Ryder the Writer

Ryder is a writer in the Real. He suffers from schizophrenia and sees and hears things that are not necessarily accurate. He was dating Erica Court, but after a break in reality during an intimate moment, she leaves and he struggles with this as he is also told by his Ten Speed bicycle who seems to be demonically possessed that he is the God of the Fiction, but to access this destiny, he has to kill off one of his characters, his beloved Ambellina.

Early Life
Little is known about Ryder's early life, but he lived alone in a two-story, dilapidated house on a large property with no nearby neighbors. It is not known when, exactly, he'd been diagnosed with schizophrenia, but he had been prescribed at least two medications (one of which was Thorazine) to manage it. It is also unknown when he started writing, but he claimed to have been writing his story for years. His age was also unknown, but he doesn't seem too old or too young (Erica is 27, so he's probably of a similar age). He had been dating a woman named Erica Court for quite a while, but the pair broke up.

The Merging of Erica and Ambellina
One day, Erica Court came to Ryder's house, presumably to make up with him. They were intimate, during which Court even admitted she still loved Ryder. Unfortunately, Ryder addressed her as Ambellina, a character in a story he was writing. Court stormed out and called a friend telling him, "He's totally lost inside his own head," and that due to the condition the house was in, "I'm guessing he's stopped taking his medication," and asked him to pick her up. Ryder rushed out of the house, trying to explain that Ambellina wasn't even real; just a slip of the tongue. Court emphasized that it wasn't the slip of the tongue that was a problem—it was the fact that he continued to live in his made-up-world, rather than be present with her in the real one. Ryder tried to say that since Ambellina is modeled after her, she should be flattered, but she retorts that it's not when he can't keep them straight. A proper verbal fight ensued with Ryder sarcastically asking if he should simply keep her a secret like Court did with the guy she was seeing. Court responded that he can't blame her for his inability to get his own shit together and left, telling Ryder to find someone else to be his muse.

Ryder staggered and threw up a little before chasing after her. He messily asked her to marry him, but she simply responded that she knew going there would be a bad idea; that he couldn't handle this right now. He told her that she keeps the noisy things at bay to which she said, "That's what the meds are for." Ryder explained that he can't write in pure silence, implying two things: that he stopped taking the meds to write, and things are too noisy for him presently; he needed her to write just as much. She told him she couldn't talk about this anymore and got in her friend's car, driving off. Ryder called after her and watched them go.

Major Breaks in Reality
Later, Ryder called Court to tell her that he was sorry for proposing the way that he did and that he needed to hear her force, leaving her many messages. He asked, maybe just to himself, if she was listening to the messages, when an image of Ambellina materialized above him—a break in reality. Later, he was listening to messages on his answering machine and his doctor had left him several concerned messages—he missed his last three appointments and his medications were overdue to be fulfilled. Doctor Paone stresses that if he'd been nauseous or irritable (both of which are true), he needed to come in ASAP, warning about returning episodes. He had an outburst during this message and began to see menacing shadows. He picked up a screwdriver and ended up stabbing himself in the hand with it.

He had a vision or dream of Ambellina before a grave, but in a flash, she changed to Court instead. She pleaded with him not to do this, but Ryder wasn't himself either—a being who looked mostly like him, but from one panel to another had strange, monstrous features: red eyes, claws and fangs, pointed ears and a hooked nose. He threw Court in the grave and began to bury her, but the vision ended. Back in his bathroom with the screwdriver wound in his hand, he ran the wound under water and decided he wouldn't go to a doctor for it, simply wrapping the would instead. He decided to get something to eat, but saw terrible things when he opened his fridge. He tried to write at his typewriter, and was distracted by a dragonfly. After examining it and again, seeing features that weren't actually there, he crushed it, smirking.

