Chapter 1: Prologue: To be perfectly honest, Pike’s intro could use a rewrite

The large tree on the south side of campus may have been old, but no one expected the ground beneath it to suddenly cave. The soil gave way. The tree started to tilt over. Further… further… CRASH! Right across the sidewalk, where three students of Halo Ridge University fortunately had the presence of mind to scramble out of the way of its approaching shadow.

“What the—?!”

“We almost got crushed!”

They were so relieved that they had avoided being flattened by the old tree that they failed to notice that another one was now threatening to do the same. The very bark of its trunk chafed away as it attempted to bend itself to just the right angle—enough to quite literally reach the tipping point.

Suddenly, a bright ball of light soared into the scene, shooting past the baffled students and spiraling up and around the tree trunk. The tree immediately righted itself, caught in its malicious act and stopped before it could follow through. It wasn’t its fault; there were foul ripples of air weaving through its canopy.

The ball of light breezed through the tree branches. Little shockwaves burst out here and there, causing leaves to shake and fall away. The three students watched this phenomenon unfold. To call it strange wouldn’t be quite right. One could say they were almost expected from time to time—especially around Halo Ridge.

But it didn’t stop them from beholding the incredible spectacle. Sparks of light flared here and there like little fireworks. The ball of light that had raced to their rescue phased through the tree branches, chasing the strange, hazy air. With each spark, the air jarred and recoiled. They could almost see the air fighting against its glowing foe.

And they could see it suddenly change its direction and dive towards them instead.

Crying out in surprise, the students flailed and started to raise their arms and cover their faces. But the ball of light shot straight through the menacing haze just before it could reach them. One larger, final shockwave rippled over the area. A guttural cry, Gwoooh! rumbled through the air like thunder… and then faded into nothing. The air around them was calm once more.

The glowing figure lowered itself to the ground and faded, revealing a girl on rollerblades. Their shock fading, realizing the danger had passed, the three students hurried up to her with readied praise and enthusiastic babbles.

“That was a close one!”

“Was that the ‘chaotic energy’ stuff we keep hearing about?!”

“That was totally one of those Shades causing trouble, right?! You saved our butts!”

She let a laugh ring out as she quickly redid her messy, bedhead bun of copper-brown hair. When she was done, she flashed a cocky grin and a whimsical wink from her emerald green eyes. “Anytime! It’s what we Stars do, after all!”

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The girl waved at them as she zipped off down the sidewalk, throwing back some quick remark about getting to class. As they collected themselves and continued along their way, the students murmured excitedly among themselves at what they just witnessed. They had nearly been crushed by two toppling trees, but a Star had swooped in and saved them.

But from his dorm room just two blocks from the excitement, Pike DeSanto was having a decidedly normal day.

He sat at his desk and finally turned his attention from the window to his notebook. Procrastination over. He yawned and rubbed the perpetual dark circles under his equally dark eyes. He needed to at least write the introduction before art class. Something. Anything. Even if he had to settle for “good enough” and change it later (which he had, plenty of times—before erasing everything).

A star is the main character.

 In every story, they go on a journey, grow in inspiring ways, maybe go head-to-head with an insert-boss or two. And while each obstacle may be tough, they always emerge the victor. The audience loves reading a success story, after all. There may be other characters in a story, but the star is the only one worth caring about.

 Who exactly is that star? What happens if it’s not you?—

—And it was starting to sound like an essay. Why did he always default to writing introductions this way anyway? Writing forums, friends, and even his high school literature teacher could never stress enough the importance of starting with a bang. Otherwise, people would pass his work over in less than a shake. Then his plan to be a graphic novelist after university would be replaced with his parents’ vision of him getting a 12-hour-day desk job.

Yeah. He’d need to rewrite it later.

Still, that was just the way he saw it. Only certain people were main characters of a story. Also, he was pretty sure all those main characters would be plucked from somewhere within the ranks of Halo Ridge’s up-and-coming Stars. Actual Stars. The proverbial superheroes of the world—not the ones found in outer space or the red carpet. Their lives bled protagonist material.

So, if he were ever in a story, Pike was sure he’d be a side character. If that meant uneventful afternoons like these, he didn’t mind it even the slightest. The last thing he needed was to be swallowed by a mass of chaos. The chaotic realm was an urban legend, but he was willing to believe it really existed.

He sat back and sighed. It was wishful thinking, and he knew it. Since it had been blessedly quiet lately, something that required him to fight for his literal existence was bound to happen. As a writer, he knew the fate of a side character was to be dragged into the many shenanigans the plot had in store for its star. 

And his best friend was most certainly an aspiring Star.

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