Deus Ex Machina

Kabir's footsteps echoed as he crossed toward the stairwell, unhurried.

High in a nearby tree, a bird tilted its head, watching. Its feathers caught the light strangely, a faint sheen to them that didn't look entirely natural. It looked down at Harshal, lying broken on the ground.

"...Oh." A pause. "I picked the wrong city, dude."

With a snap of its wings it dropped from the branch and glided down toward him. Inside the building, Kabir set one foot on the first stair.

The bird landed near Harshal's hand. "Hey! I'm Birdy."

Harshal looked up weakly, unable to answer.

Birdy studied his face for a second. "Oh, I get it. You can't talk. Your jaw's broken." Its head tipped sideways. "So, you want my help fixing that?"

Another pause, longer this time, as it looked him over.

"Okay, your jaw is definitely broken."

Harshal tried to nod. His body swayed, nearly toppling forward onto the bird.

"HEY! Don't fall on me, you monster!" Birdy hopped backward fast. Harshal barely managed to stay upright.

"I'm taking that as a yes," Birdy said, and flew up to press one wing against his chest.

For a moment nothing happened. Then a low, spreading pressure moved through Harshal's body, warm and strange. His breathing steadied. The pain simply stopped existing. His jaw shifted back into place with a faint click, and his eyes rolled down to normal.

He lifted his head slowly. Something else had changed too. An aura had settled around him, brighter and heavier than before, almost too much to hold in one place.

He looked toward the building. Then at the bird beside him.

"Hey, Birdy."

Birdy froze, eyes going wide. "Finally." It smiled. "You're awake, master."

Kabir had almost reached the classroom door when a hand closed around his wrist from behind. Harshal had taken the stairs two at a time, and he wasn't even out of breath.

"Where are you going, honey? You should ask your dad's permission first."

Kabir spun with a furious grunt. "Didn't I just kill you?"

He swung. Harshal slipped the punch without effort.

"How silly of you." He grinned. "Do you really think a son can kill his own dad?"

Kabir drove a knee toward his stomach. Harshal caught it one-handed, his grin widening, then drove his elbow straight into the joint of Kabir's knee.

Crack.

Kabir's leg buckled and he went down, a cry tearing out of him as he grabbed the joint.

For a brief moment everything went quiet, the fight suspended somewhere it couldn't reach either of them. Somewhere between moments—

"See," Birdy said, "I'm giving you your peak power. Five minutes, okay?" A pause. "Use it carefully. I can only do this once."

Harshal looked down at his own hands.

"And, dude, because your body's rusty, fat, and inexperienced, you can't actually reach your true peak." Birdy tilted its head. "But you'll get somewhat close."

Harshal glanced toward the classroom. "Yeah, yeah. Fine." His fists clenched. "I just need to save them."

Back in the room, Kabir was still on the floor clutching his knee, tears streaking down his face from the pain. Harshal walked toward him.

"Do you know what Conviction is, Kabir?"

Kabir looked up, teeth gritted, saying nothing.

"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" Harshal crouched slightly. "Shut up, crybaby. You've had your turn." He cracked his knuckles. The aura around him burned brighter. "Now it's mine."

He drove a hook straight into Kabir's liver. Kabir folded from the impact, and Harshal gave him no room to recover.

From the window, Birdy called out. "Master! Ten seconds!"

"Yeah. I got it."

Harshal moved, his fists blurring.

Five. "This is for Pranav!"

Four. "This is for Sahil!"

Three. "This is for Priya!"

Two. "This is for Dhruv!"

Kabir could barely keep his eyes open as the final punch drew back.

One. Harshal grinned. "And this is for—" He paused. "I don't care."

His fist slammed home. The aura vanished all at once.

Silence dropped over the room. Kabir collapsed and didn't move again. Harshal stood there, chest heaving, the pressure in the air finally, completely gone.

Near the gate, Dhruv was on his feet again, staring at him in disbelief. Sahil had managed to get up. Pranav Sir stood barely upright, held between Himani Ma'am and Aditi Ma'am on either side. Nobody said a word.

Harshal looked around at all of them, then down at Kabir. For the first time since it began, it was over.

Then his knees gave out.

"AAAAAGHH!"

