tik-tik~ tik-tik~
"We're here—"
He said, pointing through the rain slick window.
"Just follow the trees that way and you'll find the entrance. And if you look to your right…"
"The entrance will be there. It's hidden, but you'll see it."
Valentina and the man opened their doors, unbuckled little Jie's seatbelt, and helped her out. Without paying the cab much attention, Valentina followed the direction the driver had pointed.
She took Jie's hand while the man followed just behind them.
They found the entrance easily—it was hard to miss once the light spilled over them. A handful of people emerged from within, holding umbrellas and whatever else they could over their heads. The three hurried forward, the man shielding Jie as best he could.
Her feathers hung limp, soaked through, her plushie growing heavy in her grasp while her eyes stayed fixed on the leaves plastered to the concrete.
There was no door—at least, not in the traditional sense.
Instead, a small security checkpoint stood there, like one you'd see at a subway, only without card readers or gates. The night and rain blurred the finer details of the building, yet they passed through without issue.
Once they crossed it, they were met by a wide open space. On the far side, beyond the crowd in front of them, stood another gate identical to the one they had just passed through.
Most people kept to themselves, their voices low, while others spoke quietly with the friends beside them.
They stopped near the wall.
The man knelt down, unzipped Jie's soaked jacket, and eased it off her shoulders. Her eyes drooped with frustrated resignation when she handed over her plushie. Then he reached for both feathered tufts, gently tugging and shaking them to rid them of the water soaked through them.
"Didn't know this one was still open this late."
Valentina murmured something near his ear. Her bracelet buzzed against her wrist, drawing her gaze down. She muted it and checked the caller ID.
An older couple hugging each other appeared on the screen, and Valentina answered. Once the call connected, she lowered the volume, letting a quiet woman's voice come through.
"Hello? Are you there?"
The voice was clear but with tension in her tone.
"Yes, I'm here."
She responded in a soft tone, speaking closely to the bracelet.
"I'm sorry but my husband got a heart attack on the way...."
Her voice was steady but tense with every word she spoke. Valentina stayed quiet, waiting for her to continue.
"You'll have to forgive me for all of these inconveniences but my boy will pick you up."
She paused, a swallow following next.
"—Could you wait for my son to arrive? Twenty minutes at most."
Valentina glanced at the man and little Jie. The little girl looked irritated, still trying to dry her feathers. Meanwhile, the man slipped off his backpack, unzipped it and tucked both the wet jacket and plushie into a plastic bag.
"That's okay."
Valentina said quietly.
"It's been hectic all month with everything going on."
She rubbed her shoulder, the chill from outside still creeping in.
They spoke a little longer before ending the call. Valentina exhaled, her sigh blending with the soft pitter of rain hitting the glass to their right.
She lowered her wrist and looked at the man before speaking.
"We'll be waiting for their son to pick us up."
The man looked at her, raising his eyebrows in a questioning matter.
"He had a heart attack."
He replied only with a low whistle. Little Jie smoothed the feathers on her head, shaping them into tiny horn.
"Since we're here...might as well check it out."
Jie slowed, her tiny chest tightening while the air around her seemed to grow heavy. The overhead lights hummed, casting faint shadows through the beast's ribs—a cage of bone and silence hanging over her while the light slipped through and struck her square in the chest.
She could not tell whether it was the cold air or her own heart making her shiver.
It was not moving.
Yet she felt its weight anyway.
Something about it pressed down from above while piercing straight through her.
Her eyes flicked to a hanging sign, letters she could not read. She looked back at the skeleton. It stayed still, but something inside her did not.
She took one careful step forward, then another, until she found the man beside her. Without thinking, she reached out and grabbed his hand.
She glanced up once more, following the creature's tail as it wrapped and spiraled toward the ceiling. No feet. No hands. Her own feet tapped lightly against the polished stone floor while something sat wedged inside her chest.
Little Jie shook her head and faced forward.
The desks gradually gave way to lounges. The lounges ended where the space closed off into rooms, glass panels set high enough for her to peer through, polished wooden walls holding them in place.
