The sky was a blanket of darkness on everything underneath.

Not the type of darkness that falls when the sun goes down, but nightmarish blackness, a thick layer of jet black ink.

The horizon was a bleeding red.

And the men.

Tall, powerful figures in black tuxedos, stalking across the ground with deadly grace. Strange assortments of blades in their claw-like hands sparked with flames in irregular bursts.

They sailed like ghouls into the houses.

A horrendous symphony of screams shredded the air, muffled, numb, and lost.

The blood-freezing melody of children’s cries.

Answered by the harmony of heartbroken parents.

One of the men emerged, gripping the arm of a young wailing girl. The torn head of a stuffed bunny dangled lifelessly in her hand, its left ear reddened with blood from her futile struggles.

A small, peculiar green disc was tossed into the girl’s house. Blistering, raging fire erupted from the building and swallowed the night in a blaze of red and orange. A meager flower pot exploded into a rain of shards.

The destruction of a home.

The sudden flash of light illuminated their faces.

Pitch-black eyes carried nothing but the darkness of the void. Some did not have mouths, and if they did, their lips were sewn shut.

Simultaneously, they all twisted into a deranged smile and turned their heads toward-

I exploded from sleep.

My hand struck the plastic back of the bus seat and I howled in pain, retracting my arm back with a wince.

Max’s voice slipped into my consciousness. “Mackie?” He asked timidly.

I blinked, uncomprehending. My heart was drumming. My back was cold with sweat and fear. I was wide awake, fear surging through my veins and soul.

A hand belonging to Max waved in front of my face, snapping me back to reality. I swatted his stupid hand away.

What was I dreaming of again? Something about fire? Destruction? People dying?

I’m sorry that I was calling stupid Max stupid right now, but it felt like he was the one to blame for all of that pain.

Also, he’s stupid.

“Did you guys sleep? How long was I out? A few hours?” I tried to prevent myself from shaking.

The world had already darkened to a velvet color, and the moon was a shy, crescent smile surrounded by a blanket of starlight. As someone who had lived in the suburbs all my life, the sky had never seemed so clear before.

“Yeah, we took turns sleeping,” Max said, pulling my attention away from the night sky. “I was on watch when you started stirring. So I woke Amber up.”

Amber nodded from the seat across. “Thanks for worrying about us, Mackie. You don’t need to be concerned about us. More importantly, what happened to you?”

“I don’t know, probably a nightmare,” I grumbled, rubbing the back of my head, flinching at the cold sweat that trickled down my scalp. “I just remember the world spinning and me blacking out. And how’s Lilyheart?”

“Dragons never sleep,” Lilyheart’s voice piped up from the seat behind me, and I turned myself around, feeling a dizziness sweep around my clouded head. “If you see one sleep, they are probably dead,” she stated, her eyes pinned on me, unblinking.

“Um, Lilyheart was staring at you sleeping,” Amber said awkwardly. “She’s never seen anyone sleep before.”

“Sleeping’s not all great,” I told Lilyheart wearily. I hugged my knees to my chest, looking at the curious dragon-girl. “People can get a lot of nightmares, and I say that from personal experience.”

“I don’t know that word very well. What are nightmares? Are they evil?” Lilyheart asked.

Amber laughed softly. “Not everything in this world is evil, Lily. A lot of people and a lot of things are wicked, but some others are good.”

“Like you guys!” Lilyheart grinned, her teeth sparkling in contrast to her blue skin.

I couldn’t help but smile weakly at her. The soft, light-hearted conversation was clearing my head. My heart was still drumming but warmth was slowly crawling up my back.

I was still mystified by Lilyheart. How could she be so naive, innocent, and childlike? She was an assassin sent by the Dragon Duchess, after all.

A thought suddenly popped into my head. “Oh, Lily. Do you know who the Dragon Duchess is?” I asked as gently as I could.

Lilyheart looked down. “I-I don’t know. My siblings say that only those with power are worthy of meeting the Dragon Duchess. They said that a little runt like me can’t amount to anything, so I’ll probably never meet her. They said I didn’t have a brain, and the Dragon Duchess doesn’t need another obedient walnut-head by her side.”

