The heavy, dead silence of the abyss wraps around me like a shroud. I hold my breath, suspended in the freezing weightlessness, my heart hammering a frantic rhythm against my ribs. I didn't expect her to accept with my request so easily.
"...So what do you think?" the girl's voice finally echoes through the dark, sounding incredibly strained and heavily reluctant. "Do you have any other objections?"
A slow, sharp smile pulls at the corners of my lips—a small, slightly naughty smirk slicing through the terror. She is still asking me if I have any other wishes. No, something is wrong here.
My corporate brain, trained through endless high-stakes negotiations, catches the subtle desperation in her voice. She is in a massive hurry. She wants to send me back as fast as humanly possible, which means she is the one operating from a position of weakness.
She needs me more than I need her.
And then, a sudden flash of corporate intuition hits me. She needs my consent.
That's why she hasn't just thrown me into that world by force. That's why she is standing here, listening to a mere human bargain with her. If she could have bypassed my will, she would have done it the second I started screaming. But she can't. To fix whatever crisis is happening to Elanore, she needs me to willingly step into that body.
A wave of pure confidence replaces my fear. It is time to take a massive gamble. My entire life depends on it, and a good negotiator never, ever accepts the first offer when they hold all the leverage.
Don't feel bad about pushing her, I remind myself, steeling my resolve. The proposal itself is completely ridiculous. She is asking me to sacrifice my peace, my sanity, and my right to a good night's sleep just to do her a favor. If I'm giving up my normal human life, I am going to make her pay the highest price possible for it.
"Wait a minute," I say, intentionally dragging out the words to break her momentum. "I know this is supposed to be a deal... but why do I find it incredibly unfair?"
The darkness seems to ripple with irritation. "Unfair?" the girl's voice repeats, sounding blindsided. "What do you mean? What do you find unfair about it? I just agreed to your exact terms! Why is it still unfair to you?"
"It is entirely unfair, you know," I argue smoothly, crossing my arms in the weightless void. "I am just a human being. A normal person. But you are essentially asking me to work a non-stop, twenty-four-hour shift across two different realities. If I do that for even a few days, I will literally die of sheer physical and mental exhaustion. Do you want me to die?"
"No, of course not—"
"Then why are you forcing me to work twenty-four hours a day?" I cut her off sharply, pressing my advantage. "When am I supposed to actually rest? If you overwork me like this, my system will collapse. It's just basic biology. So, you need to offer me something to compensate for this brutal schedule."
A heavy, dead silence falls over the void. I hold my breath, waiting to see if I pushed too far.
"...So what do you suggest?" the voice finally asks, heavily reluctant. "Do you have something specific in mind?"
My smirk widens into a confident grin. Got her. She's willing to comply. Let's see how much further I can push this.
"I don't know who you are," I start smoothly, my voice echoing confidently into the vast blackness, "but I suppose you have some pretty significant powers, right?"
"Yes," she answers warily.
"Great. Then grant me some powers to survive this."
"What?!" the girl gasps, her voice spiking with genuine shock. "What powers? What on earth are you talking about?"
"Oh, come on, I know you can do it," I say, laying out my corporate demands. "First, I need a power that allows me to work tirelessly without feeling any exhaustion. I need a recharge ability. If I take a quick one-hour nap in the daytime, my mind and body should feel like I just got a full, deep seven hours of sleep. And... I want something else, too."
"You are being far too greedy!" she snaps, the darkness vibrating with her growing panic.
"Me? Greedy?" I scoff, letting out a ridiculous laugh. "What are you saying?! You are literally asking me to give up my nights, my good night's sleep, and my entire sanity, and you have the nerve to call me greedy? How absolutely ridiculous! You know what? Fine. Send me back to my hospital bed right now and let Elanore die. I don't care. If you won't agree to my terms, I am absolutely not going back."
The void practically trembles as the entity completely panics at my threat, realizing I am perfectly willing to walk away from the table.
"Okay! Okay, fine!" she yells hurriedly, completely desperate now. "Say it! What else do you want?!"
"I don't want anything too crazy," I reply smoothly, thoroughly enjoying the upper hand. "I just need a built-in reminder—a notification system. Whenever I am running out of time in one world—like if my mother is calling out to me or trying to wake me up in the hospital—you have to send me a direct notification. Otherwise, how am I supposed to know when to wake up? Give me a power that lets me completely track and manage the timelines of both worlds."
"Sara has completely flipped the script, turning a cosmic nightmare into a high-stakes negotiation for her survival. She has demanded impossible, reality-bending powers—a biological recharge system and a cross-world notification tracking system—using Elanore's very life as her leverage.
Will this mysterious entity actually submit to Sara's terms, or has Sara pushed a powerful cosmic being too far into a corner? As the negotiation hangs in a tense, dangerous balance in the pitch-black void, what will the voice decide?
The terms have been laid out, but the deal isn't finalized yet. Let's open the next chapter to see if Sara's ultimate gamble pays off! Stay with us to find out!"