Welcome to Sapphire Falls, a town shrouded in eternal night… an enigma in its own ways.

Amber Legacy woke to her sister frantically waving in front of her face. Blinking, having no clue what was happening, she took offense to her sister as the latter pointed repeatedly to the window. “Did you hear the news?! I blared it so everyone can hear. Something is attacking the town!”

Attempting to recollect her senses, she looked out the window. Nothing. “Are you certain this isn’t fake?”

“Yes!” her sister squealed. “I swear! The news people even evacuated themselves!” Although her sister was so sure, Amber did not hear anything relating to an attacker. The streets were clear and barren under the night sky. Children were even walking to school already. What exactly could be wrong? she thought.

The answer hit her like a freight train.

A sensation, like a spider crawling back and forth, dashed up and down her spine. Suddenly, she knew exactly who the attacker was, everything about them; where they were attacking; who they were attacking; even why or what they were attacking. She narrowed her eyes and turned to her sister, her blonde hair whipping around her shoulder.

“Open the window.”

“What?” asked her sister. “Are you crazy? Something’s attacking and you want to open the window–”

“Just do it! Now!”

Reluctantly, her little sister opened the window, and Amber perched on it like an eagle. “What are you doing?”

“Three, two, one…” Amber counted, her sea-blue eyes focused on the road beneath.

Leaping out of the window just as a green, ten-foot attacker rushed at a girl calmly walking to school, Amber somersaulted, pushing the attacker aside, tumbling across the ground. She protected a scar across her eyelid as she scraped her face on the sidewalk. The targeted girl winced as Amber backed from the ten-feet-tall green man. Her pajamas were stained with blood from her encounter with the sidewalk. She grit her teeth as the man got up. “Icarus, what the heck?”

“Oh Amber, you foil my plans.” The targeted girl stepped back at the sight of his expression. Killing intent?, the girl thought. Amber’s sister Sapphira watched, horrified, from the open window of the second story in their house. Young Sapphira then rushed inside to get something. Amber, meanwhile, blocked every single move from the oncoming Icarus using her bare hands. “You can’t block me for long.”

“Oh yeah? Let’s see about that. Hmm. I can sense every move you’re making.”

Their argument was interrupted when a girl with black hair and light green eyes dashed out of the school. “Lilith! No!”

“I can handle him, Casadei,” explained the targeted girl named Lilith. “Is anyone else coming to help?”

“Yes, Caroline is coming, as well as your friend Astrid.”

“Awesome!”

Amber later had to revert to wrestling while being pinned on the hard sidewalk. Every move Icarus made was blocked due to the constant sensation Amber was enduring during the fight. Sapphira speedily exited the house and called Amber’s friend Stella as she put a large, sharp sword on the ground next to her older sister. Amber immediately grabbed it and sliced the arms off of Icarus, of whom shrunk to grow them back.

“We need reinforcements!” exclaimed both Icarus and Sapphira at the same time, to different people. Sapphira then stared at Icarus directly before an echoing laugh stirred the night itself. Her older sister looked to the roof of the Legacies’ home, where a woman awaited, crouched. She cackled again before landing gracefully at Icarus’ feet, smiling as sinister as possible. She walked up, straight to Amber, and kicked her on her scraped left knee to the point it left her tumbling. Amber plunged her sword into the ground in pain. The girl named Casadei stepped back as Icarus specifically walked to her. “Lilith,” she asked, “are Caroline and Astrid coming anytime soon?” She started to reconsider ever telling her that they were coming.

“They should be here in three minutes. They have Mr. Meyer and you know how that goes.”

Their conversation was interrupted by an incoming Stella from three blocks away, and a fake soul blast by Icarus, while trying to blink attractively. Casadei, infuriated by Icarus’ mocking, stepped up to correct him. “Oh, you wanna see how someone absorbs a soul?”

“Surely, Cay Cay. Bet you won’t take it from me!”

“Bet I won’t,” she remarked, throwing her hand at a classmate attempting to drag her back into the classroom on behalf of Icarus. This unnamed classmate let go before a large, light-green string of power erupted from Casadei’s hand and into their body, of which transformed into an object-a Sinister Antagonist comic book. She then inhaled the soul like a normal human drinking lemonade. Other classmates stood shocked and decided to pick up the comic book. It leapt around furiously in their hands; it still was alive.

“Do you want to be next, Icarus Fidget?”

Icarus chuckled. “You don’t have the guts. Plus, I’ve got Olivia Gorge here looking after me, loser. You reaper loser, you know you reap what you sow, Cay Cay, and your catty attitude ain’t going to stop it.” Casadei grimaced, flicking her black hair over her shoulder, only to have her fury calmed. She realized the effect and turned to see her friend Caroline Aurora exit the school. Caroline had her light brown hair braided, the red tips frayed a bit, and her simple uniform (a blue tee shirt with a black long skirt), elegantly tucked. “Just because she is a reaper does not mean any sort of karma taunting, or puns, Icarus Fidget. Plus, your teacher Ms. Young is looking for you and she already filed two detentions,” remarked Caroline, her voice smooth. It seemed everyone around her calmed down a little bit.

“You still side with that silly Cay Cay. Surprised your soul hasn’t gone bye-bye yet.”

Casadei fought back tears at the statement. He is definitely going to get roughed up or soul absorbed, she thought, wait til my father hears about this. Caroline edged a little closer to her friend and calmed her down. “Icarus, do you want it the hard way or the easy way?”

“Don’t get me started on laziness, Carolina.”

Lilith widened her eyes at the implied fact that Casadei was absolutely furious, and dashed to hold her back from absorbing or attacking Icarus. Caroline, calm as a cucumber, did not make a move to attack, no matter how much Icarus was taunting her; her nerves were calm and could not be shot. Her own ability to induce tranquility was constantly inflicted on herself. Amber, still crouching from the blow on the knee from Olivia, watched as Icarus’ nerves were calmed and he walked to the school. “How many detentions did you say I had?”

“From what I heard, you have three detentions and the police have written a warrant for your arrest.”

“A warrant?” Icarus lamented. Caroline could easily manipulate him into a calm, serene state so he could turn himself in. “You’re kidding me, another one?”

“Another?” asked Caroline. “You’ve had two arrests and you’re only in eighth grade?”

“Once in fifth, I was arrested for trying to make a sun in the school and burning up the classroom, they called it abuse of pyrotechnics. Anyways, I’ll go see how long this sentence is.” He walked away, to the police station. Amber watched, astounded. Lilith chuckled audibly as Casadei snickered. Astrid Grace opened the front door of the school, and smirked. “Good job Caroline.” She leaned on the doorway, smiling casually. Lilith looked to Amber and helped the latter off the ground. “Thanks for saving me,” she said, smiling kindly. “No problem,” replied Amber. Lilith looked at Caroline next; “And thanks for driving him away from the school,” she continued. Caroline winked. “Its nothing,” she remarked, a joking laugh raising the volume of her voice. Stella dashed to the scene faster than how she had been sauntering. “What just happened?!”

“Don’t worry, stranger,” Caroline explained, halting Stella’s rush in an instant, “we have it under control. Icarus is turning himself in to the jail.”

“Icarus?” Stella asked in response. She looked to Amber. “That’s the guy?”

“Yeah,” Amber replied, “Icarus Fidget. He was green and ten-feet-tall on the way here before I cut his arms off. There’s a girl he claimed was named Olivia that was here—”

Olivia Gorge was gone without a sound. The night was silent without her presence, as it should be. The moon, at its highest point due to it being the center of Sapphire Falls, shined brilliantly and boldly down upon the town. The stars were moving, it was just the moon and sun that were entirely frozen in time. Some might say Sapphire Falls defined science, because the only thing that applied there was magic. Amber and Stella were eighth-grade students and fierce ones at that, whilst Casadei, Lilith, and the others were 6th graders. Amber was considerably taller than everyone else. Lilith, on the other hand, was considerably shorter. Amber and Lilith had one thing in common: a sheer courage that ravaged competition in school and demolished all fear of anyone, even Icarus Fidget. However, Amber was a modest yet easily-angered young soul, who mastered sword fighting and history classes; meanwhile Lilith was a confident empath, with a good temper, and mastered language arts and mathematics. Casadei, on the other hand, had fears that crystallized her throat and stung her eyes, although she, as a reaper, was equipped with the ability to absorb souls and transform them into their favorite objects. She was a scarred, sweet, and sassy young girl who sometimes wants to fight everybody.

