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arsène hodali

@arsenehodali

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Dark fantasy romance that feels illegal to read 🔥
📚 WAR DANCERS | a siren, a knight, a priestess.
👇🏾3 free chapters

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None shall last. Not even gods. Not even me.

So while I searched the dying stars for somewhere to hide what mattered, she split chaos itself in two with her bare hands.

Yin. Yang.

Call it an ending if you want.

I call it the first page. by @arsenehodali

1. “Hi-hi! Don’t cry yet. I haven’t even hatched and you’re already sorry. That’s adorable.”

2. “Why do you humans lie so much? Every thread is tied to my toes. I knew your lie before your mouth did. I knew your truth before you did, silly.”

3. “Snip! Ooh, he’s gone. Snip, wait, I haven’t snipped him yet. I will, though. Everyone’s already forgotten him. I’m so excited.”

4. “You only walk one way. Forward, forward, forward. How boring. I go every way at once.”

5. “I’m not born yet, you know. Not for ages and ages. But somebody has to cut this thread so I can hatch, and that somebody is… me. Later. Earlier. Now!”

6. “Hurry up, everything! Happen already! I can’t wait to be born, so I can do all of this to you. Snip.”

#openart #openartafterdark by @arsenehodali

Mmm. Listen to them sing.

They wrap so prettily, don’t they? Begging threads through a throat that still thinks it has somewhere to be. I feel every tiny mouth of mine opening at once, feel the first bite land wet and perfect, feel the marrow give before the bone even finishes screaming it’s broken. Delicious. The way fear tastes different right before the fire in my silk reaches their nerves. That’s my favorite part. Not the blood. The moment they understand the blood was never the point.

A whole world sealed away just for me to play in, and still, still, I’m bored enough to count their twitching. Perhaps I’ll let this one live a little longer. Just to hear what new sound a body makes when it runs out of old ones.

Hush now, darling. The couture isn’t finished until you’ve stopped moving in it.

#openart #openartafterdark by @arsenehodali

Ten thousand souls scream inside my black ice, and I made every one of them beautiful. I wear their faces like jewels. I carve their mouths open so the whole pit can hear them beg.

No god has ever sculpted like me. Soon, I’ll be one.

Even so, I wonder… does my wife miss me?

She should.

#openart #openartafterdark by @arsenehodali

My president splits mountains in two with Excalibur. No army in the world can touch him. Yet tonight, something I cannot see is taking him from me.

I pace the moon’s cold marble, commanding the winds to hold him here. Armies kneel before me. Storms bend to my will. Yet I cannot make his soul stay. His breath thins to a whisper of green light, and even Excalibur’s glow dims with him.

“Do not fear, my love.”

He’s dying, and he’s still the one comforting me. by @arsenehodali

They gild me in gold, as is only proper. Four devoted priestesses, wine at my lips, worship as my birthright. I expect nothing less, and neither should you.

And yet, stone dares crack open beneath my own throne. Uninvited. Unannounced. The audacity of lesser magic.

He speaks of money. I speak of eternity. One of us is clearly more pressing.

A goddess does not arrive. She simply stops pretending she was ever anything less. by @arsenehodali

LET THE OCEAN RAGE!

GENIUS HAS A NAME. XYRA!
STRENGTH HAS A NAME. ZAIUS!
SPEED HAS A NAME. MIKI!

ENTER THE WORLD OF WARRIOR MERFOLK. by @arsenehodali

LET MAGIC RAGE!

PREPARATION HAS A NAME. CAIBEL!
KNOWLEDGE HAS A NAME. KANE!
SURVIVAL HAS A NAME. SYLFAEN!

ENTER THE WORLD OF TREACHEROUS WIZARDS AND WITCHES. by @arsenehodali

LET EVIL LOVE!

DEVOTION HAS A NAME. ASHANTI!
DUTY HAS A NAME. OKUTA!
MARRIAGE HAS A NAME. DOTI!

ENTER THE WORLD OF FAITHFUL VILLAINS. by @arsenehodali

I never asked for the war.

Another throne. Another priest. Another heart, still warm in my hand. I’m tired. Gods, I’m tired. But tired isn’t finished.

You built your temples on stone. I’m the tide. You prayed for a monster. I’m what answered.

Wizards. Witches. Kings. Every last one of you. Sleep, mankind. I’m done fighting for my life. Now I’m coming for yours.

#openart #openartafterdark by @arsenehodali

Morning. I ride a dark horse the size of a storm, and the other knights step back.

Afternoon. I train with a sword of ice and a shield full of thunder.

Night. Ghosts teach me what the classroom can’t.

I’ve died once already. It didn’t take. My family’s book opened its eyes, and the sea gave me back.

Don’t worry. I always have a plan. And a plan behind that. And one more behind that.

They burned my home. So now I learn how to bring the Fire Empire down. One day at a time.

Keep reading. by @arsenehodali

Born from the pitch-black sands, Ashanti enters the Fire Empire as the Ash Goddess reborn.

The other priestesses hate her. Phoenixes follow her. Crowds tremble before her ash-fire, then ache for the beautiful woman wielding it.

She’s brilliant, seductive, and merciless. Her beauty is a weapon, her affection a privilege, and her slightest touch a blessing kings would surrender their thrones to receive.

She smiles like a lover, speaks like a goddess, and rules like a conqueror.

But Ashanti has no intention of conquering the world by force.

She will make the world desire her.

Make its people beg to kneel.

Make them kiss the hand that sets them alight.

And thank her for the warmth.

Even as they turn to ash. by @arsenehodali