Chapter 5: Dread

Rohan Sharma, age 20, currently executive of Old India and naturally the strongest in his nation, has defeated Zara al-Hayek, executive of UAE and one of the 15 Majors. Zara's sheer power, 'Drifting Drivers,' which allows her to manipulate Multiple Dimensions, has been no match in front of Rohan.

"...Aaaaaand, yeah! That's how I beat her." Rohan, currently in the food court with Elena and Alejandro, was explaining to them how he beat Zara.

"Whooooaaaa!!!!" Elena understood Rohan's explanation and was really moved.

"Brother, you really are something,....And also, we are sorry." Alejandro pleaded.

"We both have been ignoring ya, sorry brother, we got a childish there, ain't we?" Alejandro and Elena were both sorry for their childish behavior.

"No no, it's okay, really, I don't really mind, so let's just forget it, right?" Rohan accepted their apology.

"Thanks, brother." Alejandro said with a relieved look.

"U-um,.... I have a question about your fight with Zara. Can I ask?" Elena wanted to ask Rohan about something.

"Hmmm, what is it??" Rohan replied.

"When you said that you returned back to the original dimension, why did you say 4th Dimension?? I thought we live in the 3rd Dimension." Elena asked a serious question.

"Ohhh, you are quite wrong at that part. We humans, or every creature on the planet, don't live in a 3rd-dimensional world, but we think in a 3rd dimension max. Well, the 4th Dimension in a 4-D world that we live in is the Temporal Dimension." Rohan continued.

"You see, when you go up in the dimensions, you can vary different states at the same time. OH btw, a 'State' is just a scientific quantity like temperature, direction, waves, speed, and almost all of them. These states can be tweaked by the power of Drifting Drivers, EXCEPT time. Time is the only hyperparameter that remains constant in every dimension, so Drifting Drivers can't tweak time." Rohan explained it well.

But...

"HEYYY, WHAT ARE YOU DOZING OFF FOR!!??" Rohan screamed when he saw Alejandro dozing off during his explanation.

".....And why does your brain look visibly fried??" Rohan said to Elena, who couldn't seem to comprehend what had happened in those 2 minutes.

"U-um, uh, yeah, good job, Rohan!!!" Elena had nothing else to say.

"THAT DOESN'T MAKE IT ANY BETTER!!!" Rohan was mad that no one could grasp his explanation.

They talked for a bit in the food court, and then they went to work.

"Fuck this shit." Rohan didn't like doing a desk job.

"My ass fuckin' hurts, these chairs are supposed to be comfy!!" Rohan kept it in his mind.

At midnight, Rohan returned to his room from work.

"Sighhh, who knew that shit was THAT tiring,..... Ahhhh-man, I'm too tired,....Fuck changing clothes, I'm off to bed." Rohan said and then went to sleep.

In the morning, Rohan was still sleeping when somebody knocked on the door.

KNOCK KNOCK. "Hellooooo!! Are you there, Mister Rohan??" Someone on the other side called out to him.

ZZZZZZZ, Rohan was fast asleep.

"Guess I'll barge in then." The person opened the door and saw Rohan sleeping, half on the bed and half on the floor.

"ROOOHHHHHAAAAAANNNNNN!!!!" The person screamed.

"WHOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAA—Eh---VARUN---WHY ARE YOU HERE!!??" Rohan yelled, startled.

"I am your BOSS here, but I guess I'll make an exception." The person turned out to be Varun.

".....You didn't answer my question."

"Oh yeah, I came here to congratulate you on winning the first battle."

"...And?? That's it!!"

"Oh yeah yeah, well also, your next opponent will be Ayumi Sato from Japan. So be ready. It's 3 days later, so better prepare till then." Varun said, smiling oddly, and then proceeded to leave the room.

"......Ayumi Sato, huh? That high schooler kiddo...wait, wouldn't fighting her be considered child abuse???" Rohan pondered.

"Well, yawn, I guess I'll go back to sleep then." Rohan said to himself and turned back to his bed.

"ALSO!!"

"WHOOOOOAAAAAAA—Oye—Why are you here again?" Varun sneaked up behind Rohan and made him jump.

"Well, you see, you've been avoiding your work since you came here. You also have no experience in being an executive, so you have to submit all of your pending work by 10 AM. And you'll have your 'Executive Work Experience' classes from 10:05 AM. Okay?" Varun told him what he needed to do.

"....." Rohan went silent as he looked at the clock and saw it was already 8 AM.

"So, Mister Rohan, I hope you'll do your work ON time, right??" Varun smiled sinisterly.

By 10 AM, Rohan had worked his butt off and managed to submit all his work on time. He was now on his way to the classes.

"Uuuggghhhh, I'm tired already. Wanna sleep." Rohan was all fatigued from the work.

"Hmmm,... Isn't that the Kiddo Ayumi? Oh yeah, she was also elected as an executive recently like me." Rohan kept it in mind as he saw Ayumi heading to classes as well.

"OOOYE, Kiddo, good luck with your battle against me, 'cause I'm gonna win." Rohan boasted.

"....Who are you!!!??? A predator??" Ayumi didn't seem to recognize him.

"Pre-What? Kiddo, are you messing with me? Hey, I'm talking to you." Rohan got a little too angry because he was already fatigued.

"Shut up, OR I WILL KILL YOU!!!" Ayumi said in a very scary tone.

"Wha—" Rohan got scared.

Ayumi walked away.

"What's up with this kid? Something's terribly wrong with her head, I must say." Rohan thought to himself.

Rohan continued his day as normal, but he couldn't shake the feeling of dread for some reason.

At midnight:

"HAh...HAh...Hah, what is happening?...Why am I getting this scared?...Something's wrong..." Rohan was trembling in fear so much that he couldn't sleep.

The next day, in the morning, Rohan went to his class as usual.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!" Rohan got scared after he just caught a glimpse of Ayumi.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"

"GGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"

"WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

Rohan fainted and was sent to the Medical Care Center.

About 2 hours later, he woke up.

"Ahh—Whe...gulp, fuck, my throat's all parched. But where am I? A clinic? Well, seems like one." Rohan said after getting up.

Gah, Rohan gasped.

"They're starting again...OH NO, THE VOICES, "KILL"... THEY'RE COMING BACK," Rohan said as he heard some voices.

"KILL," "KILL," "KILL," "KILL."

"KILL," "KILL," "KILL," "KILL," "KILL."

"KILL," "KILL," "KILL," "KILL," "KILL."

"KILL," "KILL," "KILL," "KILL," "KILL," "KILL," "KILL," "KILL," "KILL."

"KILL," "KILL," "KILL," "KILL," "KILL," "KILL," "KILL," "KILL."

"KILL," "KILL," "KILL," "KILL," "KILL," "KILL," "KILL," "KILL."

"There's no mistake, this IS Ayumi's power, but I don't fully know what it is... I can't do anything." Rohan seemed tired of all the noises.

"ANYTHING, BUT!!!" Rohan picked up the anesthesia and gave himself a dose.

"Ahh, now, I..can....sle..ep.." Rohan drifted off to sleep, thanks to the anesthesia.

Rohan Sharma, age 20, executive of Old India, has his next battle with Ayumi Sato, Japan's executive. She has used her powers to make Rohan psychologically mad. A terrifying power awaits Rohan.