Chapter 44 - Birthday Gift - Part 5

Saturday 22nd May 2021 – Earth:

Nazar was at the bar with his friends.

He was not feeling well at all due to the energy poison which was coursing through his body. It was also making him feel extremely exhausted mentally.

However, he showed none of that on his face.

He is used to putting a smile on his face and not making anyone worry.

It was around 3 AM and the bar was closing.

(I can’t come up with a solution about this situation…) Nazar thought to himself. (My whole body and mind feel so exhausted.)

“Shall we get going?” Nazar said.

“Ah, yes,” Chris said.

All of them seemed drunk except for Nazar because of his enhanced metabolism. And Laura because she didn’t drink much since she has work in the noon.

They walked out of the bar and Laura called them a taxi.

Once they went away, Nazar and Laura were left alone.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, why?”

“You seem out of it?”

Nazar sighed.

(But if she stays here any longer... I will probably lose consciousness again. I could use Recharge but it started to hurt me for some reasons. It felt as if needles were stabbing into my very being.)

“Oh, it’s nothing. Just a little drunk.”

“I see…”

(Damn it! I don't want to use Recharge... But if I stay here for too long, I will lose consciousness. So, I have to get rid of her. I could teleport out and then later remove her memories...)

Nazar shook his head.

(I should just put an illusion instead. It should hold up for a minute... Then, I will have to manipulate her memories again.)

Conflicted, Nazar thought.

Laura took out her phone.

“Why did you not go with them?”

“I am worried about you.”

“….”

Nazar looked at her in a confused manner.

“Huh?”

“You have been out of it tonight. And then there was your very worried look on your face when that other person…”

Laura trailed off a little as she gulped.

She remembered that it none other than the Lucifer himself.

Most people know him to be the devil but Laura remembers the other timeline, so she knows that he is just a fallen angel. Of course, she doesn't know that Nazar has made him part demon.

“…showed up.”

Nazar's eyes widened.

Suddenly, he forgot about his low energies.

(Huh? Does she somehow know about Luc--)

“So, I am not gonna let you go alone in this situati—Nazar?!”

Nazar lost his consciousness since his energies reached zero.

The poison in his body is sucking all of his energies and he was also in pain.

Laura caught him in time before he fell into the ground.

“Nazar?!”

She wrapped one of her arm around Nazar’s body.

“If… If I take him to a hospital…”

She shook her head.

“What if they find out about his power? And he hates doctors.”

She was not too worried because she knows Nazar has powers.

And even if something like this happens to him, he will be fine soon after.

“I will just take him to his home…”

She sighed as she waited for a taxi.

After 30 minutes or so, they reached his apartment.

“Now… Where did I put the key?” Laura muttered to her while she was supporting Nazar.

Standing in front of the door, she searched for the key in her purse.

“Hm… Where did I put it?”

After a while, she found the key and opened the door.

Going into the apartment, she placed Nazar on the bed.

“Sigh. I hope nothing is wrong with him.”

လလလ

Many hours later, Nazar groaned as he slowly opened his eyes.

“Where...?”

He looked around and noticed it was his own bedroom.

He was lying on a large bed.

To his left was a small window.

In front of the bed was a TV screen. Near the TV screen was a bookshelf which had Green Lantern trade paperbacks and omnibuses.

In front of the comics were a few action figures. One, of course, was of Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern of Sector 2814. Another was of the Hulk.

There were a few anime action figures too.

“What happened...?”

He sat up slowly in his bed.

“Ngh. I remember losing consciences last night… I should have used my Recharge even if it pained me.”

(Well, whatever the case, I do feel a little better. Mentally, at least. My power is still being drained...)

Nazar sighed.

As he tried to stand up, he noticed something.

He looked at his side and saw someone.

“Laura?!?!”

Seeing that, Nazar blushed a little.

“And why is she only wearing underwear… I mean, sure, I won’t do anything stupid but still!”

