The festival sits in the heart of downtown like the city's heartbeat.
Lights are strung from rooftop to rooftop, golden and warm. Music hums from speakers mounted on poles. Laughter blends with the sizzle of food stands and the hum of conversation. The massive redwood structure towers over the square, carved and polished, glowing under lantern light. It feels ancient. Important.
For once, nothing feels dangerous.
I didn't expect my team and my school friends to get along this well.
But they do.
Jordan and Zack are dramatically telling ghost stories, their voices low and exaggerated, trying to scare each other more than the crowd. Zack keeps adding unnecessary sound effects. Jordan rolls her eyes but commits fully to the bit.
Ava and Maya walk a little ahead, debating some conspiracy theory about hidden messages in historical monuments. Maya's calm, analytical. Ava's animated, hands moving as she talks.
Cameron and I trail behind, arguing about superheroes like it's life or death.
"It's obviously speed over strength," Cameron insists.
"Yeah? Until you get punched once," I say.
He laughs.
It's loud. It's chaotic.
It's dysfunctional.
And I love it.
This is the first time in my life I've felt like I actually belong somewhere.
Not just part of a team.
Part of something.
⸻
Eventually we split up to explore.
Cameron sticks with me.
"What first?" he asks, adjusting his blue hoodie.
The crowd presses around us, festival lights reflecting in his blonde curls.
"Food," I answer immediately. "I'm starving."
We weave through people, brushing shoulders, dodging kids running past. The smell of grilled onions and bacon hits us before we see the stand.
Bacon-wrapped hot dogs. Smoke rising. Grease popping.
We wait in line, watching the cook flip them with perfect timing.
Cameron takes one bite and just freezes.
His eyes widen.
His shoulders relax.
"This," he says slowly, like he's had a spiritual awakening, "is the best hot dog I've ever had in my life."
I laugh and take a bite.
The bacon crunches. The bun's warm. The sauce hits perfectly.
He's right.
For a moment, I forget everything.
No portals.
No training.
No Eclipse whispering in the back of my head.
Just food. Friends. Noise.
Normal.
⸻
We regroup at the redwood as the sky deepens into purple and blue.
The tree glows now under hanging lanterns, shadows stretching across the square. Families gather close, kids running between adults' legs.
Ava pulls out a small bag.
"I got these earlier," she says, handing each of us a wooden ornament.
"One word. Whatever feels right."
One by one, we step forward.
"Curious," Ava says, smiling.
"Hopeful," Cameron says confidently.
"Resilient," Jordan says, chin lifted.
"Calm," Maya says softly.
"Knowledgeable," Zack says like he rehearsed it.
Then me.
I turn mine over.
The word hits instantly.
"Chosen."
It doesn't feel random.
It feels like a reminder.
I hang it on the tree.
We step back together, staring up at our words glowing in warm light.
And then—
The wind dies.
Not slowly.
Instantly.
The music cuts out with a distorted hum.
The lights flicker.
The sky darkens like someone pulled a curtain over it.
Lightning cracks directly above the redwood.
Not white.
Gray.
Twisting.
The air feels heavy. Pressurized.
People murmur. Phones come out.
A spiral begins forming overhead — tight, rotating violently. The clouds above churn inward like they're being sucked into a drain.
"What is that?" someone whispers.
The spiral tightens.
And then it rips open.
Not like a tear.
Like something forcing its way through.
Shadows fall out.
They hit the pavement hard — splattering like ink.
And then they rise.
Tall.
Distorted.
Their limbs too long. Their movements jerky, unnatural. Their bodies look like smoke wrapped around bone. Faces blank except for thin cracks that glow faintly.
One opens its mouth.
A screech tears through the air like metal grinding against metal.
And then more fall.
And more.
And more.
Screams explode across the square.
Panic spreads faster than the shadows.
"Run!" I shout at Zack and Ava.
They don't argue. They sprint into the crowd.
Me, Jordan, Maya, and Cameron duck into an alley as shadows crash into vendor stands behind us.
"What is that?" Maya asks, calm but tense.
