The unimaginable scene was analogous to a thief that snatched his breath away. Very much a vision plucked straight out of a video game. The sounds of awed pedestrians kinda ruined his immersion, but even they began to evaporate. He wondered what it was like for the city's residents to willy-nilly have their homes turned into a dungeon or setting from a fantasy novel. Though, as an exclusive island, the guest had to have known what they were signing up for.

The race's countdown started way too fast for Vin's liking. While lined with nine other bodies, their physical presence was slightly unsettling. Once the counter hit zero, they all ignited.

Down the dismal, murky floor of the decimated medieval town and past dark alleyways that looked like monsters could erratically emerge.

The Lions traveled in two distanced groups utilizing the street's bountiful margin. One comprised of three racers, and another of two. The dragons, however, crowded behind Vin, riding his tail closely.

"We're calm; breathing is stable. Balance is good." While in motion, Vin recalled and recounted his father's teachings.

[[

Whenever Vin reflected on his time with his father, he always remembered the hot summer days. Strainouslly skating around a public park while being lectured.

"Vin!" His dad would scream. "Manage your speed, don't exert yourself more than 40%."

He was still too short to ride rollercoasters, and his tiny chest rapidly expanded and deflated.

"Vin! Why are you already breathing so hard!"

Again and again, his name would be roared before his father barked corrections.

He was the son of a pro; as such, he was expected to skate like one.

]]

Vin's demeanor may have shifted because Crow pulled up alongside him in apprehension.

"You good?" he asked. "You don't have to push yourself to stay in first the entire time. I can just tell you when Fray's using her skill."

Faultlessly composed, Vin smacked his hand on his steady pulsing core. He estimated the beats per minute, realigned his feet with the trucks of his board, then insisted, "I'm not pushing myself."

The concerned student asked again to confirm, then withdrew after receiving an identical response.

By then, most of Vin's anxieties were scrubbed, and he was skating just as he'd done years ago; after all, nothing but the circumstances had changed.

Twilight was in no shortage on their course.

Because of the night, none could determine who or what was scampering down the deathly allies; There were just jittery bodies, fearful of the rolling boards.

It was all simulated, yet Vin felt pity for the tyrannized town. He found their response to flee to be sensible.

Only. Not every hazy form escaped. Far ahead, a nightly physique zipped across the street and ruthlessly tossed itself into a tall collection of large, bundled beer barrels. A deep doom sounded when the first fell, then dozens of others broke from their arrangement.

"Obstacles!" Yelled one of the leading racers.

Vin's bright grape irises narrowed on the stampede of barrels. The closest container escaped its pack and thwarted Vin's line of skate. Instead of swerving around it, he popped his board up, grabbed the bottom of the deck, and flew over the object before landing reversely. There was a slight decline, so Vin accelerated downward, even while facing backward toward his team.

Confronted with more obstacles, Tony shouted for him to hurry and rotate so he could anticipate each one. However, there was no need. Vin had already marked the rolling hassles, and when the next came, he flipped his board over it and landed frontward. Whether a standard skateboard or a custom 40inch board, Vin subjugated his instrument and put them to work.

Others evaded, and Vin could hear the faint voice of a man behind him. "What's with this guy?"

Vin slumped his head toward his wristwatch to inspect his SP(Style Points.). However, the moment he dropped his gaze, there was a flash in the nightmarish darkness. A malignant fence of orange fire detonated across the road before them and cut them off.

The Lion's faction was closer; they abandoned their current route and cracked hard leftward to scarcely avoid the unanticipated wall of flames.

Both teams were compelled from the main city street and down a slim alleyway where no more than two could skate side by side.

Filthy, cluttered, and unlit, the skaters maneuvered down the dark path over barrels, trash piles, enormous rats, and sleeping... or dead malnourished bodies. Every second of his sprint was detrimental; not a single second was allotted to sit idle or devise a strategy.

"This is-" Vin started to speak, but a sinister, destructive howl boomed in the air and reverberated throughout his bones. "Who dares to approach my domain!"

Heart throbbing tentatively, he caught his escaped breaths. The thin ally ended, and on the other side, all the racers emerged in line with what looked like a mayor's office. Still noxiously night, nothing more could be seen on their right, where the main street resumed. It didn't matter; their destination led them toward the political building, so they proceeded.

Vin declined his stance to prepare to enter indoors, however.

A wine-colored light erupted from their right flank, and a house-sized, flaming meteorite smashed into and obliterated the structure before him. Planks, dirt, and visually heavy shockwaves of wind assailed the racers, who reflexively raised their arms to shield their face.

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"What in the actual fuck!" Tony hollered.

They were all once again redirected, steering rightward down the unlit street. Like an automatic sensor, torches ad candles lit their new path, which led to a massive, gothic, olden castle.

Acutely alarmed and wide-eyed, Vin began to mouth, "This is in-"

A tremendous THUNDER shook the granular cobblestone ground and his unexpecting soul. Stricken, Vin slapped his palms against his ears, denying himself the messages and profanity leaked from his associates' mouths.

Similar pumpkin-colored flames trickled from, then fanned out of the cracks in the earth. Like the pits of hell itself were battering against the surface.

So bright, warm, and unimaginable.

Vin opened his mouth again to articulate. At the same time, Tony exclaimed, practically in sync with him.

"This is incredible," stated Vin.

"THIS IS INSANE," Tony screeched.

