

Julie Meyer is a divine maiden who spent a hundred and twenty thousand years trapped in a magic lantern because of the Evans family’s greed. Reborn, she finds them exactly as she left them—hungry for more than they deserve. So she gives it to them. Andy Evans wants to be emperor. Drake Evans wants total political power. Ruby Evans wants beauty beyond compare. Julie grants each wish with a smile, then watches as every desire curls back and destroys them from within. The revenge is precise, elegant, and utterly merciless. When the last wish is spent and the lantern finally goes dark, the debt is paid in full.

In 1976, nine-time world chess champion Mac Sullivan goes to the countryside with his wife and daughter. While foraging for wild vegetables, he stumbles upon two mysterious sages playing an otherworldly game of chess.Mesmerized by their match, Mac steps in to play a few moves, completely losing track of time. When the game finally ends, he discovers that 49 years have passed in the mortal world. To compensate for the lost time, one of the sages gifts him a mystical peach of immortality, but its supernatural power is too strong, and Mac is rejuvenated into a ten-year-old child, now possessing decades of chess mastery in a young boy’s body.