“I love him, I love him so much.”
Bella said as she open her eyes, the first thing, on her mind so early in the morning was him, and only him.
And yet it made her wonder, why does she loves him.
Was love at first sight really the reason.
Does such phenomenon truly exist.
This was a question Bella asked herself time and time again, when she came here, it was to avoid her fiance, but after doing her Masters in her field of study for two years now, she only has one year left before her course is complete.
“And if I don’t find a husband by then, Father will force me to… Sigh, mother said she has told Nier about to the trials, but I feel so embarrass to face him… Still I want to be with Nier, I love him so much it hurts just not thinking about him.”
“…Sigh, I wonder though, is Nier really ready for Mother’s trials.”
The thought ran through her mind.
She knows that Nier is, to an extent, some kind of supernatural entity, what gave that away was simple.
He has Flux energy, an energy all things from beyond the Cleave can manipulate, Hestas like her can sense that.
At first she suspect that Nier was a Corrupt, a human that use Flux items to perform supernatural feats.
However that wasn’t the case, thanks to her family magic she saw how his cells, react to Flux energy, and how much of it he has is just insane.
“What are you my love, sigh… You know, your probably not a Flux, and maybe just a victim of these Flux, you wouldn’t be the first, however from what little I know, especially working with Kayland, I know your mother was probably not a normal human either.”
Bella said to herself as she recalls the first task Kayland ever gave her.
“What do you mean you were forced to watch over this!?”
Bella demanded as Kayland handed her the black box he was holding in his hands. It felt strangely neutral in her palm, as Fixer she manages a lot of weird items, but this one strangely had no kind of energy signature yet, it made her feel uncomfortable for some reason. It was about three pounds, maybe four at most, and according to him, utterly indestructible.
“Yes, is that a problem, beside I don’t have a damn choice here, the person who gave me this is rather unique case.”
Kayland said.
“That being?”
Bella asked, as Kayland sighed again, answering as such.
“My best friend’s mom gave it to me thirteen years ago, originally I had this in my house, but my mother for some reason said keeping something like this in our house will definitely make my Dad target him, she might know what it is but I don’t, and honestly I don’t care either. All I know about this thing is that it is supposed to be my friend’s inheritance from his now dead mother.”
Bella raised an eyebrow.
“And you just… agreed?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
He replied.
“Still.”
Kayland murmured, eyes fixed on the black box.
“I knew whatever was inside wasn’t simple. Growing up, his mother was a walking enigma. I am convinced she wasn’t human, maybe an Artificial Hesta, maybe something older, it is hard to say. My family has been steeped in the supernatural for generations, same as yours. Some of my siblings were alive before the Hesta Age. The public thinks it started ten years ago due to the Dracas, but the tech was born over a century back, during the First World War, long before the Draca spun it into natural evolution for the planet and those worthy of their grace.”
He leaned against a crate, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial hush.
“The vibe she gave off, plus this box… made me believe that my friend mom was probably heavily involved in the war. It would make sense, back then was a harsh time, especially since four of the fifteen world-nations clashed for dominance.”
“Why do you say that?”
Bella asked a little confused and Kayland answered.
“The material this is carved from is the same alloy the Fallen Nation of Fortuna used to wound Artificial Hestas after Kazbetle surrendered the blueprints to the FAA when the new king at the time overthrew the former to save the country from destruction, a smart choice not gonna lie.”
Bella’s fingers tightened around the cube, when she heard this.
“I see, I have heard rumors of how Fortuna almost made a come back due specialized wepaon. And if we are being real, the FAA aside, it was Kazbetle who invented the first Hestas. Under normal circumstances they should’ve won since it was free-for-all but all of them teamed up to take down the strongest which was a south county but failed miserably.”
“That’s right the FAA is the strongest country in the world for a reason.”
Kayland said.
“For eons, the Three Heads of the Great families were dismissed as myth, even by the supernatural elite. They wield power science can’t quantify, knowledge from the old world where gods, heroes, and monsters once walked. Hell, some of their family members, alongside a few of my own family who came long after the Great three families, who are much older than even the new gods strutting around the world today.”
Bella’s lips curled.
“You mean the wannabe deities.”
“Call them what you like. They’re the last embers of true divinity left on Terra, alongside the Dracas. They pull strings from the shadows, leash the great families you can say the New Gods run the entire world, and leaders of our countries are nothing but their servants. Even their weakest could erase every family head without breaking a sweat. What choice do the rest of us have?”
Kayland said, and Bella sighed, looking at the box she change the conversation, she doesn’t like the New Gods, one bit, so she change the topic by asking.
“I am somewhat familiar with alloy that hurt Artificial Hesta’s, but not what this alloy is, or what it does, if this box is what you claim it to be, then what is the box made out of?”
Asked Bella, and Kayland answered immediately.
“That would be a material known by few as NHS… which is short for Nuhasium-Samite.”
Kayland answered.
