A Pawn's Passage - Chapter 33: Dispel Doubts

William knew he shouldn't have taken that boat, but ambition can kick you in the teeth.Relma Artorious knew she should not listen at doors. But she is a girl with big ambitions and no intention of being less than her potential.Abdul Sahshir knew he should not undertake that assassination on Tuor's mountain. Yet, with his life ending before it has begun, he has nothing to lose and everything to gain by glory.Three stories intertwine and shape the destiny of many more. But not all heroes are on the same side, and the shifting of dreams and destiny is a fickle one...The compiled documentation of all my published stories on Royalroad. Read if you want to go all the way through to the end.

In this world, orphans or just anyone without any hope for this world can apply to become a “walking target”. Their sole purpose is to be a practicing dummy for the students of the sect who train to become “Demon Hunters”. These students need “walking targets” to test their training on living, walking beings of flesh and blood.
In exchange, they will be provided with food & shelter.
Their existence value is lower than a slave, but if they manage to survive a few years they can receive a life long pension.

Xiao Han is such a “walking target”. One time he witnessed a powerful Demon Hunter disposing a demon. When the demon died, a fragment of the demon that managed to escape entered Xiao Han’s heart. No one saw that, and even Xiao Han himself only felt some discomfort for an instant.

But that thing in his heart soon gave Xiao Han visions, and the first one is of a cultivation method which allows Xiao Han to absorb damage to enhance his body. A perfect cultivation method for a “walking target”.

- Description from Novelupdates

Elias had never been lucky — not once, not ever.Abandoned at birth, raised in suffering, and tormented by a life that never gave him a break, Elias trudged through existence like a ghost wearing human skin. By the age of thirty-two, even his heart gave out, quietly and without drama — just like everything else in his life. It simply… stopped.But death wasn’t the end.Instead, Elias found himself face-to-face with a stunning goddess — the Keeper of Fate. And for the first time, someone finally told him the truth: his entire life had been a mistake. A cosmic error. His Karma, meant for another, had been switched at birth, condemning him to a life of endless misfortune.To make amends, Fate offered him a second chance — a new life, with the luck he had been denied.With a single pull from the divine card deck, Elias drew the Legendary Extraction Talent — an ability that allows him to absorb powers, skills, and even laws of the world itself.From a broken man to a rising force, Elias will forge a new path.He will extract the power of heaven and earth.He will defy fate and ascend to the apex.And this time… luck is finally on his side.

What life is left for a warrior when there is no more enemy to fight?

…He knelt before her in the posture of a soldier giving honor to their Queen. And she didn’t even know it.

“Harth,” he rasped, “I come empty-handed. I bring no weapon. Because I swear to you, I will never choose to harm you. Never draw your blood—in anger, or in fear. I bring no shield. Because I vow I will never defend myself from your eyes, your hands, your mind. I am yours.”

*****

After a year of peace in Anima, Tarkyn finds himself… lonely. As the Captain of the Queen’s Guard and a lion-shifter, he has met every female in the tribes, but never found his mate. Certain he must have overlooked someone, Tarkyn undertakes a grueling ritual, pleading with the Creator to reveal her. But the ritual presses him to the end of even his formidable strength.

Yet, the Creator heard his cry…

Discovered on the brink of death by his mate, Harth, and nursed back to health, Tarkyn now faces the most difficult battle of his life. Because Harth isn’t just a stranger to the Anima, she is a weapon of the humans who tried to destroy them.

Can the love of a warrior and his enemy bring peace to Anima? Or will they be torn apart forever by war between their peoples?

*****

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STANDALONE STORY: While Tarkyn’s story is a part of the Anima world and fans will be reunited with some of their favorites as side-characters, Tarkyn and Harth are new POV characters and their story is a new plot arc, so their story can be enjoyed without reading the previous books! But please add Falling in Love with the King of Beasts, and Taming the Queen of Beasts to your library to enjoy later!