It was late in the night when Zeifar had finally been left to be alone. Her mentally weak business partner really enjoyed spending time around her.
She tiredly switched off the lights in her room and opened the bedside drawer.
“Stupid,” she cursed at her container of painkillers.
What had the painkillers done? Nothing, really, but it felt like an immense hit to her ego to have to take medicine.
“This is so annoying,” she grumbled, taking two together. The bandages on her knees felt uncomfortable, she was not used to injuries. Especially not big ones, she rarely got hurt even while playing sports.
‘Will it need checking?’ she wondered.
“But it’s not deep, just a scratch,” she reasoned.
Zeifar dismissed her thoughts and turned the bedside lamp on. Then she took out a notebook from under her pillow. It had messily scribbled questions on its pages, writing nobody but she herself could probably understand.
She had figured out the basics of the basics of the Noviar Rounds, Law and Hierarchy. But she could not understand where the System came into all this, because the way even Mika referred to the System, nobody seemed to know a single thing about it. They all just used it, without questioning anything about it.
Another question she had barely half-solved— ‘why’: Why were these Rounds truly there?
Mika had told her it was to maintain Dimensional balance whenever something which caused a power-balance shift happened, but to cause a shift such as the one Dalton had caused, the person would either need to ask for power from someone high in the Noviar Hierarchy (Stellars) or earn it by themselves.
But just to maintain balance? It did not make sense to her, ‘There must be another way, if there are so many options for everything, this couldn’t have been the only one.’ The entire point of the Noviar Laws was ‘possibilty’. Based on the Laws, there was no ‘one’ answer for Dimensional things—it was like how the same name could belong to many.
So why only one singular Law for this?
As she began drowning in her ocean of thoughts, something glowed in front of her eyes, reflecting on her glasses, “Huh?”
[Your assumptions are entertaining, Dear.]
The System said.
Time felt like it was blurring, disappearing, as Zeifar stared at the message. It was that same sensation; the same way she had felt that day in the car—as if the world had frozen.
A chill ran down her spine as she tried to process, there was something different this time. The messages did not instantly disappear.
[Why are you not responding?]
She flinched, “Ah, no, I’m just confused.”
[Understood. But there is short time. Please consider.]
“Uh…sure? Why—oh Noviar Effects,” she muttered, “Noviar Effects just for talking directly…someone higher than most Stellars.”
[Correct.]
“So, go on then.”
[You are very powerful, Dear.]
“What?”
[It took more than 2 millennia to find someone of the same Category. Thanks.]
“What the hell is this,” an odd breeze surrounded her as the window disappeared, leaving her alone again.
She blinked a few times.
“That was the creator of the System, I’m sure,” she said to herself, feeling the gears in her brain clicking back to work. “…someone with the same Category? That means this person and I have the same Category.”
But she did not even know what her own Category was, so how did that help???
It was probably a setting that the original creator of the System had set, messages set with very complicated coding…whoever had made the System had definitely been some bastard from some high-powered World.
Zeifar cursed in unspeakable words, hastily noting down, “But now what—oh not again!”
Another System message.
[Processing…]
[Welcome back, Master!]
“What?”
[Title: ‘Master of Novaraxia’s System’ (L-Rank) added to list of Titles.]
“Excuse me?”
****
“You look like you haven’t slept in a while,” Xavier told Zeifar. He was quiet concerned, but she only chuckled as she poured him coffee and asked, “Do I?”
He nodded, asking her to sit down.
“Seriously, I’m only a little tired!”
But the eyes behind her glasses were slightly puffy and definitely lacked sleep.
Xavier stared at his coffee, thinking.
He had not personally known her for very long, it was only less than a week, yet he could not help but be worried. After all, she seemed to be a considerate and overall caring person, no matter how hard she tried to act the opposite—and she did not seem to hold onto grudges.
“You should go sleep,” he insisted.
Zeifar gave him a smile that said ‘Chill’ and checked the time, “I need to go somewhere today.”
Suddenly curious, he gave her a questioning look.
She sighed, “Family meet-up, I can’t take any of you.”
He nodded to show he understood, but he did not at all—what sort of family called for a meet-up in the middle of the apocalypse?
****
The servants of the Nadir household silently arranged plates around the large banquet-size dining table. The air in the main house, where the very heads of the family resided, was somehow worse without the parent Nadirs. Each and every one of them dreaded these meetings, and almost every time something bad would happen.
