The shadows keep coming. Minutes? Hours? I don't know. Time has lost all meaning. Waves of darkness crash over me, endless, suffocating. My sword burns in my hand, flames licking higher with every strike, slicing through the creatures with a heat that almost feels alive.
I push forward. Then I see her—Ava—trapped, desperate. And Shin, bloodied and limping.
"Please help… we need you, whoever you are," Ava pleads.
I let her see me. The scales on my suit glint under the firelight. My hood hides everything but the darkness beneath, and my orange eyes burn brighter, sharp and intense. I don't hesitate. I scoop Shin into my arms, ignoring the weight, and guide them through the chaos.
"Who… who are you?" Ava asks, voice trembling.
I don't answer. Not now. Not while shadows stretch toward us like living smoke. Once we make it past Times Square, I stop for just a moment, turning to them.
"Leave!" I yell, my voice sharp, no time for questions. No time for games.
Then I sprint back to my team.
Chaos reigns. Jordan stomps the ground, her earth-shattering strikes cracking the pavement and crushing shadows beneath her fists and weapon. Cameron streaks forward, arcs of lightning tearing through clusters of darkness with precision. Maya conjures torrents of water, spinning them into swirling storms that lift and toss the shadows back.
I dive into the thick of it, fire blazing along my blade. Shadows shriek as they melt away, but more keep coming. Everyone's exhausted—Jordan, Cameron, Maya—but there's no time to slow down.
Maya shouts, "We haven't slowed down since we got here! We need a new plan!"
"I agree," Cameron says, grim.
Jordan frowns. "What, go in the portal? Leave them to get their souls taken?"
"We don't have a choice," I reply. "The shadows are coming out the portal. If we stop whoever's holding it open on the other side, we can fix this. If we don't, we all die—and everyone else here dies too. At least if we go in the portal, we can get their souls back."
Jordan opens her mouth to argue but says nothing. Maya nods, Cameron frowns but doesn't stop.
"Alright," I say, voice firm. "We clear a path and head straight into the portal. Got it?"
We push forward, every strike precise, moving faster as shadows surge around us. Jordan's strikes shake the ground, Cameron's lightning flashes through the air, Maya's water storms sweep enemies off their feet. I clear the path, every movement deliberate, pushing past the fatigue that weighs on us all.
We reach the tree marking the portal. With no hesitation, we leap in.
Reality twists. Colors blur, the air warps around us. We cling to each other as we fall, tumbling through impossible space, and finally land hard. Sand grinds against our knees, water sloshes around our feet, and the scent of salt hits my nose.
I push myself upright, scanning the surroundings. The beach stretches wide, pale sand glimmering under a pale sunlight that doesn't feel natural, as if it's filtered through the fabric of Shadowviel itself. Gentle waves lap lazily at the shore, but the forest behind rises dark and dense, trees thick and twisted, shadows hiding in their trunks. Strange rocks jut out from the sand, black veins crawling across them like ink. The air feels heavy, almost alive—charged with an energy that seems to watch us.
Jordan mutters, "A beach? Really?"
Maya shakes her head. "It's not Shadowviel directly. This portal connects the two worlds. It makes sense it doesn't look like Shadowviel, but it still draws from it."
Cameron frowns. "Too… calculated."
I tighten my grip on my sword. "It doesn't matter. Whoever's here, we deal with them. Now."
We move into the forest. The trees are dense, their roots twisting like serpents through the sand. Each step forward makes the presence around us heavier, more oppressive. Then, a clearing opens. No trees, only sand and water stretching to the edges. At the center, a portal pulses with jagged black energy, rippling the air around it.
And standing near it are two cloaked figures—the taller one, a woman with gray hair spilling from her hood, radiating calm but deadly authority. The smaller one, a boy with black hair, stands beside her, his presence sharp, precise, like a blade in the dark. Both cloaks are deep, dark, absorbing the light around them. Shadows seem to lean toward them, bending unnaturally as if alive.
I take a deep breath. "Let's go," I say, voice low and steady.