Alwyn closed the door of the carriage.
'Now, let's see what we have here…'
The interiors were not luxurious, but it was miles better than the rat hole he had lived inside for the past week.
The cabin was spacious, about four and a half meters in length, three in width, and he could stand up without touching the ceiling.
On both side walls, next to the doors, there were two retractable boards that could be used as beds. The fifth person obviously needed to be awake in order to keep guard.
The other two walls were instead repurposed as storage space, with shelves, cupboards and kegs that contained some useful tools and provisions.
Alwyn inspected a barrel, then opened it and found it almost empty, with only some inches of fresh water on the bottom.
Unable to resist, he instantly grabbed a nearby cup and guzzled it all in one gulp.
'This is heaven!'
After taking care of the thirst, he now needed to put something in his empty stomach. He had not eaten in almost twenty four hours, he was literally ravenous with hunger.
So he opened the first cupboard he saw and took whatever was inside. As it turned out to be stale bread, he started nibbling on it with pleasure. In the wilderness, even the most uninviting food to ever exist was considered gold.
Once his belly was full, he inspected all the other supplies.
'Hmm, strange.'
There was not enough food for a three week journey. He did not consider the way back, since they would buy more once they arrived at the Last Frontier, but it was still not enough. The Reapers must have only prepared for about two weeks of travel, maybe even less. By now, the shelves were almost empty.
They had never intended to reach the Elven Kingdom.
'That's why they only employed beggars and vagrants like myself…'
They needed someone to sacrifice.
'To what purpose, though?'
Nothing came to his mind.
But although he was suspicious of Eline, he doubted that she would kill him during the night. If she wanted to, she could have done it many times before.
So he opened one of the boards on the wall, covered its surface with a blanket, and then sat on it.
Before going to sleep though, he stripped off his ragged and dirty clothes and tended to the wounds, cleaning off blood and dirt with a clean towel soaked in water.
'She could have at least washed the back for me...'
They looked horrible and the pain was atrocious, but by now Lynn's body had grown accustomed to it, and his nerves had been numbed by the cold.
After that, he wore a spare set of the Reapers' uniform he had found laying around, sprawled on the makeshift bed and put his two belongings, the compass and the rock, inside the brand new clothes. The former in the breast pocket and the latter in the trouser's."
It felt nice wearing something clean, and the blanket warmed him just enough so that he didn't shiver.
However, inside the carriage the temperature was still quite low. The trees shielded most of the strong night currents, but the weather remained essentially the same as in the open plain, and he could hear a weak wind breaking on the carriage's wooden walls.
'Will Eline be all right spending the night outside?'
Being a Reaper, her body could endure much more than the average human, but even they could not survive for too long in those extreme environments.
With these thoughts, Alwyn fell asleep in just a few minutes, exhausted by the tribulations he had gone through in those two hellish days.
***
"Come out, sweetie."
The mother prompted the boy to open the door of the drawer, but Lynn wouldn't budge. He remained silent, concealing himself under a pile of clothes.
"Mommy is here now, you have nothing to worry about."
He curled up even more, clutching tightly the bent legs on which the head was resting, and a warm tear ran down the boy's cheek, before being absorbed by the fabric.
"You must be hungry! I'll bake you the cake you like so much, I even managed to find some blueberries."
A sense of sadness tinged with nostalgia pervaded his body, but something felt very wrong with the scene. So wrong that he felt like he should not open his mouth.
His parents had told him to hide in the closet until they returned with some food, but two days had already passed since their departure, and the door had never been opened again.
Who was speaking to him then?
And why did the voice resemble that of his mother?
Had they really come back?
Or was it a monster?
There was even the possibility that it was all in his head.
As the mother started intonating a lullaby, an intense conflict of emotions raged inside of him. Although he was frozen in horror, a deep part of his subconscious still believed that his parents were alive.
He yearned for their return.
After an endless battle to overcome his fear, Lynn finally reached out a hand, placing it on the door. He felt his heart clench and his throat dry, but he was determined to come out of the closet. He needed to.
However, just before he applied enough force to push it open, an unidentified hand gently caressed his shoulder. He sensed a comforting presence behind him and he soon calmed down.
"Don't give in to temptation, Alwyn. Our parents are dead, accept it."
Turning around, he saw a young boy with blue hair. It was an identical copy of him.
"A-Alwyn? Is that a name?"
Lynn whispered, fearing that the entity on the other side of the door could hear him.
"Don't listen to the call, it's a trap. You have to wake up."
"...Wake up? But I'm already awake."
He said, not able to understand what the other boy was yelling him.
"Open your eyes, Alwyn."
"You keep saying Alwyn, but I have no idea who he is! I am Lynn Goldheart!"
The two boys stared at each other for a while, until the copy eventually opened his mouth.
"Lynn Goldheart is dead. I am what remains of him."
Lynn didn't know how to respond, shocked by that statement, and while he tried to recall the identity of the person called Alwyn, a stream of foreign memories aggressively flooded his mind, eating away the entire dream.
"I… I am…"
***
When Alwyn opened his eyes, he felt the sharp edge of a blade pressed on his neck.