Ed Burns Books Novels & Stories

The scorching heat was nothing like the cold that seeped from skin into bone, from bone into the soul. I raised my hand and pressed my fingertips against the window. The glass was warm, and so was my hand. I could feel my blood flowing reassuringly under my skin. My heart was still beating steadily. Everything was alive. I was alive. The assistant flipped through her documents beside me before suddenly asking, "Ms. Scott, when you were in that team back home, you were… miserable, weren't you?" I withdrew my hand and tilted my head slightly to look at her, my interest piqued. "Why would you think that?"

The source of the flames, the torch lay fallen on its side. “Gods, what have I done?!” Mare cried, her eyes wide with panic as she shot forward to retrieve the burning torch. Perci grabbed her and at the same time, the wooden book in his hand slipped between his fingers, landing in the flames. “No!” he screamed. The book may be made from dragonwood but it was not infallible to the flames that began to lick the edges. Perci reached forward to save it, ignoring the rising fire as it consumed the dusty, dried pages of books, gaining more fuel to grow angrier.

After collecting them, I found one last room in the building. The books were completely destroyed, pages burnt to the point where the words are unreadable, and the leather-bound titles melted into unrecognisable words. One book, however, I found hidden away in a cubby within a desk. Untouched by the fire that turned the rest to ash, I run my fingertips across the words on the cover. "The Great Demise: The Fall of the Moon Goddess"

said Jette. “Peace?” asked Brent. Jette accepted the apology and they shook hands. *** When Jette arrived home, she immediately examined if the comb has hair strands. It has!!! She inserted those hairs on the pages of the book, and a flame starts from the bottom, until the midway, and the book was burned half. She’s so happy!!! She immediately called Crisanta. “Miss, I have burned the book on its halfway,” said Jette. “Nice. The second rule can be found on the burned part,” Crisanta said.

Carla and Travis watched from the sidelines, hands clasped. “We did it,” Carla said, her voice steady. Travis nodded. “And we’re just getting started.” The scars remained, but they were no longer wounds. Dave, Carla, and the other victims were healing, not just surviving but thriving, their journeys a testament to resilience, love, and the unyielding power of talent reclaimed. ----- This marks the end of the Burning Embers: Scorching Tales of Desire. Compiled short story arcs now made their way to their ends. See you next time. There'll be more ahead. Thank you!

“Whether you poured hot water on yourself or not, you know clearly.” Bonnie sneered and continued opening up a document from the flash drive. “This is burns from someone who was scalded by freshly boiled water for ten minutes. This is someone who had been burned by coffee. The last one is Ms. Blake’s burns. Which one does she belong to?” The audience was silent for a long while when they heard what Bonnie said. In the end, someone said softly, “Ms. Blake’s burns are similar to the freshly boiled water one…”

And once we were done, and I pulled her into my arms as I waited for her to rest so I could go for another round, I felt my father nudging my mindlink. ‘Rowan…’ I groaned internally. I didn’t want anyone to disturb my time with my mate, but since he was mindlinking me just after we had our talk, I figured it could be something serious. So I answered, ‘Yes, Dad.’ ‘I had called my friends to check for that book like we discussed, and they just got back to me,’ he said. ‘Well, the same part of the book was also burnt in each book. And I’m guessing it’s the same with the books in other packs.’

Now, I have turned those cinders into a blade. Bennett did not lose hope, desperate to hit back after losing everything. "You think you're the winner?" The email attachment showed my face crudely edited onto explicit images, with the backdrop of our family's hotel, sent to every young member of the prominent families.

The dry grass crackled in the evening breeze. Pale green streaks at the base of the stems were all that showed it was alive, struggling against the heat of the summer sun and a rainless afternoon. Thunder rumbled in the distance, but the clouds refused to release their water. A large sign with a bear in a hat declaring the fire danger “extreme” glared out over the road. A car sped by, the taillights fading into the setting sun. A red glowing cigarette ember flicked out of the open window, landing on the dark asphalt. It rolled gently, swirling in odd circles until finally resting on the edge of the road. The parched breeze puffed, pushing the small glowing light into the grass. It only took

Pick up a book and read. I might understand what Adriana sees in them so much. She loses herself completely when she is reading. Just as I touched the back of the book, I felt something hot sting my palm. It burned and that shocked me into moving back. I looked down at my fingers, seeing the reddening skin before it fully heals. That is weird. It makes me want to see more of the book and I pick it up again. This time, I was ready for the pain that I didn’t even blink when it started burning.