Amber, Stella, Astrid, Caroline, Casadei, and Lilith entered the front office of the school after a friend of Stella’s managed to bandage Amber’s wounds. The principal, having been curious enough to look outside, didn’t even hand them tardy passes before they entered the school. Amber suddenly realized she was not wearing her uniform and dashed in a dressing room; exited with the full Sapphire Falls’ Chandelier Academy uniform (a silky, twilight blue tee shirt with a correspondingly silky, long, black skirt), and placed her long, hazy green sword inside the safety compartment in her locker, taking out her scarlet backpack instead. She took out her blueberry ink pen and perched it on her ear, whilst throwing her backpack around her shoulder so it bounced on her spine. Next off she grabbed three books before setting off for the 8th grade history classroom, taught by Mrs Unicello.

Stella followed after putting a red journal, a lemon lollipop, and her lime green lunchbox inside her galactic-patterned backpack.

Astrid, having kept a pet kitten inside her locker with plenty of food to eat, water to drink, and of course, walks, entered the mind of the kitten and used its eyes as a teleportation device. Now inside of her unusually large locker, she retrieved many items that she left at school and used her kitten to leave: her backpack, her full lunchbox, her full water bottle, complete with ice, and thirty strawberry ink pens in a bucket.

Lilith opened her locker and grabbed her journal (she did the journalism for the school newspaper), thirteen strawberry ink pens, a sketchbook, and a language arts textbook.

Casadei fetched a water bottle, except containing soul water (a delicacy among reapers), three grape ink pens, a fictional book, a magical music player, and entirely wireless magicked earphones.

Caroline grabbed her backpack and closed her locker, running away like an outlaw to mathematics with her friends.

“A long time ago, a century exactly before our lives as citizens inside Sapphire Falls, the sun and moon moved harmoniously across the sky and Sapphire Falls had daylight, every twelve hours,” started Ms Unicello.

Amber and Stella were overly busy with their friends Virginia Centauri and Nova London, trying to figure out where Olivia is. Amber furrowed her brow at the fact that not even Nova had known exactly where Olivia Gorge should be. Nova shrugged repetitively, and Virginia struggled to multitask as the lesson went on.

“Celestine, the Lady of the Moon, and Sol, the Duke of the Sun, lived in peace among each other as siblings. However, the mysterious and evasive Alpha was a lover of Celestine back then.”

Virginia, although she was working on the mystery, noticed her ears perk at the name Alpha. Nova chuckled at the sight.

“One fateful day, Alpha left Celestine, and the Lady took out her grief and fury on the Duke, of whom declared war.”

Amber, frustrated, did not know how the heck this lesson was relevant to what she and her friends were trying to figure out.

“Sol froze the sun in place over Topaz Ascent in retaliation, and in grief Celestine froze the moon over Sapphire Falls, shrouding this town and everything on this half of the world in eternal night, and everything on Topaz Ascent’s half of the world in day. It has been this way since.”

Nova already knew this, as well as what occurred next. She had grown frustrated at school a long time ago.

“Afterwards, many villains took shelter in the fields and forests around Sapphire Falls, using the darkness as refuge.”

Amber’s hair stood on end at the mention of villains. Her teeth grit at the word. Like Olivia Gorge, she thought, that girl had shrunk into the night faster than anyone I’ve ever seen. Amber elbowed Stella and the latter smiled. “So we’re supposed to look around Sapphire Falls?” she whispered. Her friend nodded. “We should discuss that with the sixth graders you met today,” muttered Nova. “They seem to be on the case too.”

“Yeah,” Virginia agreed. “It was cool of them to manage to repel Icarus from attacking the school.”

“What might they be doing right now?” asked the teacher. “Why are you muttering about sixth graders when you’re in eighth grade and you’re supposed to be focusing?”

“Well,” Nova replied, “I can help my friends study if they missed anything.”

Meanwhile, Astrid and Lilith were on an entirely different lead than Casadei and Caroline. In fact, the four argued on which lead to take, all whilst their math teacher Mr. Meyer was struggling to teach the class; all eyes were on the four girls.

“We’re supposed to go this route in order to find the headquarters of that Olivia Gorge!”

“No,” protested Casadei to Astrid, “this route!”

Astrid threw her fist on the table. “What about I walk inside her mind and figure it out? There’s a library of secrets in everyone’s subconscious.”

Caroline groaned. “Can you all please calm down?” She strengthened her aura and instead of calming down her friends, helped a classmate take his eyes off of the four arguing girls and continue his work. Lilith was getting furious, not just because of the argument, but because of the emotions she found nestled inside her friend Astrid Grace. Mr. Meyer overlooked the four friends and calmly placed his finger on the table.

“The proper coordinates is right in between 3,-8 and -3,8 by the way. I’ve been in that place, it’s quite dreadful.”

Astrid and Casadei looked up to their math teacher. “Thanks, sir.” Lilith and Caroline smiled in sync with their friends. They plotted the point that unknowingly, their new eighth grader friends, including an omniscient Nova, had also plotted.

Later, inside the Chandelier Academy cafeteria, Amber got the attention of the sixth graders Astrid, Lilith, Caroline, and Casadei.

“Guys, we got the plots, did you?”

Lilith halted her friends and waved from across the cafeteria. “Yes! Ours was, thanks to help from Mr. Meyer, we got 2,-1.” (Their math is a little off on our terms, but in Sapphire Falls’ terms, it is on the money.) “Oh gosh you’re right,” said Virginia, looking at the exactly identical plot that Nova had set, “she’s right on top of us.”

“Maybe hiding in plain sight,” mumbled Amber, noticing the sensation flying up and down her back was a slight tingle. She paused, looking around the cafeteria, breathing slowly. Her dark blue eyes did not rest on anything, yet they were firm and intimidated everyone in sight. Lilith raised her eyebrow at the feeling she got from Amber-is that suspicion?, she thought. She furrowed her brow and focused on her own heartbeat. Her heart beat like a drum of suspense. She looked outside at the moon, and knew the world was watching over them. Knowing such, she walked across the cafeteria. Astrid followed, along with Casadei and Caroline. They sat together at a long tan table at the corner of the room, near a window where they could see the moon shining upon them. Casadei felt reassurance under the moonlight. She took out her water bottle, nothing else, and drank the soul water inside. “What’s that?” asked Amber upon seeing the ethereal liquid.

“….Soul water? It’s bleemur souls though,” Casadei replied, shyly, referring to a type of snake native to the twilight taigas. She opened the canister and displayed the contents for her friends, albeit reluctantly. Her smile was skittish, however, her friends accepted  her difference in a rather open-minded fashion. “Interesting,” responded Astrid, “does it taste like the bleemur snake kabob, though?”

“I’ve never tried the kabob, but I’m assured it does taste similar.” The friendly smiles between the group were the warmest reassurance Casadei had ever seen. She suddenly felt like she belonged, despite the fact that the only one that she had known for more than two years was Caroline Aurora, a friend since kindergarten. The eighth graders’ open-mindedness about Casadei Moors’ distinction was pure-hearted as well. The friends ate their lunch quickly yet with pleasant vibes for all. Virginia Centauri and Nova London introduced themselves to the sixth graders as well, and they conversed a good bit while they were eating; however, the pleasing manner settled when they were done.

“Okay, so we got the same exact coordinates?” asked Amber Legacy, showing the sixth graders their map. Lilith Garnet placed the sixth grade map for all to see. “Yes.” Stella Indigo smiled at the same time as Amber. The entire group was being serious, even Stella, who was known for being goofy and mischievous. “Good. However, what’s not good is how close Olivia Gorge’s headquarters are to the school. It’s like she’s right on top of us,” mumbled Virginia. Her eyebrow raised at Astrid Grace’s expression of pure fury. “Of course Olivia wanted her headquarters to be right on top of the town. Maybe even in the town. It’s not strategic at all!” Lilith gently placed her hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Calm down, Astrid. I know, you hate un-strategic moves, but this is a real villain we’re talking about. Her lack of strategy makes it easier.” She kindly got Astrid’s burnt sienna  hair out of her eye. Her friend smirked at the motion, and immediately began to develop a strategy as to invasion of Olivia Gorge’s hideout. “Virginia,” she muttered, forcing Virginia to look her in the eye, “you said you can do the impossible; can you by chance reveal a secret map of Olivia’s headquarters?” Virginia tossed her orange hair over her shoulder. “Easy,” she replied, snapping her fingers, summoning another map-this time of inside the headquarters of their enemy. The map seemed too intricate to be man-made, with trees looking like a popup book and the building seeming to come out of the paper itself. Even Amber and Nova, of whom knew this friend for a longer time than most, stared at the map in wonder. Stella did not pay attention as she scolded an approaching classmate. Many children in Chandelier Academy were intrigued in the whereabouts of the eight friends that day, and only a few had the guts to approach. The specific kid that Stella was intimidating was a fourth grader, a sibling of a bystander in the argument between Casadei, Caroline, Astrid, and Lilith, and the poor fourth grader ran away fast after Stella pointed. Stella Indigo was known to be intimidating at times. Casadei furrowed her brow at Stella’s actions but calmly and kindly told the kid to leave-“This is a bit of a private conversation, sorry.”, before standing up herself. “We’re done, so maybe we can execute the plan…?”

