CHAPTER ONE | " CLOUDY WITH CHANCE OF STRANGE "

I WAS SENT TO DEFEAT THE DARKNESS.

The plain ground came to life when my bare feet touched it. I ran in the field with an untamed power pulsing in my chest. The past white areas, the dimensional lands, embraced a purple tint as if I was coloring them with a brush. The more I strained to suppress my power, the grass blades became sharper and cut my skin. I inhaled the rising energy as the pink mass flickered around my fingers.

I looked behind my shoulder, convinced the beastly roaring was right behind me, finding out that was the darkened menace. I stopped. It was the reflection of my actions, being finally released from the cave lair that was reigned by the dragon that took me.

A stranger watched me from the distance. The reassurance trapped in the eyes was received with a pounding heart. Soon as I puckered my lips to express my appreciation, my throat was on fire. I was forbidden to speak. The ground quivered as if it waited for an earthquake.

The growls of the monster resounded in the area until mine and the stranger's path divided as the ground fell to pieces with me standing on the edge, holding my breath. However, something bumped into me.

"Stevie!"

The imaginary bubble popped right over the head of the soon-to-be seventeen-year-old. The head was almost covered in flames as she noticed the ballpoint pen scribble over the whole paragraph. Something. Not someone!  The realization was quicker than her older sister's reflexes as she threw a folded shirt right at her.

Veronica stopped for a moment to exhale and then aggressively threw it back, "We have to go!"

Younger rolled her eyes and closed the violet butterfly journal and shove it into a backpack.

A family road trip was the only thing Stevie didn't know she needed. Apart from that, her parents started to be annoying every time they started to flirt in front of her salad, she finally got the chance to clear her head from studying all day long.

So just as soon as they were finally on the road, heading to New Jersey, she started to realize how she missed this. After the blip, everyone started to cherish these little moments. For example, Stevie started to finally enjoy dad's lame jokes. Other than that he excelled at singing.

Koreans were always passionate about music and the way they gave a voice to their art with visualization and emotional expression. Maybe that was why Stevie was so empathic as her early childhood was all about blasting all kinds of ballads from the eighties and nineties that her father Taehyun adored and kept in memory even after leaving his country at the beginning of the 21st century.

Not only was he enthusiastic about music as his voice was made of pure gold, but he was always talking about his hometown Gwangju which was also the place where he met Fariza, his wife, for the first time. A man with talent was Stevie's mother's weakness, so when he dedicated her to a song at a local karaoke bar, she was already in love with him. Well not exactly, as she didn't understand Korean, but the way he was looking at her while singing, her imagination manifested only the good, even them getting married.

A few years passed and the fact they could connect through a song over and over felt ethereal, except for one person.

"So like... When you're going to turn on the normal music?" Veronica uttered angrily. Her ironed ebony hair partly fluttered as the wind from an open window was drifting through to refresh the air inside the car.

"Define normal," Taehyun responded playfully. His shoulders were moving to the catchy rhythm, loudly singing the lyrics of the song.

"I dunno. Justin Bieber?"

"Absolutely not."

Stevie peeked at Veronica slightly, smirking because of what dad uttered. Not everyone could connect through a specific genre like K-pop, yet Stevie adored everything that sounded a bit magical, including music obviously. She found her body rocking back and forth, every time a tune inspired her. Good music should be appreciated, maybe that's why her main inspiration for writing came from random songs she heard on the radio.

The traffic loosen on the George Washington Bridge, Stevie was looking through the window, scanning all the passing cars on the opposite side. The colors of the cars became too much together until it created an endless line of vivid hue that outstretched to the distance out of her sight.

The curly-haired sixteen-year-old brought her journal. That diary was a place of her eternal peace. She wrote down every idea and it was handy even on the road. As her head was still in the clouds, it was really hard to take control of her fantasies. She wanted to go back to have questions answered about the climax. What happened to the stranger that got accidentally into the paragraphs?

She took a deep breath and before writing down what the corners of her mind created, she thought about it for a moment. Of course, she noticed the look Veronica gave her as she wasn't the biggest fan of her writing all of this nonsense. The only thing she liked about it was that she could figure out how many hours Stevie would be procrastinating. If her head was cleared out, she could write three chapters a day, confirming that she hadn't life outside the world she created just through words.

Taehyun's work phone buzzed, automatically having him reach toward it.

"Don't you dare!"

"Come on, Faz! What if it's urgent?" Taehyun uttered, trying to figure out what was happening.

"Exactly! What if dad's lover suddenly needed something?" Veronica joined the complaints, holding herself back since she was known for throwing tantrums or having sarcastic comments whenever something isn't going according to plan. Fariza's angry look in the rearview shut her immediately.

"You don't have to take every situation into your hands—," Fariza attempted to convince him to leave the phone ringing because many of his co-workers called him because they wanted to ask something. He was a commissioner of the NY police department. And since he was a goodhearted person, Fariza knew that he wanted to help out his colleagues but still wanted to persuade him to spend time with his family.

Unfortunately, he had his own head, "And there he goes."

Taehyun silently let go of the steering wheel to pick up the phone.

Fariza leaned on the window with his elbow and exhaled loudly. No wonder. She hated when someone was using the phone during driving.

"You don't get it, mom. With the power of K-pop on his side, he's pretty much unstoppable," Stevie joked around as she checked the situation by looking off the scribbled page.

"Says the one who secretly writes Dragon's Lair fan fiction," Veronica smirked in a crooked way. The sibling bickering was back.

"Actually, it's a sequel to my Thor fic," Just a tiny peek caused Stevie to come to the conclusion that her sister always will be an attention seeker.

"Whatever."

