“YOU’RE FIRED!” A thunderous roar echoed inside the room. Jie flinched as he clenched his jaw in silence. He somehow expected this to happen since he argued with the boss regarding his request for an increase in his salary. He had been working hard, and the company took advantage of it. Paying him less despite him working like a dog. Jie needed money. For his mother’s medication and his little sister’s schooling. If only his father hadn’t passed away, leaving them buried in debt. “Leave! I don’t want to see your face here. Ungrateful bastard!” The boss turned and sat back in his swivel chair. For a while, Jie stood frozen. Lost in his thoughts. What would happen to his life now? He had no savings. The only money he had in his wallet was a few hundred pesos, enough for three days. At twenty-five, he was far behind his peers. It didn’t matter, he’d always been in survival mode for as long as he could remember. “What are you waiting for? Get the hell out of here!” The old man glared

JIE kept track in his head of how many hours they had walked. He estimated it lasted nearly eight hours, with a short break in between just to think about whether they made progress in choosing the right direction. “I think we’re lost.” He studied the surroundings. The vast desert seemed endless. But for some reason, he felt his strong vitality despite walking in the scorching heat. It was almost sundown. “We shouldn’t go back,” Nyssa murmured. “I heard that, kid. We should find the entrance to the village before it completely turns dark. Who knows what other deadly creatures are lurking here at night? I don’t want to be the fresh dinner of another giant scorpion.” Nyssa scowled. “Then let’s keep following the markers.” “Are you sure you’re not yet exhausted?” Jie wondered because, as a child, it would have been hard for her to follow him in this hostile environment. “Surprisingly, no. It has something to do with the orbs. It told you!” “Orbs. Here we go again.” Nyssa rolled he

JIE had no idea how long he had been knocked out. He slowly opened his eyes; it was pitch black. It took him a moment to realize what was going on. “Holy shit!” He swore hard, realizing he was still inside this nightmare. He noticed that he wasn’t leaning on the wall beside the forbidden gate. He was near the vermilion orb, and his body was in a kneeling position. “What the hell happened to me?” He heightened his senses to prepare himself for another monster ambush. There was something wrong. Jie wondered if he had an ear injury because he couldn’t hear a thing—just a deafening silence. What kind of onslaught took place while he was unconscious? He couldn’t remember a single thing. Worse, he noticed that his eyes, nose, and ears were bleeding. He saw the blood after he wiped it off, and the orb slightly flickered one last time. “Darn!” His jaw tightened, ignoring his injuries. Jie got up, but when he was about to turn, something held his ankle. He almost kicked it, thinking it w

THE volunteers had to adjust their eyes from the sun as they went out of the cave, careful not to awaken the napping dragon. They studied its sleeping patterns in the past few days and took advantage of it to be able to evade its wrath. Ethros and Aelec, along with the other five men, were hell-bent on finding whatever food they could get.“I can’t believe I’ll reach the surface in my lifetime!” One man exclaimed. His name was Finn, and he was a man in his early twenties who lost both his parents during their escape. Despite the tragedy, he remained optimistic.Everyone was in awe, gazing at the surroundings. Jie could not blame them; he could relate since it was their very first time to see the sky.“Wow! We made it!” It was Zuri, a young boy almost the same age as Ethros. He even touched the sand to feel its texture. “It’s coarse!”Herlan, Zuri’s cousin, did the same. “You’re right! And the sun, look! It’s the real thing!”“Magnificent! The sky is so vast!” Finn blurted out again, u

TERRA ISLAND One kingdom in the east was on the verge of crumbling because of an unforeseen attack. Inside the council chambers, the elders who held prominent positions in the estate were in a heated argument. They were all seated on an enormous oval table. “This is unacceptable! It had been weeks since the prince died, and yet you couldn’t find traces of the remains of his magic.” It was Rangye, a man in his fifties, who served as an adviser to the ailing king. He was scolding Mord, the general of the army. “My apologies, we are trying our best—” “Try harder, General! Once the news about these spreads out in the archipelago, this island will cease to exist.” Rangye’s face was red, fuming in anger. “Rangye, don’t lose your cool. Why blame General Mord for your negligence?” Another elder with long white hair mused. He was Embir, the king’s brother. “Embir is right. You’re the one tasked with overseeing the prince’s progress, yet you failed to notice that one of his guards had been