After a few minutes of being stunned by the scene around him and the countless questions tormenting his mind, the boy managed to regain some composure and asked himself, "How did I get here? The last thing I remember is being at the party… and then, blurry memories of a red sky and a powerful explosion... After that, everything went dark, and I woke up surrounded by all this."
The boy is Eric, who had tragically died from the impact of rocks launched by a volcanic eruption.
Eric examined every inch of his body, searching for wounds, but found none. However, his surprise deepened when he noticed that his body had changed drastically. He was thinner, smaller, with slim limbs and a childlike build. He stared at his hands for a few seconds.
"What happened to my body? Am I a boy now?" he thought, frowning.
He didn't understand anything. For him, only a moment had passed, but everything around him was completely different.
As he looked up and saw the three moons hanging in the night sky like alien beacons, he understood an undeniable truth.
"This place clearly isn't Earth, and this isn't my body."
The thought hit him with a strange chill.
"If the last thing I remember is that… then I probably died. Maybe I've been given a second chance… or maybe this is a very bad joke."
He looked around, trying to make sense of this unknown world. After a few seconds of silence, he murmured to himself:
"I don't think this is hell."
The idea of his death, though still abstract, began to settle in. He didn't cry. He didn't scream. Just an uncomfortable stillness filled him as he thought of his family, of what he had left behind.
"I'm here for a reason. Even if I don't understand it, I know they wouldn't want me to give up. I'll fight to the end, because that's what they'd expect from me. Besides… I'm curious to see what kind of world this is."
Once he managed to calm his mind, Eric focused on the children around him inside the carriage. It was an enclosed structure, sturdy, made of thick wood reinforced with heavy iron bars. There were no windows, no cushions, no solid floor. Just dirty straw, the constant rattling of movement, and the feeling of being in a prison on wheels. This wasn't transportation—it was a cage.
The bars extended from floor to ceiling, allowing a view outside but offering no chance of escape. The doors had solid locks and engraved symbols in the iron—strange markings that gave off a ritualistic air, as if they were seals meant to contain something dangerous. Large, heavy nails secured the corners. It was a trap built to endure.
The other children wore old-fashioned, rough clothes made of coarse, worn fabrics. Wool tunics, linen trousers tied with cords, thick skirts, worn leather shoes or bare feet. The colors were dull: earth tones, gray, brown. Some had patches; others barely covered the essentials.
Eric counted eleven in total: six boys and five girls, between the ages of nine and fourteen. They were all awake. Most had blank stares, either lost or filled with fear. A small girl sobbed in a corner, while another, a bit older, hugged her, unsure of what to say.
As he observed, a hand touched his shoulder. Eric reacted instantly, turning around tensely. In front of him was a boy slightly older than him, watching him carefully.
The first thing he noticed was his clothing. They weren't rags—he wore a long-sleeved white linen shirt, dark gray trousers with a clean cut, and well-kept black leather boots. His appearance stood out from the rest, as if he'd been captured under different circumstances.
"Are you okay? I honestly thought you were dead, with how long you were out," the boy said.
"I'm fine. Do you know what's going on?" Eric asked.
"We were kidnapped by the black mages… or sorcerers, call them what you want, while our caravan was headed to the Tower of Dawn. There was a big battle between the white mages and them. A lot of people died. I don't know if surviving was lucky, or if something worse awaits us, but here we are, prisoners in cages. They'll probably take us to their tower," the boy explained with unsettling calm.
"Are we going to die?" Eric asked directly.
"I don't think so. At least not yet. I heard my father say these guys sometimes recruit boys for their towers… or just take them when they're on their way to another. That way, they don't waste time looking for them."
"Recruit them for what?"
"Isn't it obvious? To become mages. That's why we were heading to the Tower of Dawn. Even they need apprentices, though their methods aren't exactly civilized. Their reputation... isn't good."
The boy shrugged, then changed tone.
"Anyway, I'm Aiden. What's your name?"
"Eric. Thanks for answering my questions," Eric said.
"You make a good point. It's easier to deal with reasonable people. And with what you told me, that place doesn't sound easy… it's always good to have some help," he added, glancing at the older girl comforting the younger one.
"Yeah. What matters now is staying united for whatever comes," said Aiden. His gaze lingered on the smallest girl for a moment, with a hint of disdain. He said nothing more.
Suddenly, Eric felt a chill run down his back, like a predator was stalking him. When he turned around, he saw a massive spider with ash-gray skin and a metallic sheen that reflected the moons' faint light. Its legs were thick and spiny, ending in sharp claws. Its eyes, arranged in a disturbing pattern, glowed with a phosphorescent green. From its abdomen, dark filaments moved like tentacles, and from its mouth—lined with countless fangs as sharp as blades—oozed a viscous liquid that, upon touching the wood of the carriage, began to bubble and release fumes.
Seeing such a monster, Eric, like the other children in the carriage, was completely terrified, fearing what the spider might do to them. Seeing that it didn't move, no one dared to make a sound or motion, afraid it would kill them. They watched as the creature opened its mouth, as if preparing for its feast, when suddenly it spoke:
"We're pleased to welcome the new apprentices of the Tower of Eternal Night. My name is Adam. I'm delighted to see so much fresh meat and to discover what uses each of you might have. Since today is a special day, I'll give you some advice: pray to your gods for a good score upon arrival, because your lives depend on it. Maybe they'll answer you, hahaha," Adam said, finishing with a twisted, metallic, broken laugh.
When the spider finished laughing, Eric saw it leap toward the front of the caravan, followed by other spiders on the carriages in front and behind his. These spiders approached the largest carriage of all, where a figure in a black robe and mask lay atop it. As they reached it, the spiders lunged at the man's body as if to devour him, but due to the distance, Eric could only see them vanish as they touched the figure.