Stevie remained quiet, deeply pondering her thoughts. Her eyes widened with big sparks exploding in them like fireworks. A brainwave of creativity struck her instantly, neglecting all the negative sister's comments brought to her mind. She started a new paragraph. Sparks of joy lit up in her pupils, as she kind of squirmed her shoulders and kicked the driver's seat in excitement. Stevie tugged curls behind her ear and began to write as she felt the lightness pounding in her chest.

Although they weren't in rush, it seemed like they will stop at the department for a bit since Taehyun struggled to form a sentence as the man on the other side didn't even let him speak his mind out.

"Looks like we're going to extend our trip, girls," Fariza mumbled, sipping an iced latte with almond milk. Taking a glimpse at her daughters, shaking her head slightly as she perceived the youngest trying to write something in the moving car. No wonder she was feeling so lightheaded.

Stevie sighed of exaggeration as she stopped writing mid-sentence, completely forgetting what should happen next. She twiddled her thumbs a bit till the words came back to her mind. It wasn't surprising when she started to lose track of what was happening around her, as the fictional world started building inside of her mind. Something was wrong. As she appeared back at the crumbled hill, the fields were gone. The fantasy land turned into a valley of death. Now walking through it, looking around, Stevie failed to find the remnants of nature. The area was completely devastated, burning, perhaps, since there was a cloud of smoke rising. It wasn't smoke.

It was the life fading away as the darkness consumed it wholly.

A quick movement made her look back a flinch. Normally she didn't get scared so easily but something about it felt so real. She heard swift footsteps, circling around her in the arisen dark fog. That wasn't the thing she was originally planning to write. Her imagination was always locked in the positive vivid brainwaves that could bring her into the desired worlds.

I see the light.

There's no such thing as darkness.

Stevie wrote over and over until there was a tiny portion of the blank page left. For a moment it seemed like the dark thickened. So she wished for the light more. Until a blinding streak flashed through the dark. Feeling the heat of flames almost scorching her skin off, she flinched, avoiding another ball of fire. However, the sudden light illuminated a dragon-like face that instantly went after her.

Stevie ripped the paper from the journal. Her heart pounded as the creature scared her. She took quick breaths, trying to ignore her sister that was looking at her with widened eyes.

"Jeez, you're nuts," Veronica commented with a judgy examination. After that, she put back on her earphones to avoid any other conflict and started to focus on the endless road until something odd falling down from the skies caught her attention.

"Watch out!"

The cars in front of them maneuvered in an attempt to avoid the collision. They bumped into each other as the head of something green rolled on the road, spewing the last bits of flames.

"Dad!"

"I'm trying!"

Taehyun tried his best to avoid the head. It was hard for him to be concentrated since his wife was screaming because she spilled her coffee. Yes. These kinds of situations were more nerving than the supernatural around them. Those strange encounters happened too often. Both sisters were trying to hold onto something as this ride turned into a need for speed. One of them joined the screams, and the other one — Stevie — was horrifyingly looking at the lifeless creature. It was the dragon from the paragraphs. Her curious eyes were locked on the swirling vortex above the bridge that instantly sealed itself.

The car quivered due to the sharp overtake of the one that was in front. The Jeon family looked for a second behind, where the head was supposed to be lying, but instead of it, there was a pile of dark dust. The inside of the car darkened for a second till they felt a blow as if the car bumped into something. The horror in everyone's eyes couldn't be described

Teahyun braked the car, fully terrified. He turned around at his children and his beloved wife, "Everyone's okay, or did someone turn into dust?"

Stevie's back was pressed against the window. She bumped her head a little from the back but it was her problem since she was leaning on it.

"Wait— What are you looking at?" Taehyun questioned as no one responded to his question. They seemed okay but they weren't saying anything so that made him worried. Girls' eyes were locked at the front of the car, not even blinking.

Taehyun gulped, slowly taking a glance in the same direction as them. He wheezed loudly when someone else touched the hood of their blue Hyundai from beneath. He slammed the door, followed by his wife. Girls stayed inside the car. Stevie sat there slightly traumatized by the incident. She blindly reached toward the torn paper. She stayed in the car to calm herself down. She had so many questions as she slightly shivered from the sudden stop. She scanned the paper. Everything seemed so accurate. The way it all appeared as she tore the paper. The dragon. The dark fog. The stranger. Stevie put the paper down, knowing that it was somehow all her fault. At least no one got hurt.

"This is my first time seeing an Avenger killing off a dragon. A freaking dragon. What will come next? Cthulhu?"

Taehyun burst into a laugh when an officer exchanged his thoughts after trying to hear out the witnesses, "Let's hope for Santa Claus."

Officer Hewitt accompanied the commissioner to the car as the bridge was slowly clearing out after the mess was solved. When he saw that his family was impatiently waiting it was time to say goodbye.

"Did you find the necklace?"

"No signs about that, sir."

"Well, see you tomorrow then, and also thank that boy for the cleanup. Those from the biohazard were ready to quit when they heard about dragons. I'm not surprised. I read somewhere that dragon's blood is thicker than human's," Hewitt laughed, patting his back, "Also sorry about the vacation."

Taehyun waved at him and finally went back to his family and the new addition that was sitting next to Veronica, closer to the window.

"I know you don't want to but we will still take you to the hospital for a check-up."

"I think I might need one too. I got this weird headache," Stevie uttered while squeezing the ripped journal paper. She managed to cut off her dad's monologue toward the stranger. Taehyun started the car and headed back to New York as they failed to check in to the hotel.

It wasn't just a headache. She had this weird feeling. As she all of a sudden peeked at the one sitting next to her sister, the strange feeling resonated when Nicholas looked back at her.