Final Fantasy 16: The Rising Tide

A car accident left my mother-in-law bleeding and desperate for help, but her plea was heartlessly rejected by her own daughter. Even on her deathbed, my mother-in-law's only wish was to see her one last time. However, she was busy staying by her first love's side, euthanizing his dog. "You better stay as far away from me as possible! My mom's perfectly fine!" she shouted before hanging up on me, only to spend the night tangled with her first love in a hotel room. It was not until after the cremation ceremony that she returned—carrying a birthday cake. What greeted her was not a celebration but her mother's funeral. She cried, sobbing uncontrollably, "Mom! You haven't even celebrated my birthday yet! Don't leave me!" I stared at her and pulled the divorce papers from my bag. How fitting. This time, I was leaving too.

I was the daughter of the Azurez Sect’s leader and its next heir. Unfortunately, on the eve of my succession ceremony, an accident occurred while I was descending the mountain to eliminate vengeful spirits. At a critical moment, my powers spiraled out of control, and I succumbed to demonic backlash. The spirits wounded me, and in an instant, all my cultivation was destroyed. My fiancé, Julian Zackman, ventured alone into the spirits’ lair to save me. He battled them for three days and three nights before finally bringing me back. However, in doing so, he lost an arm and a thousand years’ worth of cultivation. From that day on, he could no longer wield a sword. I was consumed with guilt. I even convinced myself that I would leave everything behind and live in seclusion with him, living a simple life together. However, by chance, I overheard a conversation between him and my father. “I know what I did to Queenie was wrong, but she was too powerful. I had no choice but to slip some of the delusional powder into her sachet to make her go astray. I needed to make sure Wendy could become Sect Leader.” My father looked at Julian’s empty sleeve with regret. “I understand your intentions, but you didn’t have to sacrifice your arm. You are my most gifted disciple. Without it, how will you ever wield a sword again?” “Master, don’t worry. It was only an illusion to deceive her. Once Wendy takes over the sect, I’ll arrange a place for Queenie at the foot of the mountain. Without cultivation, she’s worth nothing to Azurez Sect. She might as well live down there, farming, raising chickens, and living as a peasant woman. At least she’ll have a stable life that way.” My heart sank. Everything he did had been a lie. It was all to force me to give up my place. If the world had turned its back on me, I would tear it down in return.

One night destroyed everything Celine believed in. A single sip of wine at her mother-in-law’s party dragged her from laughter into nightmare. The next moment, she woke up in another man’s room. In his bed. When Adam, her supposed husband, walked in, his voice cut sharper than a blade: “What is this?” “Adam, I don’t know how I got here. I swear—” Her mother-in-law had set her up, ready to destroy whatever that connected her and her son. Before Celine could say another word, two police officers stepped in. “Mrs. Celine Brooks, you are under arrest for conspiracy to commit fraud and embezzlement.” After her release, divorced and sent away, her now ex mother-in-law discovered she was pregnant. She sent a thug after Celine. She was beaten till she lost the baby. Three years later, Celine returns to afflict ten times the pains they caused her. This is a story of love, betrayal and revenge, best served COLD.

I had been married to Lucius Martin for three years, and in all that time, there was never a shortage of women around him. Each time he brought another woman home, he would give me a necklace worth a fortune. In just three short years, I had accumulated ninety-nine necklaces. When Lucius fastened the hundredth necklace around my neck, I no longer cried or made a scene. Because this time, the woman he cheated with was my own older sister, the one who had beaten and scolded me since we were children. The man I loved most joined hands with the person I hated most to torment me together. At that moment, my heart finally died. This time, I took the initiative and walked up to Lucius, placing a house purchase contract into his hands. "As long as you sign this," I said, "you can do whatever you want with her." A flicker of surprise crossed his eyes, but in the end, he signed without hesitation. For the first time ever, he even leaned down and gently kissed my cheek. "Good girl," he murmured. "You've finally learned to behave." I personally opened the car door for him and watched as he hurried off toward my sister. When the car disappeared completely from sight, I let out a long breath. Then I reached beneath the documents and pulled out the paper hidden there—a divorce agreement.

They told Rose Evander the Selection was an honour. She knows better. She has seen what happens to girls who enter and do not come home. But when the Alpha King's men arrive at her door with a summons she cannot refuse, Rose has a choice: submit to a fate designed by men who see her as a tool — or walk into the lion's den with her eyes wide open and her secrets buried deep. She does not expect to feel it. That pull. That bone-deep recognition when she stands before not one, but four of the most powerful men in the realm — and every one of them stares at her like she is the answer to a question they have been asking their entire lives. She does not expect the bond to choose all of them. And she does not expect the Alpha King's plan — the one that has nothing to do with heirs and everything to do with keeping power exactly where it is — to put every single one of them in the ground.

