Heart Of Darkness Chapter 30
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Oh pain, what have I done
To make you my companion
Having you around is no fun
I want you gone
Rayven opened his eyes slowly, the lights greeting him with their warmth. But right now, all he wanted was to feel cold. To feel numb. Why did he wake up? He wished he had never opened his eyes again.
Skender sat next to the bed in a chair and Acheron on a coach in the corner. He was falling asleep when he saw that Rayven had woken up.
Skender loomed over him with a worried expression. "Rayven, you worried me." He said, breathing out in relief.
Acheron came to his side as well. "What did she do to you?"
Rayven saw anger in Acheron's eyes. The man never showed anger unless he was hungry. Opening his mouth, Rayven tried to speak despite his extremely dry mouth and throat. The words cut through him, causing him to grimace in pain, but he could barely be heard.
Acheron hurried away to bring him water.
Pushing himself up with his arms, Rayven tried to sit, but almost cursed when his healing skin rubbed against the sheets. He realized they had undressed him and taken care of his wounds.
Acheron handed him the glass of water and Rayven gulped it down at once. The cold against his throat made him want to feel the same on his body.
Both Acheron and Skender watched him with concern.
"What is wrong?" Rayven asked.
"You were sleeping for a week."
A week? That couldn't be possible, but when he looked down at his body and saw how his wounds were healing, he believed them.
Why would he be sleeping for a week? He had been through worse than this and woke up the next day.
Rayven pushed the blankets aside to get out of bed. "You should rest some more," Skender told him.
"Who has been training the boys?" Rayven asked.
"Zarus has been training them," Acheron replied.
Rayven looked outside the window. It was early morning, so the boys would soon arrive for their training. He went to look for clothes while Skender and Acheron watched him in silence. He got dressed and left the room in a rush.
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He could hear Acheron telling Skender "leave him. He needs the distraction."
Distraction? What could make him forget the misery he lived in? It would be enough to arrive at the backyard where the boys waited and cause them to gasp at his hideous face to be reminded of who he was and what he looked like.
It didn't matter.
He was used to people staring at him, whispering about him and gasping at the sight of him. Only the reason was different now.
When he arrived in the backyard, just as he expected, the boys were horrified to see him in the state he was in. If they had only seen his whole body. His clothes covered most of his wounds.
"Welcome back, Lord Rayven." Lazarus, who was already there to train the boys, greeted him.
"I can take it from here," Rayven said.
Lazarus smirked. "Of course you can. Just avoid the sun." He patted him on the shoulder and left him with the boys.
"Welcome back, Lord Rayven," some of them greeted.
Rayven squinted his eyes, feeling the sunrays burn through his lashes. His skin began to itch, but he ignored it and went to instruct the boys.
Time went by slowly as he showed the boys different techniques and taught them his skills. He just wished for the day to end, the month and all the years. He wanted his life to end.
What was wrong with him? He wasn't someone to drown in self pity. He should just go back to accepting his fate and stop complaining.
When the evening came, he sent the boys away but as usual, William stayed. Rayven watched him in silence, thinking of how his punishment kept this boy's father alive.
William went to put his wooden sword back in the box when he was satisfied with his training, then he came up to him.
Why? Why pester him? Rayven wasn't in the mood to behave appropriately. He felt like tearing apart anyone who spoke to him, especially this boy.
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"My Lord, I am glad you are back," he said.
"Was Lord Quintus terrible?"
William smiled. "No, I am just used to having you training us," he shrugged.
Then he looked at his face, not with disgust or any other feeling Rayven could distinguish. "It seems like you got hurt again," he said.
Again? It seemed like the boy paid attention to his scars. No one looked at him long enough to notice.
William reached inside his pocket and pulled out a little box. "My sister mixes herbs to help heal my wounds. Look," he said, showing him his healed fists. "I am healed now. You can have it."
He held out the box, but Rayven slapped it out of his hands. William was startled, but only for a brief moment before he went to pick up the box. Then he came back to him.
"It is alright. I get angry too when I don't get enough sleep because of my nightmares. I took your advice and began to read. Now I sleep a little better."
What a way to make him know he was terrible and make him feel good at the same time. Rayven was amused, even in his bad mood.
