[b][i]Ashton Andrews, the Chosen of Stories[/i][/b]

Ashton was not a would-be hero for nothing; he saw after a few moments that the other prisoners were already regaining hope, or never lost it in the first place. C. Selphia was a nice guy, too, trying to reassure a kid whose words could be mistaken for attention-seeking. And Plague Mask Guy? The kid had to admire his moxy in signalling the others to prepare an escape bid. So he met the 'Dragon's' smile with his own, faint one, a signal that despair had left him. They were all heroes and the occassional anti-heroes here, weren't they? That hadn't changed yet and quite frankly, the [i]Chosen of Stories[/i] was not willing to let it.

So he whispered back to C. Selphia, his voice as low as possible, "I was wrong to break."

A signal that the boy had in fact, broken, and was merely being chatty when taking to C. Selphia. While giving the latter time to recognize this truth, Ashton waited for the other currently stronger prisoners to make their move; without his powers, he had no choice but to follow their lead. Glancing with the edge of his eye at C. Selphia, the boy whispered once more, "Shake my left hand under the table while we wait. Don't ask why. No longer broken."

[i]Sixteen years old and facing life as a prisoner or slave of an evil overlord, not granted the mercy of death? Seal Team Ten would be more ashamed of me if I just take this lying down.[/i] Finally, Ashton's thoughts were making sense.

The boy had another theory, by the way: 'Cold King Kazzok' was a narrative being whose power was over stories itself like he, Ashton, technically was. That's how the Dark Lord was able to beat so many heroes from many other 'genres' of Universe. If true, then it means that 1.) Kazzok can only defeat them if it made for an interesting story or a setup to a story, 2.) [i]They[/i] can only defeat King Kazzok if it made for an interesting story or setup to a story, and 3.) Kazzok must have a source of power that ties into narrative, like a.) A special artifact like the book his Uncle bequeathed to him, or b.) Being a creature [i]made[/i] of narrative.

Creatures made of narrative could exist naturally, like Faerie Creatures from certain worlds (coughExaltedcough), but they can also be created by authors in worlds where authors had reality-warping powers. Was 'Cold King Kazzok' such a creation? Or simply a very powerful being/entity able to operate in multiple worlds? 

There was no way to know. And Ashton also knew that if he settled on a theory right now, with inadequate evidence, then he'd be overthinking and guessing instead of, you know, analyzing. But gods, it was so frustrating to not have anything even when he had decided to fight!

The boy side-glanced at C. Selphia once more, hoping that 1.) the latter had agreed to do as he had asked, and 2.) that he had not missed said agreement while he was theorizing and guessing.