From The Embers Novels & Stories

Vengeance is for God. She knows that. But for once, she wants to try it so bad. In time, rumors will fly through new skies. In time, all of the thousand cuts will be just some scars, and a million little stars will be align for a brand new start. Change is inevitable, but it is either for better or for worse. It will come and break through even in hardly-constructed fences, just like how Reiner and Bertholdt invaded the walls in the popular anime named Attack on Titan. But for her, how come that hatred and pain seems so odd and unbreakable that it will last forever? Mary Emily Trañilla can only wish that it will vanish like how the Beast Titan killed the soldiers headed by Captain Erwin Smit

And if that blade was unsheathed too quickly, without guidance, without grounding It would cut through everything. Even those she loved. Even herself. - Ember rose, continuing through the ghost paths old wolves once used, past trees marked with moon sigils, past the place where Ariya had fallen. A broken altar under a weeping cedar, its sap dripping like slow tears. Ember crouched, pressing her palm to the frozen earth, breathing in the cold. “Come back whole,” she whispered, letting her breath warm the frost. “Come back not as fury alone, but as the Queen we lost.

"Gina told me. She's told me of most of the mercenary groups. Of Greenbush, and Hedgeshadow. Of Pondgrass, and Merriway. All powerful, deceptive, and fierce in battle. Yet, none as powerful as the Night Witch." Talks like this made Karl hard, but thanks to the heat of Lexi's cherry, it provided just enough heat to keep him from aching out in pain, and thanks to her tender ministration, and the rhythmic movement of her body against him. Slow and steady. "I like this beautiful feel of you," Karl said. "I am holding back my pleasure." "And you are driving me mad." ***

Emberflame. It had not been an ordinary fire. It had been lineage-bound. Glimmering gold, sovereign-defined flame that answered only to blood and crown. It had lived in the marrow of their queen, threaded through her veins like molten inheritance. When she fell—when he had watched her flame gutter and collapse into ash beneath a sky choked with cinders—the Emberflame had died with her. Not weakened. Not scattered. Extinguished entirely. He had felt that ending in his bones, a severing that rippled through the battlefield like the snapping of a divine tether.

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!

"To rising from the ashes." Natalie clinked her glass gently. "To whatever comes next." And beneath the velvet sky, with the city once again at her feet, Natalie Evans finally felt the fire inside her burn not with rage, but with purpose.

Two months later, his friends asked again, "Tristan, how long has it been since Esther contacted you?" Tristan froze, unable to respond. It had been a while since Esther had reached out to him. The home that had once been theirs felt empty without her. It was just cold brick walls now and could no longer be called a home. "This isn't right. Esther's always been soft and gentle, but now she's acting so decisively." At that moment, Tristan's friend, Jordan Fletcher, hesitated before saying, "Tristan, I heard Esther's with the heir of the Russell family in Straburgh."

“They think you’re losing it.” “I am losing it. And maybe that’s what it’ll take.” She was quiet, studying me. Then, softly: “We’re with you.” I turned toward her. She held out a small vial. Inside it, a flame flickered. White with specks of gold. Not like any fire I’d seen before. “What is it?” I asked. “Part of the original ember,” she said. “From the Temple of Ashes. From the altar where Azaria first collapsed.”

A fading one already. Like tidal waves, the timelines battle for supremacy. With flames in her hands, a reincarnation of Emery leaps at her. Another uses luminous wings to protect her. Like stars being formed and then dying all at once, sparks of time ignite around them as they clash. Emery is unable to breathe. Across iterations, her voice reverberates, saying things she may have spoken but never did. "Death both of them." "Preserve him." "Leap." "Leave it alone."

Ember then took a knife from a nearby table and plunged it right into Emma's heart, killing her. "That's for fucking my mate, bitch", she growled out as Emma died. I watched Ember with surprise as she stood up and looked around. "The next person I find out fucking touches him inappropriately will meet the same fucking fate as this bitch, got it", she said loudly, meeting every eye surrounding us. Her eyes had turned bright blue. The same bright blue from last night. I could hear yeses from shocked club members or yes Luna from pack members all around. How the fuck did she even get here, and did she just claim me in my own domain? Why was I turned on by this? She looked at me in annoyance, an