"Third time's the charm, right?"
The voice drifted on the rooftop winds, whisked away by their almost fleeting disregard, only to be swallowed up by the hustle and bustle of the teenaged kids down below.
Zarek's amber eyes seemed indifferent to it all. Looking down from the railing he leaned over, taking it all in.
The school roof was supposed to be a restricted area, but Zarek hadn't listened to that nonsense as a freshman in his first life, so why would he as a senior in his fourth?
"Monday, June 3rd, 2024…" Zarek stretched out a hand into a pistol, closing one eye as he aimed for the statue of their school's founder in the distance. "… Pa! This time, we do it right. No… This time, we do it perfect."
BANG!
The sound of the rooftop doors slamming open with a force of fury echoed.
"Zarek Ashford! What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
Zarek looked over his shoulder and his indifferent amber eyes lit up. It didn't matter how many times he saw this figure, it was hard not to be enticed.
Well… except for in the debacle that was his third life, but he didn't like to think about that one. In fact, it was best that that one was flushed down the drain.
The woman was a bit of an oddball on first appearance. That was because the first thing you would notice about her was the silvery-grey hair.
Most probably assumed it was dyed, but Zarek knew quite well that it wasn't. She had been born with that hair, along with a nice and fancy genetic disease to go with it. The doctors said she wasn't supposed to live past five years old, but here she was, 18 and filled with enough vigor to kick down doors.
The second thing you'd notice was the fact her eyes were a shade of blue that was almost too bright. Of course, blue eyes weren't the surprise. It was the fact that she was clearly of Indian descent, and yet had them anyway.
In her youth, these quirks and oddities made her a standout to be bullied.
As she was budding into womanhood, though… they made her smoking hot. Even that disgusting mahogany blazer and pleated skirt uniform couldn't hide it.
'Whoever created these shin-length skirts needs to be executed.' Zarek thought to himself for the millionth time.
It wasn't just that the skirts were long. It was the knee-high socks and ridiculous, private school, caricature shoes that went to match them that really made someone want to tear their hair out.
It was like they wanted to make everyone as unattractive as possible…
But damn did she look good anyway.
Even in that buttoned-up blazer with those stupid puffy shoulder pads, her curves shone through. She was pretty short, at least compared to him—standing at just 5'4"—but everything was simply perfectly proportioned. Not a single inch was wasted.
That he had made sure of personally.
On more than one occasion.
"Oh, Priya—," Zarek started with a smile.
"Don't 'Oh, Priyaaa', me! What were you doing?! Do you have any idea how worried I was?! I completely ruined my chances of getting into any good colleges—!"
"I doubt that."
"Don't interrupt me! You know my parents, Zarek! The only way they'll be okay with me even thinking about boys, let alone dating one, is if we BOTH get into Imperium! Don't you care?!"
Priya's eyes were already brimming with tears by now. Her anger and frustration were boiling over into sheer sadness.
He couldn't blame her. He had lost count of the number of times she had emphasized the importance of this.
In fact, in the third life he wanted to erase from his mind, he had taken the approach of ignoring schoolwork completely. The pain of failing again even after getting a redo made him take drastic measures. But that had put such a strain on Priya and her own family situation that she ended up wanting nothing to do with him.
It wasn't that Priya was obsessed with him doing well. If it was up to her, she would be more than willing to be the breadwinner of their future family. From her childhood until her "glow-up," the only friends she had were her disease and her now boyfriend, Zarek.
But she loved her parents just as much.
She thought by distancing herself from him in this third life, he would change for the better. But how could she know that Zarek was preparing for the end of the world?
Well, he had tried telling her outright in his second life… and that hadn't ended all that well, so he had never tried again.
"Do you trust me, Priya?" Zarek asked.
Priya froze, not expecting such words. "Why would you ask me that?"
"Do you?" Zarek pressed.
"… Yes."
Zarek stretched out a hand and Priya subconsciously took it, not knowing what to expect.
"Look out there." Zarek pulled her to the railing, pointing out toward the horizon.
The sun was still high in the skies and nothing seemed to be wrong… except for an incredibly subtle line of red in the far-off distance.
It was easy to ignore at first, but the longer you looked, the more out of place it seemed in it all. It wasn't like the sun was setting, so why was there such an inexplicable…
RIP.
It was a sound that echoed through the world, no different from a stack of thick papers being torn to shreds. And in that moment, that red line became a gaping hole in the skies.
It was more than just one.
Zarek had only pointed out a single red line, but the skies had been dotted with them. In fact, there was one right above the statue of their school's founder. The moment it opened up, a red, almost bleeding hole appeared in the fabric of reality, swallowing half of the figure.
Priya covered her mouth and gasped, subconsciously holding onto Zarek's arm tighter.
Just a few minutes ago, she had been sweating over an exam paper, wondering where her top-of-the-class boyfriend was. And now, she was watching the world end before her eyes.