Chapter: CHAPTER 40The War BeginsThe chamber was built of dark stone, towering with an arched ceiling where cold artificial lights cast deep shadows. The air felt heavy with authority—absolute and unshakable. Obsidian Heitt stood at the center, his black robes as still as the void, his silver eyes unreadable. Around him, the supreme council of the system had gathered, their holographic forms flickering as they joined from across the galaxy.Beyond these walls, millions of people were watching.The broadcast had already begun, spreading across every major world, every sector, every station. A single decree that would change history.Obsidian lifted his gaze, and when he spoke, his voice was calm but carried the weight of an executioner’s verdict.“The anomaly has chosen defiance.” His words echoed through the chamber and across the stars. “We will respond with extinction.”A murmur rippled through the council—some shifting uneasily. Even among the system’s highest ranks, some hesitated. They understood
Last Updated: 2025-03-25
Chapter: CHAPTER 39The ChaseThe ground shuddered beneath me, a deep, violent tremor that sent jagged cracks racing through the canyon floor. The system wasn’t just attacking—I could feel it erasing this place, wiping every trace of the Forbidden Archive from existence.I ran.The collapsing tunnels groaned as the walls caved inward, choking the air with dust and heat. Sparks rained down like falling stars, flames licking at the shadows, turning them to molten gold. My lungs burned, every breath ragged with smoke and adrenaline.Move. Don’t think. Just move.The exit was still ahead—if I could reach the surface, I had a chance. If I hesitated, I’d be buried along with the truth. My legs screamed, muscles tearing with the effort, but I pushed harder. The corridor split ahead—left or right? I barely had time to decide before a surge of energy slammed into the wall beside me.The explosion sent me flying.I hit the ground hard, rolling until I came to a stop against a broken column. Everything spun. The he
Last Updated: 2025-03-25
Chapter: CHAPTER 38The System’s LiesThe chamber flickered to life around me. The walls pulsed, and golden data streams wove through the air, forming images—no, memories—so vivid they felt real.A battlefield stretched before me. The ground was scorched, littered with bodies. Smoke coiled into the sky, thick and suffocating. And in the middle of it all stood them.The anomalies.They weren’t the monsters the system had made them out to be. They weren’t destroyers, weren’t threats to civilization. They were people. People with abilities that defied the system’s design. And for that, they had been hunted.A line of towering figures loomed in the distance—cold, mechanical, ruthless. The system’s enforcers. Their armor gleamed under a crimson sky, their weapons humming with barely restrained energy. No mercy. No hesitation.Then, the slaughter began.I watched as the anomalies fought back, their abilities twisting reality itself. Fire and lightning danced at their fingertips, the ground cracked beneath thei
Last Updated: 2025-03-25
Chapter: CHAPTER 37The Forbidden ArchiveThe canyon stretched before me, a jagged scar in the earth carved by time and secrets. The air was dry, thick with the taste of dust, but beneath it, something else pulsed. Something old. Something waiting.The Forbidden Archive.It wasn’t supposed to exist. Every record of it had been erased, every trace buried beneath centuries of silence. And yet, here it stood—a colossal structure wedged between the towering cliffs, its dark stone shimmering with unseen energy.Two obelisks flanked the entrance, each covered in shifting runes that pulsed like living veins. The symbols twisted and re-formed as I approached as if they recognized me. Or worse, expected me.A whisper of movement.I stopped, my muscles tensing. A shadow peeled away from the entrance, stepping into view. The figure was tall, draped in a crimson cloak that billowed despite the still air. The hood obscured their face, but I could feel their gaze piercing through the fabric, measuring me, weighing my
Last Updated: 2025-03-25
Chapter: CHAPTER 36Understanding the PowerDarkness clung to the chamber like a second skin, thick and suffocating. I sat cross-legged on the cold stone floor, my hands resting on my knees, palms up, trying—desperately—to still the storm raging inside me. My power wasn’t just something I wielded. It was something that wanted to wield me.The flickering torches cast distorted shadows against the walls, as if they, too, were uncertain of what they were becoming. The energy inside me coiled, alive, eager. It burned beneath my skin, pulsed through my veins, whispered in my mind.Control it, I told myself.But it laughed.Not aloud—no, that would be easy to fight. The real battle was more insidious, more intimate. It was the whisper that slithered through my thoughts, the weight pressing against my ribs, the hunger lurking beneath my every breath."You crave it," the voice inside me murmured. "You always have."I shut my eyes tighter. My pulse hammered in my ears."No," I breathed. "That’s not me.""But it i
