Maya’s car stopped in front of the library. A shiny lemon-yellow city car. Before this, Gemma had never asked where Maya could get a car, considering that her job as a manager could not provide her with the luxury of a car. But now Gemma was suspecting that maybe the rebels were funding Maya.That is, if Maya is a rebel. Gemma didn’t know for sure because so far all she had were assumptions.Gemma took the guitar in one hand and walked to the car. She put her guitar in the back passenger seat, then she sat in the passenger seat next to the driver.Maya stomped on the gas pedal, bringing them forward through the evening atmosphere in the city of Ayria, which was slowly getting quieter.The people who were still on the sidewalk walked in a hurry while bowing their heads. If they had experienced happiness all day before, that feeling was now invisible on their faces. There was only anxiety because it was late this afternoon, but they were still n

“Is it hurt?” Nero looked up to look at Gemma as he asked. Gemma shook her head slowly. “Tell me if it hurts, I’ll be more careful.” Nero continued to bandage Gemma’s palms. Gemma didn’t say what happened to her, because no one would believe it. Nero hadn’t asked about that either. For some reason, Gemma felt calm. If she was with Jo now, Jo would have been asking all sorts of questions and putting on an overly worried face like Gemma’s father. They couldn’t go out before dawn, and Gemma thought Nero would just keep her in one corner of the King’s Door until they could get out from there. But it turned out Nero had other ideas. He grabbed the first aid kit that was in the nightclub and led Gemma to the emergency staircase that led up. King’s Door is located in the basement of a building used as a shopping center. Nero kept taking Gemma up and up until they reached the fifteenth floor. Nero opened the door leading to the inside of the b

Before heading back to the library, Jo took Gemma to the pharmacy and bought her a bandage and medicine to treat Gemma’s wound. Gemma’s hand was still bleeding when she entered the library. Purity frowned, then quickly got up from the chair, circled the book rental desk, and walked over to Gemma.“What happened?” she asked. Purity wasn’t good with expressions, so her face was expressionless when she asked. But Gemma knew Purity was worried about Gemma’s condition.“Fighting… as usual,” Gemma replied with a shrug.It was late afternoon when Gemma came home and the library was about to close, so there was no one here but Purity and Gemma. Gemma sat at the book return table, ignoring Purity’s buzz of protest, and spilled the contents of the plastic bag onto the table. She sat cross-legged and cleaned the wound in her right hand.Purity understands Gemma well enough not to offer her help because Gem

Today is the strangest and most awkward day in Gemma’s history. How could she not? She had to meet her father after three years. They had not spoken to each other. Then, Gemma is now under the same roof with two strangers. One of them was someone whose jacket she was wearing now.“Who the hell is he, Jo?”Gemma asked while occasionally biting the tip of her thumb. Her childhood habits resurfaced, maybe because now she was at home.The two of them sat on the floor in the corner of the living room where Gemma’s father lived and left the door leading to the foyer open. This was done simply so that they could stare at the stairs. Gemma and Jo were now just like little kids, full of curiosity.It had been about an hour since Nero and the woman introduced by the name Sarah had gone up to the second floor, where Uncle Jonah, Jo’s father, lived.Gemma knew Jonah was also an Archturian, who was placed in the Public Relations an

Patrol teams and firefighters began arriving at the scene. However, their slow response caused many casualties and losses. The fire was extinguished, and firefighters and Archturians combed the area, looking for survivors and evacuating the dead. The patrol team leader came to Nero and Sarah. They saluted each other, then before the Leader could ask questions, Sarah attacked him first with a question. Sarah glanced at the name tag affixed to the soldier’s all-black uniform and saw two yellow stripes running down the sleeves of his shirt and pants. Each patrol leader was supposed to be of the rank of Sergi, who wore a black uniform with two red stripes instead of yellow. The yellow line refers to the lower rank, namely Bile. While the rank above Sergi is Girga, which is the rank of their superior, Girga Jonah. “Bile Wadner, why is your team responding so slowly?!” Bile Wadner looked at them both questioningly. “You guys are not Archturians from