The sensation of the portal wasn't a fall; it was a pressurized scream. Amia felt her atoms stretching like rubber bands, the white light of her own energy colliding with the Queen’s violet void. She refused to let go. She anchored her spirit to the mental image of Ryn’s cat ears and Ash’s soot-colored wings, pulling herself through the closing tear in reality with pure, feline spite.With a sound like a thunderclap, the four of them slammed into a surface that wasn't grass. It was hard, cold, and smooth. "Amia!" Ryn shrieked, scrambling over the slick floor. She didn't stop until she collided with Amia’s fur-covered chest.Amia coughed, the white glow fading from her skin as she shifted back into her human form. Her clothes were scorched, and her breath came in ragged gasps, but she reached out and pulled Ryn into a crushing hug. "I told you... I don't break... promises." "You idiot!" Ash yelled, though she was wiping tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand. "Ash, are you crying?" asked Amia."No.... well yes I am! Ok, I was worried about you!" Ash snapped. She stood up, her wings unfurling to their full span, and looked around, her feathers twitching in disgust. "Where the heck are we now? This isn't the meadow."They weren't in a forest or a void. They were standing in the middle of a massive, metallic city that cut aggressively into a dark sky. The buildings weren't made of stone or glass; they hummed with giant, flickering advertisement projections that made Amia's head throb. Hover-vehicles buzzed overhead like giant metallic hornets, and the air smelled heavily of burnt wires, exhaust, and wet asphalt."Look," Kai whispered, his voice tight as he pointed his bone spear at a massive digital billboard towering above them.The screen flickered, showing a map of the city labeled Neo-Kyoto: Sector 7. Below the map, a news ticker scrolled in a blocky, technical font that only Amia recognized from her lab days. It read: UNIDENTIFIED ENERGY SURGE DETECTED IN THE UNDERCITY. ALL ENFORCERS TO SECTOR 7."We didn't go home," Amia realized, pushing herself up and squinting against the blinding, artificial glare. "We fell into a world that's even more high-tech than the lab I came from."Suddenly, a blinding spotlight from a hovering drone—this one much heavier and more armored than the Queen's scouts—pinned them to the slick ground. A mechanical voice boomed over a loudspeaker, harsh and robotic: "UNREGISTERED BIOMETRICS DETECTED. SUBJECT 2,486 AND UNKNOWN SHIFTERS, REMAIN STATIONARY. L-CORP SECURITY IS EN ROUTE."Amia’s eyes flashed red again, a sharp, bitter grin breaking through her exhaustion. She looked at Kai’s raised spear, the static electricity jumping through Ash’s feathers, and Ryn’s wide, glowing eyes."New world, same old problems," Amia muttered, shaking the numbness out of her hands. "Everyone ready for round two?""Roger that," Ash spit out, her wings sparking with residual portal energy."F...friend... fight... now?" Ryn asked, her small hands already narrowing into sharp, dark claws."Yeah, kid," Amia said, her right hand expanding, skin splitting into her heavy, fur and hermassive tiger paws. "Friend fight now."
End of book one Thank you everyone that read this book! And to google for the images that I used in this book