Last Updated: 2025-03-25
Chapter: CHAPTER 35The Hunter Becomes the HuntedThe neon lights flicker above me, casting long, distorted shadows against the rain-slicked pavement. The undercity breathes in short, sharp bursts—the hum of generators, the distant shouts of drunken gamblers, the occasional echo of a gunshot deeper in the slums. I keep my hood low, my face hidden beneath the dim glow of passing advertisements.Every step I take feels measured, deliberate. The bounty on my head has tripled overnight, and now the city itself is hunting me. Every set of eyes lingering too long could belong to a mercenary weighing their chances. Every whispered conversation could be about me.I pass a group of thugs loitering near a broken-down hovercraft, their voices dropping as I move past. One of them, a brute with cybernetic arms and an ego too large for his own good, sneers.“Dead man walking.”I don’t break stride. I don’t react. That’s exactly what they want—a sign of weakness, a flicker of fear. But fear has no place here. Not anymo
Last Updated: 2025-03-22
Chapter: CHAPTER 182Darren's PromiseThe lies were gone, like old skin peeling off. I saw the truth: they had made me a servant. This made me angry, wanting revenge.I found Tony in a broken room. He was my old friend, but now he seemed lost, not knowing what was real. I felt bad and also really loyal to him. He sat on a broken chair, smiling and talking nonsense. The bright Tony I knew was gone. He looked at me for a second, the old Tony in his eyes."Darren?" he whispered weakly. I felt a little hope."Tony, it's me," I said, my voice shaky. I knelt down.He smiled more, but his eyes didn't. "The stars are singing, Darren. Can you hear?"My heart sank. He was lost. The Overseers had messed with his mind. I felt guilty. I was so busy with my own problems, I didn't see how bad Tony was.I felt a strong loyalty to him. We were friends. I couldn't leave him like this.I took his cold hands in mine. "Tony," I said firmly. "The stars aren't singing. It's just me, Darren. I'm here."He looked
Last Updated: 2025-04-21
Chapter: CHAPTER 180Echoes of ControlDust floated in the moonlight coming through the broken windows of the Overseer's main place. I felt a cold fear, like sharp glass in my stomach. Kane moved quietly beside me in this dead computer world. Her fingers, usually so good at finding secrets in computers, now just touched cold, still metal.Damn it, I thought, grinding my teeth. We broke their network, bit by bit, but winning felt empty. It was like beating the boss but finding a whole army behind him."Anything?" Kane whispered. Her forehead wasn't as she looked at the smashed computer.I shook my head. The smell of burnt wires hurt my nose. "Just memories. Like the computers remember being in charge, but nothing real. They erased everything."Elias stood nearby, eyes closed, head tilted like he was hearing something we couldn't. A faint shimmer moved around him. It was what was left of their mind control. He looked sick, sweat on his face."Something's here," he whispered, voice tight. "Layers
Last Updated: 2025-04-21
Chapter: CHAPTER 180The Untouched ShadowThe broken metal and wires of the Overseers’ control room were all around us. We had done this. We had broken their system, bit by bit, and fought through their guards. But looking at the mess, I didn’t feel good. Just empty and annoyed.Kane kicked a broken piece of a machine. It made a noise in the big, ruined room. “We took down their system, destroyed their buildings…” Her voice was tight like she was trying not to be angry. “…but it feels like we didn’t even touch the real problem.”Elias nodded, looking sad, as he looked at the mess. “The Overseers were just tools. Complicated ones, but still just a way to get what they wanted.” He looked out at the empty land through a hole in the wall. “The real power… it’s still out there, untouched.”Darren sat in a corner, looking white and tired. The memories he found had hurt him a lot. “And if they could control something like the Ascension System…” His voice was soft, like a whisper. “…what else can they
Last Updated: 2025-04-18
