Get the APP hot

Embers Of Hope

Rejected by My Family, Claimed by the Galactic Commander

Rejected by My Family, Claimed by the Galactic Commander

Fantasy

4.5

I woke up to the stench of rust and rotting flesh, no longer a master botanist who commanded life itself, but a D-class exile dumped on a wasteland planet. Memories that weren't mine flooded in. I was framed by my stepsister, betrayed by my fiancé, and banished by my own family to the Ashfall Peninsula to die. The original girl actually starved to death in despair. The moment I opened my eyes, a scavenger tried to smash my skull with a rusty pipe just to eat me. After I killed him to survive, I discovered a harsher truth: in this universe, plant seeds are classified as A-level strategic resources, completely monopolized by the Imperium. But the universe had a sick sense of humor. A mandatory background scan suddenly triggered a galactic broadcast: I, the exiled trash, was a perfect genetic match for the Imperium's top war hero, General Alexander Orr. The family that ruthlessly erased my existence instantly saw me as a golden ticket. My cheating ex-fiancé was dispatched to drag me back, furious that his "property" was matched with someone else. They all thought I was still that weak, naive girl they could manipulate. But as I held the pure, glowing Life Source Crystals I had secretly extracted from the scrap heap, a cold smile crept onto my face. "I didn't come here to die. I came here to build an empire." I turned my back on the galactic broadcast and stepped into the deadly wilderness.

Chapter 1

A sharp scraping of metal on metal sliced through the fog in Janae's mind.

A second earlier, she was still in deep darkness, feeling death slowly erase her consciousness; but now she woke up again, though not in her original body—the body of another Janae.

A blinding headache—another Janae's dying scream still rattling inside her skull.

Then memories—not hers, but another Janae's—flooded in.

The Bennett estate.

Marble floors.

A ceiling so high it could swallow the sky.

"From today, you are no longer a Bennett."

Another Janae's father—Preston—sat on the highest seat.

He didn't look at another Janae. Like she was a defective product he was finally discarding.

"Father—" another Janae began. "I can prove myself."

"It's too late." Camilla was there. Leaning against the sofa, smiling. The smile she always wore when she had already won. "Janae, you still don't understand, do you? Your ability rank determines your value. D-Class. Even having you as my sister is embarrassing now."

The memory shifted.

A colder one.

Donnell.

Another Janae's fiancé.

The man she had given everything to.

"The engagement is canceled." He didn't hesitate. "I can't marry a failure."

He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I need a mate who can awaken her beast-soul, Janae. Not someone who barely flickers."

He threw the betrothal token at her feet. It shattered against the marble. "Don't beg. It's pathetic."

The memory broke apart.

Janae opened her eyes.

The sky was wrong.

Not the high, clear sky of the Bennett estate.

A bruised, festering gray, choked with smog.

The air was thick with rust and oil and something rotting.

She was lying on a pile of debris.

Broken metal.

Corroded wiring.

The ground beneath her was soft, gray-black dust that smelled of sulfur.

She tried to sit up.

Pain lanced through her ribs.

Her hands were scraped raw.

Her clothes—what was she wearing?

Rags.

Someone else's clothes.

She looked inward.

The vast, forest-like dimension of her personal storage space—gone.

A dead, silent void.

She tried to summon the life-giving energy that had once made emperors kneel—a pathetic trickle.

Weak as a dying ember.

Cold panic seized her.

She was nothing.

Less than nothing.

A shadow fell over her.

She looked up.

A man stood there.

Skeletal.

Ragged.

His eyes gleamed with a hungry, knowing light.

In his hand, a rusted metal pipe.

He grinned.

Yellowed teeth.

Filthy fangs.

"Fresh meat," he rasped. "I know your type the moment I see you." He circled her slowly, pipe tapping against his palm. "Soft skin. Clean neck. No scar on your face."

He laughed. "A noble. Clan-born. Some little princess who got flushed down the Imperium's toilet."

She said nothing.

"Let me guess," he continued. "Daddy kicked you out? Or was it a fiancé who couldn't wait to trade you in for a better model?"

The words hit like a physical blow.

Janae's jaw tightened.

He leaned closer.

"I've seen that look before. The 'I used to matter' look. You know what happens to people like you here? Nothing. You just die slower than the rest."

"You're wrong," she said.

Her voice came out rough, unfamiliar.

"Am I?" He laughed. "This place doesn't care whose daughter you were. On the Ashfall Peninsula, there's only one law: you're either holding the pipe, or you're getting your skull caved in."

The Ashfall Peninsula.

The name triggered something.

A memory from another Janae.

The Imperium's dumping ground.

Where they sent the broken.

The disgraced.

