"Hey!"

 

A woman's voice called out to Tira just as she exited the toilet cubicle, their voice loudly echoed inside the bathroom's confined walls.

 

Despite the shock of being suddenly addressed, by a stranger no less, she still made her way over to the sink and began to wash her hands without much thought.

 

 

"...Is there anything I can do for you?" 

 

 

"There is!" Lydia made her way further into the bathroom and leaned against the countertop after scrutinizing the top to see if it was dry, then smiled sweetly at her. "Can I ask if Dias is single?"

 

 

Tira squeezed a bit of soap, just enough, to lather her hand. Her mind whirred as she multitasked while thinking. Should she or shouldn't she answer this blatant troublemaking attempt…?

 

"He's single."

 

 

The sound of running water filled the white-tiled room. She endured the awkwardness for a little while and discreetly gave a quick glance to the college woman still at her side. 

 

Lydia continued to stand next to her by the countertop and fiddled with her bag as if she was looking for something.

 

There was no way a purse that small in size could be as compactly packed as she was making it out to be. It was more likely the woman was buying time until she gained more information, perhaps? If so, then Tira guessed what reaction the woman wanted to hear and played along.

 

"You're interested in him?"

 

"Hmmm... Was it that obvious?" Lydia grinned then pushed herself off the wall to face the mirror as she finally pulled out a lipstick tube from inside her bag. 

 

She pursed her lips and smeared it steadily, touching up her looks and perfectly lining her lips before she spoke. "I mean, he looks so handsome! I can’t resist his alluring charm now, can I?"

 

Tira thought she would certainly be able to if she decided to try, but the conversation was getting more and more awkward by the second; the sooner she ended it, the better.

 

She flicked her wet fingers into the sink and instead of humoring the topic any further, said, "I see. Good luck with that then."

Using a tissue to dry her hand, Tira kept her focus on Lydia as she finished with her upkeep and exited without an ‘excuse me’ or 'see you later’.

 

 

Only when she was sure that the lady had left, she let out a sigh she'd been holding for a while. Should she have made it clear that she wasn’t interested in Dias? It was such a first-world problem to deal with in an apocalypse.

When she returned to the auditorium, the tension had thickened instead of dissipating. It  coated the air like the way a syrup would to a bottle—consistency sticky and suffocating to those who were stewed in it.

 

It could also be the heatwave making her hallucinate. High humidity had a tendency to do that sometimes. Either way, she managed to trek her way back rather unnoticed by the crowd who were busying themselves with congregated meetings that were simultaneously happening at the same moment.

 

 

Almost all of the seats had been abandoned. The two parties had left them in favor of standing at opposite sides of the room and drowning the room with noises of their own, separate, heated discussions. 

 

Rina was the only one sitting on their school's side; the teachers and the other two seniors were nowhere to be found, though her bored expression soon dissipated and lit up when she spotted Tira coming over. "Welcome back!"

 

She hummed and stood by her senior’s seat. "The others?"

 

"The teachers are getting some air by the stairs. Donny's got something to discuss with Dias and Armand is… taking a smoke break, that's what he said anyway." The medic almost sighed at the end as she quoted her fellow senior's words, though her disappointment was far more evident in her body language. 

 

"You don’t like smokers?" She asked, genuinely curious.

 

Rina nodded, her mood turned sour in the blink of an eye. "I’m… I don’t like how many deaths it's caused. Addiction, in general, I mean." She glanced up after that little bit of sharing and made her curiosity clear by holding Tira's gaze. "How about you?"

 

Her opinion, hm? She couldn't exactly say something childish like she wanted to carry around a water gun to snipe everyone who smoked in a five-meter radius. She rarely ever joked with this senior, so...

 

"My father smoked."

 

Tira tried to word it as carefully as she could. Deliberately vague to not lose herself into the memories. 

She blinked the images and sensations away before they could overwhelm her and inhaled a lungful of humid, hot, and sweat-filled air to just remind herself of the reality she was now faced with. "I just got used to it."

 

"Ah." Rina's gasp was muffled as she had covered her mouth, almost as if she hadn’t meant for it to be noticed. "Your family—"

 

"They’re back." She pointed out, quickly shutting down the train of conversation Rina was about to jump on. 

