Chapter 8 — The Shadows Gather
Jane hadn't left her apartment in days.
Not because she couldn't, but because stepping outside now felt like walking into crosshairs. Every time she reached for the door, she imagined cameras flashing, microphones shoved in her face, or worse—the silent figures of contractors Marta swore WebNovel had unleashed.
But inside, she wasn't alone anymore.
Her laptop had become a pulsing nerve center. Emails, DMs, encrypted chat requests. Writers from every corner of the world were reaching out, drawn to the spark she had lit. They weren't just fans. They were angry, desperate, ready.
And they were calling themselves The Shadows.
---
The first time she logged into the chatroom Marta set up, Jane froze. The usernames scrolled past her eyes like a tide.
InkGhost92: "I was rejected after 4 years. They told me my story had no market. It destroyed me. I'm with you, Jane."
DreamFractured: "They stole my work. Changed a few names, gave it to another 'preferred author.' I thought I was crazy until I saw the leak. Count me in."
FallenMuse: "You gave us back our voices. Now let us give you strength."
Hundreds of them. Writers with scars carved deep into their words. Some were angry. Some were broken. Some were ready to burn the whole industry down.
Jane's throat closed. She typed slowly, hands shaking:
GlassKingdomJane: "I didn't start this to lead anyone. I only wanted to take back what was stolen."
Replies flooded in instantly.
PenAndAsh: "You are leading. Whether you wanted to or not."
InkGhost92: "You're our proof that we're not crazy. We've all been buried. You dug us out."
Marta leaned over Jane's shoulder, her voice low and certain. "You see now? It isn't just you. It never was."
---
The Shadows were chaotic at first—hundreds of voices shouting into the dark. But Marta, ever the strategist, began to shape them.
She divided them into groups:
Archivists, who dug through backups, screenshots, and old files to document the scope of WebNovel's suppression.
Amplifiers, who spread Jane's words across forums, social media, and blogs, keeping her voice louder than the smear campaigns.
Watchers, who monitored WebNovel's every move, tracking announcements, leaks, even rumors from inside the company.
Jane watched it happen like she was standing outside her own body. She was still terrified—of lawsuits, of exposure, of her door being kicked down in the night—but now she wasn't drowning.
She had an army.
---
One night, while the rain hammered against the windows, Jane spoke directly to The Shadows. Marta sat beside her, recording everything.
She hadn't planned a speech, but when she saw all the usernames waiting for her words, they poured out like fire.
"They tried to silence me. They told me my work was worthless. And when I fought back, they buried me deeper. But I wasn't alone—and neither are you. Every rejection, every locked draft, every stolen voice… we carry those scars together. And together, we will make sure they can't bury us again."
The chat exploded with cheers, emojis, and lines of poetry.
Jane's chest burned. Fear and exhilaration tangled inside her. For the first time, she wasn't just speaking for herself. She was speaking for thousands.
---
But movements attract eyes.
Within days, WebNovel struck back harder. They announced new terms of service—boiled in legal jargon, but carrying a sharp edge.
> "Unauthorized use or distribution of company property will result in immediate termination and legal action. We reserve the right to investigate accounts suspected of collusion with hostile actors."
Accounts of suspected Shadows began disappearing. Writers woke up to find their logins invalid, their drafts wiped. Panic spread through the chatroom.
DreamFractured: "They erased my profile. Years of work—gone."
InkGhost92: "They're coming for us one by one."
Jane stared at the messages, rage boiling through her veins. She slammed her hand on the desk. "No. They don't get to erase us again."
---
That night, she drafted another manifesto.
Not angry. Not panicked. Steady. Certain.
> "They will try to silence us. They will cut us down one by one. But a Shadow cannot be killed, because a Shadow is not one voice. It is all of us. If one falls, ten rise. If ten fall, a hundred rise. You can erase our accounts, but you cannot erase the truth: we exist. And we will not stop."
The Shadows spread it like wildfire. Screenshots appeared on Twitter, Reddit, Discord servers. Readers began to rally too—ordinary people who loved stories and hated the idea of corporate giants strangling them.
The hashtags surged again. #ShadowsRise. #VoicesUnburied. #JaneLeeEffect.
For every account WebNovel erased, three new ones sprang up.
The Shadows weren't just surviving. They were multiplying.
---
But with growth came risk.
Late one night, Jane's phone buzzed with a message from an unknown number.
"You're playing with fire. Stop now, or you'll burn with the rest."
Her hands went cold. She showed it to Marta, who read it with narrowed eyes.
"They've moved past lawyers," Marta said quietly. "This is intimidation. And intimidation only comes before the real strike."
Jane swallowed. "What kind of strike?"
Marta looked her in the eye, her expression unreadable. "The kind you can't hide from behind a screen."
---
For the first time, Jane realized something terrifying.
The Shadows weren't just hers to lead anymore. They were hers to protect.
And if the giant came crashing down, it wouldn't just crush her.
It would crush them all.