Novels by Wiens77

Chapter 8: The Voice in the Static"What is this?" Daren gasped, his fingers trembling against the dead glass of his phone. "Who is writing this?""He is not the god you think he is," the deep, raspy voice repeated, seeming to emanate from the very static in the air."Who's there?" Daren hissed, spinning around in the dark, trash-strewn alleyway. "Show yourself! Are you another one of those corporate goons?""No," the voice replied, its tone as dry as dead leaves scraping against pavement. "I am what remains of his previous conquest. Look at your phone, Daren."Daren slowly raised the device, squinting in the dark. "The screen is totally black, but these red letters are bleeding through the glass. How are you doing this?""I am the ghost in his machine," the voice whispered. "I am a fragment of a soul he tried to erase. He is not a builder, mortal. He is a devourer.""Devourer?" Daren stammered, pulling his jacket tighter. "He told me he was fixing a broken realm. He said my world was

Chapter 7: Fall and Rise“Hold on!” Daren screamed, the wind tearing the words from his mouth.“What are you doing?!” Valerie shrieked, fingers digging into his shoulders as the cold night air roared past them.“I’m trying to keep us from becoming a permanent stain on the sidewalk!”“Do not let the kinetic potential dissipate!” Aethelgard’s voice boomed inside Daren’s head. “Channel the air resistance! Force the energy downward to break your momentum! Do it now, or you will both perish!”“I don’t know how!” Daren panicked. “Tell me how!”“Will it! Command your marrow to push back against gravity! Release the resonance!”“Push back!” Daren roared, thrusting his free arm toward the approaching asphalt. “Just push back! Go!”A massive shockwave of violet light erupted from his palms, forming a pressurized cushion of raw energy beneath them. The air warped and crackled with static.The violent descent slowed in a split second. They crashed heavily onto the lid of a commercial metal dumpst

Chapter 6: Divine Paradox“A traitor? I didn’t choose any of this!” Daren yelled, stepping back as the white-haired girl glared at him. “I just wanted my phone fixed! I didn’t ask to get drafted into some cosmic war!”The thick wires holding her snapped with a metallic pop, showering the floor in white-hot sparks. She tumbled forward onto her hands and knees.“Get away from me,” she choked, silver eyes flashing. “Don’t touch me, puppet.”“I’m trying to help you!” Daren reached out, then pulled back as she hissed. “The alarm’s already going. We don’t have time!”“Leave her, Daren,” Aethelgard’s voice boomed inside his skull. “She is the Defiler’s rot. Destroy the vessel. Absorb her core and your kinetic capacity will triple. Do it now.”“No way in hell!” Daren snapped. “I’m not a murderer!”“Who are you talking to?” the girl demanded, struggling to her feet. “Is the Unmaker telling you to kill me?”“Yes! And I’m telling him to shut up!” Daren pointed at his temple. “Can you walk? We ne

Chapter 5: Lightning in the Palm“This is a joke. Tell me this is some kind of sick joke,” Daren said, staring at his glowing violet eyes in the microwave reflection.“It is no joke, mortal,” Aethelgard’s voice echoed, cold and impatient. “Your transformation is complete. Now put on the sunglasses and move. We have wasted enough time.”Daren grabbed a pair of cheap polarized sunglasses from the counter. “I’m going to look like an absolute idiot. Who wears sunglasses at midnight?”“An idiot who wishes to keep his eyes from drawing every apex predator in the city. Slide them on. The corporate offices of Apex Dynamics are three blocks away.”“Apex Dynamics?” Daren slipped the dark lenses over his nose. The faint violet glow still seeped through the edges. “Why are we going there? That’s a tech conglomerate.”“They have harvested a fragment of my design. They call it ‘Project Aether.’ They think they can weaponize it. They are fools. You will retrieve it.”“Retrieve it? You mean steal it.

Chapter 4: System Update“Who is this?” Daren muttered, thumb hovering over the glowing keys of his normal phone. “How do you have my number? Answer me.”He typed: Who are you? What do you mean the Architect is a liar?A red circle with a hostile exclamation point popped up instantly.“What? No signal?” He tapped the screen frantically. “Come on, go through!”“The signal is blocked, mortal,” Aethelgard’s voice boomed inside his mind. “Do not waste your limited cognitive capacity on futile endeavors.”“You did this!” Daren accused, glaring at the golden phone on the bed. “You blocked my service! Why? Who sent that text?”“An irrelevant distraction. A cockroach scurrying in the dark, whispering lies to a tool that does not belong to them. Focus on what matters.”“It matters to me!” Daren yelled, grabbing his hair as he paced. “They knew my name! They said you’re a liar! Are you lying about this midnight mission?”“I do not lie,” Aethelgard replied, tone freezing cold. “Lying requires a

Chapter 3: The Price of PowerDaren hurried along the cracked sidewalk, hand clamped over his pocket. The violet light from the coin pulsed like a bruised heartbeat through his jeans.“Seriously, shut it off,” he hissed. “You said this thing is a beacon. I might as well be carrying a neon ‘Eat Me’ sign.”“The light is a byproduct of its containment,” Aethelgard’s voice vibrated in his teeth. “It has no off switch. It is a fragment of a collapsed reality. If it inconveniences you, you should have left it in the ash.”“And let someone else find it? Yeah, right.” Daren reached his building, fumbled with the keys, and dove inside. He took the stairs two at a time, legs strangely light, as if gravity had loosened its grip. Inside his cramped studio he slammed the door, locked every bolt, and leaned against the wood in the dark, breathing hard.“Okay. Where do I hide a glowing interdimensional coin?”“The closet,” Aethelgard suggested. “Under the weight of your discarded failures.”“You mea