The harsh east wind was cold despite the summer season as if signaling the coming end of a long day.

It brought with it a deceptive coolness amidst the blaring heat of the summer sun, as, for many others, the end of activity was nowhere in sight.

As one of those many, she stood by her lonesome in the girl’s bathroom, splashing her face with ice-cold water in a desperate attempt to stay awake.

Her pale skin and sunken eyes suggested that she hadn’t been sleeping well. And indeed, she hadn’t.

Her nights had been assaulted with incomprehensible images instead of night flowers and sheep.

Instead of the familiar, soothing lull of unconsciousness, the dark had taken away the promise of comfort and rest, instead replacing it with a chilling shadow.

A shadow in the shape of a hand, which beckoned to her.

A voice. Heavy as honey, dripping with affection as it called out a name.

All these dreams started the same, and ended the same: with the image shattering as the first ray of dawn penetrated her window blinds, piercing through the dark into her consciousness.

For as intangible as experiencing a dream would be, she would find evidence of it: the wetted lashes of her eyes that she would wipe every morning, soaking the back of her hand that extinguished whatever minuscule hope whispered the night before for a better dream.

'Amatha…'

Another douse of cold water caressed her face as she tried her best to forget, to stay in the moment of reality despite the night’s insistence at yanking her back to that place. She hoped that whatever this was, that it would end soon.

She hoped. Hope was all she had left.

Closing the tap, her hands clenched against the cool, rusted metal for a moment, knowing that her eyes had played a trick on her with the sliver of light that reflected off its fake silver coating. The bathroom descended into silence, one barely filled with the sounds of her soft breaths.

No one stepped in after she left, since she was the one supposed to be in class. The maths teacher had graciously let her go when asked, and she was not about to skip class as a repayment.

On the way back, her eyes caught sight of a few figures on the opposite building’s rooftops. Rascals and rulebreakers. There was even a hint of smog coming out from the shade where they would be gathering, a sign that they were up to no good again today.

No matter. It had nothing to do with her.

She kept her pace while walking towards the staircase, about to take her first step down to finally return her mind to schoolwork.

Her first step wobbled along with the building.

A loud explosion rang, thunderous booming and shaking came from right behind her back. Instinctively, she turned towards the sound, only to be greeted with the bone-chilling sight of a rising pillar of fire across the street.

The school that she attended was located in-between two universities and many, many small business buildings.

If even one of those restaurants exploded, they would have to evacuate immediately.

She stayed rooted to the spot as her eyes watched the fire spread, kept her dry mouth closed in a vain attempt to swallow down her nerves. The classroom door on her side banged open and students from every corner burst from the confines of their class to watch the scarlet show.

Another rumble, this time from below. Windows and doors rattled in their frames, increasing in volume intensity as the shaking too reached an alarming point. The flattened surface of sand and gravel that the sports field cracked as a thick, obsidian pillar rose slowly from its place. It did not stop until it reached the height of the school building and more, overtaking the five-story floor in mere seconds, bringing shade under the occupied space that it had claimed for itself.

"Students, get away from the ledges!" The teachers shouted with terror on their faces. Some of the bolder teachers even forcefully pulled back a few students behind them. Their eyes widened in fear as they bore witness to the strange phenomena that had been happening around them.

Another round of explosions happened, this time from the west. Nobody needed to return and check out the opposite windows in their classrooms. The tremors were enough to alert them to its power and severity.

A few girls had started to cry out in fear when the delinquents arrived. Their soaked uniforms no doubt meant they had hastily climbed down to regroup with everyone. "What the fuck is happening?"

"I don’t know!" A younger boy replied, perhaps one that hadn’t gone to the roof with the rest of the gang. His face is painted with panic and fear. "Boss, we gotta bail!"

"No, you don’t!" Someone ran from the opposing hall that faces the street, another male student, gasping for breaths as he collected himself. "There are creatures outside!! People are being k-k–!"

The gang leader grabbed the kid by the neck and pulled him, eyes blazing with impatience and his tone commanding for an answer. "What’s outside?!"

"THEY’RE GETTING KILLED!!!"

Right on cue, screams started to register in everyone’s ears. The horde of students moved towards the opposing hall, though they didn't really need to, as the so-called ‘creatures’ had broken onto the school grounds and pounced on the security guard.