“Good idea,” agreed Caroline as the eight friends exited the cafeteria. Lunch wasn’t even done. “Are you sure we should leave school this early?” asked Nova, always known to be wise and rule-abiding. “You heard what Ms. Unicello said. We’re supposed to be ‘focusing’ in class instead of worrying about other things.”

“Well,” Stella replied, “it isn’t illegal to save the world.” Just behind her, out the window, a meteor fell out of the sky. It would signify the beginning of the autumn equinox, as well as the superstitions associated with it. These superstitions were especially stressed by the teachers and principal of the school. Amber and Stella both… scorned them. Both friends treated the superstitions like false rumors; they were extremely groggy in the autumnal season because of the counteraction to their opinions. Amber noticed the meteor and scoffed. “Here comes the ‘ooh look the meteor has fallen we can’t go outside the town there are monsters out there’ classes!!!” She rolled her eyes.

“Amber, that’s genius!” exclaimed Casadei, forcing Amber to turn around in shock.

“How are some petty rumors genius to you?”

“That’s exactly what we’re looking for! Monsters and villains! Now we can find them a little easier than before!” Her green eyes were bright in enthusiasm. She smiled wide at Amber’s confused expression. Stella let out a loud chuckle before shaking her head. Lilith furrowed a brow at Stella’s reaction; she could truly sense that her new friend was being overly sarcastic. Lilith’s ability to sense other’s emotions allow her to read liars like a book. “Stella, you don’t really believe in the rumors, do you?”

Stella looked Casadei dead in the eye.

“You’re oblivious to sarcasm, aren’t you?”

Outside of the school, the eight friends kept their plans a secret to the outside world. Astrid would enter the minds of bystanders and demand them, with an augmented voice, to not ask about the others’ whereabouts, before lying about her own. Spectators would turn around and leave after the mind invasion, due to fear that the physical form of Astrid Grace was just as fearsome. The friends would continue on their way, no matter how many people desired to ask; Lilith could, due to her empathy, sense when it was time to turn around and walk away, versus when it was the time to lie in public. Sooner or later, all eight friends reached the edge of the town, where a calm suburban atmosphere broke into vast, frightening, lonely prairies of grass and large spiky forests, with who knows how many monsters and villains inside. Amber smiled at the sight; she had always sought to explore past the town of Sapphire Falls, even if it meant the mountain behind the school or the park she could see from her bedroom window. Who cares about some autumn superstitions? she thought. They don’t match with how beautiful the Starlight Meadows are, or the Moonlight Glens. Not at all. Young Amber was fascinated. Although, next to her, Casadei bore anxiety about what is hidden in the depths of the Starlight Meadows and Moonlight Glens; and despite the fear in her heart and the worried expressions of the others’ they went on, into the unknown.

Silence.

Silence was all they heard.

The moon; the stars; the forest; the meadows; themselves.

Everything was silent. 

Not a single one of the girls dared to break this silence. It was like a spell they were under, a spell that would keep them from preventing silence.

It seemed everything was under a spell. No sound at all echoed in the Moonlight Glens.

When a bird soundlessly chirped, the eight friends realized that this spell was real. They were being induced into silence, and there was no way applicable to break the spell. Even their thoughts were silent. Or were they not thoughts at all?

Without sound, the Moonlight Glens was a sleepy location. It seemed not just sound, but energy, was being drained from the wildlife and from the eight girls walking through the glen. Even Astrid could not find enough energy to think more than three words at a time. Thus she was panicked as they walked further into the dark. Is this Olivia…… she thought, struggling to string her words together, ……..or is this Celest… She couldn’t find the energy to pull together the phrase: Is this Olivia or is this Celestine?. Celestine was renowned to drain energy-and sometimes induce sleep-as well as removing all noises from a certain area. Olivia might as well be able to do the same.

Caroline began nodding off from fatigue, only to be stopped by Casadei, as Amber’s eyelids drooped, but she refused to give in. Stella was furiously blinking and attempting to desperately call out, but her voice couldn’t make a sound to save her life. Nova, omniscient, pulled out some sage and began experimenting with its effects, thus proving that she could stay energized amidst the glens. Lilith endured a migraine whilst struggling to stay awake; it seemed she was unaffected by the losses of energy and noise but there was some sort of… mind control spell… that convinced her she was fatigued and soundless.  Virginia effortlessly made a shield from the losses of energy and sound and thus was able to direct her friends.

“Guys, we need to go east. No, no, no, Caroline!!! It isn’t time to give in now!”

Virginia, albeit shielded, cast her hand through the barrier and picked up Caroline. Virginia seemed to have the strength of thirty five bulldozers, Nova recalled, reminiscing when she had prevented a stampede of rogue livestock-at least 3,000 of them-from attacking the school. Maybe if I… thought Astrid, …walked into the…-her eyebrows narrowed-…minds of someone…-she grit her teeth but the sudden crunch of energy lessened her spiritual and mental abilities-…else, I’d be…-her eyebrows relaxed and her hands went limp once more-…shielded? Inside the minds of others, Astrid had the capabilities of unlimited power, although in the physical world she was quite ordinary. Folks she would visit telepathically would stand confused at the difference.

“Lilith. You are not affected. It’s telling you to perceive you are. You’re not.”

Immediately the mind control spell over Lilith broke and she stood up straight. “Oh right, how embarrassing.”

“We’re there in a matter of three yards,” began Virginia. “We’re almost there.”

Her friends acted like clay in her eyes, wobbling a bit. She raised an eyebrow, prompting Lilith to look over her shoulder. Astrid was using as much energy as she could to get the words inside her head. Amber kept fighting to stay awake and even doused herself with lake water. Caroline was half asleep and not even aware of her surroundings. Casadei decided to absorb the soul of something in the bush and thus, a twig fell out. It kept her a bit fed despite the occurrences. She chuckled–whatever that was, its favorite item was a twig.

Sooner or later, an oblivious Caroline bumped into the door of a looming, shadowy building. Not a soul could tell how tall exactly it was. Casadei caught her friend, slightly laughing at the line of twigs she caused to be fed, as Amber, fighting for energy, opened this door. Nobody could see inside.

“It’s complete darkness,” muttered Lilith. “Darker than the town in the Midnight Midsummer Ceremony.”

Virginia pulled out the map of her creation. “Left.”

Amber walked in, before pausing abruptly, almost forcing her friends to bump into her.

A sensation crawled up and down her spine.

Suddenly, with nothing but instinct in her mind, not even being voluntarily controlled by herself, she knew everything about the area.

Every turn had some sort of hazard.

And she knew exactly what they all were and what they’d do.

Directly behind Casadei, she realized, was a door that led to a lake full of Olivia’s piranhas. When Lilith looked over her shoulder she was looking at a door that contained caskets with spikes on the interior. Amber closed her eyes and the sensations grew even more powerful. It seemed she could tell what hazards were what in every room of the building. Instinctively, she walked over to the hallway, turned the corner, and dodged a trap, as Stella motioned that the other seven should follow. Amber, walking the entire path, did not even bother to open her eyes and look around at what she dodged–she already knew exactly what the hazards were.

Soon, the girls reached a dead end.

Thus Amber opened her eyes and gave one, albeit vague, piece of advice.

“Don’t open the red door.”

In front of them were two doors–one green, and one red. What only Amber knew–and later Virginia noticed via her map–was that behind the red door was the headquarters of at least 1,000 henchmen of Olivia, of whom were armed with even electric spears that would probably kill the eight friends upon contact. Behind the green door was nobody but Olivia Gorge herself, of whom Amber noticed was immensely powerful. Nova knew, as well, the dangers and risks of opening both doors, probably better than Amber or Virginia. The other girls, unknowing of the hazards that lay in front of them, shrugged at Amber’s obscure advice. Casadei was an inch from opening the red door as to figuring out why Amber warned to close it when Nova pulled her back. “She’s right. Don’t.”

“Why?”

Amber turned. “There’s more dangers behind the red door than behind the green.”

“Is Olivia behind the red door?”

Amber, Nova, and Virginia answer at the same time.

“Nope. She’s behind the green, and the only one behind the green.”