 

She turned towards the arriving group of people and tried to let the feeling of discomfort settle as she tried to get used to having Dias’ eyes land on her as soon as she was within his range of sight.

Taking her previous position behind his chair, she waited until the demigod came close enough for her to inspect in great detail, though the one thing that immediately caught her attention was the faint scent of tobacco that followed him as he sat.

 

A whiff of the astringent, smoky scent, trails that could mean many things. Things that she wasn't about to guess and would prefer to ask him later when they have the time and the lack of company.

"We’ve come to an agreement."

Lydia walked—no, strode forward with confidence as she carried a piece of paper in her hand. Her steps stilled in front of Dias, her eyes observing him indifferently as she scrutinized every inch of his face before she finally spoke. "Just answer this one question: if there are other demigods with the same capabilities as you have, why should we choose you?"

 

"A good question." Dias crossed his arms as he pondered over her question with the seriousness it deserved. "While our participation and purpose in this war as a whole is to stop the extinction of mankind as we know it now, I'd be lying if I said that each one of us doesn't have our own agenda of what we’d like to do with humanity once the winning side has saved it."

 

Dias’ fingers tapped against his opposite arm, "I say this without the intent to exaggerate or embellish anything, but I know of a demigod who wished to build a harem with every existing male in the world with her as the sole queen, while another wished for a world where humans would bow and praise him for as long as the sun shines in the sky."

 

Dias shook his head with a hint of fondness, a stark contrast to the terrible countenance he had just described. "As for me, I’m much more interested in culture. To study it and to immerse myself in how you think and live. I want to understand what makes a human… human." 

 

Dias shrugged and placed out all his reasons lightheartedly as if he hadn’t just listed the most absurd examples that belonged to tyrants and hedonists before his own, of those who stood on equal ground with him as the next candidates for the next ruler of their world. "Of course, not all of them have goals that reach to that extreme, but... the ones I just listed as examples are goals of the strongest demigods that I know of. The chances that they could win are very high."

 

"What about a neutral camp? Won't there be any?"

 

He nodded and stood up from his seat. "They exist but, as with all things neutral, they would have to follow whoever ended up crowned as king eventually, whether they like it or not. They still end up creating their own side as well."

 

The smile that he gave Lydia was brief, but it was enough to convey Dias' sentiment on the matter. "I'd love to be part of that, but as it stands, I have more to lose if I follow someone else's whims and wants. Especially if our personalities and views do not align."

"I understand. You've talked about the others' winning chances." Lydia shoved forward another specifically pointed question, pursuing the truth of the matter with the precision of a sharpshooter. "What of your own?" 

"I think I should at least try, if nothing else," Dias' lips curved once more, though this time it took a form alike to what Tira had dubbed his ‘lady killer’ smile, aimed directly at Lydia once again, "And one of the first things I would wish for is to see that humanity thrives, all on your own, instead of being molded into something else; something alien. Out of all possible outcomes, that one would break my heart the most."

 

Lydia nodded, looking satisfied, and offered the paper she had been holding tenderly during her rapid-fire questioning. 

 

"I don’t know how your contract works but as long as they follow the important points listed on this paper, you will have yourself a fourth."

Dias' smile turned increasingly... happier as he read the paper or at least that was what she could sense through their leaking emotional connection.

 

Tira, who happened to be standing at a good position, sneaked a glance over the paper and recognized the format—an exact duplicate of what most formal contracts looked like. Something about it made goosebumps spread and rise along her skin, it made her feel so bad that she had to force herself to look away from the paper. 

 

So she took back to studying Lydia. A true warrior of words stood before them, and instead of assured,Tira felt largely unsettled and alert.

 

The level of danger that Lydia possessed gained another notch in her mental notes. Another person to keep an eye about.

 

It took some time for him to read through the entirety of the A4 paper but when he was done, Dias leaned forward, copied the same pose she had done to him earlier, an exact reenactment of how Lydia had approached him, with his lips against her ear as he asked her in a whisper. "What were the other subjects you studied, again?"

 

"Diploma in Social Politics and Journalism." Lydia visibly preened as she answered and at the acknowledging smile he threw over as he pulled back and...

 

Wow. Just… Wow. Despite having to endure the blatant attempts at flirting, Tira wondered if she had ever personally met someone who had double degrees under their arm and still looked so young. 