"It's a portal," Jordan says, staring upward, fists clenched.
"A disgusting one," Cameron mutters.
They all look at me.
What do we do?
My heart pounds so hard it feels like it might crack my ribs.
"We stop it."
"That's not a plan," Jordan snaps.
"Shinobi gi. Now."
We close our eyes.
Heat coils around me like something alive.
The Red Dragon's presence floods my veins — heavy, powerful, ancient.
Armor forms over my body in burning segments, sealing into place with a metallic hiss. My sword rests across my back, humming faintly with contained flame.
I open my eyes.
Around me, Jordan's gear forms with stone-textured plating. Maya's flows like liquid armor. Cameron's flickers with faint arcs of electricity.
"But the rule," Maya says. "We can't be seen."
A car flips over in the street outside.
"Do we have a choice?" Cameron says.
No one answers.
We step back into chaos.
⸻
A shadow lunges toward a woman shielding her child.
I draw my sword.
Fire erupts down the blade, not a flicker. A roar.
Heat blasts outward, pushing back smoke and dust.
I slash.
The flame carves a blazing arc through the air. The shadow splits cleanly and bursts into cinders.
But they're everywhere.
Jordan steps forward and slams her foot into the pavement.
The ground responds instantly.
Concrete fractures in spiderweb patterns. Chunks of asphalt rise like jagged teeth, impaling two shadows mid-leap. She twists her hands and the street folds upward, forming a curved wall that blocks a wave rushing toward civilians.
"Move!" she commands, voice steady.
Maya extends her arms.
Water rips free from a broken fountain across the square, surging toward her in a spiraling current. She whips it forward the stream snaps like a living serpent, wrapping around a shadow's torso.
She tightens her fingers.
The water compresses violently, crushing the creature inward until it implodes into mist.
Another leaps at her.
She pivots smoothly, drawing moisture straight from the air a blade of condensed water forming along her forearm. She slices upward. The shadow dissolves.
Cameron explodes forward in a streak of blue-white lightning.
Electricity coils around his body like a storm contained in skin. Every step he takes scorches the ground.
He launches himself into a cluster of shadows and drives his fist into one's chest.
Lightning detonates outward in a blinding burst.
Five shadows disintegrate instantly.
More fall from above.
Hundreds now.
The portal churns violently, widening, pulsing like a heartbeat.
A shadow grabs my arm.
Cold floods into me, numbing my fingers.
I grit my teeth and unleash fire from my core.
Flames explode outward in a circular blast, vaporizing everything around me. Heat distorts the air.
We push forward.
Step by step.
Cutting. Crushing. Freezing. Shocking.
We reach the base of the redwood.
The portal looms directly above us now — massive. Rotating. Hungry.
Waves of shadows pour out endlessly.
Jordan breathes heavier now, sweat sliding down her temple.
Maya's water movements are slower.
Cameron's lightning flickers unevenly.
We're getting worn down.
"We have to go in!" I shout.
Jordan stares at me like I've lost my mind. "We don't know what's in there!"
"It's the source! We close it from inside!"
Another wave slams into us.
I block barely in time fire and darkness exploding inches from my face.
Then I hear it.
"Shin got attacked!"
I turn.
Ava.
She's staring at us.
At me.
At the fire roaring around my armor.
"What are you?" she whispers.
No time.
I deepen my voice.
"Get to safety."
I slam my sword into the ground.
A wall of flame erupts outward, clearing a blazing path straight through the shadows.
Zack grabs Ava and runs.
I turn back to my team.
"Now!"
Jordan thrusts both hands upward. A pillar of earth launches us into the air.
Maya summons a spiraling column of water beneath us, adding force, pushing higher.
Cameron blasts upward in a vertical streak of lightning.
I ignite my feet and leap.
We break through a final wave—
And dive straight into the portal.
Light swallows everything.
Sound disappears.
Gravity twists sideways.
And then
We crash into sand.
Hard.
I lift my head.
Black waves crash against a dark shoreline.
The sky above is dim and unnatural.
And something enormous moves beneath the surface of the ocean.
Watching us.
We didn't just enter a portal.