~ HEIDI ~This headache will mince my brain to nice little cubes sooner than I’m able to find a painkiller in one of these fucking drawers.There used to be many of them—the painkillers, I mean—usually on the table, under the pillows, in the wardrobe, in the drawers, even on the damn floor. How I cannot find one when everything else in the room remains the same is not a mystery, but unsettling.“Fuck. I can’t be arsed,” I mutter just as my phone dings on the bed.Sitting on the floor and resting my back against the bed, I go through the meager, little thing that won’t stop buzzing―happens Reverse Hunter sent a message; ‘Might not be back for a while. Do not dare miss your meals.’Oh, Zavere…The guy’s so fucking nice that he cannot stop caring about me. Meanwhile, the bastard on whom I’ve wasted so much time, tears, and feelings haven’t once asked how I felt since we met. Instead, he dropped a boulder into a stream of lava. Fucking joker.The phone doesn't render comfort, yet I find it
Holy shit! I’ve just now discovered that my cellphone is in the envelope too. How did it get here?“I thought Saturn destroyed this,” I say, checking the device for damage. Thankfully, it looks as good as I last saw it.“Hunter had it taken back,” Zavere responds before the elevator ushers in a middle-aged woman who I suppose is the cleaner.She takes the glass pieces from him, puts them in the bin then goes ahead to clean up the mess the motherfucker made on the floor.Keeping the phone and putting away the rest into the envelope, I clutch my duvet tighter. I want to lie back but then I don’t want to. I also feel like I need to be alone for a long time. BUT… Zavere’s presence manages to tone that one down a bit.I guess him standing there while looking at me gives me peace. And that is something I’ve not had in a very… long time.“I don’t know what to do with…” I pause and sigh as I look at the envelope, wishing I could get far from it. “What am I supposed to do with this?”Zavere shr
Each person holds out something in our direction: some an image of their deceased, others a banner with the words ‘Justice for (...)’ written on it. Different names, different faces, different pain. My vision gets blurry. Voices whisper inaudibly in my head as it aches. A thousand needles prick my skin, hellbent on deactivating autonomic nerves while triggering another—emotions, flocking in like a swarm of disturbed fish. And if Zavere hadn’t interfered, I would have been lost in the maze that’s my own mind.“Hey, come on. Look at me,” he whispers, the hand on my thigh caressing. But then he makes a bigger gesture; facing me, leaning in and grabbing my chin to turn my face toward his. “Trust me, Heidi, you’ll be fine.”I shake my head continuously. “I… I don’t think so…” What Zavere said is an underrated lie. This anxiety’s always going to be there, haunting me, reducing the woman I thought I was with every attack. So, no, Zavere. I will not be fine.“Shh. You’ve just got to breathe
We’ll end up having a late lunch. But the time spent in the overpass is worth it.Honestly, I didn’t want to leave. Maybe we should have stayed longer. Or…“Having a home in a place like Luli Overbridge would be exotic. Become a pet to the doves,” Zavere utters out of nowhere, and I would’ve burst out laughing if I weren’t cautious that we are in one of the most classic restaurants in the world.“Is that what it’s called? Luli Overbridge,” I say instead. That gets me a side-eye from the man.“You have been in Alloy all your life, Heidi.”“And? I’ve not had the opportunity to flex a free one like you’ve done with… your brother. So far, I’m only familiar with Alloy's main city and Braevalle.” I glance around the restaurant, then I stare at my fingers. Then… I look at the hectic city beyond the glass barriers of the building for a while. All to avoid meeting with Zavere’s devouring eyes. And yet he keeps staring, sitting opposite me, relaxed in his chair with his right hand on the table
“He lives, I feel it,” Zavere says after taking his time. “He’s alive, but there is silence. He doesn’t feel anything… massive.”I don’t get what he’s trying to say, but I guess he does have some connection with his twin? “You feel something when he does?”“Not just something. It has to be big. Like an intense pain or pleasure.” More like the intense pain of his victims, and the intense pleasure of the motherfucker.“Maybe you should have felt his ‘intense hatred’ when he committed that murder?” I ask calmly, looking down at my soup while stirring it with a spoon. However, when I look up, I feel like my food could hang in my throat as I find Zavere staring at me with a blank face, again. That rouses my rage. “Oh, you did, and you said, ‘Oh hey! He’s my brother! He’s having a little fun with some dummy humans, so why not?’” I realize I’ve just caused a commotion. All eyes are now on us. Jeez! What is wrong with me? Why do I keep blaming Zavere? Why do I blame every fucking thing in t
