Ashen Storm Novels & Stories

Chapter Thirteen: Sister of Ash The sky had turned a deep, smoky gray, as though the heavens themselves mourned what was awakening beneath the soil. Seren stood at the edge of the crater, surrounded by the wreckage of her birthright and the screams of the cursed tree that once marked Black Hollow’s sacred heart. Her robes—dark blue with silver embroidery—fluttered with energy. She hadn’t aged past her early twenties, her presence defying time, her expression carved from stone.

The porch door opened. I looked up, the letter still open in my trembling hands, and found Teo Falcone standing in the frame, out of breath, his old fisherman’s coat soaked through with rain that hadn’t started yet, his face gone pale and stricken in a way I had never seen on him in all the years I’d known him behind that bar. “Elias.” His voice cracked on my name. “Thank God. I’ve been looking for you all night. There’s something you need to hear before anyone else gets to you first, and God forgive me, boy, I should have told you years ago.”

Ash’s POV The roar of the clubhouse hit me before I even turned off my engine. Laughter, shouts and the sound of bottles clinking rent the air and for a moment, I wonder how they could easily fall back into their normal lives less than twelve hours after an attack. It was chaos the way I remembered it, but somehow louder and more… non challant. Inside, the air was thick with smoke and sweat. A few brothers cheered when they saw me, others nodded, their eyes sharp, reading me like they weren’t sure what version of Ash had come back.

And Ashen gasped. “Grayson,” he whispered, voice trembling, “I see something—” I grabbed him immediately. “Ashen, stay with me.” Hamish stepped closer, eyes wide. “Describe it. What do you see?” Ashen’s voice shook violently. “A silhouette. Not Solven. Not Ateron. Something… whole.” “What does it feel like?” I asked. He shuddered. “Like… it’s mine.” Hamish’s voice dropped. “Ask it its name.”

“There’s something you should know. I intercepted a message. The Storm King has brought something new to the battlefield. A creature… bound in chains, fed Void magic.” Lyra’s stomach clenched. “What kind of creature?” “A hybrid,” he said. “Part dragon, part shade. Something not born, but built.” Her breath caught. “A weapon.” He nodded grimly. “And it waits at the capital.” The Ashen Ravine was a wound carved into the land, jagged stone and twisted trees, silent as tombs. Stories claimed it had once been the site of a great betrayal, where an entire pack was cursed for siding with the Void.

The hatch shifts slightly. Locked, but old. Rust weakens everything over time. Rowan uses the last of his strength and slams into it once—hard. The hatch gives. It bursts open with a metallic shriek. Rowan freezes. Sound. Too much sound. Too loud. But it’s done. The hatch is open. Cold air rushes in from above, carrying street scent—oil, smoke, wet pavement. Rowan climbs out. I follow. We emerge into a narrow alley behind a row of boarded buildings, the city’s glow distant but present, streetlights bleeding pale light into the darkness.

Emmy has spent her life believing she understands where she belongs: beneath the protection of King Xander, the wolf king who raised her as his own, and within a kingdom that has always been her home. But on the eve of her twentieth birthday, everything she knows begins to unravel. When a mysterious amethyst amulet awakens a power buried deep within her, Emmy discovers that her fate is tied to something far older—and far more dangerous—than the kingdom she loves. The ancient dragon king, Ignisvath, has returned from the shadows, and his connection to Emmy is not one that can be explained away as coincidence. As whispers of war spread through the kingdoms and the Dragon King’s presence grow

“Let me help you, Rose.” “It wouldn't hurt, would it?” She asked with a shaky voice. “Have I ever hurt you?” I got no reply to that. “Okay…so how do you get in?” She asked instead. “Close your eyes and try to breathe evenly; you could do that, right?” “Y..yes, please Emmet hurried up. The only strength I've got is on my tongue, my body is closing up on me.” Just as she spoke, I turned into a thick cloud of ash. My eyes went into flames.

Asher continues to laugh. "And this is why Storm walks away when you open your mouth, grow up," Elijah shouts which only makes Asher laugh more. "I know what one is, thanks," I mutter before standing. Asher stops me. "At the back, there's a spot Storm always goes to. It's below an apple tree, just past the main gardens. As it's up a hill, she can see a lot of the kingdom from there," he says while smiling. Nodding I walk off.

The sudden appearance of the wind storm that is now spiraling to every part of the blessed land reminded Soran of this fact. He gasped as he stopped a meter away from Asha and Samel, and he could now clearly see their expressions. The emotions in the eyes of Asha is filled with gloom and hatred, and Soran’s heart almost stopped at seeing such dense and thick amount of hate that seems to be swimming in the depths of Asha’s soul. “Lady Asha what happened? Is there something wrong? Are you feeling uncomfortable?”