 

If it were true, Dias was guaranteed to have a rough time in the future, seeing that she was persistent enough to choose the hard mode in academics. Perhaps romance would not present her with many obstacles or challenges to conquer.

 

…Or was it double? Were social politics and journalism different subjects, or were they combined studies? She had absolutely no idea but, as the entourage from Uni B didn't seem to be shocked by this indiscreet announcement, the momentary surprise didn't take away the respect and fear she had already assigned to Lydia.

 

 

In a blink of an eye, they witnessed the paper in Dias’ hands lit up, letters flew out from the pages and began to glow. 

 

The glowing, blinking light, coming from the penned words, leapt out of the paper and formed another circle between their soon-to-be conjoined hands. Perhaps it was instinctual to shake hands once the rite's progression kicked in, though Tira stayed silent as she observed the circle of contract that surrounded their now interlocked hands.

 

Then, just like before, the glowing letters melted into both of their arms, sinking into skin, thus signalling the start of their contract being in effect henceforth.

When Lydia withdrew her hands, instead of retrieving her weapon from Dias's palm, they watched as a glow of light shone from her chest in rhythm that resembled a heartbeat. 

 

Lydia's heartbeat.

 

Buttons flew and the front of her suit ripped apart, as a silver rod of some kind pierced its way through the newly created gap within her skin.

 

Lydia did not shy away from this baffling phenomenon. Instead, she pulled the emerging power from the gap between her ribs without any grimace apparent on her face, and whipped out a long trail of silver that soon formed into the exact shape and usual length of a rod.

 

The rod glittered, but its light barely dimmed in its plain and straightened form as it slowly settled into the shade of rose gold and silver, the tips bending backward whilst in her grip.

 

Each end then tapered off, flattening and elongating past the length of her arms. Curves filled the part where Lydia’s hands were holding and stretched and stretched impossibly without becoming thinner.

 

At last, a thin string of light connected the two ends of the curved bow together.

 

 

Lydia turned to face her group. With shoulders held high and her voice barely a whisper, she grasped the silence around them and chased it away with a single command.

 

"Kneel."

 

Without hesitation, Cahya went down on his knees, followed by the rest of the young men and women behind him. She aimed her bow at them and plucked the string of light.

 

A sharp note rang through the air, along with an arrow of light. It shot and spread into various smaller beads of twinkling stars, before sinking through the heads of the students and enveloping them in a soft glow reminiscent of a full moon.

 

They waited until the glow subsided before standing upright once again, inspecting themselves in disbelief. Tira was about to check on how much power Lydia had spent bestowing the group with their own little kindles of power, though she didn't have to wonder for long as Cahya shook his left arm and formed a silver shield, a shield that reflected the soft glow of the sun coming in through the window and bounced off into the most beautiful pale gold.

 

Lydia turned back to Dias with a smile, this time a lot easier to read as it was filled with unbridled joy and gratitude. "Pleasure working with you."

Mixed reactions spread across the group that had stood on Uni A's side. Henry, who had stepped up by himself and had surprised his group with how sudden it was, walked over to Dias without anyone being able to stop him in their astonishment. "Mind if I take a look at that contract?"

 

Dias handed the paper over as requested and, after a brief reading of it and shrugging off Gunawan’s hand, who had chased after him, Henry glanced back up at the demigod with eyes filled with conviction. "Can I add another thing here?"

 

"I don’t know, can you?" The demigod teased light-heartedly with a wink.

 

Smiling wryly, he searched his pocket for writing utensils, only to have Gunawan hand his pen in front of his friend's face. 

 

With a stern face and a worried voice, Gunawan warned the man. "Think about this one last time, Henry."

 

Henry's answer was made clear with his actions instead of words. The leading representative took the pen silently, then wrote on the stiffened paper, and gave it one last read before he returned it to initiate the contract once more.

This time, Dias did not offer a handshake but an open palm facing up instead. Henry did not react in time as Gunawan put his hand over those outstretched leather-covered digits, to the shock of his friend.

 

"Gun!"

 

Gunawan did not elaborate with words either, waiting, silently observing the other man with his resolute eyes until Henry blinked away his regret and put his hands on top at last.

The magic circle manifested once more, sealing the oath the three took and perhaps, knowing its use was over and had lasted to the last bit of its durability; the paper disintegrated into thin particles and vanished into thin air.

