AVERY’S POV:When Axel’s hand slipped from my face and hit the cold stone floor, limp and lifeless, I couldn’t breathe. “No—no—NO!”The scream tore out of me like my soul was being ripped open. It wasn't just a sound—it was a shattering. A wail so raw that it echoed through the temple walls, spilling into the evening, carried by the wind across the ruined grounds. Everyone around froze. Even the birds outside the temple scattered into the sky like they couldn’t bear to witness what had just happened."AXEL!" I screamed again, my voice hoarse, my throat burning, my body shaking with violent sobs as I clutched his blood-warm body. “Please—please—wake up. Don’t do this. Don’t leave me!”Ryan and Baron rushed forward, but I shoved them away.“Don’t touch him!” I cried. “He’s still warm. He’s not gone. He can’t be gone—he can’t!”They tried again, gently, carefully. “Avery… we have to—”“Where the hell were you?” I shrieked, eyes burning through tears as I turned on them. “You should’ve
AVERY’S POV:I didn’t wait to hear anything else. I stormed out, marching past the crowd, past Ryan’s calls, past Baron’s wary glances, right into the open center of the temple where the keepers stood in their quiet circle.“Take me to my husband,” I demanded. They looked at me with reverence—but also restraint.“You cannot enter to see them,” one said, stepping forward. “You are still soiled by blood.”I blinked. “Them?” I repeated, eyes narrowing.“Yes,” the elder said, nodding solemnly. “Because Axel was placed next to Akira.”Remembering that she was also gone electrified me. “You must first bathe,” the woman continued. “Cleanse the blood from your body and soul. Then change into white. Only purity can walk where the spirits linger.”I wasted no time.The water was freezing, my wounds aching, but I scrubbed until the skin on my hands turned pink. Dressed in a flowing white gown they handed me, I followed the keepers as they led me through the temple’s winding stone corridors. Th
AVERY’S POV:I didn’t know what I was doing. I was lost. Helpless.The stillness of the temple overwhelming. It left me questioning, "what darkness has descended upon this sacred place?"I couldn’t shake off that feeling. I reached out, trembling, and gently dragged Axel’s form closer to Akira’s. My tears came fast, burning hot paths down my face, dripping onto his chest. I wiped them, only to see something glint faintly from the corner of my eye.A dagger.It was nestled beside Akira’s body, resting as if it had always belonged there—like it was waiting for me.I picked it up slowly, reverently, brushing my thumb across the metal. It was nothing like the blades I’d seen in life. This was ancient—its hilt carved from obsidian, engraved with spirals and sunbursts that shimmered faintly under the moonlight. The blade itself curved slightly, etched with a language I couldn’t read but somehow understood. The tip was impossibly sharp, the weight of it perfect in my hand.I stared at it, co
AVERY'S POV:"I love you, Axel," I sobbed, crumpling to my knees beside his lifeless body. "And I forgive you. For everything."The words spilled from me, aching, but true. My tears wouldn’t stop—they poured freely, blinding my vision, soaking into the stones beneath us like a final offering. Each drop felt heavier than the last."I know you've done terrible things. Your hands… they’ve taken lives. You've made enemies. Burned bridges. But you’ve also given so much. Hope. Love. A second chance. You’ve held me when no one else would. Fought for me when I couldn’t even fight for myself." My voice broke. "You saved me. Over and over."I kept talking. Maybe to him. Maybe to myself. Recounting how he’d shown up when the world gave up on me. How he made me believe I was more than what they said. More than a woman discarded, disgraced.And then—something changed.One of my tears, sliding down my cheek, suddenly shimmered. A faint glow—cerulean blue—and then it hardened the instant it hit my
AXEL'S POV:I woke to suffocating blackness.No ceiling. No walls. No floor. Just an endless void of shadow pressing in from every angle. The silence was unnatural—like even time itself had forgotten how to move here. There was no scent, no breeze, no sound of breathing, not even mine.My body jerked upright, muscles instinctively coiling as I snapped into defense mode. “Hello?” I called. It echoed—but not outward. It rebounded inwards, through my skull, vibrating against bone like it was mocking me.Nothing answered. The silence wasn’t just still—it was cruel. The kind that watches. The kind that waits. I stayed crouched, straining to hear anything. A footstep. A breath. A whisper. Anything.But there was nothing. I don’t know how long I stayed like that—seconds, minutes, hours. Time didn’t exist here. All I had were my thoughts, and they came quickly, too loud in the nothingness. "Where the hell am I? Am I dead? Did someone drug me? Is this real?"I paced in a circle I couldn't e
AVERY’S POV:I couldn’t even cry anymore.I lay in the dirt, drenched in my own blood—my own grief. My throat was hoarse from screaming, yet the silence around me mocked the pain I could no longer voice. I stared up at the colorless sky, where the early morning had slowly started rising. Yet, it was dark.Even the sun had seemed to abandon me. There was no warmth. No light. Just the sting of loss crawling across my skin like frost.All I did was sob. Broken, breathless sobs that echoed out into nothing.My heart... it didn’t just ache. It bled. Heavily. Loudly. But no one could hear it.“Forgive me,” I whispered to the gods, the sky, the unseen forces that ruled this cursed world. “Forgive me because I’m human.”My voice betrayed me at the last word.“I have emotions. I make mistakes. I feel too much and understand too little. I’m not like you—these mighty beings carved from perfection and absolutes. You were made to be faultless. But I was made to be redeemed.”My fingers dug into th
