As the morning came, a lot of students were making their way to school like usual. But for Hamil, it was a shocking change as he was met with Iris who for some reason felt different compared to before…compared to yesterday.
This was the first time he had saw her stand in this train station with all the times he used this station to go to school, so it was pretty shocking to see her here now of all the times he rode here.
He could see her stand all by herself in the train station, seemingly waiting for someone.
So to his curiosity, he went and approached her.
"...Hey." calling out to her, he was instantly met with her gaze. Her reaction was something he did not expect as she turned too fast to see him call out to her, as if she was expecting him to come and not someone else.
"...*Snuff*" for some reason she was crying the moment she saw him walk to her, to a point that people might assume that he made her this way.
"Um…are you okay?" asked Hamil, as he tried to see what was going on.
"..N-no, I'm fine." she said as she rubbed her eyes off of her tears away.
With her tears wiped away, she went and looked at him with a smile on her face. To Hamil, this was the first time she looked at him this way…as most of the time was for her to either looked scared and confused but now, she was there looking at him with a full gladdened smile.
"...Did something happen?" asked Hamil.
"...I just had a great sleep last night." she said.
Hamil could tell that by her answer alone, it wasn't the complete story…still, he didn't pushed forward and simply accepted her words.
"...I see." with that, he simply stood beside her as they waited for the train to come…
"..."
"..."
As they waited, Iris was standing beside him with an inkling to say something…to ask him what she saw in her dreams…to find answers. It felt right to say something now, knowing that she might never find the right time again.
"...Hamil, can I tell you something?" asked Iris.
"...Sure." said Hamil as he thought that it might just be her talking to pass the time.
"Last night I dreamed that I was in a desert…and on that desert, I saw a lot tall pillars that went way above the sky, it was like they could have reached stars even…"
"!?" But to his surprise, she went on about her dream and having heard of those descriptions, Hamil was immediately reminded of the Resolute Ruler's Domain.
"Every time I dreamed of that place, I was always warned by the pillars not to come close."
"Every time? So this happens often?" asked Hamil as he tried to dig deeper into what she saw.
"...I usually dream about it once a month…but the feeling of seeing it happen again always feel like it was my first time seeing it…the experience never changes…it never stales…and its always terrifying to look at." said Iris.
"...Why is it a nightmare for you? Isn't it just a Desert?" asked Hamil.
"...Some things happen inside my dream…things I don't ever want to encounter in the real world."
"Things like what?" asked Hamil.
"...Sometimes I get killed by swords that rain from the sky."
"!?"
That description was literally what happened to him inside the Resolute Ruler's Domain.
"And sometimes I meet with a monster…someone who carries a sword and he kills me." said Iris with a sad tone.
"...Why are you telling me this?" asked Hamil.
"Because…I saw." hesitating to say anything, she didn't want to sound weird in front of Hamil, telling him that he was there in the dream…but she wanted to say it…she wanted him to know…
"I saw you in my dream." said Iris.
"...What?" Hamil was a bit surprised by what she said.
"You helped me for the second time, you saved my life…again. So I wanted to ask you, Who are you to me?"
"..." thinking deep inside him, Hamil was meet with a situation that clearly needed answers. With Iris standing in front of him, asking him what he was or who he was to her, he could not ignore this question. Looking at her eyes, he could not see a tinge of fear…so he made his decision.
"...After school, I'll tell you by then." he said.
What reason did he have to deny this situation any longer, the truth had to be told. Wasting anymore time would probably only make it harder for him to tell her what she was, she deserves the truth for she was one of his people…but he needed time to prepare himself.
"..." looking at his concerned expression, Iris felt a sense of connection…as if what she thought about him being connected to her was probably right after all…her curiosity towards him will probably be answered. Why she was fearful of him from the start, why he was in her dream last night and why every time she would think of him, she wanted to get close to him as much as possible but was stopped by her fear…it was as if she wanted to build a sense of loyalty to him.
"Okay." she smiled and look to him with trusting eyes and agreed with his request.
As the train came, they were finally on their way to school.
With today's objective, Hamil thought of his plan to meet with his teacher Mr. Hoffman and ask him to be joined into the Student Counsel Committee. With Mr. Hoffman's recommendation, he would have a great start at first impressions to the president.
While they rode on the train, a few and few more people were starting to get in to the train, making it more packed and tight. With how many the people were in the train, it couldn't be helped that some people were pushing on against one another.
Iris with the unexpected turn of events, was panicking in her mind over how she was being pushed to Hamil's side not on purpose. With their shoulders touching one another, she couldn't help but panic for touching him without his consent.
This was the first time she had touched him…even before in the Class Rumble event against an orc guard, She wasn't able to make contact with Hamil despite them fighting together against the orc. But now, here she was touching his side without his consent.
