Second Life Novelas e Histórias

“Show me.” He opened the first journal. The pages were meticulous, diagrams, notes in sharp, elegant script. Then we found the entry, underlined three times, the ink darker, heavier, as if pressed with desperate force. Beacon of Second Chances. Lucien’s voice dropped, reverent and low. “It calls to beings that exist between life and death. Not gods. Not demons. Something older. In-between. You place it on a dying person with a true love’s wish, no conditions, no bargains of your own, and it may grant a return. A second life. The length depends on the entity that answers. The price… unknown. It varies. Always.”

Sienna is too smart to move a million dollars at once. Instead, Miller shows him a series of tiny transactions. They are test movements of less than ten dollars each. They are hopping through banks in Estonia and then disappearing into a digital wallet. It is a slow leak, not a flood. Sienna is testing the pipes before she tries to pull the rest of the money out.

"Subject 01. The one who broke the Fourth Wall. I’m **Dr. Aris Vance Sr.**" I froze. "Aris? Like my father?" "I was the original Aris," the woman said, a sad smile touching her lips. "The girl the Founder was named after. I’m the one who started this mess fifty years ago when I sold the first 'Life-Simulation' algorithm to a startup called Aethelgard. I thought I was giving people a way to live forever. I didn't realize I was giving a corporation a way to own the concept of 'Forever.'"

The fire cracked in the hearth, casting shadows like wolves across the walls. Her second life had begun. And this time, the hunt was hers.

I needed this job to feed my baby, and I needed it to prove to myself—and to the ghost of my former self—that I was capable of hard, honest work. I knew the difference between nigiri and sashimi, could differentiate seven kinds of sake, and even managed to offer small courtesies in halting Japanese. The small salary I earned, one hour at a time, felt more real and more valuable than any money I'd ever chased. Tonight, however, felt less like work and more like a theatrical performance on a high wire. I was responsible for the Sanfords, the undisputed first family of this city. Mr. Sanford was a stern man who ran a multi-billion peso construction empire; Mrs. Sanford, elegantly severe, owned

No one believed that. The poster then started a livestream. The ones who appeared on camera were the long-missing Winona and Sonny. Winona looked exhausted, and only her upper body could be seen. Sonny sat on a chair beside her, looking like he was forced to be there. In front of the camera, Winona apologized sincerely on Sonny's behalf. Everyone on the internet cursed at them for wasting their time. Slowly, things cooled down, and my life seemed to return to normal. But one phone call disrupted the peace all over again.

What a load of crap. Sure, there were strong beasts outside. But they were all madmen—rejects cast out by their own packs. A human like me, cut off from tribal protection, was as good as dead. In my past life, Debra had nearly died several times out there, and I'd been the one to save her. And this was how she repaid me—by stealing my mate after being reborn, and getting me banished. I let out a cold laugh. "Thanks for the good wishes, Debra. But you should worry about yourself. Patrick's a strong one—you better keep up your strength. Wouldn't want to disappoint him."

Elias turned. Someone was standing several meters away. A young man. He looked almost ordinary, except for his eyes. One was completely white. The other was completely black. Elias immediately recognized him. "The Second Lifeform." The young man smiled. "You remember." "You were born in the Ninth World." "No." The answer was immediate. "I was born before it." Elias frowned. "Before the Ninth World?" "Before the first." The young man stepped closer. "I was the possibility that existed before anyone understood what possibility meant."

My sister and I were both reborn on the day we were adopted. In our first life, she fought to be chosen by the wealthy Blackwood family, convinced she was about to become a spoiled heiress. I was adopted by a working-class couple instead. I survived on scholarships and part-time jobs, put myself through college, and eventually married the Blackwood heir—the same man who had always hated her. Three days after my wedding, my sister ran me down with her car. So when we got a second chance, she immediately chose the family that had adopted me before. She thought that if she copied my poverty, my hard work, and every hardship I had endured, Adrian Blackwood would fall for her the way he had once

Rebecca Nolan, the widow of my husband's late friend, shows up at our door, claiming that her daughter is critically ill. She pleads with Declan Smith, my husband, to be the debt guarantor for her 100-thousand-dollar loan. In my past life, after learning that the actual amount was 5 million dollars, I locked Declan in the house to keep him from helping Rebecca. Rebecca, unable to come up with the money, took her daughter to the rooftop, where they jumped to their deaths. Declan and Edward Smith, our son, refused to speak to me from that day onward. Declan became a successful businessman ten years after that. He wore watches worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and spent tens of thousan