Tarnished Embers Book Novels & Stories

When Ember finally arrived, she hurriedly parked her car in-between some trees, to keep it away from sight, looking around to make sure, no one was secretly watching, she ran towards the direction of the mansion Her knees felt weak below her, as she saw, the state of her family house. The condition of it was beyond anything she could have imagined. The once-beautiful estate, with its pretty gardens and elegant architecture, was now reduced to an abandoned site, filled with ashes. Ember’s heart ached and her body whimpered, as she took in the scene, the reality of her loss hitting her like a physical blow. ~~~Ember~~~ "Ember" a voice called out, breaking me from my daze. I turned around to se

Ashborn crucified in mirrors. Sirelia smiling with no mouth. And the God Below whispering, “Reflection is the first betrayal.” She stumbles back. The vision fades. But her palm still smokes. Later that night, Emberhold holds silence. Not mourning. Listening. Because something in the fire has changed. And not all the dead are resting. Not anymore.

When they arrived, the Heartfire flared softly, recognizing the rhythm in their steps. Arianne smiled. “You are the Children of Dawn,” she said. “Not because you were born in the light, but because you chose to walk out of the dark.” --- The Lesson of the Ember She led them to the base of the Heartfire, where its glow pooled like liquid gold on the stone. “Each of you holds an ember,” she said. “It is small, fragile, and eternal.” The apprentices knelt, cupping their lights between trembling hands. Arianne continued:

The air around her warmed, not with death, but with life that refused to kneel. Below us, Emberfall’s warriors roared. Hope moved through our side. I felt it. So did Lucian. His mouth opened. Black fire came. Seraphina rose to meet it. Golden fire burst from our throat. The two flames collided above Vandwood. For one impossible second, the sky split into gold and black. Lucian’s fire did not only burn. It killed the air. The smoke it made crawled like disease, and where drops of it fell to the ground, grass blackened, stone cracked, and bodies already dead seemed to sink deeper into ruin. But Seraphina’s fire pushed through it, bright and living, burning away the edges of the black flame, ea

The luxurious, pristine white manor was now shrouded in thick smoke as it was engulfed by flames. I threw away the key, tore off the necklace around my neck, and threw it into the fire. Then, listening to the roaring flames behind me, I left the villa where I had grown up. I thought, 'Atlas, let's never meet again.'

Most of her turned to ash, but one tiny ember remained. It hovered above the ashes, glowing red, pulsing like a heartbeat. The very last spark of her eternal flame. I lunged through the fire and caught it with my bare hands. It burned me—seared my palms until the flesh blistered and blackened. But I didn't let go. I pressed it against my chest, right over my heart, and whispered: "I'll keep you safe. I'll bring you back." That ember—small as a grape, warm as a dying coal—became everything.

The circle flared black and violet, twisting, alive. From the darkness, a whisper rose: Nex umbraa, kai vel’thra… ix shael. Kai’thai kharuun… kai’thra kai’thai. From shadow, I awaken… I am hers. I am warrior… I am and I become. Then it appeared. Not a simple crow, but something older, warped. Its wings were tattered starlight. Its eyes burned like molten amethyst. It landed on her shoulder. Claiming her. Marking her.

"Anything about the bodies. The draining. The empty wolves." "That's very specific." "The killer is specific." She pulled a book from the shelf and opened it and the pages were yellow and the ink was faded and the binding was cracked. She held it up to the candlelight and squinted at the words. "Blood rites," she read. "The art of draining life force for power." "That sounds promising." "It sounds terrifying." She sat on the floor and crossed her legs and Ember curled in her lap. I sat across from her and watched her read. Her brow furrowed and her lips moved silently and her fingers traced the lines of text.

EMBER Ember’s breath came in sharp, uneven bursts as heat flooded through her skin, making the tangled sheets around her feel suffocatingly tight against her flushed body. The loft lay shrouded in darkness, save for the neon glow that bled through the rain-streaked windows, casting erratic shadows across the walls. Outside, the city thrummed with its restless insomnia, the buzz of distant signs, the hiss of traffic slicing through wet streets, and faint music leaking from some apartment three floors below, yet none of it pierced the intimate bubble enveloping her. In that moment, all that existed was him: Ghost, his body hovering over hers like a broad, solid wall of quiet strength, pressing

One woman cried as her fingers twisted halfway into claws that wouldn’t fully form. “This shouldn’t be happening,” Gamma whispered. “The Blood Moon has never done this.” Darius rose slowly, his chest heavy. It wasn’t just the moon. It wasn’t just the sky. Something else was stirring. Something old. Something tied to Velise’s warnings. Tied to Ember’s dreams. Tied to the ruins… to the scent that shouldn’t have been there. “Where is Ember?” Gamma asked. “In our room,” Darius said. “She’s safe.”