Amber pulled out her sword, piercing the silence of the hallway with a shing. She put her hand on the green door and paused, closing her eyes. Listening. Not even Nova knew why. Not even Amber herself knew why.

She opened the door—and was knocked back, bracing herself on the floor behind a startled Astrid.

Olivia Gorge—not even like she was the first time, but this time much more powerful—laughed sinisterly. “Like my surprise, little girls?”

Stella grimaced. “What was that for?”

Olivia looked her dead in the eye, her smirk entirely gone and replaced with a frown. “Why are you even here, you naïve little children…? Don’t you know that Mrs. Gorge is far more powerful than you?”

Amber was sparkling with electric energy as she got up. Never had she endured such a savage attack. Virginia, knowing her own potential, laughed aloud. “Oh, sure, we’re much less powerful than you, Queen Olivia Gorge of the random isolated place in the glens.”

“Silence!” screamed Olivia, throwing a lightning bolt that would otherwise be fatal.

Virginia simply held a hand in front of her face.

And the lightning bolt disappeared in a shield shaped like a cone.

“That’s impossible!” exclaimed her adversity, astounded at the counterattack.

“Well, my friend, I do the impossible.”

Virginia curled her hand and the shield disappeared. Olivia was abruptly frozen in time, being turned in every direction. “Let’s see here…”

Olivia was dropped on her head, but she got up almost unaffected. “Oh, you abuse my title, you shall die!”

“I don’t think so,” mumbled Stella, turning invisible when her enemy came to look. Caroline, panicked for the first time in a long time, began emitting a more powerful form of serenity influence, and Casadei, completely unwilling to use her power at the moment, sat down. Amber got up and slashed sword with her adversity, clearly analyzing every move before it was made, blocking wherever Olivia’s strayed focus darted to. Astrid, however, entered Olivia’s mind the moment she was off guard.

Olivia’s subconscious looked rather sinister. Bats darted from side to side, and spiders attempted to crawl onto Astrid’s mental form. However, she knew exactly where to find the library of memories. A large, dark, wooden door stood at the right hand corner, looming over all. “Summona teleporta librare,” she mumbled.

And she was there.

The spells she had learned could only be activated inside the mindscape, of oneself or others, and were completely useless in the real world. She learned them from visiting the mindscape of a magic professor who was physically from Topaz Ascent. She was glad, very glad, to learn this education, for she could use it to cure certain victims of possession. She eternally thanked that professor.

The library seemed to be the opposite of a cave, where the area gets darker and darker. Where Astrid stood the wallpaper was almost pitch black; she could tell near the bottom it was a bright gold. So she hasn’t always been evil, she thought, grabbing onto a rung of a ladder nearby, snatching the map of the subconscious memory library, and sliding down. I need to figure out where exactly her weakness is, or at least any memory of it, she instructed in her mind.

Soon she was at the mark–the wallpaper was an ashen gray. Astrid searched through the library’s stash of books, opening each one and seeing, what we would call, a video inside play. Folks in the two cities called them moving stories. Whilst she was sifting through the moving stories, she learned quite a lot about Olivia of which she would tell to Lilith later. Ah, she’s extraterrestrial? Astrid thought at one point, raising an eyebrow and rubbing her temples; Olivia appeared to be, according to one of the moving stories Astrid saw, from another blue and green planet far away that had advanced in its abilities. She performed a hand movement on the face of the page and it turned.

Before her eyes she witnessed her enemy’s weakness.

Void magic.

It seemed almost hypocritical, Astrid marveled, that she would be weak to her own type of magic. Then, upon looking further it looked exactly like a soul blast–like Casadei’s. “Summona backgroundiin,” she muttered, and a scroll appeared in her hand.

The blast that severely weakened Olivia Gorge in Blue Marble Book of the Ashen Subconscious is a breed of magic cousin to the reaper’s, performed by a local of her planet upon realizing her evil intentions. This folk goes by the name of Gorgon.

She wanted to research further into this blue marble, this Gorgon, this magic, when suddenly she was transported to her physical form.

“Get out of my head you foolish child!” screamed Olivia, firing magic at Astrid, then Amber. Both somersaulted yet clanked limbs with one another. “Sorry,” they blurted at the same time as Lilith confidently tackled and clasped her enemy, only for Olivia to perform the unthinkable.

In a flash of yellow and a burning sensation everyone was teleported onto the roof of the building.

Except for Casadei.

Caroline was first to recollect her senses. The other six were sparkling with electricity. Startled, she backed away from her friends, and abruptly realized her situation. It was a whopping 120 feet until the ground. She gulped; having a dense acrophobia, she had a habit of hyperventilating in such heights. She then turned and counted her friends.

Six.

Casadei wasn’t in the area.

Caroline’s serenity aura was suddenly ineffective. Casadei… alone… against a powerful, probably immortal enemy… she couldn’t bear the thought. She counted again and got the same result; pinched herself to make sure it wasn’t a dream. Her blue eyes darted around the area with the speed of a peregrine falcon.

Lilith was second, feeling the frightened energy of Caroline nearby. “Caroline, you alright?”

“Yes!”

Lilith read her lie like a book.

“Something’s wrong, isn’t it?”

Her friend slightly nodded. “Casadei. She’s not here. She’s with Olivia!”

That was not what I was thinking she was going to say, thought Lilith, her eyebrows curled into a concerned expression. “Alone?”

Caroline gulped rather audibly. “Alone.”

“This is troubling…”

Next was Stella, watching her limbs crackle with the electricity that they had endured. “Is it just me or were we electrified?”

“It definitely isn’t just you,” uttered Lilith, enjoying the calm vibe from Stella, of whom had their smirk slip at the sight of a panicked Caroline. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
“Two things,” replied Caroline, “one, I have acrophobia, two, Casadei is alone with Gorge…”

“Cherry dipped pencils! How did she?!”

“I don’t know! I also don’t know if she’s surviving down there!”

Lilith began to sweat whilst trying to feel Casadei’s emotions from her distance.

Anger.

Seething anger.

“Casadei’s alive.”

“What?”

“And she’s furious.”

By this moment everyone was awake, including Amber, who had taken most of the hit. Astrid stood in shock after invading Casadei’s mind silently.

“What did you see in there?” asked Lilith, noticing her friend’s expression.

“Floods and floods of fury!” replied Astrid, looking about traumatized. Amber, still trying to discharge the electricity out of herself, gulped. “Something big is coming. And it’s not coming for Casadei.”

At that moment the seven friends heard two simultaneous screams echoing from beneath them.

An electric spear fell out of a window in the first story.

“Astrid!” Lilith cried. “Is she alive!? Is Casadei alive!?”

What the seven girls later figured out was that Casadei, in corrupting fury, had struck Olivia Gorge with a soul blast, transforming her into an electric spear as she was shoved out of the window by the impact. Lilith and Astrid knew first. “Her fury is calming,” Lilith mumbled, “bit by bit.” Astrid leapt into Casadei’s mindscape, where the “floods of fury” had calmed to little streams, and used her eyes as a portal. “What happened?!”

Young Casadei was too exhausted to string together enough words. “Soul blast.”

Amber, meanwhile, smiled at the absence of her sensation. “Nothing else is happening down there, luckily.”

Caroline’s serenity aura came back into play. “Phew.”

Stella laughed heartily at her surroundings, but then her smile vanished. “Now how are we going to get off this roof?”

“Stella,” called Nova from across the roof, “remember the monkey method we used to do in school?”

“Yes!”

“That, my friend, is the only way.”

Lilith hugged Caroline at the statement. “Whatever you do, don’t look down, alright?”
“I guess…”

Virginia had already teleported to the ground, waiting for the others. “Oh and also,” she yelled, “I alerted Casadei and Astrid that we were leaving.”

“Good,” replied Nova. “Monkey method?”

“Sure!” Lilith replied, taking Caroline by the hand and leaping on a vine. It seemed they were immune to the silence spell now that they had defeated Olivia Gorge, but the silence of the surroundings was still there. This is definitely the work of Celestine, Astrid thought, glad she could think easier than before. Nova knew the way back, and also how to get the electricity out of Amber and Casadei. Virginia began effortlessly levitating, and Caroline was confused.

“Virginia, how did you get your powers?”

“My father,” replied Virginia, “is Alpha. Alpha Centauri, former lover of Celestine. After leaving her he came to my mother, and when I was born he predicted I would know every magic there is. And so I did.”

Caroline silenced, realizing what it meant.

“But soon afterwards, he left us alone. He left us like he left Celestine.”

Lilith felt the emotions of her friends and related to them: confusion, grief, and a little fury.

“And Celestine felt that to be karma.”

Amber was outraged at the statement. “Karma!? Wow, for someone ruling over the town that was a little immature!”

