Too late, he recognized that for once; he was not that one overseeing the game. He had lost control of the situation, and she played him like a cat and a mouse, except she was not a significant cat. She was a tiger, and she was finished playing.
Anna's blazing hand changed to a sword that burst through his face as if his skin were paper. The pain was unlike any other pain he went through before, it was more than pain, it was death itself, then he felt a quick spasm in his chest. Lord Andrie looked down at his body and found his dark dagger embedded just below his rib cage, powerful enough to hurt but not serious enough to kill him. Not immediately.
Anna peered into his eyes, and she did something she thought she would never do. She let go of the last bits of herself that tethered the predator inside. Her fe
Why do you hate him so much?" Anna asked, her brow furrowed in confusion. The early morning sun had just begun to rise, casting long golden beams that sliced through the quiet sky, spilling warmth over the waking world. The calm, gentle light should have been comforting, but it only highlighted the turbulence within her. Her emerald eyes, bright and intense, burned with an inner fire, reflecting the turmoil swirling in her mind.The man before her stiffened, his lips pressing into a thin, hard line. His voice dripped with sarcasm as he spoke. "Oh, such a sweetheart. Do you think I hate him just because my father chose him to be the last Golden Alpha? You’re mistaken, little one." He turned away sharply, his words low and sharp. "No, Anna. He took everything from me."Her heart skipped a beat. His words landed like a physical blow, and Anna's confusion deepened. There was more to the story, far more than she could see. She watched him walk away, his rigid posture radiating a cold fury.
Anna grabbed her coat from the rack, took a bit of cash from the petty cash drawer, and headed for the elevator. Mr. Faiz's coffee was a priority, but she was in desperate need of a break, too.The coffee shop, once small and cramped, had transformed into an open-air patio. The tables were now spaced out, providing a sense of calm amidst the bustling street. The winter chill had draped everything in its frosty embrace, but inside, the atmosphere was warm and cozy, with the scent of fresh coffee, baked goods, and the hum of light jazz filling the air. It was Anna’s happy place—a moment of calm before the chaos of the day began. Patrons huddled over mugs of coffee, their breath forming little clouds in the cold air as they sipped their drinks and nibbled on sweetbreads and pastries. The DRI building loomed just a few yards away, its glass facade reflecting the morning sky.Anna walked down the street, cradling a cup of coffee in both hands, the warm ceramic a welcome contrast to the chil
In her dream, Anna clutched a weathered medallion, its surface pitted with dirt, the engravings nearly indistinguishable, and the Moon Goddess’ face marred by time’s passage. She turned it over in her left hand, the tarnished metal cold against her skin, the earthy scent of rust and old blood clinging to it. The medallion hovered close to her face, its musty aura suffocating her senses. She studied it, flipping it back and forth, unable to look away, even as she felt the dirt beneath her fingertips.She turned her attention to her right hand, where a fresh four-leaf clover had sprung up. Its leaves were bright and vivid, a stark contrast to the medallion. Anna remembered the Irish legend: finding a four-leaf clover was a sign of good luck. Each leaf represented faith, hope, love, and luck—gifts to the finder.A perfect drop of dew clung to the clover’s edge, a tiny sphere reflecting Anna’s own face. It was grating, yet peaceful—though the sadness in her eyes was unmistakable. As she ga
After her usual morning gossip routine, Anna refreshed herself, mentally bracing for the inevitable office chaos. Papers piled high, phones ringing off the hook, and endless meetings filled her days. The constant demands seemed to run in an unbreakable loop, often ending with her rushing to the nearby coffee shop to fuel her through the madness. Somehow, her boss, Mr. Faiz, had an insatiable obsession with coffee. To him, it wasn’t just a drink; it was the very lifeblood of his day. The rich aroma was his daily anchor, grounding him amidst the whirlwind of his busy schedule.After another hour spent sifting through documents and typing up reports, Mr. Faiz interrupted her focus with an urgent request. He needed Anna to deliver important papers to Mr. Camilton's mansion, as the latter was unwell with a mild fever and unable to make it to the office. Though she had no choice but to comply, Anna felt the weight of the task. Grabbing her coat, she retrieved cash from the petty cash drawer
The wind howled across the barren White Mountain, its icy fingers biting at Anna’s skin. She pushed forward against the fierce gusts, the sky above an empty expanse of grey and white, as the snow drifted in relentless flurries. Her breath came in sharp bursts, but the cold didn’t faze her—it was the memory that cut deep. Each time the thought crossed her mind, a sudden, sharp pain pierced her chest. The man, the one who had hurt her, lingered in her memory like an echo. Who was he again? Why did she keep forgetting? Each time she reached for the answer, it slipped through her fingers like snow.She paused, her senses prickling. Something in the air felt... familiar, but not in the comforting way it should. It was almost sinister—yet, strangely welcoming. Her heart skipped a beat. What was this feeling?As if pulled by an invisible force, she tilted her head and sniffed the wind. The scent was unmistakable. A floral fragrance mixed with a salty tang—fresh, like flowers kissed by the sea
