Nathanael stared down at his notebook. He has yet to write anything inside it. He completely forgot. The only content inside was the map he drew to find his way around the crystals in the forest. He left the drawing be and flipped to the next page. His pencil was in his right hand, and after minutes of hesitation, he finally wrote down his first few words.

He wanted to write down everything that has happened so far, and what happened inside the forest. But he wasn’t sure what he was going to write about once he got to the part about the giant crystal. He wanted to write over that event, but then there would be a missing page.

“Perhaps another time,” he murmured.

Etta came down from the second floor of the house. She has been sleeping since they finally came back from their journey. She rubbed her eyes, still feeling drowsy. That was likely not going to change for some time.

“Etta, you feeling okay?” Nathanael asked.

“…Hungry,” she simply said. A stomach growl was soon heard after.

He was done writing for the day and closed his notebook.

“Come on, then. Let’s see what we can find, I’m quite hungry myself, actually.”

They wandered towards the kitchen, looking for anything to eat.

There was always something they could find. There is never a time when food would have a shortage. Seth and Lydia always go out for food. Seth searches the abandoned bunkers and villages for supplies. While Lydia goes off somewhere to buy something fresh off the market but takes a few days to come back, perhaps that’s why she’s never around.

Vegetable and fruit crates were nearly full, all looked healthy and unspoiled. Nathanael picked an apple.

Fruits aren’t found in the places Seth goes to, only bought in the places Lydia goes to. That and vegetables, too. Though I don’t know where she buys all of this, maybe that city I have heard about? How would it not spoil when Lydia travels? Not even slightly? Everything in the crate looks as if it was just picked from its roots. And how Lydia would even travel alone with a full load… maybe she also uses a sled? That is most likely.

Then there was also bread. Nathanael could have sworn he has seen that same intact one a week ago, while another was beside it and nearly finished. Nothing but a towel to cover it, and yet it looks as if it just came out of an oven moments ago.

There were packages of many different provisions which Seth comes back with from around the plains of snow. But meat was rarely found in bunkers and also rarely sold in the market. So Seth goes out to find and hunt animals in the forest. Deers. Bunnies. But finding animals were rarer. There were times Seth couldn’t find something to hunt for weeks, at most a whole month. Seeing any other living thing in the forest was just an encounter that was too uncertain to happen. Having meat on the table would be a holy grail, throwing something like that away would never happen. It was too valuable here in the snow.

And that was why Nathanael didn’t bother to touch the deer meat he found in a boxed cooler.

I still don’t understand this… concept? This idea of leaving random supplies in bunkers and withered villages. It’s just too odd. Or am I the odd one? Is that just how things work around here?

Or have I just forgotten, like everything else? Yet nothing comes back once I learned about all of this…

“I want to know more. Perhaps I really should go out and check out that city I have been hearing about from Seth,” he muttered.

Yet he said it was a dangerous track. I know Lydia goes off to buy food, yet where? Is it close by to that city? If so, is it that dangerous? Or does he not want me to go there? Just thinking about this makes me want to leave the house even more…

Nathanael wasn’t a cook. He knew little to nothing of cooking and baking, or anything to create food. So they settled on packaged yogurt and apples. It was only the middle of the day, Seth, or Lydia if she would be around, would cook for them later before bed.

“Plastic… that is what most of the packages are made out of to hold its contents. Once we’re done with them we throw them away into the trash. But I’m certain there aren’t any garbage trucks coming by any time soon. Maybe Seth buries it underground?”

They took a bite of their apples. It was juicy and sweet.

The rest of the day felt empty. There was not much talk. Nathanael’s thoughts wandered back towards the crystal. The scenes he saw appeared once again one by one, the gruesome ground and monsters. The blood and gore flowed like a river, touching his skin and clothes. Then after all that ended, the words, which weren’t his, appeared again.

Find the Primary Crystal.

“…Nat.”

“Yeah?”

“…Are you okay?

