Darkness.

  Relyn stood frozen, he was unable to move a single muscle in his body, as if his mind betrayed him every second there.

  In front of him, there were only a pair of glowing blue eyes slowly coming out from the shadows. Its tangled hair was across its face, hiding all of its features except for that pair of eyes.

  That figure moved forward and Relyn’s heart raced in his chest.

  The creature raised a hand and Relyn saw its thin fingers getting closer. The air around him was growing colder, and the space between was shortening fast.

  The hand extended towards him finally got close to his face. He tried to scream, to move, or even show some sort of reaction, but nothing happened.

  The only thing in front of him were those blue eyes, and just as its fingers were about to touch his face, he opened his eyes.

  Relyn snapped awake and fought for air. He looked around frantically. Instead of darkness, he was surrounded by wooden frames and the bright sunlight.

  He blinked fast and his heart was still racing, his palms were sweaty and his body was still in a fight or flight state.

  Relyn breathed deep and wiped a hand across his face. As he tried to sit up, he saw people’s feet. Dusty boots were all over his sight.

  He frowned, confused, and turned his head slightly to the side. Another person lay beside him, but whoever they were, they didn’t seem injured, just sleeping or unconscious.

  It took a while for him to calm down, only when he realized he wasn’t in danger.

  The noise and swing of the carriage reminded him he was moving, though he had no idea where. He struggled to sit with his body straight and his arm still ached badly. His stomach felt strange, somewhat off but not painful.

  “Relyn!”

  The voice was familiar and almost seemed relieved. Turning his head around, Relyn found Milen seated on a bench just a few feet away from him.

  “Finally awake? About time. Get off that dirty floor and sit over here,” Milen said, gesturing to the space beside him.

  Relyn started to move with his body still stiff and heavy, but he managed to drag himself to the bench. He sat down beside Milen, leaning his head back against the wall of the carriage.

  “For how long have I been out?”

  “Two days now. You lost too much blood back there,” Milen replied.

  “It felt like a couple of hours…” Relyn murmured, still somewhat dazed.

  “Well, about that… the doctor was pretty surprised with you,” Milen continued.

  “Why?” Relyn asked.

  “Not sure. Everyone’s been in such a rush I didn’t get much time to talk to him. But he looked at you like you had just grown a second head.” Milen shrugged.

  Relyn pulled up his sleeve slightly to check on his arm. The bandages were clean, but the pain remained. His hand went down to his stomach, where he remembered the ugly wound he had gotten.

  He lifted his shirt to find a slight scar where the injury had been. It was almost completely healed.

  “We’ll reach the City of Suvim in about three hours! I repeat, three hours to Suvim!” Soldier Bolton's voice loudly rang out as he announced to the carriages around them.

  From his horse, he rode down the road, continuing to shout the same message to the other carriages in line.

  The announcement pulled Relyn from his thoughts. He looked at Milen, still confused about the whole situation.

  “What’s going on?”

  “That Rift,” Milen said and his voice dropped.

  “It’s worse than anyone expected. The city’s been evacuated, and we’re on the move to the old capital of Solara. Suvim’s going to be our third stop, people can stay there if they’ve got family or friends. If not, they’re heading to the capital’s shelters.” Milen explained.

  “One of those things was all it took to get all of these people out of their home?” Relyn asked in disbelief.

  Looking around, he saw the depressed faces of young and old couples, children still crying out loud, and even the firm soldiers who he had met before had a devastated expression on their faces.

  “Things are bad, kid. Worse than anything I’ve seen before. They’re saying the capital won’t even send anyone there.”

  Relyn stayed silent, he leaned back and touched his head against the wood as he stared at the sky.

  “I didn’t get the chance to say this properly earlier, but thank you.” Milen rubbed the back of his neck.

  Relyn looked at Milen in curiosity, but kept his mouth shut.

  “For saving my life back there,” Milen completed what he wanted to say.

  “If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be here right now.”

  “I was also the one who put you there” Relyn let out a laugh.

