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THE VEIL OF LIES
Author: Karven ash
last update2025-10-12 08:35:28

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:

The city breathed in shadows that night, its veins pulsing with mist and secrets. Billy pressed his back against the damp brick wall, the Luoshen crate gripped tight under his arm, while Evelyn’s hand steadied him. Her pulse matched his, rapid and unrelenting. The alley stretched before them, dimly lit, where every echo could be a footstep, every flicker of light a signal.

“Do you think they’re following us?” Evelyn whispered, her voice nearly drowned by the distant hum of traffic.

Billy didn’t answer immediately. He was listening — to the city, to the silence, to his own instincts sharpened by too many close calls. His mind mapped the exits, the potential threats, the patterns in the fog. “Assume they are,” he said finally. “That way we won’t be surprised when they show up.”

Evelyn’s gaze flicked toward him, sharp and worried. “You’re thinking of Tyla and Alice again, aren’t you?”

His expression darkened. “I’m thinking about everyone who’s underestimated me. Every
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  • FRACTURE

    CHAPTER SEVENTY-NINE :The Arctic wind punched through the temporary shelter like it wanted in. Owen cursed at the rattling metal frame, tightening the bolts with numb fingers while the generator stuttered behind him. Inside, the only steady sound was the low hum of Tyla’s tablet as she sifted through corrupted data logs.Billy stood a few feet away, hands in his pockets, watching the silent storm through the cracked window. His mind wasn’t on the weather. It was on the Curator. On the way the man spoke like he knew Billy’s father better than Billy ever had. On the way Tyla’s face had fallen when she heard her own name encoded inside the Luoshen engine.And underneath all that, the nagging sensation that something else was coming for them.Tyla exhaled sharply. “I’m telling you, this file wasn’t here before.”Owen turned from the generator. “Which one?”She tapped the glowing screen. A document opened—clean, formatted, organized—too polished compared to the corrupted fragments around

  • UNSAID

    CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT :The jet hummed beneath their feet as it sliced through the night sky, leaving the desert far behind. The cabin lights were dimmed to a soft amber glow, but the tension inside made the air feel sharper than the altitude. Billy sat near the back, elbows on his knees, staring at the floor like it might give him answers. Tyla was across from him, headphones on, eyes glued to her tablet as she refined the Arctic coordinates.Owen hadn’t said a word for almost an hour. For him, that silence was an earthquake.He stood finally, cracked his knuckles once, and walked down the narrow aisle toward Billy. Tyla didn’t look up; she sensed the storm and knew better than to step into it.Billy heard Owen’s footsteps, but he didn’t move. He already knew what this was about. Knew it had been coming since the monastery. Since the moment that relic mechanism answered him without hesitation.Owen stopped in front of him.“Stand up,” he said, voice low.Billy didn’t. “Owen, not now.

  • FROSTBOUND SECRETS

    CHAPTER SEVENTY-SEVEN :The desert sun had long vanished, leaving the ruins of the monastery bathed in an eerie twilight. Billy, Tyla, and Owen trudged through the shifting sand outside, their boots crunching over debris that still smoldered from the prior chaos. Even with the relic engine stabilized, the air felt charged, thick with unspent energy, as if the desert itself had been holding its breath.Tyla’s gaze was fixed on a small, portable device she had retrieved from the vault chamber, her fingers flying across its interface. “This… this is a partial map of the relic grid,” she murmured. “I think I can trace the next activation point.”Billy’s brow furrowed. “Partial?”“Yes,” she replied, her voice tight with focus. “The mechanism in the monastery only allowed a temporary link. But there’s enough data here to predict the next site.”Owen leaned in, squinting at the device. “And where is it? Don’t tell me it’s in another desert. I swear, my legs are still screaming from this one.

  • AWAKENING THE SILENT ENGINE

    CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX :The desert wind still howled behind them, but inside the ruined monastery, a deeper, quieter hum began to pulse—an almost imperceptible vibration beneath the sand and shattered stone. Billy’s boots sank slightly into loose rubble as he stepped back toward the vault chamber, drawn by the faint resonance that seemed to reach out specifically to him.Tyla and Owen followed, eyes wide with caution, their every movement calculated. “Billy,” Tyla called over the wind, brushing dust from her goggles. “Do you feel that? Something… underneath. Like it’s alive.”Billy’s jaw tightened. He crouched by the central mechanism that had once been dormant, the metal and stone plates etched with strange Luoshen symbols. The relic grid they had uncovered days ago had been a mere projection—this, this was the engine itself, buried beneath centuries of stone, its energy dormant but far from gone.“I do,” Billy whispered, placing a hand lightly over the carvings. The symbols flickered

  • SAND AND SHATTERED STONE

    CHAPTER SEVENTY-FIVE:The desert sky darkened unnaturally fast. One moment it had been a pale blue, the next a roiling ochre mass that twisted with the promise of violence. Billy squinted against the glare of dust swirling at eye level, a foreboding tremor running through the monastery walls. The ancient stones groaned under the force of a wind that felt almost alive, carrying sand in thick sheets that cut at skin and clothing alike.Tyla tightened the strap of her backpack and pressed her scarf over her face. “This isn’t natural,” she shouted over the rising roar. “Something’s triggering it!”Owen, already bracing against the gust, looked to Billy. “Did you touch anything? Did the vault—?” His voice cracked with tension, swallowed halfway by the screaming wind.Billy shook his head, though a flicker of doubt gnawed at him. “No. But the patterns… the relic network—it’s reacting. Like it knows we’re here.” His words hung in the dust-choked air, almost lost to the desert’s fury.The tea

  • BLOODLINES AND BETRAYAL

    CHAPTER SEVENTY-FOUR :The desert wind whipped sand into ragged curtains that lashed against the monastery walls. Billy’s boots crunched over broken stone and scattered debris as he followed Tyla and Owen through the skeletal remains of what had once been a grand corridor. Every step echoed, a stark reminder that this place had seen secrets the world wasn’t meant to know. The air smelled of sun-baked dust and decay, and beneath it all, a faint metallic tang hinted at something far older, far more dangerous.“They’re watching us,” Owen muttered under his breath, not for the first time. He always said that, but this time, the warning carried weight. The air itself felt heavy, like the building itself was holding its breath. Billy’s instincts told him it wasn’t paranoia.Tyla stopped abruptly, holding up her hand. Her eyes, sharp and piercing, had caught something in the dim light—a mural half-buried under sand and rubble. She brushed the layers away, revealing figures etched in ochre an

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