The creatures looked like gigantic dogs, almost resembling wolves– if only normal wolves were three meters tall, adorned with dark blue skin, armored with exoskeletons, and possessed a pair of red, flashing eyes. Their growls broke through the screams on the street as they kept tearing apart the mangled flesh of their victims.

A spray of blood painted the ground crimson. The creature did not stop until the security guard no longer looked human, before its companion turned its gaze towards the children on the first floor.

Elementary school children who were frozen in fear as the creature stalked closer.

It jumped into the air suddenly, avoiding the chair projectile thrown from the fifth floor.

"FUCK!"

An undignified shout sprung forth from the tallest, meanest-looking delinquent. "Get all of the first years' members to snatch the kids up! Second years, get the fortification going! Third years, get your battle gear and go down with me!"

"Armand!" A third year teacher stopped the boy, only to be shoved aside. "Stop–"

"No sir, I think not." He brushed past the terrified kids and ran down the stairs. One of the goons handed him a spiked bat as he went, and joining him were more members of the hidden school army. All armed and ready to go to war.

"Hey, are you okay?" a feminine voice broke her from her stunned observation. A third year, and a member of the same club, someone familiar amidst the chaos. Rina Jamal, a third year senior and a Red Cross medic, had asked her in a voice laced with worry.

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"Toilet," she answered numbly. Then slapped both of her cheeks to stop being in a daze. Reminded herself that now is not the time to stare in shock. "I think we should help."

"We?!" Rina hissed.

"Your sister is on the second floor," she calmly reminded the older girl, "Let’s help with the fortification team. I’ll go if you won’t–"

Rina gritted her teeth and nodded grimly, "No, I’ll do that. Instead, you get Elvin and Hana to go fetch the med kit. Ris!"

The boy who ran to report about the creature flinched in surprise, perhaps not expecting to be singled out at this moment. "Y-Yeah?!"

"Go back to the radio room and announce the Bomb Shelter, second protocol," Rina shouted over the cries of the boys on the first floor, who were facing and blocking the one creature with all they had as the other members dragged the little kids upstairs. "Tell everyone to go to the fifth floor auditorium, we’re going to use the Civet’s war bunker for the elementary kids! Sir Peter, lead the junior high and the rest to the other hall."

"You don’t have the authority to tell me what to do!" the person who was being ordered, a teacher named Peter, answered in the heat of the moment and was immediately silenced with a long wooden ruler wielded by another Civet gang student hitting the wall near his head. "You–!"

"Emergency School War Protocol number four, sir. If the leading gang is out, the authority is with the senior year of the Red Cross members and the alumni teachers," Rina recited in a threatening tone before she turned back to the rest of her yearmates. "Feris, you lead the kids to help around. Red Cross, move out!"

The third year Red Cross members followed their captain without hesitation and hastened over to the opposite set of marked stairs that would be their retreat path.

Seeing that the outsourced teacher didn’t have any intention to help with the evacuation, Feris, whom she assumed to be the class president, started ushering the senior year to various places. Some were sent to help fetch the children. Some helped with unloading the tables and chairs to block the west and east staircases in coordinated movement to block any weak points in their defences.

She moved along to fetch Elvin and Hana, her classmates who thankfully were still stuck in the room. Her class seems to still hang around in place, as the third year’s commotion wouldn’t have reached the third floor yet. "What’s happening?"

"No time to explain. El, Han, you’re the ones with the infirmary keys. Senior Rina ordered we move it all to the fifth floor." She relayed the command, then immediately addressed her class representatives. "Ayu, Ponyo, you two get the kids to the auditorium. Follow the school war protocol."

The students looked at her like she was insane. Ponyo, whose real name is Chia, opened her mouth in protest. "You can talk?!"

"If you can question me then move." She gave the two girls a cold shoulder before she turned toward the teacher with a request. "Sir Triya, can you please help the gang to get the elementary kids up?"

"I can." Sir Triya’s words were steady as he moved to fetch his bag, "All of you, get your bag and move out. Don’t push each other!"