Amber immediately took her hand. “Don’t worry Lily, you’re amazing. I don’t care what they say, because I know you’re a cool little dragon.”

The tiny girl’s brows furrowed in frustration and despair as memories overtook her. “Thank you, Amber. But I’m sorry for being so useless… I can’t really help you guys because I’ve never been strong enough to even meet her. Unless you can fight for her, you’re just another piece of trash. I don’t think I’ll ever be good enough.”

I don’t think I’ll ever be good enough. That struck a chord with me. Just like the way I felt beaten in everything I did, this poor little dragon felt the same.

“It’s alright, Lily.” I murmured, switching my seat so I was sitting next to her. “It’s her loss. It’s her loss that she left such an outstanding dragon.”

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“A leader who has no care for her followers, huh? No one needs a leader like that.” Max’s voice floated over to her. “This woman is nefarious.”

Amber nodded her agreement and handed Lilyheart a lollipop that seemed to have come out of nowhere.

“Here, I think this’ll cheer you up a bit,” she said with a smile.

Lilyheart stared at the mysterious object.

As I watched Amber teach Lilyheart the wonders of candy, I sank slowly into my thoughts.

How many times had I said those words to myself? How many times have I taken a glance at the achievements of others and thought, I’m never going to be able to get anywhere in my life?

Even after I had been taken to some magical academy and told that I was special, I still felt lackluster. Amber, another orphan, made magic look easy. After all, she had been the one doing most of the heavy lifting so far in terms of spells.

I wasn’t even going to start with Max, someone who grew up acquainted with magic. Even among the experienced students, he was talented.

What have I been able to accomplish, compared to everyone else? Sure, I was proud of myself for being able to defeat seasoned veterans during physical combat training, but one magical spell and I passed out? The praise must have gotten to my head. My incompetence got Moxie kidnapped and almost got Ming killed.

I empathized with Lilyheart’s insecurities, I really did. Just like me, she wanted to be useful to those around her but ended up letting them down instead. Just like me, she felt that she wouldn’t amount to anything special.

To us, Lilyheart alone had been quite a challenging opponent. If she wasn’t able to even meet the Dragon Duchess, then the actual dragon warriors were just about undefeatable. We couldn’t rely on their lack of intelligence, either.

Before my train of thought could spiral downwards any further, I snapped myself back to reality. There was no sense crying over my own lack of ability now. Not when Moxie was relying on us.

“Oh yeah, you said you knew what the Duchess was planning?” Max’s voice asking Lilyheart hopefully.

Darn it, Max, try seeing this from the dragon’s perspective, I groaned internally.

“Well,” Lilyheart sighed as she bit down on her half-eaten lollipop and swallowed it whole, including the stick. “She’s been trying to find the strongest seeds of each magic academy. All of those talented children will be kidnapped and brainwashed. Tortured. Poisoned.”

My mind froze.

Moxie.

“Some of these people won’t be manipulated into joining her. She’ll just keep those imprisoned. They are going to be hostages,” Lilyheart continued, giving me a comforting look and setting her sparkling blue hand on my shoulder.

“While all the ‘heroes’ are trying to save the hostages, someone from her troupe will go after the crystal keys to reach the Cloud Dimension.”

Upon noticing Amber’s confusion, Lilyheart explained further, although she fidgeted with her clothes.

“There are thirteen dimensions in this reality, and each of them is a separate world. They’re all accessible, except for the Cloud Dimension, which is the ‘strongest’ out of the worlds. To enter it, you’ll need twelve crystal keys, each piece buried within the twelve accessible dimensions.”

“So people like us don’t even have a chance to get the entrance ticket?” Max’s voice spoke.

Lilyheart grimaced.

Such stupid, insensitive questions. Didn’t Max realize that we were making Lilyheart uncomfortable? Or did he just not care?

I turned to glare, only to find him facing away.

Suddenly, I felt a bump from the moving bus.

