Chapter 3: Dream.

A bell chimes as Iris enters a store. A man noticed her choosing some crystals, "Oh Iris! You're here to buy some crystals?". Iris walks toward him with crystals and a yarn on her hand then proceed to put it on the counter, "Yes. Its Oberon's birthday soon and I was thinking of making him a bracelet. I hope he will like it.". The man continues to pack the crystals in a paper bag and said, "Well I'm sure he would like it.". Smiling, Iris hands him the money while nodding in an agreement. She then walks out of the store and stops to admire the village.

It's been almost 6 months since she first came here. She thinks to herself, how lucky she is to be granted a second life. There are a lot of times where she was unhappy in her first life, and to be alive after falling to her death in a new better life, she couldn't be more grateful. "Hmmm, I should start making the bracelet right away. Tomorrow, Hestia and I will celebrate Oberon's birthday. These days, there are a lot of orders for vegetables and I wasn't able to prepare for Oberon's gift. I'm so excited!", Iris giggled to herself while making her way to her now, home.

While putting her stuffs on the desk, Iris reviews her sketches of the bracelet design. She smiled, and starts to make the bracelet. Hestia walks in and sees how focus Iris is, "You are preparing for Oberon's gift?". Iris stops, moves her head towards Hestia, "Yes, I'm making a bracelet for him. What about you? What are you giving him for his forth birthday?". Hestia takes out an object from her pocket and shows it to Iris, "I prepared an amulet for him. I put a bit of my mana inside this amulet in hopes to protect him from any dangers.". with admiration, Iris said, "Woahh… that's so sweet of you! With no doubt, Oberon will definitely treasure it!". Hestia chuckled, "Well, I hope so. I want him to wear it all the time. Anyways, I was going to tell you that we will take a day off tomorrow. Let's spend a day celebrating Oberon's Birthday.". Iris nods, showing that she agrees. Hestia then leaves the room, giving her space so she can continue to work on her gift.

Couple of hours later, by the time Iris finally finished making the bracelet, the sun already set and the moon already rise. She's happy with the way it turns out. Though, it saddens her to only be able to make just a simple bracelet and not a magical one, since she does not acquire any mana. But, then again, she tries to be more optimistic, she knows that Oberon will like it no matter what. She began cleaning her desk, hiding all sorts of 'evidences' from making the bracelet. Afterwards, Iris help setting the table for dinner, ate, took a shower and prepare to wonder off to the dreamland.

She lay down on her bed, looking outside the window. "The moon looks bright today.", she thinks to herself. She places both of her hands on her chest, feeling her heartbeats. Slowly closing her eyes, she begins to remember how awful her life was, in her first life. To be able to escape from the situation, she feels thankful and relives. It doesn't feel real to her. Moreover, she just hopes of never waking up if what she's been experiencing till now was just merely a dream. With that thought inside her head, she then begins to fall asleep with her hands still on her chest.

A dream appears as Iris fell asleep. A dream of her waking up from a lake that seem familiar but she can't quite point out. She is coughing, catching her breath since her head was under the water. She seems confused and bewildered, looking around her surroundings. She rose up from the lake, making her way to the trees. Just then, she hears two voices. Due to her reflexes, she hides behind a tree, big enough to cover her entire body. She peeks her head to see two men discussing between each other. They were wearing a tight black outfit, covering from head to toe except their eyes. She tries to hear what they were saying, but she only hears some words. She waits for them to leave, so then she could also set off from where she currently is. But as she hears their steps getting father, her head starts to hurts more and more. "How long since I've been here. I need to drink some water", she thinks to herself. She then goes towards the lake to drink some water. However, before she could even gulps it, she faints.

"Iris! Iris! Wake up Iris!", Iris wakes up hearing Oberon's screams. "What, what happened? Why are you screaming?", Iris looked at Oberon. Oberon is crying, while panicking he said, "They took my mom! They took my mom Iris!". Puzzled, Iris tries to calm Oberon down, "Oberon, calm down, I'm here. Now tell me, what happened? Who took your mom?". Oberon tries to stop himself from crying, telling everything that had happened, "I, I woke up because I heard a scream from outside. I looked outside and saw humans everywhere. Capturing and hunting the villagers. Then, then I remembered, mom went out earlier. I opened the door because I want to see mom. As I opened the door, mom was there. She told me to hide with you. Then, she glanced at something and close the door. I tried to open it but mom was locking the door with her mana so that I won't go out. But, but then, I heard her scream and she got taken away… Iris, what shall we do!"

Iris jolts from the bed. She squats down in front of him. While holding both of Oberon's hands, she said calmly, "Okay… Okay… I will save your mom. Your mom saved me once, so now it is my turn to save her. But I can't leave you here. I'm afraid that they will break in and take you as well. So, I want you to follow me. Please, be careful. If I signal you to hide, please hide. And never speak loudly. Do you understand?". Oberon nods while wiping his tears.

She gets up, pondering as what she should do. She looks outside her window and tries to spot Hestia. While looking outside, she sees multiple carriages filled by female elves. And in one of the carriages, she finally spots Hestia, who had been wounded but still conscious in the moment. "Okay, we need to go to that carriage right now before they take off to somewhere we don't even know. Again, I remind you to stay on guard.", Iris told Oberon, holding his hand.

They make their way around the house to the carriage. As they go towards the carriage, they see a lot of horrible things that are currently happening. The male elves being tortured, killed, beaten, while the female elves getting captured. Seeing the humans doing all sort of stuff to the elves triggers Iris. She stops and shakes her head, "No, stop thinking about the time you were beaten Iris… You need to get to Hestia right now.". She continues to make her way to Hestia.

When she finally gets behind the carriage, she sees Hestia sitting down, putting her head on her knees. "Hestia! Hestia! I'm here!", Iris whispered, loud enough for Hestia to hear. Shocked, Hestia get close to them, holding the bars that separates them, "Iris! Oberon! What are you two doing here? I told you to stay put in the house! It's dangerous!". Iris ignores Hestia's words, "I'm going to save you, all of you! You've saved me once, now it's my turn to save you Hestia… Don't worry, I will get you out of here!". Worried, Hestia eyes starts to widens, "Iris behind you!".