...

Noah felt the stabbing pain in his stomach, and a part of his mind went into shock, unable to understand what was happening. The burning sensation worsened when the man backed away in fear, as in his carelessness, he had pulled out the knife, causing the deep cut to widen. He felt the world stop and everything lose its meaning.

Clenching his jaw, he steeled his courage and looked down at the wound. He wanted to laugh when he saw the hot blood gushing down his belly, soaking his expensive designer clothes. It was a shame that the pain caused his face to contort into ugly grimaces and he couldn't smile.

At that same moment, the scent of roses filled the place. Any alpha could be tempted if they smelled that pheromone on a normal day, but now the essence of roses was accompanied by the intense metallic smell of blood. No living being would be attracted to such an intense smell of death.

Noah, unable to hold on for another second, collapsed to the ground. But he didn't hit it, for strong arms caught him before he did. Checking, he realized that somehow, he had fallen on top of a man.

Surprised, he glanced to the side. A strong jawline entered his vision. He lifted his head and found himself facing the most attractive face he had ever seen in his life, and twenty-seven years was not such a short life. Almost hypnotized, he studied the long hair, gathered in a casual ponytail; the defined, linear features; even the intense aroma of liquor enveloped him, almost completely obscuring his bloody scent. Without thinking, he reached out and uninhibitedly touched the other man's thick eyebrows. After running his hand over them, he noticed that he had left a slight trace of blood.

"I'm sorry Jerome, I've gotten you dirty," he apologized.

The man didn't answer, just tried to put pressure on his wound. It was a shame that despite his efforts, Noah didn't stop feeling the blood running down his belly. With each drop that flowed, a second of life escaped him.

"Don't worry, it doesn't hurt as much as it looks," he stammered. The truth was, he was lying, this could easily make it into his top five most painful things and occupy one of the top spots, but he had never seen Jerome with such a heavy aura since they met, not even when he had been so bold with the other; and he was a little scared that he was acting that way. He wanted the alpha to remain the same indifferent character he always was. For at least in that indifference, there was something familiar.

At that moment, his gaze met Jerome's. For the first time, the black eyes seemed to be looking at him. At him. Only him. His soul couldn't help but tremble despite himself.

Besides, he noticed that this was the first time the alpha had hugged him in their four years of marriage. Noah had the urge to pull away, knowing how unpleasant his touch was to the man, but the latter prevented him from doing so.

"Even...the great Jerome has moments..." he muttered with a weak smile, which only made the man's gaze devour him. Whenever that happened, he used to shut up. But this time, perhaps it was his last day alive, he deserved to speak up and complain a little more. "...Where he feels moved...I can hardly believe it...are you sure you're my husband?"

"Just shut up," the man said hoarsely as he tried to stop the bleeding. For this, he had let Noah lean against the hard wall, and he, despite the impediment of his legs, dragged himself across the floor and positioned himself in a way that made it easier to put pressure on the bleeding wound and try to make a tourniquet with his black shirt.

Noah allowed himself to see the other without any restrictions for the first time in a long time. The alpha had always loved his clean, neat appearance, almost to the point of misophobia, but now his clothes were stained with dirt, sweat, and a few spots of his own blood.

Seeing him trying so hard to stop the bleeding, Noah was touched; although he knew it wasn't for himself, but for the one who had stabbed him. For that omega, the proud and stoic Jerome, had even crawled down the dirt hallway, losing his usual composure.

His heart ached, but he was used to that kind of dull pain.

"I thought the mighty Jerome hated getting into pointless fights."

That being the case, Noah couldn't figure out why Jerome was trying to save him, and not continuing to crawl over to the other omega, who still had the bloody knife in his hands and was crying in a corner, looking as pitiful as if he was the one who had been stabbed.

"Don't worry. Even if I die, the Balleros won't do anything to your omega. You know I'm not their biological son. They don't care what happens to me. They were even the ones who arranged all of this."

