She remembered everything. Even the endings.
She has died 9,987 times. Watched him die 9,987 times. Woken in the same barn, same morning, same seventeen-year-old body, 9,987 times. This is the 9,988th. And for the first time, the system speaks to her.
A time-loop romance that isn't about winning a war. It's about learning to stay.
Readers know she has already lost 9,987 times. The question isn't whether she wins — it's what she does differently this time.
Through a cell door, she passes bread. A piece of charcoal for drawing. Not rescue — presence. The emotional foundation of the entire trilogy.
Lyra isn't a hero. She's a girl crushed under ten thousand failures. Felix isn't a monster — he's a boy who has never been seen.
A LitRPG interface that doesn't tell her what to do. It only measures what she already knows: corruption percentage, trust score, countdown to death.
From a charcoal sketch of a trembling bird on a cell wall to the golden bird that flies over the ocean in Book Three. A complete visual arc.
The boy in the tower has 1,096 days before the shadow consumes him. The world has 1,096 days before it burns. The clock is always ticking.
9987 LIVES is a time-loop romantasy trilogy about Lyra, a girl who has woken up in the same barn on the same morning 9,987 times. Every cycle, she runs to the tower to save Felix — the boy labeled a monster, the container for an ancient shadow. Every cycle, she fails. Every cycle, he dies.
In Book One, Lyra stops running. She stops trying to rescue him. Instead, she sits outside his cell. She brings bread. She gives him charcoal to draw. For the first time in 9,987 cycles, someone sees Felix not as a monster to be saved or destroyed, but as a boy who has never been spoken to with kindness.
This is the foundation volume. It establishes the world, the system, the Gardener who harvests emotional energy, and the quiet truth that runs through all three books: you cannot save someone who has never been seen. And sometimes, the bravest thing you can do is not fight — it is stay.
Readers who love time-loop stories with emotional stakes, not just power fantasies
Fans of dark romantasy where trauma and healing are taken seriously
LitRPG readers who want system mechanics serving character, not replacing it
Anyone who believes the hardest victory is learning to be ordinary
Each book has a complete arc, but the trilogy is designed as one continuous story. Book One establishes the world, Book Two deepens it, and Book Three resolves everything.
Both. The romantic relationship is the emotional core, but the world-building — the Gardener, the shadow, the cycle-break protocol — is full dark fantasy.
80 chapters across three volumes. Book One: 26 chapters. Book Two: 27 chapters. Book Three: 27 chapters. Each book is a standalone-length read.
EPUB format, compatible with all e-readers (Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play Books). Instant download after purchase.
Yes! The first several chapters are available to read for free on Wattpad and Royal Road. Links are in the newsletter.
She remembered everything. Even the endings. This time, she's not running.
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