From within that tower of agreement, the two pulled back two vastly different weapons. One of them held a curved blade. Its color black with shimmering gold edges along with a handle made from dark stone and wood. The seven curves it held glimmered ominously, showcasing the lines of silver core that swirled dangerously, as if the design itself could come to life and drown any soul who laid eyes upon its mysterious, turbulent waves.

 

In the other's hand dangled a set of five knives, one on each finger from their respective loose ends. The almost gold-like color of the metal reminded her of the stars that were usually placed on top of Christmas trees. Bright and eye-catching. But no less deadly and threatening if handled carelessly.

Henry inspected his weapon and undoubtedly because of the knowledge he had been injected with, vanished all but one knife and twirled it between his fingers. Gunawan also put away his keris blade as they both made their way back to their group. 

 

Curiously, they did not offer any blessings to their members, to the disappointment of some and the annoyed look of a particular man.

It was probably because of that one person that they had acted carefully. She didn't know his name, but Tira could sense the slight malice he let slip for a split moment as he welcomed back the two men and marked the man’s face with utmost focus. A few minutes were enough for her to commit his face to memory. She was confident that she could pinpoint him under the shadow of a moonless night.

 

A loud bell, one that signified danger and caution tolled inside Tira's head as she watched his smile, it barely reached his eyes.

"And now, for the rule I wish to bring forth: to expel all members of the Red Lalar gang outside the barrier. What say you all?" Dias' voice pierced the room sharply. His question broke through the barrier of uncertainty and the guilt that simmered still, pooling underneath their feet at the temperature of a heated water slowly boiling.

Despite her face twisted into a grimace of pain and her eyes shut with a frown, Rina's broken whisper led the others to the first vote of condemnation. "We agree."

 

"We agree." Donny coldly cast his vote, his tone impassive and distant as he nodded.

 

Armand glared sideways, at the south side of the floor that was strewn with chairs and now empty, his arms crossed as he almost sulkily voiced his decision. "We agree."

 

Henry had his hands clutched, Gunawan’s own resting on his shoulder as they answered together, "We agree."

 

"We agree." Lydia gave a stiff smile, her voice unnaturally high, although her eyes said more of her reluctance than her voice did. 

The rising and falling voices of six determined individuals build up on top of one another, singing the anthem of death to their enemy. There were no signs of wind, or screams, and no paints of scarlet red that followed after their judgment. Nothing followed but pure tension and dread.

 

And the fact that it happened the moment they finished their proclamations and left nothing but silence afterward, was devastatingly haunting.

 

She was sure that everyone could feel it when the rules were put into place. Blessed or not, none of the people present had managed to handle the sudden oppressing force that befell them all. A force that forced its way up their spines like a metal rod being jammed up and down simultaneously through their throat.

 

No human in the room missed it as they instinctively reacted in a variety of ways when the law cemented its place in their miniature world and filled every available space that it had occupied as its domain.

 

The space which also contained all of them within its protective embrace.

A few minutes passed under the tension. There was no struggle, no blood was shed in the room that had risen in temperature several degrees from the heat of the afternoon sun. It was with the rising heat that the last propulsion of power kicked out many human lives under the compulsion of words finally settled, and with it, the confirmation of their crime.

Dias' smile had not moved. Her own breath had barely hitched or turned cold. She felt uncertain for the first time in her life, about whether she deserved to be here at all.

 

 

"And now, to the suggestion I wish to bring forth," the demigod's voice brought with him the gentleness of water to ease the heat that had burned and peeled their skin, as if to cover the ugly, exposed innards as well as regret that had started to form like pus and ooze. "-to erase that first rule we just made. What say you all?"

"We agree."

Soon, the force began to unravel, its tension rapidly decreasing as the law that had existed mere moments ago lost the power that was granted upon its creation.

 

She saw people breathing a sigh of relief, the 'normal' ones catching themselves when they realized the situation they were in at the moment turned their heads away, ashamed.

"Would you please go check the supermarket?" Dias asked, his voice once again called for her attention, spoken both outside and inside of her mind.

 

Tira did not respond. She briskly made her way towards the door, uncaring if her words would bring more of a bad taste to their already fucked up situation.

 

The truth had to be said, and the important things had to be done. Even if it hurt and was undeserved.