“It’s almost time, is everything done?” the chief butler asked. The servants nodded and hurried to their stations.
‘Click, Clack,’ the sound of heels walking down the luxurious marble staircase.
“Ah, if only mother were here right now,” Sahar Nadir, “She would’ve been so annoyed to see all of them, I can just imagine it!” she laughed, “But she got saved.”
“Lady Nadir, this is the first meet-up held without your parents, are you certa—” the chief butler began saying, only to be cut off, “Do you think they can do anything about it? They’re safe and sound all the way up in Russia—I doubt they care,” Sahar sighed, “Besides, I’m the owner of Reverence Foundations, so this should be my job now.”
Basically the crown princess.
Just a few days before the mayhem, she had been announced as the owner to all their companies. The entire Nadir Empire.
She had been living quite the bliss until the sudden Rounds.
“And I can see my Zeif again!” she laughed. Zeifar, her little sister. They were not as close as the usual siblings, but they had nothing to hate each other for.
Sahar was not sure why.
Her entire life she had expected the girl to hate her, yet when she had actually properly met—Zeifar had never seemed to care much.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“As well as your cousins, my lady,” her butler reminded.
She scoffed, “Oh right.”
****
“Been a while, Zeifar,” Zain Nadir shook his favorite cousin’s hand.
She nodded, an odd amusement in her eyes as she looked around the house—scanning all the people present.
“Ah, Roza made it,” she sounded almost disappointed. Zain snickered. He was five years younger than her, yet the heir to his parents’ own company and shares in the Empire—a kid, but a smart one.
“She’s been using quite a lot of funds for that,” a calm voice mentioned, leaning on Zeifar’s shoulder from behind.
“I know,” Zeifar sighed, “I took out some money from her account last night.”
“That’s my sister!” Sahar pinched her cheek and walked to the center of the ginormous living-room.
“Alright, alright! I truly appreciate all of you managing to come here, and I’m glad all of you survived,” her loud voice said, almost sounding annoyed underneath her laughter, “But as we have so much time now, I have a few things to say,” Sahar continued.
Zeifar sat down on one side of the sofa and took a sip of her iced-tea.
Zain, who was sitting next to her, whispered, “Is this about your shares?”
She gave him a ‘calm down’ smile and whispered back, “Maybe?”
Zeifar had been the only child of the direct list of Nadir heirs to not have her shares declared. The main reason being she was too busy—at least, that was what she always said, in reality it was because she already knew.
The other Nadirs though, thought that her family had probably removed her name from the shares and gone against her grandfather’s wishes. ‘Why else would they keep her separate?’ And if that was true, that meant the part which had been for her would be given to someone else…
Sahar finished her regular statistics speech, which included her scolding Roza, one of their other cousins, on spending too much from shared funds.
“Now, to what you all are curious about,” she smiled, motioning Zeifar to get up.
Putting her glass down, Zeifar fixed her shirt and walked to her sister.
Sahar put a hand on her shoulder and then gave the room a dark smile, the coldness as visible as her pride. There were many people in the room who wanted Zeifar’s shares—to the point they would hire hitmen. And many who believed they deserved it. ‘She was always distant anyways! She’s not even a Nadir!’ as they argued.
“The new owner, as there is no current, and boss—sorry, CEO, of Verena has officially been declared as my dear sister, Zeifar.”
The silence which followed was a mix of amusement from those who supported this, and fear from those who had despised Zeifar till now.
The reason for their fear?
‘Verena’ was the cover name for the Nadir Empire’s…international business of sorts, which due to certain reasons could not be said out loud. The very heir to the underworld of the entire world. The family had always been the at the top of the food chain anyways.
Zeifar had been the heir to Verena. Now she was its owner, or boss.
In a metaphoric way, if Sahar Nadir was the face of everything, the Emperor of the Nadir Empire: The Skyscraper; then Zeifar Nadir was the underground tunnel system, a money-bank, right underneath the Skyscraper.
The only person who could do anything and everything.
In short? The girl had become the underworld itself.
“That’s ridiculous!” Roza Nadir screamed.
Zeifar sighed. She had thought that maybe the situation with the Rounds would make the announcement a bit less chaotic.
