Novels by Pauline Maxwell

Neo Avalon buzzed louder than usual—an uneasy frequency under the city’s neon heartbeat. Screens across the skyline flickered with emergency broadcasts, while hovering news drones zipped through the fog like anxious fireflies.Ruby noticed it first when the late-night cafeteria television cut from a cheerful cooking show to a red-striped alert. Students gathered around the screen, murmuring.“Another one?” someone whispered.“Third this week,” another girl said.Ruby’s tray trembled slightly in her hands. She forced her shoulders to relax and slipped into the nearest empty booth. The footage replayed: a street in Sector Nine, crowds scattering, flashes of violet light, a figure darting across rooftops too fast to be human.The anchor’s voice was calm, but strained.“Authorities report disturbances across five sectors in the last forty-eight hours. Citizens are advised to stay indoors after midnight. Investigations continue.”Ruby stared until someone slid into the seat across from her

The warehouse settled into an uneasy quiet after Mason’s suspension. Workers returned to their stations, whispering behind pallets, glancing at Leon with a mixture of curiosity and wariness.But Leon barely noticed any of it.Too much had happened in one morning.Grayson Ward’s intervention.Mason being dragged out of the building.The sudden shift in how people looked at him.A month ago, he was trash.Today, someone in power acknowledged him.He didn’t know how to feel about that.He stacked crates with steady precision, forcing his mind to focus on the work. His body moved smoothly—stronger than it had ever been. Muscles responding with new confidence. Breath steady.Then—*PING*A bright flash flickered across his vision.Leon flinched, nearly dropping the scanner.[SYSTEM: PRIVATE CHANNEL OPENED]His blood ran cold.This wasn’t a normal mission update.It felt… heavier. Secretive.Leon turned away from the others, stepping into an empty aisle between towering shelves.The air fel

Morning at Eastpoint Logistics usually began the same way—metal shutters rattling open, forklifts humming, workers dragging themselves inside with half-awake grumbles.But today, the atmosphere felt different.Tighter.Quieter.Charged.It wasn’t because of Leon.It was because everyone knew that Mason Briggs, their notoriously loud supervisor, had shown cracks for the first time. People whispered about it while pretending to work. A new rumor spread like gasoline catching flame:“The branch manager is coming today.”And Mason looked like he was praying it wasn’t true.Leon entered the warehouse calmly, scanning in with the same quiet discipline as always. But as he walked toward his station, he noticed how several co-workers moved aside, letting him pass without bumping him.Respect.Wariness.Both, maybe.He wasn’t sure yet.But what was clear was the way Mason stood stiffly near the staircase to the offices, pale under the fluorescent lights.The branch manager, Mr. Grayson Ward, w

The warehouse buzzed around Leon, but inside him, everything had gone still—quiet in a way that felt new. Solid. Grounded. As he scanned another crate, a soft ripple passed through his body.A pulse.Not adrenaline.Not fear.Something deeper.[Mission Completed: Confront Fear][Reward: +15 Courage][Courage Stat: Level Up]Then—[New Trait Unlocked: Stable Presence]Your aura now influences your surroundings. Weak-willed individuals will hesitate before confronting you.Leon paused mid-scan.Aura?He blinked once. Twice. But there was no physical glow, no burst of light. Instead, something in the air just… shifted. As if a weight he had carried his whole life had finally fallen off.He stood taller without trying.Breathed deeper without realizing.Looked forward without flinching.He didn’t even try to project anything. He simply was.And that alone felt powerful.When he stepped out of the aisle to grab a new cart, heads turned. Not mockingly. Not curiously.Warily.The whispers st

The air in the storage room felt thick—like the walls themselves were trying to understand what had just happened. Leon stood there, chest rising and falling steadily, not with exhaustion… but with control. Total, terrifying control.Mason’s two lackeys were already on the floor. One clutching his wrist, the other gasping from a blow to the stomach he never even saw coming. And Leon… he hadn’t swung wild. He hadn’t raged. He hadn’t even yelled.He had simply moved.Fast. Clean. Precise.Almost inhuman.Mason stared at him, wide-eyed. He hadn’t expected resistance. Definitely not this kind. And as Leon turned his attention fully toward him—silent, calm, focused—Mason actually stepped back.A tiny step.Barely noticeable.But in that moment, it felt louder than a scream.Leon didn’t miss it. Neither did the two men curled on the ground.For the first time since Leon joined the warehouse… Mason Cole looked scared.He tried to hide it. He swallowed hard, squared his shoulders, and barked,

The confrontation with Mason should’ve ended when Leon turned his back.It didn’t.As Leon walked toward the exit of the storage wing, Mason’s eyes flared with a desperate, ugly decision. The kind of impulse only a bruised ego could make.He snatched a metal wrench from the top of a toolbox and lunged.No warning.No words.Just pure, panicked violence.The workers who had peeked around corners gasped.Leon didn’t hear the gasp.He didn’t see the wrench.He didn’t turn.But the system did.⟡ ALERT: Host is under sudden threat.Emergency Response Protocol Activated.Triggering ADRENAL SURGE.Time didn’t slow.The world sharpened.Leon felt something explode through his veins—like lightning caged inside muscle. His heartbeat, once steady, now pulsed with precise, calculated force. His vision expanded, catching motion from behind him in a crisp, wide arc.He didn’t think.He moved.Faster than he ever had in his life.Leon twisted sideways, the wrench slicing through empty air where his