I’ve Awakened to a Great Day

Frilly dresses and sparkling gemstones, golden earrings, and beauty that could start wars, such was the life of the female villainess in this niche popular novel. The villainous character, Gwendolyn Aria, had almost had everything within her grasp if she wasn't so lighthearted. She was gifted with all the riches and talent in the world yet she gave it all away to a commoner who didn't even deserve it. The main premise of this novel was that the world was full of truly despicable people, the ones that would torture for fun and pillage for entertainment. It wasn't a kindhearted novel at all, blood was constantly being spilled and betrayal was just a daily occurrence.

A lithe girl was rolling around in her bed, undoing her morning's work, and was completely engrossed by the last few pages of the novel in her hand. She had a gloomy look on her face as the dark circles under her eyes and the pale color on her face further emphasized her discontent with what she read. She read the very villainess that she grew very fond of sacrificing herself to save the protagonist and save the world from the lurking evil deep within. The great villainess that was being controlled by the world's evil saw the light and did what was right.

Gwen, a teenage girl grumbled, "Gwendolyn! What the- Why did you do that? Just… grrr! If it was me then I would've had the entire world at my fingertips when I reach 40! No, 35! No, no, 30! I can definitely rule the world by the time I reach 30. Why would you save others when you can save yourself?"

"Gwen! Shut up! Stop reading that book and go outside!" Another girl with similar features to Gwen showed up by her door and screamed at her.

"Eh… I don't wanna…" Gwen leaned back in her bed as she buried her face in the paperback book that was present in her hand. She bought the physical copy of the novel despite there being a digital version, one could only say that she was a dedicated person.

"For the love of… Listen here, Gwen. You really need to work on… what's that?" Gwen's sister's eyes were briefly blinded as a shining bright light blocked her vision. Gwen's book suddenly emitted light and everything around her suddenly stopped moving. From the initially vibrantly colored room, it all turned grey and monotone, even Gwen's sister's white skin and black hair slowly turned grey, as if there was a filter on them.

"Guh! W-What's happening? Ari? H-Hey… you good?" Gwen was frozen still, she was feeling fear as she looked around her surroundings, everything was the same color, and everything was stuck in place. She even went up to her sister and started messing around her body, unable to even budge a single strand of her hair away. This sense of uncertainty swelled up from within her, not understanding what was happening.

"Gwen…" A voice out of nowhere, spoke from behind her.

Gwen immediately looked back and jumped away, raising her thin arms as if she was ready for a fight, "Who's there? I'll have you know that I'm a black belt in Taekwondo! Not really but I'm still strong!"

"Gwen…" This mature voice still echoed, it apparently came from the book that Gwen was reading. A slight shimmer appeared from the book every time it said her name.

"What do you want?" Gwen took a single step forward, trying to test the waters.

"Gwen… come closer…"

"All right but-" Without Gwen even being able to say another word, she was immediately taken into the book, her entire body warped as if it was being taken apart and reconstructed along the way. This process was extremely quick and painless, even Gwen didn't realize that she was already long gone from her bedroom.

"Gwen…"

Gwen's eyes were a little hazy but when she finally focused on the figure in front of her, the fiery purple hair that signified her poisonous upbringing, her sharp red eyes that seemed to pierce through the very heavens, and the beauty that the book was unable to properly convey through words. In front of the young lithe girl's eyes was the very villainess that Gwen criticized mere moments ago.

"Gwendolyn? What's going on?" Gwen tried to make sense of her surrounding yet all she saw was the white void, there was nothing else there other than pure emptiness, this of course, made Gwendolyn's extremely captivating appearance even more appealing.

"Child, you said you could take over the world in 30 years?" Gwendolyn's slight smile made Gwen's heart beat just that ever so slightly faster.

"I think… I said that? Maybe you heard 40 years?" Gwen immediately looked away, she caught herself in just that brief moment of self-realization to compose herself.

Gwendolyn was silent for a brief moment as if she was reevaluating her choice, "Never mind the amount of time, would you be able to rule the world through fear and tyranny? To make this cruel world bow down before your own wickedness?"

"If I had what you had… then I would make my mark, strong enough that it could never be replaced," Gwen was uneasy when she said her first words but when she continued on, her questionable determination shone through.

"Then, would you like to try it out? I've always wanted to see the world that would've been if I chose to rule it," Gwendolyn's slight smile further emphasized her elegant appearance.

"The novel said you were initially kind, what happened? Did you get corrupted?"

"Time does tend to change a person," Gwendolyn seemed to mean multiple things by that, "Well, waiting around in this empty void won't do any of us any good. Let's move on," Gwendolyn immediately created a magical circle from directly below Gwen.

"Wait! What'll happen to my sister?"

A great surging power started to swell up from within the magical circle that Gwendolyn cast, and electrical bolts of power started to circle around her as even the empty white void started to distort. Gwen could hear countless chants as even more runes and symbols started to show up around her.

"Everything's stuck in time until you come back. 30 years, remember that. That's how long you have to satisfy me. If you do as you say, I don't mind letting you have a fraction of my power to keep for yourself."

Gwen's eyes lit up in pure ecstasy, this was essentially telling her to have fun and get rewarded by doing so. Despite her seemingly harmless vocabulary and personality, Gwen was an inherently cruel person, perfect for the world that was about to welcome her.