Pain exploded through him all at once, every muscle seizing, every bone screaming, his lungs fighting for air as his fingers dug into the floor.

"AH—AAAH!"

It felt like his whole body was being pulled apart from the inside.

Birdy watched him for a second, then its eyes went wide. "Ah." It scratched the side of its head with one wing. "I forgot about the body toll."

Harshal ground the words out between his teeth. "You... forgot?!"

"Yeah." Birdy flapped its wings once, and a wave of energy rolled through Harshal's body. The pain vanished instantly. He collapsed forward onto his hands, breathing hard.

Birdy looked around the room. "Actually, while I'm at it—"

It spread its wings again, and a second, gentler wave passed through everyone. Pranav Sir's injuries began to close. Sahil's wounds sealed. The bruises on Dhruv's face faded. Priya's cuts disappeared. One by one, they realized the pain was simply gone.

Priya was still crying, though, pulled tight against Simran's shoulder, her face buried there.

Harshal looked at them, then at the bird. "Thanks." A beat. "Your name's Birdy, right?"

Birdy lifted its head with visible pride. "Sure is."

"Okay, Birdy."

Birdy's expression turned serious all at once. "Now that you've said my name, let me lay out the rules of this game."

Dhruv frowned. "What game? We never signed up for anything."

"Don't care." Birdy pointed one wing skyward. "Your god decided you'd play anyway."

That silenced everyone.

"From now on, each of you gets a martial art and certain abilities," Birdy went on. "Not random. Based on your personality, your natural talent, what you're actually capable of." It looked around the group. "But don't think knowing a martial art makes you a master of it. You'll still have to train."

Pranav Sir crossed his arms. "And what happens to the city?"

"Whoever leads this group controls it."

Harshal pointed at himself. "Wait. Why him? Why me?"

"Because you're the strongest."

Harshal looked genuinely confused. "Wasn't Kabir stronger?"

Pranav Sir nodded slowly. "If that's the rule, shouldn't Kabir have led?"

"Technically, yes," Birdy said. "But Kabir was already at his maximum." It pointed a wing toward Harshal. "And by strongest, I don't mean whoever's strongest right now. I mean Potential."

Harshal blinked. "Potential?"

"The ceiling your body can eventually reach. Not what you can do today." Birdy looked around the room. "Someone can be weak now and still have enormous room to grow. Someone else can already be incredibly strong and have almost nothing left."

Pranav Sir looked toward Harshal. "So Kabir had already hit his limit."

"Exactly." Birdy tapped Harshal's chest with one wing. "But he hasn't. That's why the system chose him."

Harshal stared down at his own hands.

Dhruv raised a hand. "Wait. System?"

Birdy smiled. "Yep."

"I already hate this," Dhruv muttered, lowering his hand.

Birdy ignored him and flew into the middle of the group. "A few more things. First, every city has its own group, and its own leader. Second, the leader controls that city's barrier. The barrier separates your city from the outside world."

"For how long?" Aditi Ma'am asked.

"Five years."

The room went quiet.

"Five years?" Sahil said.

Birdy nodded. "Every city gets its own five-year window. During that time, your city stays isolated. Other cities have their own groups, their own barriers, running on their own clocks."

"So we're trapped here?" Harshal asked.

"No." Birdy shook its head. "You can leave your own city whenever you want. You just can't enter another city while its barrier is still up."

Harshal thought about it. "So if another city's five years are already done—"

"You can walk right in."

Pranav Sir asked, "And after the five years end?"

"The barrier expires on its own. The leader loses control of it. Anyone can enter after that."

Dhruv looked around. "And if our leader dies?"

"Whoever has the next-highest Potential takes over."

"And if two people are close?"

"Then it comes down to Mastery and Path."

Harshal's head came up. "Path?"

Birdy opened its beak, then stopped short. "Ah. Sorry. Too soon."

Harshal stared at it. "Then why bring it up at all?"

Birdy ignored that too. "Anyway. Martial arts and abilities. Let's go."

It flew first to Dhruv. "You. Taekwondo."

Dhruv pointed at his own chest. "Me?"

"And you've been given UI." At Dhruv's confused look, it added, "Your own system interface. It'll guide your instincts, help you find the most effective move in a fight."

"That sounds complicated."

"It isn't."

It moved to Sahil. "Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu."

