Prologue
"Look out!" A girl of fiery red hair said, dodging a huge dark tendril. Her fellow fighters obliged to her warning, and dodged the vein. The girl grasped her bow, and tried to hit the one causing the misfortune. But before she could fire, a gust of black shadow sent her back, causing her to collide with her brunette friend.
"Are you alright?" The brunette asked, looking into her green eyes. The redhead nodded submissively as she stood up, clutching her bow; she then charged back into battle. The brunette flicked her hands, creating a beam of color freckled light in her palms. She sent the laminated balls to the shadows, attempting to spur it out. But to no avail, the shadow charged for her instead. "Help! Rianne!"
Rianne, a blonde girl with golden eyes, gasped as she saw all the shadow horses swarm to her friend. She sent a tendril of iridescent sand to her friend's position, making all the shadow horses burst into black sand. Rianne smiled as she saw her friend get back on her feet. But in that triumph came another tragedy; a dark vein swirled around Rianne's arm, immediately making her fall to the ground. A black haired girl with pale skin caught her amidst the fight, and set her safely to the ground.
"Everyone fall back!" An old man with white beard yelled to his colleagues. From his coat of red and white, he took out an opaque ball and shook it gently. He then threw it, creating a portal. He ran to the portal's mouth, and directed everybody inside; a huge bunny, a faerie of green and colorful feathers, a stout man in gold, and a boy with frost hair. "Girls get in!"
"Yeah, just a sec, Santa!" The pale girl said with a smirk, dispersing a shadow with a dagger. She raised her hand, creating a wall of silver sand. She turned to her friends. "You heard, Nick. Retreat!"
The girls all headed to the portal, but the wall was dispersed in doing so. As Rianne went in, the old man placed his foot inside the portal. The brunette followed in the portal, dodging another dark tendril in the process. The old man skidded further in the portal, with just two more girls left on the run. Another tendril charged at them. The redhead immediately dodged it, but the unlike her' the man did not. He was sent further down into the portal, leaving the girls. With each moment passing, the portal was slowly dispersing. With just a few meters away from the portal, another shadow came in the way. The pale girl deflected it, making it disperse into the wind; at the same time giving the redhead time to get in the portal. The redhead placed the bottom half of her body in the portal, while the upper part held her hand out, reaching for her friend that's meters away. As the pale girl ran, sticking her hand out, tendrils and shadows were on her trail. With the portal now merely big enough to fit the redhead's face, the pale girl ran as fast as she could; but just when she could reach her friend's hand.
The portal closed.