The sky grayed and the sun dimmed, and then rain struck. Flooding the crops and the cobblestones, the villagers rushed to their homes to get themselves dry. The humid air glued on their nostrils and stuffed their lungs. At school, the Young Guards cancelled the daily ceremony and allowed the kids to go home early. They were shaking and freezing from the sudden weather, some of them even caught the common cold. Snots and tears, the students took off. To them, it was good that they didn’t have to withstand a minute of silence, given that the showers could bury them into more of their coming sickness.

The school grounds were empty, but Neha and Sachen had yet to depart. It must have been that they had to stay after school due to an important matter. However, due to the absence of the teachers, they were alone in the place, and more significantly, Sachen forgot to retrieve something. She nodded herself to sleep throughout the whole day, and occupied herself by meandering in her dreams. Realizing that she was missing one thing, she bolted out of the classroom and zoomed through the hallways, and Neha pursued her. She called for Sachen many times, yet the latter kept spurring forth.

“Sachen! Just where are you going? Are you going to tell me or not? I might have to chase you until the end.”

The feet of the girls squeaked the tiles, and they left a huge trail of water behind them. The residue of rain on their hair wetted the walls and windows, at this rate they could submerge the whole building in an ocean. Had the teachers been here longer in time, they would have scolded the two for making such a mess.

At the end of the hallways, Sachen turned right to the restroom area. Neha caught up with her. Entering the girls’ room, the humidity permeated through the walls, and the girls coughed and pinched their noses. The stall doors remained open and showed the toilets in sparkling conditions. Upon the middle part of the ceiling, a series of droplets impacted Neha’s head. She seesawed between her steps and nodded.

Looking at the corners and huddling to the sink area, Sachen found the object that slipped out of her mind hours ago. She sighed.

“Ah, there it is!” From the sink closest to the window, Sachen snatched her umbrella and pressed the bottom spring near the tip cup. Opening it, she waved it up and down, creating a huge whip of wind that made the moisture even more stifling. Neha shivered and sneezed. Sachen continued to do this until the wind brittled their skin. She exhausted herself more in this instance than from sleeping in her classes, a remind that she needed to pay attention to her school work.

“Well then Neha, let’s go home,” Sachen said, she walked to the door.

“W-wait, before we can, do you want to wring our uniforms here? Standing in the flagpole area under the rain really soaked our clothes.”

“Here? That’d be messy. The janitor might get mad for us spilling some water here.”

“But we’ll catch a cold. Wet clothes are not good when they are worn after all.”

“That’s what my mom say every time! She keeps on nagging me whenever rain occurs! That’s why she always shove an umbrella in my tote bag, and I’d complain that the dang thing is too heavy to carry.”

“You should listen to her, because you’ll never know when you’re going to get sick.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Ah, we can do it now.” Grabbing a chair near one of the stalls, Sachen placed it before the sink near the window and lifted her friend to the chair. “You go first.”

Neha coughed as she looked at her reflection on the mirror. She clutched onto the end of her dress and overlapped it to the sink, she then twisted the part. Her hands going in opposite directions, water gushed from the clothing and spiraled down the drain. Numbness possessed her, Neha felt that her hands were going to fall out. She persisted. In less than a minute did her dress turn into wrinkles, and it distorted the pattern of the flowers and vines. Although it was so, she worried little about it.

“I’m done,” Neha said, she hopped to the floor. “Now it’s your turn.”

“Roger that!” Sachen stumbled her steps upon getting to the chair. Before she could start, she smirked in front of the mirror.

She opened her arms and let the droplets of the rain dripped on its own. She glanced at Neha, giving a smirk again that might or might not be a sign of insanity. With the force of her hips and abdomen, she spun herself. On her toes, she fountained the water from her dress and body, the residue invaded the air and damped the floor.

“S-Sachen!” Neha shielded her face, her hands got wet. “Don’t do that, you’re going to be in trouble! And you were the one who said that the janitor will get mad if we do this!”

Sachen laughed. “Nobody is going to catch us! We’re fairies in stealth! We can escape by the window if the janitor comes. No worries, no problems!” She did this more and more until she managed to soak everything around her. The mess from her became terrifying; water surged along the cracks and lines of the tiles, the walls swelled and turned sticky, and the stall doors trembled. It could have been better if she had opted to wring her clothes, but if the devil were to see this, then he’d weep.

