Intently staring at Malric's hand of cards, Illia faced one of the greatest questions to ever plague her life: what card was left in his hand?
The rounded edges. The intricate pattern of the standard card. Anything that might give her the hint she needed to stop Malric from winning—again
Looking at her intense and calculating face, Malric had to hold back laughter as he peeked at his queen of spades.
Taking a gamble, Illia placed a five of clubs, sealing her fate. As Malric placed his last card, Illia's usually stoic and unflinching expression shifted to a slight frown.
"Mao out! That's my win—and you owe me something of your choice," Malric said with a big smirk across his face. "Why don't we try calling Juniper?"
"Yes, let's," Illia said, standing up and settling beside Malric, who was slightly confused but figured she meant a video call instead.
Sitting next to each other with a stuffed turtle pillow between them, Malric video called Juniper, then propped up his phone.
Within two rings, Juniper's face appeared on the screen. "Hello! Ooo, what do we have here?"
"Hello."
"Hey Juniper, how you feeling?"
"I'm doing fine. Maybe I really shouldn't leave you with Illia by yourself. I was joking, but—you impress me," Juniper said, half-teasing.
"No need, Miss Lin. Malric has done nothing except beat me in cards since we arrived at his house," Illia said, her calm, serious voice completely betraying her lack of awareness of Juniper's joking tone.
Sitting there, Malric chose to say nothing on the matter.
"Anyways, nothing weird happened? All the tech in my house stopped working—except the lights and water. Actually… only my camera and the internet stopped working."
"Ummmm… I don't think so… oh wait, yes—I had a dream of you finally finding the best bake shop and never giving me free food again. Truly a nightmare." Juniper quickly grabbed her face and dragged it into a dreadful expression.
"Yes, truly a catastrophe. Anyways, if you're fine, want to sleep over? My parents aren't here, and I don't have the keys to Illia's apartment." Malric knew that if he were to sleep in the same apartment as Illia without another girl to keep watch, he'd be interrogated and side-eyed for the next week straight.
To avoid such a scenario, he hatched a simple plan.
Operation: Don't Get My Ass Kicked is a go!
Seeing exactly what he was trying to pull, Juniper knew Malric wouldn't do anything—but she was never going to turn down the chance to sleep over with her friends.
"Sure! Can't leave you with the new girl again. Turned out fine this time… but maybe not the next. Anyways, I'll be right over!" she said, ending the call in high spirits.
Turning to Illia, Malric scratched his head. "I hope you don't mind sleeping over."
"Not at all. Let's play Mao again. I will win," Illia said simply before dealing them each seven cards.
Halfway through their game, Juniper buzzed the apartment and was let in quickly.
Walking across the wooden floor, she plopped herself onto the sofa beside the two teenagers, who were intently staring at their cards.
"How was your day?" Illia asked after playing a seven of hearts. She immediately knocked the floor four times and waited for Malric's next card.
Seeing the card, Malric said, "My day was good," in accordance with the rules, before playing the ace in his hand—the ace of hearts!
Knocking five times, Malric played again, skipping Illia's turn.
With his double turn, he smirked and played another ace—the ace of spades.
As the card hit the floor, Malric said, "I am vengeance. Snoopy flies high over the ace of spades," before contemplating his next move.
Seeing his hand now reduced to only three cards, Illia knew she had to act—but she still didn't know all the rules!
Malric placed down a king of spades, ending his turn.
Spotting the perfect opportunity to get rid of the king that had plagued her the whole game, Illia placed her own king of clubs, swiftly followed by a king of diamonds.
Smiling like a madman, Malric broke the news. "You lose. Triple kings rule," he said, before breaking into hysterical laughter.
"What kind of rule is that?" Illia asked, her expression darkening. She was clearly getting tired of losing to smart plays and obscure rules.
"Don't get too upset. If there are multiple players, you can revive people. But you know I can't tell you the rules—that goes against rule number one of Mao," Malric said.
He loved making new people play Mao and watching them figure out the rules without help. It was even better when multiple players ganged up on a group of noobs who were all trying to learn together—only to give them even more cards for trying to talk about the rules.
"Alright, Malric, I know it's your favorite card game, but seriously—why are you playing with the full set of rules? You're practically bullying her!" Juniper said, clear anger in her voice. She couldn't stand bullies.
"It's fine. He gave me the choice, and I chose all the rules," Illia said. These words astonished Juniper, making her feel a little silly for standing up for her.
Standing up with a grand wave of his hands, Malric spoke as if he were a king.
"Attention! Attention! Shall we sleep in a pillow fort, or do you feeble peasants think we should settle for less?"
Going along with the bit, Juniper stood up and shook her fist.
"No! We shall construct a pillow fort!"
After that, they got to work.
First, they cleared the living room, carefully moving everything to the edges and centering all the carpets to create a soft floor.
The different carpets didn't mix well at first, with a rough one sitting awkwardly in the center. They moved it to the back, where the fort would be built.
Moving on, Illia took charge, sorting the pillows into groups: ones suitable for walls, ones for ceilings, and ones purely for comfort.
After their prep, they quickly constructed the pillow fortress—a tunnel leading into a main sleeping compartment, with a small LED lantern glowing inside.
By the time they finished, night had fallen, and they had all dragged blankets into the fort and claimed their spots.
As most of the eastern coast of the United States drifted off to sleep, another major event began.
All at once, every radio signal in the world scrambled—mere minutes before the Earth's surface cracked apart with unprecedented silence.
Some major cities, like New York City, were spared, while others—like Los Angeles and Paris—split in half, with new land rising up to meet the broken ground.
As the Earth more than doubled in surface area, the atmosphere thickened, and an odd energy called mana saturated the planet's magnetic field—giving it a much-needed power boost. Astronauts in space came crashing down to Earth as its mass titanically increased, and with it, gravity rose to 1.5 Gs.