Fierce rumbling persisted, and the nearing castle's front gate lowered via massive metal chains. It dropped, and an oversized catapult was wheeled out by horned, cloaked figures. Hushed, the unknown forms doused the loaded bolder and set it ablaze.

"Mickey!" yelled one of the Lions. After being invoked, the male with the bucket hat took the lead of their group. He activated his unique ability while announcing, "Heavens Gate!"

A pure white light radiated from the void sky, then a large, golden-sealed gate shuttled down in front of the caster. Just after, all the Lions loaded behind the object in a single-file manner.

A grind sounded, and the massive, burning boulder propelled, large enough to encompass the entire road.

Vin empty-mindedly rolled his sleeves to relieve the heat from the smoldering setting. Even as he and his team rode onward unprotected from the incoming catastrophe, he was trance locked.

He couldn't fathom how far SFX had grown in the seven years he was asleep. It was just like a movie; the otherwordly effects, the momentum, the adrenalin, it all so felt authentic. So truly threatening.

Vin hoped a camera had been recording because he yearned to watch a replay of the action film he was living.

With a belligerent authority, Crow broke his group into gear. "We don't have a strong defensive ability like theirs, and that boulder looks like it'll destroy the entire street!"

The man peddled fiercely, passing Vin while instructing them. "We have to break into their formation and hide behind that golden gate!"

Upon command, they all scrambled toward the group of Lions, who appeared confident behind their shield.

Mere feet away from that safe haven, the opposing team's rear racer pivoted, eyed Vin and his group, then shook her head disappointedly. "Did you really think we'd let you cower behind us?"

Vin identified her by the yellow ribbon she wore. It was Fray, the same student he was forewarned of. She held up her fingers in the shape of a gun and proclaimed. "Strongest Link."

Crow's body did something Vin had never witnessed in a human. It convulsed in indisputable terror. The man quickly took one foot off the board and jabbed the beak of his shoe into the ground to throttle his speed. Not just him, but the entire group fell hushed and slowed.

All except Vin, who kept a hurried pace.

He'd heard her and thought, "Strongest? Crow said her skill was called 'weakest link."

A gray cross-hair materialized on Vin's chest. He eyed it questioningly until he heard a venomous utter, then snicker at his back. "Thank you for your service."

It was such a familiar voice, identical to the one that ripped away his board during the race in his dream.

The mark illuminated, enlarged, then without any other visual indication of an attack. The woman pulled her thumb down like a trigger and said, "bang."

First, a flash blinded him; then, like a grenade, a vigorous explosion belched from the mark.

War-red flames NUKED the zone and clambered everything within an extensive area. Cobblestones, dust, and elements of buildings were uplifted to create a smoke screen, and very subtly, black flames dispersed.

With the entirety of the Dragons swallowed by the blanket of impact, the Lions looked rearward in fulfillment.

Not for long, because the heavy massed boulder reached and clashed with the holy gate. Winds howled, and more structures perished at another destructive impact.

After the clash resolved, a man in their ranks bellowed in admiration, "Mickey!" he called. "You're the goddamn best, man!"

"The race is ours!" He shouted back. Skating onward while burning debris rained down on him and his cheering team.

Amid their premature celebration, a nefarious snicker emitted directly behind them.

"Awww, how cute." Several feet back, Crow arose from the smoke and wiped away suggestive tears. Then, In a toxic, childish tone, he mocked, "Did the wittle cubs think they won?"

"How did they get behind us!?" Surged another Lion's racer.

Crow held out his hand in receipt, then Adele handed him a half-crumbled cigarette. "I'm not sure myself," he said. "I've seen Fray's skill twice before, but the blast was never that powerful. To think you had a way to stimulate the area of effect."

"Anyways. Thanks for letting us borrow your gate."

Crow kissed the rear of his smoke stick, then sneered. "We may have lost a pawn, but the four of us are still stacked with SP; meanwhile, two of you need to recharge."

"Gross," insulted a male in yellow. A taller student with scattered greasy hair, and Unlike Fray and Micky, he seemed against the Lion's color palate. He modeled the usual dress pants and shoes, except he wore a slime-green, poop emoji T-shirt.

He swerved from his group, and upon activation, a mass of nanobots began to mold a beasty, sandy head. It was shaped down to the neck, which kept extending down and down before a body with a brown brick-like pattern was formed.

Ash gray bone spikes layered its elongated build, and what looked like a mutated giraffe joined the opposition. Its summoner pointed and yelled an order, then it charged.

Crow crackled and used his finger to draw an imaginary circle around the creature. "This thing is way too large of a target," he said.

An oval swirling portal comprising of a mysterious red and black magic manifested behind the stampeding creature. Then, Crow shoved his hand inside his drawn ring.

When he did, a large, raptor-like claw construct smashed from the paranormal portal. The magical form outstretched its fingers as Crow did his own, emulating his actions.

Then, the claw violently clenched onto the long-necked summons throat. The creature was uplifted and strangled before it ultimately stilled.

Its owner shouted in vain while Crow laughed and peered gaily at them with deep red eyes. "Now, now, don't cry. Since you killed one of my men, it's only fair I send a few of you to hell, too, right?"

Still manned by the giant catapult, the castle entrance was exposed. The thundering voice howled once again, this time receptacle. "Those worthy may enter my castle, but be warned to those who are not."

Though spooked, the races adhered to the intended course and entered on their boards. Because of the hologram overlay, it was challenging to know where they were in reality.

But that was the charm of SFX racing. Its surreality struck genuine fear, and high-difficulty races created NOT competitors but survivors.