“I’m… fine. Why do you ask?”

“…Because your face… is different.”

“Eh?”

He hadn’t noticed it. He suddenly felt tense. The unease grew more and more when he continued to remember. He still felt it lingering. The fear. The horror. It wouldn’t be a surprise he made a face of someone that was terrified, yet he didn’t know he was doing one now.

Even though he has seen other places since waking up in the house, he couldn’t put aside the scene in the forest. The plains of snow, the bunkers, and villages, the crystalline cavern. None of the other ones came to mind. They were still there, but he could only just barely visualize them again.

Thinking of the other places would be so much better. But it was strangely hard. The plains of snow should give him the feel of immense, an awe-inspiring expanse, the eerieness of there being nothing beyond the horizon, the silence, yet it was blocked. The bunkers have their solitude, freezing away, covered in snow and ice, abandoned. And the villages with their broken past, forgotten, with a presence of hollow. Nathanael couldn’t take his mind toward those structures. Then the calming relief of the crystalline cavern, with steaming and warm hot springs, even a place like that couldn’t make its way in front of the forest of hell.

“Sorry, Etta. There are just some things on my mind right now. It’s not a big deal.”

“…Mm…”

He sat on the couch in the living room. His notebook is in his shaking hands. The forest bothered him too much. He could only think of that place.

Etta sat beside him. Without a shivering word, she hugged him. She hugged as tight as she could, though it wasn’t tight at all, she had little to no strength. But it didn’t need to be, she just needed to hold him, Nathanael felt the slight comfort she gave. She was cold. Even inside the warm building. She still was freezing. But with Nathanael in her reach, she shivered less and less. And Nathanael himself began to think less of the forest, yet it still wouldn’t go away fully.

More caring warmth. Less unpleasant thoughts.

She couldn’t make herself remove her grasp. If she did, the cold would come by to strike again. She didn’t want it. She didn’t want that. Etta was going to hold on for just a little longer.

Nathanael didn’t want her to let go. If she left, the thoughts would emerge again. He wanted to remove that part of his memory, even if he could for the moment. He knew it wouldn’t be forever. He knew the images would come again.

They sat there for a few minutes longer. No one moved after Etta reached to hug him. But it ended once she let go. It looked as if she had some warmth finally in her.

“Thank you,” Nathanael said. The images would return soon. But if he keeps thinking back to Etta, then maybe it would take longer to come back.

“…Mm.” Etta walked off, towards the stairs and up to the second floor. The door of her room closed seconds later.

Nathanael continued on in his notebook, flipped through every page, and fixed some mistakes in his writing he believed to be wrong. He read through it all four, five times. Then once he felt that lingering image emerging again, he wrote down everything that he saw. It was hard, but as he continued to think back to the comfort he felt, he managed to write it all.

He wrote a warning at the start and at the end of the words about what he saw, so he could go past that and not read it again.

It has been two and a half weeks since Nathaneal woke up with no memory. In that time, he has slowly regained some words and phrases, objects, and other things. Yet nothing about him, except for his name.

He talked with Seth the most. Though he still could barely get any clear answers from him. Lydia has only spoken a few words and is rarely seen around Nathanael. She often disappears somewhere around the house. Yet, somehow, Nathanael can’t seem to find her when wandering around. Perhaps she went somewhere outside, buying food and supplies. Or on some other errands, he wouldn’t know of.

Etta has been here since the third day when Nathanael woke up. She has slowly started to speak more and more to him, but she really didn’t say much. She avoids Seth and Lydia. And though she doesn’t speak that often, she stays close to Nathanael when inside the house. She didn’t really understand it, she just felt calmer when around him. The faded memory of someone else always comes by when she is around him, someone with a blurred face. An abstracted existence.

He has learned something from Seth, even though they might be scarce. He knows of the city, which he has yet to learn the name of. He knows that people leave random supplies in bunkers and villages, he still couldn’t understand that. Yet there was still so much to learn from the old man, but something was keeping him from saying more. It was a rather odd surprise when he began to say something about himself when he was out on a journey with a group of adventurers.

