Novels by Saint Nathaniel

The Ghosts in the Machine** The digitized villagers moved in perfect unison. One moment, the baker’s son was stardust; the next, he reassembled—a glitching, prismatic figure with too many joints. His voice crackled like static: *"We remember. We *see*."* The Tower machines shuddered overhead, their bellies distended with stolen lives. A low-frequency hum pulsed through the air as the digitized villagers *pushed back*. The blacksmith’s storm-seed dagger, now fused with his digitized arm, crackled to life. "They’re hacking the system," Mara whispered. The hollow child’s soldiers froze mid-step, their time-forged blades disintegrating. *"Impossible,"* she hissed. The baker reached for her son. His hand phased through hers, pixelating. *"Not your boy. Not anymore. *We* are the Tower now."* -Daelen’s Transformation** His skin hardened overnight. Mara found him at dawn, his forearms encased in jagged crystal—storm-blue veins trapped in void-black lattice. He didn’t breathe

The Fractured Storm** Daelen’s hands clawed at his temples, veins throbbing black and gold. *“Get out of my head!”* he snarled, voice splitting into dual tones—his own and Cat’s. The air around him *warped*. Trees bent sideways, roots sprouting from the sky. Villagers scrambled as the ground liquefied, swallowing a child’s doll before solidifying again. *“You asked for this,”* Cat’s voice hissed from his mouth. *“You wanted power.”* “Not like this!” Daelen fell to his knees, lightning crackling in his throat. A farmer screamed as his hut folded into a prism, reflecting endless versions of himself. The hollow child watched from the edge of the chaos, her sun-shard pulsing. *“The storm unravels. How poetic.”The Architect Unbound** The Titan’s eclipse-skull cracked with a sound like breaking universes. Light bled from the fissure—not sunlight, but *absence*, a void that devoured color and sound. The architect’s form emerged: a singularity, a tiny, ravenous darkness that be

The golden leaves turned brittle overnight. Mara woke to the sound of cracking bark, the once-vibrant forest now shedding its foliage in great, gasping heaves. The trees hunched like grieving elders, their whispers reduced to rasping static. *"Too cold… too dark…"* Villagers gathered beneath the sagging boughs, hands outstretched to catch falling leaves that dissolved into mist before touching the ground. The baker clutched her son’s locket, watching as the protective barrier of roots retracted, inch by inch. “It’s dying,” the blacksmith muttered, kicking at a shriveled vine. “That damned sun was feeding it.” Daelen pressed his blackened palms to a trunk, trying to force stolen memories back into the bark. The tree shuddered, sap leaking like tears. “It’s not enough.” Mara’s scars ached, visions flashing—Cat’s voice, fractured but insistent: *"The forest was never meant to last."* --- ### **The Memory Thief’s Evolution** Daelen’s hands were becoming something

By dawn, the sapling’s roots had birthed a labyrinth of trees with bark like molten gold, their leaves whispering in Cat’s voice. Villagers huddled at the edge of the grove, torn between awe and terror. A child reached to touch a trunk; the wood rippled, revealing Cat’s face beneath the surface. *“Stay close,”* the trees chorused, their roots knitting a barrier against the outside world. Mara pressed her palm to a trunk, her thorn scars tingling. “Are you really in there, Cat?” The leaves shivered. *“I am the forest. The forest is… *fragmented*.”* Behind her, a root snaked around the baker’s ankle, flooding her mind with someone else’s memory—a man she didn’t know, planting seeds in soil that screamed. ---### **Daelen’s Thieving Hands** He hid in the hollow of a golden tree, staring at his blackened palms. The forge’s spire was gone, but its hunger remained. “Daelen?” He turned too quickly. Lira, the weaver’s daughter, stood frozen mid-step, her shadow-braids coiled l

**The Hollow Child’s Army** They arrived at twilight—soldiers with eyes like smoked glass and skin that shimmered like oil on water. The hollow child led them, her void gaze fixed on the villagers’ underground bunker. “Open,” she commanded, her voice echoing Cat’s timbre but colder. The blacksmith barred the door, his storm-seed dagger trembling. “You’re not one of us! Get back!” The child tilted her head, and a soldier stepped forward, his hand dissolving into liquid time. The door corroded, metal screaming as it melted into rust. Mara intercepted them, thorns erupting from her sleeves. “What do you want?” *“The storm,”* the child intoned. *“The architect’s machine needs his lightning. You will surrender him.”* Behind her, the soldiers stood unnervingly still. Their blightless forms flickered, as if part of them existed in another time. ---### **Daelen’s Bargain** He hid in the old forge, his blackened hands buried in ash to mute their tremors. The machines’ hum c

### **The Hollow Child’s Army** They arrived at twilight—soldiers with eyes like smoked glass and skin that shimmered like oil on water. The hollow child led them, her void gaze fixed on the villagers’ underground bunker. “Open,” she commanded, her voice echoing Cat’s timbre but colder. The blacksmith barred the door, his storm-seed dagger trembling. “You’re not one of us! Get back!” The child tilted her head, and a soldier stepped forward, his hand dissolving into liquid time. The door corroded, metal screaming as it melted into rust. Mara intercepted them, thorns erupting from her sleeves. “What do you want?” *“The storm,”* the child intoned. *“The architect’s machine needs his lightning. You will surrender him.”* Behind her, the soldiers stood unnervingly still. Their blightless forms flickered, as if part of them existed in another time. ---### **Daelen’s Bargain** He hid in the old forge, his blackened hands buried in ash to mute their tremors. The machines’ hu