Home / Fantasy / MAD END'S DECEPTION / 36 - Raised Like Soldiers

Share

36 - Raised Like Soldiers

Author: Sakiah Zee
last update publish date: 2024-07-07 11:28:04

ARAH

She woke to the dim glow of lights. The steady beep of machines and the distant sounds of footsteps and hushed conversations filled the thick silence. The room smelled of antiseptic and clean linen, and the air was cool against her skin. She was lying on a bed, not too soft but still comfortable, with a tube connected to her hand.

Where was she? A hospital? She tried to move, but a familiar ache shot through her ribs as if she’d been kicked there. Her muscles were sore, her throat raw, and
Continue to read this book for free
Scan code to download App
Locked Chapter

Latest chapter

  • 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   387 - I'm Here To Kill Her

    ARAHEENThere was no warning at all.One breath, she and Gildeon were standing on solid ground. The next, the folds of space and energy snapped around them and dragged them in. Her body felt flattened and stretched at once, every part of her pulled thin through some impossible passage, but through it all she never let go of Gildeon’s hand.Time fractured inside the crossing. Everything happened too quickly and far too slowly. A violent ringing filled her ears while a dull, splitting ache cut through her skull. She could see the beat of his pulse. She could taste her own thoughts. She could smell every trembling particle of herself coming apart and forcing itself back together.Then it ended.Silence rushed in so hard it felt deafening, thick enough to smother even the shape of a thought. Araheen opened her eyes with effort, as though her lids had been sealed shut for hours. Tears blurred her vision. Colors bled into one anoth

  • MAD END'S DECEPTION   386 - Never Gave Up On You

    GILDEONHis father stepped toward them. “I met Ghulik here in the Dark Plane.”Gildeon’s questioning gaze snapped to the goblin.“Ghulik came from another dimension,” he said, ducking his head slightly. “As Master already knows.”“Yes,” Gildeon replied. “You told me you fell through a portal by accident and ended up in Earthland in ancient times.”He remembered their first meeting well enough. A cave in Shamibar. The war between salamanders and sylphs was still in its infancy. At first, he’d thought Ghulik was one of the last beastlings left alive. Later, he discovered that no one else could see or hear the goblin. He then realized he was a supernatural creature from another world.Back then, Ghulik had said he couldn’t remember how he’d ended up in Shamibar after escaping a life of servitude to witches in Earthland. Gildeon had guessed some

  • MAD END'S DECEPTION   385 - First Master

    GILDEONHe remembered what Yonah had told him: once he recovered the dagger, the path into the Shining Keeper’s domain would reveal itself.The Fallen Immortal had given him nothing else. No map. No warning. Just that the chance would come when it came.Standing here now, Gildeon had to wonder if Yonah had seen all of this coming.“How do I get there?”His father turned and motioned for him to follow.Gildeon threw one last glance at the shifting projection on the wall. His eyes searched for Araheen. He didn’t see her. Relief came fast and sharp. Kohina and the others were missing too. That told him enough. They were likely together somewhere, trying to stop their people from gutting each other before there was anything left to save.That might buy him time to end this once and for all.The passage tightened as they moved. The walls folded inward until it felt less like a corridor and mo

  • MAD END'S DECEPTION   185 - Source of More Power

    ARAHTo say this was a massive shock would be an understatement. The idea of a lower mortal becoming a higher mortal was probably the last thing she had ever expected to hear.How could that even be possible? Flying to Shamibar in Zylas’s dragon form was already mind-blowing. But the idea of alteri

    last updateLast Updated : 2026-03-27
  • MAD END'S DECEPTION   179 - Key To Your Mind

    GILDEONIn a blink, he was back in Drusden’s throne room. He dropped to his knees, palms flat on the cold floor, breath ragged. He hadn’t even realized he’d shifted back to his mortal form. His chest tightened, a storm of emotions threatening to tear free.His mysterious birth mother. His father’s

    last updateLast Updated : 2026-03-27
  • MAD END'S DECEPTION   191 - So Much Regret

    DRUSDENHe had wagered everything he had left on this battle. Half his soul remained with the titan form he had unleashed against Gildeon, while the other was committed to harvesting Arah’s power.When all his comrades had fallen, he thought everything was lost—that he was fighting for nothing but

    last updateLast Updated : 2026-03-27
  • MAD END'S DECEPTION   190 - My Past Self

    ARAHThe talons dug into her ribs, tight enough that she could barely breathe. Every movement sent sharp jolts through her side. Above, the wind roared past—a cold, biting force that turned her breath ragged and thin. She could feel the heat of the dragon’s underbelly, a stark contrast to the freez

    last updateLast Updated : 2026-03-27
More Chapters
Explore and read good novels for free
Free access to a vast number of good novels on GoodNovel app. Download the books you like and read anywhere & anytime.
Read books for free on the app
SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP
DMCA.com Protection Status