Nathanael has also heard many things, some of which he couldn’t hear due to the plains of snow’s silence. He has seen new scenery, all that didn’t feel familiar, and also been to places he wouldn’t want to remember. However, this sound that was heard across the house, he couldn’t comprehend what it was.

It didn’t feel recognizable. It gave off an odd whirring sound and a high tone that gradually lowered in pitch. Then came a loud thrum, the house itself shook slightly due to the vibration that came with it.

As the noise started to settle down, the colors of nearly everything turned redder. Nathanael peeked out from Etta’s room, the view he started to grow familiar with completely changed. The planes of white snow turned to various shades of red, the air particles even showed slight tints. The sky, which was always full and gray, had the same reddish hues.

Red. Everything else became dull.

“What is going on?” Nathanael muttered to himself.

The door slammed open. Nathanael turned back so hard he nearly hit Etta, who was by his side and as confused as him.

It was Seth. And he held in his arms a rifle.

“Whatever you two do, don’t leave the house. Stay inside.” His words came out strong and commanding. Nathanael never heard him act like that.

He could tell Seth was going outside, he wore his warm clothing after all. But where? Nathanael didn’t know. Neither did he know where that red light came from. The sun was high in the sky a moment ago, but now everything turned darker and red.

Seth held his arm out and stared intently at its end. He flexed his fingers and shook his hand, then placed it firmly around the rifle.

“I’ll be away for a moment. Don’t follow.” With those last words, Seth left the house.

Nathanael couldn’t contain his curiosity. He wanted to chase after him and see what was happening. That red hue in the sky isn’t normal, and the sound that blared earlier was unnatural.

Whatever was happening, he needed to know. Regardless of what Seth told him to do.

He noticed Seth running through the red snow from the window. Now he knew the direction. All he needed now was to go outside and do the opposite of what Seth wanted him to do.

Leaving the window, Nathanael moved towards the door of the room. Yet he was stopped as he felt a tug on his back. It was Etta.

“…What is happening?” she asked through a shiver.

“I’m going to find out.” He patted her head gently. “I won’t be long.”

As he continued towards the hallway, he felt Etta following him.

“Stay. Please stay. Don’t try to follow me.”

“…Mm.” She gave a small whimper and took a step back.

Good. Whatever is happening, it can’t be good. Seth held a rifle, how dangerous is it? What is out there? If it really is dangerous, then I can’t let Etta run out of the house. Though I myself shouldn’t really be going…

I can’t help it. This has never happened before. I must know.

Nathanael took a few glances back while going down the stairs. She wasn’t following.

“Okay, now…”

“Nathanael, didn’t you hear what Seth had said? Please do follow his words.”

It was Lydia. And she was blocking him from going any closer towards the front door.

“Lydia, what is happening?”

He didn’t want to force his way out. If she could explain about the red lights, then he didn’t need to follow Seth.

“I am afraid I can’t answer that.”

If. No explanation yet again. Nathanael needed to find the answers on his own.

“If you won’t tell me, then you’ll let me pass so I can find out for myself.” Nathanael mustered his courage to look imposing and a bit threatening. Yet he wasn’t sure if it was working, Lydia didn’t change from her inexpressive gaze.

“I am sorry, Seth will not allow it.”

“Why not? What is he hiding? What are you hiding?”

“I can’t say.”

Of course, you can’t. Seth can’t say either. Why can’t they just tell me? Why do I have to go out to find out everything for myself? What is going on? I just want to know…

The red light wasn’t dissipating. He still had time. If he could make a run past her, he might still be able to follow Seth. He had his shoes, yet didn’t have his coat. He needed to grab it before going through the door. Otherwise, the cold would be too much. There was a back door, but his coat wasn’t there, running out without it would be a rather idiotic move.

“Fine, you win. I won’t go anywhere.”

