"I see it in German."
"Are you sure?" Derolo asked, looking at the book once more. The system messages were still the same.
[Host isn't eligible to read it]
[Would you like to store it?]
Slamming his fists on the table, Derolo sighed. "Well, what does it say?"
Suzie traced the words on the book with her eyes, scanning them with so much focus, you'd think the book was alive.
"The opening line.." She began. "The will of the Cosmos is one and the same every where, in all universes and galaxies and worlds. In the end, it is controlled by one being. The book of the Cosmos contains the will of this being. The strongest entity to ever exist. Now, this entity wasn't created, they just existed. One cannot truly decipher how many of them there are but they are runoured to be three. They have no gender as they can take whatever form pleases them."
Derolo rubbed his shoulders as he listened to her speak.
"A soft whisper, a rushing wind, a burning furnace, the pitter patter of rain drops, a man, a woman, a creature. They choose to be whoever they want...." She suddenly paused.
"What's going on? Why did you stop?"
Suzie said nothing but continued scanning the book. She flipped the pages frantically, and with each page she flipped, she looked more dishevelled.
"Suzie.." Derolo called.
She didn't answer, didn't even react. Her focus was on the other worldy book in her hands.
Derolo snatched the book from her hands after calling her for the tenth time with no response.
"Suzie!"
She finally looked at him with fear in her eyes.
"I can not see the words."
"What? What are you saying? What do you mean?"
"The words are there, but I can not see them."
Derolo narrowed his eyes, trying to make sense of what she was saying when a message popped up again.
[The Cosmos book will now be forcibly stored in the shadow]
"Eh?"
Suddenly, the book in his hands vaporized and vanished.
"F**k! You gotta be kidding me. What the hell is going on?"
Derolo banged his fists on the table, still looking at the shivering Suzie.
"That...that book is dangerous. I can tell." She blurted.
"How do you know?"
"I saw something." She paused and took a deep breath to recompose herself. "The time we were fighting with the Red Wolves, I was somehow able to see a few seconds into the future."
"Go on."
"I received the time system, so I think I somehow have super powers to see the future."
Derolo said nothing.
"A big change is happening soon, Derolo. As a matter of fact, it has already begun, but our eyes are not open enough to grasp the reality of our situation."
"What are you saying?"
"A few hours, Derolo. What I say will make sense to you soon enough."
Suzie suddenly looked exhausted and collapsed with her body making a thud.
Derolo rushed to her side to help her up. Her eyes were opened, but she was unconscious.
****
"So why was he hitting you? I didn't peg you as someone to be bullied." Scarlet asked, dragging the chair she would seat on.
Alfred rubbed his neck awkwardly. It just happened that way."
[Quest!]
[Create your family!]
"Oh God! I knew it was becoming too quiet and peaceful..." Alfred groaned aloud.
The two girls sipping their drinks gave him weird looks, to which he chuckled nervously.
"Well, I didn't want to talk about it since I'm just meeting you for the first time." He added shyly, hoping and praying he didn't sound weird.
"I'm basically your sister already." Scarlet confirmed.
"What! Does that just happen?" He mumbled.
"Trust me, with Scarlet, anything is possible." Vex inputted, nodding her head slowly.
He looked around the almost empty cafeteria and started talking.
"My father decided to join the darkside. He believed he could handle it and started a gang. Of course, he only did that because my mum wasn't around, he never told me but her death haunted him all the time. So, he made decisions too big for him."
He raised his head to look at the girls and found them listening intently, so he continued.
"The life of a gangster wasn't for my father, but he realised it too late. I don't really remember a lot of things since I was young, but the little I remember plagues me to this day." He breathed out and casually raised his hands in the air.
"He was murdered right in front of me by the person he trusted with his life. I watched my dad bleed till he could bleed no more, till he lost the breath in him. I stayed there, frozen till he became cold."
"Oh..."
"It's no big deal really, everyone dies, right?"
"Alfie.."
"What was a big deal was the fact that even though I was right there, the man who murdered my father didn't seem to see me. He didn't even hear me. It was like I was invisible or something, although it was only until he killed my father."
"How old were you?" Vexhalia asked.
"Nine. I was nine when I became an orphan."
Alfred suddenly chuckled to himself. 'To think I'd tell my life story to someone I just met.'
[Hidden Task!]
[Congratulations!]
Alfred rolled his eyes after reading the congratulatory message from the system. The system was sarcastic, and he knew that hidden quest was just one way of it being sarcastic.
"So, how does your story have anything to do with your bullying?" Vex asked a very sensible question.
"Oh, well. My dad had apparently racked up debt from a loan shark who also kinda saved me. So, somehow, I'm with them now, doing odd jobs to pay off my father's debt."
"So, a loan shark is after you?" Vexhalia inquired, courting a look of disgust.
"No, not that. Well, he became a gangster instead, so, technically, a loan shark isn't after me. "
"Who's the guy called Justin? What's your relationship with him?" Scarlet asked.
"He's the brother of the gangster loan shark."
Vex snorted, biting her lips to prevent more sounds escaping her mouth.
Scarlet was slowly nodding her head as she processed all the information given to her.
But one thing still remained weird to Alfred, especially since he had just met her today, for the first time.
"How did you know? How did you find me? I'm not trying to sound rude, but it's really suspicious since we're just meeting each other for the first time." Alfred asked, maintaining eye contact.
The silence in the cafeteria was thick, almost as if the god of silence had walked into the room.
Scarlet held eye contact with Alfred. Her gaze was intense and unwavering, and Alfred did all he could not to cower at her stare.
Vexhalia clumsily knocked over a spoon, which broke the tension and silence in the room.
"I'm just interested in you. When I get interested in someone, I find out everything about them because I want to protect them."
Vexhalia gave a look. "Now, you're sounding like those red flag male leads from BL novels."
"At least I sound cool, I don't sound like a freaking spongebob character." Scarlet stated in her defence.
"What! Well, I'm not a psycho, thank you."
"Is that supposed to be an insult, young lady?" Scarlet questioned, raising her brows.
"It is an insult!" Vex yelled.
Scarlet remained calm and just smirked. "You didn't mind me being a psycho few days ago." The triumphant smirk remained on her face.
If Vexhalia was light skinned, her face would have been red, and that much was obvious from her expression.
Alfred watched their banter, chuckling to himself when he remembered how Scarlet had introduced Vexhalia.
Vex was her girlfriend.
What!
A system message suddenly popped into his head.
[No romance for you. Kekekekeke]
'This damn system...'