Ch.1Carriage Accident

*

On a night when rain poured down relentlessly.

A large carriage was racing through a forest so dark that one couldn’t see even a foot ahead, as if fleeing from something.

Running along a forest path with no trace of human passage, let alone a well-maintained road, the carriage inevitably rattled violently as it collided mercilessly with everything from small branches to massive boulders. Its four skeletal wheels swayed incessantly as they climbed over cruelly protruding tree roots.

The coachman knew well that driving a carriage through a forest path was impossible.

He simply hadn’t had time to think of another option.

The coachman strained his eyes to spot obstacles, but the forest night, made worse by the rain, mocked his efforts by shrouding his vision in darkness.

The only light the coachman could rely on was a small lantern.

But the feeble light from the lantern, which hung beside the driver’s seat and scattered its weak glow in all directions as it swung wildly, couldn’t even properly illuminate what lay directly ahead.

He could barely see even the rear hooves of the horses pulling the carriage.

The horses hesitated, frightened by obstacles like trees that suddenly appeared from beyond his limited field of vision, but the coachman paid no heed and cracked his whip fiercely.

With no time even to wipe away the rainwater beating against his face, the coachman looked up at the sky with anxious eyes, unable to hide his agitation.

Cruelly, even the stars that might have guided his way were completely hidden by rain clouds.

“Kuk,”

“Kyaak!”

The inside of the carriage was just as chaotic as its battered exterior, which was dented and scratched from collisions.

Inside the violently shaking carriage, where all manner of objects had spilled and tangled, I was firmly holding the hand of my younger sister Laila, who had her eyes tightly shut as she clung to me.

I held Laila’s trembling head tightly against my chest.

It was to protect the head of this mere ten-year-old girl.

Laila buried her face in my chest and whimpered.

“Brother, save me.”

“Laila, keep your eyes closed tight. We’ll be out of the forest soon. Just wait a little longer…”

Thud

“…hic,”

“…Just trust me, okay? I’ll protect you.”

“I’m… so scared…”

Every time the carriage rattled, our bodies lurched heavily.

I sighed softly as I embraced my whimpering sister against the impacts.

I felt so powerless and pathetic—all I could do was run from those who sought our lives, and all I could offer my frightened sister was a simple embrace.

I covered my sister’s anxious, darting eyes with my arm and held the little lady in my arms even tighter.

That’s when it happened.

THUD!

“Kyaak!”

The carriage jolted violently.

The wooden body of the carriage creaked ominously.

“Uh, o… oppa…”

My sister’s voice, so terrified she seemed about to faint.

But I couldn’t give her any answer.

Though I couldn’t show it to my much younger sister, I too was frozen with fear as death loomed before my eyes, the terror rising to my throat.

Thud!

With each alarming lurch of the already constantly shaking carriage, Laila let out sharp screams from her tiny mouth.

But I focused all my attention on the groaning sounds of the carriage that cut through Laila’s screams.

Creak, creak,

It was clearly madness for a nobleman’s carriage to race through such treacherous terrain where even sturdy, rugged cargo wagons would proceed with caution.

I understood the urgency of our situation.

Assassins were pursuing us, intent on killing Laila and me.

But a premonition that this mad dash would end only in destruction filled my head and gradually turned into goosebumps that crept across my skin.

To make matters worse, the rain was growing heavier by the minute.

Judging by the fierce winds that were also picking up, it seemed a storm was approaching.

The carriage, struggling to rattle along beneath the rain that engulfed the world, let out a moan as if announcing its own end.

Crack, crack!

The moment that chilling sound was heard, the coachman, myself, and even little Laila guessed our fate.

The coachman squeezed his eyes shut, and Laila, her face deathly pale, soaked her pathetic brother’s chest with tears and saliva.

I tried desperately to cradle my sister’s head as deeply as possible in my arms, hoping somehow to save her.

CRASH!

The front wheel of the carriage, having hit a rock the size of a fist, finally broke and collapsed.

The carriage, suddenly braked, bounced high from the recoil.

Then, it slowly began to tilt sideways and fall.

The horses struggled to resist, but unable to withstand the weight of the carriage—made even heavier by its momentum—they were dragged along and fell down the slope.

The horses’ bewildered cries and hot breath scattered into the rain.

Screams, cries, the sound of things breaking and collapsing.

None of these could help us.

“Aaaaargh!”

“Kyaaak! Ash oppa!”

Naturally, and cruelly,

There were no barriers in a forest like this.

The carriage began to roll down the mountainside.

*

Tap,

Tap,

I slowly regained consciousness as cold raindrops struck my face.

Yet for some reason, I couldn’t open my eyes.

No, it wasn’t just my eyes—my entire body was immobilized, as if I were experiencing sleep paralysis.

I couldn’t even lift my eyelids by my own will.

As that bewilderment gradually sharpened my consciousness, I began to feel a dull heat spreading from my lower abdomen.

Soon that heat spread throughout my body, growing more intense.

My whole body felt as if it were on fire.

“Ugh,”

No, it wasn’t heat.

It was a thick pain, like being beaten all over with iron rods heated in fire.

After suffering from that pain on the ground for quite some time, I was finally able to open my tightly shut eyes when the densely falling raindrops struck my eyelids, letting out a painful groan that felt like it was crushing my lungs.

“Keurgh,”

Even making a groaning sound was impossible.

I realized my face was buried in mud.

Had all the bones in my body broken? Or had all my muscles been torn at once?

Unable to even lift my head due to the pain—which was difficult to fully describe in human language and was growing worse—I barely managed to turn my face to the side to extract it from the mud.

