The Curse of Desire - Chapter 55. Teacher (9) Self-harm

Abandoned at birth and raised in an orphanage, a young man endures twenty-five years confined to a body ravaged by a rare genetic disease that kept him in constant pain and left him bedridden in his final years. His life ends quietly, without fanfare, as the flatline echoes through his lonely room.But death isn’t the end.Awakening in a realm of pure nothingness, he’s offered the one thing life never gave him: a second chance, and with it, a system shaped from his deepest desires.Given the opportunity to be reborn with the potential to become the Greatest of All Time in any field, his decision is instant. He chooses Formula 1, the one passion that kept him going during his darkest hours.Armed with a custom-built system, a new life, and the relentless drive of someone who has truly suffered, he is reborn in 2003. This time, he won’t just watch from the sidelines.Disclaimer: All characters and events in this story are purely fictional and have no association with real individuals, organizations, or historical events. Any resemblance to real-life figures is purely coincidental and used for narrative realism.

Alexander Gray, a fifteen-year-old teenager on the verge of his awakening and subsequent entry into the Hunters Academy is one day taken away in a cosmic mana wave that passes through Earth’s solar system during a school trip from Earth to Mars. A wave that kills a person once exposed to it. Luckily, the displacement wave placed him close to their destination where he was found, alive and well to the disbelieve of everybody. Unbeknownst to him at the time, the cosmic mana wave had awakened a gift within him that would propel him to the ranks of hero hunter and beyond, granting him the strength to lead humanity in their effort to determine the cause of their universe changing and its implications. ............. “For some reason, I can’t level up.” Alex began to feel frustrated as he was stuck at Class F, the lowest rank a hunter could have after awakening, despite his momentum when he first awakened. Even with his awakened talents and the benefits he received from the ’accident’ that should have killed him, he now finds himself stuck and unable to level up as mana does not work on him like everyone else. Follow Alexander Gray as he discovers his abilities and learns about himself in a chaotic universe and beyond.

A conversation with a handsome stranger leaves Ariane chained in a cellar with a strange affliction. She soon discovers that the darkness of the nineteenth century’s Deep South hides many dangers. Mages, wolf shifters and the humans who hunt them play a risky game where to stumble is to die, all under the amused gaze of the apex predators of the supernatural world: vampires.

It is never healthy to attract the gaze of the aristocracy of the night. It takes much to survive in this merciless world, but Ariane will not let that deter her. The southern belle has a bite, and she is willing to learn and to grow in this hostile new world. She will use whatever means necessary to reclaim her freedom, be it guile, charm, or those intriguing new instincts that make blood so delectable.

This is a story of vampires as I believe they should be, with their strengths and weaknesses, with their remnants of humanity and the beast inside. Updates every Friday. Mind the tags.

Cover by Antti Hakosaari: https://www.artstation.com/haco

Special thanks to Svensonsen for getting me started, as well as Omi Nya, Hesketh, Rhaegar, Yaksher, Selkie and Raven for proofreading my stuff. Thanks to my patrons and you dear readers, for the support. I could not do it without you.

Journey is on Amazon, both in ebooks and audio. here is a link to the first one:

https://www.royalroad.com/amazon/B08DK6G8Y8

The story probably exists in your local marketplace as well of I can tempt you.

Ai Qian, a street-crazy author who wakes up every day because of her own poverty, is bound by the system!
The system is obedient: Host, you are the daughter of a rich family, you are a billionaire female president, you are a superstar… Are you happy?
Ai Qian: Hehe, I might be happier if there is no hero who can kill me at any time.

- Description from novelbuddy