To their right, another section opened beyond a stretch of smooth concrete.
Slim lights were embedded in the ceiling, spilling their brilliance toward the outer window, where a small garden swayed in the rain. A help station blinked quietly nearby, a worker typing away at a keyboard.
The trio kept walking until they reached the base of the stairs—steps that tapered inward before rising into a floor of their own. More rooms wrapped around the staircase, and along one side hung a wall full of framed portraits.
They moved toward a slim kiosk beside the stairs, its screen showing an image of the building itself—concrete, steel, wood, and glass all stitched into one.
Valentina hesitantly tapped the screen.
"Oh wow."
She murmured.
"It has auditoriums… classrooms. It's much bigger than I thought."
She didn't forget the warning she'd read when they first entered—her voice low while people passed quietly around them.
Curious, she tapped the colored icons scattered across the map. Each one unfolding a new image.
"Huh."
She breathed while looking curiously at the screen, little Jie peeking from below.
"A museum too."
"Is there any book you want to read?"
Valentina asked, glancing down at the little girl. Jie's head feathers were still flattened from drying them earlier.
The little Librei thought for a moment, her eyes drifting until they landed on a nearby screen, where a looping video played—nothing much worth paying attention to.
?Um… Ma...? Ma…gic..."
She fumbled over her words, the tips of her shoes tapping together while she tucked her hands behind her back, glancing aside before peeking up at her again. The faint gleam in her eyes was unmistakable, bright with hope.
The woman ruffled her hair, mussing the little tufts until they stuck out. Little Jie puffed her cheeks in mild protest.
"Lets see, there should be something here."
The woman kept searching, a list of numbers and short descriptions popping up as she went.
Little Jie grabbed her hand, and Valentina led her up the stairs that rose through three levels.
As they climbed, the wooden railing curved around the edge of the floor, where a long desk of metal and wood wrapped around the space, lined with computers separated only by distance, not walls.
Once they reached the ground floor, Jie's gaze caught the elongated columns supporting the building, metal tables arranged across the concrete—some occupied, others empty.
They kept walking until they found another staircase, this one made entirely of metal. They grabbed the railing and started up.
Valentina followed the interior map on her bracelet, checking the platforms where their books were listed.
The upper floors hung from the ceiling, supported by catwalks of metal and opaque tempered glass. Some opened into platforms lined with leather seats, others held shelves, and a few existed purely as quiet spaces to decompress.
They finally reached their floor. The shelves were spaced much like the ones below, though the platforms beneath them were set farther apart.
Soon enough, the trio found their section, where books and terminals displaying flavor text and cover art filled the shelves.
Her voice turned slightly chirpy when she looked up at Valentina, who was already looking back at her with a thin book in her hands—the cover catching Jie's eye.
"Jie."
"Yes?!"
Her voice turned slightly chirpy as she looked up at Valentina, who was already looking back at her with a thin book in her hands, the cover immediately catching Jie's eyes.
It showed a sword—a gleaming blade that was neither overbearing nor simple. Blood stained its length, and its golden hilt rested atop a patch of grass standing alone in a boundless desert.
"Do you know…"
Valentina began, her voice softer now, her thumb pointing at the hilt of the sword.
"…of Maides, the Radiant King?"
Little Jie shook her head and waited patiently for Valentina.
It was a simple story—the tale of a young man, the king of a distant land, and his journey through the sands of Sabahran. A journey to gather wealth beyond imagination, to collect vast fortunes and treasures of every kind.
He was the most prosperous Intermezzian of his age, a master of countless spells, a builder of endless fortune.
Yet in his pursuit of riches, he came upon a satyr lying half-buried in the endless backlands of golden sand. Amused, the radiant king kept the creature company, humoring its riddles and laughter for ten days and ten nights.
And when all was said and done, the satyr granted the radiant king a wish—
Everything he touched would turn to gold.
Even his food.
The king could not accept such a thing, and so he set out once more across his realm, hoarding every glint and shimmer he could claim.
Until the day his own fingers grew too heavy to lift, and his heart too still to move.