"Test! The first floor is cleared! I repeat, the first floor is cleared!" The school speaker notified the packed halls. It seems that the senior finally got into the radio room. "Attention everyone, please go to the fifth floor auditorium, do not–"

Seeing that the situation was fairly under control here, she grabbed Elvin and Hana by their hands and left. The duo ran with all their might to the east wing, second floor, while she moved to the next class that was also held up by the teacher at the time to get them to move. She also fetched the other first year Red Cross members to help with the supply moving, before visiting the classes in the opposite building.

There was a time when she wanted to curse the school for having so many students and therefore, classes. Now would be the appropriate time. She swore internally as she fetched one last Red Cross member and had him sent to the fifth floor to help the relief effort.

In her current position in the northwest hallway, she had to run back to the northeast to access the unblocked staircases again. She tried not to look down at the massacre happening at ground level, instead focusing on getting as many people to safety as possible. She had to keep moving and not look down, to block her ears from the children’s dying wails, and keep her eyes open to the coming threats that had doubled despite the gang’s effort.

Another announcement rang through the school.

"The second floor is cleared! I repeat, the second floor is cleared! All Civet gang personnel, please fall back before we seal the stairs!"

Hearing the order, the boys returned one by one to where they came from, facing a renewed horde of creatures that were gnawing at their steel machetes as if they were mere toothpicks. Someone brought out a bottle of Molotov from who-knows-where, threw it into the concentrated area, and ran back as explosions once again rocked the grounds.

They closed the second set of gates from the two wings, just in the nick of time for another wave of creatures to come in and bite into iron bars as thick as an adult's arms as if playing with a chew toy.

She witnessed this as the last to be loitering on the third floor, and decided to go fetch her school bag and join others on the fifth floor. For once in her life, she sent her grateful prayers to the alumni of the school and their bloodthirsty tendencies to fight that had left them with all the right things to weather whatever was happening right now.

Just as she made it to the fourth floor staircase, the ground shook once again, though this time accompanied by a gentle rumble. She slowed down her steps, grabbing the railing so that she didn't have to stop completely, until she finally reached the fifth floor again.

She could tell by the noises that the students had all crammed into the auditorium. Cries of pain and fear echoed from inside the room. The younger end of the elementary school children was being guided through the backstage door, where the theatre props room and the gang’s bunker were located.

The rest, with most of the junior high school and high school assembled, were scattered sitting on one side of the floor as the other side of the room was filled with injured people of all ages. All of the patients were sprawled on the wooden surface with blood leaking and spilling from their myriad of wounds, being tended by the Red Cross with not enough personnel.

She noticed that there was also another corner covered with blankets and fabrics, no doubt taken from the infirmary.

She moved her gaze away.

Rina spotted her as she came in through the guarded door and waved her over, doing her best to subdue a flailing body under her as the senior’s cheeks were stained with sweat and blood.

"Hold him down!"

She went to work immediately after. Disinfecting, bandaging, and making sure to keep her hold tight as possible so wounds could be examined and properly treated. The scent of rubbing alcohol and blood had blended in the air sooner than a few seconds she needed to adapt.

A loud, bone-chilling explosion rattled the door and window frames. where the gang members had gathered around to drop bottles after bottles of liquid bombs. Heat and a periodic dosage of shrapnels appeared to be doing a good job of keeping the creatures away for now - their gurgling and howling now laced with pain, where she finally noticed the two chemistry teachers from both grades were assisting the boys with the making of those bombs and being the steady source of Molotovs.

The boss suddenly stopped his throwing, followed by the rest of the boys, as he peered over the window, almost in time with the next hum coming from the metal pillar. "Rina, Donny, come over."

The called students went over to the window. The student council president had the principal by his side, who trailed along to see what it was that stopped the defense line from continuing their effort. Principal Guntur remarked in surprise, "Is that a person?"

She kept away from the brewing situation by the window, solely focused on cleaning and bandaging the hand of a poor kid who seemed like it was about to take off from the bone. She had just moved to another little girl who popped her knee when she heard her name being called.

Of course, she lifted her head, to look around at which asshole decided to distract her at the moment, only to see none.

Yet the voice kept calling.

‘I know you can hear me. Come to the window.’

Insistent bastard.

'I can help.’ The voice became clearer, piercing through the ruckus in the room. ‘I can help you save the children.’

Her head was ringing. She almost spilled the alcohol. She ordered it to shut up.

‘Come over and I’ll help you save everyone.’

"Tsk."

