Under The Oak Tree Riftan Pov

Ethan Valor was once humiliated, mocked, and discarded by those closest to him—his wife, Victoria, and her powerful family, the Lornes. Branded weak and incompetent, he was fired from the family conglomerate and replaced by Victoria’s ex-boyfriend, billionaire Damian Cross. Everyone thought they had stripped him of his potential… but they had only awakened a relentless fire within him. Retreating into obscurity, Ethan quietly rebuilt his empire, investing in technologies, acquiring strategic assets, and amassing wealth at a pace no one could anticipate. While Victoria and her family celebrated his absence, their empire slowly became unknowingly dependent on the very man they had scorned. When Ethan returns, he is no longer the meek man they knew—he is a trillionaire, untouchable, and commanding power that stretches across industries and nations. The Lornes and Victoria come begging, but Ethan’s revenge is precise: he buys out their companies, ruins his enemies, and demonstrates that humiliation is the catalyst for unstoppable greatness. From Ashes to Empire is a story of patience, vengeance, and ultimate triumph—a testament to intelligence, strategy, and unyielding ambition.

Adrian Kaine was once the deadliest operative in Shadow Unit, a black-ops division buried so deep in the government that most agents never lived long enough to speak of it. But when a mission in Kargath Province turned into a massacre, Adrian became the sole survivor, then the government’s most wanted traitor. His squad was slaughtered. Evidence was planted. His name was erased. And those who orchestrated the betrayal made sure he was declared dead. They miscalculated. Eighteen months later, Adrian resurfaces as a ghost in the ruins of his old headquarters, hunting for the truth buried beneath the ashes. But he is not the only one searching. Marcus Hale, his former teammate and supposed friend, now leads a covert kill team tasked with eliminating him. Above Marcus sits Colonel Mason Kade, the official who signed the order that condemned Adrian’s entire squad. And watching all of them from the shadows is a faceless mastermind known only by a single encrypted codename: Cipher. As Adrian follows a trail of classified leaks, dead operatives, and impossible coincidences, he uncovers a horrifying secret: a covert plan known as the Ashen Protocol, designed to rewrite the balance of global power—using bodies like his as the foundation stones. But the deeper he digs, the more the truth twists around him. Old allies hide new agendas. Enemies speak with familiar voices. And the real traitor may be closer than he has ever imagined. Hunted by governments, mercenaries, and a ghost from his past, Adrian must become something colder than a soldier and deadlier than a weapon. He must become the nightmare they tried to bury. And this time… he’s not the one running.

From Erwin Wickison I never asked to be here. One moment I was living my life, and the next I was dragged—along with millions of others—into a place ruled by a system that treats us like pieces on a board. Every Game is built to break something, whether it’s a body, a mind, or the small parts of myself I keep pretending are “good.” I’ve watched people die. I’ve watched people change. And I know I’m changing too. I just hope there’s something human left in me by the end… if there’s even an end. WARNING. This book contains smut, psychological decay, moral collapse, human intimacy twisted into survival, and a variety of horrors that do not wait for your permission before sinking into your mind. It will not hold your hand. It will not apologize. And it will not stop once you open it. If you continue, you’re choosing to step into a sequence of events designed to peel apart the comfortable assumptions you rely on to feel “safe.” Some of you will be fascinated. Some of you will be disturbed. Most of you will not remain the same. I’m not here to reassure you. I’m only here to tell you one thing: Whatever you think this is, whatever you think you know… you don’t. And once you begin, you can’t go back. — Welcome to the Games

Accursed Heir follows Pastor Elijah Longfellow, the secret guardian of Raven’s Hollow, known as Saint Longinus. Bound by a deathbed promise to his mentor, Elijah marries Lina Moreau, his mentor’s granddaughter, to protect her family from an ancient curse. But when Lina betrays him and reveals she carries another man’s child, Elijah’s heartbreak shatters the protective wards shielding her family. With the pact broken, the Bloodseekers—vengeful, soul-draining entities bound to the Moreau bloodline—return, seeking Lina’s unborn child as their cursed heir. As terror grips the town, Elijah learns that only a dark, sacrificial ritual can sever the Bloodseekers' link, though it will cost him everything. Torn between duty and morality, Elijah faces a harrowing choice to save the town and end his cursed love. Yet in his final sacrifice, he realizes he has become a tragic guardian, forever marked by the blood oath he couldn’t break.

