Night fell without ceremony, no thunder announced it. No stars bothered to emerge. Darkness simply arrived, settling over the Sanctuary Plains like a decision that could no longer be delayed. Fires burned low in scattered camps where mortals and lesser beings gathered uneasily, whispering about omens they could feel but not name.Diana stood at the edge of the rise overlooking them, her cloak pulled tight against a wind that carried no cold yet still made her shiver. The shard Chronos had given them rested in her palm, its surface warm despite the night. It pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat learning a new rhythm.Marcus joined her without a word. He had removed his armor, leaving only the worn leather beneath. It made him look less like a god of war and more like a man who had lived too long with violence as his only language.“You’re thinking too loudly,” he said.She didn’t look at him. “I’m afraid if I stop thinking, I’ll start seeing again.”Marcus’s jaw tightened. He knew what s

Last Updated : 2026-01-06

When Gods Begin to Choose

The quiet after the Court’s departure felt wrong not so peaceful and —hollow. As if the world itself was holding its breath, waiting to see who would move first.Diana sat on a broken stone step at the edge of the Ashline, her elbows resting on her knees, fingers loosely wrapped around the shard. Its glow had softened, but it had not gone dormant. It pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat that refused to sleep. Every time it warmed, she felt a distant pull as though something far away had noticed her and was slowly turning in her direction.Marcus stood a few paces away, watching the horizon. He had not put his spear down since the Court vanished. The God of War looked carved from tension, shoulders tight, jaw set, as though he expected the sky to split open again at any second.Xavier helped the priestess guide the last of the freed mortals away from the battlefield. Some cried. Some whispered prayers. Others stared at Diana with open awe or fear. Word would spread quickly—about the froze

Last Updated : 2026-01-08

The Weight of Two Worlds

War did not pause for boardrooms, that was the first lesson Diana learned when she stepped back into the Sterling Tower, heels clicking against polished marble as if she had never left the world of contracts, shareholders, and carefully worded threats. The second lesson followed swiftly after.Power wore many faces, and some of them smiled while sharpening knives.The Sterling Company’s headquarters rose like a blade against the city skyline of steel and glass, elegant and unforgiving. Diana had once thought of it as a symbol of achievement. Now, after standing on battlefields where gods bled and fate fractured, it felt like another kind of war zone. Quieter and all cleaner and of no less dangerous.She adjusted her blazer as the elevator doors opened onto the executive floor.“Ms. Sterling,” her assistant, Evelyn, said immediately, falling into step beside her. “The Moon family representatives arrived early. They’re… not pleased.”Diana sighed. “Of course they aren’t.” her face held

Last Updated : 2026-01-09

What the Seal Demands

The silence left behind by the Watcher was heavier than any battlefield Marcus had ever stood on.For a long moment, neither he nor Diana moved. The fractured land around them pulsed softly, fault lines glowing like veins beneath dying skin. The sky rolled overhead in restless spirals, as if it too waited for an answer.Marcus finally stepped away, dragging a hand through his hair. “We don’t accept that.”Diana watched him carefully. “We can’t pretend it wasn’t offered.”“There is always another way,” he said sharply. “There always has been.”She nodded slowly. “And we’ll look for it. But denying the reality doesn’t protect us.”He turned to face her, frustration and fear warring openly on his face. “That seal would bind you to a god whose life is nothing but war. Loss. Endless enemies. You deserve—”“I deserve the truth,” she interrupted gently. “And I deserve to choose.”The words landed harder than any blade.Marcus exhaled, the fire in him dimming into something raw. “I’ve watched

Last Updated : 2026-01-10

The Shape of Sacrifice

Morning came without warmth, light filtered through the high windows of the Sterling Citadel, pale and sharp, as if even the sun hesitated to offer comfort. Diana stood alone in the council chamber, staring at the long obsidian table where mortals and immortals had argued for centuries. Today, it felt too small for what was coming.She had not slept.The Watcher’s words echoed relentlessly in her mind—succession, inheritance, acceleration. And worse than all of it was the name it had spoken so calmly.Xavier.The doors opened behind her, and this time she did turn.He stood there, hesitant, his usual easy confidence stripped away.There was a shadow behind his eyes now—something new, something he hadn’t earned but carried anyway.“You sent for me,” he said.Diana gestured to the chair across from her. “Sit.”He did, slowly. “You look like you’re about to tell me the world is ending.”She almost smiled. Almost.“It might,” she said. “But not in the way stories like to tell it.”He lean

