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259 - Better Than Nothing
publish date:
2025-08-20 09:41:34GILDEON
“I can’t believe you’ve had a hidden torture chamber all this time,” he said as he glanced around the cavern. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
They were deep inside the cave, half a mile from Roselia’s farmstead. Jagged stalactites hung from the ceiling like teeth, decorated with vines he was sure Roselia had placed there. Cold water dripped from above, the sound echoing off the stone like a slow heartbeat. A few stalagmites rose from the ground to mirror them,
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MAD END'S DECEPTION 393 - As The Pandemonium Began
NARRATOR’S POVThe wound in the fabric of the world pulsed at the center of the crater, a black tear that throbbed like something alive. Around it, the earth had caved in, forming a wide basin of broken stone and loose dirt. Dense forest ringed the crater on all sides, dark and still, its trees packed so tightly they looked like a wall.The elder witches who had tried to seal the breach lay scattered across the ground where they had fallen. Their mouths hung open. Their bodies were shriveled and dry, skin pulled tight over bone. Their eye sockets were empty. Their limbs had stiffened into bent, twisted angles.Yonah sat at the crater’s edge, cross-legged, his back straight, his eyes closed, his white hair shifting in the wind. He was deep in a trance, waiting.Then the cold reached him.It started in his core, frosting upward into his chest until his whole body went numb. Fine grains of ice seemed to gather over his ski
MAD END'S DECEPTION 392 - Let Him Win
GILDEONHe’d already braced himself for the truth that his real mother might be a High Immortal—one of the first companions shaped at the dawn of time. But this was way beyond anything he could’ve ever imagined.The realization came down hard and clean, like a blade laid flat against the back of his neck. Not confusion. Not wonder. Just the cold, ugly weight of knowing he should’ve seen it sooner.His gaze dragged over her golden scales, the claws, the old power sitting beneath her skin like banked fire, and disgust curled in his gut.At himself.“You’re the Dragon Queen,” he muttered.The words came out low, rough with disbelief and irritation.The Shining Keeper turned toward them. At once, her body shifted.Shinier golden scales spread over her skin and hardened, bright and dense like forged plates, each one throwing off its own light. Wings burst from her back&mdash
MAD END'S DECEPTION 391 - The Trust Became Regret
ARAHEENThe tea hit her tongue with honey, smoke, flowers, and something sharper beneath it, something bright enough to feel dangerous. It went down hot. For a moment, it felt like she had swallowed a strip of sunlight.Then the weight left her body.The room vanished. She drifted in the cosmic sprawl around her, light and sound spread wide in every direction. She couldn’t feel Gildeon beside her anymore, but she knew he was there. She knew he was being dragged through the same thing.Ahead of her hung a sphere of white light. Not a star, but a gateway. It stirred the same memory as the Dark Plane portal she had seen through her mother’s eyes, but this one carried no threat. There was no cold nor dread. It pulled instead.Araheen moved toward it, and as soon as she passed through, knowledge crashed over her all at once.Color. Light. Shape. Sound. Taste. Scent. Touch. Everything slammed into her in one brutal rus
MAD END'S DECEPTION 390 - One Who Slipped Those Shackles
ARAHEENSilence settled over them like a weight. She found herself reaching for Gildeon’s arm, her fingers resting against the heat of his hide. It was a small thing, but it said what words couldn’t: he wasn’t alone in this. She felt the fury in him, hard and banked hot beneath the skin, and she understood it. After what had been done to his people—after everything the Divine Command had taken from them—how could he face the being who had started it all and feel anything but rage?The Shining Keeper said nothing as she moved toward the gazebo. She was slight, elegant, but there was nothing soft about her. She carried herself like something that knew it could kill without effort—a viper-like being stripped down to a woman’s shape. A golden vase filled with flowers appeared in her clawed hands as if the world itself had placed it there for her. She set it on the table with a muted thud.Then she sat across
MAD END'S DECEPTION 389 - Wanted Us Destroyed
GILDEONSomething hit him in the chest the moment he stood face to face with the Shining Keeper. It was sharp and deep, like a buried hook dragged through old flesh. Not fear. Not awe. Something older than that. Something that knew her before his mind could name why.The seers had never given a proper description of her. They always said she rarely showed them her true form. But now he was looking at her as she was—flesh, scale, presence—and the sight of her settled into him in a strangely familiar way.He didn’t know what kind of fool had made him think he could walk into her domain and kill her cleanly. He had narrowed himself down to one purpose and called it certainty. Every step of his plan had felt inevitable.Now he was trapped in her snare, unable to move.And worse, he had dragged Araheen into it with him.“You bear many questions,” the Shining Keeper said, her lips still unmoving. &ldq
MAD END'S DECEPTION 388 - The Shining Keeper
ARAHEENShock hit her hard, sharp enough to make her hope she had heard Gildeon wrong.“I don’t understand,” she said.His face didn’t move. There was no trace of a joke in him.“You can’t be serious, Gildeon.” She scowled. “Why would you even think about killing the Creator?”His jaw tightened. “Because it’s the only way to end this fucking senseless war between our people.”She stared at him, thrown by how steady he sounded. For one stupid moment, she had believed he had come here to simply speak with the Shining Keeper. To ask her to stop the war.How could she have been so naive to believe that?But then, the idea of killing the being who had created every living thing in the corporeal world was beyond comprehension.“You…” She swallowed. “You can’t do that. She’s the Shining Keeper. The highe
MAD END'S DECEPTION 75 - Trust Me, Arah
ARAHHer hand stayed wrapped around the knife’s handle, resting on the couch’s armrest. She wanted to believe that Gildeon wouldn’t hurt her—if he had intended to, he would’ve done it already instead of bringing her home unrestrained. But she wasn’t about to lower her guard
最後更新 : 2026-03-21MAD END'S DECEPTION 77 - Confusion and Anger
ARAHAs soon as she heard the rumble of Gildeon’s car fading down the road, she rushed to her room, grabbing the tattoo kit from the cabinet. Every step back to the living room was frantic, her heart thudding in her chest as she scrambled to organize her tools. Her gaze kept darting toward Barky, lyi
最後更新 : 2026-03-21MAD END'S DECEPTION 74 - Don't Test Me
GILDEONHe perched on the back of the chair, arms crossed, eyes fixed on the view outside. Branches swayed, and leaves rustled in the breeze. A few dead ones drifted down, landing on the stone table. The wind had toppled the fruit picker, leaving it sprawled on the ground—a small but telling echo of
最後更新 : 2026-03-21MAD END'S DECEPTION 80 - He'd Underestimated Her
GILDEONHis eyes dropped to the folder, his mind racing through the possibilities of what it held. It had to be evidence—something Durante believed would nail him. The agent flipped the folder horizontally, keeping the cover facing Gildeon, the contents hidden from vi
最後更新 : 2026-03-21
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