we continued along the path, the maze suddenly broke apart. Glass, sand, reflections—all shattered in an instant. We were thrown backward, tumbling onto solid ground, and for the first time in what felt like hours, the world around us returned to something familiar. The sand of the beach stretched beneath our feet, the forest rose up around us again, and the waves rolled and crashed with their usual rhythm.

  "What the… we're back to normal?" Jordan asked, her voice barely above the sound of the ocean.

  "I guess we are," Maya said quietly, brushing sand from her clothes.

  Cameron's brow furrowed as he scanned the horizon. "So… what now?"

  "I guess we close the portal," I replied.

  As we retraced our steps toward the site where we first encountered Kurohana and Kagetsu, Cameron's curiosity got the better of him. He tried to stay quiet, but eventually he asked, "Jordan… what was that back there?"

  Her expression darkened, and for a moment, I could see the shadow of something long buried in her eyes. Finally, she spoke. "My mom died when I was young. I had to take care of my brothers and my dad, who… he was struggling. He got hospitalized, so I had to get a job, keep the house running. I was six when she died, and… we were supposed to be on that boat too. Something held us back. But my mom went… and she didn't make it."

  "Oh," Cameron murmured, his voice quiet. "I'm… I'm sorry for your loss."

  Jordan nodded, her jaw tight. "It's okay. I've learned to deal with it."

  We kept walking, the rhythm of our steps matching the waves. For the first time since the maze began, we were all together, and it felt like years had passed in that silence. I found myself asking the question that had been gnawing at me: "Why do you think we were chosen to be Dragon Keepers?"

  Jordan let out a small, incredulous laugh. "Isn't it obvious? It's in our blood. We're descendants."

  "I mean, yeah," I said, hesitating. "But… don't you think we're not built for this? We're just… teenagers."

  "Who else would do it?" Jordan snapped, almost defensively. "You're right, but who else could?"

  Cameron chimed in, thoughtful. "I didn't expect that from you. But yeah… if it weren't us right now, who else would even be here?"

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  "No one," Maya said flatly. "We're their last line of defense. We're the only ones who can stop this."

  "You're right," I said, "but… doesn't it ever cross your mind what would happen if we never had these powers?"

  "All the time," Maya admitted, shaking her head. "But don't you think… if we…" She trailed off, uncertain. I pressed her with another question. "What if we had never met each other?"

  Cameron paused, thinking it over. "We only met because of these powers. Without them, we'd never have known each other… never known we existed."

  We let that hang in the air, heavy and unspoken. No one spoke for a while. The ocean whispered, the waves crashed, and the sun dipped low on the horizon.

  In the distance, the portal shimmered ominously, and there stood Kurohana and Kagetsu. "We're back to square one," I muttered.

  As we approached the original site, Kurohana's smile cut through the tension. "You made it out. Congratulations. But now… let me ask you a question."

  "A question?" I asked warily.

  "Yes. What do you think makes a soul?"

  Cameron's hand instinctively clenched his sword. "A soul… is the essence of your being."

  We all turned to him, surprised. Kurohana's pale lips curved into a smirk. "Wrong. That's a common answer, but not quite. A soul is built from your core. Your core is the foundation of who you are. It's formed by your emotions, your actions in the living world. When someone dies unnaturally—fear, grief, anger—they risk corrupting that core. That's where beings like Kagetsu and I come from."

  We exchanged nervous glances. Kurohana's long white hair shifted with the wind, her dark claws flexing. "I'm teaching Kagetsu a lesson," she continued. "But I'll make a deal. If you fight him… and if you survive, close the portal, I'll let you live. Fail, and I'll kill all of you, taking your weapons to my master."

  "Easy," Jordan said, cracking her knuckles. But something in the pit of my stomach tightened.

  Kagetsu never moved. His hooded face gave nothing away. The air around him seemed to thrum with silent, lethal energy. Every instinct in me screamed that he could end us all in a heartbeat if he wanted. This wasn't going to be easy. Not by a long shot.