"My HAND! IT'S GONE!"
Jada's scream sliced through the forest like shattered glass, her voice laced with raw, primal terror. The cold wind bit into her torn skin, whispering through the trees like ghosts. Her blood spattered across mossy roots and shattered twigs, pooling like red ink beneath her severed arm.
The Avinth froze.
Its eyes, pits of glowing orange fire, zeroed in on the sound. The massive creature shift its head swiftly in their direction. Its ears twitched, trying to pick up even a micro decibel of the sound again. Its nostrils were flaring. It moved with the terrifying grace of a predator that had already decided the hunt was over.
Reggie crouched low beside Jada, his trembling hand pressed over her mouth to muffle her cries. His other hand gripped a rusted wrench—a poor weapon against a creature like that, but it was all he had. His eyes darted through the dense underbrush, searching for any sign of their friends.
They had been together just moments ago—Zerion, Iriana, Juniper, Lisa… where the hell had they gone?
He could still hear the chaos overhead. Sabrina soared through the air like a warrior angel, caught in a brutal mid-air battle between winged humanoids that resembled Rafa and Amron, and glowing insectoid monsters that looked like nightmares come alive.
Reggie's heart thudded in rhythm with Jada's quickening pulse, echoing through the silence of the forest like war drums. She was going pale fast—too fast. Her arm… her arm was gone. Torn clean off below the elbow, bone jagged and flesh shredded like it had been chewed. Reggie swallowed the rising bile in his throat.
Above the forest, nearly seventy feet high, floated Mrs. McClain.
Juniper's mother.
Her hair, the color of fiery rubies, whipped around her face as she manipulated three glowing green screens floating before her like transparent holograms. Her fingers typed in a blur, sparks of orange and violet lightning dancing at her fingertips, her face a mask of grim determination. Snow spiraled around her in slow motion, as if the very sky bent to her will.
Castle Town had fallen.
But before the blood and screams, before the creatures and cosmic lightning, before the forest became a battleground—there was JuniperMcClain. The center of everything. The girl who did impossible things and woke up every morning pretending that she was normal. And for a while, everything was normal, until that day.
That fateful day, ten months earlier…
It was March 9th, 2046, in the Emroy neighborhood of Castle Town—a quirky, too-peaceful suburb on the outskirts of Manchester City, New Hampshire. The sky was clean, the lawns were trimmed, and everything smelled like freshly brewed coffee and fake normalcy.
Inside a cozy two-story house on Silverpine Avenue, Juniper McClain kicked and thrashed in her sleep.
Her sheets tangled around her like living vines. Her pale lavender hair—white at first glance but laced with glimmers of violet—stuck to her forehead, damp with sweat. Her chest rose and fell in sharp bursts, and her lips moved, whispering things no one else could hear.
That dream again.
This was the eighth time this year. It always started the same.
A fiery sky, torn open by claw-like rifts in the clouds. Jagged holes in the fabric of space itself, leaking something alien and unnatural—light and shadow all at once. The world shook beneath her feet, and those monstrous silhouettes stormed through the portals like war was a holiday.
Then—always—his voice.
"Juniper! YOU NEED TO FIND ME. Time is running out. We must activate the Goltra System, together! FIND ME, Juniper! The fate of the galaxy rests on your shoulders!"
He was faceless. Always faceless. But she knew his voice, deep in her bones, like a song she'd heard before she was born. She tried to answer, to scream back, but her voice never worked in the dream.
Just before the dream ended, she'd feel something burning inside her. A power—raw and furious—surging through her veins like a river of electricity, fire, and frost. Her hands would glow, crackling with energy. And then…
She jolted awake.
"Gah!"
Juniper sat upright, panting, her eyes wide. She blinked into the soft light of her bedroom, still half-expecting fire to rain from the sky.
Her room was a sanctuary of chaos. Posters of boy bands and anime characters filled the walls. Books were stacked in messy towers around the bed. A black box night light flickered in the corner, spreading different colours of light like a disco ball.
She wiped the sweat from her forehead, grumbling.
"Seriously… again?"
She looked around, noticing the effects her dream had had on the room. Frozen books, snowflakes on the ground even though it was around spring time, and brunt marks on the wall in front of her bed. She sighed, shaking her head as she looked around.
"I gotta stop doing this," she said to herself, scratching her head. Suddenly she heard a call from downstairs:
"Juniper! Breakfast!"
