All Chapters of SHADOWS OF THE VEIL: Chapter 121
- Chapter 130
235 chapters
CHAPTER 123 — THE MARK OF THE NULLBORN
The city aboveground was loud with life—traffic, voices, neon lights flickering across damp streets—but below, in the forgotten tunnels beneath Old Wexley Station, Rick heard only one thing:The echo of his own heartbeat.Too loud.Too fast.Almost… doubled.Like something else was beating with him.Collins and Seraphina walked behind him, their footsteps careful, their shoulders tense. Kai moved silently at Rick’s side, a faint glow flickering beneath his palms.The deeper they went, the more the stale air grew heavy with whispering Veil energy.Collins cleared his throat.“You sure this thing—the Resonance Scar—will show us what’s wrong with you?”Rick nodded once, gripping the strap of his satchel tightly.“The Wraith said the scar would reveal the cracks. If the Nullborn left a mark on me, this is the only place that can show it.”Seraphina frowned.“And if the crack is worse than we thought?”Rick didn’t answer.He couldn’t.Because the truth was…He could feel the crack spreadi
CHAPTER 124 — THE SHADOW THAT WEARS MY FACE
Rick slid backward across the stone floor, boots grinding against dust and old runes. The impact rattled through his bones—his own strength thrown back at him, doubled.The Mirror Rick stood where Rick had been a moment before, its posture relaxed, almost amused.Collins cursed under his breath.“This thing hits harder than the real you.”“Thanks for the motivation,” Rick muttered.Seraphina spread her fingers, flame kindling between them.“Do we attack, or will that make it stronger?”Kai stepped forward.“No. A Mirror-born feeds on the original’s inner conflict. If Rick is unstable—”Mirror Rick blurred, crossing the room in an eye-blink.It seized Kai by the throat and slammed him into a pillar so hard the entire chamber shook.Kai gasped, runes flickering around his fingers but failing to ignite.Mirror Rick leaned close to him, whispering something in a voice like cracked stone.“Your light will be the first to dim.”Rick didn’t remember moving.One moment he was across the room—
Chapter 125 — The Moment the Mask Breaks
The campus buzzed with its usual noise, but for Brian, everything felt strangely quiet. After everything that had happened with Kendra, Zainab, the scholarship drama, and the rising tension with Kelvin, his mind finally felt like it was carrying too much weight. Still, he walked with a calm expression—as if nothing could break him.But today would test that mask.---A Sudden CallBrian had just left the Faculty of Engineering building when his phone rang. The caller ID: Aunty Rose.His heartbeat stumbled.He rarely received calls from home during school hours unless something serious had happened.He answered immediately.“Hello, Aunty—”Her voice was trembling.“Brian… you need to come home this weekend.”His brows furrowed. “What’s wrong?”She hesitated, and that hesitation alone tightened Brian’s chest.“It’s… it’s about your mother.”A cold chill washed over him. “What happened to her?”Aunty Rose’s breath shook. “She collapsed this morning.”Brian stopped walking. Students passe
Chapter 126 — The Road Back Home
Brian left his hostel before sunrise, the campus still quiet and wrapped in the pale blue of early morning. He carried only a small bag—clothes, some cash, his documents—nothing else. His mind was too heavy for anything more.He boarded the first bus heading toward his village. The engine hummed, and as the bus rolled onto the highway, he leaned his head against the window, staring at the blur of passing trees.Every second felt slow.Every bump on the road felt like a reminder of how powerless he was.He hated it.He hated being far away while his mother was in pain.---Memories on the RoadThe farther he traveled from campus, the more his memories flooded him—his mother’s laughter, her calloused hands, her voice waking him up every morning for school.A particular memory struck him hard.He was twelve the day he told her he didn’t want to go to school because kids were mocking him for his torn uniform.His mother had knelt in front of him and said:“If you don’t let their words bre
CHAPTER 127 — The Echo in the Bloodline
The storm over the shattered valley thickened, its clouds swirling like a whirlpool ready to swallow the world. Lira and Kai sprinted across the broken plateau, the ground trembling beneath their feet.Behind them, the Fractured Aspect—now wearing pieces of Rick’s stolen essence—let out a roar that cracked boulders.Kai gasped.“Lira, it’s feeding on him—on RICK! This isn’t just possession. It’s rewriting itself with his existence!”Lira clenched her teeth, her eyes blazing, her silver aura twisting with raw fury.“No… Rick is still fighting in there. I can feel him. His spirit hasn’t given up yet.”A blast of shadow-energy tore across the field, slicing a trench in the earth. The two barely dodged it.The creature’s voice rippled through the air—deep, distorted, and layered with Rick’s echo:“Do not run.The Bridge must stand.”Lira froze.“Rick’s voice… but twisted.”Kai pulled her forward.“Don’t listen! That thing is trying to anchor itself using his memories. It wants your reacti
