When Farhad's eyes opened once again. He found himself in the same place where the interview was taken by the old man.
Sadly, his memories of what happened remained blurry and as he got up from the sofa, he looked for any signs of life.
Though, he paused the moment he noticed something familiar. A window with an archaic design.
"What is this?" Not recalling the dream he had not too long ago, he only found the Window a bit familiar.
And like before, out of ignorance and curiosity, he started to move toward it. There was just something about this window that attracted Farhad, something that made the rational side of his brain not work properly.
So like a fool like before, he went and started to push his hand forward.
Though the moment he was going to touch the window, a sudden jerking motion pulled him back.
Away from this illusory office and the window that was in his grasp.
"Huh?" So when he came to be, he found himself in the office like before. But now there was the blind old man who had placed his hand on his shoulder.
It would seem it was this hand that pulled him out of the dream.
"You are wide awake?" The old man named Maxim was not ashamed in the slightest. He even seemed to have enjoyed waking up Farhad from his dream.
"Huh… Yes?" Still reeling in from the dream that felt familiar, Farhad said with some confusion.
He still didn't know what happened to him or how it happened. Everything just felt so real and unreal at the same time.
There was even a desire to stay in that dream forever.
"Guess you were hit by the curse of this land." The old man said with some surprise after feeling the pulses of Farhad through his hand. "So much confusion and desire. Guess it was right for me to wake you up."
"Huh… What… What happened." Even though the face of the old man was scary, Farhad still asked.
He can't recall what happened after he picked up the book.
A book whose name he can't recall anymore.
"What happened?... Well, you got the job." The old man seemed oddly giddy from his voice as he picked up a small sour candy from the table and put it in his mouth. "And I lied before, the salary is not 20 thousand but 80 thousand Dirium."
"80 thousand?" The moment he heard the salary he would be getting, Farhad forgot all about the dream. He was very wide awake.
But he slowly recalled some memories.
So much money won't be given away for nothing. One only pays the other for what the job is worth, no more and no less.
This made Farhad wary.
"How dangerous is this job." Farhad was not a fool, instead, one might say he was the most cautious among his age due to his upbringing.
"You read the book, you tell me." Maxim pointed at the book that made Farhad recall some memories that he had forgotten about.
"The cursed text." He doesn't know how much he read the book or even the contents in it. But he understood the danger in it was immense.
"I can't do it." Farhad shook his head. "I am well off, I am not desperate enough for money that much. I wish to leave."
Farhad made up his mind.
Though, Maxim was not letting Farhad leave so easily. He was well aware of the family of Farhad, it was why he originally showed interest in him, not to mention, it was the first time he had seen a person capable of reading seven pages of Record of Taboo without being a mage.
So he spoke. "I guess your memories are still a bit shaken due to the book." Maxim picked up the Record of Taboo. "You said something similar before, but changed your mind when I mentioned a method to deal with the curse on your body." Maxim pointed at Farhad's left chest.
"And yes, I do have a method to deal with that."
Hearing these words, Farhad went silent.
His original plan was to find a job and collect money to buy some curse suppression balm before the end of vacations.
Though, now it seems that if he chose to remain here, he might find a way to completely get rid of it.
So at this point, Farhad nodded.
He needs to deal with this problem first before resuming his ascension ceremony. Otherwise, the rate of failure will be higher than before and he might even lose his life the next time.
"If what you promise is true, I will accept your offer. But you also have to take care of my security for this." The fear that Farhat felt for the old man had long disappeared, instead, he had adopted a more calm and mature approach toward him.
"Wonderful, you just need to sign this contract and we can begin."
"Contract?"
This was not a simple contract, it was written on sheep skin and exuded a holy feeling from it.
"Maxim Hailey?..." Reading the contents and name on the contract, Farhad's eyes were wide open.
To which, the old man said in an embarrassed tone.
"I think I forgot to introduce myself." The old man placed his hand on his chest and said. "I am Maxim Hailey, Magistar of Illusions of Wortham Principality, from the Radiance."
"And yes kiddo, I have seen you a little before. The time when I still had my eyes."
Radiance, they were an organization composed mostly of lunatics whose sole goal was to keep the corruption of soul and humanity, at the minimum. A noble goal, but the way in which they approached this goal was a bit radical.
There was a reason they were called lunatics by everyone everywhere.
But for the same reason, it was impossible to deny their services. One can look at Gregory street and know why.
If left on their own, rarely do governments or other organizations have experience or knowledge on how to deal with this. But Radiance Society was different, they have developed various methods to deal with all the bizarre occurrences that appear in this world. And with time, these methods of theirs would keep increasing.
It was for this reason why Maxim was sent here, after a lot of politics and back and forth with the governing body of Wortham Principality, did the Radiance society get the rights to act in Dirium.
"I recall you visiting my father once, you didn't like him very much, did you?" Farhad asked, putting down the pen and asking this question first.
"And I recall it being summer vacations in your college, but here you are away from your home."
"So we both know how your father is. It's better that you don't involve him in this, I am not employing you because you are his blood. I am employing you because you are desperate and talented."
The contract was not a simple one, it was a binding contract that would put certain conditions on the two parties' souls.
Its conditions were simple as well, all it asked Farhad was to not speak of the contents he learned from this place to an outside party. Same for other secrecy contents among which one was pretty harsh.
A condition that will erase Farhad's memory of his employment the moment the job is completed. He would only know where he was employed and for how long, Farhad would never be able to remember what he was doing during his employment.
There was even a clause that if Farhad performed well, he might just get a chance to join the Radiance society.
"I will sign it." In the end, there was no reason for Farhad to deny such a contract.
Even the job prospects in Radiance Society held a certain charm to it. And with Farhad's talents, he knew that he had limited options.
And he needs to take up an offer he can.
Signing the contract and having some more details talk about his job with Maxim, Farhad left the library. Found that it was already night and most of the candidates had also left the scene.
The time was 2 am and there was no one active on the main streets. There might be certain places and establishments that were still active at the moment. But most had closed down and there was no place for Farhad to find food.
"Should have accepted Mister Hailey's offer for dinner." Sighing at his stupidity, Farhad walked toward his home.
As it turned out, most of the cab drivers were just asleep in their cabs on the roadside and Farhad didn't wish to pay an extra fare for breaking their sleep at night.
"Hmm, an hour at least." This was not the first time he was out alone in the city for the first time, but it sure was his first time this dark night.
The path he took was even a different one than the one he used before.
In his head, he might reach his room faster this way.
But as he left the alley into a new road, he found a building.
A familiar building and footpath.
"Huh?"
Images flashed past his eyes and soon his head started to hurt.
A familiar pain just like the time he read the cursed literature from before.
"What is happening?" As his memories recovered, his eyes started to bleed once again.
And in those memories, he recalled a certain dream.
The scenes in the dream and reality started to overlap. He saw a woman with beauty unlike any, look at the moon and then jump to her death.
Though, it was one of the rare moonless nights. But as he kept looking at the falling women and the three moons in the sky which appeared as phantoms, the bleeding in his eyes turned worse before they could burst. A gentle tap to the head made him sleep again.
"An anomaly, Maxim shouldn't have let him read that book." Unaware of the reason, the librarian from before blamed Maxim. Before she picked up Farhad and left the scene.