AVERY’S POV: Swallowing hard and exhaling, my body felt like brittle glass. “If anyone should be punished... it should be me. Yes, it should. I—” I staggered, stammering, my chest tightening as guilt tore through me. “I brought all this... on them. I cursed. I lashed out. I lost control. Take my life, just bring them back. Please—please!”My hands shook as I looked down at the blood still clinging to my skin. “The child... the child was innocent,” I mentioned, then screamed, “Do you hear me?! They didn’t do anything! This baby has never done a single wicked thing in their entire life! What about Akira that lived a pure life? And Axel—he didn’t even know about the baby! He never got to know!”I choked on my own sob, clenching my fists. “Oman!" I shouted, lifting my head. “Kore! Where are you?! If I am yours—if I carry even a drop of your blood—then show up! Do something! Show me mercy! Please! I’m not begging as a warrior or a vessel. I’m begging as your child. I’m just a daughter ask
AXEL’S POV:I came back like I was clawing my way through layers of nothingness. Everything was silent—then not. It was like drowning in an ocean without water, suffocating on something I couldn’t see until I burst through some invisible surface and inhaled like I hadn’t breathed in centuries.My eyes shot open.Bright. Too bright.I blinked, once—twice. The light didn’t burn. I could see. Both eyes. Clear, like someone had lifted a veil from the world.The realization slammed into me harder than the bullet had: I was alive.No. No, that wasn’t possible.I tried to move and found myself tightly bound from neck to ankles. The rough texture of cloth wrapped around every inch of me—like a preserved relic, like something meant to stay buried.I’d been dead.The memory returned like lightning. The sound of gunshots. The searing heat in my chest. Blood. So much of it. And then the dark."Avery," I rasped, voice hoarse like it hadn’t been used in weeks—or ever.Her eyes widened like she’d se
AXEL’S POV:Believe me, I missed my wife.Yes, my body was practically screaming for hers, but it wasn’t just about that. It was about reclaiming something we lost—our rhythm, our connection, the way we used to know each other's needs without saying a word.Avery, the obedient tease, dropped to her knees without breaking eye contact. Her hands were already on my belt, and within seconds, she freed me from my trousers and briefs. My cock sprang up like it had been waiting all its life for this moment.“Damn,” she whispered, eyes widening.“What?” I asked, watching her reaction more than I cared to admit.“Did you get a new cock or something? I don’t remember it being this big. It got bigger,” she said, sounding part amazed, part suspicious.I let out a low chuckle. “Woman, I’ve always been this big. Don’t act brand new. You remember how I used to stretch you—how you used to scream into the pillow, begging me to slow down.”Her eyes darkened with something dangerous—desire, maybe mischi
AVERY’S POV:"His base would be in Miami. That’s our territory," Axel muttered, scrolling furiously through search results. "He has to be somewhere we already have dominance and power. So why the hell am I finding it difficult to trace him?""Maybe try your own homes," I said, biting into the cracker the hostess handed me. “The biggest and most discreet ones. You know, the kind no one ever talks about but everyone knows not to touch.”He stilled, glanced at me, then nodded slowly. “You’re right. He’s smart enough to hide in plain sight.”As he resumed his search, I finally allowed myself to chew. The snacks weren’t much, but they beat the dry, tasteless scraps I’d been surviving on at Orion. This was the first thing resembling real food I'd had in days."Serena," Axel called suddenly, not even lifting his eyes from the screen."Yes, Mr. Blackwood?" the flight attendant responded immediately, turning like she’d been waiting."Contact the tech team. Tell them I want the real-time locati
AVERY’S POV:We never noticed how much Orion had changed the nights we snuck out. The darkness cloaked everything, and in our desperation, we didn’t pay attention or question anything.But daylight doesn’t lie.It wasn’t until we came back down the slope—mud caking our boots, sunlight breaking through the trees—that we saw the truth. Burnt farmlands. Caved-in homes. Charred wooden posts where old lanterns used to hang. The trail had looked enchanted once. Now, it looked like a forgotten battlefield.The two men who guided us stopped near a cluster of boulders, gave a respectful nod, and wordlessly turned back. They didn’t look back once. Axel and I kept walking. And walking. It was torturous, but eventually, we came to a little town that looked almost deserted.Axel hurriedly found a payphone and made a phone call which my brain couldn't register due to how hungry and tired I was. My legs throbbed and my stomach kept reminding me how long it had been since that quick meal back in Or
