《Rheostat》24.Luminaire
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"Why am I so weak?" Kai punched the wall of his room, frustrated.
"You're not weak." I told him honestly. Kai was by no means weak. It was just that Diego was too strong.
"I'm sorry you had to see violence because of me." Kai sighed, covering his face with his hands.
I inspected his wounds to see they were turning blue by each passing moment. "Wait here. I'll bring an ice pack." I instructed him.
While on my way to kitchen, I saw Eveline cleaning the mess left behind by the one sided fight. A vase had fell over and broke somewhere during their fight.
"Do you need help?" I offered, watching as she meticulously collected the broken pieces of glass.
"Don't touch it with bare hands. You will cut yourself." She warned when I tried to pick one of the broken shards. She passed me a pair of gloves, "I asked Noah for help but he said he was tired."
After we were done cleaning, she followed me to the kitchen to get herself a glass of water.
"Aylin, are you upset big brother came back?" Eve asked in a small voice, avoiding my eyes.
Yes.
"No. Why would I be?" I didn't want her worrying about it.
"Anyone can tell you're lying." She laughed dryly. "I know I shouldn't be saying this. I have no right to say this.But can you give him another chance?"
How many scars do we justify just because we love the person holding the knife?
"I'll think about it." I can't give Diego another chance to break my heart. Not even for you, Eve.
"Why didn't Ezra and Stephen stop the fight?" I asked. They were standing there the entire time watching Diego mercilessly beat Kai.
"Everyone is already used to it," Eve sighed, "Everytime big brother comes back, Kai will without exception start a fight with him. And big brother never backs off. Ezra used to stop them at first but things would just turn even more bloody so they don't intervene anymore."
But still, they should do something!
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'Its his fault, who told him to fight someone twice his strength?' the voice chided in.
I took out the ice-pack from the freezer. But on my way I heard a heated argument coming from the downstairs study. I immediately recognized the voices; Stephen and Diego.
Hearing my name in their argument, I decided to listen for a little while. I will be gone before they even know. Thankfully the door was half open giving me full access to what they were talking about.
"Why didn't you inform me you are coming back?" Stephen asked, his voice telling just how pissed he was.
"Why didn't you inform me that Aylin is back?" Diego shot back just as fiercely as Stephen.
'Now, that's some quality entertainment.'
"Why are you back anyway?"
"A little birdie told me the old man dropped dead. Thought I should come pay my respect."
"The truth, Diego."
I heard Diego sigh heavily at being called out, "My last mission didn't end well. The higher ups believe I need a break to deal with it."
"Whatever the reason is, I need you to stay away from Aylin." Stephen firmly commanded him.
The respect in my heart for Stephen increased a little.
"And why will I do that?" I heard the sound of glass breaking followed right after it.
"She hates you, Diego. She already has enough on her plate, don't add more to it."
"She doesn't hate me!" I heard Diego shout followed by the scraping of chair.
"Keep telling that to yourself and you might actually end up believing it." Stephen scoffed.
I quickly went inside the kitchen again, knowing one of them would be coming out now that the argument is over.
Hearing footsteps approaching, I opened the refrigerator, pretending to look for food in there. The footsteps stopped right behind me and I prayed it wasn't Stephen. He always seemed to know when I did something wrong.
"You know, it's rude to eavesdrop on your brothers."
It wasn't Stephen. But I had forgotten Diego was even worse. Stephen will just scold me and get over with it. But that wasn't Diego's style. He would hold this over my head for as long as he can.
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"You have no proof. Besides you two were being loud and I just happened to pass by." I said, trying to sound confident.
"You were passing by that corridor for 15 minutes?" Diego called me out on my blatant lie. "Hmm, now why do I find that hard to believe?"
He knew from the start I was listening and still has the guts to call me out for that?
If you had so much problem with me listening in, you could have just stopped talking.
I closed the refrigerator and once again grabbed the ice pack for Kai. Passing Diego I climbed the stairs to second floor.
I looked back to find Diego following me all the way to Kai's room. I didn't want to talk to him so I didn't complain.
Just as I reached Kai's room he snatched the ice pack from me, "Give it to me."
Before I could even try to take it back he roughly pushed the door open and walked in as if it was his own room.
"The fuck you doing here?" Kai shouted, enraged.
"Tsk. Language, little brother." Diego clicked his tongue.
"Damn, talk about having a sister complex." Diego snickered looking around at the paintings of me. "Is that why you don't let any of us in here?"
"Why are you here?" Kai snapped.
"I am here to show my caring side to Lili." Diego claimed, winking at me. He sat beside Kai and pressed the ice pack to his eyes.
"Ow!" Kai flinched back.
Was he here to hurt him again?
"You're hurting him!" I snatched the ice from his hand. After carefully compressing his swollen eye, I stood up to leave but Diego stopped me, holding my hand.
"I'm hurt, too." He said, pointing to his split lip.
So?
"Treat it," he demanded.
Is he honestly crazy?
"I'll beat Kai, again, if you don't." he threatened.
I felt disgust crawl up at his words. I didn't want Kai to get beaten up for me but I also didn't want to treat Diego's wound. I didn't want to do anything related to him.
It was typical Diego. He would always blackmail me to get what he wanted.