“To make a long story short, it is an extraterrestrial alloy. Not of this world. The only reason I know it exists is because our nation’s strongest Heroes in the Hero Association Star-Man, and Moon-Girl crash-landed here as infants.”
“Their ship was forged from the same alloy. By earth standards it is basically damn near-indestructible unless you know the exact method which only those of the council that manage Public Service has knowledge of. Their DNA help during experiment that birthed every Artificial Hesta’s you see. But NHS? It is the one thing that can cut them. Looks like charred wood, but to their kind, it is poison.”
Bella’s pulse spiked.
“So you think his mother…”
“Yes, I think my friends mom, might be either one of these New God’s, or one of the people in Fortuna that experimented with the material first hence forth, she had access to a classified material like this to even make it into a damn box to begin with, Public Service has all the NHS the world currently has.”
Kayland finished, then continue.
“After the war was finished Star-Man obliterated every trace of it after his betrayal. The only remnants left are the control collars around his and Moon-Girl’s necks after they subdued them. This is how Public Service controls them. For her to have even a gram of this material, muchless enough to make a whole box should be Impossible.”
Bella’s grip turned white-knuckled.
“Then why not report this instead, keeping something like this should be more trouble than its worth, don’t you think?”
“No!”
Kayland’s voice was steel.
“Doing that will put him in the crosshairs. He wants a normal life. I won’t rob him of that, just because I am curious.”
“And you trust me to keep silent? This could get us in serious trouble you know.”
Kayland’s smile was razor-thin at that question.
“You don’t strike me as the type to meddle in others affairs, Miss Zane. And you’ve got your own problems to deal with…Besides…”
His eyes glinted
“…antagonizing the Garbutt family is a poor life choice. We control 31% of global liquidity. You know what that means right?”
Bella’s aura flared, crimson runes suddenly igniting across her skin.
“Are you threatening me?”
“This is not a threat.”
Kayland said calmly.
“Just a reminder that stupid games earn stupid prizes.”
Silence crackled between them after that.
Bella clicked her tongue, as she replied by saying.
“Fine… My lips are sealed… I am only here until graduation anyway’s, and to hunt what I came for.”
Her gaze drifted to the cube, something dark and hungry flickering behind her eyes.
She just did her job, keeping watch on it alongside many safer things, as that is her job as a Fixer.
After that day, she never once payed the box any mind.
Until years later.
That conversation was nearly three years old now.
Her official job with the Octagon as a Fixer was mostly archiving old relics, weapons from different military bases, and hidden labs, all of that in an old factory all in the backwater cities of Sector-53.
But the pay was good.
Still she never imagined the black box would lead her to him.
The day Kayland walked in with Nier, her heart almost stopped.
6’5”. Maroon hair cascading down pass his neck. Blood-red eyes, slitted, nocturnally…inhuman even.
Muscles that are solid, yet compressed into a lean, predatory frame.
His voice, warm, heavy, and so adoring it sent shivers straight to her core.
It was without a doubt love at first sight.
Obsession at first breath.
He avoided her the moment they met, and this was extremely unacceptable to her. So she orchestrated a plan to get close to him, which quickly ended her job as a Fixer, as a result of blackmailing Kayland, but she didn’t care.
Bella knew then, and even now, her love for him.
“Ahhh I love him, I love him, I love him, I love him…I LOVE HIM!!!”
Her words echoed faintly as she rose from the bed in one of Nier’s guest rooms, a room, to her dismay, far too distant from the master bedroom.
What truly gnawed at her, however, was the swarm of women around Nier. Worse still, an unseen entity seemed to guard him, perhaps even influence him.
‘Could it be connected to the box his mother had left?’
She wondered.
Whatever it was, Nier treated it with intimate familiarity. So far, she had only encountered two women who visited regularly or stayed with him.
“Agh, I can’t stand these lesser whores crawling all over my man.”
She snarled.
“I must win Mother’s final trial, at any cost. Nier has the strength to conquer them all; I can feel the immense power coiled inside him, though its depths remain a mystery even to me. His abilities still astound me. But once the trials are over, I’ll know every inch of what he can do. I’ll be ready. When he reaches the Dominion Bout, the duel that crowns the true head of the house, I will beat him… then seize control. Our home will become matriarchal. My throne. My Nier. No sharing. He’ll be mine, and mine alone. Hehehe… just imagining it makes me tingle down there.”
She sighed, pacing to the window.
“Still… I’ll never get close if he only sees me as a girl he is paid to protect. Kayland is the one footing the bill, and he swears Nier’s competent. I believe it. I’ve seen his shapeshifting capabilities, I have even seen the heat of those black flames when he scorched the boys flirting with me at school. If only he did it because he loves me. Sigh… Seducing him will take a lot of work.”
“However I must act now, I will show him how sexy my body is, momma always say guys that like girls like money, and if money doesn’t do the trick I must then rely on my body, yes, I am confident that I have way better physique than the whores he keep around here.”