She was wearing nothing but her black underwear, revealing her beautiful smooth skin.

If was also revealing her busty alluring body with beautiful curves.

Despite being very busty, she was a little muscular. She worked out in the gym frequently.

Looking up her body, he noticed her long beautiful black hair was braided a little in the sides.

Looking away from her body, Nazar noticed that her clothes were lying down near the bed.

Nazar’s heart started beating faster and faster for a split second.

He thought something bad has happened to him again.

(That woman…?)

He checked his own body and found out nothing of such sort had happened to him, so he let out a sigh of relief with a smile.

He glanced back at Laura’s body.

After a few seconds of staring, he said, “Holy crap, she is hot.”

He tried to avert his gaze but he couldn’t. He kept staring at her.

“Those back muscles… Those arm muscles… Those leg muscles… Those shoulders… Phew. That’s hot.”

Nazar felt guilty for looking at her like that.

“I mean, it's not as big as Aarin’s and Lian’s… but it’s still impressive.”

At that moment, Nazar wanted to check something else too.

She was lying on her side, so he couldn’t see her stomach. He wanted to check if she had abs.

Nazar transformed the wall into a mirror and checked it.

“Oh shit, she got abs too.”

The mirror wall soon vanished.

“She got big boobs, big butt, thick thighs, abs, muscles…"

Nazar took a deep breath.

"She is perfect!”

Nazar noticed that he said that out very loudly and he was smiling excitedly.

(Wait, what the hell? It’s wrong to look at your friend’s body like that. GO AWAY EARTHLY DESIRES!!!!)

Nazar looked in the opposite direction.

(Forgive me, Laura.)

Nazar looked back again and his eye twitched furiously.

“The least you could wear some clothes!”

Nazar sighed.

“Well, I guess she trusts me a--"

(Oh, shit she is awake.) Nazar thought to himself frantically. (Di-did she hear what I said? Please tell me…)

Laura groaned a little as she scratched her eyes.

“Morning, sweetie...” She said as she yawned.

“G-good mor… morning.”

She sat up.

("Sweetie"? Did she confuse me with someone else? Yeah, that's definitely the case. I never took her for an airhead.)

“What time is it?”

Nazar pulled his phone out of his pocket.

He looked at the time and then threw the phone on the bed near him.

“9.50 AM.”

(Maybe she is drunk? And is confused? Or she is really dumb?)

“Still have two hours until work.”

She lied back down.

"Anyway, you shouldn't compare me to someone else," Laura said as she smiled thinly.

"You heard that?!?"

"A little."

Nazar felt a cold sweat stream down his face.

"You can admire my body 24/7. I don't mind you doing it."

Laura winked at Nazar and his heart skipped a beat.

(She is hot! Man, her partner is super duper lucky… Wait, what the fuck am I thinking? GO AWAY EARTHLY DESIRES!!!)

At that moment, Nazar noticed something within him.

(What is this feeling of warmth? This feeling of easiness and security? I can't explain it but it feels familiar…)

Nazar tried to think back to the last time he felt something like this.

Nazar shook his head.

(There is no time for that.)

“Uh, can I ask a question?”

“Sure?”

“Why are you sleeping in my bed?”

Laura sat up and looked at Nazar in the eyes, feeling a little guilty, he looked at the blank TV screen.

"Ouch! That hurts."

"Hm?"

"You don't get to admire my body and not remember me."

Laura sighed.

“I know we haven’t seen each other since March because of the exams and assignments… But man, I never thought you would forget your own girlfriend.”

“Oh, you are my girlfriend. That makes… sense...”

Nazar trailed off as he noticed what she said.

“Wait!”

He looked at Laura in reflex.

“Hm?”

“Girlfriend?” Nazar said with a confused look on his face.

“Yes?”

“My girlfriend?” He said as he pointed at himself with his thumb.