When he said nothing, William gently put the box beside him. "Have a good evening, My Lord." He bowed and left.
In the shade of the tree, Rayven rested his back against its trunk. He blocked his mind from any thoughts and emotions and only focused on the pain caused by his wounds. After a while, when he was sure that he was feeling nothing but pain, he stood up and returned to the chamber where he had been resting earlier.
He put the box of herbs on the table before letting himself fall into the bed. Wait! Did he bring the box with him?
He took it and decided to throw it out through the open window, but halted halfway. He dropped his hand and looked at the box. It was made of wood and had a painting of a leaf on the lock. Just when he was about to open it, the door to the room flew open. Lazarus stood at the entry with a smug look on his face.
"I think I am becoming more human and using the door," he said, with Acheron and Vitale trailing behind him.
"Except humans don't come uninvited and they knock first," Rayven spoke in a bitter tone.
"Are you saying I am not invited?" He pretended to be hurt as he came to sit on the other end of the bed. He swung his legs up the bed, still wearing his shoes. "I took care of your children while you were sick."
Children? The boys were far from being his children. He couldn't imagine himself being a father. How unlucky his child would be.
Blayze arrived, but not through the door like the others. "You are alive," he said.
"Sadly." Rayven replied and Blayze smirked.
"Is Skender busy?" Vitale asked.
"Yes. He is busy doing nothing." Blayze said, causing Lazarus to laugh. "We do the work, he gets the praise. He doesn't do the work, we get the punishment."
Blayze had never concealed his dislike of their newest member. Skender. The one who was punished for the shortest amount of time amongst them. He still had that light of hope left in his eyes, but soon, after many years of being punished like them, he would lose hope as well.
If Lucrezia wanted to save someone, she should save him. Rayven was beyond saving. The punishment was supposed to make him a better person, but he only got worse. His heart remained dark and his body remained cold.
He was nothing but a waste of space right now. He was better off dead.
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Rise
Su Xue, a woman in her mid 20s, is struggling both in paying rent and finding her path in life. Her latest stint has her trying to become a popular League of Legends streamer, though to poor results. One day, she is interrupted in the middle of a livestream by a surprise visit from her landlady. She is informed that she will be having a new roommate. The landlady’s nephew, Lin Feng, a 18 year old boy who has just transferred over to Shanghai for his last year of high school.Though initially opposed to it, Su Xue reluctantly agrees to the arrangement. She learns that the two share a common interest—League of Legends—and that he’s really amazing at the game. Lin Feng also reveals to her he wishes to become the best professional League of Legends player in the world.The next day. Lin Feng attends his first day of school as a transfer student at High School 13. He meets Ouyang and Yang Fan, and the trio find a common passion in League of Legends. Lin Feng is then introduced to Ren Rou, the president of the esports club with a fiery personality, and Tang Bingyao, a quiet bookworm with a love for money and a surprising talent for the game.A little about Lin Feng’s past is revealed. He was a once pro player, the youngest in history and a contender for the best player in the world. Until the finals of the Season 1 World Championship. There, he lost to his arch-rival, an equally brilliant Korean youth. That was the peak of his career, and also the turning point in his life. He stepped down from his team and disappeared from competitive play altogether. Now, after a four year long hiatus, he aims to make a comebackOver the next couple of weeks, Lin Feng learns about the upcoming Shanghai 16 School Tournament, and that his school’s esports club had performed especially poorly the previous year. He agrees to coach the club’s team and help them win the first place trophy this year. And so, he starts the members of the club out on an intense training bootcamp.Meanwhile, the Season 5 League of Legends World Championship is taking place at around the same time. Tian Tian, one of Lin Feng’s former teammates and best friend, is on one of the Chinese teams playing at Worlds. After a poor showing, he is on the verge of a mental breakdown. Lin Feng witnesses everything in a viewing party with the esports club members and becomes worried.On the day of the Shanghai 16 School tournament, Lin Feng reunites with Tian Tian on the phone. He tells Tian Tian he’s going to return to the professional scene, that he’s making a new team and plans to invite him. But Tian Tian has to vow not to give up at Worlds and keep winning. Tian Tian agrees, and Lin Feng promises he’ll fight alongside him. Lin Feng then heads into his match with renewed resolve, to climb from the bottom all the way back to the top, and overcome the rival that defeated him so many years ago.