Long ago, Noah had lost the desire to be loved by Victor, or his family, much less Jerome, and had resigned himself to his fate, so it was no problem for him to say such harsh words. He might be married to the man, but they were as close to falling in love with each other as heaven was to hell.

Noah knew that, boy did he know that...but there was the alpha, giving him that kind of look. A discomfort arose in his heart and complaints choked him. Although he wanted to cry, he gritted his teeth and forced a smile.

"You won't have to pretend anymore, Jerome. You'll finally be rid of me," the omega said with some cynicism as he looked away.

"You're giving up that easily? Why didn't I ever know you were such a coward?" the alpha snapped. Noah wanted to pull away, but he couldn't.

"It's just that you've never really known me," he whispered, bearing the intense pain in his belly. Cold sweat ran down his forehead, and the heat was leaving his body by the second.

His vision was turning black and his consciousness was fading. The icy breath of death whispered at the back of his neck.

Jerome seemed to realize his predicament, and had no choice but to stop his futile efforts to save his life. The overwhelming truth that nothing he could do would make a difference shattered him in a way he never imagined.

All his life, he had felt like someone capable of facing every challenge that came his way, so when he lost the mobility of his legs because of his own pride, he did not complain and moved on. That was nothing to the powerful son of the Barloventos. Only now did he understand his smallness and powerlessness in not getting the desired results from his efforts.

Almost in a trance, he took Noah back into his arms and held him to his chest.

An alpha and an omega. It almost seemed like there was no one else in the dusty place.

"Why did you do it?" he asked hoarsely. "Why did you intervene?" Noah managed to listen and tried to answer.

"...Because..."

As soon as the words left his bloodied lips, Jerome's eyes flew open in astonishment. Unconsciously, he tightened his embrace, but the body in his arms was no longer giving off any heat. Noah's body was inert, lifeless.

Thus, precisely on the day of their fourth wedding anniversary, Noah Ballestero died in the arms of Jerome Barlovento.

It was almost a cruel twist of fate that five minutes after Noah's breathing had ceased, the police arrived to rescue them, along with his private security team.

Jerome looked down and saw the terrifyingly pale face of the person he had never accepted. The same one who had given his life in the last second and rescued him.

Yes... This omega was his husband. And he had died in his arms. Perhaps this was the destiny that heaven had in store for corrupt people like him.

So he didn't cry. He didn't allow himself to.

...

...

A blinding light forced him to close his eyes for a few seconds, after which he could see around him normally. Noah studied the place with a bit of fear because, according to his perception, he should already be dead... but there he was. In a small empty room.

Wherever he looked, all he could see was white. The walls, the ceiling, and the floor were white. Even his clothes were white. He was wearing a kind of gown and was barefoot. There was nothing else on his body. Curiously, he checked the place where he had been stabbed. To his surprise, the mortal wound had disappeared, although it retained a slight mark on the spot, which was almost invisible if you didn't pay attention. It was a thin line etched on his smooth skin. Noah ran his fingers over it and felt the relief.

"There seems to be nothing..."

His curiosity satisfied, he walked from side to side, circling the room several times, but never finding a way out.

In such a desolate environment, all he could do was endure the terrible loneliness.

Noah sat on the floor, and while he was crushed by the silence and nostalgia, he couldn't help but remember his final seconds. It seemed that he had taken his last breath saving his husband. And most alarmingly, he had died in his arms.

For some reason, shame made his white face blush.

"Four years of marriage, and it's only now that you learn to be kind... idiot!" he scolded himself.

.

An unknown amount of time passed, and he discovered that he no longer felt hunger, thirst, or sleep. Which alarmed him even more. Was he still human at least?

.

It could have been only seconds or centuries. Noah never knew, but when he thought he would remain inside the empty room until the end of time, a simple table with a chair appeared out of nowhere, right in the center of the whole place. The two new objects were also white.

With a thousand questions in his heart, Noah approached the table and saw that there was also a book in the center of it. Thinking that inside the pages he might find some kind of answer, he flipped through it without wasting a second.

