October 21. Sunday. 07:30 a.m.
Liam had actually woken up early that morning, but for some reason, after having a nightmare about something strange and logically incomprehensible, he moved to the living room and fell asleep face down on the sofa.
Even Isabelle, who had left the house at 07:00 to go to school, did not notice Liam's presence in the living room.
Coincidentally, at the same time, his mother entered the living room to take her bag from the hook behind the sofa where Zavi was sleeping. Unexpectedly, she saw her son fast asleep on the couch, his face turned toward the cushions.
As she was about to wake Liam, her foot stepped on something. She looked down and saw a wooden door beneath her feet. Because of the unique carved pattern on it, she knew it was supposed to belong to Ren's room.
'Why is that door here? The question froze Mei's' thoughts for a moment.
Confused, she gently woke Liam. "Wake up, dear. Did you stay up late again last night?" she said while lightly shaking his body.
Feeling someone touching him, Liam slowly opened his eyes, catching the faint stream of light entering through the ventilation before staring at the blue sky through the half open window.
He tried to sit up while holding his neck, which suddenly felt stiff and sore, perhaps from sleeping in the wrong position. He was not sure, but he tried to hide the pain from his mother.
"What time is it now, Mom?" he asked while yawning.
It feels like I am truly speaking with my real mother... Liam thought with a faint smile, even though he did not know how he had actually entered this body.
His mother took a pocket watch from her bag, glanced at it briefly, then said, "It is already 07:35," while holding the watch in front of Liam's face.
Liam immediately took the watch and checked it himself. Realizing he had slept for more than two hours after first waking up due to discomfort, he returned the watch, stood up, and decided to fill his now growling stomach.
His mother looked surprised, then smiled at her son's behavior. As she turned around, she suddenly realized she had forgotten to ask why Ren's bedroom door was in the living room.
"Zavi… did you fight with your brother again?" she called out, her voice filled with concern and gentleness.
From the kitchen to the left of the living room, Liam peeked from the doorway and replied, "No. I do not know anything. I will fix it myself later…"
"Alright… do not do anything reckless. And do not forget to ask someone for help."
"Okay," Liam answered from inside the kitchen.
After that, his mother lifted the door with difficulty, placed it in front of the bookshelf, then left the house to go to the market at the town square.
In the combined kitchen and dining area, Liam sat on a chair, staring at the dining table filled with various delicious dishes.
If I think about it again. Why was that door there? This is strange. Truly strange, Liam thought, slightly trembling.
In front of him, on the table, were various dishes that looked tempting just from their appearance. After thinking for a moment, he began to eat, tasting flavors he had never experienced on Earth.
Exactly at 08:00, he finished eating, carried the dirty plate to the sink, washed it clean, and neatly arranged it back on the rack.
His breathing and his stomach felt far calmer than before. He stepped out to the living room, picked up the door, and returned it to Ren's room.
After placing it there, he searched for tools in the storage room to fix it. As soon as the storage door opened, dust flew into the air and hit his face.
Liam coughed as the dust entered through his nose and deeper into his lungs. Just by looking at it, the storage room clearly had not been entered or cleaned by his family for a long time.
"Are the tools even here?" he muttered softly.
'Yes, this is truly strange. About what I experienced earlier this morning, I heard the sound of heavy footsteps, rhythmic and accompanied by a long whistle played with every step, he thought in confusion about the earlier dawn incident. Liam's body stiffened for a moment...' His mind trembled slightly.
After searching for a while, Liam found a hammer, a screwdriver, a chisel, and sandpaper inside a box on top of a large shelf. He took it down, checked the contents, and brought the box back to Ren's room.
Liam repaired the door alone. Even though it was difficult, and despite having some experience back on Earth, he kept trying. Twenty five minutes later, the door was installed as it had been before.
'Damn it. This is harder than I imagined. But where is he now? Could he have gone wandering again?' Liam could not find an answer to that behavior.
Finally, he could breathe in relief. He thought of checking whether that small repair had made the door function properly.
Although slightly flawed because it left behind an unpleasant creaking sound, Liam decided to return the toolbox to the storage shelf. After that, he went to the bathroom to wash his dirty hands.
He decided to lie down in his room. There was nothing else to do. Everything felt silent and without purpose.
But as he entered, his gaze fell on the desk. A notebook lay there.
His eyes widened. Liam immediately remembered what he had written the previous night.
Panicked, he hurriedly opened his wardrobe, took a black jacket, and put it on. He left his room and locked the front door.
The key rested safely in the pocket of his black jacket. His fingertips briefly touched the cold metal before he drew a long breath and stepped out of the damp narrow alley.
The city air greeted him with a mixture of horse scent, thin smoke, and wet soil. He walked toward the library on 01 Cosdever Street, quite far from No.11 Vica Street, where he lived.
Liam's steps were steady amid the crowded pavement. Shoulders brushed against one another. Conversations overlapped. Along the cobblestone road, public carriages passed by, horse hooves striking dry stone mixed with mud, wooden wheels creaking roughly along the curves of the street.
It seems I have moved into a world resembling the nineteenth century, Liam thought while observing his surroundings. Buildings with sharp roofs stood tightly together, their windows tall and narrow. Some men wore long coats and round hats, women in long dresses lifting their skirts so they would not drag through the mud.
A few seconds later, he arrived at a crossroads where public carriages usually stopped and gathered. A horse flicked its tail restlessly, its breath faintly condensing in the air.
As he turned, his gaze paused for a fraction of a second. On the dim café terrace, someone sat leaning back. The face was covered in shadow. Only the eyes were clearly visible, open, silent, staring directly at Liam.