 

"Anyone who wants to come along with me, I’ll be waiting at the gates."

 

She walked and walked, and never once turned back around to the room that was now filled with anguish and despair. A room that had felt like home.

 

---

She gave them ten minutes at most. Ten minutes of waiting sounded decent enough, she thought, although the time limit hadn't even run out as her eyes took notice of the people who had rushed down the hallway to catch up to her.

 

Rina and Armand walked out with Devy in tow, presumably taking the place of Donny, as well as Sir Saputra as their teacher representative.

 

Then there was Cahya and two other boys from Uni B's side. One of them gasped lightly as he nearly stumbled on a piece of uneven pavement, and his friend had to catch him before the man could face plant onto the asphalt.

 

As for Uni A's side, Henry appeared by himself, seemingly sent alone.

 

As she watched them, it seemed unnatural to keep thinking of them as not part of them now. The contract had, for better or worse, made them allied forces. She'd have to reframe her way of addressing these people in a way that would be acceptable, but shoved that thought for later and instead asked, "Ready?"

 

"Are we walking there?" Cahya asked in confusion, still wheezing slightly to catch his breath.

 

She shook her head, "We’re running. It’s not that far." 

 

Not far by her estimate at least. It had been a while since she had the chance to visit the supermarket herself, not to mention the inevitable terrain change after the wolf-demolition crew came to town. It could take a little longer than she remembered.

 

Not that the addition of a small obstacle on the road would make much of a difference to her. "Let's go."

 

Tira started jogging right after her speech, once again not waiting for her newly formed group to catch up.

 

Their close footsteps, sneakers pounding against earth as they followed her was the only sign they gave to signal they had heard her loud and clear; she didn't have to wait after all.

A pair of heavy thumps came from behind her, the sound of someone sprinting hard. They soon overtook her with a maniacal glee and declaration of:

 

"See you there, slowpokes!"

 

Armand shouted, immediately ran out of sight by the time she registered his voice as he took an alternative path and gunned towards the no-car zone.

 

 

Henry, who was jogging leisurely, seemed to get fired up with the provocation as he also sped up ahead of the group. He did not say anything as he ran, but she noticed the slightest upward curve on his lips, just for a moment before he too, became a blur in front of their eyes.

"Come on, guys, we can’t lose out to those jocks!" One of the guys by Cahya’s side pushed his friend forward, speeding up to catch the group ahead. 

 

Cahya shook his head with a regretful smirk and scoffed. "Ha, those kids!"

 

But even he didn't remain unaffected by the provocation and started to ramp up his steps. Disappearing from her view in less than five seconds.

"Tch, boys," Rina commented as she kept her pace steady, jogging side by side with her juniors and the elderly teacher. "so, why are we jogging, by the way?"

 

"Oh, we’re not jogging, we’re racing." Tira played along with Armand's taunt and kept her face as impassive as she could while forming an idea that briefly crossed her mind. 

 

Her limbs moved on autopilot, avoiding rubble and potholes on the sidewalk by stepping over and jumping over them while her brain, as it always did, multitasked and worked overtime. Focusing on running, breathing and talking all at the same time.

 

Though, she needed a bit more time and silence, she added. "Anyone that arrives after me will have to help out move the cars out of the road tomorrow."

 

"You’re not serious," Rina laughed, just as short-lived as her hope was. Her chuckle tapered off right after. "...Right?"

 

Tira sped up her running pace.

 

"Oh, come on!"

 

Rina immediately sprinted with all her might, her hands locked on Devy’s arms as she dragged the girl forward. "Let’s go! We’re not losing! Not today!"

 

"S-Seniorr?!!!!"

Now, if she excluded the echo of Devy's screaming, Tira was left with only Sir Saputra. There was no way the elderly would sprint now; if he wanted to, he would have done so earlier.

 

Compared to a group of seven high-strung people, one person's company was much more tolerable. 

 

Tira slowed back down to a jog.

 

Only two pairs of steps thudded against the empty sidewalk of a ruined city.

 

The old teacher laughed as he jogged, his eyes curling up in a way that his wrinkles emphasized the sun's shadow as a mark of his age. "You’re a nasty piece of work, you know that?"

 

"I just want them to vent a little," she didn't deny his words because they were fundamentally true, "they're mostly kids who lived in peace, they shouldn't have to go through the experience of sentencing another to death. That was the last era."

