dark

In ages past when hope was spent and low, All creation stood bound within its quiet repose. Then did Reality tremble from a boundless might, And the earth quaked across the starless night. A star descended from the vast beyond, And bound reality in grief's most tragic bond. It stole the future in its greedy plight, Yet wept in secret at the ruined sight. With painted smiles it played a gentle part, And strove to heal each broken, wounded heart. Yet the star never found the words to seek amends, The answer on the tip of its tongue which it couldn't transcend. Its guilt endured, a weight upon its boundless soul, Awaiting forgiveness from the broken world. Wherefore to him whose destiny it had reft, It turned to mend the soul that it had left. The Bereft was lost, struggling with his blight, Yet the star became his new, endearing light. Until at last the end drew near, And to eternity the star must steer. In passing through the void it set things right, Returning the future it had plight. No soul recalled the star from that time on, Save for the Bereft… whose longing was not gone. Note: Music Box Mayhem was originally posted under my old account (SageofMusic). This is an official relaunch by the original author (Ekadash).

Living a story, many wish to enter their favourite book... But what if you actually could? That is the reality that Aether Moirai lives in, where readers bound to the Codex system can enter stories and grow stronger by changing their endings. But while awakening for most is a blessing, for the little Prince Aether, it had been a curse more than anything; he had been given this title at the worst moment of his life, trapped inside an enemy Kingdom that wanted his head, and to make it worse, his powers were those of a God, which, while it might seem like a good thing, had been the opposite. Between having to care about his own mental health and get stronger so his body doesn't get taken over, and trying to find himself, he also has to worry about the past he has no idea about, since it seems he's more connected to the world than he had thought. He has to decide if he wants to step into the role the world has given him, as the Vessel of one of the five gods of the world, or become a person of his own without losing himself. Quite a harsh world for one that seems like a fairy tale on paper... But what if those stories also have something to say about people entering them... that would make it way worse, wouldn’t it... P/S POTA is a novel with a lot of deaths; a lot of characters die. It’s a very dark novel for a reason, with no fear of gruesome and ugly scenes, but also one with a very complicated system and a lot of niche mechanics, and above all, the protagonist himself changes a lot through the story, and every part of his change is going to be shown, even the bad times. When it comes to uploads, there are two new chapters daily.

They call him Ghost. A name whispered across battlefields, criminal syndicates, intelligence networks, and the darkest corners of the underworld. For seventeen years, war was the only home he knew. Then, after another flawless mission, his commander gives him an order more terrifying than any battlefield ever could. Retire. Go home. Live a normal life. At twenty-two, Ghost disappears. And Miles Sterling returns. Armed with an old letter and fragments of childhood memories, Miles travels to Star Harbor searching for the family he lost seventeen years ago. He expects answers. Instead, he finds a mother who never stopped mourning him, younger siblings who don't know they have an older brother, and a world where guns, knives, and killing intent are considerably less useful than figuring out how to be someone's son again. But Miles didn't survive seventeen years in the shadows by being ordinary. Behind the quiet young man covered in scars lies Ghost, one of the world's deadliest mercenaries. Behind Ghost lies something even fewer people know. A billionaire who built his fortune from the shadows. And behind even that... There are identities Miles buried long ago. As he tries to build the peaceful life stolen from him, the past begins finding its way back. Old enemies emerge. Forgotten names return. Powerful families recognize him. Governments know more than they should. And secrets surrounding his father's death and his own disappearance slowly begin to surface. The problem is, Miles no longer has only himself to protect. He has a mother. Two Cute little siblings. A small family. And eventually, people he would burn the world down to keep safe. Miles Sterling retired because he was tired of war. Unfortunately for everyone standing in his way... Ghost never forgot how to fight.

She laughed with her rich friends… dared to use me like a toy. But the joke's on her now. When I got humiliated by the girl I loved, fate didn't hand me a second chance, it handed me a System. [Ding! Task: Seduce and Control Her Mother – Reward: $100,000 + Skill Upgrade] Her mother? A dominant CEO. Mature. Seductive. Cold-hearted. And now… she's obsessed with me. One task at a time, I'll break into their mansion, their boardroom, their twisted high-society world, and make them kneel. Ex-girlfriend? Regret will be the least of her emotions. [Ding! New Task: Destroy Her New Boyfriend's Family. Target: His Mother] Money. Power. Women. Control. They thought I was nobody. Now I'm the man they can't escape from. **** Join the community for exclusive character art, discussions, and sneak peeks: Discord — https://discord.gg/eCkzJY6TSC **** Beware: NETORI | NO NETORARE | NO NETORASE | HAREM

"Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer." That was Ulrich’s thought when he decided to adopt the three villainesses as daughters of his House despite knowing they were destined to be his doom in the novel he now found himself in. But he greatly underestimated the consequences and the burden that came with it.... He should have known that adopting the three most dangerous witches in the world wasn’t just a bad idea, it was a disaster waiting to happen. Now, he was forced to face the fallout of his decision while also facing his role as the hated professor of the story’s protagonists and heroines!