Chapter: CHAPTER 179The Unseen WatcherKane walked back and forth in the room we were using as a lab. Her boots made soft sounds on the floor. The air felt heavy like we hadn't done anything right. Tony… I still saw his fading eyes. What had that thing done to him? Was he still… Tony?Elias played with his machines, looking annoyed. “It’s like we’re fighting a ghost, Kane,” he said quietly. “A power that doesn’t follow any rules we know. The Overseers… they were just toys, weren’t they?”That thought made me cold. Toys. And we were so focused on them, we didn’t see the real person in charge.I suddenly felt cold, even though the room was warm. It wasn’t just cold; it was… something else. A feeling. Like when you know someone is behind you, even if you can’t see them.“It’s not just the system,” I said slowly, looking around the room. Nothing looked wrong. The machines hummed softly, the lights made long shadows. But… “I feel like… someone is watching us.”Elias stopped what he was doing and l
Last Updated: 2025-04-18
Chapter: CHAPTER 178Slipping AwayThe white light still hurt my eyes, even if I wasn’t seeing it now. Was I? Everything felt blurry, like a bad dream. Kane… her face… was she there? I remember a quick look like she was worried. Or maybe the bright light tricked me.The sounds around me were wrong. They twisted and broke, like talking underwater. Or maybe there was no sound, just a buzzing in my head that ate my thoughts. Words floated around, pieces of talk, but they didn’t stay. They didn’t make sense anymore.My own hand looked far away. Like it belonged to someone else. I tried to close my fingers, but it felt slow, like moving through thick mud. Was this still my hand? Was I still me?A cold fear grabbed me, worse than before. Not fear of pain, but fear of… disappearing. Like a picture in the sun, the colors faded away until nothing was left.Don’t forget me… please… The thought went around in my empty head, a soft cry against the growing confusion. Who was I asking? Kane? Elias? Darren…
Last Updated: 2025-04-18
Chapter: CHAPTER 177The Glitch in the MemoryMy fingers moved fast on the screen. The broken data from the Overseers jumped and changed. Kane looked closely, her face showing she was thinking hard. “If they were scared,” she asked quietly, “why did they want to control Tony so much?”Elias touched a black, shiny piece they found. His small machine showed strange power inside it. “Maybe,” he said slowly, “control was how they protected themselves. Maybe it was a way to use what they didn’t understand as a weapon.”Darren, still looking white and shaky, moved restlessly. He didn’t want to think about the things put in his mind, but we needed answers. Now, his eyes moved around the room like he could still hear bad things. “There was a name…” he whispered, his voice soft. “I think I heard… something about a ‘Conduit’…”Conduit. The word stayed in the quiet room. It felt important and dangerous. Kane and Elias looked at each other, knowing this could be something big. My own mind raced. Was I t
Last Updated: 2025-04-18
SHADOWS OF THE OAT
Nathan has spent the last five years trying to leave his past behind. Once an elite operative of The Oath, a secret organization controlling world events from the shadows, he walked away, seeking peace. But one night, he wakes up in a bloodstained room with no memory of the last 48 hours—only to find himself branded as a terrorist and the target of a nationwide manhunt.
On the run and unsure if he truly committed the crime, Nathan turns to Riley, a skilled underground hacker, for help. As they dig deeper, they uncover a terrifying truth—his memories have been altered. Clues left behind by Elias Graves reveal that Nathan once broke his unbreakable oath to the organization, but someone wiped his mind to keep him from remembering why. The conspiracy leads to Julian, Nathan’s former best friend, who is orchestrating a global web of deception built on manufactured threats and lies.
Determined to uncover the truth, Nathan infiltrates The Oath’s headquarters for a final confrontation with Julian. But the shocking revelation leaves him shattered—Nathan wasn’t framed. He willingly took part in the crime but later chose to erase his own memory to escape the unbearable guilt. A recorded message from his past self forces him to face a critical decision:
Expose Julian and bring down The Oath, risking global chaos.
Take control of The Oath and become the very thing he once fought against.
No matter what he chooses, the cost is high. If he exposes The Oath, the world is thrown into instability, and he is forever hunted. If he takes over, he sacrifices his own ideals, embracing the power he once rejected.
In the end, as Nathan looks at his reflection, he sees Julian staring back—proof that the cycle never truly ended.
