*A Premonition hit me, much more like a nightmare in broad daytime. I’ll be locked in a cabin facing brutality against Satan. There’s nowhere to go because Satan himself is that place’s God.*

It’s a good start for the day as the sun shines through the classroom window. The voices in the hallway vanish as the classes started. The students of class 10-A focus on staring at the board as they listen to their teacher’s droning voice as the chalk she holds screeches with the board which has a mirror above it, but someone caught her attention. In the last row near the window lies a girl sleeping in her armchair. Nerves popped up her teacher’s head.

“Evergreen! Who says you can sleep in my class!?”

As she looks up under her long brown hair, she sees the whole class looking at her. With the dizziness in her mind, she stands down and bows with her blue watery eyes.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Rose.”

“What are you sorry at? Being the top student of this batch won’t excuse you for bad manners. You deserve respect when you respect others,” the teacher argued with a high pitch voice. Mrs. Rose is a teacher of Mathematics from the tenth grade and she’s infamous for her high-pitched voice. She starts writing series of large numbers on the board.

‘15122 1116 96011621’

“Interpret its meaning, and you’ll be able to sleep through my class. Just a tip. If it is properly regarded, it should not be difficult to decipher,” the teacher said with a calm tone unlike before. She sits down in her chair and clasps her hand while testing the top student but she didn’t expect another student to stand beside her.

“Mrs. Rose, I’m sorry for being rude, but can you please forgive Ruie just this once? She is doing her best to take part-time jobs for her family. That is why her time for sleep is too limited,” the girl with curly brown hair beside Ruie insisted.

“Sit down, Mishima. I don’t need such reasoning. If she doesn’t have the time to study, then she shouldn’t have enrolled then. Do what you want yourselves. Your parents are just blinding you with your future,” Mrs. Rose said with a smug. The girl looks down with clenched jaws and fists but she felt relaxed after she heard what Ruie said.

“She’s right, Aleiya. Please sit down.” Aleiya sits down with her mouth hanging open.

*Cupid’s Arithmetic, Dora Crackham’s puzzle where George gave him a piece of paper with its contents the same as what Mrs. Rose wrote on the board. What she said isn’t a tip, but the clue itself. Without her saying it, I would never remember the page of the book I’ve read it from. Still, there is no cryptology involved. She intentionally chose that puzzle to test my street smart, but these numbers are just flipped upside down. A fool can just look up in the mirror and see the answer. It’s so funny to think that she didn’t even change the exact puzzle stated in the book. Karma is waiting for me for disrespecting her even in my thoughts.* Ruie thought.

“Kiss me, dearly,” she said slowly. The room became saturated as the students thought it was a joke. Every corner is filled with laughter, shouting, squealing, and whooping that can be heard outside the room. Though they expected that Mrs. Rose will be angry at them, the students suddenly became quiet when they see her smile for the very first time. There are no signs of shame from her, but she became more proud of Ruie.

“Come to my office after class tomorrow. We’ll talk about your scholarship and participation in the National Quiz Bowl.”

After school, Ruie walks with her friend, Aleiya, because she said she’s treating her with a taste of congratulation. “You’re amazing back there! I’ll tell my dad that I have the most intelligent friend of our batch, and she’ll be participating in national contests. Isn’t that cool!?” Aleiya boasted with her glimmering eyes.

“I think that’s still not enough.”

“You’ll become a star of our school. Many people will notice how genius you were. In the future, you’ll just sign papers and then earn thousands! Why do you think it’s still not enough?”

“I still need to earn more, enough to sustain me and Drake to our new life.”

“Wait… Are you still planning on escaping your irresponsible mom? Aren’t you lucky you have a mom?”

“Aren’t you? You have a blood parent living with you, and your needs are already met. I’m just an orphan that wins bread but didn’t even taste a pinch of it.”

“Wait… I have a solution! Do you want to become my dad’s scholar? Your living and your needs will be the pay. Don’t worry about the papers and such. Just a word from my dad and it’s alright.”

“I… I think I’m putting you into much trouble if I accepted it.”

“No, no, no,” Aleiya said as she comes in front of her and clasps her hand which stops their walking. “Please… That’s also again for me. A friend will be living in the same building as me. There’s someone ready to listen to my stories non-stop. Since mom left us, there’s no one who does that for me.”

Aleiya appealed with her gleaming eyes to her. *Argumentum ad Misercordiam, appealing with pity, but I think it is also the best for us. I and my brother are already sick of my drunk mother’s abuse. I don’t want to make things difficult too.* “F… Fine, I’ll accept it.”

“Really!? Then you’ll really become my neighbor!?” Aleiya exclaimed.

“But just for one condition…” Ruie said as they continue to walk.

“If Drake’s what you mean, I already got him covered. I’ll ask for a room for you two beside mine. His tuition will never be your debt anymore.”

“I… I can’t thank you more than enough. I promise I’ll find a way to pay you back.”

“Don’t worry. In fact, this is a selfish request from me, so you’re already paying me back,” Aleiya replied. A notification came into her phone. Ruie sees the recipient’s name in the screen.

