Norma Selner POV
Several years have now passed since portals appeared in this world and the first hunters awakened, allowing society to return to normal. However, at that moment, I was devastated.
I stood in the cemetery where my husband's funeral had recently been held. With a face stained by tears, I looked down at his grave. He was a mid-rank B hunter and died during a dungeon break, where he protected his comrades but ultimately lost his life due to his injuries.
A few days later
To process my grief, I devoted all my attention and energy to my work at the Federal Bureau for Hunters. I no longer had to worry, as there were no close people left who worked with dungeons, and I was never sent into the field because my abilities were not suited for combat. Thus, several weeks passed.
One morning, as I was getting ready to go to work, a strong wave of nausea overcame me, causing me to vomit in the bathroom. At first, I was surprised and completely overwhelmed by what was happening to me, as I had only just gotten up and the nausea hit me suddenly. That was until I went over my symptoms again and came to the conclusion that they could be signs of pregnancy.
When I realized this, I reached for my phone to call work.
"Hello, this is the HR department of the Federal Bureau for Hunters. How can I help you?" I heard the voice of a young man from the phone. From the voice, I assumed it was Hannes. He was a colleague who had just turned 20 and had recently started working with us. He was a kind person with short, curly blonde hair and had expressed his condolences when my husband died.
"Hello, this is Selner. I'm calling to inform you that I won't be coming to work today," I said into the phone.
"Hello, Mrs. Selner, is everything alright? May I ask what's going on so I can inform the boss?"
"It's alright. I vomited and I'm feeling a bit unwell. I'm going to the hospital now to get checked."
As soon as I said that, Hannes quickly asked if I had someone who could drive me to the hospital. When I answered "no" and said I would drive myself, he immediately replied that it was a bad idea since I had said I felt nauseous and shouldn't be driving. When I said I would call a taxi instead, Hannes responded that he would inform the boss quickly and then come to take me to the hospital himself.
"You really don't have to do that, Hannes," I tried to politely refuse, but he remained persistent.
"Nonsense. You are an important person at the Bureau, and you've already been through so much lately. I'll be there shortly," he said with such enthusiasm that I could only smile and reply, "Alright, I'll wait for you," before hanging up.
We arrived at the hospital after about forty-five minutes. I didn't have to wait long before I was taken in by a doctor.
When I entered the examination room, Dr. Brown went through some routine questions with me to clarify the situation. Dr. Brown was an older man in his late fifties with gray hair, a gentle face, and brown eyes beneath large bushy eyebrows. After that, we began the tests, which lasted over an hour to ensure that I was completely healthy.
At the end, when we were finished, Dr. Brown said with a cheerful smile,
"Let me be the first to congratulate you on your pregnancy. You are seven weeks pregnant."
When I heard that, my eyes widened. I had already believed that I was pregnant, but hearing it confirmed had a completely different effect on me. My face lit up, and tears began to flow from joy.
"I'm pregnant," I said happily to the doctor, who nodded in confirmation.
A few minutes later, after I had calmed down from my emotional outburst, the doctor began explaining what I needed to pay attention to and also gave me a book about pregnancy.
When I left the examination room, Hannes was waiting for me near the exit, sitting on a bench with a laptop. When I reached him, he closed it and turned to me to hear the results. I told him that I was pregnant.
"That's wonderful. I'm really happy for you, Mrs. Selner," Hannes said, genuinely pleased. He knew how difficult things had been for me recently and was simply glad that things were improving for me.
Hannes drove me home before heading to the office himself. I told him to inform the boss that I would return to work the next day, though possibly a bit later. I waved goodbye to him before he turned the corner and disappeared. I spent the rest of the day reading the pregnancy book from Dr. Brown and planning for the future.
The following weeks were some of the hardest of my life. The daily morning sickness, which would also appear randomly throughout the day, was the worst part. I also reduced my workload and stress to ensure that the baby inside me could grow healthily.
On one of my days off, I was walking through the city to buy some things. On my way to the nearby supermarket, I passed by a peculiar shop.
"See your soul and future" – a fortune-telling shop.
Since the appearance of Gates and hunters, fortune-telling had become more prominent again. Even though there was no official class for fortune tellers, their services were frequently sought after.
I decided it wouldn't hurt to take a look into the future, especially since mysticism was one of my interests, and entered the shop.
The interior was decorated in an old Victorian style, creating a mysterious atmosphere. It had been a long time since I had last visited this shop, so I took a moment to take in the feeling before approaching the reception. There, I saw a man in his early thirties with brown hair and eyes, wearing a dark gray suit, his hair neatly combed to the side.
"Welcome, dear lady. Would you like a reading?" he asked calmly.
When I confirmed, he continued,
"There are currently three people available for you to choose from."
After saying this, he placed three sheets on the counter, each containing information about the available fortune tellers. After some thought, I made my choice.
"I would like a session with Daly Willians."
Name: Daly Willians
Age: 25 years
Talents:
Mirror divination
Pendulum divination
Tarot card divination
Specialization: Tarot
"Very well, I will inform Lady Willians. Please wait here a moment, I will be right back," the man said calmly and walked down a long hallway into a room. Shortly after, he returned and led me into a room decorated with many green and turquoise fabrics.
In the center of the room was a round table with a woman dressed in a black dress. She had pale skin, and her nails were painted blue, matching her lipstick and eyeshadow.
"I welcome you, I am Lady Daly Willians." Her voice echoed through the room with a hypnotic tone.
