I remember ten years ago, when Earth was destroyed by the Galaxy Destroyer known as Blackout. But let’s rewind—back to the beginning.

I was an average kid in high school. My name’s Kai. Like everyone in high school, I had a girlfriend. Her name was Sam. Out of all the chaos of teenage life, she was the calmest thing I had—kind, sweet, and endlessly patient with my reckless ideas. Because my family moved constantly, my friends were scattered and temporary. Even then, though, something felt off—like the world was holding its breath, waiting for a disaster only I could sense.

That disaster arrived one rainy afternoon. The sky split open—not with thunder, but like a pane of glass shattering. I was in chemistry class when every phone lit up with an emergency alert: “Galactic anomaly detected. Seek shelter.” Nobody took it seriously at first. Mr. Harrow, our teacher, chuckled nervously. Then the windows exploded inward, glass slicing through the air. Outside, the sky had turned a sick, swirling violet-black.

Sam grabbed my hand. “Kai—what is happening?”

Before I could answer, the ground cracked and a wave of shimmering light rose up from the football field. Shapes emerged—winged, humanoid, glowing with alien magic. Fairies. But not the kind in bedtime stories. Their wings were jagged shards of crystal, their eyes black voids, and their presence warped the air.

“Humans of Earth,” one of them hissed, its voice vibrating in my skull. “Your world is condemned. The Destroyer approaches.”

Panic exploded through the school. Kids screamed and bolted. Lockers twisted into iron trees. Desks floated. Paper burned into symbols midair. The fairies weren’t just attacking—they were rewriting reality.

Through a rift in the sky, a colossal silhouette shifted. A face like a black eclipse. Blackout. Even as a shadow, it radiated power that made the buildings tremble.

Sam yanked me into the hallway. “We have to find your brother!” she yelled over the din. My little brother Leo was somewhere nearby. But before we could move, a fairy lunged at us. Instinct took over—I threw up my hands and a burst of blue fire erupted from my palm, slamming the creature back into a locker.

Sam stared at me, eyes wide. “Kai… what are you?”

I didn’t have an answer. But the fairies’ magic was spreading fast. A swirling vortex opened beneath our feet—an endless spiral of green light and stars. The floor cracked like thin ice, and the hallway dissolved into mist.

Sam screamed as we were pulled in. I grabbed her hand and held tight. The vortex swallowed us whole, the roar of collapsing Earth fading behind us.

For a heartbeat there was nothing—just weightlessness and shimmering dust. Then we crashed onto soft moss under an alien sky. Two suns burned orange above towering crystal spires. Winged creatures swooped overhead, laughing like bells.

We weren’t on Earth anymore.

We were in the Fairy World.

And this—this was only the beginning.

The first thing I felt was the air. It wasn’t air at all—it was alive. Every breath I took buzzed like static, filled with glowing dust that flickered between my fingers. The ground beneath me pulsed like a heartbeat, moss shifting colors under my shoes.

Sam was sprawled beside me, clutching her head. “Where… where are we?” she whispered.

I sat up. Above us, two suns burned orange against a green sky streaked with swirling constellations. Giant trees made of glass rose high as skyscrapers. Waterfalls of light spilled from floating islands. It was beautiful—but it reeked of danger.

“We’re not on Earth,” I said, still staring. “This has to be their world. The Fairy World.”

Then I heard it—a low, distant roar like a dragon waking. Something massive moved between the crystal trees. Wings flickered in the mist, and I realized the fairies here were different: bigger, sharper, more monstrous. Their wings stretched like blades, their eyes glowed red instead of black. This wasn’t the invasion force. This was their home turf.

Sam pulled herself up. “We have to find Leo. Maybe… maybe he’s here too.”

I clenched my fists. My brother was all I could think about. But my hand still burned from before. When I focused, faint blue flames curled from my palm. Power I didn’t understand.

A figure emerged from the mist. She was tall, draped in white feathers, her wings spanning wider than a bus. Her eyes weren’t voids—they were molten gold. “Outsiders,” she hissed, but her voice sounded like a song. “You’ve crossed the Veil. You are trespassers.”

“We didn’t have a choice!” Sam shouted. “Earth is being destroyed!”

The winged woman tilted her head, curious. Then she raised a clawed hand. The moss around us twisted into chains of vines, wrapping around our wrists and ankles. I struggled, but the vines burned like ice.

“You carry the Flame,” she said, staring at my glowing hand. “A weapon forged before the stars. Only one of your kind every thousand cycles carries it. You will not survive here without a guide.”

“Then help us!” I yelled, tugging against the vines. “Blackout is coming. He’ll destroy this place too!”

At the name Blackout, her golden eyes flickered. The vines loosened. “If the Destroyer crosses our realm, then the prophecy begins…” she murmured. “The human with the Flame. The war of worlds.”

Suddenly a thunderous crack shook the ground. A tear opened in the sky above, and a black tendril of energy reached into the Fairy World like a claw. The trees trembled. The suns dimmed.

She turned to us, wings spreading wide. “Run,” she said. “Run to the Spire before the Eclipse Knights arrive. Only there will you find answers.”

The vines dissolved, and we bolted. Sam’s hand in mine, the ground shifting beneath us, and above, the black tendril reached further, pulling reality apart.

This world wasn’t safe.

It was a battlefield.

And we’d just landed in the middle of it.