Hiraeth Novel Novels & Stories

The Astral Shatter The entire astral plane shuddered. The stars went dark. And then, with a deafening crack, the rift split in two. Iris fell through one side, clutching Liora’s hand. Aiden tumbled with Caelum into the other. When the light cleared, Iris found herself standing in a wasteland of ash and bone. And in the distance… two glowing eyes watched her. “You’ve entered my domain, little goddess,” Vaelor purred. “Now let’s finish this.”

But this time she had decided to visit her hometown. Hailey waved her hand for the last time with David and leaned on his shoulder while looking at Iris's retreating figure. "I am going to miss her," Hailey mumbled. "Me too." David agreed and decided to leave the airport only when the flight would take off. Iris settled herself near the window seat. The sky was still dark as if the clouds were angry for some reason. She knew her journey would be long so she chose to open the book Brida by Paulo Coelho to read.

Within a few minutes, the courtyard cleared until only a handful of Emberbound members remained nearby. Iris stepped out of the library archway at the far end of the yard just as Rhett reached us. The moment her presence entered the space, the mate bond stirred quietly beneath my skin. Her sky magic brushed lightly against the storm wind that constantly circled my senses. Rhett noticed the interaction immediately. “Still weird watching that happen,” he muttered. “Focus,” Maeve said flatly. Rhett nodded once and shifted his attention back to the group. “Stormhollow scouts confirmed Interregnum movement near three major ley-line convergence points over the last four days.”

Tingles rose in the region where our skin was in contact, flowing through my veins, it caused my hands and neck to bristle with goosebumps. I stole a glance at Hera to find her smiling sweetly. Slowly, I drew closer to her until our shoulders were almost touching. She didn’t pull away; the smile on her face bloomed wider. At such moments, it was easy to forget that she was the Wereheretic, the mindless killing machine….

~~~~~~~~ Irisha's POV The next morning came and everywhere was so quiet like a graveyard, chilly cold, but there was no quilt to offer me that desired warmth. I heard footsteps barging in from above me. I took a swift glance above, glared around me, my eyes widened in terror at the view. Then I realized I'd been thrown into a different place entirely; more like a gulch, a far wider and deeper one than the previous, still in the same cage, but more like a house with different compartments. Maybe it's another. And though it was day, but there was only a little form of natural lighting to tell the time.

“One we used to think was just lore. But now…” Ezra pulls out an old, leather-bound book and places it on the table. I recognize it as part of the books Miren had given us yesterday. I lean forward. The pages are faded, ancient. He turns to a marked section and reads aloud: ‘When the child of moon and mist returns, her howl shall split the skies and bring reckoning to those who feared her rise. She will stand between sun and shadow, peace and war. The blood of ancients will stir through her veins and the lost shall rise behind her.’

And Elthara, caught in its center, collapsed with a silent scream. The Spiral was not fire anymore. It was raw motion—untamed, relentless, eternal. It screamed through her veins like a storm without sky, dragging centuries of unspoken truths behind it. Her body convulsed on the altar as visions flashed beneath her lids: cities drowned in ash, gods wailing with stitched mouths, Kael reaching for her through blood and flame. Her hands clawed at the stone, trying to anchor herself to something—anything—but even time refused to hold her.

“Then we remind her who she is now. Who we are.” A pause. Then: “We’re not alone anymore, Athena. Not like before.” He was right, of course. But gods, I hated how fragile this peace felt. Like glass beneath a trembling hand. We had built Emberfield from ash and sorrow. We had earned every laugh, every harvest, every sunrise. And now this... "Mother." The voice that haunted Kira’s sleep. The one she thought she'd escaped. I wanted to scream. Instead, I held him tighter.

Clusters of twigs, gnarled and twisted, extended like the very hands of older gentlemen against the pristine cloudless sky. The group quenched their thirst and drank greedily from the crystal clear mountain spring before continuing the search for the fog. Light purple shadows rested under the heavy fir trees as Nueva trudged next to Alpha Gray at the front in the deep dunes. Eira had finally come alive from her induced slumber and nervously stirred in Nueva's mind. "Can you stop that?" Nueva growled in the mind link. "I can't help it. Something feels wrong." Eira whimpered.

But within one of the Dreamers themselves. --- The Shadow in Light Sareth drifted through the skies of Vareth, the world of memory. He had not slept in a thousand years. Each time he closed his eyes, he saw the same vision: Ereya’s calm smile as the First Silence faded into eternity. The cycle turns again, endlessly, flawlessly. To most, it was peace. To him, it was a prison. > Why should everything begin again? he thought. Why must even perfection end just to repeat itself?