

For three hundred years, the cultivator Sean Yale single-handedly guarded the pass, keeping the demon invasion at bay and ensuring peace for Aureate. But his long vigil bred only complacency and distrust. Accused of fabricating the demon threat, he was cast out by the very nation he protected. Without him, the demons descended, throwing the realm into chaos. As Aureate faced its doom, Sean moved on, aiding other lands against the onslaught, his legendary might now sought by all who once doubted him. In the end, it was he who pushed the demons back to the wastelands and restored peace, leaving those who betrayed him to face the consequences of their folly.

When my appendix bursts, my parents, my brother, and even my fiancé are all too busy celebrating my sister's birthday. I'm outside the operating room, frantically calling every family member I can think of to sign the consent form, but every call is either ignored or hung up on. After hanging up on me, my fiancé, Joel Graham, texts back. "Sophie, stop being dramatic. It's Yvette's 18th birthday today. Whatever it is can wait until after the party." I quietly set my phone down and sign the consent form myself. It's the ninety-ninth time they've chosen Yvette Norton, my sister, over me. This time, I choose not to care. I'll stop letting their favoritism hurt me. Instead, I'll do everything they ask of me without complaint. They'll all think I've finally learned to be obedient, and they'll never realize that I'm preparing to leave them for good.

Sophie grew up in an orphanage and was adopted by the wealthy Johnson family when she was six. She spent twelve happy years being doted on by her three brothers and adoptive parents. But when her adoptive parents' biological daughter, Camille, returned, Sophie went from being the beloved child to someone misunderstood and hurt at the family's edges. Camille plotted against her at every turn, constantly framing Sophie, and the family chose to believe her, repeatedly hurting Sophie with their coldness, leaving her disheartened. Sophie decided to become the first volunteer for the "Sleep Project" her eldest brother had been planning for five years, repaying her adoptive parents for their care through a life experiment. On her eighteenth birthday, she completely broke ties with her family, walked alone into the sleep pod, and donated her corneas to her blind second brother. When she woke up thirty years later, her family was now gray-haired, but she could no longer remember them—leaving only that misplaced sense of family as an eternal regret in the river of time.