[Your shadow is alive.] [Feed your shadow, devour souls, level up, gain skills, complete quests, and grow stronger.] [Do you wish to view your current stats?] In the magical world of Aetherus, Damon Grey is the weakest student at Aether Academy, relentlessly bullied and ridiculed for his lack of power and defiant personality. Yet, he endures the torment, clinging to his scholarship—the only thing providing him with the funds to keep his sick sister alive. After a brutal attack leaves him near death, Damon encounters a dark viscous entity in the forest that fuses with his shadow, awakening the Living Shadow System. This strange power grants him unimaginable abilities but comes with a grim cost—a relentless hunger for souls and flesh to feed his shadow. Now, with his shadow alive and insatiable, Damon faces a terrible choice: feed it to grow stronger or starve it and die with it. In a world ruled by ruthless nobles, deadly monsters, and power-hungry demons, Damon must decide if his newfound power is a curse or the only way to survive. With the Living Shadow System, his fate is clear: devour or be devoured. discord. https://discord.gg/AYMgESBCTP

In a world ruled by seven empires, honor is nothing more than a fading illusion. Kaizlan Valrik, the son of a minor noble family, dreams of becoming a knight who protects the innocent. But the brutal training camp he is thrown into shatters every naive belief he holds. Betrayal, blood, and endless schemes reveal a darker truth: survival is the only law. Beyond the camp, powerful noble houses weave conspiracies in the imperial court, while in the shadows, a mysterious figure known only as The Elegant Man leaves behind black roses on his victims. No one is safe — not in the battlefield, not in the palaces, and certainly not in love. This is not a story of heroes. This is a tale of blood, power, and a world where there is truly… No Place for Honor.

#VillainDad #CuteProtagonist #Ghosts #Misunderstanding #Transmigration #SmartMC Mira realized two things the moment she woke up in the body of a nameless orphan in a fantasy novel: 1. She is a disposable "shrimp" destined to die in the crossfire of the main characters. 2. She is the only person in this world who can see the screaming, terrifying ghosts that haunt every corner of the empire. Tortured by the wails of the dead, Mira finds only one source of silence: Duke Kaelus von Nacht. Known as the "Dark Lord" and the "Emperor's Sword," Kaelus is a man so ruthless and soaked in bloodlust that even the ghosts are terrified to go near him. To the world, he is a monster. But to Mira, he is a walking, talking pair of noise-canceling headphones. Desperate for a good night's sleep, Mira clings to him, acting like a naive, affectionate child to secure her place by his side. She succeeds, but she miscalculated. Kaelus didn't adopt her out of kindness. He needed a disposable child to act as 'live bait' for the assassins targeting him. Now named Seraphina, she must navigate a deadly game of survival. She thinks she is using him as a ghost shield. He thinks she is a fearless prodigy who loves him. As Seraphina munches on poison berries and naps through ambushes to avoid seeing spirits, the cold-blooded Duke starts to ask the wrong questions. "Why does she only sleep when I am holding her?" "Why does she stare into space with such disdain?" "Is it possible... that I am a good father?" Spoiler: He is not. But he’s about to destroy an entire kingdom because someone woke her up. --- ### Excerpt "Your Highness, the Archduke," the aide whispered, trembling hard to cover his laughter from bursting out. "The child... she is clinging to your leg again." Kaelus looked down. The tiny creature known as Seraphina was attached to his calf like a barnacle, drooling on his pristine military trousers. "She is fearless," Kaelus murmured, misinterpreting her desperate need for his ghost-repelling aura as familial affection. "The assassins are approaching, yet she seeks comfort only in the eye of the storm. She is the perfect bait." Seraphina, currently trying to avoid eye contact with a headless ghost hovering three feet away, squeezed her eyes shut. 'Just don't move. If I let go, the headless guy will ask me where his nose is again.' "Sir," the aide hesitated. "She's... eating your cloak." "Let her eat," Kaelus commanded, drawing his sword. "Whatever she wants, she gets. Except for freedom."

