Novels by Joseph Louis

The hand she had used to open the intercept portal. The one that had gotten between Benimaru's fist and Web's chest about forty seconds ago, moved on instinct, the blue portal opening in the space between the strike and the target, the fist going through the portal and arriving somewhere neutral rather than arriving at Web's sternum.She hadn't thought about it.It had just happened.The way certain things happen when they have been decided somewhere below the level of decisions.Web looked at her hand.Then at her face."Thank you.” He said.Quiet. Just between them.Kyx looked at the portal."The bug needed saving." She said."Kyx."She went through the portal.Web stood at the edge for one more second. The corner of his mouth moved, just slightly, just briefly, in a direction that could generously be described as a smile and then he went through.The portal closed.The dark realm chamber was empty except for Wabash, grey and still on the floor, and the cold that had been there be

And the five of them stood in it, Dero, the twins, Gull, Web, Kyx, with the specific atmosphere of a group that has been assembled by external circumstance rather than personal preference and is beginning to take stock of that fact.……….Benimaru looked at the door the Grand Master had exited through.Then at Dero.Then at Web.Then at Gull.Then he looked at the floor where he had been lying and the specific expression on his face was the expression of someone deciding whether the floor had been worth the elbow.He had not yet decided.The chamber had gone from the Grand Master's presence to something considerably less formal in the space of about thirty seconds.Benimaru was looking at Web.Not the way Dero looked at things, Dero's looking had precision in it, the looking of someone reading a situation. Benimaru's looking was different. It was the looking of something that had picked up an object and was deciding whether the object was interesting."You." He said.Web looked at him

"Gull.” Web said."Stopping.” Gull said. "Right now. Stopped."He pressed his lips together.Then, after exactly two seconds, very quietly and almost entirely to himself… "Were you kicked in the head as a child? I'm asking genuinely."He was looking at Kyx when he said it.Web closed his eyes briefly.……….Gabimaru turned his head.Not toward Gull and Web,toward the Grand Master. Both of them turned at the same moment, which was the way they did everything, and their voices arrived at the same time the way they always did."Grand Master." Gabimaru said."We await." Benimaru finished."Your instruction.” Gabimaru continued."With eagerness.” Benimaru completed.The Grand Master looked at them both."There are vessels to be collected.” he said. "The remaining ones. The Emperor Dragon vessel among them." He paused. "I want them brought here."Gabimaru dipped his chin. "Understood.""Perfectly understood.” Benimaru said. "We will…"He stopped.The Grand Master turned to him

The chamber was quiet in the specific way of places that have just had something enormous happen in them and haven't yet decided what to do with the air that was left.Benimaru and Gabimaru were still on their knees.One knee each, heads slightly bowed, the sickly green light of their resurrected eyes directed at the stone floor in front of them. The smoke from the awakening had thinned,curling upward in slow lazy columns from the cracks where the resurrection had worked through the stone of them, the last physical evidence of what had just happened dispersing into the dark of the chamber's high ceiling.They were still.The specific stillness of things that had been still for a very long time and had only recently been reminded that stillness was a choice rather than a condition.The Grand Master looked at them.Then he said, simply…"Arise."They moved together.Not one and then the other,together, the coordination of it was so complete that it looked like one action performed by t

The Grand Master looked at the green flame.At Valthorax looking back at him through Wabash's eyes."I know what you saw." He said to the dragon inside the eyes. "I know what you showed him. I know that he knew some version of this was coming." He held the gaze of the ancient eyes inside the young face. "And he came anyway, because that is who he is." He paused. "And you let him, because you understood that this moment was necessary."The green flame in Wabash's hands flickered.Something moved in the green eyes,something that was not quite agreement and was not quite denial."Goodbye, Valthorax." The Grand Master said.His mouth opened.And from it came something that should not have been possible, a red, deep, cellular light, not a flame, something older than flame, the light of a process that had been designed to do one specific thing that nothing was supposed to be designed to do.Wabash felt it.The pulling.Not from outside, from inside, from the deepest inside, from the

"Though I understand your team had their own difficulties.""We were handling it." Web said."You were handled.” Dero said. "There is a difference.""Dero…""High Official Roderick and a woman I don't recognize put an axe through your back via the portal." Dero said. "I'm not commenting on your competence. I'm commenting on the specific incident of the axe."Web's jaw tightened."At least we didn't lose our target.”Kyx said.Dero turned and looked at her.Fully turned. The full attention of someone who has decided that a statement requires a complete response rather than a partial one."Careful." Dero said. Quiet. The specific quiet of something that doesn't need volume."I'm just…""What you are just doing." Dero said."Is speaking to me in a way that will require me to demonstrate, for what I hope will be the final time, the difference between what I am and what you are." She looked at Kyx steadily. "I have no interest in doing that tonight. So I would encourage you to st

