The Eclipsed Bloom - Chapter 40: Eternal life

An alien abduction romance. Updates Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.Grant has a tolerance for boredom. Late shift in a middle-of-nowhere facility? Sign him up. If the money's good, he'll happily take the peace and quiet of a long night watching an empty cell.And then he meets Subject B-31. Blue, beautiful, and completely inhuman. Her captors call her Batty, thanks to her big ears and the way she hangs upside down by her tail.He's told not to talk to her. He's told to think of her as a test subject, not a person. He's told to cash his checks and live his humble life. He's told to ignore the sorrow on her face and the desperation in her crimson eyes. Maybe he should have listened. When he finally busts her out, the rescue isn't a rescue at all: it's an abduction.Batty is Princess Sykora, of the tyrannical Taiikari Empire. She commands the Black Pike, a massive voidship on the imperial frontier. Grant must learn a new life, in a firmament filled with ambitious nobles, deadly rivals, and the sinister smiles of the Taiikari Imperial Court. And he'll have to learn fast.Because when the Princess of the Void looks at Grant, she doesn't just see a savior—she sees a husband.And she isn't asking.

A young man playing games in his basement is struck by a mysterious bolt of lightning, killing him instantly. However, he wakes up in the body of a disgraced young lord, now tasked with managing a ruined, crumbling kingdom. With no experience and a tarnished reputation to overcome, his future seems bleak.Fortunately, he possessed the Omnishop System, a mysterious tool that enabled him to purchase skills and supplies as well as upgrade his existing skills using points. Rebuilding the kingdom is no easy feat, but Alexander has his sights set on more than just survival.With ambition burning in his heart, he dreams of ruling an empire, if he can survive the challenges ahead.

Within the dream of the dreamer, the one who was dreamed of awoke.

… Borges

“I exist in the sunlight, the wind, between the heavens and the earth, and also in dreams.”

One night, Yu Hao, a college student who was at his wits’ end had an unexpected encounter with a mysterious visitor – “General” – who had dream travelled. He led Yu Hao in solving the countless riddles that abounded in the realm of the conscious, and lit up the fire beacons on the meandering Great Wall.

Thereafter, the darkness retreated, the sun rose, and when the long night was thoroughly lit up, the him who existed in reality was reborn.

The black dragon that roared, the lighthouse and demonic eye on the coastline, the rain forest before Chichén Itzá, the fierce beasts that wreaked havoc in the Colosseum…the bizarre projection of reality in one’s consciousness reflected the hidden place that the sunlight in reality couldn’t touch – the innumerable sins of the human heart.

The journey of seizing dreams continues, and one can only hope that the sun will continue illuminating the human heart.

…

Fire beacons on the Great Wall were lit up to signal a border invasion.

- Description from Novelupdates

“You must take her place... Just tonight!”****Aria Thorne is an Omega—lowest in the pack and lowest in her own home. Abused by her mother, hated by her twin sister Celeste, and treated like nothing more than a burden, Aria’s life has been nothing but pain and survival. But everything changes the day the Alpha’s royal guard arrives with a scroll in hand and a single, shocking message: the new Luna must come from Aria’s family… and she must be a virgin.Celeste can’t qualify. Aria does. But instead of celebrating her fate, Aria is forced to impersonate her sister in a cruel scheme—just to save her own skin and earn a sliver of love from the mother who blames her for the death of an unborn child. Dressed in her sister’s skin, Aria is sent to marry a powerful Alpha she’s never met. But what happens when the Alpha senses something’s off... and ends up claiming the wrong Luna?What starts as a lie soon sparks something deeper. A connection. A bond. A war.Can Aria survive in a world built to break her? Will the Alpha protect her once the truth comes out—or destroy her like everyone else ever has?