After an hour of endless walking, he began to question his sanity. Why did he swallow that pill, anyway? He wasn't at all phases, but he couldn't sleep and still had a little fever, so he swallowed some sleeping pills. But he's been doing that for ages, and this was the first time he met someone here in his dream. Or was it even a dream? Or maybe he travelled to a different world? Harry couldn't even fathom the idea. After all, these were all the missions of DRI, right? Nevertheless, this place was wonderful, a little scary, but he could manage this. After all, he was Harry Camilton. Nothing scares him anymore, not even death himself.Walking past her, Harry noticed something was familiar. This place was silent, too silent even for his liking. Furthermore, the cold, chilling winter wind was foreign to his senses. He wondered if it based these simple experiences on his reality or on a mass scale on his consciousness. Or maybe fate was trying to play with him.After all, Harry was not a
So they venture up to the mountain, their silhouettes covering the smooth horizontal peak in the distance; their backs of hills flutter across the valley clumped with icy pine. Both marvel at its beauty as they keep on walking up, fearing what lies ahead. A thirst for adventure and charm awakened in her heart and flowed out into the tips of her toes, compelling Anna to want to run straight into the embrace of the proud mountains. The air was chilling, but they went on and on while the skies darkened. The acoustic landscape was at once familiar to her. However, they continued moving up. She was tired as hell, weary with the burden of long-closed eyes, yet she could have easily pulled off being a walking zombie, dead on the inside but subconsciously awake. Nevertheless, when they reached the peak, both were speechless, as they stood atop the rocky surface and lifted their arms in accomplishment. Clouds swirled around Anna in an icy greeting, and snow coated the mountaintop. Even with t
The Human World Anna woke up and howled in genuine agony, watching her bitten mark from the Moonland at White Mountain's peak with fiery veins encircling her arm. Her body was glowing from the inside out. She was frightened. For hours, she lay there alone, crying and, worst of all, burning. She had never had this kind of experience before. It was unnerving and yet she was questioning her sanity. The dawning morning sun brightened in the tiny window, adding light to her hell, and the burn was unbearable, painful as all night she had been there and no one had heard her screams for help. A sense of grief washed over her at the moment. She was going to die here unattended, and Norma wasn't in her apartment. Every minute, her heartbeat slowed, and every second, her slow death drew closer. The distress and burning hadn't ceased, but after being in agony for hours upon hours, her mind was no longer her own. The hardest part was that the burn took her to the verge of consciousness but never
Too late, he recognized that for once; he was not that one overseeing the game. He had lost control of the situation, and she played him like a cat and a mouse, except she was not a significant cat. She was a tiger, and she was finished playing. Anna's blazing hand changed to a sword that burst through his face as if his skin were paper. The pain was unlike any other pain he went through before, it was more than pain, it was death itself, then he felt a quick spasm in his chest. Lord Andrie looked down at his body and found his dark dagger embedded just below his rib cage, powerful enough to hurt but not serious enough to kill him. Not immediately. Anna peered into his eyes, and she did something she thought she would never do. She let go of the last bits of herself that tethered the predator inside. Her fe
A wintry wind stroked across the mountainside with a rawness that gave rise to one's soul into the gentle cloud-filtered rays. The icy breeze comes sometimes quiet, sometimes loud, yet even with a chill that brings a crispness to the day. Ten of hundreds of people and creatures running around in a panic, packs of soldiers fighting a desperate battle to stay alive, invaders running rampant, killing, and tearing each other apart. Any attempts at bringing order were ended with threats of death. This was also the territory where the last of the resistance held out. Loyal Lord Colton's soldiers wouldn't want to see the heart of their land murdered, so they fought to the death to protect their Lord. Then chaos builds until no one knows what's going on and the only thing left to do is run away trying to keep themselves an
Moon 73 Lord Andrie groaned, Anna could sense him getting enraged and irritated. It made her fear. 'What should I do if he tries to hurt me? I don't think I could fight him. She thought. She looked around and saw someone or something lurking in the shadows, her eyes tried to search for an opening, she needed to get out of here and fast. Not only that, she attempted to run, but something unexpectedly attacked her engulfing her with something she no longer has control over. She couldn't move a muscle, it froze everything even the snow hangs in the air. It froze everything in the frigid land and whatever it was Anna was grateful. The frozen landscape was the ideal page awaiting new strolling feet. In that icy land, the perfect moments froze, so she savors them all the more, if not under any circumstances she might memorize this mo
The breeze of the ferocious wind tore through lord Andrie's mind. His formidable eyes blazed with animosity and his thick eyelashes glazed to the pale darkness of the prisoner's land. His Heavy eyelashes furrowed a cloak from their scarce surroundings. His camouflaged pale skin wreathed in shadow colors. His chiseled face and fine long silver hair curling around from behind. Still, his rigorous body was coerced with frost and ice. And his hands tremble from hatred to whoever is in prison here on this wasteland. He appeared unaffected, however, his eyes warn dark stories of hundreds of days gone by. His hateful shadow lurking as the canopies that silence the breeze in the Wasteland. It was not a very amiable niche, with distress, anger, worry, and death awaiting whoever dared to embark inside the frigid land. The vestibule was also patrolled by the sandjinns. Their duty was to keep the prisoners from leaving this cursed land.
