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Chapter 10 - Notebook

Leonard walked straight to the tall man at the counter without looking around much, he didn't seem to notice Klein's presence or Azik calmly assessing him. 

He took a paper from his inner pocket and read it with some apparent seriousness on his face that was soon replaced by the normal smile Klein had seen last time. 

Suddenly, he muttered something to himself that no one could hear. 

Azik rubbed his temple for a moment as his tired eyes became clouded with doubt.

— You're right, there's something strange about him...

He sighed and said in a tone of nostalgia:

 — What was it? I forgot...

 Was Leonard Mitchell watching us? Did he follow me here? What's written on that paper? What is he doing with that paper while talking to himself? Is he really talking to himself or... Maybe he's talking to that shadow superimposed on his soul. — Klein had a few guesses and the last one seemed the most likely. 

Leonard knew about the existence of that shadow and was deliberately talking to it. Who knows what he could do with that... Could this shadow be one of his Beyonder powers? Is that possible? — the more he thought, the more guesses appeared in his mind.

— Klein, let's talk somewhere else. — Azik suggested while still looking confused by what he had seen.

Klein didn't hesitate to accept for even a moment.

...

Hearing the voice in his mind speaking to him, Leonard looked at the front door of the library that this time didn't seem to make any sound.

He saw a young man with black hair accompanying a tall man with features from the Southern Continent.

At that moment, he remembered something he had heard as soon as he entered the library to look for a book, even though he should have gone back to the church first.

It was something very strange, almost like a warning that Leonard couldn't quite understand. It was like an indescribable feeling of horror spreading through his mind and soul, taking away all his reason and normal understanding, but this feeling didn't seem to be his.

— Klein and Azik... Who are they? — muttering to the void, he felt goosebumps spread, his eyes completely unfocused.

— ...

Suddenly, Leonard regained his composure at the same moment.

— What does that mean? — he frowned slightly.

...

Azik and Klein began walking towards the Howe Street exit, thinking deeply about what had just happened.

— Mr. Azik, are you a person who was born with special abilities? — Klein asked. He wasn't very confident that his teacher would answer, but it was worth a try.

Azik looked at the trees and sighed:

— Maybe... You must have understood from your dreams that there is no way to live with these strange things without consequences. My price must have been losing my memories... About myself and my life...

Klein finally understood a lot at that moment, however, he couldn't help but be confused by everything.

— Did you lose your memories?

— Before entering the university, I woke up in a strange place without knowing anything about myself. I only managed to find my name and some knowledge. There were also some documents and that's why I managed to enter Backlund University. I tried to look for my family or past by my name or anything, but I could never find even a trace of my old life until today. — After some time studying, I realized that I had some strange abilities and I started having strange dreams about things I shouldn't know.

Dreams... — hazy images passing through Klein's thoughts.

— ... Dreams? What were they like? — he asked with interest.

— There were many. I saw myself in an old castle watching my son playing with swords in secret, I was a feudal lord of fertile and grand lands.

— In another I was a humble farmer in some field and planted wheat in relaxing silence. I remember braiding my daughter's hair while she was on a swing laughing happily.

— There was one where I was in a mausoleum with hundreds of black coffins with corpses that had pure white feathers growing on their backs and ethereal voices sounded throughout the place. They spoke incomprehensible things.

— There was also one where I felt completely different. Empty and lifeless... I remember seeing something covering the sky in a blurred place.

Azik began to tell like a madman. It seemed like he had lost all his normal understanding as he spoke with a gentle smile on his face and sometimes laughing.

Nothing seemed to make sense... And they also seemed very varied. Has Mr. Azik been alive for a long time? — Klein wondered internally as he listened to Azik.

— What about your dreams? — Azik asked with a calm look.

After thinking for a few seconds, Klein said:

— They don't make any sense at all. One of them was the peak of the Hornacis mountain range, a ruined palace with weeds growing and a majestic throne adorned and distorted.

— Sometimes it's a place full of saturated and overlapping colors with seven bright lights covering the sky that didn't seem to fit into normal understanding.

— I remember seeing the sky completely dark with an endless sea of stars that went beyond my comprehension, there were strange things... I don't remember...

— There were also strange and terrifying places that I couldn't recognize. They were distorted and blurry to me... 

Klein only told some of the things he could remember at the moment, except for everything related to the gray mist.

After that, Azik gave him some warnings about the Beyonder world and then said goodbye.

There wasn't much time to talk since Leonard could be watching them from somewhere or even someone else, so the best option was to talk another day.

