2025-11-20 23:32:47
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
CHAPTER 10 — THE DOORWAY WITHIN
The warehouse felt too quiet after the Voidborn vanished. Too still. As if the shadows were holding their breath.Derick sat against a crate, legs shaking, lungs refusing to calm. His hands still glowed faintly, flickering between silver and black.Aria hovered a few feet away, close enough to help, but not close enough to touch him. “Derick,” she said softly, “talk to me.”“No.” His voice cracked. “I don’t want to talk.”“Derick”“Aria, please,” he whispered. “Just… give me a second. I don’t know what’s real anymore.”Aria’s shoulders loosened, but her voice remained steady. “What you saw was real. What he said? Not all of it.”“You don’t know that,” Derick muttered.Aria hesitated. “I know enough.”“Do you?” Derick lifted trembling fingers. Dark veins pulsed faintly beneath his skin. “Because I don’t even know what I am.”Aria stepped forward. “Derick”He recoiled. “Don’t.”Aria froze, pain flashing across her face. “I’m not him.”“I know.” Derick swallowed. “But that doesn’t change
CHAPTER 9 — THE VOID THAT CALLS HIS NAME
The shadow rising in the warehouse didn’t move like a person. It moved like a wound in reality, peeling, bending, devouring the light around it. Derick couldn’t breathe.Two white eyes stared at him from inside the darkness. Cold. Ancient. Familiar in a way that made Derick’s bones ache. Aria whispered, “Derick… don’t answer him.”Derick didn’t react. He couldn’t react. The shadow stepped forward, and every lamp in the warehouse flickered violently.Halden rasped from the table, “That… that presence… sweet God…”Marcus aimed his gun with trembling hands. “Aria, that thing”“Is a Voidborn,” Aria said. “Stand down. Bullets won’t help.”The being tilted its head toward her. “Ah,” it said, voice echoing like it was spoken through empty caverns.“The traitor.”Aria braced herself, blade trembling. “…You.”Derick whispered, “Aria… what is happening?”The shadow-being stepped closer. “Derick Greenwood,” it said, savoring each syllable. “My son.”Derick staggered back. “Stop saying that.”The
CHAPTER 8 — THE TRUTH THAT BREAKS
Cold night air slammed into Derick as he stepped out of the armored vehicle. The “safe house” ahead looked nothing like a sanctuary, an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the city, windows boarded, metal siding rusted through in long streaks.Aria emerged behind him, supporting Halden. Marcus scanned the perimeter with a hand on his weapon. Aria spoke softly, “Derick… I meant what I said. I want to help you.”Derick didn’t look at her. “The Codex said the truth would break me.”Aria stiffened. “The Codex is manipulative.”Derick snapped, “Then stop proving it right!”Aria inhaled sharply, but Halden groaned, cutting off the argument.“Get him inside,” Marcus ordered. “Shadows will be on us soon.”Derick swallowed his questions, just long enough to help carry Halden inside.The warehouse interior was dimly lit by old generator lamps. Dust floated in the stale air. Equipment cases lined the walls, medical supplies, weapons, surveillance gear.Aria laid Halden on a metal table while
CHAPTER 7 — SHADOWS IN HER VOICE
The armored vehicle sped through the empty streets, its engine whisper-quiet, slicing through the night like a shadow with wheels.Derick sat pinned between the door and Halden, gripping the Codex so tightly his knuckles blanched. Its warning burned through his mind like fire. “THE FIRST LIE IS NOT LUCAS’S. IT’S HERS.”He stole a glance at Aria. She sat in the front passenger seat, shoulders tense, eyes fixed forward. Too still. Too quiet. As if she could feel his gaze but didn’t dare turn around.The driver, an older man with silver hair and deep scars, watched them through the rear-view mirror. “You picked up strays, Aria,” he growled. “And one of them is bleeding out.”Aria snapped, “Drive, Marcus.”Halden groaned softly, leaning against Derick’s shoulder. “I’ll… be fine. Just a scratch…”“It’s not a scratch,” Derick muttered. “Lyra nearly gutted you.”Halden managed a weak smile. “Still annoying.”Derick’s jaw tightened. “Halden, stay awake.”Aria twisted in her seat just enough t
CHAPTER 6 — BLOODLINE SECRETS
Halden’s words hung in the air like a curse. “Your mother’s sister… the first person who ever tried to kill you.”Derick felt the world tilt. “My… aunt? She tried to kill me?”Halden nodded weakly, eyes wet with pain. “I, I didn’t know who she was at first. She looked… normal. But when she realized I didn’t have what she wanted…” He coughed violently. “She turned vicious.”Aria pressed a cloth to his wound. “Halden, stay with us. What did Lyra take from you?”Halden clutched his side. “A… a piece of the seal.”Derick blinked. “What seal?”Halden’s look was almost apologetic. “Derick… your parents didn’t just seal your power. They split the seal into parts. To protect you.”Derick’s chest tightened. “And Lyra… took one of the parts?”“Yes…” Halden rasped. “She said she needs them all to break the seal completely. To awaken the thing sleeping inside you.”Derick staggered back. “The thing… inside me ? You mean the light?”Halden’s expression turned grim. “Not just light.”Aria squeezed
CHAPTER 5 — THE FIRST LIE
White light swallowed everything. Derick wasn’t aware of his body, only pain, heat, and the distant echo of Lucas’s words tearing through his mind. Dead because of you.A lie. It had to be a lie. It had to be, “Derick!” Aria’s voice pierced the blinding haze. “Pull it back! Don’t lose control!”Derick gasped, the light bursting from his skin in violent surges. “He’s lying, he’s lying”Lucas’s silhouette stood unshaken in front of him, hands clasped behind his back as the light whipped around him like a storm.“My, my,” Lucas said calmly. “Such emotional instability. I see why the Order labeled you a catastrophe-class threat.”Aria grabbed Derick’s wrist. “Derick! HE WANTS YOU TO LOSE CONTROL!”Derick snarled, “TELL ME WHERE MY MOTHER IS!”Lucas smirked. “She died protecting you… little reclamation project that you are.”The Codex snapped open in Derick’s hand, ink racing across the page: “LIE.”A second line formed immediately beneath: “He knows where she is.”Derick’s breath broke.
You may also like
Harem Ethics 101
Z.R. Wake55.8K viewsAlex Brim, Hero for Hire
krushandkill26.5K viewsKing of succubus
Golden_raise91.3K viewsAgainst Heaven'S Destiny
Djisamsoe 28.4K viewsGame of Illusions: Vengeance of the Blind Heir
Ciara Moire Lorna626 viewsTour In Titan
Gunshot10.2K viewsTHE DEVIL'S FRUIT
Ifee_God120 viewsThe Misadventure of Marvin The Magnificient
Oluwabiyi Raymond331 views