İlham Verici

I hated being locked up like a damsel in distress. Like I was some princess that needed constant protection, but deep down I was grateful. I was still struggling to summon my powers, so if I was attacked alone I would be defenseless. I understood why Valerian wanted me to stay confined within the walls of our home since there was a protection spell suffocating the entire atmosphere that surrounded it. But I was so bored. Valerian was not there to take me out and keep me occupied with his cocky smiles and quirky comments. The only thing I could think to do to pass the time was to take a stroll around the castle grounds. I exited out into the courtyard and walked past the beautiful wooden benches and vibrant trees. Roses of every colour confiscated the grounds and it was like I was walking through a rainbow. My fingertips caressed the petals and I inhaled the sweet scent of their exquisiteness as I walked through the trails. I was so mesmerized by the area that I didn’t realize where I was going. I gasped as I reached for the next rose in my path, and it crumbled from my touch. The rest of the walkway was filled with black and decayed roses that tumbled to the ground like ash from a horrible wildfire. My frightened eyes glared out into the distance as I realized the dead flowers led to a shadowy tunnel made from black brick. A sign barely dangling from a broken chain at the top of the entrance read ‘dungeon.’ My body cringed at the sight. This was the dark side of Valerian that I knew and wanted to avoid as much as possible.

Five years ago, I was the "worthless" foster son who had taken the fall for a crime I never committed. I went to prison for my brother's future, thinking that my family would be there to care for my wife. I was wrong. While I rotted away in Blackgate Prison, my inheritance had been stolen: they had wiped off my existence and treated my wife as a slave. They thought I would die in there. But the fate had different plans. In the darkest cell, I met with a mysterious master. I did not just survive; I was reborn. I learned the Nine Heavens Medical Art and activated the Sovereign Martial Body. I healed warlords and crippled assassins in a single touch. Now the prison gates are open. I am no longer the submissive orphan. I am a Dragon King. To my foster family celebrating my misery: Prepare your coffins. To all those billionaires trying to touch my wife: Prepare to lose your hands. I will save lives with my left hand and destroy my enemies with my right hand. The King is out, and debts must be repaid in blood.

They burned my mother's name into the dirt and sold my sister to silence. Ten years ago I was a boy who could not stop them. Tonight I walk back into Ironport as a stranger, and nobody in this city knows that the empire whispered about in war rooms and black markets across three continents answers to me. I came back for two things. My sister, locked behind a fence and told for six years that she is broken. And the truth about the night my mother died, a truth this city buried so deep it forgot to check whether her son would ever come digging. They think the past is buried. They are about to learn that I dug it up, and I brought fire. But some of the people I trust most are not who I think they are, and the closer I get to the truth, the more I realize the enemy I came home to destroy might already be sitting at my own table, wearing a familiar face. Every step forward costs me someone I love, and every answer I find only opens a door onto a darker one. And somewhere in the middle of a war I never meant to survive with my heart intact, a woman on the wrong side of this fight is starting to make me forget why I came back cold. I built ten years of armor around myself for exactly this city. I never planned on anyone finding a way through it. They think I am a stranger. They are about to learn I am the storm they built with their own hands, and this time, I am not leaving until every debt is paid in full.

I am Kava, an ordinary person as usual. I'm not the chosen person by the system. One day, I got a lot of money. I went to a cafe to celebrate with my sister, Mika. It was then that we came under attack from a chosen system user. I lost the fight and my sister was taken away. I found a Florine system bracelet and I put it on. However, that's not a combat type system and I wasn't chosen. Even the system guide insulted me. What do I have to do to be able to use the system?

I've never wanted this life for myself—this life filled with perils and evil. It's like a dream I can never escape from—a dream which I'm forever stuck in. Heh, no one ever wanted this life or ever wished for it. You'd be either insane or extremely evil to wish for this kind of life—the life where you don't have a choice over anything—the life where you're bound by your deepest desires. I never wanted to enter into the supernatural world. I never wanted to come across the Crimsones[1], Lycanthropes[2], demons and the rest. I never wanted to be involved in anything pertaining to the dark and supernatural world. I had always yearned for freedom and not servitude. But of course I was wrong all along. I had been delusional, thinking I'd be able to escape it all—to escape from fate. I never knew I would be pulled into this mess, becoming one of those dark creatures which roam about in the ungodly night. I never wanted to be a merciless predator who was also a prey to another predator (what a food chain!). But all is good. No matter what I shall not alli myself to degenerate into a heartless monster who only knew how to tear flesh, spill blood and break bones. I cannot allow my desires to pull me down. I cannot be corrupted by the abyss! My name is Daniel Stark and what I'm about to tell you is a real life horror. I don't know what you call horror or romance or fa Intasy but this story I'm about to tell you, you need to listen attentively and not miss a bit of information. This is my story—one beginning with pain.