“Um… What is wrong? If you wanted to break up, you sh--”

“Wait, wait, wai--”

All of a sudden, Nazar's head got flooded with memories he didn't think he had. Memories which he had lost. All those memories included Laura.

"Huh?"

(Gehehehehe...)

Hearing the psychotic laugh in his head again, his body tensed up. And as it tensed up, he felt pain all over his body.

Ignoring the pain, Nazar stood up in reflex.

“I... I will be back soon.”

(♫Where are you running?♫)

He was hearing that sound in his mind again.

Nazar left the room and immediately vanished into thin air.

Appearing on the surface of the moon, Nazar appeared.

(What do you think happened? Why did you forget? Gehehehe.)

Nazar gulped.

The whole universe around Nazar turned pitch black.

“...?”

In front of Nazar, a form made of golden light appeared.

“Who are you?”

“What else? God, of course.”

Nazar’s eyes widened.

“Why do you want to be a God?”

“Why, you ask... You... I... We are a God. That’s what we are. The true God of everything.”

“But—“

“No, buts. I want to be at that place again. I don’t like this merely weak human. You keep changing your physiology. You keep making yourself a human. Keep making yourself weaker. Why? It's not interesting at all. It's not fun at all. So, why do it?”

“...”

“I want you to become God. I want us to become God.”

Nazar felt a chill through his body.

“And I will do whatever it takes!”

“But why erase--”

The other person laughed.

“You know what you hate? Being emotionally attached to someone. But you always had feelings for Laura. Is it because she was your first love? Is it because she let you experience things you have never experienced before? And that's why you still had those shitty feelings for her?”

The other person spread its arms.

“Whatever the case… hehe… I capitalised on it. I made you two become a thing. You became emotionally attached to her.”

Nazar’s eyes widened in horror.

He remembered the original timeline in which the Nameless One had manipulated his and Laura’s emotions.

“You... You manipula--”

“Haha, no. She also loved you but she didn’t want to get close to you either because she was focusing on her studies and didn't want distractions. And she knew that your relationship won't last long because she will soon be going back to her country. Plus she always thought that you were too far ahead of her or some shitty inferiority complex or something like that. Disgusting! Humans are pathetic, honestly.”

The other person laughed again.

“So, I made both of you get close to one another. Get attached and then get hurt later.”

“Did you do anything to Chris and Harry?”

The other person shook its head.

“No. But I did something to you.”

“What did you...?”

“Do you remember when you spent that evening with your friends? That really nice evening?"

Nazar was confused but he nodded.

“They were not there. You were speaking to an illusion. Gehehehehe...”

(Shit! From what he told me, I guess that makes sense. He might not have wanted them to ask questions about Laura or something and it might have spilt the beans...)

Nazar sighed deeply.

"When did you remove her memories? From my mind, I mean."

“Oh, I erased your memories of her once you went to that Greece-like planet. I took over your body... And you know what happened after that, right?”

“Did you kill her? The princess?”

“Oh, no. Just slept with her.”

“Why-- Ngh!”

All of a sudden, he felt more memories flood into his mind.

“Because I wanted you to remember both her and Laura.”

“So, I can feel what? Guilty?”

The other one sighed.

“You are so stupid.”

In between them, an energy-based construct.

It showed a comic book-like page.

“Yes, you will feel guilty. The way your personality is and how much you love her, you will tell her.”

The illustration showed a few panels.

In that page, it was shown that Nazar finds out about the princess, then he tells Laura and then they break up.

Nazar’s eyes widened.

“That’s right!”

The other person placed his hand on Nazar’s shoulder.

“You will tell her. And then she will break up with you. That's how humans are. They look for the slightest excuse to break off their relationships with someone.”

“...!”

“And then you will be left with nothing but memories. Bittersweet memories. And this way you can hurt her too. Gehehehehe...”

Nazar sighed.

“What is the point?”

