The TV was showing rallyists in front of the UN building.
The crowd was composed mostly of teenagers who were holding placards expressing their discontent about the world and who runs it.
The patrons of the bar did not have to hear what was on TV which was muted as a respect to those who wanted to have a conversation.
These were the stories of the current times; stories of discontent and disillusionment, stories of clamor for identity, relevance and recognition.
These are not new.
These have been happening since the beginning of time.
Everything is a cycle, afterall.
Meanwhile, somewhere, there was a glowing symbol in the air that was slowly unraveling, disintegrating.
Behind the symbol was a great, ornate door. This one had not been opened for a thousand years.
Somewhere else, there was a meeting among leaders of the world. These people were virtually unknown; they were not politicians or celebrities.
They, however, have the real keys to most doors of opportunity around the globe.
They were the heads of the largest underground organizations all over the world and they were discussing something important.
On another part of the Earth, there was a person who was looking at the map of the world and marking places that he deemed important.
His hand kept hovering over a narrow space above Indonesia. That part of the map was empty for miles. The next island north of that part of the pacific region was a small country named Japan.
In a classroom somewhere else, small children were studying and one of them opened her history book on a page showing a country named Philippines.
As soon as she did, the book burst into flames and the entire class descended into chaos shortly after.
In the aforementioned place in the south east region of the Pacific, fishermen were lazily casting their nets on the sparkling water.
The yield was not bad but the sky was so clear and the sea was so calm that it invited languor. They were now merely enjoying the majesty of God's creation until it was time to reel in their lines.
Beneath them was a place called the Marianas Trench and was one of the deepest parts of the sea.
On the seafloor was a small whirlpool and at its center is a rock that has a stick embedded on it.
Apo was looking outside the window where the building blocks are sitting still.
He missed his two companions.
He unrolled a scroll filled with ancient symbols. He touched one of these and the scroll became larger until it filled the entire table.
As he passed his hands over certain places, images formed in the air above the table.
There were galleons sailing the open seas.
There were small buffaloes running around an oasis.
There was a volcano erupting and hundreds of people were running away.
Cannons were fired towards soldiers in trenches.
There was a man in a bowler hat about to be executed.
A flag was waving majestically in the air.
Tanks and people are approaching another group of people who are linked arm in arm.
A woman was raising her hand in oath.
The markings on the scroll turned into a map; a map of a place that never existed on any other map except this.
Apo made another gesture and his hands plunged into the image of the map and his vision turned like a microscope, diving from between the clouds towards the ground.
Five people are talking among themselves.
"What do these contracts mean?" Vince asked no one in particular.
"As I understand them, they are not like your conventional agreement where you sign a deal with somebody on paper," John answered him.
They are seated on rocks in a small clearing outside an unnamed town. They have already begun to change from their previous appearance.
They have begun to match the vivid colors and lines of their surroundings. Like characters in a game.
"Obviously, but what are they, really? I never even had the chance to make sense of anything back there. All I did was answer one question. 'Who are you?', I mean, what was that?" Vince was clearly bothered by the fact that no one seemed to be as frantic as he was.
"We shall have to wait for Rai, I guess," Ice had her back on a smooth shaped rock near Ora.
"Genius…" Vince muttered but he stopped talking and paled when he saw Ash looking at him with a flat expression.
"I didn't say anything," she said.
"You didn't have to. Your eyes clearly said you were gonna kill me," he grumbled as he slinked away.
"Brilliant. How did you know?" she said without changing expression.
He stayed silent.
They heard the tinkle of a bell and when they looked from its direction, they saw Rai on the back of a large cat. Not a tiger but nearly as large.
Rai stepped down nimbly and greeted each one with a smile.
"Hello everyone, this is Xien, my friend," she pointed at the cat.
"My pleasure."
To their surprise, the cat spoke.
Ash wordlessly got close and stroked the cat in her ear much to its delight.
"What happened back there, Rai?" John asked the little girl as she was about to hug Ora.
She wrinkled her nose at him and proceeded to hug the woman in black.
"You got lost, that's all," she shrugged.
"We wouldn't have if there was someone to guide us," Vince said irritably.
"Says the one who summoned the Santelmo," she countered archly.
"I did? What are you…" he said incredulously.
"You wished for a flame in the place where wishes were infused with real magic, fool," she said seriously.