The beam from Mr Henderson’s staff struck her, but the mirror seemed to absorb the energy, reflecting it back at him with such force that the air itself vibrated.Stiles stumbled back, shielding his eyes from the intensity of the light, feeling the ground beneath him rumble. His father recoiled as if the light burned him, the staff slipping from his grasp as if the power within it had turned against him. Mr Henderson's hands shot up, trying to shield himself, but it was no use."You don't control the darkness, Father.”Stiles muttered, his voice shaky but defiant.The princess stepped forward, her expression resolute as the mirror's light intensified.Mr Henderson's face twisted in pain and rage as the light enveloped him, the dark tendrils of power that had once flowed through him now flickering and dying. For a moment, the man that Stiles had known, the father he’d trusted ,seemed to return, his eyes filled with guilt and regret. But it was fleeting. The darkness clung to him like a

The beam from Mr Henderson’s staff struck her, but the mirror seemed to absorb the energy, reflecting it back at him with such force that the air itself vibrated.Stiles stumbled back, shielding his eyes from the intensity of the light, feeling the ground beneath him rumble. His father recoiled as if the light burned him, the staff slipping from his grasp as if the power within it had turned against him. Mr Henderson's hands shot up, trying to shield himself, but it was no use."You don't control the darkness, Father.”Stiles muttered, his voice shaky but defiant.The princess stepped forward, her expression resolute as the mirror's light intensified.Mr Henderson's face twisted in pain and rage as the light enveloped him, the dark tendrils of power that had once flowed through him now flickering and dying. For a moment, the man that Stiles had known, the father he’d trusted ,seemed to return, his eyes filled with guilt and regret. But it was fleeting. The darkness clung to him like a

He barely registered Miss Laura's presence as he shoved past her, heading straight for the garage door. The cold metal felt like a barricade to the truth, and he needed answers,now.His heart hammered in his chest, every step more frantic than the last. He reached the door, and before he could push it open, Mr Jonathan caught up to him, grabbing his arm."Stiles, slow down. We need to think this through." His voice was calm, controlled, but the anxiety in his eyes betrayed him."I can’t.I have to find my father.”Stiles replied, his voice tight with urgency.The door creaked as Stiles swung it open, his breath catching in his throat. The garage was dark, the air stale with the scent of oil and dust. His eyes scanned the room, but it was empty, save for a few parked cars and scattered tools. No sign of his father."Where is he?.”Stiles muttered to himself, stepping further into the room, his hand grazing the cold metal of a car door."Stiles, we don’t even know if he’s in here,this i

“You’re the one who did this?You set me up, Sophia? You know how much I care about Raya, and you…”Stiles’ voice broke through the silence, the accusation sharp and raw.His words faltered for a second as if the betrayal was too much for him to fully articulate, but the anger in his voice made it clear how deeply this hurt him.Sophia’s gaze flickered, a flicker of something unreadable crossing her face before she masked it with a thin, victorious smile. “I did what I had to do, Stiles. You wouldn’t have learned your lesson any other way. She deserves better than someone like you.”“What, Sophia I can't believe you are being all this shit.”Raya spoke as she gazed at her scornfully.“Cousin, I did it for the betterment of your future.”Sophia spoke as she grabbed Raya's hand.“My BETTERMENT, or do you mean the betterment of the THOMAS’S FAMILY, yes Sophia, I know about everything you guys have been doing, you guys have been trying to take me out from the exclusive contract that was g

Raya finally turned her head, meeting his gaze. Her eyes were hollow, distant, like she was looking through him rather than at him. “Explain? What is there to explain, Stiles? You don’t get to just walk in here like everything’s fine. Not after what you did.”Stiles’s heart clenched at the weight in her voice. She was breaking, but the walls around her were solid as ever.“I didn’t…” His voice faltered. He didn’t know how to make her see. How to make her believe him when every word she’d heard painted him as the villain.“I didn’t mean for it to happen. I never wanted to hurt you, Raya. I swear, I…”“Enough,I don’t want to hear it. You made your choices. You made your bed. Now lie in it.”Raya cut him off, her voice quiet but firm.Her words were like a slap, and they stung worse than anything she could have thrown at him. His chest tightened as if all the air had been sucked from the world, leaving him with nothing but his own failures.The silence that followed felt heavier than b

Mrs Lisa’s gaze softened slightly, but her voice was sharp. “You’re not telling us everything. What did you do, Sophia?.”Sophia’s eyes narrowed. “I told her. Everything. About Stiles kissing a random girl in a restaurant I even sent her a picture of the both of them. She’ll never trust him again. And once that trust is gone, everything falls apart.”Mrs Lisa Thomas face was marked with a smile as she turned and gazed at Mr Thomas, whose face was also marked with a smile.“No wonder why she has not come out of her room since today.”Mrs Lisa spoke.“ I should go and check up on her, you know, for family reasons.”Sophia spoke as she stood up from the couch and walked towards the stairs.“Sophia!”Mr Thomas called out her name.“Yes, uncle.”She replied as she stood halfway up the stairs.“Tell her to get ready for the Henderson Global Conglomerate company Anniversary, which should start in a few minutes, he said he his going to introduce his long lost son to all Oxford valley.”Mr J