Helldrum was a planet of true freedom, where the powerful ruled over the weak. The powerful can commit crimes and do anything without repercussion, while the weak could only cower and seek for opportunities to make connections with the powerful to protect themselves.
Anonymity was part of Helldrum culture. No one knew the true identity of the people they met everyday, for everyone wore face masks that meld into their skin and completely changed their facial features. The people were just like the Sun Crest, who had the most power over the planet. No one knew who they were, but their power was evident.
So, this meant that Sebi and Necomir had to be extremely careful and follow the culture. They had Akhenaten’s seal but it can’t be enough to keep them safe.
“It tickles,” Sebi giggled. He was sitting on the bed, while Necomir worked on his face mask. His deft fingers danced over Sebi’s skin, leaving tingling traces that made him squirm.
“Behave, or I’ll…” Necomir mumbled, trailing off as he used a tool to carefully shape the part of the mask near his eyes.
“Or what?” Sebi playfully asked, hands bravely wandering to perch gently on Necomir’s knees. “What are you going to do to me, Necomir?
Roughly push me down and kiss me until I’m losing oxygen, if you can.
Finally done, Necomir pulled his hands away and stared at Sebi’s face. The mask he gave him was very different to Sebi’s original face. It was sharper, with attractive slanted, puffy eyes filled with mischief. The way Sebi was smiling only added more to this feeling of being teased by a fox demon.
“You know how to mess around now,” Necomir chuckled, ruffling Sebi’s hair as he moved over to the table to do his own mask. He needed to distance himself from that little minx on the bed, in case Necomir accidentally did something he would regret.
After finalizing everything they needed, the pair prepared for the starship to land. It took a whole day to travel from Vuturn to Helldrum, so when they set foot on the lawless planet, it was already the afternoon.
The star city of Helldrum was Hirough City. What made this city exquisite was that it floated in the skies over the largest ocean of the planet, a piece of sprawling land surrounded by an electromagnetic dome. Sebi already knew what to expect, but witnessing it from the window of the starship was a whole different experience. It felt like looking at a fictional city from a storybook.
They landed in a starport in one of Helldrum’s bustling continents before taking a suspension car up to Hirough City. Upon getting there, Sebi was impressed to see so many skyrise buildings filling his vision, along with so many cars floating over invisible, magnetic highways. The physics of this city was impressive.
“Auspex, do you want to go eat somewhere first?” Necomir asked as he drove their rented suspension car away.
Sebi laughed, saying, “Are the codenames really necessary even if we are alone? Do I really need to call you Faustus?”
“Well, we can never be too aware and careful, especially in a place like this,” Necomir said. “Though, I agree the fake identities we got don’t match us very well.”
Sebi nodded. Necomir’s pretty face was covered with a face mask that couldn’t bring justice to his beauty at all, of course the fake identities don’t match them!
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“We should go settle down first, Faustus,” Sebi said, stressing over Necomir’s codename with a little smile. “We’ll have all the time in the world to explore later after I outline the paper I need to write.”
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Sebi was quick to make camp in front of the glass windows that overlooked the city. He laid on the floor over his tummy, typing away on his laptop.
What Sebi needed to do was pretty simple. He just needed to integrate into Hirough City’s society, socialize among people his age, and examine what life for a person his age is like in the city. This way, he can focus on a subject and be organized in the presentation of the case study.
“Do you know where people our age always flock to?” Necomir suddenly spoke up as he slid over on his back next to Sebi. The way he did looked so comical that Sebi broke away from his thoughts and laughed.
“I don’t know, you tell me,” Sebi said, smiling as he reached out and gently twirled a long strand of Necomir’s hair around his finger.
“They go clubbing,” Necomir said in a matter-of-fact tone. “But you wouldn’t know, of course.”
“I was sick for years, of course I don’t,” Sebi haughtily said.
“Sorry,” Necomir chuckled, pushing a plate of cookies towards him from out of nowhere. “But yes. You’ll discover a lot of things when you go to a club.”
“Well,” Sebi perked up, sitting up straight as he looked down at his companion. “Have you gone clubbing?”
“For an event with my parents,” Necomir shrugged. “I didn’t do anything, I just sat in a corner.”
“That’s not clubbing!” Sebi laughed, playfully nudging at Necomir’s shoulder. “You basically just accompanied your parents to give your family some face!”
Necomir smiled goofily, pleased to see Sebi smiling heartily. He had always thought that it was ridiculous when a guy always wants to make his lover smile and laugh in movies and books. It made him feel like a total loser, now that he was trying to do the exact same thing.
“We’ve already booked you a visit to the city hall for tomorrow, so I’ll take you to a club the day after. Sounds good?”