 

"And you’re not a kid?" Sir Saputra asked, tilted into curiosity.

 

"Everyone is a kid compared to you, sir." Tira deflected the topic, her eyes looked straight forward to scan for possible obstacles she was going to have to jump through.

 

It took her a while, but the idea finally finished forming. "Are you good with heights, by the way?"

 

Instead of answering, the old man cleverly asked back, "What do you have in mind?"

 

She gave him a reassuring smile. The old man's face paled into the shade of white bedsheets.

Armand had just arrived at the third intersection, jogging leisurely without a care as if he was the guaranteed winner when a shadow whizzed past him.

 

He glanced up. His mistake, since Tira was there soaring in the sky with her chains unfurled.

 

Her right chain shot towards the buildings in front of them, then pulled her with a force that rocketed her towards the sky again, the hook-blade unlatched when her feet touched the wall and she channeled the springboard momentum she gained for the jump from the side of the billboard.

 

"WoOooOHOOooO!!!!"

 

As she moved forward, another figure that was suspended with a chain around his torso let out a scream of joy, hollering as he rode through the air with pure child-like glee.

 

"Over your head, kiddos!" The old man taunted from the air, blowing raspberries even though Tira was the one doing all the work of actually running.

 

She let a chuckle loose and turned her focus back onto the road.

 

Since the teacher was kind enough to remind her earlier, Tira had to take her own advice and used this opportunity to experiment with her power at the same time; played with it as she did air spins to build enough power to jettison the hook onto another building. 

She fine-tuned her delicate control to catapult herself back into the air to save time and energy with the seconds she'd gained as the leader of the race.

 

And the result showed itself. She found the chains and energy easier to control than she had previously. Energy thrummed under her skin and flowed through her chains which moved unlike metal, as she forged on and manipulated them as if they were extensions of her limbs. Tightened and relaxed them in tandem with her muscles and mind's eye.

 

Perhaps this was what weapon masters meant when they said they were one with their weapons.

 

The sky felt especially special today. The sun was hanging low on the horizon, slowly settling down into prismatic layers of color that accompanied the coming of twilight. The clouds cast over the sky weren't much, even though it was nearing the evening hour. 

 

What was there were little puffs of cotton looking clouds that floated by and reflected oranges and blues on their underbellies as the moon slowly rose from the other end of their round planet.

 

Perhaps this was the best view she would ever get to see of this city, of this corner of their world.

 

Not allowing herself to get entirely distracted, she kept her eye on what was important: the road. Tira stabbed her weapon through another building and pulled herself forward again, somersaulting in the air for the fun of it, while simultaneously making sure her passenger was kept upright as they went. 

 

With her upside-down position, the world felt like it had slowed down as her eyes spotted the rest of her entourage below.

 

Henry was the first to adapt to the new shortcut, leaping from streetlight pole to streetlight pole with the agility of a monkey.

 

Surprisingly, Rina had managed to keep up with her as she ran over the power lines all while carrying Devy behind her back. The vice president had grabbed onto the senior with a death like grip around her neck, though Rina appeared unbothered as she ran straight forward.

 

Cahya and the other two boys were running and hopping through the tops of stranded cars unimpeded, their speed making up for their lack of exerted energy. They reminded her a bit of kids playing 'the floor is lava' game, though this time with more consideration to keep their steps light and the car roofs undamaged.

 

In contrast, Armand’s booming steps cracked the pavement slightly as he jumped and bounced from one rooftop to another, which was enough to tell her that he had destroyed everything under the force of his heels. 

 

His landings were occasionally slippery, killing his momentum at times, but never long enough to let the others overtake him.

Tira righted herself mid-air with the help of her chains and shot the free hook into another building's wall. And heard in vivid clarity of the ruckus that was behind her, as one by one, they desperately tried to catch up. 

"It’s working well, girlie." 

 

Saputra commented, calmer now, the childish behavior he had displayed was no longer there as when he had been taunting the other runners. "You know, I realized this just now, but you look like someone familiar."

 

"Is that so?" She ducked a bird flying so fast that it almost collided with her face, a little too close to comfort.

 

"That is so."

 

The old teacher didn't utter anything else until they arrived at their destination.

 

And what awaited them was nothing that anyone could have imagined.