Tumbre Estate is the biggest in the country. Belongs to the Whites but isn’t as sullied as the family is. It’s like a quiet little town even though it’s not far from the city.Has been about two years since I last came here, and nothing seems to have changed. No, nothing. It’s the same old Tumbre with curvy roads flanked by Villas and trimmed little bushes.That Villa there, at our right, is inhabited by the family of a close friend I had. But after I was kicked out of my Villa, I lost contact with her. Didn’t even get the chance to say a fucking goodbye.“Do you want me to come with you?” Zavere asks as I get down from the Uber. I had requested to stop at the side of the road instead of the garage, as I didn’t bring the key to my Villa, and haven’t a clue how the Housekeeper and the Butler would react to seeing me. And no, I don’t want Zavere’s company. If I did, I would have stayed in the Company building where my room now smells like him.“No. Go find your brother,” I reply. My n
/ ZAVERE /When Heidi kissed me earlier, I did not know what went through her mind.What I do know is that it isn’t easy, or possible to simply switch off one’s feelings in three days.I have seen how good a couple she and Hunter are, and I know the connection they have.But despite that, I cannot deny my own feelings.The girl drives me crazy. And every action she takes, every word that comes out of her mouth, looks and sounds sexy no matter what it is.However, I do not think she feels the same about me, but I’ll let her have her cake and eat it. As long
/ HEIDI /This headache will mince my brain to nice little cubes sooner than I’m able to find a painkiller in one of these fucking drawers.There used to be many of them—the painkillers, I mean—usually on the table, under the pillows, in the wardrobe, in the drawers, even on the damn floor. How I cannot find one when everything else in the room remains the same is not a mystery, but unsettling.“Fuck. I can’t be arsed,” I mutter just as my phone dings on the bed.Sitting on the floor and resting my back against the bed, I go through the meager, little thing that won’t stop buzzing―
The hallway echoes the footfalls of stomping darkness.But as the mute walls give way to the caress of a slow and brooding piano motif, the huge, two-way door at the hallway’s end brings us the pleasantries of a room screaming sanity and proper celebrations.A descent of steps in front of me leads to the dance floor, where pillars are still but bodies swing. With the roof high and unending, the floors are as slippery as the devil’s tongue, absolutely unfit for a person to walk on.Except these aren’t people. No, they’re not. They look paradisiacal. Vibrant despite the hall’s caliginous state.As the ladies trip the light fantastic to a hypnotic rhythm, their bowl dresses swirl around their feet, their long and colorful strands like air behind them. The smiles capturing their countenances tell the tales of their light minds, charming the gents who look graceful in patterned tailcoats over black pants.Their light tones unite to battle the funereal aura of the hall, somehow nearly kil
Not a familiar name, that one. I’ve heard nothing of it until now.Maybe he didn’t make it to the history books. It could be about the empire; history must have registered the empire instead.But I must find a way of asking about it without compromising myself. That way, I can also note this woman’s level of intelligence.“Um…” I clear my throat, shuffling to the stool I once sat on and placing my hands on it to drop my weight. “My ‘experiments’ have eaten most of my time, and I’m probably too exhausted to recall a lot of… things.” Wait. Do I sound medieval enough? “Did I... have any plans for today?” Does she understand? She’s looking at me with her lips slightly parted, and I think it’s disbelief, especially since her hands have stopped working.“Queva,” she says, then rests against the counter. “Finish the Battle of Cutting Seas, conquering Queva. Then... celebrate... with the emperor. Your experiment’s progress has not fared well of late, and you needed to ease your mind. Seeing
HEIDI.The rich, warm scent of soil, of fresh rain on earth, reminds me of how it feels to be alive.It looks to me like I’ve been thrown into a random fiction series—dark fantasy, to be precise. Should I say it’s the underworld? Nah. The underworld wouldn’t look this good. Heaven wouldn’t be this bad(?) either. Between? Maybe. But I can’t recall whether Philosophers mentioned a place between the two.Regardless of what this is, it’s a surety that I’m dead. Its near ruin of greys and ashes, mists and moisture, stones and bristled grounds, only makes me thank my shoes—and a soul that had formed a sole to tread on melting metal.I find I’m standing in a lone and narrow medieval street that looks like a painting, flanked by dark, imposing brick buildings. Their pointed roofs give me chills, especially as they look as if they could pierce the looming, twilight grey sky until it releases the clouds upon my very head.Speaking of the sky, I don’t know if I should tag it sunless or moonless.