They were not in the moonlight glens anymore the moment Amber made that explanation.

Celestine was directly before them, in a glimmering silver castle. She loomed over the eight girls, shimmering with an almost divine energy that Lilith could not name. She had silver hair, silver eyes… everything about her was silver. Nova knew exactly and instantly why they were teleported to the Lady of the Moon’s lair. “Lady Celestine of the Moon governing Sapphire Falls,” she muttered, nervously smiling before Celestine, “what might you want from us on this fine n-night?”
Celestine pushed her aside. “Thank you for recognizing this situation, kind soul standing among some fools!”
Amber was greatly offended. Virginia looked at the ground with a sullen feeling but deep inside, only Lilith could tell, was fury. As for Lilith she was emotionless on her own, feeling the energies of the others. Astrid raised an eyebrow to a rebellious height. Stella turned invisible in fear. Caroline viciously echoed her serenity aura as Casadei stepped toward the door; only for it to be magically locked.

“You do not call me nor Alpha immature, or break order in the Moonlight Glens with your noise!”

Both Astrid and Virginia reacted furiously. Virginia stomped her foot once to seize Celestine’s attention as Astrid subtly walked into the Lady’s mindscape. “My father would despise this behavior from anyone! Even a girl like you!” screamed Virginia, sourly staring at the Lady of the Moon.

“Especially a girl like you.” Her expression was calming yet fury could still be seen.

“And that will cost you your voice today, fellow,” hissed Celestine, twirling her hand. A silver beam twirled towards Virginia’s neck, absorbing her voice, forcing her to wince as she was turned mute. Nova screamed in shock.

Meanwhile, Astrid was doing anything she could to get the right idea in the Lady’s head.
“Let us go. Let us go now.”

No effect.
“Summona hypnosees.” Astrid sighed, about to do something she normally forbid.
“LET US GO.”

Lilith could quickly identify a flash of forest green in Celestine’s silver eyes. “Astrid…” she whispered.
“Who’s Astrid!?” asked Celestine in between flashes.
“Nothing!”
“You better not be lying to me–I will let you go.”

Lilith stepped back, startled, as a fully hypnotized Celestine opened the castle door and set her own prisoners free. Astrid set an echoing hypnosis spell before leaving the Lady’s mind and, with her friends, exiting the silvery castle. “Astrid,” said Lilith, “why did you do that?”
“She was planning to enslave us for her own wants. Seven years of being servants. I had to.” Astrid looked into her friend’s eyes with a sullen expression. She despised having to alter one’s free will but for the lives and liberty of her friends? She’d do anything.
“Oh gosh..” replied her friend.
“It was the right thing at the right time,” muttered Amber, “but is she going to come after us?”
Virginia summoned a paper and a watermelon-ink pen, writing down the words: She’s got a reasonable sense of power, and if she realizes what we can do she won’t mess with us. Nova nodded. “It’s quite strange how she still pushes you around, even if ‘you know every magic’.”

“You do?”

Virginia nodded, summoning a magic types spectrum–something, she explained with writing, only she and fellow well-rounded magic professional Alpha could do. On one end, a golden end, was a certain unreadable word translating to “divine magics”, and on the other end, a pitch black end, was “evil void magics”. Virginia would explain to Casadei that her magics, normal “void magics”, were in the neutral section of the spectrum.

As they returned everyone in the town was at the park, in a gazebo, under the mountain. Suspicious conversations emerged and dashed corner to corner. As well known as Stella was, even she could not get a word out of them until she revealed the whereabouts of herself and her friends.
“Yeah! We defeated Gorge!”
“Oh so that’s why!” exclaimed a teenage boy. He seemed to be in about seventh grade.
“Well listen close,” uttered a middle-aged woman. “There’s a new guy up in the mountains. He goes by the name of Henry Victor. He’s planning to possess the town. Y’know? I mean, I know some of you can and probably have done that to some folks as well but not by this scale. And this purpose. He plans to possess the town just to get some darn riches.”
The eight girls were revolted; riches?! He’s new and he’s expecting to get a million dollars off of living in the mountains?! thought Astrid. Inconceivable. Lilith nodded in obedience. “We’ll defeat him for sure,” she said. The woman smiled and nodded.
“Just warning you, he’s about a mile up in them mountains.”

The eight girls took to climbing. The snow fell on their hair and the rocks were slippery; albeit they continued to climb, despite their efforts and the elements. The wind bequeathed more fury each step they took, each ledge they grabbed; their fingers became bruised. At least, thought Nova, we know how to climb. Lilith, up ahead, seemed immune to it all. She painlessly ascended with a peregrine falcon’s speed, scurrying past her friends and being able to see past the mountaintop. Astrid remembered once when an earthquake occurred Lilith saved the lives of at least four kids and the earthquake almost swallowed her up but to no avail—she was also immune. She recalled her friend throwing a glob of lava back into the pit without even being burned. Lilith now was eager to demonstrate her many immunities although was very cautious around her friends, of whom didn’t have them. Unlike Lilith, Casadei’s fingers were almost dented from the rocks. She was entirely blind in the falling snow, even taking breaks to get some of it out of her eyes. She shivered as the air got colder by the second. After a while, she tried to grab another rock and her fingers slipped, ensuring a 150-foot fall; Lilith grabbed her hand immediately, pulling her back up almost effortlessly.
“Sorry but I just can’t, yknow… hold my grip..” she mumbled, showing her almost purple fingertips.
“It’s fine. No worries,” replied Lilith, smiling, pulling Casadei onto her back for a piggy-back-ride up the mountain.
“Lilith! Casadei! Are we almost there?” cried Amber.
“We’re literally about to be in three… two… one…”

Lilith and Casadei were looking upon their friends from the mountaintop. Amber, the farthest ahead, with sharp perseverance in the elements, was approximately forty feet from the highest ledge. The farthest behind, Nova, was one hundred feet from it, using nothing but her knowledge to perform the smoothest climb in the history of Sapphire Falls. A lengthy one of such. In front of Nova was Caroline, unsure about the climb; behind Amber was Stella, struggling to persevere the snow. Ahead of Caroline was Astrid, coordinating every move she made with cautious precision. Behind Stella and in front of Astrid was Virginia, patiently allowing her friends to cross as she, too, was immune to the elements.

Sooner or later Amber triumphed over the mountain, followed by Stella and Virginia. Astrid hesitated and gulped before grabbing a frozen rock.

Her hand slipped slightly.

The others held their breath.

She then, realizing it was too risky to climb the entire way in her vulnerable physical form, walked into the mind of Amber and used her eyes as a portal; Amber gasped and chuckled to herself when her friend stepped out of her eyes. Next Caroline leapt over the frozen rock and onto the highest ledge. Nova, still a long way down, was calmly and slowly climbing.

Eventually all eight girls were on the ledge, thus they had to consider where this Henry Victor was. “Nova?”
“He keeps teleporting, I can’t tell where he is. He’s teleporting once every nanosecond.”
Amber nodded in agreement. “This man’s fast, but I can tell he’s going to teleport right in front of u—”
Before them was a man in a snowy cloak. He gave off a wicked vibe immediately to Lilith, and Astrid read his mind.
“You gullible fools,” he muttered, smirking evilly. “Did you really trust those fellows in the town?”
“Resist his words,” hissed Amber.
“When it comes to places under my grasp, you really can’t tell who to trust.”
“Sapphire Falls isn’t under your grasp,” mumbled Casadei, “not on our watch.”
“That’s just the illusion you sought to believe,” replied Henry.
“Resist his words. Resist his words. Resist his words. Resist his words,” repeated Amber, with an almost hypnotic rhythm.

“You’re under a spell. An illusion. The town is really under my rule.”
“Resist his words.”
“I rule you. I am your king. Not that foolish Celestine.”
“Resist his words.”
“Your reality is an illusion. I rule the world. Bow down to me before your reality is destroyed.”
“Resist his words.”

“We have to keep in control of ourselves,” whispered Nova, “or else he will take control of us.”
“Why’s Amber just repeating ‘resist his words’?” asked Lilith.
“Amber’s vulnerable to possessors…”

“Must keep in my own control. Resist his words. Must keep in my own control.” Amber squeezed her eyes shut whilst repeating the words, staying still, letting the sensation triggered by the hazard that is Henry Victor run up and down her spine. “Resist his words. Must keep in my own control. Resist his words. Must keep in my own control…” Lilith then noticed that Amber was in pain from her efforts to resist possession. Henry Victor noticed this as well, and stepped a little closer to Amber.
Her fists began to shake.
“Why yes,” he uttered, “I may be near powerless on my own, but with the help of those under my control I can do anything.”
Stella’s fear seeped through her veins at the same speed as the burning pain Amber was enduring. She audibly gulped when her friend began panting out loud from the effort.
Virginia, also, stepped closer to Amber and Stella in an effort to protect, yet said nothing. Don’t, thought Nova, unintentionally telling the future.
“Of course,” cackled Henry, “I can only possess one per day.”
Astrid prepared to once more enter Amber’s mind.
Virginia’s eyes turned a blood red.
Henry began to emit a loud evil laugh.

