THE DEATH KNELL - Chapter 59: DESCENT INTO DARKNESS

The once-bustling and noisy streets were now filled with an eerie blanket of silence.

Hoarse and frenzied whispers lingered high above the heavens, and an indescribable ancient giant lurked in the shadows of the bottomless ocean.

A mysterious plague had outbroken, and natural disasters wrought the Earth. Global pandemic and catastrophes had the panicked masses seeking illusory shelters from the devastation, day and night.

A bloody shower poured over the land as the streaks of lightning tore across the sky, illuminating the ill-intentioned gathering of ravens above. Nevermore, nevermore, quoth the ravens.

“We can see that this malformed creature has twelve pairs of ribs like humans, but also has a “transverse bone” that humans do not possess…”

In the medical school, Gu Jun continued bringing down his scalpel, illustrating the abnormal thoracic structure of the malformed cadaver on the dissection table to the surrounding students.

Ominous and treacherous times had descended! Truth and logic had crumbled, order warped into a frenzy. Humanity can only forge ahead through the power of intelligence and wisdom.

It was the turn of the 20th century, and in the Philippine Islands, the fledgling Philippine Republic waited to be crushed by the overwhelming superiority of the American colonial forces.But John McClain, a U.S. Army veteran of the Korean and Vietnam Wars, dies and finds himself in the body of the governor of a remote Philippine province in the year 1898. Initially reluctant to take up arms against his former country and skeptical of the chances of success, he eventually decides to fight for the Republic.Now living his second life as Martín Lardizábal, politico-military governor of Marinduque and armed with modern military knowledge, he will change the course of the Philippine-American War.

(Third Person Limited PoV.)Betrayed by his fiancée, mocked by his siblings, and disowned by his family—that was Lev’s fate.Even when he regained memories of his life on Earth, where he realized that his world was strikingly similar to his favorite novel, it still didn’t help him change anything.How could it be?Because the protagonist of the story had already achieved his happy ending—gaining a beautiful wife and living a blissful life. Meanwhile, the world continued to move forward.What do people usually do with a novel that has ended? They tend to stop caring about the world within it, even if it falls into ruin, especially if the novel isn’t particularly popular.The world Lev Razanov lived in shared a similar fate—it was destroyed.[Hero’s System successfully installed.][Critical condition detected.][Do you wish to return to the past?]Lev was given a chance to return to a time when the story of his favorite novel had just begun.Although he was destined to become an extra villain—a pawn of the pawns serving the real villain, he vowed to end the lives of anyone who had caused him suffering: his siblings, his fiancée, the main character, or anyone else.[Hero’s System inherits your desire from your life on Earth—the desire to do good.]“Who said killing your enemies is an evil act?”

Being the pack defect is bad enough. Getting REJECTED? By your own fated mate?Yeah. THAT is a whole new level of low.Ava Grey is the pack defect, a wolfless shifter. She struggles through life with the vague dream of freedom. Her opportunity comes when she's suddenly informed that she will be attending the Lunar Gala, an annual ball for young adult shifters to find their fated mates.And she finds him. He's beautiful and intense, and his kisses send desire through her veins like a drug.Until he REJECTS her.Ava isn't about to go back to her dreary life. She escapes and forges a new identity far from her pack, and far from her alpha mate. She makes new friends and is even forcefully adopted by a hilarious husky.But just as she settles in and finds happiness, strange things begin to happen...Her husky has been holding secrets.She's hearing whispers that shifter packs all over are looking for her.And she can smell a familiar scent in her apartment, which makes no sense at all... because the man it belongs to rejected her.DECEMBER 2024 NOTE-- Author has a broken hand and updates are slower than normal. Deepest apologies. Trying to get updates more normalized again!!---------This is a wolf shifter romance with multiple triggers that like to waltz hand in hand with all the dark themes through a meadow of dead flowers. In this book you will find the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Laugh, cry, rage; you can do them all as you follow Ava in the rather perilous journey of being a wolf shifter in this generation of werewolf romance.There are R18 scenes sprinkled throughout this book like candy popping out of a pinata. Please read responsibly.-------