“It’s simple. I just want you to not be happy. I want you to suffer for what you did to me. This is an act of revenge. But also, I want to push you to become a God. Of course, when the time is right.”

“It won’t work. No matter what you do to me emotionally or mentally... I won’t reach that state again.”

The other person crushed Nazar’s shoulder.

“You think you have a choice?”

Nazar felt a chill run down his body.

“When the Demon took over Emma, you were going to go berserk. But I kept you in your normal form and let it go as it was nothing.”

“Wait, why? I thought you wanted me to become a God?”

“I do. But you were going to go berserk and not become a God. You would have not reached that status at all. Plus…”

“Plus...?”

“Not now. It's a little too early for that.”

On the head of the other man, a mouth appeared and it was smiling thinly.

"It would have also messed with someone's plan," the other said very slowly and Nazar wasn't able to hear him. "And my plan which I set in motion years ago. I can't have it messed up that easily."

Nazar could have heard him but he didn't pay a lot of attention to this being in front of him.

“For now, I just want you to suffer.”

Nazar heard a slowly laugh as the space around him went back to normal.

He was standing on the moon once more and could see the stars again.

Nazar sat on the surface of the moon as he thought to himself.

လလလ

Back on Earth, a few minutes after Nazar left the room, Laura got out of the bed.

“Sigh. And here I thought I could sleep for an hour or so.”

She opened the drawer near the bed and took out some of her clothes.

After wearing her clothes, she noticed that Nazar’s phone was ringing.

She picked it up and looked at the caller ID.

“Emma?”

Without thinking about it, she answered the phone.

“Hey, Emma.”

“- Who are you? -”

“Ouch! That hurts.”

She had remembered the old life so she thought Emma would recognise her voice.

Remembering what she did wrong, Laura felt a little embarrassed.

"Nothing."

“- Hm? -”

“Hi, I am Laura.”

“- Laura? Laura?! -”

It seems that Emma who has memories of her old life knew who this was.

“Yeah, Nazar’s girlfriend...”

Laura felt a little unsure about that due to Nazar’s actions today.

“I think,” Laura said very slowly.

“- Wait, wait, wait. Time out! -”

Laura was not sure what Emma was talking about.

“- Nazar’s girlfriend?!?! That’s impossible. -”

“It is?” Laura said as she tilted her head a little.

“- I mean, he is always alone, doesn’t get along with anyone, tries to stay away from everyone and when I asked him about girlfriend a few years ago, he said he doesn’t want to be emotionally attached to someone. -”

“Uh...?”

“- Sorry, I was just confused. Anyway, when Nazar gets back here, tell him-- -”

“Oh, he is here.”

Laura heard the main door closing.

Nazar just teleported in but made it look like he entered from the front door.

“Hey, Nazar!”

“What is it?” Nazar said as he opened the door of the bedroom.

“There is a call for you.”

Laura threw the phone towards Nazar and he caught it.

“Thanks.”

He left the room and continued to talk with Emma on the phone.

As he was talking, Laura continued to wear her clothes and think.

(Maybe I should tell him?) She thought to herself. (If I remember correctly, Solace said something about manipulation... Maybe if he knows that I remember... I don’t know how he will take it.)

She sighed.

(Solace said he has kept his power secret for so long. I mean, if he didn’t want to tell me about it, it’s alright... But is it alright if I tell him I remember? Is it alright to let him know I know his secret?)

She was staring at the blank wall as she was thinking.

(Does it even matter anymore? I mean, in July, I will be going back to Italy. I didn’t want to be in a relationship that lasts this short...)

She lowered her gaze.

(But when he told me how he felt, I couldn’t deny my feelings anymore.)

She sat down on the bed with a heavy heart.

(What am I going to do now?)

She lied down and thought.

After a short while, Nazar entered the room.

(That’s it.)

“I…”

“Hm?”

(I am gonna tell him.)

“I remember.”

Once Nazar heard that his eyes opened wide.