“Is it now? Explain, then,” she said.
The lady, at least 10 years older than her, was red to the shade of a tomato, making it quite hard for Zeifar to hold back her laughter.
Roza turned to Sahar, as if Zeifar had not even spoken, “She’s never contributed to this family!”
Sahar took a sip from her glass and raised her eyebrows, “And you have?”
The tomato shade darkened to cherry as Zain and a few others began giggling behind the grown adult who was saying that the literal daughter of Verena’s previous bosses was not an eligible heir.
Sahar walked closer to the lady, the cold aura only the very head of the family could have, “All of our parents wish to retire, no matter whether we survive this hell or not. And if it’s about contribution,” she made a ‘Tsk’ sound, “Who are you to speak? You studied with our money because your family lost half of its money on gambling. What contribution have you made?”
Roza was visibly flustered, “I—I well,”
“Did you study engineering? Have you ever looked at a sports car, much less design one?”
The snickering from behind got louder, “She made the Nadir name internationally famous, people around the world know us, respect us more. What have you done?”
Not a single answer.
It had been asked not to Roza alone, but to everyone in the room who had been cursing at them.
A hand touched Sahar’s shoulder, “Hey, I think you can stop here,” her sister laughed, “They’ll hate you even more.”
“Not like they already don’t,” her elder sister rolled her eyes.
“Still, if they try anything, it’ll be hard for me to explain their disappearance from the planet to our parents,” the younger one reasoned.
****
“I got a call from Adrian,” Sahar told her sister, who was getting into one of her fancy cars. Zeifar made a face, “Why did he call you?”
“He wanted to know why I called you,” she replied.
“Did you tell him?” Zeifar asked, taking something from inside her car.
“Only partly, what is—oh my!” her eyes widened. It was a bouquet of roses.
“You do like roses, don’t you?” the brat asked sweetly.
“Of coursed I do—hey, won’t you eat with us?”
Zeifar shook her head, “I left eight idiots who can’t cook back home.”
Ethan stared at the floor of the dining room, holding Adrian and Ethan back. He had known one day or the other this would happen.
But he had not thought it would happen without Zeifar around.
Shattered glass and ceramic scattered the marble, each reflecting blood.
“What’s…what’s going on?” Zeifar panted, trying to breath, “Laur we talked about this!”
Ethan watched, feeling his blood boiling as he tried to hold back the others and himself. Zeifar would not let them interfere.
“You’re being childish, Lauraleith,” Zeifar muttered, wiping blood off on her sleeve, “What made you do this all of a sudden?”
Keilan sat silently in a corner, healing Danielle.
Lauraleith, on the other hand, glared at Zeifar, her face nothing but rage.
“I understand an argument, I can even forgive you punching me—”
“Forgive me? As if I did anything wrong?” Lauraleith sneered, “You should see your own ego, Nadir.”
Zeifar took a deep breath, feeling her patience collapsing, “What more do you need then? If you want to leave,” she sighed, “Why don’t you?”
Startled, Lauraleith looked away, “…you’ll let me leave?”
For the first time, Ethan saw Zeifar’s eyes turn so wide. She was genuinely shocked.
“Have you been staying with us because you thought I wouldn’t let you leave?” she asked—there was a slight uneasiness in her voice, her voice usually never faltered.
The house was silent.
‘Clink’
Lauraleith looked up.
A car key, and the person who had thrown it was not there.
“Leave whenever you want, Ms. Alexander,” a low voice said from the stairs, as she stared at the key.
****
Adrian did not know whether he was astonished or worried.
The house had been deadly silent since that day.
“I can’t believe she really left…” Xavier muttered, staring at his food.
The dinner table was silent, they all ate like children who were scared, but the only thing happening was just them losing their appetites.
“She’s been so silent, and for 3 days at that,” Raymond mumbled, “Did she eat?”
None of them knew. They went back to their silent eating, unable to do anything else.
Zeifar had been acting her best to be normal, but her silence was visible to anyone.
It had been quiet like that for 3 days.
“You’re all sulking,” a voice startled the children who were eating. Their ‘mom’ only sighed and sat down at the table, her face exhausted. There was also an air of seriousness.
“Please keep eating,” she mentioned before bringing up her main discussion, “Does anyone else want to leave?”
A few of them choked on their food as they all gave her looks with eyes the sizes of suns.