  “That was the right thing to do. If we’d gone the other way, I can’t even imagine what would have happened. That Harrow…”

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  Milen didn’t continue and his expression darkened as he let the words in the air.

  “What is a harrow?” Relyn asked.

  “You’ve never heard of harrows?” Milen looked at Relyn like he was looking at an idiot.

  Relyn shook his head.

  “I never actually studied these things, but everyone knows a thing or two about them. Harrows… they’re the stuff of nightmares. Monsters of nature, or whatever is behind the rifts.”

  “They’re strong,” Milen continued, his voice low. “And not just strong. They think.”

  “That’s what we fought there?” Relyn frowned.

  “No, what you fought was a regular creature from the rift, they’re normal if you go deep enough…”

  “But that second thing, I’m pretty sure that was a harrow. And we’re lucky. From what I’ve heard, there’s at least one harrow involved in every single city that’s fallen in the last couple hundred years. When they show up, things go to shit really fast.”.

  Relyn turned his eyes to the horizon, where he saw a big, tall wall.

  The size and the structure were comparable to the walls of the city they had just fled, but this city, Suvim, seemed to have their walls in a better shape, there weren’t many scratches on it.

  Overall, it looked considerably better.

  “Ah, I almost forgot the important stuff…”

  Milen pulled out a small leather bag from beneath his cloak, one that Relyn hadn’t noticed before. With his hand, he placed it beside Relyn.

  “That’s your payment for the expedition,” Milen said in a low voice, almost conspiratorial.

  “If you let those stingy bastards handle it, your grandchildren might not live long enough to see the money.”

  Relyn eyed the bag, then glanced at Milen, who was looking ahead.

  “You didn’t have to do this,” Relyn said, still not sure how to act.

  “Damn boy, who the hell raised you? Just say thank you or something.”

  “Thank you,” Relyn said and grabbed the bag.

  The days passed by as they traveled. Each city was just far enough for a day’s journey, so they would always leave at sunrise and arrive before nightfall, almost perfectly placed for that reason.

  The routine was the same everyday, they had two simple meals on the carriages and could only stretch their bodies when they reached the next city.

  There were no pauses or slowing down for anything, to avoid staying in the road when the sun was set.

  Relyn quickly adapted. He found himself spending more time talking to Milen, who slowly taught him more and more about the world.

  “They say the land wasn’t always like this,” Milen said one evening, as they sat near a campfire made by the soldiers.

  “Before all this shit. Crops were strong and they didn’t need to add any poison to make them grow. People had enough to eat, magic was just being discovered, and no one feared the night. Can you imagine that?”

  Relyn thought of all of the old carcasses, dead trees and soil they found along the way.

  “Hard to believe,” He muttered, “And what happened?”.

  “Theories are all around, but who knows for sure? These days, the reward for figuring out how to make a chicken fatter with less feed or teaching a soldier how to hit harder is much better than researching magic or the history of these lands. Few people care about that.”

  “The world’s all about surviving now, and that changes how people think over time. And that’s a damn shame…” Milen finished speaking, looking at the flames nearby.

  The days passed, and their group was smaller. In each city, more people left the caravan, reuniting with family. By the fourth day, their numbers had gone down to a fraction of what they had been at the start.

  Finally, they reached Milen’s hometown. The city was fortified, its walls taller and more imponent than most of the cities they’ve seen.

  Milen stood at the edge of the caravan, with a bag over his shoulder. For the first time, he looked at a loss for words.

  “This is it,” He said, his voice a little quieter than usual.

  “Thanks, Milen.” Relyn climbed down from the caravan to stand beside him.

  “Don’t go getting all sentimental on me, boy. You’re the one who saved my sorry ass back there.”

  The two stood in silence for a moment. Finally, Milen extended his hand.

  “Take care of yourself, Relyn. You’ve got a decent head on your shoulders. Don’t lose it too soon.”

  “You too. Put that arm of yours into good use,” Relyn shook his hand firmly.

  “I’ll try just that.” Milen laughed.

  He turned toward the gates and walked away. Slowly, his figure disappeared in the distance.