Night fell, and Ryder began trying to write by hand, but only kept repeatedly writing "I hate cats," over and over. He thought he heard something, and made his way to the front of the house, but something shattered in front of him. He grabbed a bat and stormed out of the house. He noticed his shed was open and found his bike was missing. He walked, barefoot, to Court's house, and saw Claudio Kilgannon approach Newo Ikkin's house, speaking directly to Apollo, which he found strange, saying to himself that he'd wrote the scene he was viewing. Then, he began hearing someone singing about himself. When he found the figure, it turned out to be his missing bicycle, but completely in flamed and with a body frame of bones and a horned head for handlebars. The bicycle, addressed as Ten Speed for the type of bike it was, began to ask Ryder about Court. Ten Speed seemed to burn her house down and in the middle of the flames, Court was with her friend from before who picked her up, kissing in his car. The flames receded and again he was in front of Court's unharmed house. This time, two figures were at the window: Court and the friend, who hugged her.

Detaining Erica
Ryder left, upset by all of this, and boarded a bus that also seemed to be a figment of his psychosis. Upon arriving home, he wheeled his ten speed, this time seemingly normal, into the house. He sat down at his desk, and again, the bike became a demanding, flaming figure. He taunted Ryder again with the idea that Court was cheating on him and he fought the bike, hoisting it over his head, just as Court attempted to come through the front door.

The pair sat down; Ryder was really stiff and Court seemed very concerned. She relayed that Ryder's doctor contacted her to say he'd been missing treatment, but Ryder didn't want to talk about that. Ryder insisted that if he finished the story, he would feel better. Court pressed the issue, but Ryder again claimed that when he was on the medication, he couldn't see the story. Court suggested that they find a different doctor if Ryder just doesn't like Paone. Court also mentioned that Ryder is chasing everyone he loves away, including her, all because of this story. Ryder claimed it wasn't that easy—that the characters needed him. Court retorted that she had devoted a big part of her life to him, too, but Ryder brings up the idea that she left him for her friend, implying that she cheated on him. This was too much for Court. She told him he couldn't control her like one of his characters and because of that, he couldn't handle the real-world. But Ten Speed began coming to life and speaking to him again. When he responded to the bike, Court thought that he was speaking to her.

Ryder was having trouble ignoring Ten Speed, and trying to get Court to leave now so he wouldn't seem crazy to her; so he could deal with the bike. Of course, Court noticed right away, and determined that he was in way worst shape than she thought. She decided to leave, and Ten Speed starts telling Ryder that Court would tell on him, and he stopped her before she could leave. He tied her to a chair, and tried to explain to her that the story was for her, and how he'd kill anyone for her, with Court protesting that she just wanted him to get better. He told her he would end the story with Ten Speed telling him he wouldn't be able to end it without killing off Ambellina.

Through the Willing Well
Ryder is very reluctant to kill the character since he loves her. He began to argue with the bike in front of Court, who began to beg him to let her go. He taped her mouth shut and became quiet. Ten Speed claimed to be the dark part of Ryder himself, which may account for the shift in his attitude. Ryder sat calmly at his desk and began writing again. Ten Speed told Ryder he needed to hurry up, that Kilgannon and Ambellina were already facing Ryan directly. Ryder claimed he didn't write that and Ten Speed confirmed he'd lost control of the story. A polaroid of a little girl was among the paperwork he shuffled through and Ten Speed demanded that it was time for him to call The Vishual. Ten Speed seems to take possession of Ryder; his eyes were purple voids and he cried ink. Sitting on the floor with flames with all around him, he says in Ten Speed's "voice": "The vision that bears the gift... will make the fiction see the real."

Ten Speed, seemingly a separate entity again, beaconed him to follow him. Ryder's house burns around him, and skeletal figures burst through his door and window, lifting him up on their shoulders, as they took him to a winged guillotine. Ryder didn't fight as they situated him on the guillotine and the blade falls. We can't be sure what happened exactly, but Ryder's figure appeared through the Willing Well in "The Fiction," right in front of Chase, the Vishual, who recognized him instantly as God the Creator. She took his outstretched hand and walked through the Willing Well with him again. The Well next appeared in the thick of the fight that Kilgannon and Ambellina were in; Chase was thrown from it and Ambellina was taken by Ryder back into it.