From the pink cover, it looked like a romance novel. As he held it closer, he saw the title: "My Beloved Angel".

As soon as he read the first page, Noah froze. He stared at the book in amazement, and above all, slightly furious.

He wanted to throw it away, but resisted the urge and kept reading. Perhaps out of boredom, or a bit of morbid curiosity, he read the whole book in three hours.

He glanced at the last page and closed the book casually. He saw the cover and sighed. Then, he took the book angrily and threw it against the wall with all his might. The poor book was thus destroyed. The pages scattered and flew across the floor. Although Noah didn't even care. It seemed that this set of sheets was something dirty to look at, and did not deserve a second glance.

"Damn trash book!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "Who dared to write this? Is it a god or fate? Well, screw you!" he declared without a hint of remorse.

As if in mockery, the scattered leaves began to tremble and soon they had gathered again, forming a book in perfect condition.

Noah watched the whole process, and although he felt some fear, he ignored it and clenched his fists.

"Screw you! That's not what happened."

When he first opened his eyes and realized that he was probably in some strange kind of limbo, he did not complain or cry. Since, in the end, it had been his decision to block that knife. Right or wrong, he had chosen it.

But after reading this "romantic" book, he couldn't help himself and burst into tears. Not out of sadness or regret, but out of anger.

"My Beloved Angel" was a story about an alpha who grew up in filth, and despite that, shone like a diamond. Enduring the hardships that life threw at him, he succeeded. He was even forced to put up with a pathetic beta who clung to him. But everything took a turn when he entered college, because there he met his destined one, a precious omega, pure and noble of heart. What was a common, ordinary beta next to this beauty? Nothing.

Of course, things were not so easy for the lovebirds, as both had relationships behind them. The alpha was harassed by the beta day and night, and the omega was harassed by his paralyzed fiance, who also turned out to be the main villain. Poor lovebirds!

As if fate was compensating them, a series of secrets came to light some time later, such as the alpha being the son of a rich family, and so on and so forth. After several similar entanglements - and for some reason that is completely omitted - the beta who was harassing the alpha underwent a transformation and his secondary gender changed to omega.

Anyone would think that the adorable couple's problems would get worse, only that fate blessed them again.

This new omega was forced to marry the paralyzed villain, after being found in a very embarrassing situation. This solved the problems of the lovebirds! Who, by the way, were left as the cheated victims.

After that, would anyone dare to point the finger at them for "formalizing" their relationship?

How convenient!

It's halfway through the novel that this repulsive omega meets his end at the hands of the villain's lover. And so, half of the poor protagonists' lives are solved. No one mourns the death of the forgotten omega, because no one cares. And many even said he deserved it, for climbing into other people's beds with hidden tricks.

Yes, the protagonists give a few "kind" words for that murdered boy, but it's not even half a sentence. They move on with their lives, holding hands and smiling.

It's just that not everything is rosy for long, because the best is yet to come. They still have to deal with the main villain, who has the shamelessness to accuse their families of a list of quite serious crimes. As the shadow closes in on the bright futures of both protagonists, the alpha summons the villain to the top of a cliff. For what reason? For more drama of course!

And in the end, because of his own shamelessness, the villain falls off the cliff and dies crashing against the rocks. Thus, all the main enemies of the protagonists disappear and they dedicate themselves to loving each other, because the other small villains don't even deserve their attention. A simple wave of the hand, and they are swept away until they disappear.

The end, ta-da.

Burning tears streamed down Noah's cheeks. Every word he read, he felt it ignite his fighting spirit.

"None of that is true!" he reproached. The story he had lived was totally different. It was true that the scenes seemed to be the same, but the background was something very different.

"It's not fair that this kind of sham gets away with it," he muttered as he walked over to where the book lay. With resentment in his heart, he stepped on it hard. "They are the real villains! Is that how you choose your favorites, god, destiny, or whatever you are? Does this kind of treacherous being deserve happiness, but I don't?" he ended up shouting, so loudly that his throat hurt. He roughly wiped away his tears, and continued: "What did I do wrong, huh? Fall in love with that idiot? Follow the words of my mother...of that woman? Fuck that! When I found out they loved each other, I stepped aside! Didn't I deserve even an ounce of compassion?"