CHAPTER 128 — Voices Behind the Doorway
The tear in the sky widened—silent, thin, like a single stroke of a blade cutting through the heavens.But despite its stillness, its presence pressed on the valley like a second gravity.Even the monster wearing Rick’s corrupted essence paused, its head tilting toward the breach as if listening.Kai felt something cold settle into his bones.“Lira… something’s wrong. That’s not just a rift—something is watching us.”Lira didn’t look up.Her eyes stayed locked on the creature. Her aura pulsed around her like a heartbeat made of light.“I know,” she whispered. “And it’s not here for the Aspect. It’s here for me.”Another voice rippled softly out of the sky, almost gentle—too gentle.“Child of the Veil… you carry what does not belong to you.”Kai stumbled back, panic rising.“L-Lira… that voice—”“I hear it.”Her voice was steady, but her hands trembled.The creature—still holding pieces of Rick—let out a guttural growl, as if the voice irritated it.Its form flickered, shadows peeling
CHAPTER 129 — The Watcher’s Demand
Silence swept the valley as the figure hovering beneath the rift lowered its hand.No wind.No sound.No heartbeat.Even the monstrous, corrupted creature that held Rick’s trapped essence stayed perfectly still—as if awaiting permission to move.Lira felt the weight of a mountain pressing down on her chest.This wasn’t like facing an Aspect.This wasn’t like facing a beast corrupted by the Veil.This was something older.Something that didn’t belong to any plane.A Watcher.Kai tried to speak, but the pressure crushed his voice inside his throat.He dropped to both knees, hands digging into the cracked earth.“L… Lira…” he wheezed.She didn’t answer.Her entire body shone with trembling light, runes flickering weakly like dying stars.The Watcher stepped down, its masked face tilting slightly—curious, almost gentle.“Child of the Sunbrand,”it murmured,“you hold what is not yours.”Lira swallowed hard.Her voice barely rose above a whisper.“I didn’t steal anything.”The Watcher took
CHAPTER 130 — When the Chains Break
The creature’s claws stopped a hair’s breadth from Lira’s chest.She could feel the heat of the corrupted energy pulsing off them—like the breath of a furnace.Her instincts screamed to dodge, to parry, to run—but the Sunbrand exploded inside her instead.A blast of gold tore the air apart.The creature staggered back, shadows peeling off its body like burning cloth.For the first time since the corruption took hold, its form faltered.Kai used the moment to crawl toward Lira, gritting his teeth.“Get up—come on, get up!”But Lira wasn’t looking at the monster.She was staring into its eyes.Because for one heartbeat—behind the swirling darkness—she saw him.Rick.His face.His fear.His fight.“Rick!” she shouted, voice cracking. “You’re in there—I know it!”Inside the creature, Rick slammed himself against the mental cage suffocating him.He pushed until his vision blurred.He pushed until his essence burned.Chains of shadow wrapped around his mind, anchoring him to darkness.T
CHAPTER 131 — The Rift Unleashed
The sky tore wider.Not explosively—but slowly, deliberately, like a curtain being pulled open by invisible hands.The air around the rift rippled, bending light, bending sound, even bending thought.Lira felt her knees weaken.Kai clutched his chest as if gravity had doubled.Even the corrupted creature holding Rick’s trapped essence shuddered beneath the pressure.The Watcher raised its arms, the constellations swirling across its robe brightening.“Do not resist, Vessel.You will survive the extraction if you remain still.”Lira wiped blood from her lips.“You call that comfort?”Her voice was raw, shaking.“But here’s my answer—”She slammed her staff into the ground.A shockwave of golden light erupted outward.The Watcher didn’t move, but the rift flickered—just slightly.Kai staggered up beside her, panting, barely able to stand.“Lira… don’t try to take this thing alone.”Lira shook her head.“I’m not. I never was.”She looked at the monstrous creature—the distorted body th
Chapter 132 — The Weight of a Chosen Path
Night had already settled over Emberwake Fortress, but the halls were far from silent. Torches flickered against stone walls, casting long shadows as soldiers hurried from post to post. Rumors spread like wildfire—rumors about a masked assassin who had torn through Shadowcrest agents as if they were nothing.Rumors about Rick, though no one knew his name.Inside the fortress infirmary, Hailey sat beside a wounded scout who had been the only survivor of the ambush that afternoon. His entire body trembled, not from pain… but from fear.“He didn’t move like a normal man,” the scout whispered hoarsely. “He glided. One blink—three bodies on the ground… next blink—he was behind me.”Hailey frowned. “Did he attack you?”“No… he spoke.” The scout swallowed. “One sentence: ‘Tell Hailey I’m not her enemy.’ Then he vanished.”Hailey’s breath caught in her throat. There was only one person reckless enough, bold enough, and stubborn enough to send her a message in blood and shadows—Rick.Before s