"So naive, Melanie. So stupid." Those were the last words I heard before a bullet ended my life. Betrayed by my best friend and murdered by the man she loved, I thought the darkness of death was final. Instead, I woke up inside a web novel. Not as the beloved heroine. Not even as a lucky side character. I opened my eyes as **Seraphina Helene Valemont**—the spoiled, doomed villainess destined to be brutally executed for treason by her own husband, the notoriously cold and terrifying Duke Draven Everfrost. Armed with complete knowledge of the original plot, my survival strategy was simple: 1. Avoid making fatal mistakes. 2. Avoid the high-society enemies. 3. Above all else, **AVOID THE DUKE.** Except, the story refuses to follow the script. The monstrous Duke who was supposed to despise me is suddenly dragging me out of blood wars, tossing me swords to fight my own battles, and lazily controlling my limbs with dark magic just to mock my executioners. The events I memorized by heart are fracturing. Deeply buried political secrets are clawing their way to the surface, and the future I relied on changes with every passing sunrise. As deadly conspiracies threaten the empire and old legends refuse to stay buried, I am caught between a fate I desperately need to escape… and a demon masquerading as a man whom I was never supposed to trust. But the deeper I dig into the dark history of the North, the more terrifying one question becomes: *What if the most dangerous thing in this story was never the villainess?* Because some monsters are not born. Some monsters choose to chain themselves. And some names should have remained forgotten. **[MISSION UPDATE: SURVIVE.]** **[WARNING: ORIGINAL STORYLINE HAS DEVIATED.]** **[WARNING: UNKNOWN ENTITY DETECTED.]** **[CURRENT RISK LEVEL: CRITICAL.]** --- **~Author's Note:~** *First time writing a long, serialized story! Thank you so much for your patience, support, and love while I learn, improve, and build this world!* **THE READER'S PACT ** * **35 FREE CHAPTERS.** 0 excuses. Jump straight into the chaos! * **Kindly add this book to your Library** and Draven will personally protect you from Stephen's schemes. * Refuse... and Malaki wins. The choice is yours. ** THE VOTE REWARDS ** * **Power Stones** = Extra bonus chapters unlocked! * **Golden Tickets** = Mass chapter drops to satisfy your binge-reading! This is my official **WSA 2026** entry. Vote for the Everfrosts today... or watch Stephen try his luck again. **[Daily Chapter Releases — Never Miss a Beat]** **Connect with the Lore:** Instagram: **@merah_writes** TikTok: **@merah_writes**

[Warning!!! Adult Content!!! R18!!!] All his life Damian has endured abandonment but his fiancé's betrayal with a senior associate was the last straw that broke the camels back. Shattered, Damian ended his life with a bullet to the head. [Rejoice, you have been chosen to become one of the seven potential successors of the demon lord!] [Good Luck. You will need it] Instead of death, Damian is given a second chance at life but as one of the seven princes of hell. The Introduction of the system into his life turned it into something adventurous. Tasked with sleeping with virgins, seducing the righteous and spreading immorality to the entire realm, Damian is exposed to a world he never knew existed. "But wait, you mean I also inherited a three wives as well?" "What do you mean they are the jealous types and I'm not allowed to get married?" --- Daily Release: 4 chapters minimum and 5 maximum Discord: https://discord.gg/MkFeQnjuu2

In Dromo, doubt is a crime. The Valval Priesthood burns heretics in the square and calls it mercy, and the Light they wield answers only to them. Until a girl in the crowd hears it scream. Gemma is fifteen, hunted, and carrying the power the Priesthood has spent centuries trying to cage. She can hear the voice beneath the world, and it listens back. A single ring of light can stop a crossbow bolt. But when the power breaks loose, it takes something from her. A name. A face. A memory she will never get back. Aros Kevis was once the most feared man in the kingdom. He killed a king and walked away with nothing but scars. Now he has one reason left: keep the girl alive. The Priesthood’s blessed hunter is already on their trail. The rebels want Gemma as a weapon. A smiling noble is playing every side.

[Mature Content] "To take back their lost lands, she was the human meat to be given to the beasts." Eloise Ravemont was born a bastard to the Archduke of Beloria, abused by her stepmother and sister, and neglected by her father. Her life takes a turn for the worse when her marriage to the Lycan monarch is announced, and Eloise can only await her dreadful fate. Lycans are apex predators, superior beings, and originators of those horror stories your parents told you about to make you behave. Tales of the Lycan Monarch, Drevon Balthar, were far worse than any combined. They call him a merciless beast and the terror that bested the vampires in war. Eloise has no choice but to tussle with her new reality, and she becomes conflicted when her supposed husband, rumored to be more sinister than any beast, is more of a daydream than a nightmare. Thrust in a castle filled with demons and danger, Eloise must prevail and play the games of the beast, outwitting her foes as well as trying to resist her doting husband.

