Crackling Shards Novels & Stories

Fèmi also responded with funny emojis. "Unfortunately, my prison here has a thousand exit doors. Of course, I should be happy to take advantage of them and escape, but I could quickly end up in solitary confinement if even the smallest percentage of my escape fails. So, thank you, I don't want to experience a traumatic escape movie." Shola sent, this time with teary-eyed emojis.

Pulling one of the frame pieces out of the mess, I heaved it with all my strength and shattered the glass. I could get in now, but the snake could also get out. It dropped to the ground and headed for the opening, then shied back, moving slowly and gingerly. The broken glass cut at its scales. It was so desperate for food, it came at me anyway and let the glass slice it to ribbons. That gave me an idea. I picked up a particularly large shard of glass and waited.

The Shattered Soul Crystal was an extremely special precious crystal. One of its characteristics was that it could not be absorbed slowly. With just a crack, all the energy would gush out of the crystal and would be wasted if it was not immediately absorbed into one’s body. A person might only come into possession with one or two of the Shattered Soul Crystals in their entire life. Wasting such precious energy was worse than wasting heavenly objects.

It shattered with a scream of metal and shadow. But the shards did not fall. They hovered, spinning, scattering into the air in a chaotic storm of glimmering glass. Each fragment seemed alive, whispering names, moments, half-formed memories. Varuun stepped back, eyes wide. “Selene… the shards—they are not under your control.”

My eyes flew open. The world was a haze of antiseptic whites and blaring machines. The pungent sting of antiseptic burned my nose, along with the agony firing through each bone in my body. I tried to talk, to yell, but what emerged was a broken rasp. No voice. No sound.

I shouted, my eyes burning. “What did you see, Chris?”

High-intensity dance moves made those nightmares worse, but she wouldn't quit. She owed Alonzo too much, and she didn't want to disappoint herself, so she practiced relentlessly, collapsing into bed exhausted. One night, she screamed and jolted awake. Even after she woke up, the nerves deep in her brain were still frantically firing, sending waves of intense pain. It was a reflection of the phantom limb pain left from her past life's injuries. The pain made beads of cold sweat form on her forehead, but she bit her lip hard, refusing to make another sound.

I imagined them—twisted things with hollow eyes and reaching claws, corruption given form and hunger. Ronan was up there. Fighting despite his weakness. I couldn't see him but I felt Lyra's terror through our connection, felt the mate bond stretching thin as he pushed himself past every limit. "LYRA!" Kael's voice carried through stone and earth, magnified by shadow magic until it echoed in my skull. "STOP THIS! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING!" But she did. We both did. Lyra's power surged harder, brighter. The Shard cracked audibly—a sound like reality itself breaking. More fractures spread across its surface, each one leaking darkness that the silver light immediately burned away.

The glass shattered with a violent crack, splintering outward like a spider’s web unraveling in an instant. As the shards began to fall, Arah thrust out her hand instinctively, summoning the air to catch them mid-descent and not hit her. The pieces froze in place, spinning and turning like sharp, jagged stars caught in an invisible current. Some shards trembled, reflecting fractured images of the dimly lit room in their mirrored surfaces. The soft hum of her magic filled the silence as she held them steady for a moment. Then she let out a sharp breath and released the suspended shards. They clinked against the tiled floor, scattering in a jagged sea around her feet.