Under the Veil of Night

Inside the small building, Iris walked timidly. She was called here not long ago, to be exact, to the monitoring room not far from the entrance.

"I'm here," Iris opened the door slowly.

Her eyes widened when she saw Cain sitting on the chair with a pale expression. Beside him, Ferdinand and Aria were standing. Their expressions were icy cold, just like the frozen water.

"Come over here, Iris," Ferdinand ordered with a solemn tone.

Iris knew that nothing good would come with her coming closer. Her instinct told her to run as far away as possible because it would be extremely dangerous. However, his demanding tone didn't allow her to move back. Slowly, she inched closer to the man.

Aria glanced at the woman with an expressionless face. He pointed to the seat next to Cain.

"Sit down there."

"Ok," Iris murmured her answer and sat down. Her eyes were looking at Ferdinand and Aria with confusion. She was unsure about what their intention of calling here was.

"I want you to see the future," Ferdinand said coldly.

Iris nodded her head. She tried her best to initiate her power again, but found out that her head hurt a lot. Groaning, she blinked her eyes rapidly as tears rolled out from the corner of her eyes.

"Useless," Ferdinand remarked.

The insult thrown to her was extremely common. She had heard it numerous times, but she couldn't help but feel hurt. No matter how many times she heard it, she didn't like when someone told her that she was useless.

Aria picked up a bottle and handed it to Iris. "Drink it."

Iris's pupil widened. She stared at the bottle in disbelief. Ever since she was young, she had stayed in this place and learned about the way Ferdinand did things. Whoever failed numerous times, would be given a medicine to boost their power for the last time.

However, this boost came in price. They would die after they consumed it.

In the past, she had seen numerous students die because of the medicine Ferdinand gave them. It had caused numerous nightmares inside her mind and made her swear to herself that she could not be a useless person.

"No!" Iris shook her head. She didn't want to die yet!

"Aria," Ferdinand called.

Without answering, Aria stepped forward and grabbed Iris by her arm. Pulling her closer to the chair, he forced her to sit down before choking her to drink the medicine.

His swift movement told her that he had done this dozens of times. No matter how she struggled, the content of the medicine flew into her throat.

*cough* *cough*

The moment Aria let her go, she tried to vomit the medicine. Not far from her, Cain shook his head lightly. The moment the medicine touched her throat, she wouldn't be able to vomit it out anymore. This was the property of the medicine that he had known so far.

Iris felt heat seeped deep into her body and bone. At this moment, she could feel her power initiated by itself.

Ferdinand placed one of his hands on her face with his thumb on her eyes. "Show me the future, Iris."

His magnetic voice seemed to influence her mind. She closed her eyes as she showed the future that she saw to him. No matter how much she wanted to resist, it just seemed to be impossible.

Iris opened her eyes in her mind. She saw the condition of Lima School in the future. It shook her to the core. What she saw was nothing more than complete destruction. The prestigious school that was built for a long time has become a nightmare.

Numerous monsters that Ferdinand created as the side effect of the medicine ran amok in front of her. Her pupil shrunk when she saw the fight that happened before her. It was simply too scary.

As her eyes wandered around, she came to know that there were so many things that would happen in mere hours. The time when the barrier broke would only be the beginning of this battlefield.

Pang!

Iris felt deep pain in her head. She knew that this was her limit, but the force on her head told her to keep going on. Opening her eyes forcefully, she took everything that she saw into her head.

Bang!

*cough* *cough*

Falling to the floor, Iris vomited hard. She had long passed the limit of her ability. The future she saw was something that she would never forget.

"Aria, you take care of this place. I have something that I need to do," Ferdinand ordered.

"Yes, Sir."

As the two of them walked away, Iris gasped for breath on the floor. It was dirty with her vomit, but she didn't care anymore. Propping herself up, she saw down on the chair and looked towards Cain.

Even though Cain's face was pale, he still stared at the screen and controlled his power according to what he saw.

"You're… awfully… calm," Iris said in between her breaths. Her body felt heavy, so she knew that she didn't have much time left. However, it was not up to her when she would die.

Cain's eyes flickered slightly. "We're nothing but chess pieces in this place. There's no need for emotion to arise."

Yeah, she knew that.

Iris closed her eyes as she leaned back to the chair in a sideway posture. Her mind recalled back the past when she first came here. The innocent and dumb her accepted everything that they told her. No matter how many times her father protested, she went against him to come here.

The wonderful things she saw here made her unable to leave. It was so easy to fool a child that she truly wished to smack the young her.

'If only we can turn back to the past, I'll shred the letter without any hesitation.'

The beautiful golden coated letter that they gave her was the beginning of her nightmare. Many kinds of promises they gave out to her. However, not a single one of them were true.

Tears trickled down on her cheek.

The only good thing she had in this place was her best friend. But her best friend had died because of the order from Ferdinand. Fighting that monster's enemy….

From the bottom of her heart, she wished that she could change side.. Even though they were the one who killed her best friend, she longed to see the end of Ferdinand even more because he was the one who started this hell.