'Oh my GOD!!!'
Her mind was rushing from all the thoughts making in and out of her head…and with that, she was also able to smell his scent unintentionally which only made her rush even more.
"!!!!!!"
'What is wrong with me!?' she thought to herself as was completely incapable of calming down.
Hamil on the other hand was busy thinking of the plans in his mind…he was to oblivious to what Iris was doing at the moment and what her expression was.
From other people's point of view, she was looking like she had a fever on because of how red and heavy her breathing was…to some, she looked like a complete pervert who was enjoying each and every moment she had standing beside the person who seemed clueless to what was happening.
A few people were able to see the girl's excited expression, but none came to tell her what it was she was doing, because if they did, they might come across a world of danger.
One would say that this was probably a Yandere moment…but no one would not dare to say it out loud.
No one.
A few minutes passed by and finally the train was able to get to school. And by the time the doors opened, Iris immediately rushed out of the train, leaving Hamil to his own.
"...What?" He was clueless to why she ran off like that, but he didn't pushed on knowing that she might only be rushing to get to her class.
As he went on his way to his school, he was still a couple of minutes early before classes would start, so during that time, he wanted to go to the library to pick out a few books.
As he made his way to the library, he was yet again encountered by Eric who also went with him into the library.
There was only one reason why Eric came and that was to tell Hamil something about the Job.
"What are you doing here?" asked Hamil as he picked out the books he wanted to read.
"...I came to tell you about my report." said Eric in a whispered tone.
"...What is it?" asked Hamil.
"Last night at school, during my watch over the places that Ms. Martha would frequent, I came upon one of her notes…something she threw in the trash can."
"..." Hamil was silent over the fact that it was kind of weird for a guy to dig through someone's stuff in a Garbage can…but it was a job, so he didn't want to complain.
"...What did you find?" asked Hamil.
"...Here." Eric then passes Hamil a piece of crumpled paper.
"..." looking inside the paper, Hamil was able to see that in that note, he was able to find some scribbles and doddles…so he didn't find anything weird about it.
"There's nothing here but scribbles man." said Hamil.
"It may not be so weird for a few student to scribble on their notes, but Ms. Martha usually isn't someone who would do something so wasteful." said Eric as he implied that Martha wasn't the type of person who would scribble in her notes.
"...Well, the scribbles here don't really mean anything, the things written there don't make any sense at all and the doodles seemed to be more symbolic then anything." said Hamil as he looked through the doodles again.
"...That's exactly why it's strange." said Eric.
".…" looking into it again, Hamil tried to see if these writings were part of the Novel's plot…like if they had a correlation to something about Martha.
"...!?" and that's when it he realized something.
The Doodles, they seem a bit familiar to him. Hamil realized that these symbols were in the cover of Martha's Book. The one that her father gave to her in preparation for her future…These Doodles were symbols that were Found in the Book of Fate.
The book was called the "Book of Fate" and it is only granted to the people who were born fated to carry on the legacy of this book. And the people who were Granted to carry it was none other than the Dottingham's. The Book of fate has a lot of as aspects that can only be known to the Dottingham's as it is a curse to many because it can kill those who look upon it without the blessed eyes that is born in the Dottingham family. With their blood, they have access to look upon the future and reform fate as they know it. With many who came upon this book, it was only given access to the Female members, as they were given the strongest of eyes by their blood. The Male members of the family however had weaker eyes to comprehend the book itself.
Through the generations that came, it was now Martha's time to comprehend the book and learn from it so that she could look into the future and warn the kingdom for any incoming danger. As the book gives power and knowledge, it would usually take time to learn from it and during the process of learning from the book, a few side-effects will come to tangle with the reader's mind.
One of these effects was the constant show of popping images from the book, reminding the reader that they should continue to read and learn from it. This would explain how Martha was scribbling down on the paper with these symbols on it. Although the side-effects may be weak now, in time it will worsen and Martha has to be strong to fully fight off the book's temptation.
This was the reason why Hamil, Eric and Iris were hired to look over Martha from afar. To protect her if something bad would happen or she would go berserk from the book…all eyes should' always be kept on her.
Even her Brother Liam was keeping notice of her condition every time they would meet.
Now that Hamil was reminded of this, he had to take this job seriously. For at the upcoming terrorist attack, not only will her powers go berserk from the situation of terrorist taking over, her mind will be taken over by the book as well…
Hamil had to keep watch of her at that time...at that day.
So as he looked to the paper, he could only sigh displeasure. He looks to Eric and told him what he thought of the situation.
"...If you really think this is something to worry about, you should tell this to her father as well." said Hamil.
"...Okay then." said Eric.
Soon as he left the library, Hamil was on his own, looking through the many books in the library and ss time passes, he finally walked out of the library carrying a book he needed to prepare himself for what was to come in a few days…