“Now,” mumbled Virginia and Henry simultaneously, “it is time to destroy and bend your realities to prove who really rules–King Victor!”
“No!” Nova stepped back, ignoring her knowledge for a brief moment, “what did you do to Virginia!?”
Astrid, as well, gasped when she realized she’d been caught off guard. Amber sighed when realizing the pain had dissipated, yet had little to no energy left.
Virginia’s voice was now a blend of her own and Henry’s. “Your Virginia has been captured, dear girl. Didn’t you already know that?”
Nova hesitated. He knows my power. 

She knew my power… and he took that knowledge.

Astrid grunted audibly. “Ugh! Mindwall!”
“Yes,” muttered Virginia and Henry, moving as one, “nobody can invade until I say so.”
They were speaking as one. Moving as one. Knowing as one.
Under a hive mind that Nova, even, did not know how to break.
Thus, she waited for the cue.

The sky began to shatter above them, and the ground began to break. Stella hugged Amber to prevent either from falling down a newly opened ravine. Although the people were saved, every building in Sapphire Falls suddenly became dust. The moon, carrying Celestine’s castle, began to whirl around the center of the town. Trees turned upside down and the rivers were suddenly made of lava. Clouds began falling onto the ground like rain, as animals suddenly froze in time. Nova knew this was doomed to happen, yet when it did she was still horrified. Underbrush and flowers disintegrated and the air began to smell of salt.
“Now this,” chuckled Henry and Virginia in sync, “this is a more appropriate battlefield.”
Nova was alone, separated from the others by some very large ravines. Amber and Stella, Casadei and Caroline, Lilith and Astrid, were all separated respectively by large ravines that stretched to the core of the planet as well. “Guys!” screamed Nova. “Virginia’s somewhere in there! She’s in her mind! We have to find her in her mind!” Astrid narrowed her eyes and focused hard…

She suddenly found herself in Virginia’s mind. Around her black vines were sucking energy out from the area. She could clearly identify the process. In front of her was mental-form Henry Victor, speaking for Virginia.
“I challenge you to a duel,” she said.
Mental-form Henry Victor turned, and appearing out of nowhere was an imprisoned mental-form Virginia, the real Virginia.
“You found me. How did you figure it out…?”
“Inside the mind, I specialize in relieving possessions.”
The black vines seemed to center on the cage holding Virginia. On the face of Astrid’s friend was a look of angst. “Oh, do you? Or was that the illusion that they gave you?”
“Summona reflectaire. You are the illusion.” She held up a mirror that Henry, gullibly, looked into, and gasped when he saw nothing. She smirked, knowing that the true purpose of the mirror was to act as a virtue detection device, thus he saw nothing because he had hidden away his good side… just like Olivia.
“Are you a reality bender too!?”
“Only in here. Summona swordi.” A sword appeared in Astrid’s hand. “Summona wandle.” A wand appeared in her other hand.
“I challenge you to a duel. You win, I will safely passage out of this mind. I win, you’ll be evicted by force.”
“That sounds like a challenge I’ll take. Winner gets all.”
Virginia gulped without knowing Astrid does not have the power to possess; if Astrid wins, Virginia will return in control of her mind.

Meanwhile each word Henry said could be echoed in the physical forms of both he and Virginia, leaving the others confused.
“Dare I hope?…” asked Lilith.

“Summona rainsong,” commanded Astrid, summoning a large tempest that ravaged Henry’s side of the battlefield, dodging Virginia by approximately thirty feet. “Summona flamepath circulár,” she added, forming a circle of flame around the rainstorm’s perimeter. Henry did not know a single Summona spell, so he attempted a few physical spells he knew; yet inside the mind, similar to Summona spells in the physical world, were ineffective.
Eventually he surrendered.
Virginia gulped. She was unable to think, speak, or even sign, due to the possession. She unthoughtfully awaited for Astrid to claim control, yet a spell was muttered instead.
“Summonare mindthrone Virginia Centauri.”
As Astrid safely left, Virginia was once more thinking her thoughts.

“You gullible fool… you dare try to snatch and retain control of the likes of us!” screamed Virginia, imprisoning Henry in a cosmic jail cell; her eyes once more turned lilac  with pupils, and she had returned to normal. “What did he make me do to you— Oh…” She looked down at the ravines.

“I think you should see the rest for yourself,” mumbled Nova.

Virginia looked around, at the shattered sky, the deep ravines, the dust that had once been Sapphire Falls; the frozen animals, the disintegrated underbrush and flowers, the upside down trees, the whirling moon; the lava rivers and the clouds on the ground.
Not once did she panic.

With a snap of her finger, the sky was stitched back together. She made a circular motion with her hand and the entire town was rebuilt. A star motion with her index finger and the ravines were patched. She made a ‘stop’ motion with her hand and the moon ceased circling. She clapped once and the rivers returned to normal. She clapped twice and the animals were unfrozen from time. She merely pointed at what once had been the park and the flowers & underbrush reintegrated everywhere. She stomped once and the trees were put back into place. She motioned her hand upwards and the clouds were back in the sky. She then smiled at the world she repaired.
“Anything I break, I can later fix, no matter how drastic.”
Nova smiled. “I’m glad you’re back.”
“I’m glad to be back.” Both friends hugged each other.

Amber’s smile immediately disappeared into a suspicious frown. “Something big is coming.”
“Did you see that orb of shadow?” asked Stella.

“Oh gosh no, it can’t be,” mumbled Nova, “could she have returned?”

The friends gasped silently as a loud cackle echoed throughout the entirety of the Nightlight half of the world. Everything Virginia fixed seemed to have become frozen in time again, and she could not unfreeze anything.

“Emmaline?”

Casadei was the first to leap down the mountain and see what was going on. Portals were opening up; rifts everywhere. The entire town of Sapphire Falls was frozen in time. All except the eight girls, all of which were now back into the town.
“There’s too many hazards for me to keep up with!” cried Amber.
Stella turned invisible at the statement. Fear was trembling through every fiber of her being.
“Emmaline has returned… she is the only one who is able to successfully fight a Centauri,” mumbled Virginia, somberly looking around.
“This is beyond explanation,” replied Nova, “she is opening up realms, it seems?”
Caroline quivered. “Hopefully they aren’t full of malicious monsters?”
“Caroline,” mumbled Casadei, “they are..”
“This is bad. This is really bad. This is really really really bad,” muttered Astrid, shuddering and quaking with every sound of footsteps.
Lilith fell to her knees at the large amounts of fear-emotion was the only thing she wasn’t immune to-in everyone she knew. Her eyes began welling up. Caroline’s serenity aura was useless to calming the anxieties of all. The world seemed to turn upside down as they watched helplessly; not even Virginia could do anything about it at the moment. Astrid kneeled and hugged Lilith, who was now appearing almost paralyzed due to the large amounts of emotion she could feel in everyone else. Lilith’s own emotions were almost numbed; both were scared stiff indeed. Virginia, Nova, and Amber walked to the outskirts of the town, where the cackling became louder.
“Welcome to the shadow realm,” exclaimed a familiar voice, “where you will sadly not be returning from.”
Emmaline was standing in front of  them. The only thing the three girls could see were her blood red eyes, glowing in the dark of night.
The first shadowy attack, albeit unseen, aimed for Stella behind them.

Their silence was interrupted when a shriek erupted from behind them. Stella, after rolling over in an effort to dodge the attack, stood and ran towards the other three. Her back was scorched from the fire that had tried to burn her to a crisp, yet she was bold in her attempt to fight back. Her sienna colored hair was immensely frayed from the encounter alone. Her apple red eyes locked with the ominous blood red eyes, and she started walking with a swagger. She grit her teeth, nothing echoing indefinitely in her mind but the sound of courage. If Astrid were to walk into her mindscape, all she would see is the floods of anger and seething fury that were running through her veins.
“So yes, you question the likes of us?”
“Question? You don’t exist.”
Astrid could identify that technique-she had used it on Henry Victor just before.
Thus, Stella’s self-control erupted like a dormant volcano and she ran into the darkness.
Soon when the fog dissipated she had Emmaline-a powerful tyrant-pinned.
Not for long.

