thanh.nguyenhoang.1403@gmail.com
Stories
168
Chapters
1,512
Words
3.2 M
Comments
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Reading
11 d, 4 h
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The memory archives sit directly above the engine core, a labyrinth of reinforced glass and screaming iron. The silver eye pin on my wrist grants me entry through the heavy mag-locks. Inside, the temperature plummets, the air scrubbed of the city’s omnipresent ash and replaced with the sterile, biting chill of preservation. Floor-to-ceiling racks of crystalline drives line the narrow corridors, each one pulsing with the faint, bioluminescent glow of a harvested true name. The vibration of the Last…-
9.8 K • Completed
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One Hour Before the Coronation TALIA The woman selling me my father's last lie has sewn bells beneath her tongue. They chime when she breathes. Tiny silver notes, too delicate for the work being done in this windowless room beneath the Creditor Court. Every sound strikes the glass shelves and returns thinner, sharper. Hundreds of oath-coins sleep around us in velvet slots, each one holding the exact moment somebody believed they were loved. I keep my hands flat on the black table. The forger watches…-
11.8 K • Completed
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TALIA The chime of a crystal spoon against a glass goblet slices through the suffocating heat of the Creditor Court. The coronation ceremony of the high fae has officially begun. Hundreds of nobles press into the vaulted hall, a churning sea of heavy velvet, sharp floral perfumes, and sharper teeth. The physical pressure of their bodies compresses the air into a singular, crushing weight. Silk brushes my shoulders. The heat of their breath dampens the nape of my neck. I stand perfectly still in the…
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11.8 K • Completed
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CAEL The temperature in the coronation hall plummets to freezing in a single heartbeat. I do not need to inspect the velvet cushion to know what just happened. The ambient magic of the room has turned acidic. A jagged, high-pitched whine fractures the air—the sound of an oath-coin’s contract violently unraveling. A forgery. Before the first guard can draw a blade, the arched windows blow inward. A tempest of shattered glass and lethal, emerald spell-fire floods the hall. It is a war clause,…
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11.8 K • Completed
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TALIA The threshold of the Creditor Estate does not welcome; it consumes. The heavy iron doors grind shut behind my heels, instantly severing the distant alarms of the city and the ambient noise of the ruined coronation. The silence inside the keep is absolute. It presses against my eardrums, thick with the atmospheric pressure of ten thousand sealed promises. The temperature drops the moment we cross the foyer. Frost edges the massive obsidian pillars, though there is no wind. Embedded in the soaring…
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11.8 K • Completed
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TALIA The forged ledger hits the mahogany desk with a heavy, deliberate thud. I leave it open to the third page, the exact spot where the ink details a fictitious shipment of raw magic funneled to the western rebels. It is a lie, meticulously constructed to look like a desperate Sorn contingency plan. I adjust the angle of the book by a fraction of an inch, ensuring the edge aligns perfectly with the grain of the wood. "Baiting a trap inside my own fortress." Cael’s voice slices through the…
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11.8 K • Completed
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CAEL The voting glass in the center of the High Council chamber glows a venomous, undecided amber. The air pressure in the room is suffocating, thick with the unspoken calculations of fifty rival lords. The heat of their collective breath makes the heavy velvet banners hanging from the rafters sway. We have presented the forged ledger. We have cornered the eastern faction. But Vane’s brother leans over the mahogany railing, his smile a razor in the dim lumen-light. He holds the final, deciding vote for…
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11.8 K • Completed
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TALIA The sound of the shattered blood-ward does not fade. It hangs in the freezing air of the master suite, a high, mechanical shrieking that vibrates deep in my molars. I scramble backward across the tangled sheets, the lingering heat of Cael’s skin vanishing from my own as the ambient temperature of the room plummets. Frost instantly crystallizes across the edges of the obsidian mirrors. Cael is already moving. He does not reach for his heavy silver-clasped coat; he pulls a plain black tunic over…
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11.8 K • Completed
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TALIA The crimson dust of the Sovereign Coin coats my palms like dried blood. The shockwave of its destruction has stripped the ambient cold from the Creditor Court. The oppressive, freezing weight of ten thousand sealed oaths vanishes, leaving behind a hollow, ringing silence. The Arbiters remain on their knees, their heads bowed to the ancient magic of the deposition. I hold the absolute authority of the estate. But the victory tastes like ash. I look at Cael. He kneels amidst the shattered red…
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11.8 K • Completed
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TALIA The scrape of the blood-iron stylus against the foundational ledger echoes like a drawn blade in the silent hall. I do not hesitate. I press the iron tip deeper into the ancient parchment, letting the magic sear my words into the absolute law of the Creditor Court. The High Council chamber is a wreck of shattered glass and scorched velvet, the morning sun bleeding through the broken arched windows, illuminating the dust suspended in the freezing air. "Read it into the record," I command,…
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11.8 K • Completed
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