Rushing through the crowded hallway, I collided hard with a senior—whose name tag read 'Kayla,' I think. Books scattered everywhere.
"Sorry!" I blurted, steadying myself against the lockers. She stared at me as if she'd seen a wraith; I must have looked ghostly pale. My eyes felt wide and haunted, my lips parted as if I were catching a breath from another world.
"You okay?" she asked, kneeling to grab my scattered notes. "You look like you've just escaped a nightmare."
Kayla blinked, snapping back to the present. She snatched her bag, glancing around warily before pulling me aside into a quieter alcove.
"I—I'm sorry, I'm not usually this... scattered. It's just that it happened again. Right there in the middle of Eleanor's lecture, the world just... shifted.
I heard it first. This thrumming, Kayla. Like the school was built on top of a giant, beating heart. And then I wasn't in the classroom anymore. I was in the woods, and the fog was so thick I could taste the dampness on my tongue. I saw them—Edwin and Lila. They were being hunted by something... wrong. It wasn't a man, and it wasn't a wolf. It was a mountain of shadow and rage.
I watched it happen like I was standing right there. I could feel the heat of its breath! It was seconds away from tearing them apart when the shadows just... ruptured. This violet light—this beautiful, terrifying amethyst power—it lashed out and bound the thing. It saved them.
But I don't know what it was. It wasn't like anything they tell us about history or myth. And the worst part? It felt like it was for me.
Kayla's expression shifted, her eyes darting around the hallway to ensure no one was eavesdropping. She leaned in, her voice a sharp, urgent whisper. "Whatever creature you're seeing, it's not random. Come with me. There's an old library in the east wing, forgotten since the '85 incident. Answers are buried there—ancient texts on void beasts and their anchors."
Heart pounding, I followed Kayla toward the forbidden side of the campus. Every shadow seemed to stretch toward me, echoing the violet light from my vision. We were almost to the heavy, chained doors of the East Wing when a voice cut through the silence.
"Hey! Where are you two going?"
It was Ryan. He was jogging toward us, his brow furrowed in confusion. He looked between me and the boarded-up hallway, his concern obvious.
"That area is off-limits. You're going to get expelled—or worse. Let me come with you, I can help."
I stopped, my hand hovering near the door's rusted handle. I looked at Kayla's urgent expression and then back at Ryan. I couldn't risk it. If he saw what was inside—or if my presence triggered another premonition—he'd be in way over his head.
"No, Ryan," I said, my voice firmer than I felt. "You can't. Not this time."
"But—"
"I mean it! Just... stay here. Keep watch if you want to help, but don't follow us."
Before he could argue further, I turned my back on him. I slipped through the gap in the doors behind Kayla, leaving Ryan standing alone in the hallway, the sound of the heavy chains rattling into place behind us.
The east wing was a dust-choked relic, shelves sagging under tomes that smelled of mildew and forgotten magic. We rifled through crumbling volumes until Kayla's fingers brushed something hidden behind a loose panel: a leather-bound diary, its cover etched with glowing runes that pulsed faintly under our touch.
"Jackpot," she breathed, flipping it open. Pages whispered of "Scarlet Binders"—rare souls like me, tied to void creatures by bloodlines older than the school itself. "It says a lunar eclipse ritual with wolfsbane essence can seal them, but only if—
A low rumble shook the floor. Books toppled like dominoes. An unseen force slammed into us—a disturbance, cold and writhing, like tentacles of shadow uncoiling from the walls.
"Run!" Kayla yelled, shoving the diary into my arms.
We bolted for the door, but a jagged shelf splinter cracked loose, slicing deep into Kayla's arm as we passed. She cried out, clutching the gash. Crimson blood welled up, dripping onto the diary's open page.
The runes ignited in a blaze of scarlet light. The air tore open into a howling vortex, edges fraying like reality itself.
Kayla's eyes bulged in horror as invisible tendrils seized her. "The sorcery—blood activates the void pull!
"Scarlet, the diary—take it!" Her scream warped into nothingness as the void dragged her in, swallowing her whole. The book slammed shut in my trembling hands, its glow pulsing like a fresh wound.
I clutched the diary and bolted, heart slamming against my ribs. Ryan was waiting in the hall, his face showing worries.
"Scarlet, what the hell?" Ryan grabbed my arm, his eyes widening as he caught the faint void reek clinging to my clothes. We sprinted to the parking lot, shadows writhing in our wake like pursuing hounds. I dove into the driver seat of my beat-up sedan; I gunned the engine, tires screeching as we peeled out.
"It's a void spawn," I gasped, words tumbling out while fog lashed the windshield. "Premonitions showed it rampaging—tied to me, a 'Scarlet Binder.' Kayla said wolfsbane under lunar light seals it, but her blood triggered this sorcery, yanking her into the void. The diary has the ritual, but—
"Watch out!" Ryan warned, his hand slamming the dashboard. Up ahead, the fog parted just enough to reveal taillights swerving wildly across the lane— a woman stood at the very edge, her dress whipping like a shroud in the gale. She didn't look back. She didn't even flinch at the roar of the ocean below. She just leaned forward, surrendering to the gravity of the fall.
"Oh no no no!" I slammed on the brakes, the car hydroplaning before screeching to a halt.
I faintly remember the cold spray of the sea and the frantic, desperate weight of her body as I tackled her back from the precipice. She was unconscious, her skin like marble, smelling faintly of ozone and crushed violets. And my vision blurred to darkness….