“Kak! Puhh,”

I kept coughing and spitting out the mud that had covered my nose and mouth, but the blood-mixed mud just fell limply near my lips.

I forcibly pulled up my hazy vision that kept sinking into darkness and slowly looked around.

I don’t know how it hadn’t broken, but the old oil lamp that had been hanging from the coachman’s seat had fallen on its side and was burning its remaining oil, scattering a faint light. Thanks to this, I could barely make out the objects around me.

The corpses of horses scattered around the wreckage of the shattered carriage had cooled quickly in the rain, their warmth gone.

Seeing that the horses’ bodies had cooled, I must have been unconscious for quite some time, but considering my mouth and nose had been blocked by mud, it couldn’t have been too long.

If my breathing had been blocked for that long, I would already be dead.

But what use was worrying about such things now?

There were mountains of other problems I needed to worry about.

My vision kept sinking into darkness, and the pain that had been pounding throughout my body gradually became duller.

It felt like lying on a soft bed.

It also felt like a heavy, massive weight was attached to my waist, pulling my torso downward.

If I closed my eyes now, if I surrendered my body to that weight and sank below the ground, I would surely die.

I was struggling desperately to protect the flame of life that kept flickering out in the pouring rain.

I couldn’t die like this.

Not until I took my sister to safety…

…my sister.

Laila!

I tried to get up, but only my fingertips barely twitched; even raising my body was not easy.

At a time like this, the dulling of pain was actually a good thing.

“La… Laila.”

I called my sister’s name with a dying voice.

The chilling sensation and memory of something bouncing out of my arms as the carriage rolled suddenly flashed through my mind.

And with it, her scream.

“Kr, kreuugh!”

I slowly raised my arm, and it fell limply. I used that momentum to lift my arm again, then let it drop to brace against the ground.

Then I gradually put some of my body weight on that arm.

“Kak, aagh.”

An unbearable pain shot through the center of my arm, probably through the bone.

I swallowed a dry breath and let out a shallow scream.

I couldn’t lift my upper body even a centimeter, and both arms trembled and creaked as if they would snap at any moment.

It seemed my arms were already broken from the impact of the accident.

I somehow inhaled and twisted my body.

I didn’t shout or grit my teeth to gather strength.

If I had that much energy, I would use it all to prioritize getting up.

I inhaled roughly and slowly rolled my upper body.

The ground beneath me was unusually wet and dark.

It seemed I had lost a lot of blood.

My frail arms, which had been trembling pitifully, finally lost their balance and slipped on the mud.

My body fell sideways, flipping halfway over.

“Hoo… hooo…”

I caught my breath and slowly tried to raise my upper body.

Like my arms, my abdominal muscles had no strength at all, making it very difficult to lift my body, but it was still a better option than trying to lift my body using only arm strength from a prone position.

Isn’t doing a sit-up easier than a push-up?

Moving my body seemed to clear my mind further.

At the same time, the pain also grew stronger.

Only now did I clench my teeth tightly.

*

I couldn’t even gauge how much time I had spent just trying to get my body up.

It felt to me as if at least a few hours had easily passed.

But the damn rain was still pouring down, and the sky was still filled with darkness without a trace of light.

I was standing, supporting myself on a long wooden pole that had been part of the carriage frame.

The end of the pole was bent into a Y-shape, so I hung the lamp on it.

The light was almost going out, perhaps because water had gotten in, but it was much better than nothing.

I staggered as I looked around.

Laila was nowhere to be seen.

“Laila… Lail, kaak,”

Even the slightest pressure made me feel like my waist would break and my chest would tear, so I couldn’t even raise my voice.

Whenever I tried to increase the volume even slightly, I would end up coughing out blood-tinged phlegm along with a scream.

But even so, if Laila were awake, she would surely hear her brother calling her name.

At least she would hear the screams.

How far had she been thrown?

Was she badly hurt?

Could that ten-year-old child have survived this terrible accident?

Perhaps Laila was already…

My vision swayed dizzily.

Ah, no, Laila.

Surely not. Surely…

My legs, already at their limit just from standing, trembled wildly.

Getting up in the first place had been close to a miracle, but now even that miracle was reaching its limit.

I dropped my head and leaned my body against a large tree, pressing my head against it as my shoulders slumped.

If I sat down now, I would never be able to get up again.

I would die.

I had fled to survive, yet here I was, dying like this.

In truth, I knew.

My stubbornness had made me get up despite this suffering, but what difference would it make?

Laila was already…

Ah, Laila.

My only remaining family.

I wanted so badly to protect at least you.

I’m sorry.

I gave up everything.

There was no hope in sight.

Just days ago, I couldn’t have imagined any of this happening, and now the sudden loss of everything in my life felt incredibly empty.

Between every bit of pain that filled my body, helplessness and desolation filled every tiny gap without fail.

The pole with the lamp gradually slipped from my fingertips.

Crash.

This time, the lamp broke completely, shattering into pieces.

At the same time, the whole world was engulfed in darkness so thick I couldn’t see an inch in front of me.

Was it because Laila too had disappeared into this darkness?

This darkness that devoured everything seemed to consume even my pain.

The pain scattered to the edge of my consciousness.

For some reason, this darkness began to feel comforting.

Laila. Your brother is coming to meet you.

I was about to collapse to the ground.

At that moment,

In that brief interval between the lamp breaking and my beginning to fall.

Something caught the edge of my raised vision.

It seemed I hadn’t noticed it before because the lamp’s light had been too close.

“…a house…?”

In the distance, I could clearly see a light.