“Yay! Now that we’re done, let’s go home. Today, we have no time to search for Kuraizang, so we’ll hold the plan off.” Sachen jumped from the chair and almost slipped upon one of the puddles on the floor. Holding her umbrella, she headed for the door.

“Neha? Did you hear me? Let’s go home.” Like what Neha did before, Sachen called out her friend countless times, but no response came through. She then shifted herself, clanging the tip of the umbrella against the ground. Neha’s face cemented itself against the window pane.

“What are you doing? Staring at the window? What could be there?” Sachen marched to the window on the opposite side of the room. Neha’s eyes were scanning the environment outside, the silence from her began to bother Sachen. What was she looking at? Was there something interesting, or rather something peculiar about the rainy weather? In light of a lack of answers, Sachen shrugged.

Sachen zipped her lips. She wiped the fog off the window and inspected the place across the street of the school. There was a blacksmith’s workshop. Albeit nobody being there, nothing seemed to be out of place. Sachen scratched her head, she continued to look. Squinting and focusing on the buildings next to it, a bright light manifested from one of the roofs. The light expanded, it sizzled the incoming rain. Judging from the bleakness of things, it looked like a mirage that Sachen could dismissed. But from there emerged smoke. Heat emanated the air and burned the window, and the faces of the girls scorched for a while. In spite of that, it sparked their curiosity; they continued to maintain their position.

The window shook. The next thing that happened, screams and yells scratched their eardrums. It occurred everywhere in the village, from the houses to the restaurants to the temple. Many children and adults were still outside and yet to come to their homes, their voices began to crack. At the same time, tides of gallops and gunfire invaded the place, and soon sank everything into chaos. The sudden barrages of bullets, the heavy footsteps that came forth, it left the two girls in fright. More to that, the light that came from the row of buildings revealed itself as a hellish inferno. It cooked the roofs and doors, its brightness monopolized the grayness of the sky. The whips of the fire lashed nonstop, as though it was punishing the village for the stagnation of their souls. Wherever it had came from before, there was no use to stopping it. One by one, it charred the buildings. People on the streets cried and shook, they scattered in search of a place to hide. Neha and Sachen held each other, they were unsure of what was occurring.

“W-what is this?!” Neha said, cowering upon Sachen’s chest.

“I don’t know! But it seems that something bad is happening!” Sachen gazed out the window again, only to witness more of the chaos.

Along the streets carried a large group of soldiers, with their rifles pointing at anything that crawl even a single inch. At the front of the formation, a trooper held a green flag, the same sight that the girls had encountered not too long ago. They noticed also, the emblems on the soldiers’ armor. Nothing they could understand the reason for their arrival, they watched the soldiers unleashing hell. The battalion stopped before a group of villagers, their eyes kindled in fervor. Without a single drop of mercy, the officer with the belly and mustache ordered his men to fire. They shot the villagers. The bullets ripped their flesh, and in an instant they dropped dead like flies. The unit continuing to move, they bulldozed more of the people, their hollers gave way to an unstoppable terror. In the village center, they clashed against the Holy Army. Though outnumbered, the ‘foreigners’ made momentum. An abrupt attack like this dared to disturb the peace of the village; of what the people once considered their village safe from anything, such a notion became broken. Now they were in a great deal of peril, more than anything they expected.

Sachen darted to the door. “Oh, it’s them! Goodness, I didn’t expect them to show up now!”

“We should have reported it!” Neha said. “W-we should have... I can’t believe this!”

“Don’t worry, it’s not our fault! Besides, the people won’t believe us anyway, they still think of us as innocent fools. But let’s get out of here, before the enemies find us! Come on, there’s no time to look! We have got to go!”

“Y-yes! We must!”

Together they returned to the hallways. Going to the back doors where it led to the stables, the girls encountered a wooden plank with a lock, blocking their access to freedom. Sachen shimmied her hands on one side of the plank. Neha went to the other side and helped her friend. They tried to lift it, but even with double the strength, the wood remained as it was. The effort strained their muscles. Sachen then used her fingernail and undertook the task of picking the lock. Her nail burying deep inside, it bent a little when she twisted her finger clockwise. Aching her, Sachen retracted her hand.