Anywhere with Necomir was always good. The past weeks haven’t been exactly a vacation, but being alone like this with Necomir made him feel even closer to him. Every feast in the world has to come to an end, so Sebi just wanted to savor every moment together with him and just enjoy it.
The visit to the city hall went past like a blur. For Sebi, anything related to academics always passed by so quickly. But when it came to things he was actually excited about, it always felt like an eternity before he could grasp them in his hands.
On the day they decided to go clubbing, Sebi hurriedly finished up the contents of the paper that he was able to collect before rushing to change into trendy clothes. Ever since waking up in this world, Sebi hadn’t been brave enough to wear such clothes – he always wore simple shirts, jeans, sweaters and pants. He did fantasize about dressing up, especially being a friend of Misharu who was a real fashionista.
So now was the perfect chance. Sebi had some nice clothes that he had received as gifts from the headmaster and Misharu, so he was putting them to good use.
Necomir, in comparison, wasn’t that particular. He just wore his usual attires that had a clash of formal yet casual, but he did make sure he was looking sharp and clean. After all, he was going out with Sebi. Even if they weren’t anything like a couple, Necomir could just delude himself into thinking that this was some sort of a prototype for a date that he may or may not have in the future.
Realizing that was such a pathetic thing to think about, Necomir slapped himself in the face in embarrassment. That was so desperate, did he even have any dignity left?
“Neco!”
Sebi came bounding out of his room in excitement, forgetting to even call him by his codename.
Looking up, Necomir was stunned when he saw him. Sebi still looked like his bubbly self, but his charm was even more pronounced with a very stylish red shirt tucked in a pair of black pants that shaped his slender legs, and he wore black boots.
Sebi was really… attractive. Necomir was a bit upset that he couldn’t see his full beauty because of the face mask, but his attraction to Sebi was so heightened right now that he didn’t need to see his real face to know.
“Do I look goofy?” Sebi wondered self-consciously when he noticed Necomir looking at him a bit too hard.
“O-Oh of course not,” Necomir quickly said, shaking himself out of his stupor. “You look… really handsome.”
Unwilling to feel more embarrassed, Sebi changed the subject and said, “We should go!”
They had already eaten take-out, so they were good to go. Necomir took Sebi away to the district’s most popular club.
“I’m a little nervous,” Sebi spoke, shifting his body on the front seat to look over at the man driving the car. “I’m not very good talking to strangers. It’s not like the city hall where we can just request stuff.”
“I’m here, you don’t have to worry,” Necomir assured him. “It’s just talking. In clubs, you’ll do well with a drink.”
“I’m not sure if I can even handle my alcohol,” Sebi laughed. “If it comes to worst, you will have to drag me home.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll stop you before you do anything drastic,” Necomir laughed, looking over to wink at him before nonchalantly looking back at the road.
Really… can he not do that again? Sebi felt like he had a heart attack
Hirough City’s nightscene could only be described with words such as dim but alive with colorful strobes of light and glitter. This allowed people to dress in bright colors, which turned out to be a nice decision for Sebi.
When they entered the club, it was dim. There were so many people partying hard, but it wasn’t filled to the brim like Sebi had expected. Hirough City was mostly visited by wealthy people, and its status could be really felt in this club.
“Auspex,” Necomir called out to him when he noticed Sebi lagging behind him a few steps. He smiled softly when he saw that he was simply gazing around, carefully examining his surroundings with that childish wonder that Necomir always saw him wear when he visited a new place.
Hearing his codename, Sebi jolted and quickly caught up. Necomir raised an arm and very naturally placed it across Sebi’s back, his hand reaching over to perch on his waist.
“Let’s get a booth, okay? Then when you are ready, we can invite some people you can talk to.”
Necomir made it sound so easy, Sebi was sure it was harder than it looks. He wasn’t very aware of clubbing culture, so he didn’t know that socializing was actually something everyone did all out in clubs.
As they climbed the stairs up to the second floor, a mysterious person lurking in the shadows pressed his fingers to his earpiece and reported, “The target is here.”
“Good. Make haste, don’t waste your time and take him.”
“But he’s with Decebal Yan.”
“Get rid of him, whatever. Just do anything to obtain the Aquila heir.”
Author’s Note:
I wish I can be like our boys, going partying huhuhu the pandemic has no end in sight TwT
I hope everyone is doing fine these days!
I’m first!!! i’d say id agree with you, but even without the pandemic i wouldn’t be able to party😭Thanks for the chapter~
I dont like people, so the pandemic has been going well for me lol. the only downside is not being able to get a bite to eat with my friends.
Who is targeting Neco?!
thanks for the chapter <3