Wait, the bus was moving? I thought as I sat up. I thought we were taking a break? Then who’s-

For the first time, I noticed that Max was driving. As I stared at him, he made yet another unfortunate turn and almost crashed into a mailbox. A layer of magic was surrounding the bus, saving us from Max’s horrifying driving skills and keeping the bus on its wheels.

That bump however, tells me that the spell is wavering.

“WHAT ARE-” I raised my voice.

“Mackie!” Amber interrupted.

“Sorry.” I sank back into my seat. “Please continue, Lilyheart.”

The little girl’s face fell. I was just about to stop her from saying any more before she opened her mouth again, almost robotically.

“Well, there are very few people who can even travel dimensions. Either they’re top-ranking witches and wizards, or they’re the Second Amazon... or, um, you know.” She trailed off.

“The what?” I wondered.

“I can’t say it,” she explained, growing tenser with each word she spoke. “They are the forbidden people.” She fidgeted with her fingers, the fear evident on her face.

“It’s alright, no worries,” Amber put her hand upon Lilyheart’s shoulder again with a calming smile, taking another lollipop out of her backpack. “Here, you can have some more candy for being so helpful.”

“No, it’s not alright,” Max growled impatiently. “You do realize that we basically have no hope whatsoe-”

A strange whistle noise pierced the air.

Lilyheart’s pale blue skin almost turned snow-white.

I opened my mouth to speak, but my throat felt as if it were clogged. Suddenly, I could barely breathe. I whipped my head around to see Amber clawing at her own neck with the same confusion on her face.

Before I could turn my head, I was thrown forward, slamming into the seat in front of me.

The sickening crunch of metal and glass was followed by a deafening explosion and a wave of heat straight at my face.

The bus just crashed. Again.

Immediately, the lights blinked out and the night flooded in.

The dying sizzle of the engine buzzed, and a great sigh came from the exhaust pipe.

As I slowly peeled my face off the plastic bus seat, I tried to call for Max, who had disappeared from the driver’s seat.

No sound came from my throat.

Eerie silence persisted as I spun around to see Amber’s dark figure helping a smaller one from the cracked bus floors.

At least Lilyheart was fine.

I flailed around frantically, my eyes refusing to adjust to the darkness.

From a shaft of moonlight, I saw the mutilated metal of the sides of the bus scrunched together like an accordion. A lake of broken glass laid where several windows used to be. Crushed bus seats and bent railings protruded at awkward angles.

Loud clambering erupted from my left side as Max struggled out of the wreckage. His face was drawn tight with obvious pain and palpable fear. He awkwardly opened his mouth and closed it, as if he were a dying fish. He scrabbled, grabbing onto disfigured railings as he crawled to us.

I whirled around but my hand was caught by an icy grip.

A frosty voice suddenly spoke in my head.

The Shadow Huntress is here. We need to run. Now.

I didn’t even get to question the voice before the bus lurched forward-

True, cold terror sang through my legs as I scrambled to my feet.

A soft tap sounded on the bus roof, towards the side of the bus door.

That tap was metal upon metal.

A thin, ghostly scratching followed, as if nails were sliding carelessly across a chalkboard.

The phantom noise eerily continued. My blood shivered, goosebumps surfaced across my forearm and I cringed into my own guts.

Then, a fiery orange cut appeared on the ceiling.

It traced down. Immensely uncomfortable heat poked down.

The bus walls began to melt.

Moonshine shot out from my wrist and I furiously tightened my grip on it as I backed up to the other wall, eyes trained on the growing seam.

In the corner of my vision, Amber was placing her hand on the window, ready to break out. Max’s legs were morphing into claws of some kind.

Without warning, the entire bus wall was ripped away and thrown to the side with a loud clang!

Blinding heat surged into my face and I slammed my eyelids shut, my arms shooting up to cover my face.

After a few seconds of silence, I blinked away the debris. Cautiously, I opened an eye to scan my surroundings.

My heart dropped into my stomach.

They were here. The men from my dreams.