Ashley hoped this assault wouldn't last long; it arrived in the form of an advancing surface of sand and debris; which may be miles wide and several thousand feet high. It blows with little warning, making venturing conditions hazardous. Blinding them, and the choking dust was reduced to their vision. Sandstorms last only a few minutes, but this was a different storm altogether. They could barely breathe and snuggled together. They prepared to die. As suddenly as it began, the storm stopped. It crossed over them. They coughed and sputtered and panned out the dust and dirt from their clothes. Anna looked around. The storm has not passed them by. It was now all around them. They stood within a swirling surface and circled the mayhem like an enormous corral."This is probably the eye of the storm," exclaimed Ashley. She had heard such a thing but had never experienced it. As if they were at sea,
White CavernThere was a stake being jabbed into Anna's lower back, the assaults radiating pain in a way that shatters her brain - or at least that's what it feels like. She lay so still, breathing shallow. Her entire body was throbbing, and it was unbearable wherever anything touched her skin, and her vision was low contrast and "gray." Difficult to concentrate on everything. She attempted to pull herself up off the frigid floor, but her body didn't want to hold her weight. They stumbled and dropped around as she had never used them before."Harry, dammit! Everything hurts." She mumbled, looking towards Harry who seemed to be in pain as well. "Hey. Are you okay? Harry? Are you awake?" She lightly nudged him awake."I'm in pain, oh bloody shit I'm in so much pain," Harry murmured. He gave her a shushed gesture warning an
“How about we leave now?" Harry asserted. Oblivious to the fact that Anna was trying to make him feel better. “We can try again, maybe we won't end up in White Mountain?”Anna knew he was working on distracting her by suggesting to travel back. If he needs time to open up his heart further, then she will give him enough chances to contemplate his feelings. She realized it had hurt him so and she doesn't want him to feel even more obliged to confiding her everything.“That's a good idea, should we sleep here?”“Yes, that will do, let's try here, Nathaniel is the nodders device fixed yet?” Asked Harry.“Not yet dude, maybe a couple of an hour or more, for now, we should seek the conventional way.&r
"What...? He is your father?" asked Anna."Yes!" Harry answered back with a rage-filled voice, he was seething with hatred. He was angry with his stepfather, he knew, but the old man doesn't care about it. Sometimes he'd envision doing some unpleasant things to him. Yet, he didn't, after all, he was still his stepfather. Upon starting at Anna's eyes his body tightens as reality sinks in. She knew him? Why? He ask himself. He has to purposely keep his jaw open to avoid clenching and grating his teeth."How? I mean," -You're Camilton." Anna can feel the revulsion in his tone and she wondered what made him feel that way towards his stepdad. Dr. Simon was nice man,he was her only friend when she was a teenager, the only one who gave her enough trust and confidence. However, Harry seemed to hate him, his hatred towards the old man overwhelmed her even
The next few hours passed as a blip during her never-ending story, then after recounting their many adventures, the final trauma that broke Anna was the passing of David. Harry held her hands while he was retailing everything to Nathaniel. "What? David was dead?" Nathaniel shouted. "Yes," "I'm sorry, Anna," Nathaniel replied. The heaviness was in his limbs as much as his mind. Things he used to find funny now only caused a deepening of the pain. Nathaniel doesn't like the man, but he helped save Harry and helped Anna so he counts him as a friend too. "Let's not talk about it, please?" She begged. One day, Anna will grieve for him, but first, she would have to accept he was gone - and though she dug his grave herself, there was a