thanh.nguyenhoang.1403@gmail.com
Stories
168
Chapters
1,512
Words
3.2 M
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Reading
11 d, 4 h
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CAIO The ceiling of the Encante collapses. Millions of gallons of dark, freezing water detach from the petrified roots, dropping in a solid, catastrophic sheet toward the narrow fissure where we stand. It is the exact inverse of the day I pulled Marina into the deep. That day, the river reared up to swallow her boat. Today, the sky falls to drown us both. I do not step back. I plant my boots into the mud, stepping directly in front of her. I have no court magic left. I tore the encantamento out of my…-
12.1 K • Completed
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The echo of the shattered clay tablet has not yet died when the air above the dais ignites. The Regent’s royal guard does not hesitate. From the upper balconies of the cavernous hall, a dozen javelins of concentrated, blinding sunlight materialize and arc downward, aimed directly at the scribe who dared touch the Scale. The beast beneath my ribs snaps to attention, craving the violence. I do not let it out. I move with the terrifying, unnatural speed of the apex predator I am, but I keep my human skin.…-
9.6 K • Completed
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The subterranean river of the Duat does not carry dead weight out of charity. We stand in the cavernous lower deck of the sun-barge, the grinding bronze gears echoing against the obsidian hull. The space is pitch-black, save for a row of unlit iron braziers lining the central corridor. Neset watches me in silence, her arms crossed tight over her chest, the stolen ostrich feather still clutched in her hand. I step to the first brazier. From my sash, I draw a ceremonial bone-knife. I press the jagged edge…
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9.6 K • Completed
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"Your reputation in the upper districts is one of absolute, unyielding impartiality, Meryt. They say the Devourer does not see faces, only the weight of the sin." Neset’s voice is a smooth, practiced hum, echoing against the bronze bulkheads of the sun-barge's lower cabin. She sits across from me at the heavy obsidian table, her hands neatly folded over the stolen clay tablet. Her dark eyes trace the lines of my face, offering a mask of perfect, courtly deference. It is a bureaucrat’s…
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9.6 K • Completed
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The heavy iron ward-key rests untouched on the obsidian table, exactly where Neset left it. The grinding of the paddlewheels beneath the floorboards seems to quiet, drowned out by the heavy, measured rhythm of my own breathing. She holds the absolute power to walk off this ship, to leave the Devourer to the rot of the underworld. She has not moved toward the door. I reach up to the heavy, gold-plated collar around my neck. The metal is a symbol of my office, a gilded cage meant to separate the executioner…
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9.6 K • Completed
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The false victory burns off like morning mist over a shallow grave. The blinding golden light of the balanced Scale recedes, leaving the lower cabin of the sun-barge bathed in the erratic, shifting glare of the iron braziers. The heavy, metallic grinding beneath my hand does not stop. I press my palm harder against Neset’s bare chest, right over her sternum. The rhythm of her heart is entirely out of phase with a living pulse. It thumps and grinds, perfectly synchronized with the massive bronze…
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9.6 K • Completed
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The binary logic of the Duat is a flawless, merciless machine. I stare at the lead guard's blinding spear, then at the scribe who just offered my existence to the void. The subterranean river roars against the hull, but inside the lower cabin, the math is perfectly, suffocatingly quiet. A blood-tether can only be severed by destroying the anchor, or by erasing the executioner who witnessed it. If I tear out Neset’s living heart, the balance holds and I survive. If she carves my name from the clay of the…
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9.6 K • Completed
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The poison of a fallen dynasty burns through my veins, thick and suffocating like molten lead. I lie flat on the obsidian floor, my vision fractured, every breath tearing at my lungs. But the crushing, unnatural weight in my stomach—the phantom sins I swallowed for ten years—is gone. The Scale of Truth, suspended above us, emits a pure, blinding light that cuts through the subterranean damp. The immense golden beam stops its violent swinging. It rests perfectly level. Neset’s hands are on my face,…
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9.6 K • Completed
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— The First Weight The first heart I am ordered to eat is still warm. It lies on the left pan of the Scale of Truth, no larger than my closed fist, its severed vessels shining beneath the lamps of the judgment hall. The dead man kneels below the obsidian dais. He remembers enough of his body to tremble. I remember too much of mine. The lion's shoulders crowd beneath my skin. Crocodile teeth ache behind the human line of my mouth. My hidden hindquarters carry the crushing patience of the river beast,…
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9.6 K • Completed
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The copper tang of a severed life clings to the back of my throat. I stand on the obsidian dais of the sun-barge, the great judgment hall of the Duat groaning under my bare feet as it cuts through the subterranean river. Below the steps, a fresh crimson stain sinks into the porous stone. I drag the back of a gold-ringed hand across my mouth, wiping away a stray drop. I wear my human skin today—tall, draped in pleated white linen, shoulders pulled back in perfect stillness. The monstrous jaws, the…
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9.6 K • Completed
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