The street near the clock tower was chaos.
Car alarms wailed, people screamed and scattered, and the ground itself cracked under the weight of shadow warriors spilling through the rift.
Aarav ducked behind an overturned car, his chest heaving. The warriors were real—too real. Their armor clanged, their swords hissed with black fire. This wasn't a VR game, but his instincts kicked in all the same.
No rules. Just fight or die.
He grabbed a length of broken pipe from the sidewalk, feeling the cool metal against his palm. He wasn't trained for this. But he wasn't about to run either.
---
Across the street, Mira clutched her glowing sketchbook. Pages flipped on their own, as if guided by an invisible hand. Her pencil sketches of spears and shields rose off the paper, shimmering into faint outlines around her.
She gasped, stepping back as one of the shadow warriors turned toward her.
Its eyes burned like molten stone.
"Run!" Aarav shouted, charging forward. He swung the pipe with all his strength, striking the warrior across its chest. Sparks flew, but the creature barely staggered.
Mira froze, torn between fear and disbelief. She had never seen anyone fight like that—reckless, furious, alive. Yet Aarav couldn't last long against something that wasn't even human.
Her sketchbook pulsed. The drawings of weapons glowed brighter. And then, without thinking, Mira whispered:
"...Bring it to life."
The air rippled.
In her hand, the sketch of a silver spear lifted from the page and hardened into steel.
Mira stared at it, wide-eyed. Did I just…?
---
Aarav stumbled as the shadow warrior knocked his pipe away. He hit the ground, dazed. The monster raised its sword high—
—and then Mira's spear pierced through its chest in a flash of silver light.
The warrior shrieked, disintegrating into smoke.
Aarav blinked up at her, half-shocked, half-impressed.
"You—where the hell did you learn to do that?"
Mira's voice trembled. "I… I didn't. I just drew it."
Aarav pulled himself up, grabbing the pipe again. He gave her a sharp grin, adrenaline lighting up his face.
"Fine. You draw. I smash. We're not dying tonight."
For a heartbeat, amidst the fire and chaos, they stood side by side—two strangers, suddenly bound by survival.
Above them, the crimson-clad leader watched with narrowed eyes.
"The guardians awaken…" he muttered.
And with a wave of his hand, the shadows surged forward again.