Sahil gave a quiet nod.

To Pranav Sir. "Close-quarters combat."

"Fair enough," Pranav Sir said.

To Aditi Ma'am. "Aikido."

She adjusted her glasses. "Interesting."

To Himani Ma'am. "Judo."

She smiled. "Of course."

To Priya. "Claw and animal-based combat."

Priya looked down at her own hands as Birdy added, "You'll learn to fight the way a predator moves, using what your body's actually built for."

To Simran. "Sumo."

"Sumo?" Simran said, startled.

"Strength and stability."

To Saanvi. "Krav Maga."

Saanvi cracked her knuckles, satisfied. "Now that's more like it."

To Diya. "Wing Chun."

Diya simply nodded.

To Riya. "Hapkido."

Riya looked down at her hands. "Okay."

To Sana, who'd stayed quiet through all of it. "Capoeira."

She gave a small nod of her own.

Finally, back to Harshal. "And you."

He waited.

"Muay Thai."

Harshal grinned. "Yeah. I already know that one."

"And you've been given Copy."

His grin faded slightly. "Copy?"

"You'll be able to copy other people's moves and techniques just by watching them." Birdy paused. "Don't misunderstand, though. Copying a technique doesn't automatically make you better than whoever you took it from."

"I still have to train."

"Exactly."

Harshal looked around at everyone. "So that's it?"

"No." Birdy shook its head. "You've got your arts and your abilities. The rest, you'll have to discover on your own. Your body will tell you when you're ready."

Dhruv raised his hand again. "That's incredibly vague."

Birdy flapped its wings once. "Good."

Dhruv sighed. "I already hate this bird."

Birdy looked around at all of them, feathers stirring slightly. "If you get something good, call me. Only the leader can call me."

Harshal frowned. "How would I even do that?"

"Say my name. Deep voice."

He tried. "Harshal?"

Birdy stared at him. "That's it," it said, with a tiny nod. "Yeah, that's it for now. Bye."

It shot straight up and out through the broken window. "I'll be back!"

Harshal watched it vanish into the sky.

Dhruv stared after it. "He's more like a parrot."

Sahil looked at Harshal. "So, now what?"

Harshal stood and stretched. "What do you mean? We train. Teams of two, one year, then we come back here."

Aditi Ma'am raised an eyebrow. "And the food?"

Before Harshal could answer, Himani Ma'am cut in. "And what if someone decides not to come back at all?"

Harshal looked at her, deadpan. "Only you would do that."

"Harshal!"

He grinned and walked off before she could find anything else to throw.

"Birdy!"

The name echoed through the empty room. A few seconds later Birdy flew back in through the window, clearly annoyed.

"What now? Stop calling me over and over."

Harshal pointed toward the supplies stacked near the wall. "About the food and everything—"

Birdy sighed. "No problem. Everything that was here before people disappeared refills every week. Fresh, every time."

Harshal's eyebrows went up. "And how do I keep track of that?"

"We'll need to put a tracker in you."

Harshal didn't hesitate. "Sure."

The second he agreed, Birdy moved toward him, and pain exploded through his body, dropping him instantly to the floor.

"Ghh—!" His fingers dug into the ground as every muscle locked at once, his breath turning ragged and shallow.

Saanvi stepped forward, alarmed. "What's happening to him?"

Birdy answered calmly, like this was routine. "Nothing much. He has to take on the surgical pain of installing every tracker, since he's the leader."

Harshal gritted his teeth against the floor.

Sana looked toward Birdy. "Is there a way around it? Like before?"

Birdy considered. "There is."

Everyone looked over.

"But his love has to kiss him."

The room went still. Priya looked at Harshal. Simran took her hand immediately.

"You don't have to. He's not going to die from this."

Priya hesitated anyway. Then she stepped forward, knelt beside him, and gently tilted his face toward hers.

For a moment Harshal just looked at her. Then he pushed her hand away and forced himself back onto his feet, still breathing hard.

"I did not save you so you could assault me."

He turned and walked off before anyone could say anything, grabbed a bottle of soda from his bag, cracked it open, and drank the whole thing in one go. The cold fizz hit the back of his throat as it went down.

A few seconds later, the pain simply stopped.

He lowered the empty bottle and looked down at himself.