"As much as Vince here is prone to prattling, he did raise a valid point," John said.
"You are blaming me?" she pouted.
"No honey, we just want to know what you can tell us," Ora diplomatically interjected.
"You should have listened when your contracts were being drawn. The system included a thorough tutorial. It was not my job to explain everything."
As she finished speaking, words appeared in front of each of them.
Weapons.
Items.
Skills.
Accessories.
Beneath all is a small word: tutorial.
Nobody said anything but Vince was convinced that it is the first time he saw the game menu.
He is familiar with system menus. He is still a teen after all. it was John he was concerned about.
He glanced at the middle-aged man and true enough, his eyebrows almost merged with concentration.
He motioned for Ice to come closer and pointed something. He nodded and smiled crookedly after the little girl explained something.
They looked at Ash and her sword had already vanished and the color of her clothes changed from dark gray to a combination of white and purple. Her mask remained, though.
"Before you all get into a fashion frenzy, let me discuss some things with you," said Rai as she watched them with amusement.
"The town you see before you is the game lobby. In there, you can buy items, weapons and other things you might need. Fairly standard. The rarest items and accessories won't be there but found during the course of the game," she began.
"...and we are playing because…?" Vince changed his clothes' colors into bright red and Rai squinted at him before continuing.
"For answers…" she answered philosophically.
"Wow, you are a fountain of information!" he mockingly explained.
Xien the cat bumped him hard and he nearly rolled on the ground.
"Consider this your last warning…" the cat growled.
Vince swallowed hard.
"Contrary to what you expected, I do not hold all the answers," Rai looked at each of them.
"I, too, entered into a contract as part of the system but I was not the designer nor do I know everything that is going on. I believe we are in a game that can be called heuristic. It learns...it evolves according to our actions. When we get to the town, and that reminds me, we should start going. I will explain as we go along."
They all stood up immediately, the memory of Xien growling at Vince was still very fresh in their minds.
They walked slowly towards the large town in the distance.
Bright white clouds are rolling in the blue sky. They marvelled at how well the game processed the images they saw.
No one remembered to ask how they are all connected to the game.
"...anyway, as I was saying, when we get to the town, you will be on your own. I will be bound to a set of rules I could not divulge to you. You will have to discover everything on your own for that is one of the basic requirements of the game. Even in the real world, knowledge opens up deeper knowledge and such is the way the system was designed. You will never go forward by remaining weak, ignorant and unwilling."
Rai's smile and easy-going manner is gone. As they get closer to the town, her voice becomes more and more distant; like they are not hearing her talk but rather, their mind instantly understands what she was saying.
They never saw Rai and Xien leave.
At last, they get to the massive gates of the town.
Several tables are lined up outside and people are lined up in each table.
"Name?" the seedy-looking man in one of the tables asked John as he approached.
"John Bernardo…" he said and grimaced as the man wrote Juan Bernardo on the piece of paper in front of him and growled "next!"
A commotion ensued behind him when a group of large men cut in front of Vince who was following him.
The young man tried to squeeze himself in front and a very large hand grabbed him by the front of his upper garment and was flung unceremoniously to the ground.
John saw Ora and Ash immediately advanced to the offending man but he shot them a warning glance.
Vince got up and dusted himself up.
"I don't like people cutting in line," growled the large man threateningly and his friends laughed in Vince's face.
"That makes two of us," the young man muttered but visibly shrank when the large man looked at him sharply.
One of the men in the group drew a long sword and pointed it at Vince's nose, drawing a bit of blood.
The young man closed his eyes and tears rolled down his cheeks.
The other people lining up was watching the scene with undisguised glee and contempt.
After the belligerent group finished signing up, Ora, Ice and Ash motioned for Vince to get closer but he just shook his head and looked down in shame.
Ash tapped his chin upward.
"Don't look so much like a wimp. Here, I signed you up." She handed him a paper marked 'Vince Wetpants'.
His nose flared but Ash called the group of large men who are now entering the gates.
"Hey gentlemen, this young man has something to say…"
Vince quickly went to where John and the rest were standing.
As they were entering the game lobby, Apo withdrew his eyes and he leaned back in his chair.
In the scroll, a fire was burning and there were numbers beside the fire. It read: 03-18-1996.