The light blinded him at that moment and he had no choice but to cover his eyes.

"Okay, okay, okay. Yes, fate played with you. Who cares? Just get over it," said a female voice, coming from all directions. "You're not letting me rest." The being complained childishly.

"What are you?" The omega gathered the courage to ask. He tried to open his eyes, but the light was too blinding. He had no choice but to keep his eyes closed.

"Does it matter? Oh, well, I'll tell you. I'm bored and I haven't spoken to anything in millennia. I am the deity in charge of stories. It is my job to set the golden children on the right path.”

Noah assimilated the words very quickly, after all, he had been in this room without the need to sleep, eat or go to the bathroom. An experience like that could not be human. So coming face to face with a deity didn't seem so far-fetched.

...

...

"Why am I here? I remember dying. Shouldn't my soul...disappear?" Noah hit the nail on the head. This self-proclaimed deity of stories claimed not to have spoken to anything in millennia, so what made this omega different enough to make her do it now? He didn't think he was that special. It's not that he underestimated himself, but to have a deity talk to him because of his great charisma? It didn't sound very believable.

"You know more than how to cry," she said optimistically. "You're right, your soul was supposed to enter the perpetual cycle of reincarnation and go to a new life, but I intervened and locked you up here." Her voice was proud, as if she expected a compliment, which, of course, did not come. "By the way, you can open your eyes now. I reduced my impressive and wonderful aura so as not to, ash, blind you."

Noah opened his eyes and in front of him, he saw the most beautiful and terrifying woman he had ever seen in his life. Her straight, golden hair reached to the ground and dragged several meters behind her; her skin was literally gold; and her eyes were completely red. For clothing, she only wore a semi-transparent fabric that barely covered her body. And her entire presence emitted a slight warm glow. Noah had never felt so small and insignificant before.

"Why did you bring me here?" the omega repeated his question, forcing himself to maintain his composure.

She stared at the human and, after considering something, spoke.

"There are a couple of things wrong with your world," said the deity without restraint, pointing to the book that lay under Noah's foot.

"What?" Of all the reasons, this was the least expected.

"The end of the story, it's the one you read, but it shouldn't be that way. In this ending, the villains die and the protagonists live happily ever after."

"Too cliche."

"Everyone loves a good cliche," she muttered, shrugging. "It's true that in most cases, someone is destined to be the good guy and someone else the bad guy. But that's not the problem."

"So, what should the ending be?"

"That doesn't matter. The point is that in this version, the main villain didn't die after falling off that cliff," she reported, taking Noah by surprise.

"So, Jerome...!" Realizing that his concern was misplaced, the omega shut his mouth. So what if Jerome survived? Not that he cared.

The deity extended an arm, and the book slid under her foot as it followed her direction. It ended up floating on her golden hand.

"And five years later, he came back seeking revenge. In the end, he succeeded, and in the process, he destroyed the world."

"What? Is this some kind of metaphor?"

"No. Literally, the world was destroyed." Her voice was carefree, as if she were just talking about a beautiful sunny day.

"How can a simple revenge destroy a whole world?" Noah was beginning to think he was being scammed, and by a deity!

"You don't understand, what gives life to each world are stories. Especially, the stories of the golden children. If they disappear for no good reason and are replaced from one day to the next, the world loses logic and destroys itself. My job is to prevent that from happening and to maintain balance, so that stories and their worlds continue to exist."

"If... And, does this have anything to do with your reason for bringing me here?"

"Well, duh!" she said, as if it were the most logical thing in the world. "Everything was wrong in the story, to the point that... never mind. The worst happened after your death. The villain completely lost his mind and ignored the good things that life itself could offer."

