Phoenix Ascending - Chapter 169

[Mature Content!]In the heart of a bustling metropolis where ambition and dreams collide, Ella, a talented yet struggling artist, finds herself facing a crushing blow. Her world shatters as her ex-boyfriend exchanges vows with her former best friend, a betrayal that leaves her feeling humiliated and lost.Desperate for a change, an escape from her heartache, she impulsively agrees to a marriage of convenience with Damien Stone, a mysterious and enigmatic billionaire CEO. Damien, needing a temporary wife to appease his demanding board of directors and secure his position, sees the arrangement as mutually beneficial. As they enter this calculated agreement, both with their own hidden agendas, an unexpected spark ignites between them.Amidst the carefully constructed facade of their marriage, a genuine attraction blossoms, challenging their preconceived notions and altering the course of their lives in ways they never imagined.

This is a strange world where everyone can build Dream Dungeons. Qiu Ren also becomes one of the many Dream Makers. So, welcome to the dream I built.

Joe finds himself kidnapped by aliens, shot at a planet inside a metal ball with a parachute strapped to it, and dumped on a planet full of people who can't speak with him. Now he has to figure out where he is, who captured him, why he was sent here, and, if possible, how to get back home!Great forces move as a young man finds himself suddenly taken from home by a strange people to explore a strange land. He does not know he is to explore nor does he even know who has taken him or why. Joe struggles to survive in a strange world of unusual peoples and cultures but his experiences prove to the task. Many learn from him just as much as he learns from them.Joe learns of the world, of the strange forces within it, and gains friends and a new family along the way. He will be ground to nothing, but will find himself once more.

After being torn from the only life she knew, 16-year-old Margo is forced into a new home with strangers who call themselves her parents. Haunted by memories of her past and consumed by feelings of isolation, she struggles to adapt to her unfamiliar surroundings. School offers little relief—until she meets Lucien, a mysterious boy who appears just when she needs a friend the most.Gabriel is everything Margo needs: kind, attentive, and always ready to whisk her away from her troubles. Each night, he invites her to secret places—an abandoned playground, a fog-choked garden, a crumbling train station at the edge of town—each more unsettling than the last. Yet with every chilling rendezvous, Margo feels more alive... more seen.But something isn’t right. Gabriel never comes to school during the day. Her adoptive parents never see him. And when they catch her talking to thin air, their concern deepens into fear. They say Gabriel isn't real—that he’s a figment of her imagination. Margo wants to believe them, but Gabriel feels real. More real than anything else in her life.As the nights grow colder and more twisted, Gabriel’s true nature begins to surface. Shadows move where they shouldn’t. Time warps in his presence. And the places they visit seem to echo with whispers from another world. Margo is forced to ask herself: Who—or what—is Gabriel? Why does he only want her? And what will happen on the final night he asks her to come with him?As the line between reality and delusion begins to crumble, Margo must make an impossible choice: stay in a world where she feels loved, or return to one that barely feels real.But one thing is certain—some friendships never let go.