Valentina's voice softened at the end, all while little Jie listened with full attention.
"But even in regret, he did not mourn his riches—only his touch."
"So, Jie." Valentina said, her tone playful.
"Was this man good or bad?"
The girl thought carefully, lips pressed together. "Neither!" She said at last, puffing her chest, confident her wish would also come true—just like the king.
"...!"
"Mmm?"
The woman smiled softy as she placed the book on the glass platform, between the girls leg.
"Why don't you try to lift this book? Maybe you'll be able to do the same. One of them is bound to listen to you."
Jie nodded eagerly, focusing on the golden cover with all the conviction her small heart could muster.
She inhaled deeply, closing her eyes, then opened them again—clear and determined.
One arm stretched forward.
She huff.
Then again.
Then one more.
Each attempt chipped away at her excitement, tears threatening to spill while the silence between them deepened.
But alas—
On her final try, the countless F░▒▓▒░░h scattered across the land seemed to hear her call.
Just when she was about to give up, the cover of the book lifted ever so slightly.
Her heart hammered in her chest. Joy gathered behind eyes still glossy with unshed tears. The two adults stared too, blinking once, the movement so small it could have been mistaken for a fluke.
But for her, it was not.
Once again, her heart thumped when the cover flickered open before snapping back into its original position.
The smiles on their faces froze——the little girl's joy bursting out in a glow brighter than the light above her.
A single tear rolled down her cheek, sealing that truth. She flipped the cover open, the pages turning on their own, paper slapping the air until they stopped on an illustrated page.
A painting of the king and the satyr feasting together.
Little Jie could have sworn they were smiling wider now, their hands raised mid-toast, the edges of their figures faintly shifting as if caught in a dance.
Next to her, the man stared at the side of her glowing face—his expression unchanging, like he was reliving his own past.
Some time later, the three of them were back where they had started, standing near the larger crowd waiting for the rain to pass. The twenty minutes were nearly up when the woman answered a call buzzing at her wrist.
Little Jie, for her part, was asleep now, the granted wish having drained her of all her energy, her soft breaths brushing against the man's neck.
"He's here? Okay, hmm. Alright, see you soon."
She ended the call before turning to the man.
"It'll be the white car in the front."
Once they were ready, they stepped outside and headed toward the front, searching for a car with its hazards on. They spotted one through the rain, its headlights cutting across the downpour while they hurried toward it. The man walked faster and knocked on the glass.
The window rolled down, the dome light giving both sides a clear look at each other.
"Come on in!"
Valentina pulled open the rear door and climbed inside, taking Jie when she was passed over. The door shut with a dull thump after the man climbed in beside them.
"The heat's already on so it won't take long."
The young said, throwing a glance into the rearview mirror, making sure they were settled and buckled. The steady rhythm of the wipers filled the silence, blending into the slow crawl of traffic.
"Sorry about the wait. My mom probably told you what happened."
Valentina gave a small nod, the three of them easing into the warmth.
They stopped at an intersection and waited for the light to change, the signal hanging above them through the rain.
A few long seconds passed.
Then—green.
The feline pressed the throttle lightly, easing them forward while a horn blared somewhere in the distance.
Bright headlights cut through the downpour dead ahead.
For a second, they were all anyone could see.
"Wait—!"
He slammed the pedal down. Tires skidded across the wet asphalt, the cab jolting forward just as the other vehicle tore through the crossing.
The oncoming car tried to swerve out of the way, but its wheels could not hold. Its chassis twisted sideways, still barreling straight toward them.
"OH F-!"
The city folded in a single violent jerk. Metal shrieked, glass sheared off.
The force snapped Jie sideways, her seatbelt biting once before giving with a brutal slap and throwing her forward a heartbeat later.
Her small body lifted into the air, the street spinning past in a blur of light and sound. Both vehicles' horns wailed without stopping, their cries blending into one deafening scream.
She tried to breathe, to cry out—but nothing came.
Pain crushed through her, her limbs flailing, her eyes burning through the haze swallowing her vision.
The whole street collapsed into a single sound.