Fiction
Shadows Over Soravin - Part 3
The deeper they pressed into the ruins beneath Soravin, the more the vault abandoned all pretense of architecture. Passageways twisted like veins, breathing faint heat through the stone. Glyphwork on the walls shimmered when touched, alive, reactive, growing. The vault was no longer just a site of research. It had become a living archive of the broken, a body built on fractured oaths and stolen memories.
By Richard Bailey7 months ago in Chapters
Michelin Guide names 4 new budget-friendly gems in Da Nang..
A Culinary Journey Through Vietnam's Hidden Delights: A Culinary Journey Through Vietnam's Hidden Delights The coastal city of Da Nang is the focus of the Michelin Guide's latest spotlight on Vietnam's vibrant and varied culinary scene. Da Nang has long been a favorite among travelers seeking authentic Vietnamese flavors due to its stunning beaches, rich history, and dynamic food culture. Four new budget-friendly restaurants have been identified by Michelin in its most recent update, demonstrating that exceptional dining does not always require a high price tag. These four establishments showcase the best of Da Nang's affordable yet high-quality cuisine, including steaming bowls of ma Quang and succulent seafood grilled to perfection. Whether you're a local foodie or a traveler on a budget, these Michelin-approved spots are a must-visit for an unforgettable gastronomic experience.
By parves mosharaf7 months ago in Chapters
Businesswoman Chapter 168. Top Story - June 2025.
MasterMind Classes set a premium on their content. $600 a year got a prospective student the full ride to online education glory. The CEO, Sylvania Crowthers, had set the tempo. She snapped up photographers, chefs, tennis legends, filmmakers, painters, yogis, and even a funeral director. Her abilities to gather such talent remained in her senses. Excellence exuded out of all of these individuals. When she needed an entrepreneur to teach business, Loreen Breen had been her top pick. She sat in her office adorned with awards and trophies. Loreen accepted a cup of some of the finest coffee in the world.
By Skyler Saunders8 months ago in Chapters
Dating for Normies. Top Story - June 2025.
Mikaela, my incredibly beautiful boss, is staring at me. Mikaela is part Swedish and part English Rose, think Kate Beckinsale, but with Scandinavian blue eyes. She’s smiling in that way only she does. It’s disarming and entrancing, almost hypnotic. I’m drifting back into my daydream of the two of us together, kissing on a picnic blanket on top of the Ta’ Ċenċ Cliffs of Gozo Island, Malta. I saw an influencer couple share the same image on their Travelgram, and I’ve been dreaming of my own romantic sunset ever since. Whenever I’m around Mikaela, she makes me feel like it’s meant to be. We have a connection. I’m sure of it. I feel it in my bones. Even the way she’s smiling at me now feels personal like we’re sharing a secret that nobody else is in on. I know it’s a weird thing to say about your boss, but we’re the same age, and she’s not actually my boss. She’s just more senior than I am and is in charge of certain projects that I work on, so it’s not weird. Okay, it’s a little weird, but—Mikaela tilts her head like she’s waiting for me to respond to a question. I look around the room, and everyone is staring at me as if to confirm it.