“Another blood oath? I resisted the first,” I say as I look at the Umbra Crown who is suddenly bearing an excited demeanor.“Ah, ah. This one is different.” He rubs his index and thumb fingers like a chef warming up for his next delicacy, disappearing and appearing in the fog while scurrying around pillars. He suddenly stops close to me, sniffing near my neck. “It is like… an awakening. Hah!”Then he vanishes again.When he comes back, it’s with a ring this time, one the size of his head. Its property is unknown, but it shimmers with lights that seem alive, looking like a colorful snake slithers inside it.The object could break if it falls; that is how fragile it looks. The Realm’s Future, they call it. It is also the only thing with color in the Labyrinth, aside from the Umbra Crown’s golden eyes that are now peering at my face pores.“No,” I mutter when he tries to crown me with the ring. I know what it does to people. It deceives. “Do not manipulate me with that thing again.”“O
HUNTER.There is a forlorn whistle; a tune sounding like a call for help, only, it’s not that.It is a bird―Tapi’s Fury. A creature of the dark, built like the nightingale, with a song as loud as the latter’s. It’s never found in the human world or the Realm. Tapi’s Furys are known to exist only in the Labyrinth of Shadows―a dreaded dwelling created by the legendary sorcerer, Tapi, to shield Kings of the Realm from the talons of Firnes.It has endless pillars—of roughly stacked stones—spread out in rows through the Labyrinth, all leaving four paces between each other.The pillars’ tops reach the sky where they disappear in black clouds of rumbling mess, while their bases are rocks shaped like vines, stretching out as roots on the dry, rough ground.One distinctive feature of the Labyrinth is its colorless nature.Diverse smell is not a leisure either.One could wear whatever scent they liked. As strong as it may be, it all ends in a blast of roasted earth breathing in the wake of a b
My car’s parked across the road with me in the driver’s seat. White’s main company building overlooks us, the road partition and the crowd serving as my only blockade to it.I should ride into the building’s garage. It’s safer now, after all, as the police are now limiting the severity of violence and have placed barriers so the crowd won’t obstruct people getting in and out of the building.But I’m still feeling like a tightrope walker; afraid of so many things at once that I can’t begin to point them out.And yet what’s more disturbing is the wailing throng. Their famished appearances, coupled with the fact that most have slept here for days because they can’t return home and be reminded of their deceased loved one is enough to drive even the cold-hearted to sympathy. Hunter excluded.While watching the hectic scene, I notice an odd person cut through the crowd into the building. I only saw their backside. Yet, regardless of them being fast, I caught that the person was a male.He wo
“How do you feel?”Not fine.“Like you should fuck off?”The man behind me huffs. He should try moving to my front so I can fucking ask him why he’s everywhere at once.“Are you always in such a foul mood?” he asks, prompting me to turn back. And there he stands; the one guy I know whose smile can force bile up my throat.“You only happen to meet me when I’m the most offended,” I snap. “Blame it on your ill luck.”“Even at the restaurant?”I squint my eyes as if warning him to vomit whatever he has in mind or I’ll bite. “What restaurant?”“New Year’s Eve. KF restaurant.” I pout before the man adds, “In the male bathroom?”Bloody male restroom? How the fuck did we meet― oh… Oh! That was him? The buzzcut guy that I didn’t care to look twice at! No wonder I kept feeling like I knew him from somewhere.I take the opportunity to register the rest of him, though I try not to stare hard or he’ll deem me a pervert.All I can say is that his name fits his looks. Also, the mystery in his aura s
Walking away this time, I am sure as hell not stopping if the man behind me tells me to.I don’t like his guts, that’s one thing. Another is the look on his face whenever he regards me; smug, with a smile that never seems to fade. However, it’s a good thing he’s not tall, dark, and handsome like a certain vicious man. And he looks good nevertheless. Just a tiny message across to Hunter reminding him one more time that he’s not the god he thinks he is.The drive back to White Cosmetics wasn’t a smooth one. It seemed as if the number of people joining the protest increased per hour. And it’s not even half the population still considering it.Last week, I didn’t realize how hectic resuming work was, but today it hit me. A few days ago, I’d be mopping the floors of Saturn’s or Morton's room while sneaking my phone out from time to time to chat with Hunter. And I enjoyed those moments… more than anything.Now I’m sitting behind a desk that holds so many taxing memories, hellbent on grabbin
Today’s Monday is Monday as usual.One could be overlooked on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, as their presence could have been familiarized—or something like that. No one bothers to care when they walk by.However, on Mondays, the dust brought up during the weekends is left unsettled, eliciting side-eyes and whispers when one reappears. Aside from that though, Mondays are naturally terrible. I don’t know the kind of jinx bound to it, but I’m pretty certain the same power has me in its grip as I enter the conference room.There strike the stares, making up for where the whispers do not. These folks were loud just seconds ago. Now the only sound in the hall is from my shoes.My seat creaks when I sit down. Surely, it appreciates the daredevil aura of my presence as I cross my legs, lean back, and place my elbows on the handrest.So, where were we?A hand supporting my jaw allows me to look carefully at a few people’s faces—their grey hairs, their wrinkles; I don’t know if