He turned around. He hoped Lydia would put her guard down, so he could have that chance to slip by.

She looked strong, she had her arms crossed, not outstretched. He could either go past her from the right or the left. Perhaps a ploy would work. He would try to make her think he is going to pass her to the left, but then change once coming close enough to be grabbed.

He didn’t want to hurt her. He wasn’t sure if he could even do harm. He had little to no muscles for a fight. His only plan was to run. There was a back door, but his coat and shoes weren’t there.

He turned and sprinted. His motion was running towards the left of Lydia. She didn’t seem to twitch after seeing him running at her. Nothing changed in her expression.

I can make it! I can make it! See? She isn’t moving. Is she going to let me pass?

He was fast. He felt fast. Once Nathanael was a step away from her, he slightly spun and turned to her right. He didn’t know if Lydia was even trying to catch him, but he did know that he passed her.

I did it? That was too easy… Now to just grab my coat and… Huh?

He wasn’t moving. The door in front of him didn’t come any closer. He didn’t know if his feet were still in motion or not.

Nathanael wasn’t on the ground. Was he flying? He couldn’t feel anything around him.

But then. A tug. A hard tug from the collar of his top.

The door wasn’t in view anymore. What was this? The ceiling? Why was he looking up?

A hand came into view. It wasn’t his. And that hand came down onto his face, and more force pulled him down.

Sharp pain at the back of his head. He hit the floor. He was lying there. Nathanael started to feel numb, and a ringing noise blared into his ears. In the midst of his confusion, he managed to barely grasp his head. And before his consciousness faded, he heard a voice. A voice of the expressionless.

“I told you. Seth made it clear to not be followed. And to stay in the house.”

Then he was gone.

She heard a loud thunk around the reddened house. Etta didn’t know what it was. But she soon figured it out once Lydia came in with him unconscious.

“He fell on his head. Please take care of him,” she said and left the boy on the floor as she left the room.

“…?”

Etta took a moment to wonder what occurred. But she was too drowsy to even think.

She crouched down towards his head and started to poke his cheek.

“…Nat? Are you sleeping?”

No response.

Etta didn’t have much strength. She was still a child after all. But she somehow managed to pull Nathanael close to the bed by his legs. His face was head first on the floor, but he didn’t seem bothered by it. Likely because he wasn’t awake.

She turned him around, and hauled his legs up on the bed. But try as she may, she couldn’t get the rest of his body up. She shrugged, pulled the cover over him, and left him be. Thinking she did her job well of taking care of him.

There was a bruise on his head, Etta noticed. She sat by him, her arms folded around her legs, and thought to either let him be or caress his head.

She didn’t know what do to, so she waited.

Red. It was all still red.

Etta saw an open door opposite her room. She has explored that room before. It was empty, no one occupied it. There was no reason to look inside.

But that flashing glint. She couldn’t take her eyes off it.

On the floor of that empty room, something lit up. With the redness painting the particles around her, she could much easier see that light. A flickering light source.

She wandered closer to it. The light was coming from beneath the floor. She stepped over it, and the floor creaked. A small crack between the floorboards, that is where it came from.

She got down on all four and peered inside. But she couldn’t exactly see what it was. That series of flickers, sometimes the light flicked quickly on and off, other times it stayed on for a fraction of a second longer.

She got curious. And even though she wanted to lie down and sleep, she wanted to know what it was.

She couldn’t get a good grip on the floorboard, she tried to use her nails at the edge of it, but it wouldn’t budge. Then she noticed the screws. She didn’t have anything to take away those used screws. Her curiosity ended once she encountered a block on her road.

“…Mm,” she murmured. She then left the room and jumped back into her bed. Nathanael was still down and knocked out, not that Etta would know how that happened.

She felt cold. Her bed cover was already used, so she borrowed the one in Nathanael’s room and came back to hers.

The red lighting was a curiosity, yet she didn’t feel like knowing what it was at this time. She wasn’t as curious as Nathanael.