The Late War Book Novels & Stories

They took the oracle to the deepest part of the village where the rebels lived, to give him time to concentrate on divining the future that awaited them. "You must prepare for war, it is inevitable. Blood corrupts the enemy, so you must watch your necks if you want to win," that's all the oracle says, who was in the middle of what looked like a ritual. "Blood? Neck? Maybe we'll have to face vampires after all, this looks very bad," Marcus says. "I don't know, but we won't be afraid to face the people who want to harm us, so let's arm ourselves with courage and eradicate evil from the world. And if we need to go to war to achieve that, so be it," says Lyra optimistically.

Wow. I was drooling. It wasn't just a room with books. It was a sanctuary. Floor-to-ceiling shelves packed with hardcovers, a rolling ladder, a massive fireplace that looked like it hadn't been used in decades. The scent of old paper and leather hit me, comforting and familiar. I ran my finger along the spines. ‘The Art of War’, ‘Sun Tzu’. ‘Histories of the Roman Empire’. Biographies of kings and conquerors. Heavy stuff. Interspersed with them were fiction classics. Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Dumas.

VITTORIA’S POV Three days before the wedding, I was sitting in the library. Not hiding. Not lurking. Sitting, comfortably, curled into one of the leather lounge chairs with a book resting open in my hands. The Art of War. Sun Tzu had lived and died long before men like Nikolai De Luca ever learned to call themselves kings, but strategy never aged. Power never changed. Only the pieces on the board did. I liked ancient warfare texts. They were honest. They didn’t pretend victory came from morality or mercy. They understood what most people refused to admit, wars were won before the first blow was struck.

I shook my head frantically, trying to remove the unwanted memories. I pulled a volume from the shelf at random, carrying it to a nearby reading chair positioned beneath a lamp. The leather was worn smooth with age, the pages yellowed but still crisp. A history of the Great Wars, written centuries ago. I lost myself in the text, my troubles temporarily forgotten as I absorbed tales of ancient battles and long-dead heroes. When that book was finished, I found another. Then another. It was in a section labeled "Bloodlines and Legacy" that I found something that made my heart race.

“I can not scent like them.” “I have that taken care of.” He said and gestured to a sack in a corner of the room. “You have been thinking about this for quite a long time right?” I asked, my eyes on him as he ripped the sack open. “Yes,” He said. “I have thought of everything, every word, every action, and counter plans if one of my many plans happened to fail.” My nostrils picked up the scent of a stranger. “This scent... it belongs to a stranger,” I said, hissing in annoyance.

“I'll come back for it later” “It's not my money Grace”, I said. Her brows drew together. “So don't feel guilty about spending it. Think about it as compensation for everything he has done”, I told her. Grace blinked, and for a moment, I thought she wanted to complain about using Declan's money. But then she smirked. “You should have led with that”. And that was how I unleashed Grace Marshall, the shopping maniac. It was late into the night. Grace suggested we visit the club nearby, but I was exhausted. And then she dragged me to the luxury hotel rooftop lounge.

After Steven Breece left the department, a girl sitting at the desk next to Nathan said, “Hey, I’m Cindy Miles. You?” “Nathaniel Lee.” Upon hearing the man’s name, another coworker immediately turned toward him, “Is your name really Nathaniel Lee?” “Yes.” Cindy, who still looked surprised, also said, “Oh, your name is exactly the same as our war general. Oh, I mean our former war general.” Nathan, who was already used to that reaction, replied casually, “Our names are exactly the same, but … our fates are different.” “I mean … well, he became a war general who was idolized, while I’m just an ordinary employee,” Nathan added.

I fully-fledged ignored him for the whole month but that day luck was not on my side. The day when our Hate War officially started... ****Vote and Comment***

I screamed. The entire room was a mess. My clothes were torn and littered all over the floor if claws had been used to rip them apart. The books Emily had gifted me to kill time were burned, and their ashes were everywhere. The curtains, flower vases and other items were either smashed into bits or broken. But the worst part was the wall. The wall was covered in blood. Blood that spelt out one word. Traitor.

“Men are the harshest of races and they populate most of the realm, their numbers growing each year. They mostly destroy and enslave other races, but they are unable to use any form of magic, and live in stone cities that are under constant attack as the race is forever at war. The humans have many villages and cities, but the ones with the most population are Sential, Anate, Seran, Vanaat and Denafer." “Impressive.” Tuviel nodded, “The dwarfs and trolls?” Astria bit her bottom lip as she began to recall what she knew, speaking each word from memory. “The trolls are a powerful race that stand around twelve feet tall, but they are at peace with almost every race and are said to be welcoming.