I sat down across from her and introduced myself.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Willians. I am Norma Selner."
"Nice to meet you, Miss Selner. What would you like to know?"
"I would like to learn something about the future. Use whichever method you consider best," I replied.
"Very well. The best method would be astrological divination, but unfortunately I am not very skilled in that area. The best I can offer is a tarot reading," she said with a gentle expression and a hint of apology.
I told her that was fine, and the tarot session began. Lady Willians explained what I needed to do and that she would only interpret the cards, as I had to shuffle them myself.
I shuffled the deck and placed the top three cards face down in the center of the table.
Lady Willians began to speak in a calm voice.
"Your first card is—" she revealed the right card, "The Lovers. A decision lies before you."
She slowly moved her hand to the left card and turned it over.
"The second is The Magician. In connection with the previous card, it means that your decision will have a strong impact."
As she moved her hand to the last card, she paused for a moment before speaking again.
"Tarot cards are not a perfect medium to determine the future. However, they can show a story and development, so please do not see this reading as absolute fate."
She then turned over the final card.
"The Fool. It represents a new beginning. It seems that your decision will have a great impact and lead to a new beginning in the future."
Her voice echoed through the room, and suddenly I felt as if I was being watched. When I looked at Lady Willians, she seemed to be in a kind of trance. My hand instinctively moved to my stomach—a mother's natural protective reaction.
"Does this decision have something to do with my child?" I whispered to myself, while Willians showed no sign of hearing me.
When my other hand rested on my stomach, the suffocating feeling of being watched disappeared, and Lady Willians came out of her trance.
Seemingly unaware of her previous state, she asked if I wanted to know anything else. I replied that this was enough, and we both stood up.
After leaving the fortune-telling shop, I completed the shopping I had originally planned and then returned home.
The following weeks became worse than I had expected—not because of the pregnancy symptoms, but because since that visit, I repeatedly felt that terrifying gaze on me, which caused me to freeze until my hand instinctively moved to my stomach.
Additionally, my workload increased due to a significant rise in Gates in my area. Because of this, even an S-rank hunter decided to stay in the area to protect society. It was Thomas Andre, the leader of the Scavenger Guild and one of the strongest S-rank hunters in the world.
Thomas was not a stranger to me, but when we met, I immediately felt the same sensation as during the session with Lady Willians, which made me try to avoid him as much as possible.
I told my midwife about it, but she said it was normal to feel paranoia during pregnancy, as my hormones were adjusting in preparation for motherhood.
When the feeling didn't fade, I decided to ask my boss if I could work from home, as the stress at the office was not good for me or my baby. After some consideration, my boss agreed, as it concerned my health and I was an important person for the country as an upgrader.
The following days became a bit calmer, but the feeling of being watched and the increased appearance of Gates did not stop—at least not until I entered the second trimester of my pregnancy.
When I reached the second trimester, I had a strange dream one night.
In this dream, I was in a kind of temple. It seemed to be at the peak of a mountain. The stones were overgrown with moss and vines, showing that the place must have existed for a long time. As I looked around, I saw a long table with twelve chairs around it.
I began to approach the table as the sun set and the full moon rose. As this happened, the chairs faded away until only the seat of honor at the head of the table remained. The full moon aligned directly above the backrest of that seat, and when it was perfectly centered, it turned into a blood moon.
Under its light, I began to hear whispers that grew louder and louder.
Before I could lose my sanity, gray fog seemed to emerge from all directions, swallowing everything. The moonlight faded, leaving me in the silence of the temple now covered in gray fog.
For some reason, I continued to the seat of honor and sat down. As I did, exhaustion finally caught up with me, and I fell into the dark embrace of sleep.
After that, I never had a dream even remotely similar again, and the feeling of being watched disappeared completely. The rate of Gates also returned to normal.
The following weeks were the most pleasant time of my entire pregnancy.
Soon, I was even able to learn the gender of my child. During one of my regular check-ups, the doctor asked if I wanted to know, and I immediately agreed. That was when I learned that I was carrying a baby boy.
Before I knew it, I had reached the final stage of my pregnancy. My belly had grown significantly and was now increasing even faster. A few weeks before the expected due date, I agreed with my boss to stay in the hospital for safety, so that staff would always be available in case the baby came early.
Three days before the due date, it happened. My water broke.
The pain spread through my entire body, and I felt as if I were being torn in two. Childbirth is one of the most beautiful and yet most painful experiences a woman can go through. That became painfully clear to me as I lay there giving birth to my child.
After thirteen hours of agonizing pain, my son was born.
His cry echoed through the room, but some of the experienced midwives seemed slightly surprised, as his cry did not sound like that of a newborn baby. It had a tone that nearly broke my heart. It sounded like a child who had suppressed his emotions for years, locking them away until they finally broke free.
While the doctors cleaned him, examined him, and recorded his data, I was treated by a healer from the Federal Bureau for Hunters. They had called him in when they learned I was in labor, so he could support me as best as possible.
After a while, the doctors returned and placed my son in my arms. He was still crying, and I never wanted to hear that pain from him again.
As he cried, I brought his small form closer to my face and began to speak.
"It's alright, I'm here. I will take care of you and love you forever," I said gently.
This calmed him a little, but he was still crying. I don't know why, but what I said next came instinctively.
"I see you, my dear, and I will always love you."
After these words, he finally calmed down completely and fell asleep.
Just before I myself fell asleep from exhaustion, I said one last thing to my son:
"Welcome to the world, my son, Orion Selner."
End of Chapter