He was forbidden. My brother's best friend. Also the most dangerous man in the country. And I signed myself over to him. Leah Thorne had one rule: stay away from Dimitri Valentino. It shouldn't have been difficult. He was ruthless, feared, and devastatingly beautiful in the way that only truly dangerous things are. The kind of man who owned nightclubs, commanded armies, and made grown men weep with a single look. The kind of man her brother Mike trusted with his life. The kind of man she had absolutely no business wanting. But one shattered marriage, one bottle of whiskey, and one catastrophically bad decision later, Leah wakes up in Dimitri's bed with a signed contract on the nightstand and six months of her life no longer her own. Her body. His rules. No exceptions. The contract is iron-clad, the penalty clause suffocating — fifty million dollars she doesn't have. And Dimitri Valentino, the Wolf of the Italian underworld, has absolutely no intention of letting her go. He says he'll ruin her for other men. He's not lying. Because beneath the cold control and the thousand-dollar suits is a man who has wanted her for seven sinful years — who has memorized the curve of her smile, the sound of her laugh, and exactly how to take her apart piece by piece until the only word left in her vocabulary is his name. Eve came to him broken, looking to feel wanted. She never expected to feel owned. She never expected to love it. Six Months Contract With The Mafia God is a scorching dark romance about forbidden hunger, dangerous obsession, and the catastrophic moment a good girl stops running from the wolf who has always been hunting her. Some contracts change everything. Some men are worth the fine print.

Commissars - or Ministorum Priests of War - are the soul of any Astra Militarum regiment. They lead by example and hold the absolute standard. A soul from another world inexplicably takes up the role of probationary commissar in the grim darkness of the far future. His world is a brutal death-world battlefield. His regiment has been surrounded by Chaos traitors and is fighting for survival. Duvette looks at the System before him called "Soul of the Legion" and makes one decision: he is going to live. "What do you mean an Astra Militarum soldier ripped a Chaos Astartes' head off with his bare hands?!" "You're saying you have three hundred thousand mortal troops as powerful as the Custodes?" Guilliman looked at the man before him. "No. Stronger." A hundred years later "I am the Emperor's will. We are the hammer that crushes the xenos. We are the blade that pierces Chaos. We bring eternal death to the enemies of mankind, and mankind shall know true victory." Eternal Imperial Warmaster, Lord of the Sun, Humanity's Sole Consul, Augustus, Guardian of the Galaxy, Marshal Duvette. Progression: Commissar — Senior Commissar — Lord Commissar. Then: trophy worlds, legion-building, power fantasy in the grim darkness of the 41st Millennium.

What is a monster? Humans normally define monsters as fear inducing, bloodthirsty creatures bent on destruction. But to Noah? Monsters were the humans who despised him without justifications, who taught him to loathe himself just for being human. Life was hell, a hell that was surrounded by “monsters”. Until one day, the world changed. Humans were suddenly graced by a Divine voice, one that warned of their extinction, but also promised them power. They were bestowed with a system, a system to aid their fight for survival, to survive against monsters. And when humanity was given that chance to survive, Noah chose to walk a path of a tamer, to befriend the very monsters that were threatening the humans' extinction. As he tamed the monsters, learned from them, bonded with them, shedding the last remnants of what it was to be human. Noah began to wonder, is it wrong to be considered a monster? Feedback is definitely appreciated, good or bad, let's make the story good together. I would like to note that the main character isn’t completely ruthless, he's more chaotically neutral. There’s a lot of good stories out there with ruthless, bloodthirsty, cold hearted main characters so if that’s what your interest in then I’m sorry to disappoint you.

He has been known by many titles: The Last Branch of the Blackthornes, The Demon of Grimcrest, The Lichspawn of Dirkaz, The Broken of Dragovitch...and Zepar has heard worse. Cast out as a child, condemned as a monster, Zepar learned early what the world does to those who are different. When love finally gives him a reason to hope, tragedy turns that hope to ash-and sets him on a path of forbidden magic, vengeance, and unforgivable sins. Lichspawn is a dark fantasy novella set in the Duskborne universe, chronicling the rise of one of its most feared figures. This is not a story of redemption-but of how a man becomes a monster.

Consumed by the guilt of a fatal mistake and desperate to reclaim his love, a young witch turns to a spell to bring his ex-boyfriend back. The ritual works, but he never imagined the herbs and candles would trigger such a devastating reaction, tying him to a terrifying karma. Now, he is left with no choice but to undo the ties before it's too late... ~•~ • This story is ENTIRELY my original work! • Contains psychological horror themes! • Brazilian romance with original characters! • Explicit sexual content! (18+) • Plagiarism is a crime! • Inspired by true events!

When the mirror appears, it's said that the mind has reached its breaking point. Ryo Kobayashi is a young boy who has grown impatient and bored with his mundane day to day routine. After finally reaching his limit, he comes across an eerie-looking mirror. He gets sucked into the mirror and transported to a fantasy world, where he meets other individuals just like him. Apparently, they were all summoned to perform certain trials or missions called pages. Their goal is to please the Grand Narrator and earn the right to have their dearest wish granted. Discord: https://discord.gg/sj8JAYze Character art: @grandnarratorsama