The Cosmic Imagination

A month before the SATs, I, Jenny Reid, could see my score. Literally. It was just floating right above my head. But there was a catch. Every time I cracked open a prep book, my score would drop by ten points. But if I skipped a day of school? It jumped right back up by ten. So, I played the system. For a whole month, I barely lifted a finger. And on the day of the test, the number glowing over my head was a solid 1560. When the scores finally dropped online… I'd scored a 500. And the 1560? That was my little sister Patricia's score. My parents lost it. As punishment, they got me a grueling night-shift job at a local electronics factory. That first night, a bunch of guys I'd never seen before cornered me in the parking lot and beat me half to death. Fading in and out of consciousness, I heard my sister's voice right by my ear. "You just had to one-up me, didn't you? Thought you were so smart… but you never figured out I was the one controlling that number over your head." The truth hit me like a physical blow. The score had been her trick all along. I opened my eyes—and I was back. One month before the SATs. The number above my head read exactly 1300. "Hey," my sister said, all fake sweetness. "Want to study together tonight? We can go over the practice tests." I looked at the stack of papers in my own hands. Without a word, I pulled out my lighter and set them on fire right there in the driveway. "Exams are coming," I said, watching the flames. "I'm not studying." My score ticked up to 1310. My sister's face was this perfect mask of disappointment, but the second I turned away, I caught the sly smile she couldn't quite hide. She had no idea… the real performance, the one I'd been rehearsing just for her, was finally about to begin.

When I was seven, my constant vomiting got so bad that my mother took me to court and accused me of being born dangerous. If the charge stuck, I would be stripped of my family ties and sent straight to prison. Everyone said my mother was overreacting. "He's just a kid. Kids get sick. As his mother, you should be more understanding." But the moment the evidence was shown, the room went dead quiet. My mother had drunk herself into a stomach bleed just to land a contract, and the second she got home, I threw up all over it. The deal was voided, and she lost her job on the spot. On my sister, Ophelia Sowle's, birthday, I threw up all over her cake right in front of all her classmates. After that, she was shunned by everyone at school. She spiraled into depression and even slashed her wrists. It didn't matter where I was, at the dinner table or under the covers. I could start vomiting at any moment. My mother and Ophelia had to clean me up more than 30 times a day. It wore them down to the breaking point. What infuriated them the most was that every time I finished throwing up, I would look at them and laugh, as if I was mocking them. The judge brought the gavel down and declared me guilty of being born bad. Ophelia's eyes turned red as she cried, saying she couldn't bear to lose me. I didn't cry or fight it. I accepted the verdict. But I requested that the judge watch my memories first. The judge looked stunned. "Memory extraction means drilling into your brain. The pain is unbearable. Are you sure?" I nodded without hesitation. But Ophelia suddenly panicked. "I don't agree!"

After the great war between humans, vampires, werewolves, and elves, an agreement was made that hybrid offspring would rule the world. Every century, alliances through marriage between humans and those three clans would decide the next ruler. Whoever bore the first hybrid child would claim power for their line. In my previous life, I chose to marry Jax, the eldest son of the werewolf pack, known for his fierce loyalty. I gave birth to our hybrid son, a white-furred pup we named Zeal. Our child became the next world ruler, and Jax gained immense power. My sister had lusted after the elves' beauty and married into their clan. But the elf prince slept with every female in the forest. In the end, my sister caught a disease that left her barren. Jealous and bitter, she set a fire that burned me and my young pup alive. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day of the racial alliances. My sister had already slept with Jax first. I knew she had been reborn too. But she didn't know that Jax was brutally savage with his mates, having torn countless she-wolves apart in his bed during his ruts.

I was reborn on the day my sister, Tilda Wright, and I had to pick our husbands. That was when I realized I could hear people’s thoughts. I heard Tilda say, [This time, I’m gonna make sure I grab the best husband first.] Then, just like that, she rushed over and took the sweet guy I had married in my last life, while I ended up with the abusive man who used to beat her every day. I laughed to myself. Did she really think the guy I married before was some perfect gentleman?

Kaia loves to write stories, her best friend Xander told her an exciting news about a writing contest on her dream University, it gave Kaia the perfect opportunity because she was writing the same genre, romance and tragedy. She was so keen on making her story good, but all things will change when she accidentally went inside her story. She saw her characters come to life and became friends with them. Kaia was torn if she should continue writing the story and ending it with the tragic one where the main character would die, or will she give up the contest for the character to live a happy ending. Xander was supportive with her and had been always there for her from the very start, but what would happen if a guy named Jake would be the cause of them to break their friendship apart, and a new girl who came in the scene. They both like each other but they don't want to risk their friendship, little did they know that Kaia's story would bring them together.

This book gathers different love stories, yes, love stories. All these stories that I collected over time, that were told to me by friends, acquaintances, relatives and others from my own imagination ink. And perhaps, there is some coincidence.

“Never in my wildest imagination did I thought na kailangan pa kitang ipa-kidnap para lang magkita tayo ulit. Hindi na ako papayag na makawala ka pa sa akin ulit, Calista. You’re in my possession now. And once mine, will forever be mine.”

"He lifted his eyes to me. I was instantly captivated. He was sheer beauty in his black, hooded cloak. Was he real or just my imagination? It didn't matter. I had to know the mysterious man shrouded in darkness...Graveyard Watchman is created by Leslie Fear, an EGlobal Creative Publishing signed author."

I looked at the side of my bed, caressing it while imagining some things that would make me feel happy. But even my own imagination feels like betraying me, telling that this is my reality and there is nothing that I can do with that. I even ask god, do I deserve to suffer for the second time around?

A cosmic sentient species that called themselves "Deities" made the first contact with humans out of necessity. 100 Years later, humans have discovered fractures deep within space-time. Inside these fractures, undefined concepts redefine themselves, the rationale is irrational, life is an enigma, and time is tangled. Is it a realm of God or a sanctuary of Cthulhu? Humans call them "Akashic Glitch". A 16-year-old Cadet, Creed Gryffon at the bottom of the hierarchy, finds a forbidden artifact that might have the potential to disrupt the entire power balance.