instructions. Jurie gave Rinari the ability to read minds in her story. And she used that to their advantage. Rinari selected the other characters in Jurie's novel, knowing their abilities, too.

"What's taking so long?!" the Ringmaster shouted. "Is gathering four people that difficult?! Should I choose your teammates for you?!"

"We're done!" Jurie yelled back, throwing him a dagger stare. "You don't get to decide here! I'm the writer, and you're just an audience!"

"This is my world! I get to decide whatever, whenever I want!"

"This world is created by whoever your author is, not you! You're just a forgotten character anyway."

The master was totally offended by her words. He slammed his arms against the armchair and attempted to stand, but something stopped him. "Who released the giant termites from The insects and I novel?!"

"Oh, I forgot to mention," Jurie said. "While on my way to this stage, I came across a colony of termites gnawing on some wooden fences. And you know what happened next." She smirked, seeing the villain's pissed-off reaction. "Can you guess how things will end for you?" she teased.

He dared to take a few steps only to be surprised when he couldn't move. "Who tied my feet?!"

"Oh, don't bother," Jurie said. It was the monkeys who did it, but she didn't want her characters to get in trouble. "Nobody knows either."