The Rapture Novels & Stories

Storm Chaos. Utter chaos and that includes the team C.H.A.O.S. I'm dancing around the fire wearing nothing but my pants in the round tent on a hallucinogenic trip thanks to the dried sacred peyote cactus. There are elders with me today, as we pray for the healing of an ailing child. My prayers, however, are the same as they have been for years…the healing of Kage Raiden, who has been refusing for years to seek medical help. I'm the only person who knows.

I stopped, stood up straight, and faced Zaki. "No, ah nothing," I answered and hid my hands behind my back. "I see. The press and media are already out with the other muse of RH, so you need to come out as well. Let's greet them." Zaki said and walked to the big door. The Rapture Hotel is exclusive, so only high-class people can enter here. No newscaster, media, or press is allowed to enter the RH, so they are only outside the hotel. Damn! Where is that bracelet? It looks like it's so expensive and important to Zaki. Zaki's name is stamped there. Damn that Aileen bitch!

My mind recoiled in horror as I grappled with the implications of this newfound reality. I rushed to the bathroom, my heart racing with a mix of fear and curiosity. I had heard Raphael mention the Risen before, and snippets of conversations during my captivity had given me a glimpse into their existence. My compilation, a catalog of supernatural creatures, also had an entry on the Risen, but I had never thought I'd become one.

And still, Emily was not with them. Kiran stared at the glowing barrier, jaw tight. “Hold on, Emily. I’m coming.” As if on cue, a shockwave pulsed through the sky, and the red clouds began to swirl violently. Lena’s scream echoed across the battlefield. The ritual had begun. Kiran and Lucien stood before the assembled supernatural armies, shoulders squared against the rising darkness. But as the first trumpet of chaos sounded, the sky turned red, and the rift above the altar tore open like a wound in the world.

"Help!" As the whirling gust engulfed me, lifting my body off the ground so that I hung airborne, dangling upside down and fighting to keep my grip on the railing. Images of the sacred stone projected into my mind. Flashes of the same vision of a destroyed earth pained my head as everything withered into a nothingness of dark red soil and brown mist. What does this mean? What's happening to my world? "Raina.” An echoing voice ripped through my head. "Come to us, Raina."

“Not out of malice. But fear.” Torin screamed. “I would never—” “Silence,” Raul commanded. The moonlight surged. “You will be given a choice,” Raul said. “Redemption… or ruin. And this time, the Goddess will not look away.” The vision snapped. We were back in the council chamber. Torches burned steadily again. Stone was stone. Breath was breath. But nothing was the same. Elder Torin collapsed into his chair, shaking. Elder Karl stared at me as if seeing not a girl, but a fate.