Cherreads

The Curse of Wishes

Emad_Sadiq
A Haunting Tale of Forbidden Desires and Inescapable Consequences** In a nameless, rain-lashed city where poverty clings to its residents like a second skin, an aging couple—**Haris and Amina**—struggle to survive in the shadow of relentless hardship. Their only solace is their devoted son, **Zain**, who works grueling shifts at a glass factory, his hands perpetually scarred by shards and heat. Though well past the age when most men marry, Zain has forgone a family of his own, pouring every ounce of his meager earnings into keeping his parents afloat. Their life is a cycle of evictions and crumbling rented rooms—until they move into *House No. 13*, a deceptively airy dwelling with a past that whispers through its warped floorboards. The Box That Should Have Stayed Buried** While cleaning, Amina discovers a **carved wooden box** hidden beneath a loose floorboard. Its surface is etched with a warning: *"Do not let greed conquer you."* Ignoring her husband’s pleas to leave it untouched, she pries it open to find a **40-bead rosary** and three slips of paper labeled: 1. *Your life’s first wish* 2. *Your life’s second wish* 3. *Your life’s third wish* Instructions scrawled inside the lid read: *"Write your desires. Misuse them, and fate will reclaim its due."* The First Wish: A Glimpse of Hope** Amina’s trembling hand writes: *"Let my son rise from this poverty."* Within days, Zain is promoted to foreman at the factory. The family rejoices—until Amina, emboldened, makes her **second wish**: *"Let my son marry into wealth, and let gold fill our home."* Soon, Zain is wed to the factory owner’s daughter, and coins spill from Amina’s once-empty cupboards. But the house grows colder. Zain’s new wife **flinches at his touch**, as if sensing something wrong. Then, news arrives: **the glass factory has burned to the ground**, and Zain—trapped inside—is reduced to ashes. The Third Wish: A Mother’s Fatal Love** Blinded by grief, Amina scribbles her **final wish**: *"Bring my son back to me."* At midnight, **something knocks**. The door creaks open to reveal Zain—or what’s left of him. His skin peels like melted wax; his eyes are hollow pits. He stumbles forward, whispering, *"You called me back… but the dead belong *there*."* Before Amina can scream, his charred hands close around her throat. Haris, waking to the noise, finds his wife **dead on the threshold**—her face frozen in terror. The box lies open beside her, its rosary beads now **cracked and blackened**. The third slip of paper is gone. In the days that follow, Haris vanishes. Neighbors claim to see **three figures** lingering near House No. 13 at dusk: a weeping old man, a woman clutching her throat, and a shadow with smoldering hands. The box, when found by new tenants, contains **fresh slips of paper**—and the cycle begins anew.
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Book 1 of Rebirth of the Technomage Saga: Earth’s Awakening

Stolen at birth and crushed beneath her step-family's cruelty, Raven awakens on her seventeenth birthday to memories spanning ninety-nine lifetimes—and this time, she plans to change everything. Once called Mara Brenner, a forgotten girl hidden in a servant's robes, she now remembers every betrayal, every death, every moment of suffering across nearly a century of lives. In each existence, she endured enslavement, loss, and the tragic death of her child. But death was never her ending—it was her education. Blessed with a rare tri-bloodline combining Dragon strength, Lín healing, and Zhào wisdom, Raven carries within her soul-space ten mystical Blood Essence Beads. Each bead holds the power to awaken a fragment of her divine body, rebuilding her from bone to spirit while granting mastery over lost technomagic arts: alchemy, artifact forging, runes, and the fusion of magic with cutting-edge science. Yet each awakening will test her mind, heart, and will to their very limits. Around her looms an empire ruled by the ruthless Eight Great Families, where noble bloodlines battle for supremacy in a brutal 100-Year Tournament. Hidden beneath them lurk the secret cultivation clans—ancient powers manipulating bloodlines and history itself. Her stepsister, Amara, pampered and poisonous, conspires to steal both her name and destiny, guided by a devourer seed that whispers corruption into willing ears. What Raven doesn't yet know will shake the foundations of reality: she is a Pillar Soul—one of the fundamental anchors holding Ascara's existence together. If she falls to darkness, the entire plane collapses into the void. To protect her world, she must locate and awaken the other Pillar Souls scattered across the world: a dying child, a broken soldier, a fallen saint, a betrayed lover, and others—each a fragment of Ascara's strength, each teetering on the edge of corruption. Time is running short. The Great Shift approaches in five years—when spiritual energy will surge back into a world that has forgotten magic. As technology begins to fail and ancient powers stir, Raven must navigate step-family betrayal, aristocratic oppression, and imperial conspiracies while a darker truth emerges: the Devourers, cosmic parasites born from primordial hunger, seek to twist her suffering into corruption and drag Ascara into eternal darkness. Standing between her and salvation are false allies and tragic enemies like Kael Xuán—heir to the ruling family and her betrayer across multiple lifetimes—while the shadowy SIS organization sacrifices innocents in the name of maintaining "order." Only one figure recognizes her true nature: the exiled Keeper of the Accord, an immortal guardian bound by cosmic law to protect Ascara's souls. In him, Raven may find not only a reluctant ally but an echo of her grandparents' forbidden love—proof that loyalty and sacrifice can triumph against the tide of ambition and despair. In a fractured empire where ancient cultivation lies broken, magic is dismissed as myth, and technology serves as the ultimate weapon, one forgotten girl will rise to reshape the fate of worlds. But first, she must survive becoming the most dangerous thing in existence: herself. ◊ ◊ ◊ Not suitable for readers under 18 or those sensitive to intense emotional/violent content. Reader discretion is strongly advised. Join me on Discord: https://discord.gg/mvwer8QhHz
Tracy_Dunwoodie · 401k Views