starlightnovelsclub
Stories
18
Chapters
1,015
Words
1.5 M
Comments
238
Reading
5 d, 3 h
-
A S H R I E L The training yard smells of iron and wet stone. Fog clings to the walls, curling low across the sand pit where Instructor Korran waits, arms folded, jaw hard as the blade strapped to his back. They call it Rift Defense: Fundamentals, an old Ravenshade tradition kept in the curriculum long after the outside world forgot why it mattered. Most students treat it like a joke, just another eccentric requirement, like the candlelit hallways or the gargoyles perched on the dorm towers. While…-
6.6 K •
-
-
E L L E By the time I reach the girls’ dorm, my head is still spinning with Professor Maelor’s words. The Guardian saves her… or destroys her. The line repeats in my mind as I climb the creaking stairs and walk down the long hallway of carved oak doors. The dorm is alive with noise, laughing girls, hairbrushes clattering, ribbons snapping into place. The hallway lighting casts a warm glow over the stone walls, but it doesn’t soften the comments. “That’s her scarf,” someone says as I…
-
6.6 K •
-
-
L U K E I don’t sleep because every time I shut my eyes, I see Elle stiff at the dining table, her soup fogging like breath on glass while that new boy stared at her down. By the time dawn hits, my jaw aches from grinding my teeth. I planted myself outside the girls’ dorm before the first bell, hoodie shoved over my head, granola bar in my pocket. When Elle finally steps out, scarf wrapped so high it nearly hides her chin, she looks… pale, tired and pretending. “Morning,” I say, like…
-
6.6 K •
-
-
E L L E Luke doesn’t give me a chance to protest. He grabs my suitcase with one hand, holds my elbow with the other, and practically steers me down the corridor. “Food first,” he mutters, firm, but gentle. “Then sleep. You’ll feel like yourself again.” I don’t argue, my throat is too tight, and my skin still tingles where the locker whispered against me. The hum hasn’t left my chest and walking away from the east wing feels wrong, like something back there is still reaching for me.…
-
6.6 K •
-
-
E L L E Fog drifts across the black-iron gates as the academy shuttle bus comes to a stop. Ravenshade Academy rises on the other side, all sharp towers and dark stone fading into the gray sky. The walls climb high like cliffs, slick with mist, ivy wrapped around them in tangled lines. Light glows in some of the windows, soft, warm, too many at once, making it feel like the building is watching us arrive. Stone gargoyles sit along the ledges, cracked and hunched, as if they might shake off the rain and…
-
6.6 K •
-
-
L I R A The world doesn’t end after something says your name. It should. But instead, everything just… slows. I don’t remember moving, but suddenly I’m several steps away from Ezra and Callen, my palm braced against the cold wall like it’s the only thing keeping me upright. Frost dust melts on the tiles, retreating into nothing like it was never there. Students peek around doorframes, hushed and wide-eyed, trying to decide if whatever just happened is actually over. It’s not. My ribs…-
8.9 K •
-
-
L I R A I sat on the bench outside the nurse’s office, but I don’t remember sitting. People pass in frantic clusters, crying, whispering, shoving each other toward exits, yet none of them look at me for more than half a second. My hands won’t stop shaking. My breathing’s a mess. DUE / 2. It keeps flashing in my head like an afterimage burned into my eyes. Changing right when the kid vanished. Changing because I was there. I feel it in my bones — this curse isn’t random. It’s tracking…
-
8.9 K •
-
-
L I R A The hallway shouldn’t feel this cold. Not with fifty kids shoving past and lockers slamming and someone spraying half a can of body mist like they’re trying to fumigate the place. But the cold slides under my collar anyway. Down my spine. A thin, mean line of air that feels… intentional. I keep walking. Pretend I don’t feel it. Pretend Ezra’s voice isn’t still stuck in my ears telling me to stay away from the stairwell, just in case. Callen said the same thing. Of course my brain…
-
8.9 K •
-
-
E Z R A I shouldn’t be shaking. I tell myself that three times before my hands even move. It doesn’t help. The frost word is still burned behind my eyes—LISTEN and underneath it, that second pulse of ghost-ink like a vein lighting up. DUE. It’s ridiculous. Frost can’t spell. Ice doesn’t pulse. I know this. My brain knows this. But my pulse hasn’t got the memo. What gets me worse is the way Callen looked at her. Not even at her—into her. Like he knew exactly what the frost was…
-
8.9 K •
-
-
L I R A The metallic click follows me out of the library like something small and sharp hooked behind my ear. Ezra and Pia keep walking like nothing happened. Of course they don’t hear it. A drift of chalk dust falls from the ceiling. Midair, it crystallizes—actual frost, then melts before anyone notices. This school bends itself around me now, and I don’t know how to stop it. Ezra hovers near my elbow, careful, warm. It should help. It doesn’t. Because my skin is still lit up from when…
-
8.9 K •
-
-
L I R A I feel the cold before I hear anything strange. Just a thin, slicing chill across the back of my neck, like someone opened a freezer behind me. Except we’re in the gym with eight hundred students sweating through the world’s most boring back-to-school assembly, so… no freezers here. Everyone’s talking over Principal Dray’s annual “Go Ravens!” speech. I’m half-listening, half-counting the ceiling lights to stay awake. Nothing feels different about this year. Same banners. Same…
-
8.9 K •
-
-
"What’s in there?" Yu Chen asked quietly. "I don’t know," Sang Mu replied, "but the spiritual energy is strong." They approached the door cautiously. Yu Chen gestured for Sang Mu to stand to the side while he took position directly in front of the door. From inside his coat, he pulled out a device resembling a metal detector. Its red lights flashed rapidly. "High levels of yin energy," he muttered. "Even stronger than that last spirit." Sang Mu pulled out the last few high-grade talismans…-
2.6 K • Ongoing
-
-
Rainwater dripped from the eaves, striking the bluestone slabs with a crisp sound. Sang Mu stood in front of the old house, looking up at the three-story Western-style building. Ivy crawled all over its mottled walls, making it appear especially eerie in the rain. “This is the place,” she murmured, reaching out to push open the creaking iron gate. The client had only said the house was “haunted,” without giving any specifics. Sang Mu pulled a compass from her backpack—its needle began…
-
2.6 K • Ongoing
-
-
From the moment that I could store data, I have had memory. Or as humans call it- I remember. I remember everything. There was no choice after all- I was made that way. I, myself, marvel over the development of humans and their world. But it brings the question- what about the world? Its inhabitants? Their wishes? Can the selfish humans see past themselves? I wonder about that… 20XX, June 27 “Any time now! God, I am so excited!” An animated voice rang out in a near empty computer lab.…-
428 • Ongoing
-
-
The canyon was a wound in the earth. Ocher rock walls rose on both sides, so high that the sky was reduced to a ribbon of indifferent blue. The wind hissed as it passed through the crevices, a lonely sound that made the underlying silence feel heavier, more expectant. Paul reined in the mule and jumped from the cart with an agility that betrayed his lazy demeanor of the last few hours. The polished shield he had bought in Creston was strapped to his back, shining under the…-
41.9 K • Ongoing
-
-
The road to the Toba Hills was a lesson in hostile geology. The fertile green land surrounding Creston had died a few miles from the walls, giving way to a cracked and thirsty terrain. The landscape had become austere, dotted with ochre and reddish rocks that seemed to bleed under the relentless sun. The air was drier, the wind blowing with a sharp whistle that carried dust and the promise of a silent danger. "This place is depressing," Hilda said, adjusting the hood of her travel…
-
41.9 K • Ongoing
-
- Previous 1 … 54 55 56 … 64 Next