The unwanted.

She was here because of them.

Because of Camilla.

Because of Donnell.

Because of every person who had decided she was worthless and thrown her away.

Jed crouched down, bringing his face close to hers. "You can scream if you want. No one's coming. The Imperium doesn't patrol here. Doesn't send rescue. They dump their garbage, and we clean up the scraps."

Something inside her snapped.

Not fear.

Not despair.

Anger.

She remembered Donnell's cold voice.

"I can't marry a failure."

She remembered Camilla's smile.

"Even having you as my sister is embarrassing now."

She remembered another Janae's father's face.

Like she was nothing.

Like she had always been nothing.

"You don't know anything about me," she whispered.

Jed chuckled. "I know enough. I know you're going to die here. I know you're going to cry. I know—"

She moved.

Not away.

Not to run.

Forward.

She saw a piece of sheet metal.

Sharp.

Jagged.

She grabbed it as she rolled, the edge biting into her palm.

Jed raised the pipe.

It whistled down toward her skull.

She threw herself sideways.

The pipe slammed into the ground where her head had been.

Gray dust exploded.

"Still fighting?" He lunged. Kicked her in the ribs.

Pain.

White-hot.

Her organs felt like they were rearranging themselves.

The copper taste of blood filled her mouth.

But she didn't fall.

She didn't cry.

She thought of Donnell.

She thought of Camilla.

She thought of every moment they had made her feel small.

Jed bent down.

Grabbed her by the hair.

Yanked her up.

"See?" he said. "In the end, you're all the same. Just meat for the grinder."

His face was inches from hers.

She could smell his rotten breath.

See the veins in his bloodshot eyes.

"No," she said.

Then she struck.

The metal shard drove deep into his throat.

He froze.

Blood—dark, hot, arterial—gushed over her hands.

His eyes widened.

He made a sound, a wet gurgle.

She pulled the shard out.

He collapsed, clutching his neck.

His mouth opened and closed.

Like a fish gasping for air.

"Not meat," she said, her voice steady. "Never meat."

She watched him die.

His eyes stayed open.

Staring up at the gray, festering sky.

Janae fell back against a pile of old tires.

She was gasping.

Her ribs screamed.

Her hands were slick with blood.

She looked at the corpse beside her.

She didn't feel triumph.

She didn't feel horror.

She felt something else.

Cold.

She was alive.

That was all that mattered.

She forced herself up.

Checked her injuries.

Bruised ribs.

Scraped hands.

Nothing broken.

She would survive.

A howl echoed in the distance.

Some unseen beast, maybe miles away.

But it reminded her: danger was everywhere.

She needed shelter.

Food.

Information.

She needed to find the Reclamation Center.

The only settlement on the Peninsula.

The only place where she could trade, barter, survive.

She looked at Jed's corpse.

A cold, practical thought formed.

Even the dead were resources here.

She started searching his body.

Continue Reading
Embers Of Hope

Embers Of Hope

Romance

4.8

Worried with his wife's views about sex, and her refusal to let him please her the way a woman should be pleased, Karl refuses to give her the one thing she so desperately needs, which is a child. This sets him on a path to distract himself, leading him to an unlikely fellow, his first love.

EMBERS OF RESISTANCE

EMBERS OF RESISTANCE

Romance

5.0

In the influential city of Bravia, Shreya Wynter stands as the powerful CEO of Shreya Fashion House and the sole heir to the Wynter family empire. Her life, filled with glamour and success, masks a tragic past. Nineteen years ago, a mysterious accident claimed the lives of her parents, leaving Shrey

Embers of A New Dawn

Embers of A New Dawn

Romance

5.0

Sophie Wilson loved Daniel Carter for a lifetime. As she neared the end, Daniel held her hand, tears streaming down his face. She thought it would be a final confession of love. But then Daniel sighed, "Sophie, being your husband this lifetime was exhausting. I just want to live with Lily i

Halo of Hope

Halo of Hope

Romance

5.0

Halo of hope is a poignant novel that follows Gabriel, an angelic boy wrestling with his own inner demons and a belief that love is beyond his reach. Coping with depression through smoking, he encounters Emily, a vivacious girl who gradually helps him see life's vibrant colors. Their unexpected frie

Embers of the Veiled Realm

Embers of the Veiled Realm

Fantasy

5.0

Aria was born with a fire in her soul a mysterious ember that hums with a power even she cannot control. Ordinary life was never meant for her, but when shadowed creatures rise from the Veiled Realm, kingdoms teeter on the edge of war, and an ancient prophecy stirs from the depths of forgotten magic

