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Chapter 13 Ember’s POV:
Terakhir Diperbarui:
2025-02-28 04:53:27
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Ashes to Desire Chapter 14 Hail's POV:
My arm twitched, a familiar burn crawling beneath the skin like a nest of angry hornets. I clenched my teeth and kept walking. The crumbling avenue stretched before us, a graveyard of concrete and twisted metal bathed in the dying light. Pain was just another companion these days, like the woman with flame-red hair who watched me from the corner of her eye, waiting for me to break.We trudged through what had once been a main street in this forgotten city. Skeletal buildings loomed over us, their windows like hollow eye sockets tracking our progress. Weeds thrived in the asphalt cracks, nature's slow reclamation project. I stepped over a fallen streetlamp, its metal casing split open like a gutted fish."Watch your step," I muttered, not turning back to see if they heard me. The warning was unnecessary. Ember moved with an instinctive grace, and Lena had survived long enough to develop eyes in the back of her head. But old habits die hard, and leading meant responsibility.The mark fl
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-03-21Ashes to Desire Chapter 15 Hail's POV:
I pushed aside the rusted dumpster with practiced ease, revealing the narrow passage that had once been my emergency exit. Now, it was our only way in. The entrance to the safehouse looked like nothing – a jagged crack in the foundation of a building that had been falling apart even before the world went to shit. I ducked inside, the familiar musty smell hitting me like an old memory. Not all memories were good."Watch your head," I called back, hearing Ember's soft footsteps behind me. "And mind the trip wire at ankle height.""Anything else we should know about?" Lena asked, her voice echoing slightly in the confined space."Probably." I didn't elaborate. Some secrets stayed buried, even from temporary allies.The passage opened into what had once been a maintenance room, now stripped of anything useful except the steel door set into the far wall. I moved toward it automatically, muscle memory guiding my hands to the hidden panel beside it."Didn't take you for the secret lair type,
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-03-21Ashes to Desire Chapter 16 Hail's POV:
I perched on the edge of the shattered rooftop, and one boot braced against a chunk of concrete that might give way if I put too much weight on it. Six stories up gave me the vantage I needed, though height advantage meant shit if someone decided to bring the whole building down. The distant fires painted the sky in sick orange smears, turning night into some twisted parody of dawn. My curse throbbed in time with the pulsing flames, as if answering their call.We'd found temporary shelter in an abandoned apartment complex, the kind that had once housed young professionals who paid too much for too little space. Now, it housed rats, dust, and three fugitives trying to stay alive until morning. Ember and Lena were two floors below, going through the intel we'd scavenged from the safehouse. I'd volunteered for the first watch, needing space to think. To breathe.The city stretched before me like a broken chessboard, some areas still standing, others reduced to rubble. Streetlights functi
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-03-21Ashes to Desire Chapter 17 Ember's POV:
The abandoned apartment complex we found was barely holding itself together, six floors of crumbling drywall and water-stained ceilings. Once, it might have been the overpriced dream of young professionals, the kind who paid way too much to claim they lived near the city’s pulse. Now, it was a skeleton of that life. Rotting but still standing. And tonight, it was ours.Hail had taken the first watch. Six floors up on the rooftop, he’d vanished into the darkness, leaving behind nothing more than his blade and that brooding silence he wore like armor. Lena and I had taken two floors below, setting up camp in what used to be someone’s living room. The air was stale with dust and the lingering scent of old ambition.We were surrounded by scraps of scavenged intelligence, old maps, coded journals, and shattered tech devices from the last safe house we’d abandoned. Lena sifted through them with methodical precision. I hovered nearby, arms crossed, the tension in my shoulders refusing to eas
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-03-29Ashes to Desire Chapter 18 Ember's POV:
We reached the rooftop, and there he was, Hail crouched over a woman, his gun pressed tight against her temple. Her dark braid was frayed and matted with blood. She was glaring up at him with a defiance that didn’t match her position.Lena and I skidded to a stop, barely catching our breath.“Who is she?” I whispered, but Hail missed my words. His expression was stormy, focused. The woman didn’t struggle, but something about the way she held herself, calm and calculating, made my skin crawl. Her eyes weren’t panicked or pleading. They were waiting.“Hail, let her go,” I said, my voice low but firm, each word weighted with warning as I took a step forward.But before I could move any closer, Lena’s hand shot out, catching my arm with a grip that was strong and unyielding. Her fingers pressed hard, a silent signal that spoke louder than words.Not yet.I turned to her, my heart pounding against my ribs, but the look in her eyes stopped me. It wasn’t just caution. It was fear.“Look at h
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-03-29Ashes to Desire Chapter 19 Hail's POV:
We crashed through the tunnels like hunted animals, our footfalls echoing off damp concrete walls that seemed to close in with every step. My lungs burned, but not as badly as the mark on my forearm, a constant reminder of debts unpaid and promises broken. Ember's flame-red hair flickered ahead of me in the dim light, a beacon I couldn't afford to lose sight of, not now when Dain's men were breathing down our necks.The tunnel forked ahead. I grabbed Ember's elbow, steering her right without breaking stride. Lena followed, her footsteps nearly silent compared to our desperate scramble. The woman moved like a shadow, something I'd have appreciated if we weren't running for our lives."This way," I hissed, pulling them toward a narrow offshoot I'd spotted. Years of hunting had taught me to map escape routes as instinctively as breathing. "There's an alcove up ahead. We can regroup."Water dripped steadily from rusted pipes overhead, creating a chaotic symphony with our ragged breaths. T
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-04-03Ashes to Desire Chapter 20 Hail's POV:
The footsteps grew louder, echoing off the tunnel walls like the beating of war drums. I pressed myself against the damp concrete, every muscle coiled tight, my hand hovering over the blade strapped to my thigh. Beside me, Ember's breathing quickened, shallow but controlled, the discipline of someone who'd faced death before, even if she couldn't remember it. The mark on my arm pulsed with dark energy, a compass needle pointing straight toward the approaching threat. Toward Dain."Move," I whispered, nudging them toward a narrow side passage I'd spotted moments before. "Quietly."Lena slipped into the darkness without a sound, her movements as fluid as water. Ember hesitated, her amber eyes fixed on my face for a heartbeat too long before following. I brought up the rear, every sense heightened to painful clarity, the distant drip of water, the stale copper tang of old pipes, the smell of wet stone, and something else. Something burned.The side passage narrowed further, barely wide e
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-04-03Ashes to Desire Chapter 21 Hail's POV:
Lena moved first, practical as ever, tugging gently at Ember's elbow. Ember hesitated, one hand still extended toward me, then set her jaw and turned away. I watched them slip farther down the narrow passage, Ember's red hair the last thing to disappear into the darkness, like a flame being extinguished.I exhaled slowly, feeling strangely hollow. Then I turned to face the main tunnel, rolling my shoulders to loosen them. The familiar pre-fight ritual settled me, pushing everything else, Ember's eyes, her words, the touch of her fingers into a compartment I could deal with later. If there was a later.Drawing my second blade, I stepped back into the main tunnel and moved deliberately away from where Ember and Lena had gone. My boots splashed through puddles I'd carefully avoided earlier. The mark burned steadily now, no longer pulsing but emitting a constant, searing pain that told me exactly what I needed to know.Dain was close. Maybe not with the hunting party but directing them. F
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-04-04
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Ashes to Desire Chapter 30 Ember's POV:
Stepping through the flame like it was nothing more than irritating mist. Dain Castros, looking exactly as he had in the fragments of memory that had been haunting my dreams. Tall and commanding, with features that might have been handsome if not for the corruption that shadowed his eyes and traced black veins beneath his skin. He wore armor similar to the hunters but more refined, more personal, a general among foot soldiers."Ember," he said, and his voice sent a chill through me despite the fire dancing across my skin. "At last."Beside me, Hail went rigid, his knuckles white around the hilt of his knife. "Dain.""Brother," Dain replied, but the word held no warmth. "Still playing the reluctant servant, I see. How's that working out for you?"Memories hit me like physical blows—Dain's face, younger, uncorrupted, smiling at me across a council table. His hand in mine as we watched a sunset. His back as he walked away. His eyes, cold and empty, as he handed me over to Malagar in exch
Ashes to Desire Chapter 29 Ember's POV:
As if summoned by my words, the chamber's far wall exploded inward. Three figures stepped through the debris, moving with an unnatural coordination that made my skin crawl. They wore black tactical gear with no insignia, their faces concealed behind sleek masks that reflected the room like dark mirrors. But I didn't need to see their faces to know what they were: corrupted souls bound to Malagar's service, just like Hail had been once. Just like he still was."Well, shit," Kade muttered, his men immediately taking defensive positions. "Looks like negotiation time is over."Everything happened at once. Kade's forces opened fire on the hunters. The hunters, unnaturally fast, closed the distance with terrifying speed. Hail shoved me behind him and loosed a bolt from his crossbow, catching the nearest hunter in the shoulder, a shot that should have been lethal but merely made the creature stumble.Lena fired precise shots from her position, each bullet finding its mark but doing minimal d
Ashes to Desire Chapter 28 Ember's POV:
Lena tactfully busied herself with packing up the texts, moving to the far side of the small chamber. The moment felt strangely private, charged with things neither of us was saying.My hand moved of its own accord, reaching up to touch the scar that ran along Hail's jaw. His skin was warm beneath my fingertips, and he went very still, like prey caught in a predator's gaze, though which of us was which, I couldn't have said."I think I trusted you once," I whispered. "In another life. I think maybe I even…”The rest of the sentence died on my lips as memories flashed behind my eyes—flames, a battlefield, Hail's face younger and unmarked by scars, his hand reaching for mine as the world burned around us.I gasped and stumbled backward, the force of the memory making me dizzy. Hail caught my elbow, steadying me."What did you see?" he asked urgently."Us," I said simply. "I saw us."The look that passed between us then was worth a thousand words neither of us knew how to say. A promise,
Ashes to Desire Chapter 27 Ember's POV:
