Eastern

Chapter 14

Surprisingly, when I woke the next morning, I didn’t feel the usual weight pressing down on my chest. Accepting what had happened had helped. For the first time since the rift, my thoughts weren’t just noise. I had a direction now.

Find out more about cultivation. Test my stats. Complete the quest. Figure out what the system can really do. And maybe—just maybe—find a way home.

The room was quiet. I pushed off the thin mat and stretched, sore muscles pulling tight but not p...

Chapter 13

I followed Wei Lin along one of the raised paths through the paddies. We didn’t speak much—neither of us really needed to. My thoughts were still a mess, too jumbled to sort through.

Eventually, we veered off from the main road and came to a small house set apart from the others. It was simple: one level, a sloped roof, and a sagging wooden fence. A vegetable garden stretched along one side, and bundles of drying herbs hung from strings along the porch. The place smelled like soil, ...

Chapter 12

I looked over at the small, cat-like creature. Now it lay there, unmoving.

I felt… bad. Its body was peaceful in death. Calm and quiet. But I shoved that feeling down. It had attacked me with the intent to kill. I just matched it.

As I watched, the air around its striped body shimmered faintly. A strange golden light drifted from its fur—tiny flakes of glowing dust rising like embers before slowly floating toward me. They landed on my skin, warm and featherlight, and immediate...

Chapter 11

The river weaved through the trees, its steady trickle the only sound besides my footsteps. It should’ve been peaceful. A quiet, calming walk through untouched nature. But my thoughts wouldn’t stop.

I must’ve checked my phone a hundred times, but the result never changed—no signal. No connection to anything. Every time the screen loaded, my stomach dropped, and I shoved it back into my pocket, trying to ignore the sickening weight in my chest.

How long have I been gone? 2025-04-26 19:18:21 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 10

I woke up.

Which surprised me more than anything.

Softness beneath me. The sensation was so foreign, so utterly out of place after what felt like an eternity of stone crushing my body, that I almost didn’t believe it. My mind was slow, fighting through a fog of exhaustion and pain. I pushed the lingering feelings of being crushed away.

Then, something wet dragged across my face.

I flinched, instincts firing, but my body refused to respond. My limbs were sluggish, hea...

Chapter 9

“Claire, we have breaking news regarding the B-rank rift in Circular Quay.” The news anchor’s voice was steady, but there was an unmistakable tension beneath it. “The rift has officially been closed… but as of this moment, not a single hunter has been reported exiting.”

The words barely registered.

Elise sat frozen, her fingers clenched tightly around her phone. She had already sent Ethan dozens of messages.

No reply.

She swallowed hard, blinking rapidly as...

Chapter 8

Despite myself, fear coiled deep in my chest, suffocating and cold.

“What are you?” I whispered, barely audible, my grip tightening around the useless remains of my dagger.

The thing that had worn Bert’s face smiled, sharp teeth glinting in the dim light. Its pupils, vertical slits, like a predator’s, studied me with amused detachment.

I took a step back.

The thing took one forward.

“Hasn’t this been fun?” it said, voice smooth, almost playful. “W...

Chapter 7

I woke covered in dried blood, my body aching as if I’d been trampled beneath a stampede. The room was dim, illuminated only by the faint, flickering glow of dying runes. Across the chamber, the grinding stone had revealed an open doorway. Relief surged through me, but it was short-lived. The tunnel ahead was cloaked in darkness, silent and foreboding. The path home still lay beyond my reach.

My eyes drifted downward. On the bloodied floor lay my dagger or rather, what was left of it....

Chapter 6

I limped through the darkness, every step sending waves of pain through my battered body. My mind was a haze, numb from exhaustion and grief. Alex’s death replayed endlessly in my head, each haunting detail etched deep into memory.

But I kept moving.

The tunnels seemed endless, an oppressive maze of stone and shadow. My dagger felt heavier with every passing step, the blade slick with sweat and dried blood.

Eventually, the narrow path opened into a wider space. Ahead stood...

Chapter 5

Everything was silent.

We moved carefully, footsteps echoing faintly off damp stone walls. Every sound felt too loud, like a beacon that would draw whatever lurked unseen toward us.

John sent one of the remaining hunters ahead to scout, a wiry man whose name I didn’t catch. He moved with practiced caution, eyes sweeping methodically across every shadowed crevice.

Then, without warning, something burst from the darkness.

A blur of motion, too fast to track clearly. Th...

Chapter 4

“Eth—Ethan, can you hear me?”

Someone was calling my name.

The voice felt far away, distorted, like hearing it underwater.

“How bad is he?” Asked another voice, deep, rough, filled with tension.

“Bad,” a woman’s voice responded coolly. “His skill is fighting, but it won’t last. His skull’s cracked. Brain’s bleeding.”

“Can you fix him?” the deeper voice pressed, urgent.

“I can…” she hesitated, her tone reluctant. “But sh...

Chapter 3

The undead barreled straight at me.

Me, the weakest hunter here. Why? I had no clue, and definitely no time to figure it out.

Its clicking filled the cavern, sharp and relentless, echoing painfully in my ears. My body locked up, heart slamming painfully against my ribs.

Shouts erupted around me, weapons drawn, hunters scrambling into action but none of it mattered.

It lunged.

I tried to move.

It was too fast. Too wrong. I couldn’t track it, let alone defe...

Chapter 2

A split second of darkness and then my boots landed firmly on solid ground.

I opened my eyes, scanning the cavern around us. Cold, damp stone walls glistened beneath the faint torchlight left behind by Alpha Team. The air hung thick, stale with rot and moisture. Ahead, a wide tunnel twisted deeper into darkness, illuminated only by dying embers. Shadows flickered ominously, dancing like living things along the jagged walls.

Something wet landed on my cheek, jolting me from my thou...

Chapter 1

The old door slammed open, hitting the wall with a dull bang. Elise stood in the doorway, eyes blazing with anger but I saw the fear underneath clearly enough.

“Ethan, don’t do this!” she snapped, her small fists clenched tightly at her sides. Her voice trembled slightly, betraying her real feelings.

I swallowed, keeping my gaze locked firmly on my boots as I tightened the laces. I hated seeing her like this, frightened, desperate but what choice did I have? One thing I’d ...