She stood up, handing the disinfectant to Elvin who happened to be positioned by her left, and strode across the room. “H-Hey!” She paid his call no mind as she almost ran to where the voice was coming from.

The outside world seemed like hell.

And within that hell blooms a single flower.

A person wearing all black in broad daylight was looking up at the window. They stood unharmed by the beasts that had hunted around the school just earlier. Separated by only a thin light membrane, from the dog-like creatures that tried to get to them.

Even though they are a good hundred meters away from each other by the floor's height alone, she could almost see them lifting their head upward.

She felt their eyes meet despite the odds.

‘Be my bride.’ The voice said, now clearer than ever. The man stood calmly inside the slowly cracking shield. ‘And I’ll make all your wishes come true.’

He opened his arms.

"What is he doing?" Rina commented on the side, not paying attention that her junior had moved back from the window.

Admittedly, she did not think this through. Perhaps the heat of summer had boiled her brain to a stew. Maybe it was the scent of all that blood on the ground that had numbed her rationale. More likely, the fact that she had not had a good night's sleep had been the start of it all, the warning before the tragedy. Because really? A voice that whispered promises in your head?

She launched through the open window.

For a moment, time seemed to stop. She was airborne, five stories above the ground. Her initial force had not been enough. Despite her already kicking the window frame on her way out, her trajectory should be immediately towards the maw of the waiting beasts below her.

Yet she found herself not plummeting, but gliding towards the figure in black. The wind was holding her figure from descending too quickly, or too slowly, and the force had blown away the surrounding creatures from around the man.

She was now floating, just a few meters away from him, and he took her hands with a tenderness that she did not expect from a stranger. He did not pull her, his touch did not burn her skin, though the heat of his skin was present along with the beat of his heart.

As if in reverence, eyes filled with unspoken emotion. He gave the back of her hand a chaste kiss, right on her ring finger.

She felt power fill her. It crawled, running amok in her veins as her skin glowed hotter than molten magma. She felt free from a shackle she had not been aware of before, and almost did not want to close her eyes to miss the moment of what her decision had led her towards. The force of what she was given was almost too much for her to handle. Too much. Too much, too much too much stop stop stop it had to stop!

"Accept me," he pleaded.

She took a breath.

And settled her feet on the ground.

With the membrane broken, there were no more barriers between them and the beasts. As one, they growled in satisfaction, perhaps ridiculing the foolishness of the girl who had broken her own wall of salvation.

Her power felt heavy in her hands. With but a twitch, the rattle of chains and metal followed. The chill ran all the way to her forearms. It was mildly comforting, despite what it represented.

"Protect me. And I will protect your people."

She launched herself at the beasts.

One at the forefront immediately tried to strike her on the head with its claws. She used the baton on her left to deflect it, crushing its inner skeleton, then severing its head with a sword on her right. She dodged to the left, merely a hair’s breadth from another attack, and met that attempt with another swing of her right hand.

The sword melted its form into a baton, as if switching with its left counterpart. But the steel on the left stayed blunt until she had to thrust it to the side, its form once again changing into the simple sword that its twin once had.

Melodic chains that tied on the end of her weapons followed her rhythm of retaliation. This dance of death and anger and revenge was directed against any assault that blocked her way, and for the fallen ones that had dyed the stage for her to perform.

They tried to go after the man, but found her too much to handle. She did not let a single one pass, as promised.

Hope for a promise fulfilled was all she dared to ask. Hope was all she had left.

Hope answered with a painful whirring behind her back, and an explosion of light that obliterated her foes into dust. Hope answered with a gentle light that covered the grounds, expanding towards the school, bringing all into its protective embrace.

With peace, came silence.

She found her dress wet, glistening over the black color where the sun rays hit. Indigo-colored sweat was dripping from her skin, tainted by the otherworldly blood that bathed her. Her breath felt cold despite the heat that emanated from her lungs, almost burning the air surrounding her with its veracity.

And at last, her eyes landed on her face reflected in by shattered glass, covered by the color of the darkened night, filled with the stars that had dripped onto her veil, dyeing her in a color not of her own.

Instinctively, she somehow knew, deep in her heart, that she had accepted a fate far crueler than the coming of the world’s end.

As if in concert with the revelation, the automatic bell rang. It heralded the arrival of death’s bride.