How Does 'The Luminous Dead' End?

Lucas was living a normal life until truths about his birth, the death of his mother, his twin brother, and who he truly is are revealed by a woman, Mismaia. He embarks on a journey with her to uncover more of his families' secrets. A box left to him by his mother contains answers to where they have to go and what artifacts to search for. The artifacts form a key, there are four all over the world. It opens the entrance to the Underworld. On their journey, Lucas meets a boy named Oliver and his cousin named Megan who volunteer to help locate the artifacts. Along with their search for the four keys, Lucas falls in love with Oliver but can't tell him. His life has become too dangerous and he doesn't want him caught up in it forever. Finding these keys means their lives are at peril, dangers orchestrated by Lucas' brother to stop them. They then discover the identity of the woman who helps and protects them, his mother, alive. She asks him for his help to redeem his brother. Who apparently was stolen as a baby by their uncle. His uncle stole his brother to succeed him after his rule and to continue his plans for chaos on Earth and suffering for human beings. Lucas also learns the reason his mother stayed away for years was to protect and give him a chance at a normal life than what he is destined for. Despite the attempts of his brother to kill Lucas, he makes it his mission to bring his brother back to the Light. He'll battle his brother and uncle for the throne and restore balance to the world. Will Lucas succeed and take his rightful place to rule as the heir of the Light?

There are monsters in this world. And they used to be us. Now it's time to euthanize to survive in a hospice where Emily, a woman haunted by her past, only wants to do her job and be the best mother possible. Post-infection Chicago. Christmas. Inside The Hospice, Emily and her fellow nurses do their rounds. Here, men and women live out their final days in comfort, segregated from society, and are then humanely terminated before fate turns them into marrow-craving monsters known as ‘Smilers.’ Outside these imposing walls, rabid protesters swarm with signs, caught up in the heat of their hatred. Emily, a woman haunted by her past, only wants to do her job and be the best mother possible. But in a world where mortality means nothing, where guns are drawn in fear and nobody seems safe anymore – at what cost will this pursuit come? And through it all, the soon to be dead remain silent, ever smiling. Such is their curse. It won't be long before that snow-speckled ground will be salted by blood. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

Akira, daughter of fruit vendors, was living happily with her family in Ehtrehto Edis. A world far from the human world. Her family got killed by the Aquans, headed by the cruel general of Aqua Edis. She was able to escape but she was chased by his men. Marcus, the son of Aqua Edis King, helped her to escape to the human world where Martin and Margarette adopted her and allowed her to use their lost daughter's identity. She was then known as Adele Brown. When they died, she was left alone in their house. Her life is set to one ultimate goal. That is, finding the real Adele as Martin's last wish. Akira happened to help a woman from wicked men. It's Catherine whom she later became friends with. One incident leads her to suspect that Catherine is the real Adele. That same day, the nightmares from her fast flipped backward. She crossed paths with some Ehtrehtians, who together with his long been friend, Hunter, persuaded her to flee back to Ehtrehto Edis. Akira's identity was then revealed. She's Lady Amara, one of the four Guardians of Lights and the last immortal. She was faced with many battles when she came back to her world. The Aquan king is determined to kill her and even sent an assassin to kill her. In Manhakan, a village where people who do not surrender their loyalty to any of the four empires of Ehtrehto Edis live, she had a face-to-face encounter with General Thud, the one who headed in the killing of her known family. Just when they were about to be defeated, Hunter, Ignis Hella Knights, and her biological father King Suxx came. Will they be able to save their world? Is Catherine the real Adele as she suspected?

The Mother That Fed the Dark is a study of inherited guilt, ritual, and the long reach of a mother's choices. Amahle, a woman who practices the old rituals in secret, believes that her younger son , Sipho, was born as a spiritual "door" to be sacrificed for the sake of power and protection. During the ritual she performed , she got interrupted by the older son, Thando, who died instead. While the community believes Thando's death was accidental, Amahle knows better: it was the wrong son who died, and the ritual was left unfinished. Drenched in fear and resentment , Amahle raises Sipho as if he is the love of her life, while at the same time working to destroy him. Behind closed doors, she feeds the supernatural force from the failed ritual, which weakens Sipho, making him fearful and dependent. As Sipho grows, so do the misfortunes that follow him, and an unseen entity begins to present itself-first in dreams and whispers, then in the physical world . What we see is that the ritual did not bind to the house but to Sipho's bloodline. When Sipho leaves home, the haunting grows stronger. After Amahle's death, Sipho finds her secret notebooks , which reveal to him the shocking truth: that his brother's death was a mistake and, in fact, Sipho was never meant to die but to be the vehicle for the ritual, which he indeed is. Setting the family home on fire brings only temporary relief , but the curse does not break. In the final revelation, Sipho realizes that he is not the offering but the keeper, the living portal through which harmony, hardship, and magical power flow. Unlike his mother, he comes to the realization that he has a choice.

The Clan Healer told me that without the vial of Progenitor's Blood, the Blood Blight afflicting me meant I had only seventy-two hours to live. But my husband, Miles, the new Duke of our world, gave the only vial of the precious cure to my adopted sister, Vivienne, the woman I had turned three years ago. "She's in agony from the rejection, Isolde. It's a pain you can't possibly understand." His tone was self-righteous, devoid of any concern for the patch of skin on my collarbone already turning to stone. I nodded, watching as the life-saving, dark red liquid slid down another woman's throat. I accomplished a great deal in the time I had left. As I signed the documents, the lawyer's hand trembled. "Are you certain you want to transfer everything, Your Grace? The territorial rights of a thousand-year-old clan..." I didn't hesitate. "Yes. To Vivienne." My adopted daughter, Lily, the girl I had risked everything to save, who was now forever frozen at the age of eight, cowered in Vivienne's arms, pointing at me and screaming, "Aunt Vivienne is my real mommy! You're the witch who turned us into monsters!" I offered no defense. "Yes, that's right. Be a good girl and listen to your new mother now." The Progenitor's Ring, the symbol of the clan's supreme authority, now rested on Vivienne's hand. "Oh, sister, you're too kind," she sobbed, her sobs a practiced performance. "I'll be sure to protect the family in your stead." I nodded. "You'll run things better than I ever did." I even signed away my control over the Elder Council, a council sustained by my own blood. For the first time in a century, a shadow of complex emotion crossed Miles's face. He stared at me,"Isolde, stop fighting. It's better this way. You need to rest." Yes. On my deathbed, I had finally become the perfect, submissive Isolde they always wanted. An Isolde who was about to turn to dust. The seventy-two-hour countdown had begun. I wondered, when I finally turned to ash,

His name is Raive. The one who, 700 years ago, had lost. The necromancer who conquered half the world with an army of the undead, but then was buried alive under a terrible curse: never to die, never to be saved. He was so feared that all necromancy curses were buried with him, so that never again could such a dangerous magician arise. Angelina – a weak historian-necromancer whose only talent was a flawless grasp of the language of the dead. Fate willed it that she find a mysterious gravestone and break the seal holding the one who was never to be released: Raive – the King of the Dead! What will happen to them next? Will the Undead King help this unknown girl or will he use her mysterious blood to regain his own power and speed his way to the throne? What can they both do when passion begins to ruin all their plans, and dark desires call forth the worst poison?