“Mel, huh? You girl should stop dating apps from now on.”

“Hey, that’s just a training camp!” Aleiya pouts as she reads the message.

“I wish I would meet him someday.”

“You would, I promise.”

“By the way, how’s your dad’s project now?” Ruie asked. Aleiya stops and points her fingers at a billboard attached to a building. Above that building’s rooftop is a crane holding a huge metal bar.

“Do you see that ad? That’s currently the progress of his project. Crevole, which will be released a week after, is a world I have dreamed of since my childhood. I always wish that I would become someone involved in the world of fantasy where I can use magic and fly around the world. My dad devoted that research for me, and now, it became so popular where people with the same wish as me noticed it. I’m thankful for my dad to be gifted with such a brain, unlike me. But maybe you’ll be noticed by him and become a part of his project.”

“You’re talking about the impossible. I’m sorry, but I feel comfortable with teaching people.”

“So you want to be a teacher, eh? It’s just okay. It’s not like I’m forcing you to,” Aleiya said. She stopped by as she saw a cat sitting in front of a pet shop. Aleiya thought that the cat is hungry, that’s why she picked up some cat food in her bag and fed her. “Ohhh! She seems to be liking it! Such a cutie cat.”

*That’s the typical Aleiya. She always brings cat and dog food with her pouched in plastic. Whenever she sees some stray pets roaming around the city, she always feeds them no matter what.* Ruie thought.

Aleiya enjoys feeding the cat not until she hears a non-stop loud horn from a roaring truck. The truck lost its brake and is accelerating straight the road exponentially. What alarmed Aleiya is the dog with no awareness crossing the road. Without thinking, Aleiya runs in the middle of the road to save the dog.

“ALEIYA!” Ruie shouted as she saw Aleiya pushing the dog out of the truck's way. Aleiya lately noticed the regret she’d done. Her pupils dilated as her legs trembled, immobilizing her with fear. All she can do is cover her ears and scream to death. When the time comes that her life will be taken away from her, an angel, a savior, pushed her out the way like what she did to the dog. As she fell to the ground, she opens her eyes and sees Ruie still in the air in the middle of the road.

*If the truck has an average of 55 to 85 mph maximum speed, then I can assume a 66mph speed for it basing on the mass it carries. That gives me its rate of 1.1 miles per second. If the average human can run for 13 mph, then 5 seconds is the maximum time required to push Aleiya away, but the distance didn’t match. There’s no time to compute for momentum. Anyways, I saved her. What’s next is God’s plan.* Ruie thought as she moved on her own.

“RUIE!!!” Aleiya shouts down her stomach. Half a second passed, the truck hit Ruie with maximum momentum. A car passed the intersection and bumps at the front of the truck where Ruie is brought. The collision knocks the car back and changes the truck’s course. Ruie, on the other hand, was sent flying straight up the air as she flips with the truck’s speed. She bounced five times on the ground, like a stone thrown at the river with force until her head hits a building’s wall. Massive blood trails followed her path.

“RUIE!!! RUIE!!! OH GOD!” Aleiya follows her but doing so filled her regrets. She cried down and kneels as she covers her mouth with her hands. She looks at the source of the blood trail and sees her legs near the collided car. Slowly, she looks at her waist with Ruie’s missing legs and thick drops of blood. The impact she had from the building made her unconscious, but her current condition tells her that there’s no way to save her. Aleiya holds Ruie’s left hand with her tears.

“Ruie!! Please, d… don’t die!! Y… you’re my only friend!!” Aleiya stuttered with her aching chest. Slowly, Ruie wakes up hissing with her clenching jaws. She’s staring directly at the sky as she sees Aleiya crying in front of her. In no time, she forced herself to sit up straight even if she feels drained from the bottom of her body. Before she lost blood and consciousness, Ruie put her whole force in releasing Aleiya’s hand.

Mixed emotions flow through Aleiya as her eyes widened seeing Ruie sit up straight, but she didn’t know she had a different thing to do. After hardly pulling her hand out Aleiya’s grip, Ruie pushed her away with the last of her. Aleiya flinched back as she stumbles down the ground. A loud clang of metal deafened her ears but what she saw completely blinded her hopes. A crane accidentally released a large metal bar from above and directly crushed Ruie’s sitting body, leaving only her head. This brought Aleiya a whole day blackout.

But the story is just beginning…

Ruie is supposed to be dead, but abstract voices echo her mind. She can’t even think, nor speak. Only she can do is listen. There’s only a word and a voice that she remembered familiar.

‘Dad!’

Slowly, she woke up in a dusty cabin with her hands tied behind her. The room has only one door in front of her, and a man blocks it. She wears clothing the same as a slave’s. The man has long ears, white hair, and a fantastical elf's dress. What scared Ruie isn’t the unknown, but his welcoming smile… a psychotic smile. With her memory of death, she asked out of confusion.

“Where am I?”

“Welcome to my world, darling.”