Something nudged my shoulder.
At first, I tried to ignore it, sinking a little deeper into the half-warm cushion beneath me, the kind of warmth that clings to you after going too long without real rest.
My mind floated in that foggy, heavy space where dreams and reality bleed together, where even cracking an eyelid feels like lifting a slab of iron.
But the nudging didn't stop. It grew firmer, more insistent, until my head tipped forward and thumped against the wooden wall behind me.
"Huh…?"
I breathed out, more air than sound, my consciousness dragging itself upward like it had been hooked from deep water.
Whatever fragile dream had been forming unraveled instantly.
The world returned in disjointed pieces, cold air, muffled noise, the sway of the carriage, none of it lining up properly just yet.
Then came another shake, sharper this time, impatient, almost desperate.
A rough hand gripped my shoulder through my cloak, calloused and warm, jostling me with the kind of urgency no one uses unless something has genuinely gone wrong.
"Sir…? Sir, hey, wake up. Please, wake up, good sir!"
My eyelids fluttered, heavy as stone, but eventually surrendered, pulling apart to let in the blurred ceiling of the carriage.
The lantern's glow smeared into an unfocused haze before slowly sharpening as I sat up.
Yeah. Someone was definitely shaking me awake, and definitely not to show me scenery.
I didn't remember ordering anything like this.
My thoughts stumbled around, sluggish and irritated, especially because it didn't feel like I'd slept more than a handful of seconds. Minutes at best.
I rubbed at my face, groaning.
"What the hell is going on…? There's so much noise coming from outside. Didn't I tell you to wake me if you saw a beautiful view? Is…"
I squinted at him, annoyance bleeding into my voice, "is that what you interpreted by it?"
For a moment, Broide just stared at me through the small square hatch, his face half-lit by the lantern hanging near him.
His breath came out in uneven puffs, too quick for someone who had merely tapped me awake for scenery.
"Beautiful scenery?" he echoed, voice strained so tight it almost cracked.
"Sir, I'd happily wake you for a rainbow, a mountain, even a particularly shiny puddle, but this…" He jerked his head toward the road outside, eyes widening a fraction.
"This isn't that."
I blinked at him, still halfway submerged in leftover sleep.
"What? Did the horses see a butterfly again?"
He didn't even smile, and honestly that was what worried me more than anything else.
"The path ahead's blocked," he said, lowering his voice.
"Carriages are overturned. Luggage is in haywire. And… people, they are not moving, sir."
That pierced through the last of my drowsiness.
I straightened completely now, the cushion groaning beneath me.
The once familiar rocking of the carriage had stopped entirely.
Outside, the noise I had mistaken for ambient street bustle shifted, metal clinking, a distant shout, the restless scrape of hooves against stone.
Broide swallowed hard, Adam's apple bobbing like he was forcing words past something lodged in his throat.
"And something's standin' there," he added quietly. "In the middle of the road. Not human."
His fingers tightened on the edge of the hatch.
"Just… starin' at us."
My fatigue evaporated like it had never existed.
I didn't linger there for much longer, and pushed the door open.
The moment my boots touched the ground, a strange stillness washed over me, thicker than fog, heavier than any cold wind.
For a second, I thought maybe I was still half-asleep, because the world had this… suspended quality to it, like someone had pressed pause on everything except me.
But no, people were there. A lot of them, actually.
Both sides of the road were packed, an entire crowd stretching almost as far as I could see.
Some still clutched the tools they had been using just moments ago, hammers raised mid swing, chisels still resting against half carved stone, buckets in hand with water sloshing dangerously close to spilling.
Many others looked like they had been simply walking home or to work, only to be caught and held in place by whatever spectacle stood ahead, completely forgetting where they had been heading to begin with.
Yet, no one moved, and no one dared to speak, but everyone stared.
And, of course, the one thing blocking the road was exactly what their eyes were glued to.
I followed their collective gaze, expecting… honestly, I don't know what I was expecting, maybe a drunk noble sprawled across the path, overall, anything normal would have been a blessing.
Instead, I saw a figure stood in the center of the road, unmoving in a way that wasn't human stillness but something else entirely, too deliberate, too exact, like someone had carved a person out of wax and planted it upright just to see how long it would take before everyone started losing their minds.
Its skin was pale.
Not the kind of pale you get from living indoors too much, but a sickly, washed out tone that made the veins beneath almost visible, like thin blue threads trapped under dying parchment.
Humanoid, yes, but only in the same way a puppet resembles a person if you squint a little too hard.
The uncanny valley effect struck instantly, my mind recognized the silhouette as human, yet everything screaming beneath that recognition said wrong, wrong, wrong.
Even the horses behind me had gone rigid, hooves planted firmly as if any sudden movement might attract the thing's attention.
The air felt tight, like we were all sharing one shallow breath.
I dragged a hand down my face, letting out a slow exhale.
"…Seriously?"
The word slipped out before I could stop it, because apparently my first instinct when facing something possibly dangerous was to complain.
Broide leaned out from his seat, voice trembling in a way that didn't help the atmosphere.
"Sir… it's been standin' there like that for a while now, and hasn't even twitched."
Meaning this uncanny… whatever it was had positioned itself perfectly on the centerline of the road and decided that was its life's purpose.
"Great..."
I spoke nonchalantly, however unsettling, as my gaze remained fixed on the figure, because something was undeniably wrong about it, and I had an inkling of what it really was.
"And now we all die~"