Emmaline quickly threw Stella off and where the latter fell, was quickly surrounded by spikes. “Stella!” screamed Amber, her mimicking fearlessness being penetrated by a mortified expression. Stella quickly looked around and noticed the spikes, and the same terrified feeling radiated through her veins. Quickly did she turn invisible. A painful danger intuition pulsed through Amber’s body, pointing out to her all the hazards in the battlefield–at least forty hundred thousand hazards–and she winced in pain as said intuition did so. Amber then stared at Emmaline with the same expression as the latter attacked Virginia, of whom shielded herself rapidly. Wraiths and apparitions began to crowd the eight girls.
“There ought to be at least fifteen thousand–!”
Emmaline then targeted Lilith, of whom could not dodge so quickly. Next off she fired a blast for Nova, who accidentally pulled a tendon in the effort to dodge. Rapidly she attacked each and every one of the eight friends and either they dodged or they didn’t; neither side was willing to back down. The wraiths were no help.
“Quick! The beacon!” screamed Lilith.
Nearby a large swirling creek was a tall, red beacon, shining its light on the ground with increased power. Nova identified the situation immediately. Virginia twirled, thrusting magic upon the many wraiths, and with the help of Astrid climbed up the beacon in an effort to disable it. “Hurry!” cried Amber.
Panicking, Nova threw a dagger at the crystalline glass structure on the top of the beacon.
It exploded, forcing the other two girls to leap off in fear. Both landed on their feet. Stella, still invisible, somehow sneaked past the spikes. Casadei managed to fully soul-absorb thirty wraiths, banishing them to another realm, as Caroline turned away a few other members of the army. Amber swung her sword rapidly as Astrid quickly hid behind the wall of Chandelier Academy; she needed, desperately, to focus. Wraiths’ howls echoed through the land, the night only hindering the battle for the eight girls. A cloud blocked the moonlight from the battlefield.
Caroline’s serenity aura emitted for a brief moment before being concealed by the fear inducement of the wraiths. Emmaline chuckled.
“Do you really think that your little calmness magic is going to fly by the likes of me?”
Virginia grimaced. “I can make it so,” she hissed, protectively standing in front of Caroline.
“And I can make it not. You’re lucky you’re invulnerable.”
With that phrase, Virginia “turned her powers on”, beginning to glow with an aura unlike any of a specific universe. Her eyes glowed a starry purple, replacing her normal lilac eye color. Her pupils succumbed to her power as well.
Amber, surrounded by wraiths, swinging her sword at them with an ungodly speed, noticed one more-frighteningly more dangerous-hazard near. “Yes, Emmaline!” she exclaimed, “Show yourself!”
Caroline bit her lip. “I don’t think that’s a good thing, Amber. You know if Virginia says she’s almost a fair match for a Centauri…”
Shadow magic erupted everywhere, breaking ravines into the ground. Virginia and Lilith raced to protect the townspeople frozen in time.
“No matter about them!” screeched Emmaline, “you are the only ones in the fight! And if I dare win, you will be the only ones forever!”
Astrid, Amber, Stella, and Casadei noticed a shadowy figure emerging from the haze. This figure’s hair was long and black, and her eyes glowed a blood red. She was wearing a midnight black gown. So this is Emmaline? they thought in sync.
“It is I, Emmaline Centauri Jacklyn.”
“What?!” screamed Nova, impulsively. How did I not know this?! Did she actually… hide her middle name? And why is it the same as Virginia’s surname?!

“Emmaline. You really are my cousin. There is no benevolence in you anymore,” mumbled Virginia, looking gravely at her enemy.

“Yes. Hello, cousin. Why, you’ve grown powerful lately.”

Astrid gulped. “If that’s your cousin, then…”
“Our powers are similar in a way, except she can be defeated,” explained Virginia.
“How did I not know that Emmaline’s your cousin…” mumbled Nova.
“She can hide anything from anyone’s knowledge at will. Even yours.”
“Okay! We have to stop this family reunion, we’re in battle, ya see?!” squealed Casadei, banishing some wraiths to another realm via soul absorption; “Although this is a very grand feast.”
“It is not just wraiths that I have in store for you to fight and be conquered by, you children,” said Emmaline.
Thirty flocks of large vampire bats fluttered into the battlefield from far away. They had been hiding deep in the Starlight Forests.
“To me, shadow lions!”
Fifty prowls of shadowy lions and lionesses alike emerged from the darkness.
“Rise, demons!”
Demons and imps rose from the ground. Amber parried an attack from one.
“To battle, bears of cosmic fire!”
Seventy packs of fiery bears appeared out of nowhere.
“That should be enough. None of you, except maybe my cousin, could stand a chance against an army as big as mine. I will rule your world, I will rule your universe. You won’t have a say.”

Astrid silently opened the door and rushed inside the lobby of Chandelier Academy, desiring to hide from the battle, at least briefly. She looked around at everyone who, just hours ago when they left to fight Olivia Gorge, were conversing casually–now everyone was frozen in time. To Astrid the outside world during the current situation was virulent to her well being; the melancholic building that was once Chandelier Academy was little better. At least, she thought, here I can hatch a plan on how to get out of this apparition apocalypse. 
She walked over to her locker, dodging the frozen students and staff, to grab a notebook from her locker. The cover of the notebook had a folded bottom-right corner, and on this cover was art of the Sapphiran moonflower blooming under a full moon. She flipped it open and scribbled, sloppier than usual, just by a little bit, a title.
Apparition Apocalypse Survival Plans
She then, looking out the window at the battlefield, swiftly jotted down any notes that she found useful; she noticed how Amber’s intuition of hazards in the future seemed to be producing pain; she noticed how Virginia was invulnerable to it all; she noticed how Casadei was continuing to feast on the absorbed souls of the enemies as the latter were either banished into another realm or transformed into objects; she noticed how Lilith, too, was immune; she noticed how Stella was invisible, Caroline was using fear like anger and knocking out enemies with her bare hands, and Nova was dodging at an inhuman speed.
From these notes, she hatched a plan inside her mind.

Meanwhile, Lilith looked on as over one hundred lethiferous enemies attempted to attack her. “You just don’t seem to get it, do you?”
Everything around her stood confused. A cosmic-fire bear clawed her with a burst of flames, and yet, she was still unscathed.
She looked at the creature. “I believe you don’t understand how unintelligent that action was.”
Emmaline scoffed. “Bah. They can attack anything.”
Lilith raised an eyebrow in response- “Well then how did they not manage to attack me?”
The realization dawned on the enemy as they looked over the situation near Lilith, who did not have a scratch. Not one.
“You’re a beast!” she cried, not knowing anything else to say in reply.
“A beast? How could I be a beast? I practically exist outside of the concept!” she replied, laughing.

Nova, swift as a river, dodged thirty thousand attacks at a speed unlike any other. She was growing red in the face as the attacks against her blazed faster and faster; she was utterly distracted from anything else. She knew what these monstrosities were; she had known it all her life. The most frightening beasts known to man. Furthermore she knew Emmaline very well–she even realized she knew about Emmaline’s ability to conceal things from knowledge. Everything she knows–everything in knowledge–started fluttering back to memory.
I knew Virginia was omnipotent before I even met her, she realized, looking to her friend.
And that Alpha Centauri is her father.
And that Lilith is immune to everything unless she believes otherwise.
She started looking around, at the entire battlefield.
It’s like I knew this would happen.

Virginia wanted to warp reality. She recognized full well that Emmaline would change it back to this nightmare of a battlefield–she just wanted to make her friends feel safe, even for a little while. It was upon this moment that she realized she had her powers off for the amount of time it takes to grow a human personality. Empathy. She was glad it happened.
Now that she had her powers on, she realized she wanted to do anything in her vast power to protect her friends.
And Emmaline doesn’t know all too well that I can do anything, she thought.
She remembered all the times someone had managed to try and battle her when she had her powers off. Celestine took away her voice. Henry possessed her. She began to feel pity for her friends around her–these seven girls that, even when she had her powers off, had less defense than her–and began to use it to power a beam to disable the minions. Slowly she warped reality to ensure the safety of her friends and the society she grew up with. A cosmic bear rammed into the shield she created, shielding the town.
Emmaline summoned thirty billion more beasts to fight.
In anger, Virginia immediately banished them to another realm with the snap of a finger. Emmaline growled.

