After The Altar Falls Novels & Stories

I gazed at the altar, where Castor loomed like a monarch, his hands radiating ominous energy. And at that instant, I sensed the burden of the prophecy, the certainty of what lay ahead. "One will rise, one will decline." Dahlia's voice pierced the turmoil, gentle yet distinct. "I'll be the one to fall," she murmured, her eyes open wide in understanding. Before I could reply, she pivoted and dashed away, vanishing into the darkness. The earth beneath us trembled fiercely, and I looked in the direction of the altar. Castor remained in place, his laughter reverberating throughout the battlefield.

A wave of energy erupted from the altar, spreading outward like a shockwave. The beast let out a deafening screech as the light struck it. Its shadowy form began to dissolve, pieces of it disintegrating into nothingness. It thrashed wildly, but the light was relentless, consuming it entirely. The ground beneath the group trembled violently. Logan grabbed Anna, pulling her away from the altar as cracks began to form around it. “What’s happening?” Mia cried, struggling to maintain her balance. “The altar—it’s collapsing!” Ryan yelled, running toward them.

After crying for a while she wiped her tears and stood up with the help of her underarm crutches, gently opened the door to see Sophia, Joyce and others. “ Can't believe you cried Lena, you thought you were all that right?” Sophia scoffed. “ The almighty best flight Attendant fell from glory, what a nightmare!” Joyce burst into laugher clapping her hands in entertainment. “ And she leaps now too!”Another said from the back. “ What do you expect from a drug trafficker?” Sophia glanced over her shoulder and they all laughed.

Inside was a faded photo of Natalie, age five, grinning with a missing tooth. She held it out. Natalie didn’t take it. But she looked at it. Really looked. Then she walked back into the shelter, not saying another word. Meekey stood alone in the alley, hands shaking, the cold air slicing through her. She didn’t know what would happen next. But for the first time in fourteen years, it didn’t feel like the end. It felt like a beginning.

He doesn't see it coming. The power tears through the chamber in a final violent pulse, and Kael's feet leave the ground entirely, thrown backward through smoke and falling stone with a force that sends him crashing hard against the chamber wall before he slides, limp for one terrible second, dangerously close to the altar's shattered, crumbling edge.

A cracked altar. Old candles. No Chloe. I looked around. “Where is she?” Celeste stepped forward. “There’s a passage beneath the altar.” Kael pushed the altar aside. A stone staircase appeared. Darkness waited below. I stared down. Then a single drop of blood fell onto the first step. I looked at it. Fresh. “Chloe.” Kael drew his sword. “We go together.” We descended. The stairs seemed endless. The deeper we went, the colder it became.

Valen commanded, his voice thunderous as we burst through the collapsing stone doorway and tumbled out onto the outer cliffside path. BOOM! Behind us, the entire entrance to the underground altar collapsed in on itself, buried under thousands of tons of solid rock and thick black dust. The mountain fell silent, but the air remained freezing, heavy, and unnatural. We collapsed against the side of the snowy cliff path, gasping for fresh air. Valen instantly dropped to his knees, his hands trembling as he checked every inch of Aurora and me. His eyes were wide with a rare, terrifying vulnerability that made my heart ache.

The signal never reached my fingers. The great hall, the watching court, the sealed confirmations, and the man who had conceded too easily all narrowed to a single point of failing light. My balance went in one clean motion. The heavy gown followed. The last thing I felt was the hard edge of the dais coming up to meet me and the sharp pull of Alaric’s alarm through the bond as the entire court watched the newly confirmed consort of the Obsidian throne faint in the middle of the coronation sequence.

“You wouldn’t have heard of it. It’s strictly between heaven, hell and the fallen.” “What’s a fallen?” “It’s someone who used to be an angel in a past life. When they’re resurrected, they’re identified by a specific birth mark. You, my dear, are one of the fallen. You should have a birth mark that’s shaped like a star. It’s in different places for different individuals but your parents found yours on your hipbone.” What the hell. This is way too much information that I wasn’t expecting. I’m essentially in the middle of a holy war, if what she’s saying is the truth.

She shook her head and noticed the switching positions of the men standing near the altar she noticed that she is already at the foot of the altar. Her father handed her over to the man who reluctantly shook his hand with her father but the expression on his face is something she will never forget. "Oh my God it's him." As the terror in her mind took her to fall unconsciously on the foot of the altar. She clutch for something to steady her fall as her world begin to darken into oblivion. Unconsciously held his collar and took him with her.