HOPE

HOPE

Romance

5.0

Every person has a dream in her or his life. But not everyone can achieve that dream. Some sacrificed their dreams for the sake of their loved ones and some worked hard every single day and night to accomplish their dreams but in doing all these things somewhere we forget to live in the moment. We f

Tangled Embers

Tangled Embers

Billionaires

5.0

A passionate one night stand with a troubled billionaire heir Karl Martinez soon changed the trajectory of Zena's dysfunctional life when their part cross again. This time subconsciously igniting fire in Zena as she falls head over heels for Karl, against her will. She struggles to navigate the com

The Hope of the Katzekopfs

The Hope of the Katzekopfs

Fantasy

5.0

The former edition of this little tale was put forth with an Introduction (which was intended to be in keeping with it) from the pen of an imaginary author,—that William Churne, of whom Bishop Corbet writes, and who, two centuries since, seems to have been the great authority on all matters co

Pink Hope

Pink Hope

Romance

5.0

This is a tale of a middle class boy and a middle class girl  where the boy was a sincere student in college and the boy's eyes fell on the girl . He started liking her but the girl is dedicated towards her dreams.                                           …………….…………………... But………… What about his

Hope Hathaway

Hope Hathaway

Literature

5.0

Hope Hathaway by Frances Parker

THE REBIRTH OF HOPE - VOLUME I

THE REBIRTH OF HOPE - VOLUME I

Adventure

5.0

Imagine a once radiant planet, Jetiah, a paradise of light, life and water, now overshadowed by the shadow of an evil entity, the Greater Commander. More than a century ago, he claimed Jetiah, extinguishing the light of Thuman's star that gave life to the planet. But in the midst of the darkness, a

MY RAY OF HOPE IN THIS WORLD OF CRIME

MY RAY OF HOPE IN THIS WORLD OF CRIME

Adventure

5.0

In a city where criminal organizations make their own laws, Elior Noah is one of the most feared men in the underworld. Powerful, intelligent, and ruthless, his name alone is enough to make even the boldest men tremble. To him, trust is a weakness, emotions are an obstacle, and human life has neve

Half Hope, Half Love

Half Hope, Half Love

Romance

4.7

Hazel Scarlet could do much better in life than to gawk and fawn over her handsome, dashing and charming company's CEO, her only confidante and anchor in life — Health Evercrest; yet the best she decided to go for was to settle to be his friend. And the worse she decided to go for was to help him

She is My Hope.

She is My Hope.

Werewolf

4.9

Hope Black is a Delta, a person who was born among werewolves, but does not have a wolf... Despite this, she is one of the best warriors, always being at the forefront of training. With the chance to train in the great Lycan royal castle, Hope enlists with the hope of further improving her fighting

The last hope

The last hope

Horror

5.0

Safiya was abused so much during high school that she lost her best friend so she sought revenge amidst many troubled feelings and after becoming a famous writer dominated by the past, she slipped down a scary path that she could no longer return exhausted.

My Light, My Only Hope

My Light, My Only Hope

Romance

5.0

Humiliated, belittled, mistreated, and rejected because of her silence, Emma has no hope for the future. Until she meets Michaël Keller, the son of the most powerful man in town and also the richest. Michaël has it all: stunning beauty, extraordinary influence, and, above all else, power. Everyone

Eight Losses, One Last Hope

Eight Losses, One Last Hope

Romance

5.0

Eight times, I had felt the flutter of life inside me, a secret joy shared only with Aidan. And eight times, he had taken it away, whispering that our love was too fragile. This ninth time, a faint blue line on a plastic stick, I promised myself would be different. But then, he walked in with Gisel

My Rival, My Only Hope

My Rival, My Only Hope

Romance

3.8

On my birthday, my mother told me it was time to choose a fiancé from New York's most eligible bachelors. She urged me to pick Alexander Booth, the man I loved with a foolish passion in my previous life. But I remembered how that love story ended. On the eve of our wedding, Alexander faked his deat

Stolen Hope: The Price of a Mother's Dream

Stolen Hope: The Price of a Mother's Dream

Modern

5.0

My life as a gig-economy delivery driver was tough, but I always kept my head down. On Valentine' s Day, a late condom delivery for Room 12 at a sleazy motel spiraled into instant blackmail. Kevin and Tiffany, the couple, scammed me out of my day' s pay and hit me with a one-star review that crate

Fading Embers: The Search for Lost Love

Fading Embers: The Search for Lost Love

Billionaires

3.5

When Ranya calmly announces Vivian’s return, it marks the abrupt end of Calista and Ryan’s relationship. Three years of convenience fade as he chooses Vivian over her. She gracefully accepts the end of their arrangement with a brief response, parting ways with the compensation he provided. Leaving T

MoboReader