Last Updated : 2026-01-12

The price of Moon

The tremor that followed did not fade it lingered beneath the Sterling Citadel like a pulse trapped in stone, a slow reminder that the world was no longer stable—it was merely pretending to be. Diana stood at the highest balcony as dusk bled into night, watching the city lights flicker below. Every glow felt fragile. Every life carried on as if tomorrow were promised.It wasn’t behind her, Marcus leaned against the marble archway, arms crossed, gaze fixed on the horizon where the sky darkened unnaturally. He could feel it too. The quiet pressure. The way the air resisted breathing.“The Weaver is closer,” he said.Diana didn’t turn. “I know.”She pressed her palm against the cool railing, grounding herself. Since the council meeting, her thoughts had splintered—Sterling obligations, Moon family demands, the seal, Xavier, the coming convergence. And beneath it all, something deeper. A faint, invasive sensation she couldn’t name.As if something was brushing against her from the inside

Last Updated : 2026-01-13

Fractured

The first Sterling grid had collapsed at 02:17 a.m, Diana felt it before the alarms sounded.It wasn’t pain and not exactly but a sharp internal shift, like a crown slipping on her head. Somewhere deep within the lattice of wards and safeguards she had inherited, something tore.She was already moving when her secure line lit up.“Central Asia node is down,” her chief systems officer said, voice tight. “No external breach signature. It just… unraveled.”Marcus was beside her instantly. “That’s not an attack. That’s unbinding.”Diana’s jaw clenched. “The Weaver.”Outside the Sterling Tower, the city slept ignorant of how close it had come to screaming. The Moon Accord had barely settled, and already the retaliation had begun.“Lock down all non-essential systems,” Diana ordered. “Manual oversight only. No autonomous corrections.”There was a pause. “Diana, that’ll slow response time by thirty percent.”“Do it anyway,” she said. “If the Weaver can ride our automation, we cut it off.”Sh

Last Updated : 2026-01-14

The Weaver’s Design

The Weaver did not watch the world the way gods once had.It did not sit on thrones of cloud or fire. It did not gaze down with judgment or hunger. It all listened.Every doubt whispered behind closed doors. Every fear buried beneath ambition. Every moment a leader hesitated before choosing sacrifice over comfort.That was where the Weaver lived and Diana Sterling was becoming very interesting.Across the fractured layers of reality, the Weaver adjusted its pattern. Sterling’s network had not collapsed as predicted. The board had not fractured. The Moon family had not seized control through fear.Annoying, but not unexpected the Weaver never relied on a single thread, it had pulled another.The first civilian incident happened just before dawn.A Sterling-powered transit hub in São Paulo stuttered mid-cycle. Not a shutdown—just enough of a delay to misalign time-sensitive safety wards. No explosion. No divine fire.Just confusion and three people were injured. None killed, but the fo

Last Updated : 2026-01-15

Where Gods Bleed

The danger did not arrive with thunder or fire.It came with silence, Marcus felt it before the world acknowledged it. The steady pulse of Sterling City and the invisible harmony of wards, contracts, divine seals, and mortal systems—hesitated. Not broke. Not shattered but all paused, he then stopped walking.Diana was mid-sentence, speaking about the Moon family’s latest demand for an increased percentage on the eastern expansion, when his hand closed firmly around her wrist.“Marcus?” she asked, startled. “What—”“Quiet,” he murmured.The corridor of Sterling Tower stretched long and immaculate around them. Polished black marble beneath their feet. Glass walls revealing the city skyline above the clouds. Normally alive with energy, power humming through every vein of the building.Now, it felt… hollow, Diana followed his gaze. The lights hadn’t gone out—but they dimmed subtly, stretching shadows where none should exist. The city beyond the glass no longer reflected movement. No flyi

Last Updated : 2026-01-16

Where Gods Bleed

The danger did not arrive with thunder or fire.It came with silence, Marcus felt it before the world acknowledged it. The steady pulse of Sterling City and the invisible harmony of wards, contracts, divine seals, and mortal systems—hesitated. Not broke. Not shattered but all paused, he then stopped walking.Diana was mid-sentence, speaking about the Moon family’s latest demand for an increased percentage on the eastern expansion, when his hand closed firmly around her wrist.“Marcus?” she asked, startled. “What—”“Quiet,” he murmured.The corridor of Sterling Tower stretched long and immaculate around them. Polished black marble beneath their feet. Glass walls revealing the city skyline above the clouds. Normally alive with energy, power humming through every vein of the building.Now, it felt… hollow, Diana followed his gaze. The lights hadn’t gone out—but they dimmed subtly, stretching shadows where none should exist. The city beyond the glass no longer reflected movement. No flyi

Last Updated : 2026-01-16