Novel & Cerita Astrarium Emerald Graves

Half-buried in weeds. I turned, walked back to the car, and popped the trunk. A sledgehammer sat inside. Gift from a renovation company. Ribbon still tied on. Bright. Almost a joke. I grabbed it, walked back, and stopped in front of the headstone. Taking a breath, I tightened my grip around the cold metal. Then I swung. All in. Smashed it down. Crash. The sound ripped through the empty grounds. Bang. Again. And again. Until it was nothing but broken rubble.

Scarlet said in the same tone he used. “We aren’t here just for the Book and Dagger.” Emerald interfered. “I want my grandmother back.” He announced putting his wine glass over the nearby table that had been designed with an antic vase filled with lilies, lavenders, and fresh Jasmines from the garden of Siesta Valley.

Reincarnated, he possessed greater transcendent potential, now fused with this miraculous artifact. The Eye of Aslant, originally the Eye of Insight, was a sacred relic of the Aslant Civilization, a once high-tier Astral-level civilization. Its destruction during the war with the Fulgor Civilization had astonished all. “Who would have thought an artifact deemed indestructible could fail at the hands of a fragile one like me?” Logo mused wryly. Miraculous artifacts, born from the rules of the Astral Realm, carried immense, often incomprehensible powers—Time White Feather, Chaos Stele, Elemental Furnace, Death Note—renowned across the realm.

"Mr. Johnson, Ms. Stewart, the camera Ms.Stone used was a specialized scientific model. All the footage it recorded was encrypted and uploaded in real time, with automatic cloud backup." He pressed play, and the sounds of my desperate pleas for mercy and their vicious mockery played in the speakers: "Ding ding ding! You got it right, so your prize is to have the chance to use your life to win me a research slot! "Only one life in exchange for my bright future! Isn't that sooo worth it?" Luna's face went pale, drained of all color as she started trembling. Meanwhile, Zachary stared straight at the screen, his eyes widening with fear. "I-Impossible…"

It was a waveform—a jagged, crimson line that pulsed across every monitor. ​"You believe you can turn our legacy into fertilizer?" The voice didn't come through the speakers; it vibrated through the hull itself. "The Archive does not sleep, Kael. It merely calculates the cost of your insolence. The girl is the prime variable. If I cannot harvest her, I will delete her." ​"Not today, Liam," Kael hissed, slamming his hand onto the manual thruster-slide. ​The Respiration surged. Below them, the spire of Haida Gwaii shrank into a tiny green dot. They were entering the Grave-Sky, the layer of atmosphere where millions of tons of dormant Sterling metal hung like a ceiling of knives.

The Council of Astraea convened under the light of the binary suns, the gold and violet rays filtering through the quartz canopy to create a mosaic of shimmering bronze. I sat beside Killian at a table carved from raw, glowing obsidian, my Tempered Heart beating a steady sixty-beat rhythm that seemed to synchronize with the planet’s own pulse. The Light Weaver elders stood across from us, their pearlescent skin reflecting the history of a civilization that had watched the stars for ten thousand years.

“And my name is Amaris.” “So, Ames—is it okay if I call you that?” He asks, and although I can see his lips moving and know that it’s obviously him speaking, all I can hear is my brother’s voice saying that same stupid nickname. Suddenly, I’m no longer on the outskirts of the pack lands with Maxon. No, instead, I’m standing over Axel’s still warm and bloody body, the sound of the gunshot still echoing throughout my mind, the beat of my heart pulsing double time in my ears, as if it’s having to work harder, trying to make up for the fact that Axel’s heart no longer beats as mine does.

Ryan remained in this pitiful state for many weeks, until he began leaving the house frequently, returning only after several hours. My spectral form had weakened so much that I could no longer withstand direct sunlight. During daylight hours, I couldn't follow him. So I waited until one night when he woke from a nightmare and slipped out. He made his way to Shadow Ridge Pack's cemetery. One tombstone bore my name, with an inscription that read, "Tiana Ravenwood, Luna of Shadow Ridge Pack's Alpha, Leo, rests here in peace."

And at midnight, the moon cried silver over the circle of stones. Emereah stepped into the center, robes flowing behind her, ancestral sword on her left, vial of her own blood in her right hand. Rhovan and Vera stood on the cardinal stones. Between them, soldiers of both last groups—Red Crescent deserters and hidden Silvermoon loyalists—stood, wary but watching. Emereah spoke louder, hard as steel, low. "Blood of the dead, breath of the slain,

I could practically feel the excitement radiating from Erica as she leaned forward, her gaze locked on the gem. “The Crimson Midnight Star is a gem of unmatched clarity and brilliance, mined from the deepest caves of the Swakrosian Empire over a thousand years ago. It has been passed down through the hands of emperors, queens, and conquerors. This is truly a one-of-a-kind piece. The starting bid is…” The announcer paused dramatically, allowing the anticipation to build, “Three Million dollars!” I glanced sideways at Erica, her lips were slightly parted and her eyes reflected the colour of the gem. This was it, this was the item that she wanted. She didn't even wait for the first bid to be ca