2023-05-29 15:40:02The sunlight streaming through the window in Andrew's room didn't wake him up. It was already eleven in the morning, and Andrew had been sleeping soundly since the previous evening. In fact, this could be considered the first time Andrew had gotten such a long and uninterrupted sleep.
However, the ringing of his phone eventually forced Andrew to leave his slumber. His still-red eyes scanned the room for the phone, which was on the bedside table.
"Erica?" His younger sister's name appeared on the caller ID, and Andrew quickly answered the call.
"Andrew! Hi! Why did it take you so long to answer my call? By the way, I miss you, so I visited your office. I forgot which floor you're on, but I'll wait for you in the cafeteria, okay!"
"Erica--"
Before Andrew could respond, his sister had already ended the call. Immediately, Andrew got up and hurriedly left the room to meet Erica. Luckily, the clothes he wore yesterday were still decent enough to be worn outside.
"This is bad. If she finds out I'm no longer working, she'll be disappointed."
Andrew ran and raced against time. Fortunately, the distance from his home to the office wasn't too far.
"Quiet! Stop crying!"
Nadine's voice made Andrew halt in his tracks. His eyes widened as he saw Erica sitting in front of the company's door, crying. Her appearance was disheveled, with messy hair and worn-out clothes.
"Erica! What happened? What did you do to my sister!"
Andrew clenched his fists. Erica wasn't alone; she was with Orlando and Nadine. The two couples wore angry expressions, especially Nadine.
"I should be asking you what your family has taught Erica to turn her into a slut!" Nadine said, grabbing Erica's hair.
"Hey! Nadine, don't touch my sister, or you'll regret it!"
"What? What will you do if I do this to this whore?!"
"KYAA!"
Erica screamed in pain as Nadine gripped her face and pulled her hair again.
"You're the whore!" Andrew, angry, grabbed Nadine's hand and held it tightly, causing her pain.
Andrew glanced at Orlando, who remained unmoving. Nevertheless, his face revealed deep anger and frustration.
"What happened, Erica? Why did you come with them?"
"Let me go!" Nadine forcefully pushed Andrew's hand away and folded her arms, kicking Erica's body with her knee. She said, "Answer, idiot! Explain to your pathetic brother here that you're a whore who craves the touch of a man!"
Several pedestrians passing by and employees in the lobby glanced at the commotion. However, Andrew didn't care. To him, no matter how big the commotion was, when it involved his family, especially his sister, who was his last remaining family, it was an important matter that had to be fought for.
"Explain, Erica. Whatever happened, don't be afraid to speak up!" Andrew said firmly.
"I... I was indeed near your office earlier, and coincidentally, I saw Nadine. She was together with that guy, looking very close and laughing together. I was confused because to me, that was unusual since she's your girlfriend. So, I decided to approach her. Nadine said you had already broken up, and when I asked about your whereabouts, they said you were in hell.
Obviously, that shocked and panicked me. I tried to find out, but they only laughed and kept insulting you. At that time, Nadine realized her phone was missing from her bag, so she went inside the office. Meanwhile, the guy stayed near me, and just as I was about to walk away, he suddenly grabbed me.
I was quite startled and reflexively released his hand. He approached me and whispered something awful. He harassed me, saying he wanted to pay me for a night together because my body was too tempting not to be enjoyed. While he was saying that, Nadine suddenly returned and started yelling at me.
The guy fabricated a story, telling Nadine that I was the one seducing him. But that never happened. You know I don't really care about love, Andrew. I wouldn't do anything bad just for money!"
Nadine appeared furious and vented her emotions by hitting the side of the wall.
"Shut up! I would never assault a woman! Your sister does look like a prostitute, but I would never do anything wrong to her, let alone pay for her body! Even if it were given for free, I wouldn't even want to enjoy it!"
Andrew clenched his fists and walked towards Orlando, glaring at him. He said, "Say it one more time, and I'll destroy you, Orlando!"
"Ah!"
Erica screamed again, and Andrew shifted his gaze towards his sister. He found Nadine once again pulling Erica's hair and screaming in her ear. "Don't lie, or I'll send you to jail! A whore like you couldn't possibly be seduced by Orlando! He knows good and bad women!"
"Nadine!"
Andrew's hand was almost close to Nadine's face, but he refrained from slapping her.
"Why? Why don't you slap me? Come on, slap me. Go ahead and defend this whore, because she is guilty. Even if you slap me a thousand times, I won't stop teaching your sister a lesson! Remember, Andrew! You've been separated from Erica for years. How would you know that she's been living this lowly profession without your knowledge? Didn't you tell me that women would flock to Orlando because of his wealth? That's what's happening to your sister now!"
Andrew looked at his sister, who shook her head with a tear-stained face.
Orlando shrugged. "That's right, as I said, my body is too valuable to indulge in cheap and low women like your sister, Andrew."
Orlando's words further fueled Andrew's anger. This time, he no longer held back his fury. He turned his body towards Orlando, grabbed his collar, and said, "Say it again, Orlando, say it!"
