The Fractured Siege

Avery tripped as the swirling vortex dropped her on familiar terrain. Her chest heaved, and the shard within her pulsed forcefully, as if rejecting the constant pressure. She blinked, attempting to focus on her surroundings. Her coronary heart sunk as the pandemonium subsided and clarity returned.

She returned to Blackthorn University—or what remained of it. The beautiful campus has turned into a battlefield. The previously clean lawns were burnt, and the air was filled with smoke and ash. Towering buildings that had once stood as monuments to wisdom now lay in ruins, their exterior broken and disintegrating.

A scream cut through the air, jolting Avery out of her surprise. She began to see college students and employees alike walking for safety as strange, shadowy creatures appeared from rifts in the sky. Their forms were bizarre, shifting as if they were only loosely connected to reality.