Noticing the disgust in my eyes, Diego straightened up, "I was just joking, Lili."
"Goodnight, Kai." I told Kai, ignoring Diego. When I turned to leave Diego stopped me for a second time. I tried to free my hand but his hold was too tight, though not painful.
"Happy Birthday, Lili." He whispered, looking straight at my eyes.
"I want to sleep. Get out." Kai broke the moment, shouting at Diego.
After I went to my room, I got another surprise waiting there for me.
My entire bed was filled with presents of different sizes. I saw a note lying in the middle.
"A little compensation for all the birthdays we missed together."
They call this a little?!
I counted at least 40 presents there. I would be lying if I said I wasn't touched by the gesture.
I took my time opening all of them. Thankfully, they didn't share the same idea as Ezra and gifted me things I can make use of now. Not in the distant past.
I felt a smile blooming when I unwrapped the gift Kai gave me.
It was a painting of me wearing a bear costume for my school competition. Sadly, though, I didn't win that year. A boy who had dressed as a hot air balloon did.
Stephen had went up to the judge claiming they weren't being fair and it should be me and Eve who deserves first place. Because according to him we looked like angels even in bear costumes. They disqualified us after the ruckus he caused. But it was still fun.
Is that why he refused when I asked for one of the paintings? Because he already had one prepared for my birthday?
I moved all the presents out of the bed. I was really tired after a more than exhausting day.
Everything still felt like a dream.With Diego coming back I didn't know what to think anymore.
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The continent of Vaine is a place of technological and magical might. It is the pinnacle of human brilliance, and is more powerful than it has ever been—truly approaching a never-before-seen golden age of magic. But what if that was all a lie? Dominic, shipwrecked and confused, wakes up one day on the shore of a continent which shouldn't be there. No maps in Vaine show it; no sailors have ever reached it; as far as anybody knows, the continent of Hesia does not and has never existed. In the last thousand years, no one has left, and no one has made it in. And on this hidden continent, he finds demons—a race of people who are far more adept at magic than humans. As Dominic uncovers the lost history of the two lands, he must come face to face with kings, mages, gods, and the dark past of the most powerful organization in Vaine, which has long done everything it possibly could to keep those skeletons buried. And they're not the only ones who can keep a secret. YOU MIGHT LIKE THIS IF: ↠ You like long-running fantasy stories with an intrigue/mystery focus. The world is vast and full of secrets—and our main character is not one to tell. Be careful what you believe, because Dominic himself might be the one lying to you. ↠ You enjoy decisive protagonists that don't have qualms about what tactics solving some problems may require. ↠ You like dragons. I like dragons. By the gods, there will be dragons. AUTHOR'S NOTES: ↠ This is not a webtoon. I only draw illustrated chapters for the prologues to each book and for the side stories at the end of each book. All drawings including covers are done by me. ↠ Release schedule is 2 chapters per week, every Wednesday and Saturday at 3:15PM CST. ↠ Up to 8 advanced chapters (4 weeks of releases) are available on Patreon. Thank you for your support. :)
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8 146The Radiant War
The human world is aflame with war. Nations clash with their neighbours, while the Kelvon Empire, bulwark of the human world, stands on the brink of civil war. The plans of the enemies of mankind to destroy human civilisation, to restore their own mastery of the world, are well on the way to success. The people of Helberion have vowed to defeat those plans, though. Peace must be restored between the various peoples of mankind so that they can combine their efforts against their true enemy. Even while her country strives to avoid conquest and defeat at the hands of their traditional enemies the Carrowmen, therefore, Princess Ardria journeys to Carrow to meet with the enemy King in an almost hopeless attempt to persuade him of the truth. All her hopes rest on the assumption that he in an unwitting dupe of the true enemy, but lurking at the back of her mind is the fear that he may be all too aware of the truth, that he may have sold out humanity for the promise of personal power. If this is true, then all that awaits her at the end of her journey through fear and danger is imprisonment and the life of a hostage to be used against her father, King Leothan. The Brigadier would help her if he could, but he and Malone, his former batman, are far away, each having their own missions to try and ensure the survival of human civilisation. Having completed his latest task, the Brigadier must race to join her, to assist and protect her, but will he reach her before she arrives at the palace of the enemy King? And will the Princess still have a country to be Princess of by the time she arrives there? Because even if Helberion manages to defeat the all conquering armies of Carrow there is another, even deadlier threat waiting in the wings against which there may be no defence... This is volume three of the Ontogeny series. If you haven't read volume one, Ontogeny, and volume Two, The Electric Messiah, you should read them first.
8 136Short Story poems
Poems that have meaning. A collection of poems. Poems that have short stories behind it. Poems that you can either relate. Some are in tagalog while most is in english. P.s. sana po magustuhan niyo. Sorry kung medyo walang tugmaan. ^_^
8 405Slowtown [t.r]
no grave can hold her body down - she crawls back to him - haunting the boy who buried her. TOM RIDDLE didn't like his sins lurking after he committed them.
8 117My Alpha (My Alpha Series Book 1 boyxboy)(under revision)
••His eyes sparkled like the ocean against his pale skin while his pink lips stood out, asking to be kissed. ••
8 213