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584
Andrew woke up with a cold sweat drenching his silk sheets. His heart was hammering against his ribs—a sensation he hadn’t felt since he first mastered the inner breathing techniques of the ancient necklace. Normally, the energy from the artifact would soothe his nerves even in the deepest sleep, but tonight, he felt as if a thousand-ton weight was crushing his chest.He glanced at the digital clock on the bedside table. 4:30 AM. The dawn had not yet touched the city’s skyline, but unease had already gripped his soul. Andrew sat up, attempting to summon a flicker of energy to clear his mind. However, as he tried to circulate the power through his meridians, he hit a wall. It felt like trying to force water through pipes filled with thick, freezing sludge."Something is wrong," he whispered into the darkness.He reached beneath his shirt, clutching the necklace. The metal was cold—far too cold. Usually, the yellow gemstone emitted a faint, comforting warmth that synchronized with his h
583
The skyline of the metropolis shimmered under the moonlight, a sprawling sea of electric diamonds that seemed to bow before the penthouse of the Celestial Tower. Inside, Andrew stood by the floor-to-ceiling glass window, a glass of vintage scotch in his hand. He wasn't the same man who had been humiliated in a cramped office years ago. His curly brown hair was neatly trimmed, and his blue eyes, once filled with desperation, now held the cold, piercing depth of an ancient ocean.The necklace—the source of his god-like power—rested silently beneath his silk shirt. He could feel its pulse, a rhythmic thrum of energy that connected him to the very atoms of the city. To the world, Andrew was the untouchable sovereign of the Smith-William conglomerate. He had crushed his enemies, healed the incurable, and amassed a fortune that could buy nations."Everything looks small from up here, doesn't it?"A soft voice broke his contemplation. Andrew didn't need to turn around to know it was Elena, h
4-49
The world reassembled without courtesy, snapping into place like bones set without anesthesia.Andrew hit solid ground hard, air tearing from his lungs as gravity reclaimed him with obvious irritation.He rolled instinctively, shoulders screaming as muscle memory compensated for power that no longer answered.Dust and ash coated his tongue, bitter and metallic, grounding him in harsh reality.When his vision cleared, he recognized the skyline immediately.They were back near the coastal ruins where the city had first fractured weeks ago.The sky here was wrong.Clouds hung unnaturally low, stretched thin like torn fabric, light bleeding through uneven seams.Every shadow felt sharper, more deliberate, as if cast by intention rather than physics.Andrew pushed himself upright slowly, careful not to provoke whatever invisible tolerance the world still extended.A faint warmth pulsed beneath his sternum, unfamiliar yet persistent.Not the Sapphire.Something else had taken root in its ab
4-48
Andrew woke to silence that felt artificially enforced rather than naturally earned.It pressed against his senses with an unnerving precision, like a system holding its breath.He lay unmoving for several long seconds, afraid that movement itself might trigger retaliation.The Sapphire beneath his sternum was inert, colder than it had ever been before.No pulse answered his cautious focus.No resonance acknowledged his existence.Panic threatened to rise, sharp and feral, but Andrew strangled it before it reached his throat.He had survived worse than emptiness.When he finally pushed himself onto an elbow, pain answered immediately and enthusiastically.Every joint protested as if resentful of being asked to function again.The chamber was gone.In its place stretched a vast plain of cracked obsidian, extending endlessly beneath a sky drained of color.No horizon was visible, only gradients of gray folding into one another.Andrew’s breath fogged faintly in the air, though there was
4-47
The throne did not activate immediately, and that delay unsettled Andrew more than sudden violence ever could.Silence pooled inside the chamber, thick and deliberate, pressing against his ears like an accusation waiting to be spoken.Noir straightened slowly, his movements stiff as if invisible restraints tugged at his joints.The cracks along his arms glowed brighter, leaking shadowed light that flickered with unstable rhythm.“You feel it,” Andrew said, forcing his voice steady despite the tremor in his legs.“This place isn’t choosing yet. It’s waiting.”Noir exhaled sharply, eyes never leaving the empty throne at the chamber’s center.“It’s verifying compatibility,” he replied. “Seeing which of us breaks first.”The walls began to shift almost imperceptibly, reliefs of shattered suns rearranging themselves.Stone groaned as ancient mechanisms awakened, responding to proximity rather than command.Andrew took one step forward, and the chamber reacted instantly.A wave of pressure
4-46
Andrew did not fall so much as he was unstitched from where he belonged.Space peeled away in layers, each one tearing loose with a sensation like breath being stolen mid-inhale.There was no up or down, only momentum without direction and time without patience.His body tumbled through overlapping fragments of places that never fully existed.He saw cities mid-construction and mid-collapse simultaneously, buildings flickering between futures.He saw oceans frozen in vertical walls, waves paused like indecisive thoughts.Pain arrived late, dragging itself behind awareness like an afterthought.Every nerve screamed out of sequence, confused about what it was supposed to protect.Andrew tried to summon the Sapphire instinctively, reaching inward the way he always had before.The response came delayed, distorted, like an echo bouncing through unfamiliar caverns.Light bled through his veins unevenly, blue-white pulses stuttering instead of flowing.It felt less like power now and more li
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