Silence. Like a nice bucket of shhhhhhhhh. Everyone shut the effing fudge UP! That's all I've ever wanted. *Sigh.* But silence comes in different flavors. There's mint - the peaceful kind that wraps around you like a blanket. The kind I chase at 2 AM. I've cried once. Just once. With a bucket beside me, watching heroes with super suits and impossible strength tear each other apart. Somehow that feels less broken than my reality. Then there's the suffocating silence at school. Not an ice cream flavor. This one tastes like metal and shame. High school is my personal hell. Empty wallet, empty lunch tray, empty seat beside me like I'm radioactive. Empty soul on Wednesdays because middles are always the worst. *The usual.* But Emily made the silence bearable. Mint-flavored again. Until she broke something between us. *Snap.* One moment she's whispering secrets with me, the next she's weaponizing them. She scattered my private thoughts, added her own twisted lies. The betrayal burns hotter than the stares drilling into my back. I went from invisible to spectacle. Being a ghost feels like luxury when you're dodging spit balls and "accidental" lunch trays. But somewhere between my third panic attack and contemplating switching schools... *Something shifted.* Like in those games you play, when your character suddenly glows and the screen flashes: "New Skill Unlocked" And it wasn't just in my head. I tested it. Small things at first – a pencil moving across my desk when I focused hard enough. Then books. Then someone's lunch tray right as they walked past Emily. *tap tap tap* I used to think rock bottom was the end. *Well ladies and gentlemen,* it's just a really messed up spawn point. And now? I don't stumble from cliffs anymore. I swim in gravity, and dive head first.

Suddenly, at the stroke of midnight, magic happen and hundreds of notifications started popping up on the screen. Barry's trades took off in a way that defied all logic with profits soaring on a larger scale. He was earning billions of dollars per second. After the first second, he earned $10.42 billion. After a minute, he made $625 billion. After an hour, Barry made over $37.5 Trillion. Barry continued to sleep, unaware his laptop was blowing up with unimaginable wealth....

What would you do if you realized that, the recently acquired freedom is just another netherworld! That, the things you hated most are your survival guides! Would you wish for one more lesson, or, what would it be… James was a young man fresh from school. He had exorbitant optimisms of freedom and a very bright future. Only to realize, the so-called freedom was proving to be human under siege. Life in freedom was worse than perdition itself and got him a visit to the reformatory. He was an innocent determined young man, whom, life taught a lesson the hard way. Never loosing desire and motivation, he still pushed on hard enough. Had this to be you, would you do the same, or… just give up! Did he survive the harshness of the biosphere? Did his efforts ever get to pay back? Did he ever get to live his dream? Find out more about James, After the Shadows.

Thomas, who was just a small man from the countryside, managed to win Sylvia Gregory's love after saving her from the pursuit of dangerous hitmen. But he got it at a high price. He lost the ability to walk due to an accident they experienced during the pursuit. Later, Sylvia took care of Thomas, asking her family to pay for all the treatment and therapy to help Thomas walk again. However, after two weeks of therapy with Thomas not showing any improvement, the entire Gregory family began showing contempt. They even kicked Thomas out of their house, not even allowing him to use the wheelchair they bought for him. While holding back anger and despair, Thomas crawled out of the house, amidst the laughter of the rich people looking down on his predicament. One thing they didn’t know, the village young man they were laughing at was none other than the man who had conquered the most dangerous district in Drada under his spell.

In the mountains sat a small village, populated by normal people. Cows mooed, pigs ate, and humans did their fieldwork. On usual days like these, a normal person in the village would enjoy some fried chicken under the shade of a tree. "Mmm, delicious chicken..." Not everyone had access to the chicken. Only a certain family did. But as time passed, someone arrived in the village and took away the items that helped the villagers live their lives. Some young people left with the man, thinking that they would strike it big. And one of those people was the owner of the chickens. Bai Feng, a connoisseur of food, a monster that's heavier than iron, a fool that's half smart and half dumb. Cultivation isn't for everyone, but with luck, everything is possible. Could Bai Feng cultivate and reach the apex? Or would he have to stumble along the way due to the passions of life, increasing the difficulty of his path? But one thing was for certain. Bai Feng would surely enjoy life along the way. Cultivation or not.

A change of epochs is coming, the nineteenth century from the Deposition of Kaphaeris is coming to an end, the twentieth century is already on the threshold. Starkrar, like the entire Meskian Empire, is preparing for the celebration of the bright holiday of Yule, to say goodbye to the old age and welcome the new one. But not only fog and frost walk along the snow-covered streets of the night capital. Something inhuman is hiding in the dirty alleys of the slums, waiting for its victims. Bloody massacres horrify the subjects of the empire, inflaming interspecies hatred, high-ranking officials die mysterious deaths in their own mansions, secret service agents disappear without a trace, and out of nowhere terrorists commit one horrific terrorist attack after another. Someone decided to shake the throne under the sacred person of the Emperor. Someone longs for the fall of Messiah. By the will of the monarch, Brian el'Moria - half-breed tencris, master of dark deeds and the first detective of the empire - takes up the investigation. From now on, he must either uncover the plot of a nameless enemy, or die.