An invisible Stella noticed Astrid inside Chandelier Academy and attempted to wave, but then noticed her invisibility. Turning around, she watched her friends battle Emmaline, who now was alone thanks to a very swift dimensional rift Virginia pulled off. She then began to, on nothing but a discarded paper from the gazebo meeting five hours ago, before they sought to stop Henry’s whereabouts, scribble, using an almost squashed pen that had been discarded nearby: Virginia practically vaporized Emmaline’s minions inside dimensional rifts and Amber’s good with her sword; meanwhile Astrid’s writing on her notebook from inside Chandelier Academy. It would be the only thing she’d write as invisible that day, before she hid her pen and paper, dashed over to Emmaline, used a wagon–a wagon–to dig a hole near her in the intent to trip her. In Emmaline’s attempt to run forward she fell in the six-feet-wide hole Stella dug. “Argh! Invisible pixies!” she exclaimed, believing that such a thing was still near the town of Sapphire Falls. Of course not, thought Stella, that was me.

Casadei had been feasting on the absorbed souls she was battling. She hadn’t had such a meal in years. Now that she was satisfied she ran inside the town, grabbing a bow and arrows, and from forty meters away shot Emmaline in the finger. She had no skill in archery; she was just desperate. Arrows rained on the battlefield, Casadei noticing inside the shed that she retrieved the bow was a quiver holding 999 arrows. Perfect, she thought to herself. Only the arrow in Emmaline’s finger managed to hit; the others were misses. Even Amber was surprised to find so many arrows in the ground. One could count about sixty of them before Casadei stopped shooting arrows. After she put down the bow and quiver, not even caring to retrieve the arrows she shot, she ran out into the battlefield, attempting to distract Emmaline, who was focused on fighting Amber.

Caroline merely watched as Amber battled. It seemed her aura was coming back to her now. Calming back down to the serene state she was in that morning when she tricked Icarus into turning himself in for jail, she started developing a strategy to get out of the situation they were in. How could we defeat Emmaline? 
Maybe Virginia knows. She’s her cousin, after all.
Or maybe Amber is figuring it out.
Or maybe Casadei has a clue.
She laughed to herself when realizing she was going nowhere with a strategy. She sat down and looked about. It seemed Virginia began healing the land; Lilith, too, was watching. Amber, parry after parry, was fighting desperately against Emmaline. Casadei was struggling to distract the latter. Astrid, from inside, was jotting down notes faster than ever before as Nova watched with a grave expression. Stella was invisible, but Caroline could tell she just pulled off a prank. Well, she thought, what are we gonna do now? 

Amber was slashing with the speed and skill of a barbarian by now, when she realized she had a visitor in her mindscape.
Astrid?
Indeed, Astrid was visiting. Trying to say something.
Deflect…
Amber tried to listen.
Deflect—LOOK OUT!
Amber phased back and noticed the large shadow beam aiming straight for her; Virginia screamed out loud.
“Through the power of betrayal,” Emmaline laughed, “I will destroy you all and ban you to the Dormant Realms!”
Amber, as a last resort, held her sword in front of her face.
“Bring loyalty upon our souls,” she muttered.
The bolt bounced back and hit Emmaline.
A rift opened and Emmaline was absorbed into it.
Amber pierced her sword into the ground, now looking utterly exhausted. Her seven friends were stunned at the banishment. Stella turned visible and unexpectedly hugged her friend, who, in wary excitement, hugged back. “We defeated her! We defeated a near-omnipotent!”
“Yes,” Amber breathed in response, “yes we did.”
The unfrozen townspeople recognized the cosmic imprisonment of Emmaline and rejoiced at the absence of an apparition apocalypse.

Three months later, after the graduation of her friends Amber Legacy, Virginia Centauri, Nova London, and Stella Indigo, Casadei Moors looked back at the gazebo before leaving to the mountains. The sword Amber used to defeat Emmaline was now entangled in vines on a mountaintop-the one parallel to Henry’s cavern-and placed on its crest was a gemstone from Sol, the Duke of the Sun. Before leaving for the ruins of a building as old as Celestine’s castle itself, she noticed Amber motioning to her.
“Hey Casadei,” she exclaimed, “so from what I hear Astrid and Caroline are coming up with a way that we can all meet back at the gazebo some time. Maybe this week?”
“That sounds good,” replied Casadei, “what are they thinking of so far?”
“I think they’re musing over some sort of trivia.”
“Hmm, maybe! I’ll see if I can come. What day of the week do they plan it for?”
“Saturday? You guys have school still, right? What’s your last day of school?”
“Tomorrow!” Casadei looked back at Chandelier Academy. “You guys got out of school early, eh?”
“Yeah. Apparently the graduation days give us some time off. Anyways, see you soon! Have fun!”
“You too!” The two waved to each other as Casadei walked away. The town, unlike it had been three months ago, was a bustling, enthusiastic place. Even Celestine had made her appearance to celebrate the bestowment of peace. All the town heard of the Duke of the Sun, though, was that he bequeathed a crystal upon Amber’s sword. Casadei then encountered Lilith, right back where Amber had first protected Lilith from a mutant Icarus.
“Hi!” she exclaimed.
“Oh hey there!” replied Lilith.
“How’s it going?”
“Good!”
“Good to hear! Also, did you hear about Astrid and Caroline’s plan for the trivia?”
“Yes! Astrid told me!”
“Oh! Did she tell you when it was planned?”
“She originally wanted to schedule it for Saturday of next week, but we have to see if that’s alright with the others.”
“Oh.”
“Do you have plans then or are you able to attend?”
“I am absolutely able to attend! Saturday tends to be the day I kind of reschedule most things relating to school to Sunday.”
“Great!” Lilith took a step. “Well, I have to get the test results from the vocabulary test last week. Bye!”
“Bye!” Thus Casadei continued walking through the town. Under the full moon, which seemed enlarged since the imprisonment of Emmaline, the town of Sapphire Falls seemed to glisten. Citizens walked by, happily conversing about nothing in particular, and fauna chittered every minute or so. Everything seemed back to normal.
Casadei’s thoughts were interrupted when she noticed Virginia, Nova, and Stella chattering together.
“Hey guys!”
“Hello!” exclaimed Virginia. Nova and Stella twirled around in sync. “Casadei!” exclaimed Stella.
“What are you all doing?” asked Casadei.
“I don’t even know,” joked Nova, laughing heartily, “we’re just chatting. Caroline ran by at one point and told us about this trivia of some sort… Don’t tell her but I already know the theme.”
“I figured you did.”
“…and don’t tell her I told you, but the theme’s history!”
“Haha!” exclaimed Casadei. “I knew she would do something related to books!”
“Yes she would. I noticed she tended to do that even when we vanquished evil!”
“Also,” interrupted Stella, “which sword did Amber put in the vines?”
“The one she stole from Gorge’s,” replied Nova, laughing. “And did you hear? At the high school they have sword classes as well, so she’d be happy enough!”
“Awh, lucky!,” responded Casadei, “but I’m considering doing archery. I was not too good with that bow when I picked it up.”
“That was you?” asked Stella.
“Yeah,” replied Nova and Casadei in sync.
“Well you got her in the finger from out of nowhere. You might as well say you’ve had 30 seconds of experience.”
“Thirty seconds.”
“Thirty seconds, yeah.”
“That’s not enough for another level of the course,” mumbled Nova, “although if they hear you shot Emmaline in the finger I’m sure that will get you a degree of respect with the class.”
Casadei and Stella both chuckle. “And that was from forty meters away!”
“Really?!?!” retorted Stella.
“Yeah. But I was going to go use the Crystal of Watching Eyes… I wonder how they celebrated this vanquishing of evil in Topaz Ascent.”
“You know,” said Nova, “that’s a good question. I won’t tell you though, but they had a festival.” She winked.
“Although, bye!” Casadei waved at the three before leaving for the mountaintop. There was an old, mossy staircase that twirled around the mountain–Better than climbing. I’d take a  staircase walk over a treacherous climb any day., she thought.

Once she reached the ruins, it seemed the vines were clad in a light snow. An arch of stone bricks, seeming to be thousands, maybe even millions, of years old, was nearby, with long strings of vines hanging from its surface. Casadei looked at the town and the mountains nearby–she noticed Olivia’s old headquarters, Henry’s possession cavern, and the very spot where Emmaline had been defeated. She sat down on the ruins of an old stone bench, looking down at Amber’s silvery sword clad in vines. The sword had a turquoise handle, and adorned on said handle was a golden jewel–the one from Sol, the Duke of the Sun. She did not move the sword. She did not absorb the soul of the snowdrop butterfly adorably resting on her head. She simply looked into the jewel. A reflection of the planet of Gemstones, in its entirety, was revealed. She knew that this reflection was there; even what it was.
Topaz Ascent, on the left side of the reflection, draped in golden sunlight.
Sapphire Falls, on the right side of the reflection, draped in silver moonlight.

She watched the world.