All Chapters of Ascend or Be Consumed: Chapter 121 - Chapter 130

Nisa scoffed, clearly unimpressed. “Please. The man was practically breathing her in. Don’t tell me you didn’t see how she was flirting with him.”I gasped at the accusation. Elara released me, shot her a death glare, her pale white hair blowing in the air. “Which of your dead eyes saw her flirting with him, bloodsucker. He was the one melting like butter.”I covered my face with a hand, wishing I had powers to erase this moment from existence. “Can we not talk about this?”Nisa smirked. “Oh, sweetheart, we’re going to talk about everything. Especially the way he looked at you like he knew you from another life. I bet you met him before Blackcroft. Did Instructor Lucan know your past?”I went still.Nisa scoffed and narrowed her crimson eyes at me when she realized she’d struck too close to home.“Can we all just take a moment to breathe?” A cold, cutting voice slashed the thick tension. It was Senna, the vampire from House Ignis. “We barely survived the Void. We only have each oth

The fire had burned down to ash.The ground was cold beneath my palms as I pushed myself upright. I couldn't rest a wink. I was boiling and aching for a fight. These beasts need to deal with me alone; and leave the rest of the students out of this. Elara was wide awake beside me, sitting cross-legged and staring at her hands like she expected them to shake again.They didn’t.She was healed.Maxon’s antidote had worked.But the look she gave me told me she was still scared.I couldn’t blame her. I’m not sure I would have stubbornly stepped into the Void like I had if I knew this was what I would be facing.“We are going to survive this,” Maxon’s sharp, regal voice wrapped us like a comforting cloak as he stopped crushing the rare medicinal plants. He was preparing in case one of us gets poisoned again. It was too late for Elara. Her Core was contaminated. Her Mana was completely drained out but she lived. Elara’s lips trembled as she lowered her hands into her lap.When she final

When he spoke again, his voice was gentle. “Juno,” I instinctively straightened, feeling a mixture of concern and anxiety. I closed my eyes softly as he continued. “Well done. You are now the captain of this group.”The words sank into me like a stone dropping into water, heavy, rippling, impossible to ignore.A captain.I’m a captain?‘Well, he just said you are,’ my wolf’s voice splintered in my mind out of nowhere.My eyes instantly flashed open. ‘You are back.’ I said to her through our mind connection while keeping a neutral expression as we all waited for Veylor’s voice to return.‘I never left.” I was so happy that she was here again. She congratulated me, and called me “the most powerful captain ever”. I loved her praises so much, I nearly screamed out in joy. But I had contained my glee, it had no space here, and among these people. The realization that this wasn't a suggestion, or a trial but an order from the High Chancellor, made it sound like a th

His hands slid behind my head, holding me like he was afraid I would disappear if he loosened his grip even a little.I gasped softly against his mouth, and he swallowed the sound, pulling me unbelievably nearer.When he finally tore himself away, his forehead pressed to mine, his breathing ragged, his voice roughened to a growl.“Juno…”His thumbs brushed my cheeks again, as if ensuring I was real. “You’re here.”His chest rose sharply, as though he had been suffocating until this moment.“You came back to me.”I opened my mouth, trembling, but nothing came out.And Lucan didn’t give me a chance to fall apart.His power surged around us, warm, protective, and the horrors of the Void, Blackcroft, the fear, the blood, the cold… all dissolved as he swept me into his arms.The world twisted.And in the next heartbeat, we were in his dining hall.A feast waited for me, more than he had ever prepared the last time.But all I could see was him.And the way he looked at me like losing me wou

“The miasma,” I blurted. “The… um… stench. And the—voices. It was so creepy. I couldn't handle the whispering in my head for the first few days.” I waved my hands vaguely. “Very traumatizing. Truly awful.”Lucan gave me a long look.The kind that said he absolutely knew I was avoiding the real answer… but he let me.“It's called the miasma speech,” he said slowly. “I’ve read many books about it. It remembers every being that exists. It mimics thoughts. Burrows into fear. It doesn’t speak with a mouth, it uses your past, desires, and what you’re already afraid of to lure you to cultivate with the energy in the Void.”“You knew about all this and you didn’t tell me?”I glared at him, pouting hard enough to crack stone.“I assumed you didn’t want spoilers,” he replied dryly. “You wouldn’t even accept the compass from Corin because you insisted on surviving the Veil Hunt on your own.”I pulled away from him and sank deeper into the warm water with an exaggerated huff. When I came up again