I could hear them; they cried and wailed as the ice slowly crept in from every direction in the broken home. The walls, the ceiling, the furniture; it was all frozen. I could hear them—they pleaded for their lives as the chilling death crawled closer. Their shadowy forms blurred as their bloodshot red eyes darted left and right, looking for any means of escape, yet, there was none. The sound of the ice flakes crunching under my foot silenced their ramblings as they stared into my crimson eyes. I lifted my empty right hand, outstretching it towards them far beyond their reach. They were mesmerized, their eyes locked to my every movement as the cold crept closer and closer. A low, blue light shown on the palm of my hand, radiating a subtle yet painful light to the shadow demons that looked on. They could not tear their gaze from it, despite the burning intensity behind their skull—they knew their death had come.

The gun fell into my hand; a blue and silver dual-barreled handgun that took in my energy and used it as bullets—an Eyetooth. The gun fell easily into my hands, custom made to fit only me as my fingers wrapped around the grip, my forefinger around the trigger. The vertical twin barrels were aimed at the shadows as they glowered at me, my finger slowly pulling the trigger back.

"B-bounty hunter..." one of the shadow demons managed to whisper through clattering teeth, knowing its own death to come soon.

Five shots rang out into the night as the demons' howls echoed throughout the city, it's populace suddenly becoming aware of their death. I quickly walked out the door with my cloak covering my entire body from head to toe, knowing that there would be people very soon. I willed my Eyetooth to return to its dimension, my black finger-cut gloves covering the sigil that was engraved into the top of my hands.

As I walked briskly down the street, my eyes turned upward, looking at the dark sky as the stars shown and twinkle from their place in the heavens. I felt tears trickle down my face as I found myself suddenly reminiscing about the past long gone. I knew I had to accept it, yet, this one thing alone sapped the strength from my body.

I turned into a dark alley, feeling myself lose the will to keep moving forward before pulling back the hood of my cloak, looking down at a puddle that had frozen on my approach. I saw myself clearly in the icy mirror; long, knee-length azure hair, pale white skin, bright crimson eyes and tears that seemed to flow endlessly. I brought my hand up, pressing my right palm into my eye as if it would stop the tears, yet, it seemed to fail to stem the pain that wounded my heart.

"Hey," came a voice from deeper in the alley, "you alright there?"

I reflexively pulled the hood over my face, turning to face the owner of the seemingly-young voice.

He stood there, walking slowly towards me, his fiery red hair dancing in the windy night as his crystalline blue eyes looked towards me with compassion. He looked to be roughly around my age, seventeen, and wearing a chain mail that protected his body. On his hips hung two swords, their hilts decorated with red and blue gems respectively.

I hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to do until the starlight shown the necklace he wore around his neck—the sigil of the Grand Chase. I felt it again, the sudden sting that finds its way in my heart as memories of my past haunt my every waking moment; it was all connected to the Grand Chase.

Pain turned into rage as I willed the Eyetooth into my right hand again before calling an identical one into my left in an instant. Ice and frost seemed to erupt from my body, my cloak freezing and shattering as I exploded into a blur. Tears stung my eyes as my vision went out of focus, yet, I knew where everything fell into place.

The boy stumbled back, pulling the swords from his waist in a panic as he fell into a clumsy defensive stance. Flame and frost danced around the red and blue blades as he gritted his teeth, waiting for me to enter his clear line of sight.

I knew I had to be more careful but my rage got the better of me, forcing me straight through into his field of vision. His face shifted from a grim resolve to fight to that of shock—I was no shadow demon.

My Eyeteeth came up as my fingers tightened around the trigger, two rounds tearing through the air with each pull of each trigger. The ring of steel as the bullets slammed into the flat of the blades echoed loud and clear throughout the long corridor as I closed the distance in a hail of bullets.

"Twin Vanguard!" the boy shouted as he stomped his foot forward, returning from his surprise. A criss-cross of fire and ice latices formed layer upon layer in front of him, turning into a line of defence.

I charged in closer with reckless abandon, tearing through the latices with barely a scratch as I unconsciously formed a layer of frost around me to form armour. I was now face to face with the boy, my rage being apparent to him as he found himself reeling back in fear. I slammed my left Eyetooth against his swords, forcing an opening as I followed up with a kick to his head, spinning around to allow it to carry my weight. He stumbled to the side as my right foot slammed into his temple, placing my right Eyetooth's barrel against his hip. I pulled the trigger back as the barrel flared to life as the magic bullet slammed against his armor, freezing and shattering it with a loud crack.

He could feel the impact against his body, he knew the wave of pain and cold was unnatural; I was making this hurt. He felt the barrel of my other Eyetooth, this time against his stomach; he saw the stronger glow, the more intense magical strength behind that shot.

"Empower!" I shouted loudly as I pulled the trigger, ice exploding into his abdomen as he flew backwards from the sheer impact, tumbling and crashing into the open road on the other side.

I was about to chase after him once more, yet I could feel more people approaching—we had made too much noise.

"Let it go, Claire..." I whisper to myself, forcing myself to calm down and recreate my cloak from the frost, turning my back towards the unconscious boy on the street far behind me.

"Stop!" shouted a woman right as I was about to leave, recognizing her voice without even looking back, "You think you could do this to my son and just leave?!"

"Yes, I do," I replied just as loudly, keeping my face turned away, "It is, after all, you—no...the Grand Chase's fault for what happened, so I will do what I want, Elesis."

"Turn and face me then," she screamed as I heard the sound of swords being drawn from their scabbard.

"I do not have the time," I said as I turned back, the blood draining from her face as her swords fell to the ground, "But remember my name and this face, Elesis; I'm Claire Wilde and if any of the Grand Chase come near me, I will attack with deadly force."

With that, I turned away, walking into the fading night as snow slowly began to fall—a snowy night in the summer.

Hey guys, I'm back and this time I've decided to reboot Grand Chase: New Era. As you can see, I've made a few—...okay a lot of changes to the start. The general plot still stays the same, though, so no need to worry if you followed the old series as I've just added a few more things and tweaked a bit here and there to add more depth and character to the story. I hope you guys enjoyed and I look forward to finishing this work as the original Grand Chase New Era was my first writing project!

Thanks for reading!