In The Lost Lands Novels & Stories

Cael leaned against Shigure. “You prefer complaining.” “It has survived every age.” The child raised one palm. An image formed above the tide heart. The first ocean stretched across an empty world. No cities. No kingdoms. No human voices. Only endless water moving beneath a white sky. Then land rose. People gathered along the shores. Crowns appeared. The ocean broke into fragments. “If the heart opens,” the child said, “everything returns.” Kiyomi stood near Hayate’s broken sword. Her face was wet, but her voice remained steady.

I had returned from a five-year assignment. Walking out of the airport, my heart was filled with hope that Cyra Stern would accept my proposal. However, she just stood there expressionlessly. “Neil Spencer, I’m sorry.” Before I could even register my surprise, she spoke again. “That transfer order… was my doing. “I purposely had you transferred to that remote project in the Northwest just to create space for Devin Lawrence and me. “Back then, I was pregnant with his child. I had no other choice.” A long silence followed as I bit my lip until it bled. That was five years of living hell in the Fopi Desert. They were filled with swirling sandstorms, unbearable heat, and sixteen-hour work

“Toward the forgotten lands. Toward the temple.” Lucian’s brows furrowed. “I thought the temple was destroyed.” “It was,” Saelith replied. “But not completely. It was hidden. Only a golden wolf can open the gate again.” Elizabeth met her gaze. “Then we go. Now.” The journey north was harsh. Snow lashed against their caravan, and ice wolves howled in the distance. Yet Elizabeth pressed on, driven by dreams of fire and shadow. In one dream, she stood atop a mountain, a golden crown burning on her head. In another, she stood alone, surrounded by ash, Lucian and their children’s voices fading into the smoke.

"Aaron is the Alpha of the Black Shadow Pack—the most sought-after bachelor in the clans. Everyone knows he's been waiting all these years for Lily. Our future Luna will be her. You, no matter how pretty, don't even register in his eyes." His words sliced through me, cruel and precise. I clenched my fists so tightly my nails bit into my palms, but I had no retort—because every word he said was true. Seeing me speechless, Felix's lips curled into a lewd grin. His eyes gleamed with sick amusement.

82 I give him my sternest expression, conveying to him that I will force it in his mouth if need be. Bryce grudgingly takes the herb and puts it in his mouth. He gags a few times while trying to chew it, but after a few minutes, his pallor turns from green to pale. "Better?" I inquire smugly. He grunts his response. Men! "Land Ho!" A sailor yells from the crow's nest. I turn, and in the distance I can make out the outline of Normandy, growing more significant as the minute's pass. A mixture of trepidation and excitement fills me again. No

POV: Kael “Don’t breathe too deeply,” I said. “This place remembers lungs.” Lyra’s fingers tightened in mine, that was her answer. The Dead Lands did not announce themselves with fire or thunder. There was no dramatic threshold, no wall of flame. One step, and the world simply… stopped trying to live. The sky dulled into a colorless smear, like ash rubbed into bruised glass, the ground was cracked and pale, littered with fragments that might have been stone or might have been bone.

The Hollowed Lands weren’t marked on any map. No one drew its shape, no one dared speak of it for long. It was the place where silence lived, where even shadows feared to linger. Legends said it was where the first wolves were broken and where the sky forgot how to shine. And now, Aria, Kael, Ashara, Rowan, Elara, Callen, and Lyra stood at its border. The wind didn’t blow here. It waited. “What is this place?” Lyra asked, staring out at the bone-colored land stretched ahead. The ground looked scorched, not by fire but by memory.

Like stone left in moonlight. Then, she vanished. One moment there. The next—just smoke. Tess let out a slow breath. “Okay. Not creepy at all.” Elara stared into the dark. “The Mirrorlands… That’s a place where reality breaks. Where time folds.” “And where the Council can’t follow easily,” I said. Cassian groaned. “Guess we’re going ghost hunting.” I held the scroll tightly. The seal was marked with the same symbol from the crypt. The eye surrounded by flame.

Kaylee The Forbidden Lands was a kingdom that was wiped out years ago, and the land was left destitute because of the amount of bloodshed and deaths that took place on that day. Everybody in that land died. It was said that it was forbidden for anyone to inhabit. Such a person was believed to be possessed by spirits. But I didn’t care. As the carriage rode through the fogginess and dust, I had to be back before my father noticed—and he could never know where I went.

The map Damien unrolled crackled with age, its edges frayed like something clawed at them long ago. The faded ink revealed a region blanketed in darkness—no names, no landmarks, just a jagged shape surrounded by thorn-like symbols. “The Shattered Lands,” he said grimly, running a gloved hand across the parchment. “No one returns from there untouched.” Selene stared at the mark pulsing on her palm—the bond magic that had begun to shimmer black along its edges. The same darkness she’d seen in her vision… in them.