After that, Klein bought some vegetables and headed home. On the way, he could only rely on his enhanced intuition after transmigration to know that there was no one watching him from the shadows.

Mr. Azik really helped me a lot... Uh... Also, it seems like he recognizes the "thing" that is in Leonard. He even mentioned that he forgot about his past... Who was Mr. Azik? He had strange dreams... Could this tell something about him? It might be a clue...

Mausoleum and corpses with feathers growing out of their backs... That doesn't ring a bell. And the description of the sky and feeling empty is strange too. 

Uh... Melissa should be here soon! I should prepare something for her. 

He closed the door behind him with these thoughts and then went to see what there was to do. 

Some vegetables and some mutton that Melissa had probably bought at some point while he was away. 

Uh... I should wait for Melissa... — he didn't look at the food again, his mouth watering. 

Suddenly, a thought came to his mind. 

After leaving the library, he had bought potatoes and a few other things on the way! 

Klein excitedly took the potatoes from the dresser and 

This reminds me of when I first learned to cook. There were so many different recipes that I could never tell which one was my favorite. — He started to sauté the meat that was next to the potato and some spices that he had found, then left it in the pot for a while. 

 The fresh smell invaded his nostrils and the entire house, making his mouth water.

 He took the ritual breads and dipped them in the sauce, then quickly ate them, a smile appearing on his face. 

Suddenly, he remembered something, quickly went back to his room and closed the door.

 He began to rummage through the books on the desk. 

If Klein read each of the many books there, he might not be able to see the sunlight for several days, so he just put them aside after flipping through them.

 From what he remembered, the original Klein used to write some things in a brown diary. He liked to write a lot... — Klein flipped through several history books before arriving at a specific one. It was a normal book with a brown cover.

 This is it... 

"May 10th. Mr. Azik was arguing with Mr. Cohen about the beginning of the Steam Age. He said that Emperor Roselle was the main trigger for all the changes with his inventions, and even though he was betrayed and killed by the followers of the Church of the Burning Sun and the revolutionaries, his era was inevitable and unforgettable. Mr. Cohen insisted that even with all the glory of Roselle, he had fallen from grace in his final moments like many rulers in history."

"May 12th. I heard from Mr. Azik that many believers of the seven orthodox gods insist that extraordinary beings like dragons or giants really existed. That is indeed interesting… It reminds me of what I heard in one of my dreams… Flegrea."

"Even so, I tend to see things like sun… What could it mean? Within those dreams, I could also see buildings in ruins… It was so strange."

Klein frowned slightly.

Giant buildings…? Wait…

An extremely familiar image came to his mind.

 Several ruins from a bygone era, pitch black with several towers and colossal palaces that could be spacious even for giants.

Could this be it? — he wondered, flipping through a few pages.

"June 18th. I graduated from Khoy University! Finally!"

"For some reason, I still kept seeing more and more things I shouldn't see, and I guess I can't be bothered with it anymore. Welch said he had gotten a notebook from the Fourth Epoch! Well, I feel like I'm becoming… Not me, but my memories and everything… I don't know."

"June 18th. After decoding the notebook, we found out that it talked about the Dark Emperor of the Solomon Empire, just one, and not that this was the title for all the rulers of the Solomon Empire, as Mr. Azik had explained. That reminds me of something… What was it?"

"June 19th. This book mentions an exchange between someone named Tudor… Tudor of the Tudor Dynasty? and the owner of the notebook, a member of the Antigonus family. Come to think of it, Antigonus..."

The original Klein seemed very mysterious... He must have been very confused when he started writing this. — Klein flipped to the next pages one by one.

"June 24th. The notebook mentioned something... A warning with distorted letters..."

"Be careful with... The warning can't be read properly, it's blurry, distorted, and completely illegible... Naya and Welch were curious to know what the warning was, but I feel like it's not a good idea to try to read it."

"Those stars..."

"June 25th. The author of the notebook accepted a mission to go to the peak of the Hornacis mountain range, where the "Nation of Eternal Night" is located. I have been dreaming about that palace on the peak of Hornacis. I've been dreaming about that palace on the peak of Hornacis... I saw it again... All of this..."

"Who am I? Maybe I was right..."

Klein's eyes narrowed.

Has the original Klein gone mad? Is everything a big act? What could it mean to look at history? Does this even make sense? — with these confusing thoughts, he felt chills run all over his body.

There were some garbled lines below.

"June 26th. I discovered something very interesting."

"Everything is a big act."

"Look at the story."