Third Person POV
The girls barely had a second to react before the street lights started flickering like crazy. The whole street pulsed with light, almost like a heartbeat.
Right then, the ground shook under their feet. Cracks split the concrete, wide and jagged, as if something huge and unseen had just bitten into the street.
A deep, rumbling growl rolled out from the darkness inside the crack, echoing off the buildings. Then something started to crawl out. It slithered up from the shadows—a creature made of twisted, bent limbs, wrapped in thick darkness.
Smoke-like tendrils slid along its body, making it look like it belonged in a nightmare.
People ran, stumbling over each other in panic. The girls just stood there, frozen. Averyn felt something tug inside her—not fear, but a weird, deep vibration.
It felt familiar, almost like someone calling her name, but quieter. The creature raised its head. Everything seemed to shift at once—the air, the street, even the noise.
Then a streak of silver-blue light shot out from the alley, slamming right into the monster's chest. It let out a horrible shriek and tumbled backward, shadows twisting around it like they were in pain.
A masked figure dropped down, landing between the girls and the beast. She didn't move right away. She was tense, precise, every muscle ready—almost inhuman.
Her cloak whipped around her like storm water, and her mask caught the streetlights, sending sharp glints across the chaos. "Get back," she said. Her voice didn't waver.
She raised a hand, and wind spun around her, carrying a shower of sparkling frost.
Averyn froze. Her legs screamed at her to run, but awe pinned her in place. The masked figure moved with this weird grace—precise, smooth—like she owned the water swirling at her fingertips. Shields spun up, ice flashed through the air.
The monster charged, but the hero was faster. Ice burst from the ground, curling up in frosty vines that locked around its limbs. It shrieked and thrashed, but she didn't let up. The elements bent to her will, no hesitation.
In a heartbeat, it was over. The creature crumpled, melting away into smoke and ash that floated off into the night. Sirens wailed somewhere far off. Faces poked out from shadows, wide-eyed.
And then, just like that, the masked hero slipped away—gone, leaving behind nothing but a shimmer of ice where she'd been.
Averyn let out a shaky breath.
"Did anyone else see that?" she whispered, voice barely holding steady. Jade's hands trembled.
"Her eyes… they glowed. Not like fire, though. More like ice." Ruelle shivered.
"She knows something about us. I could feel it." Averyn didn't say a word.
She just stood there, staring at the empty street where the hero had vanished, certain that something had already changed.
Like fate had reached out and pulled at her, just a little.