Burned Books Novels & Stories

Then without warning, the air carries a burnt scent. Smoke stings my eyes instead of warm woodsmoke. Burning paper mixes with something sour - like melted bindings. Light shifts, first amber, then deep crimson, flickering like breathless pulses. A wave rolls across the skin, thin and harsh, nothing gentle about it. Far off, fire hisses like starving teeth while voices yell into the smoke. A hammer hits inside my skull, each blow drilling through the back of my sight. Smoke first. Then flames reached the Royal Archives. Not just any room - the west wing burned. Those old land grant scrolls? Gone. The ones needed for the Rothmere case disappeared in ash.

A fire is crackling there, fighting the damp chill of the sea air. I throw the box in. It lands on the logs. The white cardboard begins to brown. The tissue paper curls. Then the lace catches. It doesn't burn like normal fabric. It flares. Green and blue flames lick up the chimney. The smell of burning chemicals fills the room, sharp and acrid, choking out the smell of old books. Ciro coughs, covering his mouth with his arm. I don't move. I watch it burn. I watch the white turn to black ash.

So he asked Chastine to look out for the setup, while he asked Juste that they have a one on one talk in somewhere more private, out of Chastine’s earshot: on the balcony outside next to the laboratory, facing a great view of the mountains. “Do tell me, Juste.” was Maxill’s opening remark to break Juste’s cold and distant mood. Juste was finding it so hard to come up with the words to describe what happened. But he still managed to explain to Maxill about their predicament. The sinewy fellhound heaved out a heavy sigh, looked towards the horizon, and said, “…book was burned… Everything was burned… Scion did it.” “You mean every bush?!” “…he seems to know what was inside the book, every detai

I managed to get to Billie just in time to save her from getting crushed by the pile of books, but got hit by some hardcover books, which burned against my skin. I groaned in pain, pushing the sizzling hot books away from me while trying to keep Billie awake. It took a moment before I realized that there was something odd. The books were hot - way too hot for comfort. I looked up and caught a raging fire, which mercilessly consumed the top of the shelf, burning everything in its path. Just when I thought I'd seen the worst, another explosion rocked the library, and this time, the doors, shelves, and windows fell apart.

Cassian POV The firefighters were able to put out the fire in the library before it burned down the entire building, but between the flames, the smoke, and the water used to put it out, we lost three-quarters of the books. The head librarian, Marianne, was barely able to hold back her tears at the town meeting when we heard the reports. “We weren’t able to find any source for the fire,” our Fire Chief, Taylor, finished, folding his arms. “No accelerants were found, but the way it spread couldn’t have been natural, either.”

Nat died because of you! "I've already asked. The cremator doors only open from the outside! Nat… she was burned alive because you locked her in there!" Mom was stunned by his shout. She lunged toward the staff like a drowning person grabbing for driftwood, desperate for a different answer. But what met her was only the heavy silence of death. Mom collapsed to the floor, finally accepting the reality of my death. She slumped against the wall, muttering over and over, "How did it end up like this? I just wanted to scare her. I didn't mean for her to actually die…"

But when he looked up, hundreds of other books were lifting and floating from the shelves, their pages bleeding and whispering her name. “Camela. Camela. Camela.” Her head spun, and her chest rose and fell heavily. “They want me…” Vincent held her tightly against him, his flame blazing so bright enough it illuminated the shelves like daylight. “Then they’ll have to burn for it,” he said. He swung his arm through the air, sending fire in a blazing arc that struck the shelves. The books shrieked, blood hissed, and their pages curled black, turning ash. But for every book that he burned, ten more emerged from the shadows. They surged forward, bleeding words that crawled across the floor and wra

she said firmly, her voice taking a chastising tone. "No, this is exactly the time," I interjected stubbornly. "I saw fire today. Once you light a fire, it has to burn and it doesn't care if this is the time or place. Fire either burns brightly or it fizzles into nothingness and smoke. Without the fire, there is no light. So, are you two burning or fizzling?" I demanded. I wanted an answer. Andrew looked at me, and I shrugged. I might be confused from the drugs, but it had sounded poetic in my head.

Alessandro pov The candles had burned down to stubs, their melted wax pooling like coagulated blood on the dark mahogany tables. I didn't bother to light new ones. I sat motionless on the leather sofa, staring fixedly at the hearth where the light from the dying fire threw long, distorted shadows across the library walls. The amber flames danced over the spines of thousands of leather-bound books—histories of men much greater, much crueler, and infinitely wiser than I would ever be. Right then, none of their archived wisdom meant a damn thing.

She asked. I didn't know what to answer but then said, "Nothing, I'm just curious really. I wanted to learn more about us” I lied. She didn't look like she believed me but answered anyway, "Yes, there was a book of that sort but many many years ago it was lost in a fire” "Oh” I said in surprise. I hadn't expected that at all. "There's nothing else that contains it's contents?” I asked her. She shook her head, "No, our fathers before us had preserved that book as the ultimate one and it would be the only one consulted, unfortunately we lost it”