"I still don't understand. Why would my death affect anything? Wasn't it my destiny to die?" This last assumption caused Noah's heart to race.

"The destiny of every living being is to perish and be reborn, in an infinite cycle. But in a more specific case, there is always an indicated time. And indeed, it was not yours."

"What do you mean? If I wasn't supposed to die... Why did I?"

"Could be a glitch with the golden child's halo. Maybe its light was too much and it eliminated you by accident. I still don't know why."

"Maybe? You're a deity and you don't know?" he asked angrily.

"I'm not omnipotent, okay?" she claimed. "But we're getting off-topic, the important thing here is that the villain caused the world to be destroyed."

"You could have warned him," Noah shot back scathingly. He felt cheated to know that he shouldn't have died at that moment. But even though he was reluctant in his heart, there was nothing he could do about it now. He himself had made the decision to step between Jerome and his lover.

"During his bloody path, he received warnings, but nothing mattered to him," the deity complained.

"Warnings?"

"Prophetic dreams. He was shown that if he continued on that path, the world would be destroyed, but he continued anyway."

Noah listened to the words, and he could perfectly associate them with the Jerome he knew.

"If your job is to keep the balance, couldn't you just get rid of him with a flick of your hand?"

"My job is to guide, not impose. I give the choices, humans decide which to choose."

"So that's it. Anyway, I wasn't supposed to die, but I did. What are you telling me all this for? It has nothing to do with me, I wasn't the one who destroyed the world. In that case, you should bring Jerome here, not me," exclaimed Noah. To tell the truth, his argument was very solid. Don't blame him for not being a selfless saint, it was just that he left that world behind, why couldn't he leave the world behind?

"I need you to fix this problem you created with your death," she announced.

"I already said it has nothing to do with me. Besides, whether the world is destroyed or not doesn't interest me."

At that second, a white light glowed around the deity and she seemed to read something in the air. An ominous feeling arose in Noah's chest. He sensed that this light was connected to him, and not in a good way.

"It's approved!" shouted the deity excitedly, making the whole space rumble. The boy was even pushed back a couple of steps.

"What?"

"You're going back!" The joy was obvious on the golden face.

"No! I want to go to the cycle of reincarnation. It's my right!" Noah shouted.

"You're a special case, you can go back. Don't thank me!"

"You can send someone else! There are hundreds of stories like that," he reasoned.

"Nope. It won't work unless it's you."

"I won't do what you want!" the omega swore. A strong essence of roses flooded the place. If a human were present and closed his eyes, he would perceive the smell and feel that he was in a beautiful field of roses; soon, he would be seduced and controlled by the essence, seeking to please and possess the owner of that smell. But there were only Noah and the deity. And she would never be tempted or warned by the pheromone of a human.

"Sorry. You won't remember anything from our talk."

"No!"

"Did you know? The human mind is not capable of handling information that exceeds its perception of reality, so when you go back, you won't remember me," she said with a triumphant smile on her golden face.

The next instant, she was standing in front of Noah, only inches away. She raised her hand and placed it on the omega's forehead.

"Just remember this: 'I don't want to die at the hands of the plot.'"

Noah felt his consciousness fading and although he wanted to fight, he couldn't do anything.

His human form trembled and turned into a warm golden light. The deity burned the book, and in its place took what was Noah with great care in her hands and looked at him kindly.

"Noah Ballestero, you are free to choose the path you want... just don't die. And that way, your world might recover. If you succeed, I will reward you."

She raised her hands upwards and the light faded away, until there was nothing left.

At that moment, a shadow appeared at the deity's side.

"It's just one more world. It doesn't matter much if it's destroyed. Why bother?"

"Arazthor... maybe you're right, I have millions of worlds to see, and losing one is nothing. It's just that I can't stand someone interfering with my work and changing the script. That system thinks it can make fun of me and fool me. But I know who my true golden child is."

"You could just report it. Why make a human relive his suffering?"

"This is more entertaining. After all, I am Fable, the deity of stories. And I love to see a good story.

...