Battle with Kilgannon
Inside the Willing Well, Ryder seemed to be able to manipulate the space with a single thought. He recreated The Real's Paris, particularly the area around Notre-Dame. Kilgannon inevitably entered to retrieve Ambellina and came upon the unfamiliar place. It seemed to be playing out a memory in which a much younger Ryder broke up with a girl. This younger version took out a smoke and morphed into the present version who threw a second cigarette at Kilgannon and Chase, who had come with him, setting their surrounding on fire. Ryder chastised Kilgannon for falling for Ambellina who veered him off his path and called it a direct challenge. Kilgannon is exasperated at Ryder's demeanor, telling Chase who was a die-hard believer that Ryder was no God. Ryder used his abilities to choke him from his position. By this point, the Paris scene was completely absolved, and what remained was a nebulous kind of space. Ryder told Kilgannon that the worlds he knows all belong to him and that he gave them life and can take it away. He also told him that the story wouldn't end with Wilhelm Ryan or some sort of war, but rather the destruction of everything.

Kilgannon wondered why Ryder couldn't help them, but Ryder shut that down, saying that he never cared for happy endings. Suddenly, Ambellina was there being held up by the same skeletal figures that had originally brought Ryder from his house to the guillotine. Sure enough, as Kilgannon chased after her, the scene morphed into the same scene and put her through the guillotine. Kilgannon fought the hoard of figures attempting to keep him back and was able to pull her free at the last minute. Ryder declared that this wasn't the beginning, but the Final Cut. Ambellina had once again disappeared, but this time, Kilgannon was done. He mocked Ryder for being so lonely he had to create a fake reality and declared that without the worlds of Heaven's Fence, he was nothing. Chase also called him a prick and the pair was able to reopen the Willing Well back to Apity Prime, apparently in a cave nearby to House Atlantic. Somehow, this broke Ambellina free from wherever or however Ryder was hiding her.

Though all three were ready to fight against Ryder, Ryder still had his own power and used it to shove Kilgannon and Chase out of the way to focus on Ambellina, but Kilgannon wouldn't let him have his was that easily, and began a battle of power. While Ryder and Kilgannon struggled to best one another, Ambellina was struck through the chest by one of Ryan's Onstantine Priests.

Supposed Death
With Ambellina's death a reality now, Kilgannon completely ignored him to go to her side. Ryder dissolved the Priest with a touch of his hand and stood over Kilgannon patronizingly and blamed him for her death. Kilgannon wouldn't accept this and vowed that Ryder would pay one way or another. Ryder decided they were finished—Kilgannon would do as he was told and burn Star IV, end of story. Then, Ryder left the cave but shortly came into contact with Ryan's United Red Army soldiers. Being arrogant in his belief that he was a God, he commanded them to get out of his way and materialized a sickle. Seeing he was armed, the soldiers fired on him with their pulsar guns. After being shot, Ryder, sitting in a pool of his own blood, noticed that there are bullet casings around him, which doesn't make sense if he was shot with pulsar guns. His form turned into dirt, merging with the ground and we next see him back in The Real, sickle still in hand, being shot dead by police.

Erica Court
Erica Court is Ryder's long-time girlfriend. She was born in 1988. She may have even been with him before he was diagnosed with schizophrenia as Ryder's doctor is familiar with her and calls her when they can't get in touch with him. She broke up with him at some point, and may have hooked up with someone else during that break, but the situation is difficult to surmise. She tried getting back with Ryder, but his breaks with reality (due to him not taking his medication) proved too much for her. Unfortunately, when she'd truly decided enough was enough, Ryder detained her and somehow, perhaps in a mental break, slit her throat, killing her.



Ten Speed
Very little is known about Ten Speed. They seem to be a figment of Ryder's imagination, and they claim to be apart of Ryder's psyche, but they also seem to have some, more direct connection with the story. Based on Ryder's beloved ten-speed bicycle, Ten Speed appeared to Ryder when he ended up at Court's house looking for said bike that went missing. They spend subsequent moments trying to get Ryder to break up with Court and/or kill off Ambellina. He shows Ryder many scenes of betrayal by Court, but these all seem fabricated. Finally, Ten Speed seems to possess or take control of Ryder in some way and also seems to burn his old reality down when he entered The Fiction using the Willing Well. It is unknown what happens to them upon Ryder's death as they do not seem to appear after Ryder entered The Fiction.

Gallery
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