Alice climbed into the lead carriage. It was a grand, spacious vessel reserved solely for the boy; the other wagons were laden with the Dwarfs' treasures and gold. Inside, she studied him. The boy sat like a marble statue—expressionless, his eyes as hollow and vacant as a puppet whose strings had been cut.
Her intense gaze finally drew his attention. "Is there something on my face?" he asked, his voice a flat, freezing monotone.
"Tell me, little boy," Alice said, her voice calm yet curious. "Who are you? What is your name?"
"Does it matter?" he replied rudely, his gaze never wavering from the empty air.
Alice's lips curled into a smirk. "If we encounter danger, it will. If I don't have a name, I'll just call you 'Shit' and tell you to run."
A heavy, pressurized silence filled the carriage. The air felt thick enough to bruise. Alice eventually turned away, glancing out the window at the scenery. It was breathtaking—a vast, emerald expanse of greenery where exotic animals wandered past the wheels and birds wove melodies into the wind.
She drifted into a daydream, her expression softening. If they were here, they would have loved this place, she whispered to herself.
"Adam," the boy said suddenly.
Alice turned. "Hello, Adam. I shall protect you. Thank you for the ride."
Adam ignored her, lost once more in the passing landscape.
"How did this place become so beautiful?" Alice asked. She knew the question was a risk, a fifty-fifty gamble that might reveal her as an outsider, but she needed to know.
Adam fixed her with a piercing, suspicious stare. "What?"
"I've lost my memories," Alice claimed, her face a mask of solemn sincerity. "The past is a blur. I'm heading to the Capital to find the answers I've forgotten."
Adam's suspicion ebbed into a grim calm. "I see. This land was not always a sanctuary. Long ago, it was a barren wasteland—a graveyard of sand where people slaughtered one another for a drop of water or a scrap of power. Then, our King stepped forward. He transformed the desert into this."
He paused, a rare shadow of gloom crossing his face. "The legend says he created this paradise for a wife and child he hoped to find again—a place where they could finally rest in peace, a family with nothing left to fear."
As the carriage rolled into a new village, the atmosphere shifted. This place was advanced, its people wealthy but physically fragile. The Dwarfs scurried out, returning with crates overflowing with diamonds. During the break, Alice and Adam wandered the village square.
Suddenly, the ground trembled. A married couple was locked in a violent sorcerous duel.
"Blast away!" the husband roared. Flames erupted from his palms, coiling into a searing sphere that he hurled at his wife in a fit of rage.
The wife intercepted the blast with a shield of mana, but the heat scorched her arms. "Stop this!" she cried, her voice a mix of aggression and despair. She gathered shimmering droplets of water around her fists, her eyes wild with killing intent.
They charged at each other, fire meeting ice—until a blur of motion cut through the air.
Alice appeared between them with lightning speed. She cross-grabbed their wrists, her brute strength and overwhelming mana snuffing out their spells instantly. The sudden vacuum of power forced them to cool off.
"Both of you, calm down," Alice commanded, her voice a furious boom that echoed off the village walls.
Adam stood frozen in the distance. How? he wondered, his heart hammering. I didn't even see her move. She is the real deal.
Alice forced the couple to sit, her tone shifting to one of stern wisdom. "Why do you fight? A marriage is a sanctuary, not a battlefield. Communication is the bridge; one speaks, the other listens. That is how it works."
The husband slumped, looking as though he were on the verge of tears. "She spends all her time with her friends. She is never with me. Why even marry me?"
"I love him!" the woman protested anxiously. "He just doesn't understand!"
Alice looked at her. "Your friends are for the present; they will move on when their own lives grow heavy. But your husband is your future. He is the one who will stand by you when the world turns cold."
The realization hit the woman like a physical blow. She began to weep, throwing her arms around her husband in a desperate apology.
Alice watched them, her presence radiating a strange, ancient light. "The lotus does not bloom by asking the permission of the sun," she said softly. "Hatred is a base emotion, but this... this is love. One does not need the consent of the world to love another."
Adam's breath hitched. A wave of nostalgia washed over him—his King had once said something almost identical. He winced, clutching his head as if a forgotten memory were trying to claw its way out.
"Let's go, Adam," Alice called out, her warrior's resolve returning. "Time is a luxury we don't have."