Deep Sea Embers - Chapter 134

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.”

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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!

Nanaya traveled to the Naruto world and survived the Uchiha genocide incident.As long as he sleeps, he can become stronger and invincible.After accumulating 60,000 hours of sleep, Nanaya opened the Sharingan and activated the ability of the Ice Fruit.Itachi: I didn't find his existence on the night of the extermination. Who is it?Sasuke: Nanaya, my Amaterasu's black flames can burn all visible objects, otherwise they won't go out.Next second!“What, Nanaya, you guy, actually froze my black flames.”Pain: That guy just slept for a second in the gap between Shinra Tensei, and the power to wake up is above me.Madara: I can't dance in front of that man.Kaguya Otsutsuki: My world of ice can't even live up to that sentence, ahhhhh!Uchiha Nanaya, with a pair of Mangekyo Sharingan, changes the past and reverses the future.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”“Tell you what, Richard? What would you have done?”“I don’t know. Apologized sooner? Bought you a burger to make up for it?”Her eyes lit up with fire, “You think what you did to me… you think a burger can make up for it?” her eyes twinkled like she was fighting tears. Did I hurt her that badly? I was just a foolish teenager.“Nita, I am sorry. I was young, I was stupid. I wish I could take it all back and tell you how I feel instead of being a constant jerk to gain your attention.”“How did you feel that would justify what you did to me?”I paused for a minute, finding the words. “I had a huge crush on you at the time. And I didn’t know how to express myself. I was full of myself, I was the school’s ladies' man and the one girl I had eyes for didn’t even care if I existed,” “And that justified what you did to me? Richard, you broke me. I can forgive you for ‘accidentally’ spilling your ice cream on me, or throwing my due assignment in the toilet, or the gum in my hair, or the glue in my chair but tell me how can I forgive you for what you did that night? Tell me!”“What night? Nita, what are you talking about?”“Remember when you asked me if I knew who sexually assaulted me?”I nodded, but what does that have to do with anything? The more we spoke, the more confused I became.“You did and I cannot believe that you would stand there and pretend like it didn’t happen!”Nita has spent years trying to forget the torment she endured at the hands of Richard. When her family’s financial ruin forces her into an arranged marriage, she is horrified to find out the groom himself was her bully.Richard, a charming and successful businessman meets the first woman to be repulsed by him. Intrigued, he proposes a deal of a one year marriage of convenience.Navigating life as a couple, old wounds reopen, buried memories surface. As Richard learns more about his wife, he finds that he has enemies that followed him from his past to continuously cloud his wife’s judgement.Will Nita believe the truth and bury old wounds or will the pain of the past prove too strong to heal?

Among the gods of the heavens, there was a famous laughing stock known throughout the three realms.Legend has it that eight hundred years ago, there was an ancient country within the Central Plains called Xian Le nation.The ancient nation of Xian Le had vast territory, abundant resources and content citizens. The country had four treasures: delicate beauties aplenty, thriving arts & literature, treasures of gold and jewels and last but not least, their renown Royal Highness the Crown Prince.This person, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince....you could say.... was a strange man.The Emperor and Empress considered him to be the apple of their eyes. They doted on him immensely and would often proudly proclaim: “In the future, my son will surely become a wise monarch, leaving a reputable impression for generations to come .”Yet, in the regards of what came with royalty, of riches, power and honor, the Crown Prince had no interest.What he was interested in, quoting the very words he often said to himself, was——“I want to save the common folks!”The young prince cultivated in earnest. During this time, two short stories became widely circulated. .The first story occurred when he was seventeen years old.That year, the nation of Xian Le held a magnificent Offering to the Gods parade.Although this tradition had already been abandoned for numerous centuries, through surviving ancient texts and verbal stories, one could imagine the grandeur of the event..Offering to the Gods day, Martial God Main Street.Both sides of the Main Street were overflowing with a sea of people. The aristocrats were seated on top of high buildings as they exchanged friendly chatter; while the imperial guards cleared the way with their impressive armours clinking. Young girls danced gracefully as their snow-white hands scattered flower petals like rain, filling the sky as far as the eye could see. It made people question whether the dancing maidens were more beautiful or the flowers themselves. Melodious notes sounded from within golden carriages and floated throughout the whole Imperial City. Behind honorable guards, sixteen white horses with golden bridles walked side-by-side as they pulled forward a magnificent platform.Located on top of the tall, magnificent platform was the focus of everyone’s attention, there stood the martial artist to perform a show to please the Gods.During the festive heavenly parade, the martial artist would adorn a golden mask, don splendid garments and wield a sword in one hand. He would perform the role of the first military deity in a millennium to have subdued demonic beasts——Martial God Heavenly Emperor Jun Wu.Being selected as the martial artist to perform such a show could be considered equivalent as to receiving the utmost honour, and thus the selection criteria was extremely strict. This year, the one who was chosen was none other than His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. The entire nation was convinced that he would surely be able to become the most marvellous martial artist to perform such a performance since the beginning of time.However, on that day, something unexpected occurred.During that time, the martial god on the magnificent stage was just about to land a killing blow on a demon.This was the most exciting scene, and thus the people on both sides of the Main Street were fired up with passion. The people on the city walls were also becoming more rowdy as they started outdoing each other in sticking their heads out to see, both struggling and shoving.Right at this moment, a young child fell from the top of the city gate tower.