A smile appeared at the corners of her mouth as Zeifar looked down, “I’ll take that as a no.”
“But what about…” Zac could not help himself from bringing it up. Kazerin kicked him from under the table, they were all afraid Zeifar might breakdown like Lauraleith; yet the one who had been asked only gave him a laugh full of her usual warmth, “There are people watching her, and don’t underestimate your senior, Zac. She’s quite strong even without powers.”
He nodded, feeling a bit embarrassed for having to hear such an obvious answer.
“Anyways, she joined a group with her family assassins and ex-Luxeours yesterday.”
The sound of a glass shattering filled the silence.
Zeifar was taken aback, the lights began flickering as she blinked, trying to understand. The one who had broken the glass was Raymond—who had somehow clenched it so tightly it had shattered.
“He’s bleeding…” she muttered, glancing at the rest as the plates on the table began trembling.
Glowering eyes full of something that lacked rationality. Murderous intent. Their rage had an overwhelming power that was near impossible to handle. Not for Zeifar, obviously. Hercules’ child could not become Hercules himself.
“Calm down, all of you,” she said in an annoyed voice, “And you, idiot,” she walked to Raymond, “Why did you break the glass, huh? Just because you see it every day does that mean crockery doesn’t cost money?!” she scolded, snapping them all out of their trance.
Raymond blinked a few times as his blanked-out brain tried to regain its senses. Had he really gotten so triggered just by hearing something that simple? It could not be helped, he could not fight off the feeling which fueled his anger—he could not stop himself from despising Lauraleith Alexander, a stranger he had only known for more than a week.
He watched calmly as Zeifar poured disinfectant onto a piece of cotton and gently cleaned the cuts on his hand. They stung a bit, but his mind was too preoccupied to notice.
Zeifar’s expression darkened as she loudly said, “If you all keep letting your powers take over whenever you’re angry you’ll end up causing a worse power-balance shift.”
At this, the others flinched and gave her bewildered looks.
“But we aren’t that strong,” Keilan said.
She gave him a questioning look and asked, “What gave you that idea?”
There was a threatening tone to her voice. The coldness in the room sent a shiver through each of them as they avoided her gaze.
She chuckled, sensing the change of mood, and said, “Don’t put so much thought into everything guys, you should prepare for the next Rounds.”
She was right, none of them were sure about the next Round but they knew it would not be easy.
“You’re allowed to level up by killing monsters as long as you’re not doing it on behalf of someone underqualified,” Zeifar casually mentioned, “Just don’t take my cars.”
****
[Congratulations, your Stats have increased.]
Killing monsters had somehow become relaxing to Danielle.
She tossed her knife into the air and caught it, taking in the weird breeze from outdoors. Most of them had gone out hunting alone in their confidence that they would not get hurt (which was not wrong).
Dubai’s atmosphere had changed so much that Danielle felt as if she was in an entirely different place. As someone who had been racing since high school, she was familiar to Dubai—but there was absolutely nothing familiar about this place. She did not mind, though.
Even in the middle of the day, the stars across the sky were somehow visible.
“…Dan?” a voice asked from behind. She turned around, not even slightly surprised, “You followed me.”
A guilty look came in response.
“I just—”
“You don’t need to,” Danielle cut off. Her head still throbbed from the impact of glass, but she did not need an apology from Lauraleith of all people.
“It’s not like we were ever friends, right?” she said, kicking a monster’s claw.
They had studied together since high school.
Lauraleith’s eyes were glued to the ground.
“How are the high-levels? Strong?” Danielle laughed. The bitterness in her voice was loud.
Lauraleith could not say anything. She took a deep breath, not being able to look up, and said, “I don’t regret it.”
“Okay?” Danielle replied, sounding a confused, “So what?”
The other gulped, her fists clenched, she had come here to make it known that there was nothing she regretted about her decision. There was nothing, right?
“Get lost, man. I’ve got things to do,” the other yawned.
WHOOSH
Lauraleith blinked and stared in front of her.
‘Danielle can teleport?’ was the first thought in her mind. Realizing what had just happened, she shook her head and got back into her…Luxeour’s car. She had left Zeifar’s back at headquarters.
‘Oh, I still have her car…’ somehow, she could not cut ties off no matter how much she tried. Was it a curse?
****