The ancient murals watched us from the walls, phoenix figures trapped in eternal cycles of burning and rebirth. Just like me. I traced my fingers over the faded paint, and my skin hummed with recognition, a ghost of memory that belonged to someone I used to be. The cuff around my wrist felt heavier than usual, its cold metal pressing into my flesh like a reminder of everything I'd lost. But something was different today. As I stood in this cramped, hidden chamber beneath the library, my hands wouldn't stop shaking, and the cuff, the fucking thing that had locked away my power had developed the tiniest of cracks."You feel it too, don't you?" Hail's voice slid through the dusty air. He leaned against a wall covered in symbols I almost recognized, his shoulders a rigid line beneath his worn jacket. His eyes never left me, that piercing blue tracking my every movement like I might combust at any second. Maybe I would."It's like..." I struggled to find words for the electricity racing th
Ashes to Desire Chapter 26 Hail's POV:
Embers back to me, leaning over the table. The chemical lantern sat at her elbow, casting harsh blue-white light that made her red hair look like liquid copper flowing down her back. She wore the same practical clothes as always—faded black pants, boots with mismatched laces, a jacket too large for her frame that she refused to replace despite Lena's offers of alternatives.I stayed perfectly still, watching. This wasn't the first time I'd observed her without her knowledge. The curse compelled me to track her, to learn her habits, and to find the perfect moment to complete my assignment. But over time, observation had become something else: a need to understand what made her different, what made her important enough for Malagar to send his best after her.She moved items around on the table, her movements deliberate and controlled. I could see part of the collection now—a dagger with intricate engravings along its blade, a cracked hand mirror with a tarnished silver backing, and what
Ashes to Desire Chapter 25 Hail's POV:
The curse mark pulsed again, angry and insistent. Each beat sent fire through my veins, a reminder of chains I couldn't break, failures I couldn't undo. The face of every person I'd let down or couldn't save flashed through my mind: Dain before the corruption took him, the settlers at Riverview, my own family from a life that seemed like someone else's memory now.I pressed my back against the cool stone of the collapsed wall, feeling the rough texture catch on my coat. The hunters were closing in, their footsteps finally audible as they abandoned stealth for speed. The figure on the roof had disappeared, repositioning, not retreating.My options were limited and shrinking by the second. I could make a stand here, try to take down as many as possible before they overwhelmed me. I could run and try to lead them away from the library, away from Ember. Or I could do what the curse wanted, what it had always pushed me toward: capture her and bring her to Malagar.I flexed my fingers, feel
Ashes to Desire Chapter 24 Hail's POV:
I ran like hell through the broken remnants of what used to be Fifth Avenue, my boots crunching over shattered glass and crumbling asphalt. The air burned in my lungs, but that was nothing compared to the burning under my skin where the mark pulsed with each heartbeat. Behind me, they moved with unnatural silence, their forms blending with the lengthening shadows of dusk. Not fast enough, never fast enough to catch me, but too damn persistent to lose.The pain in my ribs throbbed in time with my heartbeat. Dain’s last strike had knocked the air out of me, but the tunnel collapse had bought me just enough time to crawl out before the ceiling came down. I hadn’t seen him since. Not sure I wanted to.A rusted-out sedan blocked my path, and I vaulted over its hood, feeling the metal cave slightly beneath my weight. The impact jarred my knees, but I kept moving. Always moving. The moment you stopped in this city, you were dead or worse, caught.I'd spotted them an hour earlier while scouti
Ashes to Desire Chapter 23 Ember's POV:
The library's air hung heavy with dust and forgotten words. Each step we took stirred motes that danced in the slanted beams of light filtering through broken windows. I trailed my fingers along the spines of books gone soft with age, feeling the whisper of stories. I couldn't read but somehow knew like my own past lives, glimpses and fragments, never the whole picture. The musty smell triggered something in me, a half-remembered sensation of peace that felt as foreign as it was familiar."Holy shit," I whispered, my voice carrying despite my intention. The main chamber stretched three stories high, with balconies hugging its perimeter; the ceiling above was partially collapsed, revealing patches of sickly sky.Lena nodded, her eyes calculating as she surveyed the space. "Libraries were knowledge repositories. Power, if you know how to use it.""That’s why we're here? For power?"She gave me a sidelong glance. "For answers. Your answers."I knew she was right. Finding Hail meant under
Ashes to Desire Chapter 22 Ember's POV:
The tunnel mouth spat us out into blinding daylight, and I blinked away the sting in my eyes. Concrete and steel corpses loomed against a sickly yellow sky, their abandoned frames picked clean by time and desperation. My fingers brushed the cold metal of the cuff on my wrist, the dead weight that severed me from my power, while something else entirely, something warm and aching, stirred in my chest at the memory of Hail's touch."Fuck, I forgot how bright it gets up here," I muttered, shielding my face with my hand. The oppressive silence of the underground gave way to the whisper of wind through empty window frames and the crunch of glass beneath our boots.Lena moved like a ghost beside me, her dark braids catching what little sunlight penetrated the haze. She scanned our surroundings with practiced precision, one hand resting on the knife at her hip."Over there," she said, pointing toward a massive structure half-swallowed by climbing vines. "Library. Might have what we need."I n