Her mom's voice cut through the morning haze like sunshine. Juniper smiled despite herself. She rolled out of bed, sliding into a hoodie two sizes too big and hopping down the stairs with a bounce in her step.
In the kitchen, Mrs. McClain moved like a tornado of elegance. Her signature red braids were coiled royally on her head, and her green eyes sparkled like gemstones. She wore a sundress like it was armor and flipped toast like it was magic.
"Morning, baby girl," she sang. "Toast's ready. You're gonna be late!"
Juniper giggled, snatching a piece mid-air. "You're like, aggressively perfect in the mornings."
Her mom smirked, smoothing Juniper's wild hair. "And you look like you fought a cosmic dragon in your sleep."
Juniper blinked. "A cosmic dragon, what's that?" She chuckled, taking a seat. "But you're not far off though, I did fight something in my sleep."
Mrs. McClain froze, her smile dimming slightly. "Another dream?"
"Same one," Juniper said, leaning on the counter with her juice. "Fire sky, broken portals, faceless man screaming about some Goltra System . And then boom, I wake up gasping."
Mrs. McClain leaned against the sink, watching her closely. "And your powers? Did they go bizzare again this time?"
"Yeah," Juniper mumbled, chuckling a bit. "You should see my room. Burnt stains from either my fire or lightning, and… I saw ice this time. Like actual frost on the floor, like snow."
"A new power," Mrs McClain gasped.
"A new power? I can make new powers?"
Her mom sighed softly, then walked over and knelt beside her, placing a hand over Juniper's heart.
"You're special, Ari. You've always been special. But you should be careful with these powers."
Juniper exhaled. "Yeah, I know mom. Don't want the world finding out and turning me to a science experiment."
Her mom chuckled. "Exactly," she replied. "And remember, you're not alone. You don't have to carry the galaxy on your shoulders."
Juniper grinned. "Okay, but what if I want to carry the galaxy?"
"You're not allowed to be this cute before 9am," her mom replied, standing up. "Keep your powers hidden, alright?"
"No promises," Juniper said with a wink, grabbing her backpack.
Just then, a familiar honk echoed outside.
Juniper dashed to the door, shouting back, "Love you, Mom!"
Mrs. McClain waved, laughing. "Control yourself Ari!"
Outside, a blue Hilux truck idled at the curb, music booming from its speakers.
"Hurry up white-haired wonder!" Lisa, a dark-haired girl, yelled from the back seat, her head hanging halfway out the window like an excitable puppy, and her hands clapping on the door.
"Watch the paint job!" Reggie, the brown haired driver, barked from behind the wheel, his hair long and fluffy, scattered just enough to look like it was intentional.
Juniper slid into the front seat and grinned. "Morning, weirdos."
Reggie smirked at Mrs. McClain, who was watching from the doorway.
"Hi Mrs. M! You look radiant as usual."
Mrs. McClain smiled and waved. "Still charming the moms, I see."
"Stop flirting with my mom, Reg!" Juniper groaned.
"Gross," Lisa laughed. "Thinking about Milfs this early in the morning? Shame on you Reggie."
"My mom's not a milf, Lisa."
"Oh she definitely is," Lisa and Reggie chuckled, looking at her.
Juniper rolled her eyes. "Are we going to school, or are y'all going to keep drooling over my mother?"
At that, Reggie started up the engine and they peeled off toward school, laughter already bouncing around the truck. As usual, Reggie launched into one of his favorite obsessions.
"I'm telling you guys—Bestford Forest is an alien hotspot. That's where they visit. I read this thread last night—"
"Oh my God," Lisa groaned. "Again with the aliens?"
"They're real!" he insisted. "This town has Sky Visitor legends! Strange lights, unexplained animal behavior—classic extraterrestrial indicators!"
Juniper giggled. "You sound like a conspiracy podcast."
"A hot conspiracy podcast," Reggie replied with a wink.
Lisa rolled her eyes. "You're lucky you're cute, or you won't be caught hanging with us."
"He's also the only one with a car," Juniper added with a grin.
"Ha ha, very funny," Reggie replied. "Y'all know I'm too cool to be a nerd."
"Sure you are," Lisa scoffed as their eyes fell on the school's building ahead.
As they pulled into the school parking lot, Juniper looked at the familiar building and smiled. Scarlet High—glass panels, sharp staircases, tech-lab domes, and a field that looked like it belonged in a sports movie. Everything buzzed with anticipation. The new semester had begun. And with it, something sinister brewed on the horizon.