Gloom Novels & Stories

“No. I do not need it anymore.” My emotionless reply surprised her, but she soon laughed in a sharp, mocking tone. “Joseph, did you fall off the cliff and break your head? Looks like you learned a few tricks these past few days. Have you decided to give up?” A dull sadness spread through me, and I let out a small, self‑mocking laugh. My mother was dead. She no longer needed Jaime’s drug, and Jaime could no longer threaten me. Jaime noticed my silence and softened her tone. “It is only medication. I will give it to you. Wait for me to come home tonight.”

​The sky over Neo-Tokyo was no longer grey. It was a bruised, electric purple, the atmosphere still vibrating from the "God-Slayer" impact and the simultaneous collapse of the Directorate’s orbital stabilizers. ​In the Gutter, the silence was absolute, save for the rhythmic crunch-crunch-crunch of boots on white ash. The "Spire-Dust" had settled over everything, turning the rusted slums into a ghost-landscape of ivory and silver. But as the sun climbed higher, the ash began to glow. Small, golden shoots of the "Black Bloom" were already punching through the debris, their leaves black as obsidian, their veins pulsing with a steady, independent light.

The day of the funeral arrives like a storm, heavy and oppressive. The city gathers to mourn Granny Minama, but underneath the sorrow, there’s an undercurrent of tension that none can deny. The heavy pall of dusk hangs over Clovis City like a suffocating shroud, the air thick with grief and expectation. The first-class cemetery of Clovis, a sacred ground reserved for the most venerated dead, stretches out in eerie silence. An endless sea of black fills the space—from the mourners’ attire to the casket, a sleek, dark vessel that houses the lifeless body of Granny Minama, a revered elder, and council member. Her death has cast a shadow over the city, the kind that seeps into the bones of every

The condensed resentment, the lurking beasts, and the ancient horrors all cowered like insects in the shadow of a predator, not daring to twitch. Up ahead, barely visible through the deepest layer of fog, a dark wheel of light turned slowly in the gloom. That was the heart of Grief Peak. It was the only place where the Chaos inside Sam could be sealed for good, and the first stop on heaven's road back to order. As for the nameless terrors hiding in the forest, the sleeping beasts, the trapped and suffering souls, they were nothing more than scenery in Landon's eyes. They were just set dressing in this little park of his and not worth a second thought.

He opened this place, built his empire from scratch, so of course it made you wonder just what he’d done to get to where he is. Malakai simply smiled; he didn't answer at all. But the look in his eyes was different. His smile was sinister. His eyes made you wonder just how many people he'd killed. But then his grin made you realise, he's probably lost count. That’s what scared Eden a little. And his grin was always halfway a smile, and halfway a threat. Maybe that's what made Eden addicted. Eden left when she got his answer. It wasn't a verbal one, but his eyes said enough, and that alone sent shivers down her spine.

"Jax is going to blow the Hall. We have minutes, maybe less." "Sofia... wait," Nomo said, his voice tightening with a new kind of fear. He looked past her, toward the horizon where the twisted spires of Eldergloom were beginning to glow with a sickly, violet light. "The loop isn't over. Look at the mirrors."

Once there were cracks, things between us could never be fixed again. A few guards started going through the contents on the floor. Suddenly, Peggy covered her mouth and gasped. "My necklace!" Her gasp of surprise drew everyone's attention. All eyes fell on me, and everyone began criticizing me behind my back. "Oh my! It was Avril who stole the new director's necklace! If Mr. Floyd hadn't blocked the office exits, she would've been long gone with it!" "I never expected Avril to be that kind of person! We really can't judge a book by its cover. All the new director did was take Avril's promotion. She's so petty!"

Silence. Then pain. Ancient pain. “You cannot pity me.” Hope pulsed softly. “Why not?” The corruption lashed violently through the bond. Black light exploded around the rooftop. The city trembled. “I AM WHAT REMAINS WHEN HOPE DIES.” The scream shook dimensions. The fractured sky split wider. The system flickered dangerously. The corruption’s true emotions flooded the bond. Grief. Endless grief. Not born from evil. Born from loss so absolute it consumed everything else.

The morning after the "Siege of Radiance" did not bring the sun, nor did it bring the relief of a clear sky. Instead, Aethelgard was entombed in a thick, artificial twilight. The "Void-Mist"—that volatile mixture of geothermal steam and processed carbon Audrey had unleashed—clung to the valley floor like a living shroud. It was a heavy, slate-grey fog that tasted of wet copper and old smoke, a protective barrier that made the golden sensors of the Southern fleet blind and useless.

Stepping into the next room seemed like she was steeping onto the set of a horror movie. All the furniture was covered in white sheets and the room was so dusty that they were leaving foot prints. It was clear no one had been to this place in a very long time. Amaris felt almost as she were intruding. The room had a feel of sadness about it. There was little light apart from what Lyle’s flashlight provided, and it gave the impression that the house was grieving.