A Time Of Dread Novels & Stories

The call connected immediately, but instead of relief, Alex's tender voice came through. "Don't be afraid. It's just a nightmare. Go back to sleep." He was saying this to Brooke. "Alex! Help me!" "Emma, I don't have time for your games right now." The call was cut off abruptly. When I tried again, only the cold automated message of a phone was heard. Ice-cold rainwater mixed with desperate tears flowed into the corners of my mouth, bitter and salty. "Go ahead, scream! You can scream your head off, but no one will come!"

A sense of dread crept over me. Things just keep getting worse!

"Adrian! Baby, wake up!" Through the small, jagged space where the window had been, I reached in, my fingers trembling as I tried to tap his cold, clammy face. "Adrian, please. It's me. Damien. Wake up." But he remained unresponsive, a lifeless weight hanging in the wreckage. An unexplainable fear, deeper and more profound than anything I had ever known, crept over me. A cold dread that solidified in my chest. Adrian's life was in danger. He was in terrible, terrible danger.

Indeed, terror did have a way of stretching time, making every second seem like an eternity. As Drystan made the turn to the street that led to her store. His mind became a mirror, reflecting every fear—fear like not finding her at the store, fear like getting a call from Luthos and hearing the helpless voice of the only reason peace existed for him, crying and begging to be saved by him. Anxiety prickled his skin, slicing through like a dagger to the flesh. All of these fears were all that fueled the urgency to see her, every yearn, graver than the last.

The moment the Last Witness revealed that the approaching shadows were responsible for the deaths of countless universes, the balance of existence reacted with something it had not felt in a very long time. Dread. Not the fear of defeat. Not the fear of pain. The fear of understanding that a danger exists beyond everything you thought was possible. The darkness beyond the fracture continued moving. Countless figures drifted through the graveyard of dead realities. They did not rush. They did not attack. They approached as though they had all the time that had ever existed, and perhaps they did.

However, time is against us. I'm working on kneading the dough for the flatbread I will make for this upcoming week's noon meals. Then the alarms ring out in the city. Are the Greeks attacking us again?! "Mistress!" Adrexa shouts down the hallway, "Come quick!" Oh no! I immediately stop what I am doing and run to the foyer. All the house servants are milling around, talking excitedly, but fear is in the air. The nervous tension is sickly thick, and I can't but start feeding into it.

A few women’s knees gave out, and they sank to the floor, muttering, “Why Tanond…?” I knew exactly why they were reacting this way. In my previous life, it was at this exact moment that the news had broken — massive numbers of tourists to Tanond had gone missing. They were rushing headlong into a deadly trap, risking almost certain death. All I could do now was pray that fate showed no mercy and none of them return. “Wait a minute.” A man with glasses frowned sharply. “Why did they all go, but you didn’t?”

Then, silence enveloped them as they sat in shock. “Is this some sort of joke or something?” Maddison finally broke the silence. “It's a joke. Right, Clara?” “I really wish it was. I wish this was a prank from hell or even a dream so I can snap out of it.” Clara paused. “You know the worst thing? The cruelest part of this sick joke is it is Aiden I am getting married.”

The ground trembled beneath their feet as the crimson sky bled into night. The second moon the Architect’s eye hung lower than ever before, its baleful light bathing the icy peaks of Frostvale in an unnatural hue. Time seemed to quiver around them, as though the world itself feared what came next.

Filled with pain and fear that wasn't mine, raw and desperate. Dread coiled up once more, cold and tight in my gut, heavier than before. Where was my mate?