[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-marked-by-the-mad-king-alpha":3,"chapter-marked-by-the-mad-king-alpha-marked-by-the-mad-king-alpha-chapter-246":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Marked By The Mad King Alpha",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1732277,2214,"Chapter 246 Walking On Water","marked-by-the-mad-king-alpha-chapter-246",246,"\u003Cp>Phoebe’s POV\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was drowning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not in water—in something thicker, darker. Every breath felt like swallowing liquid lead. My lungs screamed for air that wouldn’t come.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But through the suffocating darkness, I heard him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perry’s voice cut through the void like a lifeline thrown to a drowning woman. He kept saying my name, over and over, each repetition laced with raw desperation that made my heart clench.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Phoebe... please... wake up...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His anguish was worse than my own pain. Whatever was happening to me, it was destroying him. I had to get back. I had to reach him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The comfortable darkness whispered seductive promises of rest, of peace, of an end to all struggle. But Perry’s broken voice anchored me to consciousness. I couldn’t abandon him. Not when he sounded so lost.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I forced my eyes open.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Water surrounded me completely—crystal clear but impossibly deep. Above, brilliant sunlight pierced the liquid darkness in shimmering golden columns. That light was my salvation. I had to reach it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I kicked upward with desperate strength.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The surface should have been close, but with each stroke, it seemed to retreat further. My lungs should have been burning, yet somehow I could breathe in this strange realm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I swam harder, panic driving me forward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dark clouds suddenly swallowed the sun above. The golden light vanished, plunging everything into absolute blackness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I couldn’t see my own hands stretched out before me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The water disappeared. I found myself floating in empty void—no up, no down, no direction at all. I spun helplessly, searching for any landmark, any hint of escape.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perry’s voice had vanished too.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Silence pressed against my eardrums like a physical weight. The emptiness was complete, hungry, waiting to devour what little remained of me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Terror clawed at my chest, but I fought to stay rational. Panic would only make things worse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Time meant nothing in this nightmare realm. I might have drifted for seconds or centuries before my feet finally touched solid ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The oppressive darkness lifted slightly. I sat on soft grass in a ring of towering trees. To my left stretched a pristine lake, its surface like polished obsidian.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the far shore stood a magnificent white wolf.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Recognition hit me like a physical blow. I’d seen this place before—in dreams that always faded upon waking. But now every detail remained sharp, vivid, terrifyingly real.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The wolf lowered its muzzle to drink, then raised its head when it sensed my stare. Our eyes locked across the dark water.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Something twisted in my stomach. Those eyes... they were familiar in a way that made no sense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I approached the lake’s edge and gazed down at my reflection.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nothing stared back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No image at all—just empty water where my face should have been.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My blood turned to ice. I looked across at the white wolf, and somehow, impossibly, my own face looked back from its reflection.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That’s not possible...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I stumbled backward, but the image persisted. My reflection lived in the wolf’s body while my own yielded nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I had to reach that creature. I had to understand what was happening to me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I studied the lake’s perimeter, but both ends vanished into impenetrable darkness that seemed to pulse with malevolent hunger. Whatever lurked in those shadows, I wasn’t brave enough to discover.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The lake itself offered the only path forward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But how deep was it? What creatures might be hiding in those black depths, waiting for something foolish enough to enter their domain?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I chewed my lip, paralyzed by impossible choices.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The white wolf stepped forward and walked directly onto the water’s surface—not swimming, but moving across the lake as if it were solid glass.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What the hell...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The trees around me vanished without warning, leaving only me, the lake, and the impossible creature approaching across liquid that defied every law of nature.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My knees buckled. Every instinct screamed at me to run, but where could I go? This realm followed no rules I understood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The wolf stopped in the lake’s center and settled onto its haunches, watching me with predatory patience.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In its reflection, I saw myself moving in perfect synchronization—but my reflection-self looked different. Cold. Empty. Waiting for something terrible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You want me to come to you?\" My voice cracked with fear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The wolf didn’t respond, but its stillness felt like a challenge. Or a trap.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With no other options, I placed one trembling foot on the lake’s surface.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The water held my weight like solid crystal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My heart hammered against my ribs as I took another step. I couldn’t see my own reflection below, but I kept moving toward the wolf—toward whatever fate awaited me in this impossible place.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When only an arm’s length separated us, I stopped.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The wolf was even more magnificent up close—pristine white fur that seemed to glow with inner light, intelligent eyes that held secrets I desperately needed to understand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But those eyes also held something else.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hunger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I reached out slowly, my fingers trembling as they moved toward the creature’s beautiful, dangerous head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The moment my skin made contact with its fur, the world exploded into blinding white light.\u003C\u002Fp>",855,"2026-06-06T16:11:22.572Z",1,"novelbin.me","5207f3dc0c25eb8c033dc27576b22843b9880409aaf2456722c4e370afde8178","marked-by-the-mad-king-alpha-chapter-247","marked-by-the-mad-king-alpha-chapter-245",302,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fmarked-by-the-mad-king-alpha-cover.jpg"]