8 1136Phoenix's Requiem
Painfully shy and conflict-averse, Yun Ruoyan is a scion to a noble house only in name, a puppet embroiled in political machinations beyond her ken. At the tender age of eighteen, poisoned and at death’s door, she finds herself thrown out into the streets. Her relatives have all been executed, betrayed by her dear husband and her cousin. With her dying breath, she curses her own weakness and swears revenge.When Yun Ruoyan awakens once more, she is thirteen, transported five years into the past by the will of the heavens. Her death-defying experience has changed her: no longer is she the malleable creature she once was. But more questions await at every corner—what is the truth behind the birthmark that disfigures her appearance? What are the circumstances surrounding her mother’s mysterious death?Will the phoenix rise from the ashes, or will she fall once more in thrall to fate?
8 646Poison Physician Consort
Follow Bai Luochu on a journey back to the peak as she reincarnates into the body of an orphaned daughter of the former great general of the Cloud Water Nation.With the Three Great Immortal Sects in front of her, her mortal enemies who caused her death, how would she rise to the top again?With her astounding medical skills and ability to create heaven defying poison, Bai Luochu heals the crippled meridians of her new body and attracts the attention of all three princes of the Cloud Water Nation!
8 1749Rebirth of a Fashionista: This Life Is Soo Last Season
Cinderella went from rags to riches, but when you are already at the top, fate is more than happy to kick you down. A car accident kicks off Sheng Jiaoyang's reverse Cinderella story by trapping her soul in the body of a poor girl, leaving her to succumb to fate and wait for her Prince Charming to come to her rescue -- obviously not!Like a phoenix rising out of the ashes, Sheng Jiaoyang forges her own way back up to the upper echelons of society, clearing obstacles, taking revenges, and bagging her handsome and rich childhood friend on the way.If you are tired of reading about poor damsel in distress waiting for a man to rescue her, and wants a female lead that can carry herself to the top, Rebirth of A Fashionista is the novel for you!
8 274The Attack of the Wastrel
Her rebirth gave her a second chance at life. She was back with a vengeance and wanted to make those that had harmed her pay. But to those that helped her, she wanted to repay them. Her evil stepmother? She would slowly pull out her claws, one by one. Her evil stepsister? She would crush her pride. She thought that by getting her revenge for her past life, she would be happy in this life. However, she never would have thought that danger would chance upon her time and time again. The hatred from her clan and whether their bloodline would continue to exist, lay solely on her shoulders. Luckily, on this thorny path, someone had always been protecting her. "Third Prince, have you ever regretted being with me?" That person laughed lightly and peered at her with a loving yet weary look, "As long as I am together with you, I have no regrets."
8 1461Demoness's Art of Vengeance
Jun Xiaomo, notoriously known as “Lady Demoness”, finds herself chained and bound in a dungeon. Her hard-earned cultivation has been completely crippled, and she has no means of escape. Qin Shanshan, a lady she used to called her “close friend”, mocks Jun Xiaomo, revealing that Jun Xiaomo had been used by the people around her. Even her lover, Qin Lingyu was one of the masterminds scheming against her. Jun Xiaomo watches her life flash before her eyes and realizes that she had indeed blindly placed her trust in people. Her naivety had led to her current predicament. Jun Xiaomo wanted to end it all. However, she is determined to deliver a swan song. Over the hundreds of days tormented in that very dungeon, Jun Xiaomo had painstakingly painted a complicated formation array with her own blood. With a determined look, Jun Xiaomo burns her life force to activate the array. Her sole intent? To bring with her as many schemers to the gates of hell as she could. The bright red light from thearray intensified, and the end was nigh.…or was it? Jun Xiaomo opens her eyes and finds herself alive again; time had rewound right back to when she was sixteen years of age, albeit only at the eighth level of Qi Cultivation. Armed with the knowledge and memories of her previous lifetime, Jun Xiaomo is determined to learn from her mistakes and bring retribution to those who so deserve…
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