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Chapter: CHAPTER 220The Last ThoughtI stare at my reflection, my breath uneven, my eyes hollow. The glass is cracked—thin fractures running like veins across the surface, distorting my face. Fitting.The overhead light flickers, casting brief shadows across the room. It’s cold. Not the kind of cold that bites at your skin, but the kind that settles in your bones, that tells you something is coming. The kind that makes you wonder if it’s always been there, waiting.I press my palms against the sink, fingers curling against the porcelain. The weight in my chest isn’t fear. It isn’t regret. It’s something worse. A question with no answer.Behind me, the door creaks open. A slow, deliberate sound. My hand moves instinctively to my gun, but I already know who it is."That the last time you’re gonna check yourself out, Nathan?" a voice teases, rough with amusement.I smirk, though it feels foreign on my face. "Figured I should see what’s left of me before I walk out that door."Jackson leans against the doorf
Last Updated: 2025-03-08
Chapter: CHAPTER 219The End of the LineThe city is quiet. Too quiet.Not the kind of quiet that comes with peace, but the kind that signals something is about to break. It settles over the skyline, heavy, waiting. The streets are empty, but the ghosts of what I’ve built, of what I’ve destroyed, linger in the alleyways and shadowed corners.I stand at the edge of it all, watching from the rooftop of an old high-rise, the cold wind whipping against my face. Below me, the pieces are moving, each player stepping into position, some thinking they’re the ones holding the strings. They aren’t.They never were.Jackson shifts beside me, his hands buried deep in his pockets. He’s restless. Always is before things go south.“You sure about this?” he asks.I don’t answer right away. Because there’s no easy answer. No right one, either.He sighs, shaking his head. “You always do this. Get in too deep and think you can control every variable. But this—” he gestures to the streets below, to the quiet before the storm
Last Updated: 2025-03-08
Chapter: CHAPTER 218The Final MoveThe city is waiting.It doesn't know it yet, but the tides are shifting. Power doesn’t disappear; it transforms and morphs into something new, something unrecognizable until it’s already taken hold. I’ve seen it happen too many times to count. This time, I’m the one pulling the strings.This time, it ends on my terms.I stand in the shadows of an empty warehouse, the scent of oil and dust thick in the air. The city hums outside, its lights flickering through the gaps in the rusted metal walls. Jackson stands beside me, his body tense, arms crossed. He’s waiting for me to explain, to tell him what comes next.I let the silence stretch before I finally speak.“We’re not burning it down.”Jackson’s head snaps toward me, eyes narrowing. “What?”I meet his stare, my voice steady. “We’re not wiping the board clean. We’re flipping it.”For the first time in a long time, Jackson looks unsure. He shifts his weight, jaw tightening as he processes my words. “You said yourself—this
Last Updated: 2025-03-08
Chapter: CHAPTER 217The Final CrossroadsThe city hums beneath me, restless and alive. From this rooftop, I see everything—the neon glow stretching into the horizon, the winding streets below, the fractured heartbeat of a place that never stops moving. A world of light and shadow, built on secrets, power, and debts that can never truly be repaid.The air is thick with the scent of rain and asphalt, the faintest trace of gasoline lingering in the wind. It’s the smell of something on the verge of combustion, of a city always teetering on the edge of chaos. I tighten my grip on the cigarette between my fingers, watching the ember glow in the dark, a tiny heartbeat against the cold night. I don’t smoke. Not really. I just like the way it feels—holding something that’s burning, something that’s alive for just a little while before it fades into nothing.I should walk away.I should let it all burn.But I don’t.Because no matter how much I tell myself that I don’t care anymore, that none of it matters, the tr
Last Updated: 2025-03-08
Chapter: CHAPTER 216The Last Time He Sees RileyThe air is colder than I expected. Maybe that’s fitting. Maybe that’s how it’s supposed to be.She’s already there when I arrive, standing near the edge of the pier, arms folded tight against the wind. The city sprawls behind her, all light and noise, but out here, it’s just the quiet lapping of the water and the space between us.Riley doesn’t turn when I approach.“I wasn’t sure you’d come,” she says, her voice carrying over the water, calm but unreadable.I stop a few feet away. Close enough to feel the weight of her presence. Far enough to know I shouldn’t get any closer.“Neither was I,” I admit.She exhales a slow, steady breath. “You look the same.”“So do you.”A lie.There’s something different in her now. Something more guarded, more distant. Like she’s finally built the walls she should’ve had when we were younger.Like she’s learned.She turns, finally meeting my gaze, and for a moment, it’s just us. No past, no future. Just this one sliver of t
Last Updated: 2025-03-08
Chapter: CHAPTER 215The Fall of KingsThe thing about power is that it never learns.It moves through different hands, dresses itself in new suits, and speaks in fresh voices. But underneath, it’s always the same: greed, arrogance, and the inevitable mistake of thinking you can control what was never meant to be tamed.Ronan believed he could do it differently.I watch from the shadows as he proves himself wrong.---The city is quieter these days. Not because the storm has passed, but because it’s waiting to break.I see it in the way people move, the way deals are whispered instead of spoken. Ronan’s reign is still fresh, but already, the cracks are showing.And he doesn’t even realize it.Or maybe he does. Maybe he’s just too proud to admit it.I’m standing outside a high-rise downtown, watching from across the street. Up there, behind floor-to-ceiling windows, Ronan is playing king. A meeting’s in progress—his men, his allies, his problems.He thinks he has time. He thinks he’s in control.He doesn’t
Last Updated: 2025-03-08