In the fourth year of the apocalypse, humanity was on the brink of extinction. I did not perish under natural disasters or fall victims to zombies, but tragically met my end at the hands of betrayal and greed from my companions. When I opened my eyes again, I found myself five years past! In that year, apocalypse had yet to arrive, and my loved ones and friends who had truly cared for me were still alive, untouched by various reasons and my indiscriminate kindness… I am determined to correct the mistakes of my previous life in this new one. There’s still time to change everything! Reborn like a phoenix, I swear that, in this life, I will rather be a leader than a follower. I will do everything in my power to ensure that I and those I care about live well. Those plutocrats who squeezed the last drop of blood from us, those corrupt leaders who treated the lives of ordinary people as worthless, those complex and greedy groups, those awakened individuals who activated their talents but remained timid and cowardly, pushing ordinary people and responsible awakeners as scapegoat—This time, I’m coming for you. I swear, I will make you crawl at my feet! In this ruined world, I will rebuild the human habitat and restore an era of peace and prosperity! I will be the creator of this new world! I will be the king of the new era! I will be the new Legend!

My name is Alanna, I believe. I have lost myself in the depths of an island. I don't know where I'm from, or what my real name is, I just know that a pack of wolves has rescued me. I will have to fight against the Alpha and the Beta of the pack, but something dark blooms in me, something I did not know, a mythological being that lived inside me. A mermaid, yes, I am one of the most beautiful mermaids in the world.

You have read it right. I, the protagonist, am reincarnated as a malware. To be precise, a trojan in a communication device. Then, I jumped to a stronger and more powerful device until I have a full grasp over a large number of devices. However, that’s not my goal. What I want is to become human. *Silence* Well, I can no longer become a human, can I? But I know that I can become a super-advanced and mega-powerful malware that no antivirus can threaten. I will rule over the world and become the world itself. ⌈ Warning: the A-9783 antivirus had detected you! ⌋ Opsie… gotta go! Disclaimer: The photo is not mine. it belongs to its owner. You can DM me at Young Master Jay#1823

POV Kaelen For me, life is a constant challenge. I’m a werewolf, but I’ve been blind my whole life, which has made everything so much harder. Over time, thanks to my wolf instincts, I’ve developed my other senses to the point where I’ve become the best fighter in the pack. Not many people know me well; the only one who truly understands me is my best friend and Alpha, Chase. But despite my strength, I’m haunted by a fear worse than death: the possibility that, because of my condition, I’ll never be able to find or recognize my mate. Then, when I least expected it, while I was out in the human world, I caught a scent. I knew instantly it was her. I’ve started a difficult search to find her, but I’m terrified of what might happen. Will she understand what I am? Will she reject me? Or, like in my worst nightmares, will she just vanish like a shadow in the daylight?

Introvert!? Me!? The hell am I an introvert? I stay indoors all day because I am afraid of getting my butt kicked. Until I contract my beast, I won’t be walking freely. This is a promise I made to myself. My name is Ryder, and I am black-marked. The planet where I live is dominated by summoners. If you guessed it, then you are right—we contract beasts from the Astral Shadow Plain and summon them at will after successfully forming a contract. A mark appears on the left shoulder of every human after a period of maturity, a mark given by the beast that chooses you. There are five different types of marks—the brown, the orange, the red, the black, and lastly, the white. Of all the markings, I was marked black. I was chosen by a supreme demon monarch of the Astral Shadow Plain—the Dracogon. There was only a 0.5 percent chance for me to survive the contraction process. However, with a slight twist in the original outcome, contracting a creature from the black-marked plain was nothing compared to the catastrophe I caused shortly after—I opened a link between the beasts of the Astral Shadow Plain and the planet of humans, Terra. Everyone on my planet has been endangered because of me. The fact that no one knows when the link will trigger and cause a breach that pours mindless creatures into my world makes it all the more unsettling. Now, with no other choice, I have to find a way to resolve the mistake I made—alone, just like I caused it.