AXEL’S POVIf I was still sane, it was only because my mind had already survived worse. That was the only explanation I had for not snapping the second we stepped foot back in the village.They saw us before we saw them.A shrill scream pierced the air, followed by the unmistakable hiss of metal drawn from sheaths. Blades flashed in the fading light. Men ran toward us with their swords raised, eyes wide with terror—not rage."Stay back!" someone yelled. "Don’t come any closer!""You shouldn't be here!" another man cried, backing away with trembling hands. "We buried you! You’re not real! You’re ghosts—vengeful spirits!"I tensed, stepping in front of Avery instinctively.Akira raised both hands, her voice strong but calm. "Peace! Peace, it's us!" she called out. "It's truly us. We've returned."The group hesitated, their weapons still raised, eyes darting between us like they were waiting for us to vanish in smoke. A woman dropped her bowl of water. It shattered on the ground."How is
AVERY’S POV:“What?” Axel blinked. “That has to be a joke.”Akira gave him a look. “When have you ever known me to joke?”“But—seven years?”She nodded. “It started counting differently once our spirits left the House of Judgment. One day in this temple equals one year in the human world.”I stared at her, trying to process. “So... when I was yelling at you two to wake up, that was normal time. But once we began the process—”“Time shifted,” she said. “You experienced four normal days and seven spiritual days. In the human world, it’s been over seven years.”Axel let out a breath. “So technically, I’m fifty-two now? Avery’s thirty-one? And Sea—” He paused. “She’d be thirteen.”“Not quite,” Akira replied calmly. “You didn’t age. None of us did. We still look, feel, and are the same age as when we first entered. But the world we’re going back to… it moved on.”I looked at my hands, then at Axel’s face. He hadn’t changed. Neither had I.“But everyone we left behind…” I whispered. “They c
AVERY’S POV:Apparently, I might not get everything back.But I have Axel. I have Akira. And for now, that was enough.Nothing’s been the same since I woke up seven days ago. Not even the way the air feels in my lungs. It’s lighter—but heavier, somehow. Akira had waited until the second morning to tell me.“There’s no heartbeat,” she said.Just like that.Axel looked just as stunned as I felt. His grip on my hand didn’t loosen, though. If anything, he held tighter.Later that night, while I stared up at the cracked ceiling, unable to stop the tears from creeping into my ears, he pulled me against him and said, “I’d rather let a child I’ve never met go than lose you. We’ll make another one, Avery. Don’t be too sad.”He’s been like that ever since.Solid. Ridiculous. Unshakable.When my sadness slips in, he trains with me. When I get too quiet, he cracks a joke—sometimes awful enough to make me roll my eyes, but it works.What surprised us both was how different we were. I took time to
AXEL’S POV:"You can’t mention any of this to anyone," Akira stated. "The last time we tried to be inclusive, half of us were wiped out, and the rest were exploited. Once this is over, we’d prefer to be left in peace. Our existence must remain a secret. We have so much to rebuild. Our land… it was ripped in two."That was my doing. I meaning the ripping the land into two part.And I swore, right then, to rebuild it for them. Every stone, every torn root, every inch of earth that had felt the weight of destruction—I would give it back.I understood her fear. People destroy what they don’t understand. And this place—this divine, terrifying place—was a miracle the outside world would dissect like a corpse. They wouldn’t see wonder; they’d see something to own. Something to use."I’ll respect your wish," I said quietly."Thank you."But my curiosity wasn’t done with me yet. "Tell me about this place. How was it founded? Who rules here—do you have a president? Prime minister? Or is this mo
AXEL’S POV:An invisible force surged through me like a pressure wave, ripping the air out of my lungs. Before I could blink, I was flung backward—lifted off my feet like a ragdoll and hurled through the air. The floor caught me with a punishing thud, pain ricocheting up my spine as the breath whooshed from my chest.I groaned, sprawled across the cold earth, my limbs momentarily useless.“Axel, quit it!” the woman snapped. “You’ve done enough already to piss off everyone. Just sit and wait.”I sat up slowly, dust clinging to my skin and frustration burning in my gut.“Do you think you care more about her than I do?”I didn’t reply. I didn’t have to.Because she didn’t love Avery as much as I did to care. So I thought. I didn’t need to hear it from her mouth to know I’d been screwing up left and right. Every time I acted on impulse, people paid the price. The burden of my mistakes stared back at me, and I reflected on the catastrophic consequences of my errors. If only I had been mo
AXEL’S POV:I came back like I was clawing my way through layers of nothingness. Everything was silent—then not. It was like drowning in an ocean without water, suffocating on something I couldn’t see until I burst through some invisible surface and inhaled like I hadn’t breathed in centuries.My eyes shot open.Bright. Too bright.I blinked, once—twice. The light didn’t burn. I could see. Both eyes. Clear, like someone had lifted a veil from the world.The realization slammed into me harder than the bullet had: I was alive.No. No, that wasn’t possible.I tried to move and found myself tightly bound from neck to ankles. The rough texture of cloth wrapped around every inch of me—like a preserved relic, like something meant to stay buried.I’d been dead.The memory returned like lightning. The sound of gunshots. The searing heat in my chest. Blood. So much of it. And then the dark."Avery," I rasped, voice hoarse like it hadn’t been used in weeks—or ever.Her eyes widened like she’d se