No one knew that I, the one they called the Angel-Faced Executioner, had been tangled up with the heir of the Grahams more times than I could count. In the latest model sports car, Doug Graham pressed a marriage certificate into my hand, his teeth grazing my lower lip as he murmured, "The Grahams have enemies on both sides of the law. I found a shield, a way to protect you." I was ecstatic and completely swept up in it, giving him whatever he wanted. I never imagined it was the beginning of a nightmare. Doug publicly announced his engagement to the Sowles heiress, making a show of it, and he clarified that I was nothing more than a low-level enforcer in front of everyone. But that night, he left marks all over my body, whispering against my skin, "The less I care about you, the less anyone will suspect you're my real wife." From then on, he and Lindsey Sowle humiliated me at every turn. Only when we were alone would he finally show the truth, his voice strained with pain. "I know this isn't fair to you. Once I'm done using her, I'll kick her out for good." When Lindsey caused me to lose the baby, he dropped to his knees in front of me, slapping himself over and over. "That idiot keeps ending up kidnapped and abused. Serves her right!" Until one day, I was taken in a setup by Doug's rival, Chad Conner. He grabbed me by the throat and forced me to look inside the room. Lindsey was blindfolded and gagged, crying and gasping as Doug lashed her with a pink whip. "They've run this whole kidnapping stunt seven times already. You'd think they'd be tired of it by now." Tears poured down my face. So I was the fool all along, the one who got played by Doug's so-called love.

You think of my love as a burden and can't see my pain and suffering. Love ensnares them in a world filled with disappointment. What will the female protagonists in the stories do once they've had enough of being let down?

My boyfriend was crippled when he saved me, while his adoptive sister suffered from heart failure after protecting us from misfortune. She had to depend on the expensive imported medicines to sustain life. To pay for their treatment, I sold myself as a lifecasting model on the black market. Not only were my hands and feet coated in the heated silicon, but I also needed to endure strangers touching me without flinching. I needed to pay if the replica was damaged. I begged through my tears, only to receive a few slaps to my face in return. They scolded, "You signed up for this. Don't act innocent now." Humiliated, exhausted, and aching, I still took the money straight to the hospital to buy medicine for his sister. When I passed by the VIP lounge, I heard a familiar laughter. "Chris, this is the 998th test, isn't it? Are you really marrying her once she passes the 999th test?" With a slight frown, Christopher answered, "Yeah. Although testing her is a family tradition, and they're having you to supervise, don't overdo it. I won't have another bride." I froze. Every sacrifice. Every humiliation. Every bit of pain I had endured—it had all been a test. A game to see whether I was worthy of marrying him. Staring at my bruised reflection in the fire-resistant glass, I let out a sudden chuckle. Then, with trembling hands, I turned on the old phone I hadn't touched in two years. I felt tears roll down my cheeks when I told the other person on the line, "Declan, take me home. I regret everything."

Soraia was just an ordinary girl until she found herself the plaything of a vampire and a werewolf, but it was into the dark world of passion and blood of the cruel vampire that she sank-and he only wants her for one purpose, to bring his beloved back from the dead and discover what is so valuable hidden in Soraia's blood. But Augustus, the Alpha of the powerful werewolf pack of Lacrimal city knows that Soraia is his true love and with the help of his mother, a wolf gypsy, he is willing to do anything to protect her. Miranda was brought back from the dead for one purpose only - to protect Soraia from the hands of Julio Cesar, the vampire who killed her in the distant past. Amy was also just an ordinary girl and Soraia's best friend until she was bitten by a vampire, but it was not the bite that transformed her but the fire that is running through her veins. Deaths and attacks by beings until recently only heard in folklore are making the police's hair stand on end, even the skepticism of Police Chief Sergio is getting shaken, not to mention that his investigator is hiding something from him. Malvina is facing frequent vampire attacks, but the hardest part is hiding who she really is from her colleagues and the police chief; Lacrimal city and Palaços are two distinct cities but both are suffering from cruel attacks by beings that until then were only in the popular imagination, but now live among us. And if we don't take a stand, accept them or kill them, they will live on after us.

A story about a young woman with a troubled background who is kidnapped by two men who don't know the concept of consent. Fleur is taken off the street to be forced to live like a baby for two grown men.