The Oracle Paths - Chapter 8 Encounter

The Empire stands triumphant.

For twenty years the Dread Empress has ruled over the lands that were once the Kingdom of Callow, but behind the scenes of this dawning golden age threats to the crown are rising. The nobles of the Wasteland, denied the power they crave, weave their plots behind pleasant smiles. In the north the Forever King eyes the ever-expanding borders of the Empire and ponders war. The greatest danger lies to the west, where the First Prince of Procer has finally claimed her throne: her people sundered, she wonders if a crusade might not be the way to secure her reign. Yet none of this matters, for in the heart of the conquered lands the most dangerous man alive sat across an orphan girl and offered her a knife.

Her name is Catherine Foundling, and she has a plan.

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A Practical Guide to Evil is a fantasy series about a young girl named Catherine Foundling making her way through the world – though, in a departure from the norm, not on the side of the heroes. Is there such a thing as doing bad things for good reasons, or is she just rationalizing her desire for control? Good and Evil are tricky concepts, and the more power you get the blurrier the lines between them become.

I don’t know why I die, I don’t know why I live.

Divided hunters die of loyalty,

The witch who plays with emotions dies of love,

Cautious fortune-tellers die of trust.

The thief who steals everything has nothing,

The visionary who created everything never existed.

The traveler fell on his way home,

The twilight giants rest before dawn.

Lawyers sacrifice for order,

Judges forget the law.

The sleepless sleeps in the dark,

The corpse collector lay in the coffin.

We are guardians, and a bunch of poor creatures who are constantly fighting against danger and madness.

This journey is life and death.

While drowning was inevitable, they had struggled.

This is the worst of times, this is the best of times.

- Description from novelbuddy

The dead broke small streamer Zong Qi received a random message one day.

Zong Qi: ? tr*sh commercial, deleted

That night, he got pulled onto the set of a horror film and was informed that if he didn’t shoot it… He’ll die.

He was lucky that the actors were all working as hard as they could, and the director only needed to stand around and watch the show.

But because he had been given way too much, Zong Qi didn’t hesitate at all before making his own changes.

Under his false identity was an ‘evil mastermind’ that fought with the actors on everything.

The immoral things he’s done on set include but aren’t limited to–

Personally putting makeup on the ghost, teaching actors how to mess and change the script, switching ‘sides’ at crucial times…

People as arrogant as him usually don’t have good endings when their identities were revealed.

What Zong Qi didn’t expect was that instead of the actors joining up for revenge, an unlucky bastard’s whose plans had been spoilt by him countless times appeared instead.

The man took off his glasses, revealing a pair of closed eyes, his face beautiful and cold.

The brush dipped in paint hooked past the young man’s neck, full of danger.

“You dirtied my brush.”

He smirked, drawling, “As punishment, I’ll dirty you.”

- Description from Novelupdates

Within the dream of the dreamer, the one who was dreamed of awoke.

… Borges

“I exist in the sunlight, the wind, between the heavens and the earth, and also in dreams.”

One night, Yu Hao, a college student who was at his wits’ end had an unexpected encounter with a mysterious visitor – “General” – who had dream travelled. He led Yu Hao in solving the countless riddles that abounded in the realm of the conscious, and lit up the fire beacons on the meandering Great Wall.

Thereafter, the darkness retreated, the sun rose, and when the long night was thoroughly lit up, the him who existed in reality was reborn.

The black dragon that roared, the lighthouse and demonic eye on the coastline, the rain forest before Chichén Itzá, the fierce beasts that wreaked havoc in the Colosseum…the bizarre projection of reality in one’s consciousness reflected the hidden place that the sunlight in reality couldn’t touch – the innumerable sins of the human heart.

The journey of seizing dreams continues, and one can only hope that the sun will continue illuminating the human heart.

…

Fire beacons on the Great Wall were lit up to signal a border invasion.

- Description from Novelupdates