2024-04-27 19:52:23
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
584
Andrew woke up with a cold sweat drenching his silk sheets. His heart was hammering against his ribs—a sensation he hadn’t felt since he first mastered the inner breathing techniques of the ancient necklace. Normally, the energy from the artifact would soothe his nerves even in the deepest sleep, but tonight, he felt as if a thousand-ton weight was crushing his chest.He glanced at the digital clock on the bedside table. 4:30 AM. The dawn had not yet touched the city’s skyline, but unease had already gripped his soul. Andrew sat up, attempting to summon a flicker of energy to clear his mind. However, as he tried to circulate the power through his meridians, he hit a wall. It felt like trying to force water through pipes filled with thick, freezing sludge."Something is wrong," he whispered into the darkness.He reached beneath his shirt, clutching the necklace. The metal was cold—far too cold. Usually, the yellow gemstone emitted a faint, comforting warmth that synchronized with his h
583
The skyline of the metropolis shimmered under the moonlight, a sprawling sea of electric diamonds that seemed to bow before the penthouse of the Celestial Tower. Inside, Andrew stood by the floor-to-ceiling glass window, a glass of vintage scotch in his hand. He wasn't the same man who had been humiliated in a cramped office years ago. His curly brown hair was neatly trimmed, and his blue eyes, once filled with desperation, now held the cold, piercing depth of an ancient ocean.The necklace—the source of his god-like power—rested silently beneath his silk shirt. He could feel its pulse, a rhythmic thrum of energy that connected him to the very atoms of the city. To the world, Andrew was the untouchable sovereign of the Smith-William conglomerate. He had crushed his enemies, healed the incurable, and amassed a fortune that could buy nations."Everything looks small from up here, doesn't it?"A soft voice broke his contemplation. Andrew didn't need to turn around to know it was Elena, h
4-49
The world reassembled without courtesy, snapping into place like bones set without anesthesia.Andrew hit solid ground hard, air tearing from his lungs as gravity reclaimed him with obvious irritation.He rolled instinctively, shoulders screaming as muscle memory compensated for power that no longer answered.Dust and ash coated his tongue, bitter and metallic, grounding him in harsh reality.When his vision cleared, he recognized the skyline immediately.They were back near the coastal ruins where the city had first fractured weeks ago.The sky here was wrong.Clouds hung unnaturally low, stretched thin like torn fabric, light bleeding through uneven seams.Every shadow felt sharper, more deliberate, as if cast by intention rather than physics.Andrew pushed himself upright slowly, careful not to provoke whatever invisible tolerance the world still extended.A faint warmth pulsed beneath his sternum, unfamiliar yet persistent.Not the Sapphire.Something else had taken root in its ab
4-48
Andrew woke to silence that felt artificially enforced rather than naturally earned.It pressed against his senses with an unnerving precision, like a system holding its breath.He lay unmoving for several long seconds, afraid that movement itself might trigger retaliation.The Sapphire beneath his sternum was inert, colder than it had ever been before.No pulse answered his cautious focus.No resonance acknowledged his existence.Panic threatened to rise, sharp and feral, but Andrew strangled it before it reached his throat.He had survived worse than emptiness.When he finally pushed himself onto an elbow, pain answered immediately and enthusiastically.Every joint protested as if resentful of being asked to function again.The chamber was gone.In its place stretched a vast plain of cracked obsidian, extending endlessly beneath a sky drained of color.No horizon was visible, only gradients of gray folding into one another.Andrew’s breath fogged faintly in the air, though there was
4-47
The throne did not activate immediately, and that delay unsettled Andrew more than sudden violence ever could.Silence pooled inside the chamber, thick and deliberate, pressing against his ears like an accusation waiting to be spoken.Noir straightened slowly, his movements stiff as if invisible restraints tugged at his joints.The cracks along his arms glowed brighter, leaking shadowed light that flickered with unstable rhythm.“You feel it,” Andrew said, forcing his voice steady despite the tremor in his legs.“This place isn’t choosing yet. It’s waiting.”Noir exhaled sharply, eyes never leaving the empty throne at the chamber’s center.“It’s verifying compatibility,” he replied. “Seeing which of us breaks first.”The walls began to shift almost imperceptibly, reliefs of shattered suns rearranging themselves.Stone groaned as ancient mechanisms awakened, responding to proximity rather than command.Andrew took one step forward, and the chamber reacted instantly.A wave of pressure
4-46
Andrew did not fall so much as he was unstitched from where he belonged.Space peeled away in layers, each one tearing loose with a sensation like breath being stolen mid-inhale.There was no up or down, only momentum without direction and time without patience.His body tumbled through overlapping fragments of places that never fully existed.He saw cities mid-construction and mid-collapse simultaneously, buildings flickering between futures.He saw oceans frozen in vertical walls, waves paused like indecisive thoughts.Pain arrived late, dragging itself behind awareness like an afterthought.Every nerve screamed out of sequence, confused about what it was supposed to protect.Andrew tried to summon the Sapphire instinctively, reaching inward the way he always had before.The response came delayed, distorted, like an echo bouncing through unfamiliar caverns.Light bled through his veins unevenly, blue-white pulses stuttering instead of flowing.It felt less like power now and more li
You may also like
The Heir's Revenge
Twine Twin79.3K viewsSon-in-law: The Billionaire's Reign
Deliaha Shine108.3K viewsThe Ultimate Commander Cassian
AFM31157.1K viewsEthan Nightangle Rises To Power
Dragon Sly99.6K viewsTHE ALMIGHTY WAR DRAGON
Victor Amos Regannez482 viewsThe New Tycoon Conquers Every Business
QuasiMan334 viewsThe Lost Ricci: Heir Back from the Dead
Musically 374 viewsThe Rejected Son In-law Is A Dragon
Ayebaifiemi 360 views
Reader Comments
still.. no proper updates or keeping ther author's promises of ther month of May. beyond frustrated and sorely disappointed in this person's ethics