By Simon George8 months ago in Chapters
Every Day Is Theirs: A Heart’s Tribute to Our Parents Beyond One Day
✍️ By: Umair Ali Shah Yousafzai --- 🌸 Introduction: The Problem with “One Day” In an age where love has been reduced to emojis and celebrations are confined to trending hashtags, it’s become common to see people dedicate just one day a year to their parents — usually in the form of a well-edited photo, a generic social media caption, or a short video clip. "Happy Parents’ Day!" they declare, and with that, consider their duty fulfilled. But can one day capture the essence of lifelong sacrifice? Can a Facebook status outweigh a mother’s sleepless nights? Can an Instagram reel compensate for a father’s decades of toil? The answer — spoken by the heart — is a resounding no. Parents are not a seasonal celebration. They are the soul of our lives. They do not deserve a day; they deserve our every day, our every breath, our every success, our every prayer. --- 🕊️ A Love Beyond Comprehension Parental love is not poetic — it is prophetic. The mother’s womb becomes a sanctuary before we even open our eyes. Her body breaks to give us life. Her nights shatter so our dreams can form. Her meals go cold so ours stay warm. She becomes our shadow, our comfort, our shield. And the father? He becomes the silent mountain who absorbs the storm before it reaches us. He ages behind the curtain so we can grow on stage. His shoes wear thin so ours stay new. His pockets empty so our dreams can fill. His hands become rough while ours remain soft. Such love cannot be compared. It cannot be counted, priced, or postponed. It is as eternal as the sky — silent but all-encompassing. --- 🏠 From Cradle to Grave: They Gave Us Everything The truth is simple and painful: the very people who gave us everything, we give them the least. They carried us when we were weak. They taught us to walk, to speak, to eat. They encouraged our smallest achievements and bore our greatest failures. They forgave our rebellion, our rudeness, our rejection. They kept loving even when we didn’t love back. And what did they ask for in return? Nothing — except a little time. A little respect. A little remembrance. And yet, many of us fail even in that. --- 📅 One Day is Not Enough — It’s Almost Insulting Designating one day for parents is, in many ways, an insult wrapped in sentimentality. It suggests that gratitude can be scheduled, that love can be timed, that sacrifice can be acknowledged only when it's convenient. Do parents love only once a year? Do they support us only on Sundays? Do they pray for us only during exam season? No. Their love is relentless, their loyalty unconditional, their prayers eternal. Then how dare we give them just a day? --- 🕯️ Real-Life Reflections: Forgotten Candles of Our Lives Visit an old age home and you will see forgotten candles flickering dimly, waiting for someone to relight their flames. Mothers who once carried their children now carry loneliness. Fathers who once stood tall now sit silently by windows, hoping someone might knock on the door. "I gave him everything," says one mother, staring into her fading memories. "And now he sends money, but not himself." What do we owe them? Not riches. Not luxury. We owe them presence. We owe them honor. We owe them time. And if we fail to pay that debt in life, we will spend the rest of our lives repaying it in guilt. --- 🌙 The Islamic Perspective: A Duty, Not a Favor In Islam, honoring one's parents is not optional. It is second only to worshipping Allah. The Qur’an places “being good to parents” immediately after “worship none but Allah” (Surah Al-Isra, 17:23). > “And lower to them the wing of humility out of mercy and say: ‘My Lord, have mercy upon them as they brought me up [when I was] small.’” — (Qur’an 17:24)
By Umair Ali Shah 8 months ago in Chapters
Shadows Over Soravin - Part 2
Long before Soravin was a ruin, before its spires fell and its vaults fractured, it had been a convergence point, a place where the arcane and the forbidden met in secret beneath a scholarly veil. Though the Crimson Library never acknowledged the site’s existence in their public archives, the deeper researchers whispered of it: The Embervault, a subterranean experiment in anchoring fireblooded emotion to crystallized oath contracts.
By Richard Bailey8 months ago in Chapters
Businesswoman Chapter 167
Wires stretched around Atkinson’s torso. Pieces with electronic elements hooked up to his finger tips. He sat on a pad which monitored his muscle movements. The polygrapher, Meryl, asked the first question. She had long black hair and a round nose with brown skin.
By Skyler Saunders8 months ago in Chapters
Shadows Over Soravin - Part 1
The ruins of Soravin had not breathed in decades. Wind curled through the stone bones of its shattered towers, singing through rusted arc-gates and fire-scorched walls. Beneath the silence, deep below where light could not reach, something stirred.
By Richard Bailey8 months ago in Chapters
Shadows in Velvet - Part 5
The night of the final masquerade came dressed in crimson silk and dying stars. Verashtel glittered under moonlight, its towers painted in the colors of influence, peacock greens, mourning purples, blood-velvet reds. Gondolas drifted over the black-glass canals, their oarsmen silent, their passengers masked and magnificent. From balconies, laughter spilled like perfume, thick with tension, too bright to be sincere.
By Richard Bailey8 months ago in Chapters
Shadows in Velvet - Part 4
The underground chamber beneath the House of Ambrith smelled of rose ash and old metal. Torchlight flickered off columns carved into laughing faces, hundreds of them, smiling, grimacing, leering down as if mocking every step the trio took.
By Richard Bailey8 months ago in Chapters
