shadows claim
In the quiet town of Clearwater, Ava, Liam, and Sophie—three lifelong friends born on the same day—are excited to celebrate their seventeenth birthday together. Everything feels just right: their routines are comforting, their bond unshakable, and the future wide open. But when they return home that evening, their families are gone without explanation. At first, they suspect an elaborate birthday prank.
By morning, their world has changed.
No one remembers them. Not their parents. Not their classmates. Not even the town itself. To everyone in Clearwater, they simply never existed.
Terrified and alone, the trio begins searching for answers. Their search leads them to an abandoned storage room beneath the old community center—a place tied to past town events, now forgotten like them. There, they uncover three strange books bound in worn leather and etched with symbols that seem to shift when touched. The texts make no sense on their own, but when the pages are compared, a hidden history emerges: a shadow demon that feeds on memory and identity—and a warning that their families were never as innocent as they believed.
As they try to make sense of it, a mysterious silver-eyed stranger named Lucian appears. He tells them their shared birthday marks them as a “Chosen Trio,” tied to an ancient prophecy. He offers to guide them in awakening powers tied to who they truly are. Suspicious but desperate, the teens dig into their family histories—and uncover a devastating truth: their parents made a deal with the demon years ago, a deal that traded their children’s identities for protection.
As their powers awaken—Ava’s tactical insight, Liam’s physical resilience, and Sophie’s intuitive perception—they choose to defy Lucian’s warnings and confront the demon in the Shadow Realm. There, reality distorts and the truth is a weapon. Haunted by their forgotten pasts, tested by illusions, and nearly broken by fear, the trio pushes forward, held together only by trust and love.
In a final confrontation, they face not just the shadow demon, but the painful truth: their parents erased them not out of malice, but to save them. Faced with a choice—accept the sacrifice and disappear forever, or reclaim their place in the world—they choose to fight back.
The demon is defeated. The curse lifts. Clearwater remembers.
But the experience has changed them. Ava, Liam, and Sophie return not just as survivors, but as something more: bonded by truth, shaped by sacrifice, and aware that the shadows haven’t stopped watching.