"Huh!?"
Liam instinctively quickened his pace. He moved toward the crowd ahead, slipping between two men wearing late nineteenth century European style hats leaning against a carriage. One of them calmed a horse that neighed softly for no clear reason.
Covering his nose from the sharp stable smell lingering in the air, Liam said in a restrained tone, "Can you take me to the library?"
The man in the hat pressed the brim of his hat before answering in a hoarse voice, "The fare might be higher."
Liam fell silent for a moment, calculating in his head. "Alright then."
The man stretched his stiff back, patted his companion's shoulder, then informed him of the destination. He gestured for Liam to get in before the carriage began to move. The covered carriage interior bore intricate symbols carved on the outside, carvings that looked foreign yet symmetrical, like ancient emblems that had existed for a long time.
As soon as he sat down, something pressed against his chest. Reflexively, he opened the small curtain at the back.
'Where is that person? Is he watching me?' Liam thought suspiciously and knocked twice on the carriage from inside before it fully began to move.
The carriage rolled forward.
A few minutes later, he got off at the intersection of No.1 Cosdever Street. He handed over the fare, then walked away without looking back.
The pavement here was cleaner. The buildings looked larger, their windows decorated with thin stained glass. In the distance, two cathedral towers rose piercing the pale sky.
After walking for a few minutes, a large iron gate appeared before him.
Behind it stood a magnificent building with a bright stone façade. A circular garden surrounded it, neat and symmetrical. In the middle of the pathway stood a tall fountain, its water streaming steadily, becoming the center of attention for every visitor.
After waking at dawn earlier, and about an hour ago, he had dreamed of two things. One about Zavi's death. Two, the one that made him wake up drenched in sweat with the hairs on his neck standing on end, yet afterward he could no longer remember it. Liam could not hide his fear, forcing himself to remain calm and act normal while investigating on his own.
This cannot be a coincidence, he thought in panic.
He stood before the open iron gate, watching elderly people, teenagers, and children accompanied by their mothers pass through and enter the library, KYomi.
Liam gave a polite smile to the guards and continued toward the main entrance. Upon entering, the first thing that greeted him was a massive chandelier.
He glanced at the building's layout, then moved to the left, passing rows of tall and large bookshelves in search of informative texts. After a long search, he found a book that seemed suitable.
"Is this really the right one?" he muttered softly.
However, after only ten seconds of reading, a cold voice pierced his ears. His body froze instinctively as he slowly turned to the side, facing a man and a woman.
"So you are finally here too, Zavi," Leo muttered, his former classmate.
Leo Zilvera, together with a woman, Forn Vinora, walked toward him, and both of their gazes locked onto Liam. They were Zavi's former classmates at Vamaeora High School in the Tezny district, the city center.
Liam paused for a moment and asked hesitantly, "Were you two looking for me?"
'Were they not Zavi's former classmates back in school? Why are they here?' Liam thought nervously, not knowing what to do.
"Oh... Leo happened to see you," Forn replied, her black hair tied back. "Actually he wanted to go to your house, but he changed his mind after coincidentally seeing you enter the library. It is rare for you to want to read."
Liam chuckled softly, acting like a true friend.
'Ahaha. I do not know. He must want to invite me somewhere, right? A reunion to strengthen friendship?' Liam furrowed his brows, unable to believe the situation had shifted this quickly.
Their meeting was brief. Liam chose to excuse himself, not wanting too much interaction in case his identity as someone else was exposed. However, they did not let him leave just like that.
Instead, they immediately revealed their true intention to relax somewhere together, since it had been about two and a half years since they last met, chatted, and laughed together.
His fingers grew sweaty, his breath caught in his throat from the discomfort of being constantly urged to follow them.
He then decided to step away hesitantly, leaving his two friends behind with a slightly awkward expression.
Liam stopped, turned back. For a brief moment he saw an indescribable and somewhat gloomy expression on their faces. He let out a long breath and said reluctantly, "Alright, alright. When will this outing take place?" he asked, watching their expressions brighten with happy smiles.
They approached Liam, and Leo whispered the meeting location, a sacred and pleasant place where they would gather in a park in the Tezny district.
Liam nodded, pausing briefly to remember the mentioned place. After that, they said goodbye, reminding him not to be late to the meeting point.
The two of them returned to do what they were supposed to do, prepare.
"Yes, alright," Liam replied, his expression flat.
From afar, Liam watched their backs as they exited through the library's main entrance. Then he returned to the bookshelf where he had been reading earlier and continued until he finished the book.
"What does all of this mean?" he muttered in shock while holding his chin. "What kind of strange conflict is this? And the discovery of corpses with black spots on their necks?"
It seems there is a connection to me? He thought suspiciously.
Liam's eyes widened slightly. He did not know whether such incidents often occurred in this world.
Then he flipped through the book further, even surprised that it recorded past and present events. Unlike the location of his home on Earth, the history within each book here was strange and diverse.
The book Liam held, titled "Mysteries and the Inverted World," detailed the beginning of the Star Calendar era around the 800s. It was a time of war, cultural and religious discrimination everywhere, and discrimination or more precisely, hatred toward brown eyed people, called "Demons from Hell," which still existed in the Star Calendar era.
"Is that not cruel?" Liam nodded and muttered unconsciously. "But there must be a reason," he continued softly, shivering after reading several paragraphs on page fifty.
More than five hundred years ago. Yet the event was still clearly recorded in this book, and one line on page 50 described a brutal territorial massacre carried out by the brown eyed human race against several blue eyed races, including Zavi, the dark brown eyed race, the gray eyed race, and the black eyed race.