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Time was running out. They could go anywhere in school, from the desks of their classroom, the doors of the storage room, or the upper floors. Even so, it was better to get out, for staying in the building for too long might let the enemies find them in no time. Thus they attempted to take the plank away again; but they managed to move a tiny bit of it. Their muscles swelled, and their chests contracted.

The girls heard clamors outside the school. They cowered against the walls, held each other’s hands, and let their eyes shrink. The front doors collapsed; coming in were a detachment of soldiers. Bloodlust soaked their pupils. Waving their rifles in the air, the foes giggled when seeing the two helpless girls. Like monkeys, they hooted and scraped their armpits. With the lead of the overweight officer, the troopers maimed everything in sights with their axes and hammers; the tiles, the windows, the doors, the table, and the stairs, they smashed them into chunks. The girls trembled, they couldn’t help but squeal. Among this moment, the pair considered bowing and surrendering to the enemies in order to have them spare their lives. But was it possible to act upon such a consideration? The foes were closing in on them and destroying everything along their path. From the point where the two girls saw them, the soldiers had no qualms upon the safety of the villagers. As current circumstance showed it, no doubt could they wipe away that option, and the reality of things shredded the possibility of acting upon it.

The enemies stopped their cadence. They eyed at the two girls. The officer laughed, he was about to break in tears. In his language, he called his men to withdraw their arms. Looking back and wagging his hands, he summoned a muscular, stalwart soldier. The man came forth, he cracked a smile and drooled. His pupils flared. He wielded his axe from the right side of his hip; Neha curled to Sachen’s side and wobbled in place. What could they do at this point? Pleading for a miracle was ludicrous, there was no way for the gods to help them, and it seemed that the gods were taking this as some sort of their divine plan like they wanted to teach the village a lesson. Could the girls run away, when they were facing a bunch of savages? Limited options came with little hope. With delicate hands could they only pray.

An imaginary fire coating his face, the officer commanded the muscleman to finish the task. The man guffawed, he choked on his spit. He twirled his axe, stomped on the broken tiles, and licked his lips. It looked like he was willing to do something more heinous later on.

The muscleman held his smile and conducted his strike. He whipped his axe downwards. He cut the air in half, creating a gale. Out of instinct, Sachen seized Neha and rolled to the side, she almost broke her back. They tumbled to the walls, and hit their heads and flinched. As they emerged out of the cocoon of their fear, the soldier chopped his weapon onto the plank and lock. In one try by accident did he severed the obstacle. The split wood clunked, and the lock dinged upon landing to the floor. The girls set their eyes on the door, and felt a little relief that they were not the ones having their heads split in half. The officer scolded the muscleman for doing a poor job, and his comrades began to taunt him.

“Quick Neha! Let’s get a move on!”

“All right!” The pair blitzed away. They headed outside, and although rain was still pouring, Sachen left her umbrella closed. The enemies then stormed out of the school and crept close to their rears.

“Where shall we go?” Neha asked. She hyperventilated, and was unable to control it.

“For now, let us make an escape! Wait, but to where?”

Confused, they glanced at the stables. Inside, the animals groaned and sobbed for their lives. The horses, goats, pigs, and chickens bashed their heads against the fences and buried themselves in their haystacks. As it happened, Sachen wanted to save them, but there was a huge risk. Liberating the animals would allow the soldiers to have enough time to strike back on them. Of course, she was confident that she could do it in one go. But Neha stopped her. From there, without hesitation, Sachen decided to abandon the suggestion. She whimpered when hearing more of the animals’ agony. She wished that they were going to be all right.

“We need to go to the school gates and break away!” Sachen said. The two passing the flagpole area, the torrent clogged up the ground. They trudged their feet as if a river had formed among them. Soon they arrived at the gates, with the detachment inches behind them. They roared their voices and beat their chests, at the same time they fired their rifles upon the air.

“Yes! Now we can get out of this area!” Sachen pumped her fists. The pair jostled their steps to the street, sweating and letting their hearts flap faster than a butterfly’s wings. Once they were out, Sachen cheered and twirled her dress; it was the wrong occasion to do such a thing. The detachment was still here.

