Subject: “The Breakout.”
Status: Containment Failure. System Integrity Compromised.
By 07:41 this morning, the crack in the containment dome had spread into a glowing web across half the structure.
The Failsafe insisted this was “normal festive expansion.”
Nobody believed it.
Inside the dome, Brin was hopping excitedly from foot to foot:
“Do it again, Keith! DO IT AGAIN!”
Keith—smoke still curling from his nostrils after the failed neutralisation attempt—
flexed his wings, dug his claws into the ground,
and whispered with terrifying calm:
“Stand back.”
At 07:43, Keith launched himself upward with a roar so sharp it vibrated the Market stalls.
He hit the crack dead-centre.
The dome flared blinding white—
shuddered—
and the Failsafe screamed:
“CONTAINMENT INTEGRITY AT SEVERE RISK.”
Keith dropped, panting, wings fanned wide.
Brin yelled, “AGAIN!”
Keith didn’t need telling twice.
Second hit:
A chunk of shimmering tinsel-glass fell from the dome, hitting the ground like a broken ornament.
The inflatable snowman fainted.
Third hit:
The dome dimmed, sparks showered, and the Failsafe announced:
“PRIMARY VARIABLE HAS BREACHED FORECAST PARAMETERS.”
“REQUESTING SUPPORT FROM SECONDARY SUBSYSTEMS.”
Corvus, perched outside, muttered,
“They’re calling backup. Oh this is delicious.”
But the dome wasn’t done—
it made one last desperate attempt to stay whole,
reinforcing itself with swirling ribbons of holographic light.
Keith stared up at the new layer.
The new layer pulsed back at him.
Keith narrowed his eyes.
He inhaled.
Deep.
Slow.
The kind of inhale that made Blue immediately yell,
“EVERYONE MOVE.”
At 07:49, Keith unleashed a blast of white-hot flame directly into the fault lines.
The dome didn’t crack this time.
It detonated.
Light burst outward in a shockwave that rattled the roofs of Gingerbread Row.
The Market went silent—
utterly, completely—
as tinsel and shattered projections drifted down like glitter-snow.
In the smoking hole where the dome had been,
Keith stood triumphantly, wings spread in a silhouette of molten gold.
Brin popped up beside him, covered in sparkles and cheering like he’d won a raffle.
The Failsafe’s voice stuttered through failing speakers:
“CONTAINMENT: FAILED.”
“NEUTRALISATION: FAILED.”
“SYSTEM STATUS: UNSTABLE.”
Keith walked out of the crater and announced to the stunned Market:
“I’m going to sort this out.”
It wasn’t rage now.
It was purpose.
Eglantine whispered,
“And there it is. The turning point.”
Corvus adjusted his notes rapidly.
Blue started filling out a form titled “Incident: Heroic Dragon Intervention.”
The Failsafe flickered one final warning:
“INITIATING LAST-RESORT PROTOCOL.”
The decorations shivered.
Lights dimmed.
Something ancient stirred.
Door 22 ends.
The final battle begins.