Neha and Sachen skipped to the other side of the street and avoided the inferno that was furnacing the buildings. They went right and took a sharp turn to a new area. They stumbled upon a mess. There, the rubble and dust from the fallen structures of homes and businesses pulverized the villagers’ bodies into a pulp. Their blood covered the cobblestone and sidewalks, so did their organs. It became to the point where the corpses were unrecognizable, and it packed a punch upon the girls’ stomachs. They wanted to vomit. As so, the torrent intensified and drenched the debris, making it difficult to navigate through the ruins. Nothing seemed to keep their hopes up. The discord throughout the village, let alone their area, brought undeniable dread. If they had sufficient strength, then the girls might have fought against the enemies alone. Reality presented otherwise.

It was then that the rainfall ebbed, the dark clouds were about to turn white. Behind, a gunshot fractured their ears. The girls turned their bodies. The muscleman showed up again. His muscles enlarged the veins along his skin, and his face was filled with crimson. Licking his lips again, he moved his fingers and fondled the air.

“N-no! It’s him again!” Neha stumbled on her steps and fell onto Sachen’s arms. “P-please, don’t kill us!” The man cackled.

Going in front of Neha, Sachen mobilized a bit of courage, or what she had left of it. She brought out her umbrella and swung it side to side as to intimidate the enemy. She whacked it to the soil, and drew a circle around her in order to make some magic. Protecting her friend was the only option she could come up with, if it meant that Sachen needed to resort to this.

“You fiend! Stay away from us! Shoo, shoo!” The man laughed his guts off until he ran out of breath. Summoning his firearm, he scowled through his iron sight. Sachen dropped her umbrella and crossed her arms, her face contorted. She was defenseless, the courage that she mustered suddenly vanished. Defeat, or worse, death, could at any moment sweep her feet away. Her heart dropped. Sweat overmastered her face more than the rainfall. Only the heavens knew what would happen this time.

The brutality of the rain was gone. The man, who was laughing the whole time, fell silent. His firearm plummeted to the ground, and the clinks of his armor waned. A burst of gunshot from the rear banged to his body. Sachen looked up—she let out a huge gasp. A single bullet lodged itself in the enemy’s head. Blood surging, eyes rolling backwards, lips puckering, it bathed the man into his own demise. His body thudded on the sidewalk.

Sachen blinked rapidly. Her skin became cold. “What… what had just happened?”

Neha sniffled. “Somebody hurt him. But who?” She glanced about the area, she then turned her attention to the corner that led back to the scorching buildings. There, an individual was pointing his rifle towards the fallen foe. He nodded, and Neha shuddered from his presence. Her voice trotted. She could have known that it was him; but for him to show up out of all these times was a miracle, more so a stroke of luck. She wanted to bless the person if she could, but the time now didn’t feel right.

“W-wah! Is that you?”

The soldier gave a thumbs-up. “Yes, it’s me.”

Neha shook her head. “Sachen, look! It’s Tulisen!”

“Who? Where? Over there?” Sachen then saw him. In armor and with the silver chevron, Tulisen straddled to their vicinity.

“Hey… so it was you who hurt this man?” Sachen asked. “How brave of you.”

“Indeed. If I were late, then this guy would have ended your lives.” Tulisen withdrew his gun and crouched to the girls’ height. Showing sympathetic eyes, he raised his voice. “Anyways! What are you doing here, in the middle of the dang streets? You know that you will get sick if you keep staying here in the rain! You should have gone home by now! What is the meaning of this? Naughty girls you are, I ought to punish you!”

“Um, we were at school, and Sachen forgot her umbrella. She found it, but then we put ourselves in danger...”

“Neha.”

Not more than a second later, Neha sobbed. Tears blinded her. “We just wanted to go home! But the bad guys went to the school, and tried to kill us! I couldn’t do anything, and Sachen tried to save me!”

Neha plunged to Tulisen’s arms; Sachen followed suit, her eyes watered and she cried too. So far, they had endured one of the worst times of their lives, and for the heavens to offer an event like this, it was cruel and inhumane. But as such, the world spared nothing of them but their fear that anguish them the whole time.

“Don’t worry anymore,” Tulisen said. “My men are currently winning and beating up the enemies. I will take you guys home, okay?” Carrying them in his arms, the girls slumbered from their endless bawling. Tulisen accompanied them among the disappearing rain; he then walked through piles of bodies, friends and foes alike. A few of his comrades died from the fight. How could a band of people from the forest be able to create such devastation? The sight saddened him. He cast his eyes towards the sky and relished the blue color canvasing over the clouds, but it did little to alleviate the pain. From here on, the ordeal and troubles of the girls would not end.